74 



^l)e JTarmcv's illantl)ly Visitor. 



.eiioii;;li for us thiit your de;ir inollier's iiaiiie 

 >v;\.s down ill the will; iiiiil tli.it tiie pxeciitors 

 pminisi-d soMifi d:iy to Ijiillifiilly perforiii tlie 

 iiijiiiiclioiis of the dojir dcrejised. "And ivheii we 

 aei this money," s:iid your' mother to me ill a 

 iiiomeiit of coiiniibi.d coiifideiice, "I tell yoN 

 what we'll do with it — I tell yon, my love, what 

 we'll do with it." As J knew she would proceed 

 no further iinill I hesr-fed to know her inlentions, 

 ] at onee put the question: "What, niy dearest, 

 what will you do with it?" " Why, my love," 

 answered your parent, her eyes sparkling with 

 pleasure, "we'll take the plate out of pawn, and 

 jfivo a party." Yes — the jrreat jjratification to he 

 irathered from the legacy was, that we iiii.;;ht 

 flash our four tea spoons and pair of tonjis in the 

 eyes of people for whom we iiad not the slii;htest 

 esteem ; and to one of whom, your moilier had, 

 I know, oil three occasions captiously refused 

 the loan of her bellows. I think I have heard 

 you say, my love, the face of nature — the o|>en 

 sky — the fields, the trees, the shiiiin;; river, all 

 are f;lorious to you! My dear hoy, whatever 

 may he your present delijjlit in coiiteni|ilatinjj 

 these olijeets, as yet you know nothins: of tlieir 

 value. Look upon them with the eye of a pro- 

 prietor, and what a hlooni will come upon the 

 picture! Every hit of turf will he an emerald 

 to yon ; every grasshopper will chirrup — a very 

 ansrel to your self-complacencv ; every tree, mov- 

 ed by the wind, will bow to yon as yon pass by 

 it; the very ft*h in the river will "show the siin 

 their waved coats dropp'd with i;old," reflecting 

 these i/our wealtli, and not tkeir beauty. Nay, 

 that porlion of the sky, which rains and shines 

 its Iilessinirs upon your land, you will behold as 

 yours; yea, Ininian jiride, stroiior in its faith of 

 jiroperty, will read upon the face of heaven it- 

 self, ".l/eum.''' (mine.) Every sunbeam will be 

 to you as if it were an iiiKOt. How delicious and 

 how eiitrancinjr must have been the feelings of 

 Adam when he awoke in Eden, to find himself 

 . — a landed profirietor! — London Chrtravnii. 



Fnr ttie Farmer's Montliiy Visitor. 

 Shad anilHeriiug Fisheries of the river Poto- 

 mac. --Indian Council Ground, &c. 



From the first ot' April to the first or second 

 week ill May, the shad and herring are taken in 

 ;,'reat abiiiidaiice in the Potomac, at the beij;iii- 

 niiiit of the fishery low down near its entrance 

 into the !iay of the Chesapeake, and as the sea- 

 son F.dvances higher up until they reach the 

 great falls some sixteen miles above George- 

 town, and com|)assini; a distance of more than 

 line liinidrcd and filly miles. On no river in the 

 United States, ami no one known any where, is 

 there found so e.xtensive and abundant a fishery 

 as this ; and the shad taken in dip nets at the 

 falls are all of llie largest size, and of superior 

 flu or. It is said that the ra()idity of the current 

 [irevents any but the large and vigorous tish 

 irom stL'iiiming it: hciice no inferior fish are 

 fuiind there. 'I'he fishing season is a season of 

 ahnndaiice of food ; it makes glad the heart of 

 the poor man, and ihe colored race grow fat, and 

 their faces shine .as if the very oil of the food 

 was issuing from the pores of the skin. 



The nets used are sonietimes more than a mile 

 in lei.gth ; one end is made fast on the shore, 

 and the whole is payed out tiom a row boat w hicli 

 relurns with a long svveep to the shore, and as 

 it is i;athered in, the waters swarm with the finny 

 victims. 



At these landings or fisheries the wagons re- 

 pair from the adjacent country to lay in their 

 store for the year. The fish are .struck with salt, 

 as they are cleared and put in ; and they wheel 

 off to their homes dripping brine tlie wliole dis- 

 tance. This first sailing extracts a good poiti(ni 

 of the juice, and they are then packed away in 

 casks or barrels with a plentiliil aililition of salt. 

 Herring and hoe cake is an im[)ortant item ol 

 food, where herring can be obtained; it is not 

 iinfreqnently that it has been inentioiipd as hard 

 fire, and .'.n evidence of the pincliing condition 

 of those, the blaciis, who are siibjeited lo it; but 

 this is an error: it is both niitritinus and whole- 

 some, and corn bread and herring have been pro- 

 nounced by epicures, acciislomed to canvass 

 buck ducks, as among the most delicious of lux- 

 uries. 



Before the Cliesa[)eake anil Ohio canal pene- 

 trated so I'ar into the country, and before the 

 railroads to the north, fish were frequently 60 



abundant that they were used as manure, and 

 were not worth salting. These improvements 

 and IJiciliiies of conveyance have enlarged the 

 market, and of course increased the demand. 

 They are now taken to the cities of New Voik, 

 Philadelphia and ISahimore, and far up the river 

 into the valley of Virginia while fresh, and the 

 denianil has come up to the supply. It is not 

 meant that all are used in a fresh stale ; but this 

 extension of the market has terminated iheir 

 application as a manure fiirther than the offid is 

 concerned. At this season also the streaked 

 bass, which is called by the name of rock fi.«h in 

 Maryland and Virginia, is taken along with the 

 shad and herring very large in size and full of 

 spawn. These last named are the best of the 

 tish ot' the Potomac ; hut there are also found 

 the red and while perch, the latter an excellent 

 pan tish ; eels and sturgeon, called on the North 

 river, Alh;iny beef There is a mode of cooking 

 the sturgeon that recommeiids it to the most 

 laslidious palate; but as this requires a skill not 

 generally tiiund, ibis fine fish is sold at a very 

 low price in the markets of the District. 



It is a matter of tradition and history that the 

 city of Washington, now the .seat of this West- 

 ern Empire, was before onr days, and jierhaps at 

 a very remote period the great council ground 

 of the aborigines of the counlry. It was here, 

 and perhaps upon the very spot of the cafiitolT 

 that the delegates from the wide-spread nations 

 of the red man held their annual meeting, not 

 as the white ina.n does, in the winter, but in the 

 vernal season, when the Eastern branch and 

 Potomac were swarming with fish. It was no 

 doubt the ease wiih which food was obtainable 

 at this season, and the place where it was found, 

 that led to the selection of this spot. We are 

 creatures of habit, and of imitation, and in de- 

 ciding the waving scales of dTscussion that pre- 

 ceded the selection of this spot as the seat of 

 our Government, it may have been that the pre- 

 vious adoption of the red man weighed soine- 

 lliiug in the doulitful balance. We are :i civil- 

 ized, a christian people ; we have succeeded 

 what we call the savage man, on whom the 

 cheering light of Keligion has not dawned. On 

 the very spot, as tradition informs us, where onr 

 capilol now stands with its lofty turrets, was lit 

 up the annual council fire of the great people 

 who preceded ns. Their voices in the Spring 

 time are heard there no more, and are silenced 

 forever. As we ascend the liill on which oiu' 

 towering edifice stands, we press their graves; 

 their ashes are under our feet. Is onr annual 

 assemblage more solemn and dignified than was 

 theirs, where only the voice of age and experi- 

 ence was heard ; no struggle for the floor, no 

 riotous mirth, or lannling gibes ? Could an aged 

 sachem who was wont to appear there awake 

 from the sleep of two centuries, what would be 

 his amazement ! Like the then tall forests that 

 crowned the hills, his race is gone and mingle 

 with the dust of the eartii ; and ere we take to 

 ourselves the self-satisfying thoughts of improve- 

 ment in morals and in manners, are we quite 

 sure that the difference is so great as to afford a 

 very permanent satisfaction? The red man is a 

 savage: he delights in the blood of his enemies; 

 and he who has slain the greatest nniiiber is the 

 greatest hero. Anil is it not nearly so with the 

 most civilized, who call themselves the most 

 Christian? The red man despises labor; he 

 lives in the wooils, and delights in the chase. 

 What is common to the whole race of the In- 

 dians is the objecl of our men of ease and wealth 

 who are looked up to— the Indian has few dis- 

 linctions in his society — the aged and the brave 

 who trinniph over their enemies are most exalt- 

 ed. And does not the white man too exalt the 

 brave, and stimulate glory rather than virtue and 

 humanity? We worship in the solemn temples; 

 and does not the prayer of the red man in the 

 shades of his lofty forests asceuil to the Great 

 Spirit fiom as pure and stainless a fountain : 



Suffice perhaps of this: — the race that our 

 fathers found here, whose home and land it was, 

 have gone; the remnant of the race step by 

 step are driven on in company with the elk and 

 the biiftalo to the far, far west; and a lew brief 

 years will find them on the shores of the Pacific, 

 where they, the last of their race, will pass away, 

 and their name, existence, and all recollection 

 that such men were, be fiu'gotten forever! No! 

 they will not, they cannot easily be so soon or 



forever be without a monument, proud and siil>- 

 lime, and more enduring than the hands of man 

 cati rear. While there is love for harmony in 

 Ihe soul; while the rising generation imbibes 

 the lessons and names of the preceding; while 

 our language shall have a tongue to utter ro, and 

 a heart to feel, the prominent features of our 

 land, its silver lakes and majestic rivers will 

 bear those names of more than musical grandeur 

 and conception bestowed al the baptismal font 

 as the Native Indian. Erie, Ontario, Ohio, Alle- 

 ghany, Potomac, Connecticut and Merrimack, 

 Wachuselt, Monadnock, Wetatick and Kearsarge 

 shall abide with the nation, and carry along witli 

 them the memory of those who, when otir Fa- 

 thers were driven from their own firesides by 

 oppression, received them as children. S. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 



JHeteoroIogical Journal kept at Concord 



by A. CHANDLER. 



Remarks. — Isf, it began lo snow lightly yes- 

 teiday at half-past 4 P. M., wiih a light "S. W. 

 H ind ; the wind shifted in the night to the N. E. ; 

 ^now• continued all day; I'ell about 10 inciies 

 deep. — 2d, the wind sliilied in the niglit to N. 

 W. and has blowed hard all day, piling the snow 

 up in drills lo a great rate; the snow will now 

 average about three and a half lt;et deep. — tith, 

 began to snow again yesterday, before noon ; 

 continued iinlil about D o'clock this P. M. ; the 

 snow is very moist and more than h.df melled 

 ;is it reached the ground, but probably the wliole 

 amounted to G or 8 inches. — 7ili, warm and plea- 

 sant day, the first that li.-is seemed like spring. — 

 10th, middJo of Ihe Merrimack clear of ice, and 



