The Prairie

too spruce, too

peregrinate, as

kspe

little deference as may be to those who have gone before him. This forbearance, self-denial, or common sense, or by whatever term it may be thought proper to distinguish the measure, has subjected the nation to the imputation of having an ignoble origin. Were it worth the enquiry, it would be found that more than a just proportion of the renowned names of the mother-country are, at this hour, to be found in her ci-devant colonies; and it is a fact well known to the few who have wasted sufficient time to become the masters of so unimportant a subject, that the direct descendants of many a failing line, which the policy of England has seen fit to sustain by

her fullest favours, is in some measure exacted in America, from the descendant instead of the ancestor. The march of civilisation with us, has a strong analogy to that of all coming events, which are known "to cast their shadows before." The gradations of society, from that state which is called refined to that which approaches as nea

he one being above, the other beyond the reach of the law-brave, because they were inured to dangers-proud, because they were independent, and vindictive, because each was the avenger of his own wrongs. It would be unjust to the borderer to pursue the parallel much farther. He is irreligious, because he has inherited the knowledge that religion does not exist

any other intelligence than such as met the senses. His deference to this particular branch of science had induced him to listen to the application of a medical man, whose thirst for natural history had led him to the desire of profiting by the migratory propensities of the squatter. This gentleman he had cordially received into his family, or rather under his protection, and they had journeyed together, thus far through the prairies, in perfect harmony: Ishmael often felicitating his wife on the possession of a companion, who would be so serviceable in th

of midnight. He also knew the danger of his present situation too well to hazard what was left in pursuit of that which was lost. Much as the inhabitants of the prairies were known to love horses, their attachment to many other articles, still in the possession of the travellers, was equally well understood. It was a commo

during the remainder of the night. Silence and fatigue finally performed their accustomed offices, and before the morning all but the sentinels were again buried in sleep. How

stered on her stolen return to the camp. Arising warily she stepped lightly across the recumbent bodies, and proceeded with the same caution to the utmost limits of the defences of Ishmael. Here she listened, as if she doubted the propriety of venturing furthe

king their way through the matted grass met her ear. Springing eagerly forward, she soon beheld the outlines of a figure advancing up the eminence, on the side opposite to the camp. She had already uttered the name of Paul, and was beginn

dressed in an odd mixture of cloth and skins, a little past the middle age, and who advanced directly to her side, with the familiarity of an old a

r own appearance abroad at that unseasonable hour; "I know many who think the ear

ne race, or the variety, albinos, must, indeed, be stirring at this hour. I dare say, there are men who pref

e why you are so much

n, and because what I have to do cannot be performed in twelve or fifteen consecutive hours. Now have I been off two days from the family, in search

n unfortunate

No, no, Ellen, I am any thing but unfortunate. Unless, indeed, a man may be so called, whose fortune is made, whose fame may be said to be established for ever, whose name will go down to post

covered a min

s making the angle necessary to intersect the line of your uncle's march, after m

Ellen, eagerly, "

ngth of the perpendicular by calculation, and to draw the hypothenuse had nothing to do but to work my angle. I supposed the guns were fired for my benefit, and changed my co

re all

n I caught a distant view of a herd of quadrupeds, rushing up and down the swells-animals, which would have still remained unknown and undescribed, had it not been for a most felicitous accident! One, and he a noble specimen of the whole! was running a little apart from the rest. The herd made an inclination in my d

half inattentive girl, anxiously examining the prairie, but

ach particular with the precision necessary to science. You shall hear, Ellen; for you are a good and improving girl, and by retaining what you learn in this way, may yet be of great service to learning, should any accident occur to me. Indeed

wh

ttle lamp, I carried, was my protector. I kept it between us, whilst I wrote, making it serve the double purpose of luminary and shield

sposed himself to read as well as he could, by the dim l

what a treasure it has been my happy lot

fruitless examination, with a sudden lighting of her sprightly blue eyes,

exertion. A natural exudation of the animal might assist in overcoming the friction, and a powerful momentum be obtained. But all this is hopeless-at least for the present!"-he added, raising his tablets again to the light, and reading aloud; "Oct. 6, 1805. that's merely the date, which I dare say you know better than I-mem. Quadruped; seen by star-light, and by the aid of a pocket-lamp, in the prairies of North America-see Journal for Latitude and Meridian. Genus-unknown; therefore named after the discoverer, and from the happy coincidence of being seen in the evening-Vespertilio Horribilis, Americanus. Dimensions (by estimation)-Greates

tood the weakness of the philosopher, and often indulged him with a title he loved so well to hear; "but

fidence, as conveyed a meaning still more pointed than he had intended. "I have never before experienced such a trial of the nervous system; there was a mom

en, struggling to conceal her laughter, "that I hardly know whether I under

ther organs, and the domestic fowl is, in a state of nature, a gallant bird. Ellen," he added, with a countenance so solemn as

ection indicated by the Doctor, she beheld, in fact, a beast coursing over the prairie, and making a straight and rapid approach to the very spot they occupied. The day w

ns, excessive." His voice and hand were both arrested by a roar, or rather a shriek from the beast, that was sufficiently terrific to appal even a stouter heart than that of the naturalist. The cries of the animal passed over the prairie in strange cadences, and then succeeded a deep and solemn silence, that was o

instant she found breath for words; "

he speaker, and from the speaker to the beast;

ce?" continued the laughing girl. "A beast, that I have heard you say a

iably Asinus himself, Ellen Wade; but this is not the Vespertilio Horribilis of the prairies! Very different animals, I can assure you, young woman, and differently characterized in every important particular. That, carniv

riment from Ellen, which served, in some m

observed, in a manner that seemed a little apologetic, "and I was silly enough to mistake my own f

s of her listener the strong probability of his having mistaken the frightened drove for savage beasts, and then terminated her account by a lamentation for their loss, and some very natural remarks on the helpless condition in which it had left the family. The naturalist listened in silent wonder, neither interrupting her narrative nor suffering a single exclamation of surprise to escape him. The keen-eyed girl, however, saw that as she proc

ls, under the good keeping of Ishmael, and it immediately struck his acute mind, that marauders as subtle as the Siouxes would never neglect the opportunity to despoil him of these treasures. Nothing that Ellen could say to the con