ays of unalloyed, spotless happiness.

There was a peculiar charm in coming here, where the choice of
location, and the unobtrusive good taste of all the arrangements,
showed such intelligent appreciation of the spirit of the scene, after
seeing so many dwellings of the new settlers, which showed plainly
that they had no thought beyond satisfying the grossest material
wants. Sometimes they looked attractive, these little brown houses,
the natural architecture of the country, in the edge of the timber.
But almost always, when you came near the slovenliness of the
dwelling, and the rude way in which objects around it were treated,
when so little care would have presented a charming whole, were
very repulsive. Seeing the traces of the Indians, who chose the most
beautiful sites for their dwellings, and whose habits do not break
in on that aspect of Nature under which they were born, we feel as if
they were the rightful lords of a beauty they forbore to deform. But
most of these settlers do not see it at all; it breathes, it speaks
in vain to those who are rushing into its sphere. Their progress is
Gothic, not Roman, and their mode of cultivation will, in the course
of twenty, perhaps ten years, obliterate the natural expression of the
country.

This is inevitable, fatal; we must not complain, but look forward to
a good result. Still, in travelling through this country, I could not
but be struck with the force of a symbol. Wherever the hog comes,
the rattlesnake disappears; the omnivorous traveller, safe in its
stupidity, willingly and easily makes a meal of the most dangerous of
reptiles, and one which the Indian looks on with a mystic awe. Even so
the white settler pursues the Indian, and is victor in the chase. But
I shall say more upon the subject by and by.

While we were here, we had one grand thunder-storm, which added new
glory to the scene.

One beautiful feature was the return of the pigeons every afternoon
to their home. At this time they would come sweeping across the lawn,
positively in clouds, and with a swiftness and softness of winged
motion more beautiful than anything of the kind I ever knew. Had
I been a musician, such as Mendelssohn, I felt that I could have
improvised a music quite peculiar, from the sound they made, which
should have indicated all the beauty over which their wings bore them.
I will here insert a few lines left at this house on parting, which
feebly indicate some of the features.