Letters from the South Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1835 Excerpt: ...Virginia reels is, "Fire in the mountains, run boys, run." In traversing this mountain region, one of the first things that struck me was the solemn, severe silence which prevailed everywhere, and only broken, at distant intervals, by the note of the cock-of-the-wood; the chirping of a ground-squirrel; the crash of a falling tree; or the long echoes of the fowler's gun, which render the silence, thus broken in upon for a moment, still more striking. But if it should happen that a gust of wind comes on, the scene of repose is instantly changed into one of sublime and appalling noise and motion. The forest roars, the trees totter, and the limbs crack, in a way that is calculated to alarm the stoutest city tourist. You can hear it coming at a distance, roaring like far-off thunder, and warning the traveller to get into some clear spot, out of the reach of the falling trees. I did not see a tree actually fall; but in many places we were obliged to turn out of the road to avoid the trunks of immense oaks and pines, that had been blown down just before. Our good mothers think only of the perils of the sea; and give up a son for lost who becomes a sailor. But the perils of the land are far greater than those of the water; for there, whether in crowded cities or lonely mountains, it is the fate of man ever to be exposed to dangers, which often he cannot see, and often cannot avoid. Yet, though the ingredients of mountain scenes are pretty much the same, wherever we go, there is a continued variety occurring in the combination of the same materials of earth, water, wood, and rocks, that never tires. The prospect is always expanding or contracting: as you lose sight of an object on one side, another gradually opens in a different direction; and this continu...