e rivers,--a spot so lovely, that, as
I looked upon it, much as I respect manufactures, I found myself
involuntarily wishing that fate had reserved it for some less dirty
purpose. As the city grows, it must of necessity climb the steep bluffs
by which it is encompassed; and on these it is not too much to imagine,
at no far period, the squares, terraces, and crescents of a wealthy and
public-spirited community; whilst, within the crowded triangle beneath,
the clang of the noisy steam-engine and the black smoke will lie
drowned, and along the narrow strips of level soil skirting its rivers
will rise the warehouses and wharves of its commerce.

To the north of the Alleghany you see the little town of that name, with
one or two buildings conspicuous, at this distance, for their size:
this, too, is united to Pittsburg by a bridge of great apparent
lightness and strength.

From the abutting hill whence we took our first long survey of this
congeries of future cities, we took a western course, following the line
of the Ohio; but holding to the high lands, till coming back, when we
made a _detour_ to the north, and thus got frequent and fine views of
the neighbourhood.

The country appears generally hilly, with rich glens and valleys lying
between, having numerous streams of clear living water, and presenting
every proof of exhaustless mineral wealth; hence its adoption by the
industrious swarm whose fires darken the sky by night and day.

The day after this, I----d embarked on board a steamer for Louisville,
on his way to join the head-quarters of his corps, somewhere upon the
Missouri. The Republic allows no sinecure pay to its soldiers: most of
these gallant men pass the best half of their lives upon the frontier,
wasted by sickness, removed far from society or sympathy, poorly paid
and worse thanked, enjoying very little present consideration, and
without hope of future fame. It must require an ardent imagination, and
all the romance with which poetry has invested sword and feather, to
keep an American soldier to his colours in this time of peace; as, on a
sober worldly view, his appears the least enviable condition to be
found in the community.

I on this day took a solitary ride up the Monongahela, and visited the
scene of Bradock's defeat and death. I found it all snugly fenced in,
and under good cultivation. An intelligent farmer, who was on the spot,
good-naturedly undertook, in answer to an inquiry I made, to act