190 IIOESE POETEAITUKE. 



has enlivened with his presence for so many years. The 

 scenery along the line I will not try to describe, as you 

 are familiar with it, and will agree with me that the jour- 

 ney is well worth taking, if for no other reason than to 

 enjoy its beauties. I was conveyed by a friend the ten 

 miles that intervened between the village and the place 

 of my final destination. This was the first time I had 

 seen the spot at this enchanting season of the year ; and, 

 much as I had admired its beauties in midsummer, and 

 the grandeur of the winter display, I was totally unpre- 

 pared for the marvelous splendor that now greeted my 

 eye. Your Mississippi bluffs, rolling river, floating islands 

 of verdure, towering oaks, and fragrant crab-apples, may 

 show on a larger scale, and your seat that overlooks the 

 plateau of thousands of acres of billowy grass and prairie 

 flowers may be very fine ; but for quiet beauty and har- 

 mony of detail, there is no place that will equal it on the 

 Father of Waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the Lake of 

 Itasca. Imagine a little lake so small, indeed, that its 

 length hardly rivals the width of your majestic stream 

 nestling among emerald hills. The hill in the background 

 is covered with a dense growth of hemlock, the dark green 

 of which is relieved by the bright hue of the deciduous 

 trees, now in their most brilliant garments, while tall 

 pines shoot their spires from the summit away up in the 

 blue firmament. The- hill to the right is carpeted as 

 thickly with grass as the famed pastures you have de- 

 scribed; groups of scattered trees breaking the uniformity, 

 with large dark-colored rocks beetling from the side in 

 bold relief. Large flocks of sheep are grazing on the sides 

 of the hill, the lambs playing and gamboling as if every 

 minute of their existence were too precious to be lost. To 

 the left, the hills slope gradually, forming a little valley 

 through which the outlet runs. Away in the distance, as 

 far as the eye can distinguish, the hills swell into inagni- 



