ld rather die like a cock on
a dunghill, than be patronized after the English fashion; he is not
accustomed to receive benefactions, and cannot conceive that any man would
voluntarily confer favours on him, without expecting something in return,
either in the shape of labour, or goods;--and as to respect, that has
totally disappeared from his code since "the Declaration."

Mr. Birkbeck was called "Emperor of the Prairies;" and notwithstanding the
hostility of his neighbours, he seems to have been much respected in the
other parts of Illinois, as he was chosen secretary of state; and in that
character he died, in 1825. He at last devoted himself entirely to gaining
political influence, seeing that it was the duty of every man in a free
country to be a politician, and that he who "takes no interest in
political affairs," must be a bad man, or must want capacity to act in the
common occurrences of life.

From Albion we proceeded towards the Little Wabash; but had not got many
miles from that town, when an accident occurred which delayed us some
time. We were driving along through a wood of scrub-oak, or barren, when
our carriage, coming in contact with a stump that lay concealed beneath
high grass, was pitched into a rut--it was upset--and before we could
recover ourselves, away went the horse dashing through the wood, leaving
the hind wheels and body of the vehicle behind. He took the path we had
passed over, and fortunately halted at the next corn-field. We repaired
the damage in a temporary manner, and again set forward.

After having crossed the Little Wabash, we had to pass through three miles
of swamp frequently above our ancles in the mire, for the horse could
scarcely drag the empty waggon. We at length came out on "Hardgrove's
prairie." The prospect which here presented itself was extremely
gratifying to our eyes. Since I had left the little prairie in the
Wyandot reserve, I had been buried in eternal forests; and,
notwithstanding all the efforts one may make to rally one's spirits, still
the heart of a European sickens at the sameness of the scene, and he
cannot get rid of the idea of imprisonment, where the visible horizon is
never more distant than five or six hundred yards. Yet this is the delight
of an Indian or a backwoodsman, and the gloomy ferocity that characterizes
these people is evidently engendered by the surrounding scenery, and may
be considered as indigenous to the forest. Hardgrove's is perhaps t