the wilderness with their solemn symbolism, Prettiness
of gentle slope, wealth, and splendor of hue, are not
wanting, but they shine with veiled light. Mountains
come down to meet the Great River. The mists
of the night lift slowly away, and we are brought
suddenly into the presence-chamber. One by one
they stand out in all their rugged might, only softened
here and there by fleecy clouds still clinging to
their sides, and shining pink in the ruddy dawn.
Bold bluffs that have come hundreds of miles from
their inland home guard the river. They rise
on both sides, fronting us, bare and black, layer of
solid rock piled on solid rock, defiant fortifications
of some giant race, crowned here and there with frowning
tower; here and there overborne and overgrown with
wild-wood beauty, vine and moss and manifold leafage,
gorgeous now with the glory of the vanishing summer.
It is as if the everlasting hills had parted to give
the Great River entrance to the hidden places of the
world. And then the bold bluffs break into sharp
cones, lonely mountains rising head and shoulders above
their brethren, and keeping watch over the whole country;
groups of mountains standing sentinels on the shores,
almost leaning over the river, and hushing us to breathless
silence as we sail through their awful shadow.
And then the earth smiles again, the beetling cliffs
recede into distances, and we glide through a pleasant
valley. Green levels stretch away to the foot
of the far cliffs, level with the river’s blue,
and as smooth,—sheltered and fertile, and
fit for future homes. Nay, already the pioneer
has found them, and many a hut and cottage and huddle
of houses show whence art and science and all the
amenities of human life, shall one day radiate.
And even as we greet them we have left them, and the
heights clasp us again, the hills overshadow us, the
solitude closes around us.
[Footnote 60: Born in Massachusetts, author of
numerous magazine articles of merit and earnestness,
afterwards republished as books; known to her readers
as Gail Hamilton.]
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*
LATER MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS.
=_George Washington[61], 1732-1799._=
From a Letter to Sir John Sinclair.
=_249._= NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF VIRGINIA.
The United States, as you well know, are very extensive,
more than fifteen hundred miles between the northeastern
and southwestern extremities; all parts of which,
from the seaboard to the Appalachian Mountains, which
divide the eastern from the western waters, are entirely
settled; though not as compactly as they are susceptible
of; and settlements are progressing rapidly beyond
them.
Within so great a space, you are not to be told, that
there is a great variety of climates, and you will
readily suppose, too, that there are all sorts of
land, differently improved, and of various prices,
according to the quality of the soil, its contiguity
to, or remoteness from, navigation, the nature of
the improvements, and other local circumstances....