ALABAMA. 61 



Their manner possesses an air of conscious innocence, 

 and timidity tinctured with confidence, that, even 

 without the attraction of their beautiful plumage, 

 would gain our love. 



Of a migratory species, their summers are spent 

 in similar and even much higher latitudes than my 

 present position ; but the blustering gales and cold 

 weather of the autumnal equinox drive them south 

 to such favoured regions as the blue grass slopes 

 of Southern Kentucky and Tennessee, where they 

 remain until the influence of balmy spring is again 

 felt. 



'Alabama' is, to my ear, one of the most melodious 

 and expressive words. Let the reader repeat it, 

 giving due length and stress to the vowels, and it 

 will be found so attractive that it remains hovering 

 on the lips, requiring scarcely more effort to give it 

 iitterance than a prolonged action of respiration. 

 This melodious intonation means, in the tongue of 

 those who were once inhabitants of the region to 

 which it is given as a name, ( Here we rest/ The 

 word was uttered by an exiled tribe, fleeing before 

 the inroads of the grasping, unscrupulous, white 

 invaders of the country, when they beheld the charms 

 of this lovely region, and became aware of all its 

 attractiveness. The strangers, in gratitude for the 

 fortune which had ' brought them to such a place of 

 rest, continued to call it Alabama. The Christian, 

 however, soon followed upon the heels of the red 

 sons of the continent, and now the country knows 



