102 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



farther;"' and but for tliis interposition of Divine power, 

 here so signally displayed, the fair fields of the South 

 would become mere sand-bars upon the shores of the 

 Atlantic, and the country which might now support the 

 world by its luxurious vegetation, would only bear the 

 angry ocean wave. 



Suppose, for an instant, that a universal spring 

 should beam upon our favored continent, and that the 

 thousands of streams which are tributary to the Missis- 

 sippi were to become at once unloosed : the mighty flood 

 in its rushing course would destroy the heart of the 

 northwestern continent. 



But mark the goodness and wisdom of Providence ! 

 Early in the spring, the waters of the Ohio rise with its 

 tributaries, and the Mississippi bears them ofl" without 

 injuriously overflowing its banks. When summer sets in, 

 its own head-waters about the lakes, and the swift Mis- 

 souri, with its melting ice from the Rocky Mountains, 

 come down ; and thus each, in order, makes the Missis- 

 sippi its outlet to the Gulf of Mexico. But were all 

 these streams permitted to come together in their 

 strength, what, again we ask, would save the Eden gar- 

 dens of the South ? 



In contemplations like these, carried out to their 

 fullest extent, we may arrive at the character of this 

 mighty river. It is in the tlioughts it suggests, and not 

 in the breadth or length visible at any given point to 

 the eye. Depending on the senses alone, we should 



