looking fellows, each with his rifle in his hand. Wild
pigeons abounded along the cover-edge, and the sharp crack which every
now and then rang through the thin air of morning told that the hunters
were dealing upon them.

From the construction of the waggons, as well as because their owners
evinced no inclination either to hold communion or exchange civilities
with a passing wayfarer, which no Southern ever fails to do, I concluded
this to be a party of New England men, who, abandoning their worn-out
native fields, were pushing on for the "far West" with the lightness of
heart consequent on the surety of reaping a brave harvest from a soil
which withholds abundance from none who possess hearts and arms to task
it.

With what apparent indifference, if not positive pleasure, do the people
of this country quit their ancient homes, and wander forth in search of
new ones, to be again, in turn, deserted, if not by themselves, by their
restless and enterprising children! The Tartar habit of movement and
frequent change, which is, I fancy, natural to man, finds in no country
at the present age such inviting facilities as are offered in this, nor
could a people be found who more fully enjoy them.

I looked upon this well-ordered, sober party with much pleasure; and as
I stood upon the mountain top, and thence watched their downward track,
I found my mind actively employed picturing their after progress and
accompanying the line of their long travel. First, came their repose and
rest, as in their plentifully-furnished flat they slowly drifted down
the smooth course of the near Ohio; then, their after-journeying through
the wilderness in search of a pleasant spot on which to rear their huts
and make to themselves a home; now followed their early and
long-enduring toil, accompanied perhaps by the sickness of their
children and the pining of their women, whose sensibilities, more acute
than those of men, ever revert in seasons of sadness to the far-off
places their young days made pleasant; and, lastly, when, after years
had passed away, and that their well-fenced fields were teeming with a
plenteous harvest, I beheld their sons gathering together their
inheritance and setting forth in search of another new country, within
which they might resume the toil of their fathers. Man may change the
scene of his labour, but the evil of his condition is not to be evaded;
and alike, from the most fertile as from the most barren soil, by th