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Show 232 Early Western Travels [ Vol. 26 " Fair wert thou, in the dreams Of elder time, thou land of glorious flowers, And summer winds, and low- toned silvery streams, Dim with the shadows of thy laurel bowers." And thus has it ever been; and even yet the " pilgrim from the North" rejoices with untold joy over the golden beauties of the Valley beyond the Mountains. [ 214] It was a fine Sabbath morning when I mounted my steed at the gate of the log farmhouse where I had passed the night, to pursue my journey over the prairie, upon the verge of which it stood. The village of Hillsborough was but a few miles distant, and there I had resolved to observe the sacredness of the day. The showers of the preceding evening had refreshed the atmosphere, which danced over the plain in exhilarating gales, and rustled among the boughs of the green woodlands I was leaving. Before me was spread out a waving, undulating landscape, with herds of cattle sprinkled here and there in isolated masses over the surface; the rabbit and wildfowl were sporting along the pathway, and the bright woodpecker, with his splendid plumage and querulous note, was flitting to and fro among the thickets. Far away along the eastern horizon stretched the dark line of forest. The gorgeous prairie- flower flung out its crimson petals upon the breeze, " blushing like a banner bathed in slaughter," and methought it snapped more gayly in the morning sunbeams than it was wont; the long grass rustled musically its wavy masses back and forth, and, amid the Sabbath and I was diverted with innumerable animals presenting themselves continually before my view. * * * The buffaloes were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage on these extensive plains, fearless because ignorant of man."- [ Narrative of Colonel Daniel Boone, from his first arrival in Kentucky in 1769, to the year 1782.] - FLAGO. Comment by Ed. Boone's Narrative was actually written by John FSlson, from interviews with the pioneer. The stilted style is of course far from being Boone's product. |
