THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 Manolia at Tallulah Falls.
 
 OB, 
 
 GEORGIA HUNTSMAN 
 
 AUGUSTA: 
 McKINNE & HALL, 
 
 1854.
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 WHENEVER the public is addressed, either by 
 speech, lecture, or through the press ; the first and 
 highest object to be attained is, to induce thought 
 and investigation ; and, if we are to fall short of 
 its accomplishment, the effort had better not have 
 been undertaken ; information may even be im 
 parted, at times, (which is always desirable,) in so 
 prosaic a style, as to fail in accomplishing the 
 main desideratum. This effort has been under 
 taken from the solicitations of the wife of my bo 
 som, and the mother of my offspring, and if the 
 effusion, (written as hastily as an epistle,) has any 
 claim to merit, she has elicited it ; and to her, we 
 dedicate it ; we, therefore, sow to the winds, and 
 we leave it to the reader to gather, whether of 
 
 tares or of good grain. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 (3)
 
 MANOLIA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM that eventful period, when our first parents 
 were expelled from the garden of Eden, to the 
 present time, their offspring have ever manifested 
 an eagerness after something not attainable ; and, 
 when the hopes entertained at one period of our 
 existence are realized, new thirsts are created, 
 and higher hopes, and more exalted aspirations 
 excited, until, in the vale of life, if success and 
 triumph should attend our journeyings ; it would 
 then, even, be with us, as it was with the eastern 
 conqueror, overwhelmed with grief for new thea 
 tres, upon which to push his conquests. This 
 characteristic is stamped upon every condition and 
 pursuit of life. 
 
 1* (5)
 
 6 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 The affluent, living in a metropolis, luxuriating 
 every day upon the bounties of every clime which 
 the physical appetite craves, and banqueting 
 upon the exhilarating drinks of the islands, and 
 the intellectual thirstings overwhelmed amidst 
 " the feast of reason, and the flow of soul ;" and 
 continually surrounded by a "concord of sweet 
 sounds," surpassing even Wirt's description, as 
 having been cherished on the beautiful island in 
 the Ohio. All, all these, with the luxuries of the 
 nobleman's parlor, we are made to renounce ; for 
 after a time they all clog, and we involuntarily 
 turn from the conventional observances of fashion 
 able depravity, as realized among the excessive 
 autocratic planters! the busy marts of com 
 merce ! the political arena of hirelings vampires 
 feeding upon government patronage, with their 
 constructive salaries ! The Adelphi of secret con 
 claves, with their hebdomadal and mensiversary 
 banquetings, which, with their five secret signs of 
 recognition, constituting their badge of secrecy ! 
 their puerilities only adapted, in republic America, 
 to boys or young collegians, in which to cultivate 
 lasting ties of friendship and reminiscences; but in 
 the despotic governments of the old world, where 
 they were instituted, they serve to plot treasons, 
 and evade the vigilance of the rapacious authori 
 ties. We would here take occasion to refer to the
 
 THE VALE OP TALLULAH. 7 
 
 K. A. Soc. of C. C., as a striking exception to our re 
 marks of censure, being pre-eminently adapted to 
 the cultivation of the social and mental suscepti 
 bilities. 
 
 Even the more rational acquisitions, attainable 
 only in the laboratory and lecture room, are all 
 renounced ; and our eyes and affections, with tele 
 graphic despatch, stop nowhere short of the 
 "freeman's stronghold," " nature's -bulwarks," the 
 "juvenescent founts," the exhilarating, elasticity- 
 imparting atmosphere; the deep, green valleys, 
 scolloped by the silvery, dashing, headlong ocean- 
 bound torrents, and the far-away blue acclivities 
 of a thousand summits, presented at one view, 
 rising one above the other, in one direction, 
 with the ocean view in another direction, stretch 
 ing far away, illimitable in extent, as viewed from 
 Rockcliff's summit, at the junction of the Tallu- 
 lah and Chatooga rivers at the head of the Tu- 
 galo.* 
 
 * Why termed ocean view? At times the optical delusion is 
 BO complete, that involuntarily we cast our eyes over the vast 
 expanse of water as we suppose it to be resembling some 
 beautiful lake or inland sea, in search of some craft that may 
 be borne upon its billows ; and the first time we witnessed 
 this unrivalled delusion, afar off, in the direction of the Atlan 
 tic, we beheld a black volume of smoke, curling upwards, with 
 the forced rapidity and blackness, so characteristic of an ocean 
 steamer.
 
 8 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 Ah! methinks the involuntary exclamation from 
 every tongue would be : to the mountains ! to the 
 mountains we must go. Ah 1 Yes ; only in their 
 midst can we be fitted for degrees more honor 
 able and magnifying than the most stable ever 
 confessed by the schools of literature and science. 
 
 Impressed by these sensible truths, was the ever- 
 to-be-venerated Theophilus Neopold, whose wis 
 dom and versatility of acquirements ever banished 
 loneliness from his presence. Some of the fasti 
 dious, possessing no resources within themselves, 
 charged him with being a recluse ; wanting in the 
 elements to appreciate society ; not so, however ; 
 having drank deep at the founts of the two favorite 
 literary institutions of the two empire states, north 
 and south, Union and Franklin colleges, he con 
 stituted the most philosophical society wherever 
 he went, with his library, accompanied by his 
 charming wife and inimitable daughter, whose 
 charms and symmetrical proportions of mind and 
 body, contributed in no small degree in elevating 
 the father to the high order of dignity which he 
 was possessed of by nature. An individual may, 
 in early life, be the claimant of what the world 
 calls "finished," both in acquirements and ad 
 dress ; but after all of what may be obtained from 
 the schools ; and, after association in the world's 
 midst, an additional lustre may yet be acquired ;
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 9 
 
 and it will ever tell, even to the less intelligent 
 portion of the world. 
 
 The parents, in harmonious unison, sought re 
 pose, and mutually grew sick of the gorgeous 
 pageantry of every department of life which we 
 have already made allusion to. They had heard 
 of " Terrosa's wilds," so called by the aborigines, 
 meaning the terrible; and it was to this wild, soli 
 tary region of country they directed their journey, 
 in search of nature's premium exhibition; and 
 here it was that they found it. 
 
 We read much of the imposing grandeur of 
 Egypt's pyramids : Pompeii's columns ; the tun 
 nels of England and America; the "cloud-capped" 
 towers of St. Peter's and St. Paul's ; but Tallulah's 
 excavation is the crowning work of nature's giant 
 workman, which, when viewed, thrills our blood, 
 and magnifies the most exalted conceptions that 
 may have ever been engendered from all other 
 teachings of the great " I Am." 0, God ! may 
 Paradise lost be eventually regained, that thy 
 children may be elevated to thy kingdom for once, 
 to behold, and to have revealed unto them the 
 elements used, and the machinery with which thou 
 hast fashioned, and wrought out thy wonderful 
 mechanism. 
 
 Archimedes, the boast of the world's mechanics, 
 asked but for a resting-place to fix the pivot of
 
 10 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 his lever, and lie would throw the world, and all 
 therein, out of its orbit. It might be answered : 
 the stable sun I the fixed stars ! and those planets, 
 more massive than our own beloved earth, have 
 been furnished I Then, I suppose, the philoso 
 pher's lever is too short. Let him be furnished 
 with one fully commensurate in length and 
 strength to the enterprise, and behold how soon, 
 after he has planted it upon its fulcrum, the 
 rotund motion of our ponderous globe, obeying 
 his Maker's laws has knocked into the world of 
 imponderables, with its mighty force, " Old Hark 
 Ye Maids," together with all of his wire-pullers, 
 and lever- workers, fixtures, and appliances. Feeble 
 man! how strange that thy "ipse dixits" should 
 have made so many proselytes.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE father of our heroine, upon reaching the 
 point he had sought, located his wife and daughter 
 in the vicinity, and went himself on foot in search 
 of a pioneer; many of whom had emigrated to 
 this country before the Indians had left for their 
 western home, and were supposed to be as fami 
 liar with all of the wilds and hidden recesses, as 
 the Indians were ; the latter having mostly emi 
 grated after ratifying a treaty of their territory 
 to the state, moving far away to the west, beyond 
 the " father of waters," as they termed the Missis 
 sippi river ; but some few of the more patriotic of 
 the tribe still lingered in the deep gorges on the 
 streams of their fatherland, refusing to alienate 
 their affections ; for they are known to be the most 
 irreconcilable of all other people on the face of 
 the globe, in becoming dispossessed of their ac 
 customed hunting grounds. 
 
 In Leopold's search for a white man pioneer, 
 he fell in with old Oothlacoochy, the sworn enemy 
 of the white man. He wanted but a sufficient force 
 to have waged an eternal exterminating war with 
 the whites! but his philosophy forced him into
 
 12 MAJSTOLIA; OK, 
 
 the humiliating conviction, that " discretion was 
 the better part of valor," and he reluctantly sub 
 mitted to what he considered a humiliating degra 
 dation, which has been the destiny of his, as well 
 as every other tribe of our Indians. The whites 
 had already so destroyed and run off the game 
 with their hounds, that the Indian, after his mode 
 of still-hunting, could not gain his subsistence, 
 and but for the unknown valley of Tallulah, old 
 Oothlacoochy would have, long ere this, followed 
 his tribe. 
 
 He had so long a time traded his game, and 
 "varmant"* skins, as he called them, that he be 
 came familiar with the English language, and 
 learned to speak it very intelligibly; and had 
 acquired some knowledge of the habits of the 
 whites. While wandering in the woods in search 
 of game, with old "sugar-lip" on his shoulder, 
 (this is the term he had given to his old rifle,) 
 he perceived a venerable white man, unlike a hun 
 ter of the mountains, in his deportment and attire. 
 The opportunity, he thought, was a favorable one 
 for his revenge, which he had long nurtured 
 against the whites ; but upon a closer scrutiny, 
 (for he was a very Lavator,) he detected something 
 
 * Varmant is used as it was by Davy Crockett and most of 
 the pioneer hunters ; a significant term. Vermin applied more 
 generally to insects.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 13 
 
 in the man that denoted nobler game than often 
 crossed his path ; for in the day of which we 
 speak, Georgians were not all fillibusters ; some 
 few of the noble works of God were to be found, 
 and the scrutinizing intelligence of the savage 
 mind, in this instance, was as quick as his vision, 
 which is so proverbial. 
 
 Neopold sought not preferment, nor .was he the 
 less honorable for not having attained it, accord 
 ing to its acceptation. The world had it not in 
 its power to impose an office that would have been 
 acceptable ; and there were none, to whom it was 
 conceded, who occupied a place between himself 
 and his God, excepting a Washington, and he, not 
 because of the honors heaped upon him, but be 
 cause he dignified them all, and aspired to none 
 higher. Eeader! do you charge such a spirit 
 with being imbued with the feeling of aristo 
 cracy ? We know not the meaning of the term, 
 if a man's own dignity and elevation, " per se," 
 (and at the same time conceding to every other 
 man the same inherent privileges,) a conscious 
 ness in the security of being one of the noblest 
 works of God, in the rectitude of integrity. 
 Such an one looks upon the mere claimant of po 
 sition, in no degree exciting ambition's repose; 
 though an emperor wearing a third-handed coat 
 2
 
 14 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 of the once bumble Corsican Uncle.* Wherever 
 the feeling of aristocracy is found, a supercilious 
 ness to the mere mockery of greatness, is an inevi 
 table concomitant. The sterling American would 
 rather do honor to the high-souled, independent 
 woodsman, claiming none other than his rifle upon 
 his shoulder, ever ready to maintain his country's 
 integrity, than those, though their name be legion, 
 ever clamorous for office, without coming up to 
 the full measurement of the standard, which will 
 ever impart a dignity to the position they seek to 
 fill. 
 
 There were others of Leopold's school in 
 Georgia, but of not sufficient force to overcome 
 the predatory tendency of the masses. Georgia 
 can still boast of the offspring which bears the 
 stamp of their noble conservative ancestors, as we 
 have seen reflected in Congress from the seventh 
 and eighth districts, for several years past, the 
 latter now removed to the other department of 
 legislation. "We use the term conservative, as 
 approbatory, knowing full well that it is a term 
 much derided by disunionists and demagogues ; 
 but a Christian, law-abiding patriot, cannot be 
 otherwise than conservative. We do not write to 
 
 * The humble condition of the first Napoleon was such, 
 that he and a brother were constrained, either the one or the 
 other, to remain at home for the want of two coats.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 15 
 
 administer to every taste, probably adapted to no 
 others but ourselves ; we therefore, without fear ; 
 challenge the anathemas of the "higher law 
 whigs," a set of politicians so scrupulous of 
 honor, that they have taken a position high 
 above constitutions and compacts, looking to a 
 higher source for inspirations, something after 
 the manner of the spiritual rappers ; or the de- 
 magoguish democrats, so scrupulous of the ho 
 nor of others, that they would hold them chained, 
 hand and foot, bound over to "masterly inac 
 tion," for fear they might violate their pledged 
 faith; esteeming others as being too scrupu 
 lous of a high sense of honor, to act at all ; 
 apprehending they might make shipwreck of 
 constitutions, and solemn compacts! and that, 
 therefore, they, themselves, being of a different 
 school ; perchance, the progressives manifest des 
 tiny, or Young America ; among whom, the mere 
 mockery of subterfuges, is a sufficient justifica 
 tion of their own movements. As to the lachry 
 mal sympathisers of "black suffering humanity," 
 we would bear a little longer for, if insti 
 gated from honest intent. So soon as the first 
 paroxysm of their grief shall have passed away, 
 and the relief of tears be afforded, we may 
 apprehend a general loosening of their purse- 
 strings, and an aid and comfort of more "sol-
 
 1(5 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 darity" bo afforded, that will accomplish some 
 thing towards their emancipation ; thereby make 
 restitution for their past misdeeds, in having 
 entailed the ignominious black servitude upon 
 the south.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE press has become so prolific, and books 
 so multiplied, and the world has become too much 
 of the progressive, headlong, hurry-bustle, impa 
 tient tendency, to stop long enough to undertake 
 the reading of many pages. We are, as our 
 "liege lord" President would say, "so much of a 
 nation of sovereigns," (every man entitled to 
 marry into a royal family, I suppose he means, 
 and, by-the-by, some of us can boast of something 
 even better than that in the way of wives,) we 
 have become, latterly, the very " peers of Presi 
 dents and Secretries," and the presidency of the 
 United States has for a long time stood " without 
 a peer ;" and this serves for my illustration. Each 
 one choosing to become his own compositor not 
 even going so far as the proof sheet. But, while 
 hurrying away with the speed of the wings of the 
 lightning, we compose, and take it as we would 
 " a hasty plate of soup." 
 
 But, in soberness, to please the public taste, 
 
 would require a versatility of talent, only to be 
 
 found in a condensation of all the " scribendi pro 
 
 bono publico." Shakspeare, with his muscular 
 
 2*
 
 18 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 originalities, which will ever stand the test of time, 
 which the teachers of belles-lettres have fixed as 
 the standard of taste ! the civilization of Walter 
 Scott ! the spent genius of Bulwer ! the chaste 
 pretties of James ! the dashing desperado conclu 
 sions of Eugene Sue ! all, with Wirt's beauties, and 
 "Wilton's sublime 1 Campbell's grandiloquent, and 
 many others sprinkled in for seasoning ; all to be 
 thrown into the crucible, seven times over, until 
 the conglomeration is thoroughly refined, concen 
 trated, and purified of all dross. We need not 
 expect anything very short of such a work to at 
 tract a general reading, and escape severe criticism. 
 Oar likes and dislikes are strewed so indiscrimi 
 nately, and in so unfinished, unstudied a style, 
 that we apprehend no quarters will be shown unto 
 us ; but our object is more the elevation of a por 
 tion of mankind, than the pulling down or de 
 pression of any one. 
 
 We said the old chieftain could speak intelli 
 gibly, and that is about what is commonly done 
 by the majority of us ; for the orthography and the 
 etymology of the different schools of rival standing, 
 are so variant, that our language is sadly in want 
 of systematizing, by getting up an annual conven 
 tion of teachers from every section. Our pro 
 nunciation is becoming so discordant, that, unless 
 something is done, the day is not far distant
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 19 
 
 when it will be numbered among the dead lan 
 guages of antiquity. 
 
 The progess of the age in systematizing, and 
 "moving according to Gunter," characterizes every 
 field, excepting that of language; (and politics, I 
 might add ;) ours is becoming a babel. 
 
 The old Indian was toating his rifle upon his 
 shoulder, (not carrying on a horse, as is sometimes 
 done,) he had no horse, for he was too poor ; but 
 thought he needed one to carry him away to the 
 west to join his tribe. This want being ascertained, 
 proved him to be the very individual the searcher 
 for happiness wanted most to stumble upon. 
 " Humph 1" grunted Oothlacoochy, by way of at 
 tracting Neopold, who, not being accustomed to 
 the rude, uncivilized salutation, jerked up a sud 
 den, somewhat confused, halt ; which being per 
 ceived by the savage, who mildly spoke, " Wan 
 derer, lost, I suppose ?" " Not exactly ; but still I 
 know not whither I am going, unless you be the 
 individual whom I am in search of." 
 
 "Eh!" replied the Indian. "I took you for a 
 different man, than one of your pale-faced, hungry 
 devils, ready to feed away every Cherokee to your 
 children, rather than not get rid of them at all. 
 If I had at first, in this unfrequented spot, taken 
 you for one of such, you probably would have 
 been worse startled than you were; for the crack.
 
 20 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 of unerring sugar-lip would have been my first 
 message." 
 
 "Your first decision was the most correct. 
 Now come, let us counsel as friends ; if you are 
 red and I white," replied Neopold. 
 
 " Well, then," replied Oothlacoochy, " if you 
 are honest in being the fast friend, and the red 
 man's counsellor, let us draw off to yonder massy 
 rock, which juts over that foaming river, and we 
 may be alike amused in watching the whirls of 
 the speckled mountain trout, which I expect you 
 have never seen in your marshy lowlands ; for I 
 take you to be from that country, where my 
 father told me at noon we had no shadow." 
 
 After seating themselves upon the huntsman's 
 ottoman, Neopold said : " Sir, I have been raised, 
 as you seem very reasonably to suppose, in civili 
 zation, or, in the midst of society ; but have long 
 since envied many of the pleasures that are inci 
 dent to the savage life. This luxurious feast 
 which I now behold all around me, and overhead, 
 so canopied over with the tulip tree, spruce, and 
 others of equal beauty, indigenous to your moun 
 tains." 
 
 Oothlacoochy was an educated man, and had 
 been a constant reader of the Cherokee Sentinel, 
 a paper published in the Cherokee language, 
 therefore, he was not incapable of appreciating 
 sentiment, but Neopold continued :
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 21 
 
 " Notwithstanding I set such a high apprecia 
 tion upon this prodigality of nature's luxuriance 
 in yonder granite pile ; and of this evening twi 
 light which reigns underneath, even when the sun 
 is in his meridian watches; and these foaming 
 torrents, whitened over constantly like your win 
 ter snow drifts with such scenes, so constantly 
 presented, you huntsmen, climbing those laborious 
 steeps, can never become fatigued, or overheated." 
 
 "Ah!" replied the -savage, "you must get your 
 long shooting-iron, such an one as that leaning 
 on the rock by your side, and try it with us. 
 Imagination, it is true, has much to do in bring 
 ing home to us comforts and repose ; but, sir, let 
 me tell you, the sight and reality of snow cannot 
 stop the oozing of sweat from a man's body, if 
 you were to get into the contest I did once ; just 
 up on that bluff. I shot a large, seven-snagged 
 buck, and just creased him, as we hunters term it 
 he fell I walked up, (laying aside old sugar- 
 lip,) and with my knife in hand, took hold of his 
 horns ; he immediately sprang up, with the 
 strength of an unhurt deer, and then commenced 
 the tug of war for about a half hour. Self-pre 
 servation, as you reading men have it, is the first 
 law of nature ; yet you deny the boon to us poor 
 men of nature, and we can't help ourselves, or we 
 would, as I did in my struggle with the buck.
 
 22 MAKOLIA; OR, 
 
 If had given, up and let loose, lie would have 
 killed me; but I held on, and worked him. along 
 by giving way in the direction of the steep ; and 
 with one desperate plunge, carried him, and I 
 along with him, over the precipice, and down into 
 that boiling chasm ; and, being equal to a beaver 
 in water, almost as good under as out, I soon got 
 the advantage. The water, certainly, on that oc 
 casion, had a telling effect on my sinking strength ; 
 but it was not the imagination upon seeing the 
 foaming waters, but its bracing, cooling effect upon 
 my exhausted muscles. I soon succeeded in drown 
 ing him, and swam to yon sand-beach below. But, 
 sir, I interrupted you, excuse me, for we all de 
 light to dwell upon themes befitting our taste." 
 
 " Well, Oothlacoochy, for I take that to be your 
 name, whom I have heard so much of." 
 . "You have not mistaken the man," replied the 
 savage, with a fiend-like s^.owl ; for his notoriety, 
 alluded to by JSTeopold, brought to memory the 
 much talk among the whites, of deeds of darkness 
 and bloody dramas, that ^ r ere laid at his door. 
 Neopold resumed : 
 
 "I am in search of a mountain home; one of 
 the greatest seclusion known in your wilds." 
 
 " Well, sir, your star has led you to the proper 
 place ; and you are no less lucky in finding your 
 man, if I can make it serve my purposes.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 23 
 
 There lives a pale -face dog that old shoog* has, for 
 a long time, had a keen appetite for, and nothing 
 but his blood will ever satiate our thirst; but 
 the terrible hole her bullet cuts is too well known 
 to be mistaken, or some of these mountains would 
 be richer than you see 'em." 
 
 "Come, come," said Neopold, "throw aside 
 such inexorable revenge, if they are inherent in 
 your bosom, and let us become associates." 
 
 " But ah 1" replied the savage, " let this deed be 
 done, and then I promise ; sir, understand me, for 
 what the red man has resolved on, and pledged to 
 perform, the upheaving of these mountains can't 
 shake him in ; what I tell you to-day, is as true 
 as yon eagle, soaring over the water on the look 
 out for a fish, is to return to his nest. I have the 
 most charming spot of earth, the Great Spirit 
 made first of all, when his hands were fresh, and 
 his affections strong for man, whom he had so re 
 cently created, and this spot is known to no other 
 living man, but this son of the old Oothlacoochy 
 chief; no other has ever made foot-print on that 
 sacred soil. "When my old sire first carried me 
 along with him, down this wild, run-mad stream, 
 we call it Terrora, (the terrible.) When I first 
 reached this beautiful valley, I saw the old bucks 
 
 * Meaning his rifle, shoog for sugar.
 
 24 MANOLIA; OE, 
 
 with tlieir branching horns, reaching up their 
 tall heads to eat the fruit that there grew, such as 
 man never ate out of that valley, without starting 
 at our approach ; for some of them had been there 
 for years without ever receiving a fright ; for the 
 cliffs, enclosing this valley, were too steep for one 
 of them ever to escape ; and the only way by 
 which they could get out, was to take the foaming 
 river, which they were deterred from doing, hav 
 ing so narrowly escaped from getting dashed to 
 pieces as they passed over the falls above, for a 
 mile in extent, one tumble after another. This 
 not unfrequently happened ; for in all countries the 
 deer will readily take the water, when pursued by 
 dogs. Along this chasm, Tallulah, for a mile in 
 extent, the steep is so great, that they can't de 
 scend to the water, but must pass around on the 
 one side or the other, to a crossing-place above 
 the falls; and when the stream is swollen, they 
 fail reaching the opposite bank, until washed 
 within the chasm, from which there is no escape, 
 excepting to be drifted along the whirling rapids, 
 pitching over a -succession of cataracts the entire 
 distance, finding no resting-place until they shall 
 have reached the beautiful valley described at the 
 foot of the succession of cataracts ; here the banks 
 are low, and fortuitously they make an escape 
 from a watery grave. Many, I have been told,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 25 
 
 are dashed to pieces, and their carcasses have been 
 found away below. After so narrowly making 
 their escape, though the deer commonly regard 
 the rivers so little, they are ever averse to taking 
 the water a second time after being hurled through 
 the rapids once." 
 
 Oothlacoochy continued, " Sir, I was but a boy 
 when the old chief took me with him to the 
 greatest perpendicular summit on the opposite 
 side of the river, where the jump is said to be 
 nine hundred feet high. About one-third of the 
 way down, there is a small platform, perpendicu 
 lar above, and perpendicular below, down to the 
 water ; this platform of rock is called the Eagle's 
 Nest, so called from the eagles having raised their 
 young, for time immemorial, in a cavity contigu 
 ous to the platform. For the sake of adventure, 
 or wishing to procure the eagles' feathers, for he 
 is held in higher veneration than any other bird 
 by the red man, as well as the white man." (In 
 America he is everywhere known as the bird of 
 liberty! the banner bird! the mountain bird! our 
 nation's bird ! the symbol of the free ! he holds 
 the most conspicuous position on the coat of 
 arms of our republic.) " To reach this, the only 
 resting-place down the steep, our people would cut 
 thongs of deer-skin, of sufficient length to reach 
 from above to the platform, and by tying one end 
 3
 
 26 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 around the body, and putting the strap once 
 around a spruce pine near the summit, with ease 
 one could be let down ; which point, when once 
 gained, and strange to tell, from no other point, 
 could you get sight of this obscured little valley. 
 I told you it was the Great Spirit's first work. 
 Your good book, which you call God's book, I 
 have read, and it was in that book I found out 
 that it was the Great Spirit's first work, which he 
 called paradise; and there, first, he planted his 
 two first children, whom he named Adam and 
 Eve, and for their disobedience in eating the for 
 bidden fruit, he expelled them from the garden, 
 ever after to obtain their living by the sweat of 
 their brow. Now, why I know this vale, to which 
 I allude, is the garden of which we read, is, because 
 in this vale a matchless fruit is produced ; its equal 
 nowhere else is found and I have not been con 
 fined, as you may suppose, to these uncultivated, 
 rocky cliffs I have frequented your most favored 
 spots, where you have collected the fruits of the 
 most favored countries of the east and south." 
 
 " From this platform of which I speak, the only 
 point from which the vale could be seen, three of 
 our best bloods made the fearful leap, down for 
 hundreds of feet into the abyss of boiling water 
 below, one of the principal cataracts pouring con 
 tinually into the basin ; the velocity with which
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 27 
 
 they were carried, hurled them with such force 
 against the rocks underneath, that they were never 
 more heard from. Their memories were held in 
 sacred veneration by our people, and their spirits 
 were supposed to have been the tenants of this val 
 ley, and called the Indian's Paradise. And to gain 
 this favored land, my old father persisted in, and 
 in the same manner as described, he let me down 
 to the shelving rock, or platform, and then secur 
 ing the strap above, he let himself down to where 
 I stood. He then said unto me, 'Now, my son, 
 you have been taught never to listen to the coun 
 sels of fear, and if thou hast, remember them not 
 to-day, for thou hast to go with thy aged father to 
 yonder lovely spot, which appeareth so plain down 
 this stream, and which thou hast never before 
 seen ; thou art no less expert in swimming than I, 
 for thou rememberest oft have we overtaken the 
 swimming buck, and with each other's assistance 
 overcome him in his strugglings, and brought 
 him safe to shore. Our old chief, Conesanga, was 
 the last of our blood, who made the leap which 
 we are now about taking and I was an eye-wit 
 ness to where he struck the water ; the venerable 
 old worthy was never more heard from. We must 
 be careful to strike in a different place ; you be 
 careful to follow me. Immediately under the fall 
 of water, which has been pouring for ages, the
 
 28 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 rock must be worn away by the attrition of the 
 constant pouring of such a volume of water, and 
 the tumbling down of rocks washed from above ; 
 and there, too, the boiling up of the water is so 
 strong, that our fall must be, to a considerable ex 
 tent, overcome, and before reaching the rocks at 
 the bottom we can safely rise to the surface ; then 
 our safety lies in not being drawn back under the 
 cataract, for if we are, drown we must. You hold 
 on, until you fairly see me in yon rapid below the 
 pool.' At the instant he concluded his instruc 
 tions, he shouted, ' Fare thee well, my son, if we 
 fail, we hereafter meet in the spirit land, pre 
 pared by the Great Spirit for his devoted peo 
 ple, a country forever abounding with game.' 
 Before he was through with the exclamation, his 
 bound was made, and he half way to the water. 
 For a few moments he was lost to my sight under 
 neath the angry billows, but quickly I saw him 
 rise, and with his stalwart arms, he struggled, 
 remaining poised against the counter current 
 which drew him with such force towards the catar 
 act ; perceiving the much dreaded danger which 
 he before apprehended, with a despairing struggle 
 he lifted himself almost out of water, and gained 
 some headway down stream; in an instant he 
 reached the rapid which he had pointed out to 
 me, and amidst the constant thunderings of water-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 29 
 
 falls, I faintly heard, 'all's well!' and with an 
 ejaculation to the Great Spirit, to take me in 
 safety along with my venerable chief, whitherso 
 ever he might be directed, I was whirling down 
 the dizzy height into the insatiable gulf below ; I 
 felt as if I had nearly lost my breath before reach 
 ing the water ; but the shock I received from the 
 plunge into the cold water, revived me. and be 
 ing less expert in lifting myself out again, after 
 making a deep plunge under water, my velocity 
 carried me to a point more remote from the fall, 
 consequently, I found less difficulty in getting 
 under way from the suck ; but a few efforts, and 
 I gained the sluice below, and before I felt assur 
 ances of safety, the old man, in contending against 
 the current to witness my fate, exclaimed, ' follow 
 on, my boy, all's well 1 bright visions of a new 
 born existence lie in wait for us ; we are so far 
 triumphant; but still many dangers yet lie in 
 our voyage.' We plied our sinews most lustily, 
 and in a short time our goal was reached. Both 
 of us, nearly overcome, rolled ourselves from the 
 water's edge, upon the green grass, and stretched 
 our weary limbs underneath a pavilion of vines, 
 thickly hanging with clusters of rich purple. ' And 
 here we rest,' ejaculated the old chief; and we 
 found that rest, and with it a glorious content 
 ment. 
 
 3*
 
 30 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 " This pilgrimage we oftentimes took together 
 before he died, and which I have made alone too 
 often to enumerate, since his death. And but for 
 that vale, I would have joined my tribe long ere 
 this. 
 
 "The profusion of apples and deer, I have 
 given you some conceptions of; here we lingered 
 for days. The finest founts of water gushed out 
 of the mountains which encircled the valley. 
 After ascertaining that at every point the steep 
 was insurmountable, we had but one outlet, 
 which we deemed practicable ; that was to swim 
 down the river to a point below the chasm, which 
 terminated on either side in precipitous cliffs, jut 
 ting up to the water's edge, which is just above 
 its junction with the Chatooga. 
 
 " It is this sequestered spot, incomparable on 
 earth, to which I'll pledge myself to conduct 
 you in safety, if you will aid me in making 
 my escape, after my deadly hostility is ap 
 peased." 
 
 "Ah, Oothlacoochy I" replied Neopold, "thou 
 hast offered a temptation far exceeding the one 
 you""described as having been first cultivated by 
 the hand of God, which proved so irresistible to 
 the first daughter of the human family ; but the 
 exorbitance of your demand is too far above my 
 reach ; for you must know that in accordance
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 31 
 
 with our laws, I must become your accessory, and 
 held in no wise less guilty than yourself. The 
 prize you offer, I must confess, has more attrac 
 tions to me than the glitter of a jewelled diadem; 
 but the blood of my unfortunate brother, from 
 whom I have received no injury, would bring 
 down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
 The curse upon Cain would be my doom ; excuse 
 me from any participation, or cognizance of the 
 bloody drama, which I would gladly dissuade you 
 from ; and let us go together into this vale of so 
 much loveliness, and there live in brotherly affec 
 tion the days allotted us by the Great Spirit. But 
 tell me, Indian, hast not thou found any other 
 means but the one described, by which we can get 
 down into this valley ; how am I to take along 
 with me my wife and little daughter, my comforts 
 of living, my books, and apparatus are ' sine qua 
 nons' to my existence, in the rearing up of my 
 Manolia, and they could not take the plunge you 
 have described." 
 
 " Well," replied Oothlacoochy, " I think a plan 
 suggests itself, by which means all your desired 
 objects can be accomplished; the rapid which 
 leads out of the valley is very great, so much so, 
 that often have our most skillful swimmers, and 
 paddlers of the Indian bark canoe, failed in 
 making the ascent ; but my plan is, that we ex-.
 
 32 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 cavate from one of those large tulip trees, such as 
 grow in the valley, a large canoe, and if you can 
 procure one of those long cable ropes, such as I 
 have seen upon your town river banks, I can 
 fasten it above to a strong tree on the water's edge, 
 and by that means, I think you and I can pull the 
 boat up the rapids." 
 
 " An excellent idea I" said Neopold, " and now, 
 Oothlacoochy, let us enter into the solemn com 
 pact, and you shall be rewarded with a hundred 
 fold more intrinsically, than the price you have 
 set. I will go to work and procure the fixtures." 
 
 " Fail not," said the Indian, " to procure all the 
 necessaries the world affords to produce, and work 
 out the comforts you wish secured. The valley is 
 rich in fruits, and its soil productive, from which 
 means of living can be obtained without employ 
 ing the one-half of my time. Pheasants, &c., 
 so abound that a supply of meat will always be at 
 hand. If you should want at any time to leave 
 the valley to procure needful articles for your 
 family, I can let you down the rapid in the canoe, 
 and draw it back until the time appointed for 
 your return." 
 
 They mutually arose to make preparation for 
 the consummation at the proposed scheme. Neo- 
 pold retraced his steps to the lodgings, where he 
 had left his family ; he could but be amazed at
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 33 
 
 the wonderful degree of cultivation the old Indian 
 manifested, infinitely surpassing the acquirements 
 of many of our white citizens who claim the 
 right of suffrage ; and the same privilege withheld 
 from the more enlightened Indian. Ye aboli 
 tionists ! where are your sympathies? the ebony is 
 your idol. This led to the following reflections. 
 Neopold was not ignorant of the history of the 
 times, in fact his accomplishments were various ; 
 posted up in politics, and possessed of a fluency 
 of speech that would have shone forth pre-emi 
 nently in the halls of our congress, or in any 
 other deliberative body on the face of the earth. 
 Neopold thus soliloquised : "Since it has become a 
 conceded point, that first to establish a pure, 
 harmoniously- working republican form of govern 
 ment, and then to maintain it, wisdom and 
 morality are essentially necessary to be inculcated 
 among its citizens ; if so, what an error our pro 
 minent men are committing in the expending, we 
 know not how much, in apeing the mockery of 
 Egyptian antiquity. How mortifying it is, that 
 our Washington should not have inspired even 
 demagogues to a more lofty exhibition of vene 
 ration. 
 
 "The conception of doing such a patriot honour, 
 should have been of substantial utility ; some 
 thing or other, which, for ages to come, the attri-
 
 34: MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 tion of water, the crumbling effects of the winter's 
 frost, and the action of electricity, all combined, 
 could never have moulded away; and how is it 
 possible, that a pile of rocks can contribute in 
 any manner to enlarge his influence, in the main 
 tenance of our institutions, which he contributed 
 in so eminent a degree to perfect, and manifested 
 such solicitude to have perpetuated. If inscribing 
 his name mountain high, for thousands of feet 
 above the level of the ocean, could contribute to 
 the perpetuation of his influence in maintaining 
 our institutions, then let it be inscribed upon the 
 capstone, (with a pen of steel) of our rock moun 
 tain of Decalb. I venture to affirm, that the 
 Washington Monument Committee will not, in a 
 generation to come, collect funds sufficient to rival 
 its magnificent grandeur. This can be done with 
 out cost ; and then let there be ingatherings of 
 gold from California and Australia ; let your fund 
 be ever so great ; and establish a something of in 
 trinsic worth, which will be calculated to exalt the 
 patriot, and alike perpetuate our glorious repub 
 lican institutions, by disseminating useful and 
 abiding knowledge and morals among America's 
 freemen. Let this pyerian fount be called the 
 Washington Institute. And let its primary object 
 be to systematize learning in our schools, by edu 
 cating a proportionate number from each state, to
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAHU 35 
 
 fulfill the place of teachers. What a national 
 glory we would have obtained ; and this would be 
 Georgia's bequest to Washington's nation of sove 
 reigns, the asylum of the oppressed, and the home 
 of the brave, "esto perpetuae." Great God of 
 nations send down, and all over our'land, the moun 
 tain blast, charged with the intellectual, sustain 
 ing influences, that our capacity may be enlarged 
 to meet the emergencies that are spread before us ; 
 that the exalted destiny as portrayed in the teach 
 ings and eloquence of a lamented Daniel Webster, 
 may be yet cherished and realized by the republic ; 
 let the triumphs of reason and soberness, which 
 ever characterized his statesmanship, forever cul 
 minate in the ascendant. 
 
 "Could the spirit of our departed hero and 
 patriot be invoked his noble spirit, that disdained 
 walking upon a carpet, which was spread upon the 
 beach, where the vessel landed him, in one of our 
 seaports he would in like manner disdain the 
 unmeaning mausoleum, and applaud what we would 
 have, to be, our Georgia bequest." 
 
 Neopold, upon reaching the lodging of his 
 family, found that they had become very uneasy 
 at his long absence. After relating, what his wife 
 termed the wild abstractions of the old Indian 
 chief, persisting, that it was no other than one of 
 the old Indian's visions, about the hunter's paradise,
 
 36 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 which is so common among our aborigenes, in 
 believing the Great Spirit has prepared to receive 
 the faithful after death, this she had often heard 
 was the religion of the Indians everywhere ; how 
 ever, Neopold had faith in the truthfulness of 
 what had been related to him by the Indian ; and 
 with whom he soon again met, and received further 
 assurances that it was not a thing of poetry.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 37 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 WHEN naught is heard but the cataract's con 
 stant roar; and oft and anon, the faintly-heard 
 drumming of the mountain pheasant,* more de 
 lightful to the huntsman than the Spanish patriot's 
 march to the volunteer corps ; or, the plaintive, far- 
 distant croakings of the silvery black raven, 
 whose melodies often hurries the huntsman, with 
 his quickly-sprung rifle, to a present, in anticipa 
 tion of his shaggy Spanish hounds giving tongue 
 in pursuit of a deer. These melodious, soul-in 
 spiring enchantments of the mountains, surpass 
 all the pomp and circumstances of a Napoleon's 
 court ; and the most joyous seasons elicit their 
 enchantments, and alike invite forth to the craggy 
 cliffs the syballine apparition, which has been so 
 often seen by visitors in their excursions among 
 the interminable cataracts and craggy heights, for 
 a mile in extent, which characterize, above all 
 others of nature's grandeurs, the Tallulah falls of 
 Georgia. We have seen the much-talked of Nia 
 gara, and other falls of notoriety on our Ameri 
 can continent ; but after beholding the frightful, 
 
 * The strange apparition, so frequently appearing at the in 
 stant of the rapping of the pheasant, is supposed to have been 
 the origin of the spiritual rappers. 
 4
 
 38 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 and terrific sublimities, the variegated and pictur 
 esque grandeurs, which are nowhere blended in 
 so eminent a degree, as we see here ; the involun 
 tary exclamation is uttered, "is this the much- 
 talked of Niagara 1" With the subjects which we 
 have presented before us, we but lack the gifted 
 pen of Mrs. Ann Stephens to bring us into song. 
 
 It was during the annual recess of Franklin 
 College, intervening between the final examination 
 in June, of the graduating class, to the first Wed 
 nesday in August, the commencement day, that 
 the seniors, headed by their beloved Professor 
 Waddel, took an excursion to the falls ; and all 
 alike were transfixed with amazement at the sight 
 of the beautiful belle of the cliffs, of whom neither 
 the guide, nor any of the huntsmen in the neigh 
 boring mountains could give any account, though 
 all had often seen the peerless beauty ; and of a 
 dozen testimonies which we consulted, but two 
 had ever seen her otherwise than alone ; these two 
 affirmed, that on one occasion, they saw her ac 
 companied by a venerable old man, with the 
 mien of an apostle of old ; his antiquated appear 
 ance imparted an additional sublimity to the scene. 
 
 These pilgrims from college first saw this mys 
 terious apparition from the elevated flat rock, 
 on the south-west cliffs, called the Devil's Pulpit, 
 which point is very little higher up the stream 
 than what was formerly called the Eagle's Nest,
 
 THE VALE OP TALLULAH. 39 
 
 but on opposite sides. This shelving rock, or 
 platform of the Eagle's Nest, in modern days, has 
 gone by the appellation of the " Student's Eos- 
 trum," and the cave, near by, in which the eagles 
 built their nests, " Vulcan's Forge," so called 
 from the number of thunderbolts which has been 
 discharged at a neighboring mountain below, on 
 the south-west side of the river, an eminence so 
 dreaded by the hunters in time of storm ; for 
 there is a complete devastation of the larger trees 
 upon its summit, and called Thunder Mountain by 
 them. 
 
 This mysterious object, of such angelic loveli 
 ness, called the Maid of the Cliffs, was, when first 
 seen by young Eossius, standing upon the Stu 
 dent's Eostrum; he was instantly overwhelmed 
 with admiration; but all alike seemed to be para 
 lyzed, and attempted to descend, with the view of 
 crossing over to where the object stood, which 
 they were not aware was a thing of impossibility 
 at that point; but they soon lost sight of the 
 mountain nymph, as some of them called her. 
 
 After the party had run out their time in fer- 
 retting out all of the secret cavities, and viewing 
 all of the grandeurs which nature had been so 
 prodigal in piling around this hallowed spot, the 
 professor announced that the time had arrived for 
 leaving. Says a student, whose name was Vance, 
 " Our valedictorian is ' non est inventus.' "
 
 40 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 " What ! Eossius not yet come ? we can't wait 
 any longer; he will follow on after us. Who last 
 saw him?" inquired the professor. 
 
 " I," replied Julius. "About an hour since, after 
 hurrying all the morning up the river, pressing 
 me to go on with him against my remonstrances ; 
 finally, at the head of the chasm I stopped and 
 told him, that we would be waited for, that twelve 
 o'clock was the hour our pater conscrepti had 
 fixed upon for our homeward march, and now, 
 the morning has left us nothing, 'vacfe, vadeT 
 cried I, at the top of my voice, running back, 
 with hurried steps; 'if thou wilt persist, thou 
 sleepest out to-night with old bruin for thy chum 
 instead of Julius. I do believe that white eagle, 
 which thou mistook for a very Desdomona, hath 
 turned thy brain, Rossius.' 
 
 " He replied, ' Come, come, chum, go with me 
 yet farther ' Satius est petere fontes, quam sec- 
 tari rivulos.' 
 
 " So saying, he suited his actions to his quota 
 tion, hurrying with headlong steps up stream, and 
 I down, retracing my footsteps." 
 
 After this account given of Rossius by his 
 chum, Julius, the venerable professor meditated 
 seriously, for a moment, in a state of suspense ; 
 for Rossius was a favorite with the professor of 
 languages; after a pause, the old man drew 
 himself up, exclaiming, " ' Quamdiu Catalina, abu-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 41 
 
 tere, nostra patientia.' Julius, thou art not more 
 sad, in leaving behind your chum, than I am ; 
 but we have come on a soldier's march, and we 
 must maintain the reputation which gives him 
 character and efficiency ; a strict adherence to dis 
 cipline, and orders previously issued. Napoleon 
 never would have taken Moscow, if the glaciers 
 of the Alps had proven an impediment ; if re 
 monstrances and difficulties had been heeded 
 by a Columbus, the American continent would, in 
 all probability, never have been discovered." 
 
 With great impatience at the hesitancy of the 
 professor, Bender exclaimed aloud, " Quern Deus 
 vult pedere, prius dementat." 
 
 To which Julius, with much emphasis, retorted 
 in defence of Eossius, " There are those who can 
 see the faults of others, but who cannot discern 
 their own." 
 
 "Julius Caesar! do you mean that for me?" said 
 Eender. 
 
 " Qui capit ille facit," replied Julius. 
 
 " Come, come, young gentlemen, I fear this dis 
 cussion is becoming too personal," continued the 
 old professor. " I know not what may become of 
 Rossius, but I must confess, Render's quotation 
 sounds like a presentiment, and I confess it weighs 
 heavily on my mind ; but, Julius, to arrest discon 
 tent in our ranks, let us be off on our march." 
 4*
 
 42 MANOLIA OK, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Rossius's feelings were too deeply enlisted in 
 behalf of the object of his solicitations to have, 
 for once, meditated upon "what might probably be 
 the remarks made, at his expense. 
 
 When he finally became wearied, and nearly 
 exhausted, he approached a sound he heard a little 
 above him, at the water's edge; it proved that 
 which he needed most, the pouring of a small 
 mountain torrent over a precipice-rock into the 
 river. u Ah ! thou ever living fount, I was as un 
 conscious of how much I stood in need of thee, 
 as thou wert thyself 1" He drinks, and bathes his 
 wrist and temples. " Thou art as cold, and far bet 
 ter, than ice water, which we transport at so 
 much cost how gladly would I live in thy 
 midst." He seated himself on a mossy settee, on 
 the margin of the river. The cold water, and the 
 fanning current of air, which the little cascade ex 
 cited, soon cooled his fevered brain, and he was 
 restored to consciousness. 
 
 Rossius continued, "Ah! alas! poorRossius! I 
 feel myself to be like a lost mariner, tossed upon 
 the troublous billows, without chart or compass, 
 and no cynosure by which to be guided. The am 
 bition which served to stay me up, and hurry me
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 43 
 
 on through the first heat of life ; achieving my 
 purposes, in my collegiate aspirations, is lost in 
 satiety, and I am here alone in solitude, with 
 none other to stimulate than what they tell me is 
 a phantom a thing like an ignis fatuis." 
 
 He jumps up " I'll back again to the Devil's 
 Pulpit, and there I will spend the night." It was 
 dark before he reached the spot, and with diffi 
 culty he found his way down to the cave, far be 
 low, deep down the black cavern, known as 
 Bruin's Saloon. Here he determined to spend the 
 night, if old bruin's hospitality did not forbid ; 
 but he, too, with the Indians, had been compelled 
 to seek a more genial home ; for the fillibusters 
 extended to neither any quarters. 
 
 Rossius, throughout the night, scarcely slept ; 
 but built high gorgeous air-castles ; not such as 
 he was wont in college to build, of climbing to the 
 uppermost round of fame's ladder his aspirations 
 were now swallowed up in the glorious reflections 
 of the union of two confiding hearts his studious 
 habits, and ambitious spirit, had never allowed 
 him the moments to spare in the too frequent in 
 dulgence of students, in visiting the girls, and this 
 accounts for one of his susceptibilities ; never be 
 fore having felt the pangs of distraction, which an 
 aching heart engenders in a high-strung, sensitive 
 youth, who, too, has been so perfect a stranger to 
 its vibrations, as Rossius had been.
 
 44 MAKOLIA; OB, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AT last, after the irksome -watches of the night, 
 the morning came Rossius was on the " qui vive," 
 at its first dawning time dragged slowly, he re 
 marked 
 
 " I have often heard, that one's existence was 
 prolonged by a removal to the mountains, and 
 this accounts for it in truth, a day and night is 
 to me as a week." 
 
 About ten o'clock the pheasant's mournful 
 drumming was faintly heard, amidst the thunder- 
 ings of the cataract's roar. "Ah!" said he, 
 " wouldst thou, mountain bird, prove to be one of 
 the spiritual rappers, possessing the magic power 
 of which we do hear so much." Instantly, the ap 
 parition made her appearance, as white as the 
 foaming billows, the roar of which, from an in 
 creased whirl of the wind in the chasm, which had 
 just sprang up, perfected the delusion of there 
 being a concord of sweet sounds, with the ca 
 dences of a band of serenaders, in honor of our 
 brilliant guest, perched high upon the opposite 
 cliff, whose melodious voice accorded so harmo 
 niously with the enchantment of surrounding na 
 ture. 
 
 "Ah! blessed beauty," exclaimed Rossius,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 45 
 
 "thou art no eagle bird, but one of more bril 
 liance than the bird of paradise ! How I wish I 
 could transform myself into what Julius called 
 thee, that I might fly across this yawning chasm, 
 and perch at thy feet. Oh ! thou most hallowed 
 object ! thou remindest me of Dido of old, who, 
 with a willow in her hand, on the lone sea banks, 
 waved her love to return again to Carthage. O ! 
 were I thy Cressid. 
 
 " Loved one ! canst thou hear amidst this artil 
 lery ? if thou couldst, I would say to thee a word 
 of soft delight." 
 
 " Speaketh noble youth ; for I know not else 
 what to call thee," said the Maid of the Cliffs. 
 
 To which Eossius replied : " My bright star of 
 life and hope ! I saw thee and this makes but 
 twice, which reveals to me the truth, that thou 
 art else than that they told me. Some called 
 thee a morning vapor, occasioned by the whirl of 
 atmosphere, amidst these tumble of waters, pro 
 ducing such clouds of spray, and the sun's rays 
 not reaching them, until he had rose high above 
 mountain, almost having acquired his meridian 
 strength, the sudden heat and strong reflection of 
 light, occasioned this singular phenomena of white 
 gauzy form. This was the philosophiecal expla 
 nation of my revered professor. Probably I should 
 have been persuaded, by his theory, to have left 
 with the class but he had so strongly implanted
 
 46 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 in our bosoms by his lectures before the class, 
 that the l ipse dixits of none, however reputable, 
 should be permitted to convict us, however plaus 
 ible in theory, until after demonstration, with 
 practical results.' 
 
 " Come, my angel star, tell me what shall I call 
 thee? but if thou permittest, I would call thee no 
 other than my own ! Tell me whence from, and 
 how can I approach thee ?" 
 
 To which Eossius received in reply : 
 " In that shining vale, which I do now behold 
 from this cliff, varied over with every enchant 
 ment of loveliness, my fond parents do dwell ; and 
 I, their only offspring; they call me Manolia. 
 This vale, of which I do speak, lies not far above, 
 where the mountains have wedded this, my own 
 beautiful Tallulah, to another of her like, but not 
 half so fair,* and there too, 
 
 ' Tallulah's offspring you may see, 
 Yet not so fair, by half, as she 
 That, my father, from the north-east; 
 This, my mother, where we now rest, 
 The other, Manolia, by them ever blest, 
 By no other ever have been caressed.' " 
 
 "Manolia!" ejaculated Eossius, "Ye gods! it 
 
 * The reference here is to the junction of the Tallulah and 
 Chatooga rivers, and by their junction another is formed, the 
 Tugalo. The first she compares to her mother, the second to 
 her father, a more turbid stream; their issue the Tugalo, which 
 she compares to herself.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 47 
 
 doth fill the air with enchantment, and appeareth 
 to me unrivalled, excepting in thy own matchless 
 person. 
 
 " When, Manolia, were these two rivers of which 
 thou speakest, wedded, and by whom?" said Eos- 
 sius. 
 
 " I suppose," replied Manolia, " when they first 
 began to flow ; and by the mountains, I suppose, 
 as they alone can prevent their ever being di 
 vorced." 
 
 " I would gladly approach thee," said Eossius, 
 "and prevail on her so happily blest with the 
 fondest of parents, that another liveth, whose ca 
 resses, if once thou wert made to appreciate, would 
 bear a comparison with all that thou knowest of, 
 or have ever felt ! as thou sayest Tallulah does, in 
 comparison with Tallulah's spouse." 
 
 " I fear," replied Manolia, " this argument run 
 neth not to my advantage, for thou, Eossius, doth 
 paraphrase my every saying to thine own account ; 
 and as to what thou wouldst gladly know, I can 
 scarcely venture ; for my father has often told me, 
 that the spot upon which I stand, is the ' ultima 
 thule,' and bids me stay no time for fear of giddi 
 ness and fatigue, and tells me, too, when the sun 
 gets on high, he will mar the tint, which the dews 
 of the vale of flowers, so perfumed with sweets, 
 which have been exhaled the night previous, have 
 imparted to my cheeks; but, Eossius, if thou in-
 
 48 MAXOLIA; OTi, 
 
 clinest to cross over before thou set out, take an 
 object, just overhead; where I now stand a moun 
 tain laurel hangs, now in bloom, take it for your 
 cynosure, and to-morrow, at the sound of the re 
 veille of the mountain drummers, you will find 
 the object you. will be in search of, where I now 
 stand, if all goes well. I bid thee speed in time, 
 for thou mayest encounter difficulties." 
 
 This seeming solicitude, on the part of Manolia, 
 had instant effect on Eossius ; he had not ascended 
 the steep far, before he halted to take a farewell 
 greeting, and Manolia was gone.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 49 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IT was at no other season, that the point, occu 
 pied by Manolia at the time she held the foregoing 
 conversation with Eossius, could be approached 
 from the valley below. This time of the year, 
 the last of July, or the first of August, is known 
 as the dry season of this country, and the Tallu- 
 lah, as well as all other streams, becomes exceed 
 ingly low; and also, it is the season of the phea 
 sants' tattoo. When the river was at this low 
 stage, old Oothlacoochy, (the Indian chief, of 
 whom we have made mention, who had ever lived 
 with the Neopold family in the valley, and loved 
 Manolia as his own child,) could take the canoe 
 across the river, and then up to the principal 
 cataract, immediately below the high perpendi 
 cular, from whence Oothlacoochy and his old 
 father made the fearful leap to gain the valley. 
 At this point he secured the canoe, and by his 
 assistance, (the outer edge of the rock, over which 
 the water tumbled, being exposed,) Manolia was 
 enabled to gain the steep, and then, between the 
 cliff and the water's edge, the tract was sufficient 
 to pass along up. 
 
 This little colony had now resided in their
 
 50 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 secluded world about thirteen years, making Ma- 
 nolia about sixteen at the time of our story. After 
 having been thoroughly educated by her accom 
 plished parents, and acquired a taste for reading, 
 she got hold of some romance in her father's ex 
 tended library, the reading of which, at times 
 excited a feeling of melancholy, which inclined 
 her to wander among the picturesque ; and hearing 
 the old Indian relate his adventure over the preci 
 pice, and down the falls, she never rested until she 
 prevailed on her father to let the Indian conduct 
 her to the fearful spot ; and after gaining her 
 point, the ascent to the jumping- off platform must 
 be scaled, and her daily entreaties to the old 
 Indian became irresistible; and his strong in 
 clination to afford the little idol of his heart 
 every gratification, led him to commence devising 
 ways and means to accomplish her object; he pro 
 posed to do it if her father would procure rope 
 sufficient to make a ladder, and get a strong bolt 
 of iron, and steel chisels sufficient to bore a hole 
 into the rock by the platform, so as to drive the 
 bolt into ; to this, the rope ladder could be sus 
 pended. 
 
 " How will you get up to make this fixture ?" 
 replied Manolia. 
 
 " I will go down the river with the fixtures, cross 
 over and go up to the cliff, and get down upon it, 
 as I did at first, work out the hole in the rock,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 51 
 
 suspend the ladder, and descend upon it, to prove 
 to you its strength. The only difficulty is in as 
 certaining the quantity of rope, and how long to 
 make the ladder." 
 
 " If I mistake not," replied Manolia, " the tract 
 below on the water's edge is perfectly straight for 
 a short distance ; if so, my father can in a few 
 moments, with his quadrant, give you its ele 
 vation." 
 
 Neopold had all the shining attributes of a 
 finished gentleman and scholar ; highly gifted in 
 every essential ingredient necessary to have 
 ranked him foremost in any of the learned pro 
 fessions he might have made choice of. And his 
 wife also, was in no wise inferior to her husband, 
 under whose tuition, their lovely daughter lacked 
 in no particular the advantages of a seminary ; 
 in fact her tuition was more strictly attended to 
 and stimulated, her mental developments more 
 effectually cared for, than if she had been sent to 
 school. 
 
 Upon Manolia's return home, after her day's 
 entertainment with Eossius, she felt an unusual 
 degree of excitement, and her stay had been ob 
 served by her parents as well as old Oothlacoochy, 
 (who had spent his time among the rocks a fishing, 
 in wait for Manolia's return to the canoe, which 
 he was wont to do when she took this trip). The 
 old Indian was interrogated by the parents, which
 
 52 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 increased his suspicions ; and when on the follow 
 ing morning, Manolia, with an unusual degree of 
 caution, took him one side to communicate her 
 wishes to ascend the river again, a thing she had 
 never done before on three consecutive days ; how 
 ever, he gave a ready assent to her proposition 
 with the curiosity of an Indian, determining to 
 act the part of a spy, which is perfectly in charac 
 ter with the Indian ; their hunting, their warfare, 
 their every undertaking, is carried on under this 
 ambush scheming ; so, as a matter of course, the 
 undertaking was not at all repulsive to his sense 
 of honor. So he proceeded on the excursion, 
 with a gaiety not expected, by telling the girl that 
 it suited him very well, as he did not meet with 
 his usual good luck in fishing on the day previous. 
 They accordingly journeyed up the river to the 
 fall, below which he usually fished ; assisted Ma 
 nolia up the acclivity ; and commenced the work 
 of adjusting his fishing tackle as usual, so as to 
 excite no suspicion on the part of Manolia ; but 
 so soon as the maid had turned the first angle of 
 the precipice bluff alongside the water's edge, he 
 followed on in pursuit ; she in no wise suspecting 
 him. When he reached the next turn, he could 
 with ease screen himself from view, and by look 
 ing around the point see distinctly the platform, 
 up to which his ladder led. She was ascending, 
 and had nearly reached the point ; and immedi-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 53 
 
 ately above, he discovered a man reclining upon 
 the rock over Manolia's head, with his head, breast, 
 and shoulders exposed to full view. 
 
 As Manolia stepped from the rope ladder, and 
 planted her feet firmly upon the giddy height, 
 Rossius addressed her, not venturing to speak 
 before, for he trembled at the hazardous adventure 
 she was making. 
 
 " So, my fair Manolia, thou wast not unmindful 
 of thy promise, and I flatter myself that our yes 
 terday's confab was of mutual interest. I have 
 reached this spot but fifteen minutes since, and to 
 give you some evidence of my anxiety, I have 
 travelled by day and night to head this maddened 
 stream, which I nearly did, before I could cross, 
 and by the time I reached this spot, though ex 
 cessively fatigued, my anxiety in a few moments 
 was such, that I sprang up and with hurried steps 
 went some distance below in search of a cliff and 
 laurel, that more resembled the one you cited me 
 to yesterday. Manolia, from the first time I fixed 
 my eyes upon you from yonder pulpit, as they do 
 call it, thy influences were such, as -I never before 
 felt ; and these disturbed emotions at my heart, 
 became manifest to all of my companions, whom 
 you saw. They all remonstrated at my excessive 
 romance, as, they termed it, and reiterated the 
 huntsmen's legend, that thou wast this, that, and
 
 54: MAXOLIA; OK, 
 
 the other, and no inimitable beauty of flesh and 
 blood ; they taunted me by calling thee an eagle 
 bird ; a cloud-like zephyr, filled with light, the 
 spirit of some departed love-stricken girl, hover 
 ing around those yawning gulphs in search of 
 some lost lover. Philosophical explanation of thy 
 appearance was given plausible enough in theory 
 they with one voice protested against my cre 
 dulity, that it would prove the rock upon which 
 I would split. But now this meeting will more 
 than repay me for all of the jeers and jibes, which 
 I received at their hands. My fair Manolia, I 
 know not how to love else than thee; these 
 heights and depths, and lasting rocks, are but fit 
 emblems by which to measure the extent aad 
 durability of my attachment. I have to some 
 extent practiced composition and elocution ; but 
 upon this theme of love, I confess I am a novice, 
 yet I know full well, that I love thee, whate'er 
 thou art, and would gladly win thy favor." 
 
 To which Manolia replied. 
 
 "Thy youth and modesty doth discredit thy 
 own ingenuity, for thou speakest of matters, of 
 which I am none else than what thou representest 
 thyself to be, and in comparison thou appearest 
 an adept ; if the subject of which thou speakest, 
 means nothing else than to sanction the edification 
 thy conversation doth continually impart, then 
 what thou desirest has already been sanctioned by
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULA.H. 55. 
 
 this meeting ; having read much, but seen nothing 
 of the world in which you live, I must confess I 
 have some curiosity to associate to some extent 
 with others than my parents and old Oothlacoo- 
 chy ; yet I love them dearly, and could not live 
 without them ; in fact, my parents and I are as 
 one, as inseparable as the waters of the three 
 rivers T made mention of to you yesterday." 
 
 "Manolia," replied Kossius, "thou appearest to 
 comprehend me but darkly ; my ambition is, that 
 we should become harmonized as the waters of the 
 two first named rivers, and flow on as they do, in 
 harmonious unison, as undisturbed as their placid 
 waves, on to the ocean of eternity ; to love and 
 experience all the identity, which you and your 
 fond parents doth entertain ; then, my happiness 
 would be complete, and yours/I trust, well secured, 
 for thy experience must have taught you that life 
 is held by a slender tenure, even by the young ; 
 and the aged know not at what hour they may 
 be summoned ; and believe me, my attachment for 
 you is such, that I would gladly excite in your 
 bosom no other than the most cherished hopes. 
 But, my dearest Manolia, what is inevitable, our 
 philosophy teaches us to look well to, and it is 
 meet and proper to take ' time by the forelock,' 
 as is said, and make provisions for coming destiny. 
 Your parents, whom you love so dearly, and they 
 who are so mindful of your happiness, cannot
 
 56 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 remain with you always, and for the love I have 
 for you, I offer you myself as their substitute; 
 thy interest, I assure you, will only be doubly 
 secured, and for the time being, I pledge you will 
 suffer no detriment ; thy love will ever be cher 
 ished, thy happiness fostered, and while thy parents 
 are spared unto you, thy love for them be in no 
 wise diminished ; in me, they will find an addi 
 tional solace, and will ever be found ready to 
 unite with you in administering to their wants ; 
 the amount of their happiness and comforts will 
 be multiplied, as well as your own ; we will travel 
 together wherever our inclination may lead us, in 
 search of pleasure, and return to your parents and 
 quiet home with renewed affections and fresh 
 resources. Say, Manolia! wilt thou consent to 
 become mine?" 
 
 "Ah! Eossius," said Manolia, "'I think the 
 matter of which thou treatest of more consequence 
 than thy haste implieth; you confess a love for 
 Manolia : so does the sun shine with warmth one 
 day, and the next he withholds his influence, and 
 we are chilled all o'er. The fair moon, too, oft rises 
 with the glorious promises of the sun, but ever 
 fails fulfilling those hopes she inspires ; for oft, as 
 she rises and increases in splendor, at her meridian 
 height, the cold has become more intense ; thou 
 rnayest, Eossius, have inclined to other teachings 
 and inferences ; but our happiness is none the less
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 57 
 
 secure by being mindful of these admonitions; 
 and it doth appear to me, that my happiness 
 would find a void away from these waters." 
 
 " How canst thou doubt him, who, like Rossius, 
 has abandoned his comrades, and all of his pur 
 suits, his ambition, too, which has been the main 
 spring of his action, and at the instant when the 
 first acquisition of his inspired hopes are just 
 within reach : for I had but to return with my 
 class, to have had conferred on me the first honors 
 of our institution ; in so doing my personal sacrifice 
 can in no wise compare with the grief I suffer 
 from the well known affliction it must bring upon 
 my parents, brother and sister; Manolia, thou 
 doeth a seeming injustice in your comparisons, if 
 you suppose that my affections may, in the slight 
 est degree, be compared (in the manner you have 
 done) to that glorious luminary; at this instant 
 inspiring the whole of creation to animation and 
 life; everything appearing redolent at his first 
 rising. The mimosa and sensitive plant lift up 
 and expand their withered, contracted foliage in 
 early morn, and then, in the decline of eve, they 
 again appear to wither and blight; from these 
 periodical, temporary suspensions of his warming 
 influences are we to infer that there has been the 
 slightest alienation ? The sun is at times eclipsed, 
 he is obscured by fleeting clouds, but Ave are not 
 to infer from this that his brilliance and vivifying
 
 58 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 influences are at all impaired. Such, I assure 
 you, I will ever prove to you. And what the 
 moon, too, appeareth to be, she is ever constant 
 in. She lends a brilliance to our darkest hours, 
 and in doing this she is not less faithful, only 
 her slumberings are of longer duration ; but what 
 she first appeareth to be, she ever proveth inalien 
 able in ; so it doth appear to me that thy argu 
 ments, and alleged objections, but argue in my 
 behalf; and as to the last objection your love 
 for these thine own rivers I do declare mine 
 own love for them doth outvie in admiration, all 
 that thou ever boasted, for it was upon the west 
 ern bank of the identical stream, which, from 
 these you name, does flow, that I have ever lived ; 
 there, still, my parents dwell, and sister, too so 
 like thine own self, that I almost mistake thee, 
 and would gladly take thee home with me." 
 
 " Eossius," replied Manolia, " thou art so ex 
 pert in argument that in future I'll prove more 
 circumspect and furnish you with no more of 
 such, as thou canst thus paraphrase to my disad 
 vantage ; but I do feel such an interest in that 
 sister of yours, of whom you speak, that I am 
 sure I would gladly have you bring her. O ! that 
 I could have such a one for my companion ! if 
 she is so like myself, how shall I discern which is 
 Manolia, and which is thy sister; I am sure I 
 would know no difference in my love; tell me
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 5V) 
 
 her name, and I will take her at once for my com 
 panion, and call on her by name, and hold daily 
 conversation with her; by that means acquire 
 more skill to enable me better to divert thy inge 
 nuity. I wish she was here to help me at this 
 time." 
 
 " Manolia," replied Eossius, " thou art sadly in 
 error in supposing yourself in need of any assist 
 ance; it is Eossius who is thy victim; and he 
 would gladly avail himself of the winning elo 
 quence of a sister's love whom we call lolia 
 her name so much resembles thine but not by 
 half so much as she doth in person she lives one 
 hundred miles south of this; an Indian mound 
 points out her home, around whose base she 
 delights to linger, in search of those trophies 
 which give such interest to those spots where our 
 red predecessors lived; do, Manolia, consent to 
 go with me and join lolia, your congenial spirit." 
 
 "Eossius, thou art too strong in thy persua 
 sions, and it does appear, if obstacles were not too 
 abundant, and magnified, thou couldst gain thy 
 point; I know not what else to say; but thy 
 beauteous sister I do already adore, I must con 
 fess. Eossius! withdraw thyself; for yonder 
 comes the old Indian, and day after to-morrow we 
 appoint to continue our talk of your angel sister, 
 whom I do already outvie thee in loving."
 
 60 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHEN this interesing tale was first related to 
 us up to this point, we thought we had never 
 before felt our sympathies so worked upon in 
 behalf of one, as they were for our young hero ; 
 and it was a long time (being interrupted) before 
 the balance of his story was related ; we strove 
 to anticipate Eossius' after history; the expres 
 sion of young Eender, " Whom the gods deter 
 mine to destroy, they previously deprive of rea 
 son ;" this remark falling with such weight upon 
 the old professor " sounding so like a presenti 
 ment," said he -that my apprehensions were con 
 stantly excited, and to such a degree, that the 
 lovely mountain girl, with all of her native beauty 
 and talent, failed up to this period, winning over 
 to Aer, my predilections for Eossius. 
 
 But poor Manolia, she descended the ladder 
 with the trepidation of a fawn just aroused from 
 its layer, by the hunter's approach; she feared 
 that Oothlacoochy had discovered Eossius, and 
 probably overheard some of the conversation; 
 which, in that event, would likely reach her 
 parents' ears; and this probably would lead to 
 the inevitable overthrow of their lovely paradise. 
 When the tempter appeared to Eve he approached
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 61 
 
 as a flattering friend ; and with this mighty lever, 
 woman's susceptibility to flattery was fully ascer 
 tained, which led to her downfall. Beware, ye 
 descendants of our first parents ye, likewise, 
 may meet with a like destiny ! 
 
 This novel, if worthy to be dignified with the 
 title, is not intended to go forth without a moral 
 lesson: and if thought, and investigation, should 
 grow out of it upon any one of the questions to 
 which we direct our criticisms, viz : politics, mo 
 rals of associations, the ultra tendencies of the 
 times, fanaticism, &c., &c., so as to induce us to 
 arrive at more just conclusions, the author's aim 
 will have been accomplished. Our aim is not so 
 much detraction, where it seemeth to be, as to 
 stimulate and bolster up the more humble, shrink 
 ing portion of our population, who have no oppor 
 tunities afforded them of joining in with the tin 
 selled circles of the fashionable world, with all of 
 their associations. We incline to dignify even 
 the huntsman's pursuits, that it may not prove 
 sterile as to mental improvement ; but let no time 
 pass by without an effort to accomplish some 
 thing or other than amusement. 
 
 The fastidious moralist might say, our object 
 
 might have been more successfully obtained, by 
 
 adopting some more sober and dignified mode of 
 
 appeal to the world. Perhaps not; for those 
 
 6
 
 62 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 upon whose minds we desire mostly to engage, 
 and act upon, would be attracted by nothing, but 
 something of the character of romance. These 
 remarks sound, the critic would say, like the pre 
 face of a book. In answer to which, we would 
 remark, that one-half of the casual readers of the 
 day never look for once at a preface.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 WHEN the class reached the college campus on 
 their return, under the command of their pro 
 fessor, of whom we have alluded, they met the old 
 Prex, who inquired if all had returned in safety ? 
 to which Julius, Eossius' room-mate, immediately 
 replied " All excepting Eossius." 
 
 "And what have you done with Eossius?" 
 asked the president. 
 
 " He was so much interested with the moun 
 tains," replied Julius, "the falls and strange sights, 
 which the country presented, that he concluded to 
 turn deserter, that he might appropriate more 
 time, to be able better to appreciate what he 
 saw." 
 
 Eender immediately put in, "I think it more 
 likely those spiritual rappers we encountered have 
 worked on his brain to the addling point of Faren- 
 heit ; for after the appearance of that beautiful spi 
 rit, of which ten thousand could dance on the 
 point of a cambric needle, if what we are told of 
 spirits be true, that they occupy no portion of 
 space; the boy has stuck so close to his room 
 for the past four years, and seen so little of the 
 girls, that he doth readily conceive them to be as 
 pure and etherial as an Iris glittering through a
 
 64 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 cloud of spray ; he thinks a girl fit for his wor 
 ship should be none other than one divested of 
 all flesh and blood ; and methinks the boy is in 
 pursuit of such a phantom, unless by this time he 
 has lost his footing from the Devil's Pulpit, or the 
 more giddy height, called the Student's Rostrum, 
 and been swallowed up in the vortex below ; if so, 
 our class will be without a valedictorean." 
 
 "Render," replied Julius, "I always thought 
 that thou possessed the most unfeeling heart 
 now thou hast convinced us all of the truth of it ; 
 thou hast spoken sacrilegiously, both of the girls, 
 and also of our worthy Rossius. Thou knowest 
 full well, that thou art trifling in this matter, and 
 creating false impressions with our president. Ros 
 sius, I know, has always been more skeptical of 
 all these delusions of scheming than you yourself; 
 and I would sooner suspect you of becoming a 
 medium of spiritual legerdemain, Swedenborgian- 
 ism, or Mormonism, than I ever should Rossius 
 the three sects he has always characterized as ' trio 
 nobile fratrum.' " 
 
 "Julius," said Render, "thy likings run to such 
 fastidious extremities, that thou art ever watchful 
 of insult being intended. If my appreciation of 
 Rossius were less, thou hadst got thyself in ill-favor 
 with me long ere this ; but were it not my natural 
 inclination, I would assail Rossius to challenge 
 thy defence ; if he were without an advocate, he
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 65 
 
 would find in me a ready volunteer; but thou 
 seemest ever to be his retainer, and thou art so 
 well posted in the case of thy client, that thou 
 wantest no cohort." 
 
 " I am glad to see your colors struck," said Ju 
 lius ; " I merely entered on my chum's defence, 
 because of his absence no such one as Rossius 
 need bespeak even the federal bar as his advocate, 
 much less you, or I ; he possesses, in too eminent 
 a degree, the character of our beloved state, ever 
 mindful of her own extended resources, possess 
 ing the will and capacity to maintain them. Like 
 all other Georgians, he acknowledges no superior; 
 and this peculiarity of our people, I have thought, 
 accounts for the state never having had what is 
 called, a great man, a leader, or dictator. The 
 general diffusion of the commodity, called great 
 ness, is too general to allow of any monopoly ; 
 thou partakest too much of the tendencies of thy 
 own state, Render, too given to Aero- worship, or 
 the one-man control, and him alone to be respected 
 and rule or ruin, giving no quarters to anybody 
 else, excepting him of your deification." 
 
 To which Render replied, "I think I have read 
 sornewheres, that men of ordinary capacity are 
 ever anxious to exalt the states above the general 
 government, wishing to attach more consequence 
 to the state department, the sphere wherein they 
 G*
 
 66 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 expect to figure ; their rank not adapting them 
 for the national councils of our government. Per 
 haps, Julius, their argument is a parallel case with 
 yours, in not conceding greatness to others, inclin 
 ing to the general grading system, that fortu 
 itously some might be lifted up." 
 
 Says the old Prex : " Young gentlemen, thou 
 appearest to be more of politicians, than what thy 
 persons would imply ; for thy attire is more of 
 the soldier, just having passed through a cam 
 paign, with no regard to ablutions, and withal 
 each one of you appeareth as lean and hungry 
 as a Cassius; and that these important matters 
 might be attended to, I would advise a truce, and 
 have a pitch battle in your society halls ; but this 
 thing of Rossius' not returning, disconcerts me 
 much I would have preferred his not becoming 
 naturalist, or geologist, until after we have done 
 with him." 
 
 As the company was about adjourning for their 
 rooms in college, Julius could not think of sub 
 mitting to Eender's last insinuation, without a re 
 joinder : " What you meant, Eender, to imply by 
 your grading system, is but one and the same 
 with agrarianism, I suppose, and there is not a 
 fellow in this college more of one than yourself; 
 for it does appear, that you never see a student 
 with a new coat on, unless you talk of it in such 
 a manner as to induce the belief, that you would
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 67 
 
 have it split in two, and the one half given to 
 you. If a boy shines in any one thing, thou art 
 ever ready with thy everlasting harpoons to trans 
 fix him. I think thou hadst better join the 
 whalers methinks whalebone and sperm would 
 be cheapened, the girls and boys both benefited." 
 
 Eender, laughing, "Thou hast indeed taken 
 what thou sayest is my vocation, from me, and I 
 must confess I have not wherewith to place the 
 sole of my feet thou dost outherod Herod, and 
 I am not a ' circumstance ' to thee, in piling on 
 wormwood my bitters, which I do like to ad 
 minister, are always intended as a tonic; but thine, 
 of the corrosive sublimate." 
 
 " Thou art candid," replied Julius, " in acknow 
 ledging thy appetites, favoring a little of the 
 cherry tree, smothered in an ocean of 'ball face.' "* 
 
 Upon their separation for their respective rooms, 
 Eender sang out, "I think thou standest in need of 
 a little of the 'all. joyful,'"* to stay up thy boasted 
 virtues, for thou art losing thy wonted character 
 for gentleness, and a small glass might serve to 
 soften thine asperities." 
 
 "I'll wait," retorted Julius, "to see the result 
 of the experiment on thyself, for I venture it will 
 not go long untried." 
 
 * A cheap white whiskey.
 
 68 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 Julius entered his room, which put an end to 
 their game at sharp shooting ; he threw himself 
 in his old arm chair, facing Eossius', and solilo 
 quized thus : "My chum; I shall feel the want of 
 thy company more than ever, since our books are 
 laid upon the shelf, and nothing assigned us now 
 to perform but to prepare our addresses for com 
 mencement, in whieh we might have been of mu 
 tual aid. At this instant, Cassanio, the brother of 
 Eossius, a sophomore, entered, and with excite 
 ment said : 
 
 "Julius, I understand that you have returned 
 without my brother, tell me what under the sun 
 has become of him ; I've heard several conflicting 
 accounts of him, each one savouring so strongly 
 of romance that I believed every mother's son of 
 them lied in their own teeth ; and I have come to 
 hear your statement, knowing that whatever thou 
 sayest of Eossius I can rely upon ; though I am 
 troubled much, and would have gladly have none 
 of you to have returned, since thou hast left my 
 brother, unless thy account of him is more intel 
 ligible than even the professor gave of him." 
 
 "Cassanio," said Julius, "be seated in your 
 brother's chair, and come, move into our room, 
 and I will be better reconciled in his absence. I 
 can but relate to you, Cassanio, what I do know, 
 but only I fear to place myself in the same cate-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 69 
 
 gory with all of the rest whom you have heard 
 speak of him ; the long and short of it is, nothing 
 but uncertainty and doubt hangs over Rossius' 
 future plans and destiny. He labored under a 
 very strange sort of infatuation, and appeared like 
 one in a dreamy lethargy, from which all we could 
 do and say could not arouse him ; I followed him 
 and argued with him, and remonstrated as long as 
 I could; his replies were, it is true, frequently in 
 character with himself; but persisted in wander 
 ing off farther and farther up that turbulent stream, 
 of which his mind seemed to have partook. When 
 this became apparent, and I could do nothing with 
 him, I had overstayed my time and could stick to 
 him no longer. I left him several miles above the 
 falls, on the banks of the Tallulah, urging me to 
 go on still, repeating a Latin quotation: 'Satius 
 est petere fontes quam sectari rivulos.' " 
 
 Cassanio hurriedly repeated the translation, and 
 remarked : 
 
 "Better to seek the fountain than follow the 
 rivulet ; I suppose by that he meant to drink at 
 the head fountain of Tallulah." 
 
 "I wish," replied Julius, "the fount, when he 
 reaches it, may have the effect to satiate his am 
 bitious thirst and appease his restiveness." 
 
 Inquired Cassanio : " Did he appear in any way 
 beside himself, or unwell, in travelling up?"
 
 70 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 "Never better, or more like himself," said Julius, 
 " until reaching the falls ; the angelic beauty, as 
 ne termed the object which we all did see upon an 
 inaccessible height on the opposite side of the 
 river from where we stood. The apparition, as it 
 appeared to be, was so unexpected to us all, that 
 we were dumb-foundered. The professor gave a 
 strange philosophical explanation of the causes 
 which produced the phenomena, as he termed it ; 
 and whether he believed it a phenomena resulting 
 from natural causes or not, I have my doubts, 
 but such was his explanation given to Eossius. 
 I told Eossius, that I had never seen an eagle, but 
 that it must be a tall white bird of that species, 
 which had been perched on this high rock all 
 night and covered o'er with spray. The sudden 
 disappearance of the object, whatever it was, gave 
 credence to what I said ; the skeptical, supersti 
 tious portion verily believe it to be a spirit, a 
 ' simon pure ;' as much so they said as any the 
 spiritual rappers had ever raised, the truth of 
 which, they said, was too well established to admit 
 of doubt." 
 
 " But," replied Cassanio, " do you think my 
 brother's brain was so addled as to be one of the 
 latter, for I have read accounts of some soft ones 
 having lost their reason by such influences." 
 
 " !" replied Julius, "not at all; he believed it
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAII. 
 
 71 
 
 none other than a pretty girl, and she over 
 whelmed his maiden affections, like a storm, we 
 all know how to appreciate his unconquerable 
 ambition, running almost into enthusiasm. My 
 own impression is, if Eossius succeeds in finding 
 out the object, or if he fails after so a long a time, 
 all will be right again ; but what I apprehend is, 
 that in the pursuit of this darling object among 
 those dangerous cliffs and irresistible torrents, he 
 may lose his life; his eagerness will impel him 
 forward to such narrow passes upon slippery 
 shelving rocks, that he may go over and never bo 
 heard from. I trembled for him frequently before 
 we separated, and if he fails returning by com 
 mencement, my conviction will be, that this has 
 been the tragic result of his romantic adventure." 
 
 " Julius," said Cassanio, " how would it answer 
 for me to push right off in search of him ?" 
 
 ""Well," replied Julius, "I think it would 
 avail nothing, for it has been five days since I 
 separated from him, and by this time I think his 
 fate is pretty well sealed you had better take the 
 matter quietly and wait the issue." 
 
 " I know full well," said Cassanio, " that I ever 
 shall rest with bad content for not having gone 
 in pursuit, if perchance he never should return ; 
 in such an event, what would be the upbraiding 
 of my own affections ? for Julius, thou knowest
 
 72 MAXOLIA; OR, 
 
 that my love for my brother, rivalled the love 
 poor Rossi us had for his ; and I do know he loved 
 me better than he loved himself; and as to that 
 overwhelming feeling thou talkest of, which this 
 nymph inspired him to, I know not to what height 
 the velocity of its ascension has lifted him to. I 
 do fear what Render says of his brain may not be 
 without foundation. Ye gods, how strangely thou 
 dost, at times, work upon frail man."
 
 STffl 
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. J 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE two weeks from the return of the class 
 from the falls, to commencement, had passed; 
 comment and speculations concerning the probable 
 fate of Rossius engaged the attention of every 
 student, as well as the faculty, and community at 
 large ; the night before commencement, Cassanio, 
 with hurried steps, entered Julius' room. His 
 esteem for Julius was next to that he bore to 
 Rossius; in fact he was cherished by the two 
 brothers almost as one. Says Cassanio : 
 
 "Now Julius, you see that your speculations 
 about Rossius' returning this evening to astonish 
 us all, and take his part in to-morrow's drama, is 
 all at fault ; and thy worst apprehensions have now 
 become my convictions. Julius, God knows I 
 could stand this thing well on my own account, 
 as dearly as I love the boy ; the thing is narrowed 
 down to such a point, that it does appear, that 
 there is not a hook left to hang a hope upon." 
 
 And now, reader, during the pause of the con 
 versation between those confiding youths, and in 
 the very midst of our tale, if you are inspired 
 with that deep solicitude which the author was, 
 7
 
 74 MAXOLIA; OR, 
 
 some hopes and fears must have been elicited in 
 behalf of our young hero Rossius ; and many are 
 the reasons which elicit these anxious sensations 
 in different individuals. A patriotic bosom must 
 be awakened with the most anxious inquiries about 
 young Rossius ; if from no other incentives than 
 that a youth from our beloved state, of such bril 
 liant promise for usefulness to our commonwealth, 
 one possessing such high-toned ambition, and 
 rare endowments, with a popularity unrivalled 
 among the faculty, as well as students, having just 
 arrived at the threshold of the theatre of active 
 life ; then, should be so suddenly paralyzed ; and 
 the high hopes of all made shipwreck of. Now, 
 if our patriotic emotions could so touch our sym 
 pathetic natures, causing such vibrations in the 
 heart's affections ; what must be the convulsions 
 of those, who are much more endeared by fireside, 
 domestic associations of love's relationship ? Alas ! 
 poor Rossius! was one universal exclamation. 
 But ah ! my pen fails me, when I turn for a mo 
 ment to the youth's beloved home; my mouth 
 refuses to give utterance of the pangs of a darling 
 sister's love ; a mother too ; for he was born unto 
 her, first of all; and a fond father, now in the 
 winter of life, being made glorious summer by the 
 brilliance of his rising son, too suddenly again to 
 be convulsed into the winter of discontent; a bro-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 75 
 
 ther, too, left struggling in a lower class, high- 
 souled, sensitive, and talented, like his brother, 
 whom he ever thought worthy of his imitation ; 
 in truth, he was his brother's exact prototype, and 
 his lamentations are the most excruciating of all ; 
 for now when every excuse and pretext, that 
 Julius' love could devise, aided by his ingenuity, 
 for Rossius' delay, had been exhausted, the 
 brother is brought to the rack, as we would judge 
 from his last exclamation; and after the first ebu- 
 lition had somewhat abated, his feelings very 
 naturally turned towards home, and its endear 
 ments. "Home," said Cassanio, "can no more be 
 home ; for while memory last, how can I ever find 
 pleasure upon the silvery waters of our beautiful 
 Savannah, or hunt with delight amid her hills and 
 vallies." 
 
 " Othello's occupation was gone ;" but the re 
 turning home to his friends, without his brother, 
 and to relate the sad, eventful account, as it was 
 now currently believed about Eossius ; he felt it 
 almost suicidal, that his tongue should give utter 
 ance of such sad tidings, as would wound so deeply, 
 and so irreconcilably, those most endeared to him 
 of all on earth beside. His moral and physical 
 courage were pre-eminently characteristic; but 
 they failed to sustain him on this trying occasion ; 
 and to whom should he appeal ? No other but
 
 76 MAIS T OLIA; OR, 
 
 Eossius' noble chum, and thus he addressed Ju 
 lius: 
 
 " 1 Julius, thou comest nearest to Eossius, of 
 all others, and wast like a brother, and loved him 
 as such; thou, alone, canst do more to reconcile 
 my friends than any other; it is utterly impos 
 sible that I can return home without you ; con 
 sent, Julius, to take the lead of me home, and re 
 late to my friends Eossius' sad history."
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 77 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 I DARE say, the experience of every observant 
 mind has, in his intercourse with the world, 
 marked the singular variety of character in the 
 same schools, as the foregoing serves to illustrate; 
 under the garb of a superstitious reverence, the 
 weak and unphilosophical mind is frequently hur 
 ried into errors, the most ckimerical and absurd. 
 The fact, that miracles were performed in the days 
 of Christ and the apostles, does not, by any means, 
 make it sacrilegious, that we should deny their 
 practicability in our age, eitaer by the good or 
 the bad. In fact, since the writings of the New 
 Testament, none, we think, but the latter, have at 
 tempted to practice the delusion; though many 
 of the piously inclined have been made proselytes 
 of. Witchcraft, in every age, practised under 
 false and varied pretexts, has met with the most 
 strenuous hostility among the good, and their in 
 ventive ingenuity put to the utmost in devising 
 ways and means of torture, the most efficient for 
 its suppression. The more modern practitioners 
 of that sort of legerdemain, have assumed a garb 
 somewhat more imposing and sacred in their pro 
 fessions, that they may screen themselves from the 
 7*
 
 78 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 taunts and maledictions that had already been 
 forged against witchcraft; and what renders it 
 more surprising in our age, with such a might of 
 power in the ascendant, joined into a crusade 
 against everything heretofore known and prac 
 ticed as absolutely discreditable to " this fast age 
 of progression ;" these empyreans in politics, with 
 their magician's wand, used so dexterously in de 
 vising pretexts for the multiplication of the pub 
 lic domain, and the enforcing oaths upon foreign 
 ers, (known to be hostile to our institutions,) 
 thereby extorting allegiance in favor of " Young 
 America" and its progress. 
 
 Ye gods I not yet satiated, but still casting 
 about with tears in their eyes, as an ancient mon 
 arch was wont to do, for new conquests and for 
 more subjects. It matters not how discordant, we 
 have plenty of democratic infusion, meaning 
 thereby, nothing more or less, than we have all 
 sorts of infusions, and thy likings for association 
 can readily be accommodated : the old adage, that 
 "birds of a feather flock together," being false 
 and discarded, (in one sense,) as heterodoxical in 
 our vocabulary. " To the westward, ho ! the 
 march of empire goes," (not stopping short of 
 away beyond the western border,) and " manifest 
 destiny," are the conclusive arguments, cut and 
 dried in readiness, as a solution to all posers." 
 
 The transcendentalist effects great opposition at
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 79 
 
 times to the class we have spoken of; but essen 
 tially differ in nowise whatever, only which shall 
 pocket the most of the stakes. They both invoke 
 the aid of something tantamount to spiritual com 
 munications ; the one is advised by a secret com 
 munication with destiny, and mandates received 
 by the prophet or high chief, become imperious ; 
 and all conflicting opinions are instantly thrown 
 into the caldron and handsomely harmonized. 
 The other so spiritualized from on high, that no 
 thing is to be done, but to raise the head, and lift 
 up the hands, and inspiration from the world of 
 spirits will enlighten the understanding to such a 
 degree, that all human laws and devices may be 
 substituted by something paramount to all prece 
 dents. All, whatever their name may be, who 
 come under the head of "abolitionist," whether 
 of institutions, or law or constitutions and ye 
 deriders of conservatism, if ye are not classed with 
 one of the above disturbers of the public peace 
 and private order, you favor their machinations, 
 and might justly be considered as accessory. 
 Here we have a conglomeration mighty to do evil, 
 morally and politically. Are we to construe it 
 into a natural proclivity to error, that so large a 
 portion of the human family should persist in ex 
 citing a seditious spirit against all order and de 
 corum ? or, is it owing to the first principles of 
 education ? for here we see different tendencies,
 
 80 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 and different traits of character among the same set 
 of students, and among the people of our common 
 government. It is true, the slightest causes will 
 bias our judgments or our decisions. 
 
 I recollect, when in college, a learned professor 
 insinuated, (he being fat, and had fat sons,) that 
 dissipation and excessive drink dried up the blood 
 and emaciated the system. I was one of the lean 
 ones of my class, and took the remark to myself 
 with great mortification; previously being flat 
 tered with the opposite opinion, that much 
 drunkenness increased the circulation, distended 
 the blood-vessels, and worked out the semblance 
 of fatness and health. 
 
 The phrenologist would attribute this diversity 
 of the tendency of our race to the licks they had 
 received from " pine knots," in the hands of their 
 first teachers ; wherefore, the necessity of adopt 
 ing the systematic course already recommended, 
 of fixing a scale of measurement by which teachers 
 are to be guided. Let this handicuff practice, if 
 there are any truth in it, be systematized in our 
 schools 1 that in our nation of people, the spirit 
 of acquisitiveness may be developed, or that of 
 reverential obeisance. 
 
 This part of our book may appear frivolous and 
 irrelevant; but to do justice to the enforcement 
 of our convictions of the importance of systema 
 tizing our schools, we should employ every means
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 81 
 
 and persist in contributing our mite towards in 
 ducing thought, and a thorough investigation of 
 the abuses and errors of which we are fraught, 
 in the two departments of government and educa 
 tion, and thereby elicit an investigation as to what 
 are the most efficient correctives. Improvements 
 in mechanism, commerce, and manufactures, en 
 gross the whole attention of America's ingenuity, 
 (barring party politics,) to the neglect of schools, 
 or teaching, and the perfecting of our language. 
 We desire most to institute an inquiry into the 
 most practical method of developing the moral as 
 well as the intellectual capacities of our people, 
 that thereby we may more effectually perpetuate 
 our liberties, and our institutions ; and connected 
 with this scheme, let the name of the illustrious pa 
 triot, "Washington, be identified, so as to perpetuate 
 his influence, rather than his name only ; for the 
 latter, (his name,) is as likely to be, eventually, per 
 verted into evil as of good, if we are permitted to 
 go on heedless of his teachings ; and this scheme 
 of a national institution, for accomplishing teach 
 ers for their charge, would be the bequest of that 
 people, found ever sustaining the constitution of 
 our common country, by "wisdom, justice, and 
 moderation"* "in hoc signo vinces." 
 
 * The singular adaptation of this expression is, that the 
 motto of Georgia is the constitution inscribed on an arch, sus 
 tained by three columns, wisdom 'ustice, and moderation.
 
 82 MAXOLIA; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR path may now appear difficult and tedious 
 to the reader, for the " ultima thule " point of every 
 avenue has been attained, and the interesting in 
 terrogatory rests upon every mind, how the differ 
 ent characters of my tale are to be extricated from 
 the meshes into which they became entangled 
 "tempus demonstrat omnia." Have 'patience, 
 reader, and follow us through our tale, and its 
 moral will be finally obtained. 
 
 We know full well the aversion the majority of 
 the readers of our day have for long yarns. Point 
 and condensation, "multum in parvo," is the seem 
 ing characteristic of our age. The railroad and 
 telegraphic principles, which signalize our era, in 
 bringing extreme points, as it were, in contact, has 
 been applied to every species of interests, mental 
 and physical, and he who would obtain hearers, 
 or readers, and make proselytes, must come up to 
 this public standard ; wherefore, we have intro 
 duced but few characters, and omitted a deal of 
 conversation, and many incidents overlooked, with 
 the view of abbreviation a condiment beginning 
 to be observed everywhere but in our Congress 
 halls, which is an exception to the general tenden 
 cies there it is, as with the cotton planters, the
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 83 
 
 amount of crop in proportion to the length of sea 
 son ; but their knowledge of political economy 
 far exceeds the planter's sagacity in domestic eco 
 nomy; the latter is content with the crop, look 
 ing to old Kentucky and other sections for the 
 essentials of living. Not so however with the po 
 liticians their crop is secured, and other essen 
 tials well looked to, under the head of stationery, 
 documents, alias library, et cetera, et cetera the 
 constructive mileage pay, no small item this means, 
 if a senator finds himself short in funds, he 
 sends home a message by telegraph, a thousand or 
 two miles, more or less, gets a reply, and by a 
 strong force of construction, he supposes he has 
 taken the trip " in propria persona," and the de 
 lusion is readily practiced upon his peers, the claim 
 admitted ; the treasurer not such a simpleton, as 
 to doubt the sagacity of such a wise set of law 
 givers, but unhesitatingly admits its validity. Our 
 Congress would vote to establish a few more fede 
 ral cities, to afford an equal chance to more of us, 
 for the organ of constructiveness is very easily 
 excited; but so many of the sovereigns are too 
 proud to submit to being called "public ser 
 vants " some of us can't tolerate the ethiopians 
 being called by so humiliating a term. And it 
 does appear but reasonable, that the Christian 
 philanthropist should look with abhorrence upon 
 the practice, which has been tolerated for too long
 
 84 MAXOLIA; OR, 
 
 a period, of allowing human flesh to toil and sweat 
 for the favored few. Because a man happens to find 
 a gold mine, or prove fortunate in politics, or com 
 merce, or trade, it is no reason that he should not 
 subsist upon the corn and wheat grown by the 
 sweat of his own brow. Some poor whites, as 
 well as blacks, are compelled to wear their very 
 lives out in producing food, upon which the 
 very horses of the affluent abolitionist are fed. 
 The views of that portion of our population are 
 exceedingly benevolent if they would prove con 
 sistent and carry them out, and let the principle 
 be extended to their own color. Their views are 
 not sufficiently enlarged. 
 
 The agrarians have commenced the work of hu 
 man alleviation in dead earnest they show a zeal, 
 if I understand them aright, which strikes at the 
 very root of this thing of slavery in the world 
 they are no discriminators of color, to the best of 
 my knowledge they would have all old figur- 
 ings wiped out, and we all begin " de novo ;" every 
 thing considered as property, thrown into one 
 common pile ; no claimants to any one thing, and 
 one great lottery fashioned out of the world's 
 funds; and all draw, and afterwards claim only 
 what we draw ; whether it is a " nigger," or an 
 Atlantic steamer. " Quere?" would the pampered 
 abolitionist, in the event he should draw the former,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 85 
 
 and nothing else, keep him, or set him free, and 
 do his own washing and cooking? If he would 
 set him free, then, in that event, I must believe, 
 under existing circumstances, he must, to be con 
 sistent, spend his last dollar in purchasing the 
 slaves of the south, with the view of liberating 
 them, and give a full manifestation of his philan 
 thropy, and go abroad as Nebuchadnezzar of 
 old, seeking a maintainance upon the bounties of 
 Providence.
 
 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 IN our last chapter, we have exposed ourselves 
 to the assaults of the severest criticism ; we have 
 promised brevity, and appropriated to ourselves 
 the latitude, which one of our distinguished ora 
 tors, of the generation just past, was ever inclined 
 to indulge in ; and he being distinguished for his 
 wit and sarcasm, establishes the precedent as 
 worthy of being followed, if the same view is at 
 tempted. The English travellers through our 
 country, also furnish an abundance of examples for 
 our digression, whatever may be the subject, to 
 turn aside and pass condemnation on things not 
 adapted to our taste ; they do it as a matter of 
 course, as a traveller would stop on the wayside 
 to kill a snake. Our professed greenness, boast 
 ing so oft of being " Young America," that the 
 parent country has thought it but extending a pa 
 rental regard, and often administer a castigation 
 along with their lullabies, as is the custom in our 
 domestic economy ; this thing is carried down into 
 every little minutia, to which they were made to 
 observe when inmates of the nursery, with the 
 fastidiousness of an old maiden aunt in teaching 
 her young niece in the use of the napkin, knife, 
 fork, cup, and saucer, &c., &c. Just so are they
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 87 
 
 mindful of our manners and customs and this 
 high degree of sympathy for young, inexperienced 
 America, is beginning to be felt by others than 
 our parent country of late, as the plea of youth 
 becomes louder and louder. A Kossuth, too, 
 caught from England the same kind, parental con 
 sideration, more than his sympathies being more 
 alive, being so intent upon obtaining " material 
 aid ;" he carried his teaching into a sort of national 
 paternity, by giving us a regular course of lec 
 tures ; being learned, as his people made him be 
 lieve, he indulged in a regular scanning out, and 
 parsing a constitutional lesson for us ; he re 
 ceived the countenance of some of the artificials 
 of our cities, and a few old fogies; but when he 
 got among the back-bone and sinew of proud 
 America, he found it was with him, as all English 
 dictatorial travellers would perceive, if they had 
 the discernment. 
 
 Occasionally we see one of these travellers so 
 mindful of our gentility, that they travel with 
 the outfit of a pantry ; seven-pointed gold forks, 
 ragout spoons, &c. &c., to show us the manner in 
 which they are to be used ; adopting the custom 
 of the hay gatherers in England. After the hay, 
 or whatever kind of provender they may have 
 " cut and dried," they lay aside the scythe blade, 
 or cutting knife, then take up the pitchfork, and 
 pitch in the load. The artificials old fogies, and
 
 88 MANOLIA; OE, 
 
 young American green un's, immediately com 
 menced the operation; some poor fellows could 
 afford nothing better than a one-prong fork to ope 
 rate with ; the pitching had necessarily to go on 
 so rapidly or nothing would be done that some 
 few eyes were " non est inventus," after they were 
 through with the experiment ; and dyspepsia and 
 heartburn became the fashionable complaint among 
 all we have alluded to; an additional cause of 
 these complaints, it was conceded to be exceed 
 ingly vulgar to use saucers for the legitimate pur 
 pose for which they were intended ; and Ameri 
 cans being fond of coffee " for coffee's sake," 
 drink it frequently without cream, or milk ; and, 
 in the hurry of travel on railroads, for fear of not 
 having time to dispose of the two cups, and not 
 daring to pour from the cup into the saucer it 
 being vulgar their stomachs and bronchial tubes 
 soon stand in need of being " recoppered ;" these, 
 with other customs, such as the imperious neces 
 sity of taking soup as first course at dinner, or 
 provide an India rubber pouch, after the manner 
 of the pelicans, if not suited to taste or stomach: 
 these observances did not take generally among 
 the more intelligent; or independent mass. As a 
 happy illustration of the estimate the latter class 
 placed upon the pretensions of these lords and 
 dukes who travel among us to teach us manners 
 and then to return and write a book of vitupera
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 89 
 
 tion in the south they have met with less favor, 
 for our people are so accustomed to making but 
 two divisions in society the republican freemen 
 and the slaves that all hailing from a country 
 of royalty are appreciated as serfs, as underlings, 
 and inferiors to the recognized nobility; that 
 even our stage drivers feel a superiority over 
 them, as the following anecdote will serve to 
 illustrate: One of these traveling dukes was pass 
 ing through Georgia, conceited in the opinion, 
 that others than our negroes could be duped to 
 place a factitious estimate upon empty titles 
 hurried one morning from the breakfast table, 
 and took the back seat in the stage spreading 
 himself out, meaning to appropriate the whole of 
 it to his own ponderosity, thereby depriving some 
 ladies of their rightful privileges. After the ladies 
 finished their breakfast, the driver stepped for 
 ward to hand them in the stage ; but finding the 
 portly gentleman occupying the entire seat, the 
 driver politely addressed him : " Be pleased, Mister, 
 to make^way for the ladies ; that hind seat always 
 belongs to them." To which the portly gentle 
 man replied : " Sir, you are not aware, I suppose, 
 
 that / am the Duke of , traveling through 
 
 America for information." " Duke, eh ? Duke, 
 
 I suppose, of a d n ten acre turnip patch," 
 
 replied the stage driver; and after eying him a 
 
 8*
 
 90 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 moment, and perceiving that the duke considered 
 that possession was not only the ninth part but 
 the whole of the law says the driver : " Come 
 along with me, ladies taking them to an empty 
 stage lying just at hand handed them in, attached 
 his horses to it, cracked his whip, and left the 
 duke to whistle away the day until the next arri 
 val. Talk to one of these of a man's illustrious 
 ancestors, and rightful inheritance of honors! 
 " Inheritance, I rather think, of some corroding 
 disease, from too great indulgence of the flesh- 
 pots. And the very fact of his wanting to claim 
 consideration from another's merit, is proof to 
 demonstration, that he is sadly deficient of him 
 self, like the bankrupt seeking credit to sustain 
 " his sinking fortunes." " Act well your part, 
 for there all the honor lies." 
 
 We may be told that such opinions are enter 
 tained only among a people where there are none 
 who can boast of an illustrious lineage. It was 
 thus in Eome founded by set of adventurers 
 soon becoming the mistress of the world, and in a 
 short time exhibiting such a catalogue of heroes, 
 orators, historians and poets, as scarcely ever 
 flourished, before or since. Proud England her 
 self was once but an appendage! The reign of 
 power seems to be migratory ! Busyris, King of 
 Egypt, boasted that his capital, Memphis, on the 
 Nile, was as great, compared to other cities, as,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 91 
 
 said he, " Kings compared to me." Asia was once 
 the seat of power, and where is she! Then 
 Greece struggled for the ascendant I Eome then 
 gained it! For a time Spain wore the diadem! 
 France afterwards became the abode of the fine 
 arts, in all the essentials of greatness, and struck 
 terror to the world ! Then proud Albion became 
 the emporium of great statesmen, and an extended 
 commerce! America, now, is but rising to her 
 zenith.
 
 92 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHEN we were enjoying one of those rich fes 
 tivals as common to the peasant as the king 
 in beholding the gorgeous scenery from the sum 
 mit of one of those mountain heights which sur 
 round the Yale of Tallulah, on a tour, collecting 
 materials for this little volume, we were suddenly 
 startled by the abrupt appearance of Eugene Sue's 
 Wandering Jew. As the wonderfully strange old 
 character approached us, we accosted him de 
 siring to know where from, and where traveling 
 to. He made us no reply ; but raised both hands, 
 shook them convulsively also his head ; and his 
 eyes danced almost out of their sockets. After 
 indulging in these convulsive throes for a few 
 moments, and going through with a variety of 
 pantomimes, these unaccountable emotions were 
 excited, as I found out, from two causes : the im 
 posing scenery of the vast expanse of the " ocean 
 view," as it has been termed, which stretched 
 away south, " ad infinitum ;" and, on the other 
 hand, the interminable range, pile after pile, of 
 blue summits, had overwhelmed the stranger; 
 and also, he wished to convey the idea, that he 
 could neither hear nor speak. When I the second 
 time addressed him, he drew from his pocket a
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 93 
 
 pencil and paper, and made signs for a talk in 
 writing. I told him he had wandered from his 
 track, and was probably lost. He hooted at the 
 idea of being lost ; such apprehensions had never 
 occurred to him : the world was his home, and 
 he by no means could get off of it ; he had bui- 
 feted the waves of misfortune ; adversity had been 
 his handmaid; and his hopes and dreams about 
 physical comforts had long since been smothered. 
 He had explored every continent, and traversed 
 the ocean and seas; had basked in the balmy 
 groves of a tropical sun, and shivered arnid polar 
 snows. He took from his old coat a pocket com 
 pass, settled the needle, and then remarked that 
 he was on his course. He had no regard for 
 highways ; he was in the habit of taking a " bee 
 line" from one point to another. I inquired of 
 him how he did when he came to a river. He 
 squatted, swelled his jaws, blew forth from his 
 mouth, and threw out his arms, each inscribing a 
 semicircle, as in the act of swimming. He paused, 
 and again surveyed the vast abyss and wide ex 
 panse; and expressed satisfaction that he had 
 reached the end ; and was willing to take passage 
 in one of Erricson's caloric propellers, attached to 
 an aeronautic ship, to launch forth into the im 
 mensity of space, and soar to more hospitable 
 realms, and bid farewell to the world. He once 
 more gazed abroad, and thought he saw the rising
 
 94: MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 black smoke from a steamer's chimney. In haste 
 he left. 
 
 This digression is inserted for the satisfaction 
 of Eugene Sue, who seemed so interested in behalf 
 of the Wandering Jew, that he wrote two books 
 about him; and but let out darkness, for his 
 readers knew less about the Wandering Jew after 
 reading his history of him, than they did before 
 ever hearing of the character. I should ever have 
 believed that some of the poisonous drugs had 
 been administered to him, had I not encountered 
 the strange character in our mountains. 
 
 We were in hopes Bulwer would have given 
 us some clue to everything that was novel and 
 interesting pertaining to hidden mysteries; and 
 that the world would never again make a call for 
 a novel, as he so monopolized the term "my novel," 
 that none of us should ever again claim one. as 
 my novel, for the fear it might be supposed to be 
 Bulwer's alluded to ; and in the monopoly he was 
 illiberal, or we had the right to expect that the 
 fund of novelty would have been exhausted by 
 the illustrious novelist; instead of that, he has 
 given us no novel at all, meaning thereby, I sup 
 pose, that he is no longer an approver of novels ; 
 for if what he clauns as his novel exclusively, is 
 no novel, "quod erat demonstrandum," the only 
 novelty in the novel we might say, is, its con 
 taining no novelty.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 9..) 
 
 Travel, certainly, is desirable ; it affords a very 
 great satisfaction, and he who has been a consider 
 able traveller, is frequently considered a claimant 
 of consideration, if for no other reason. But when 
 indulged in like this Wandering Jew, we are then 
 no longer the traveller but the wanderer, and we 
 become an object of curiosity, instead of one of 
 admiration; and when new to this excess, it unfits 
 us for the more reasonable happy life of domestic 
 enjoyment for which, if one's taste is cultivated, 
 and circumstances adapted, there can be found no 
 parallel. But let us cultivate a liberal spirit for 
 " Quot homeines tot sentential," it is best too, un 
 doubtedly, that some should make choice of the 
 high seas ; some of the sea-board ; some of the 
 mountains ; and others, the wiser majority, for the 
 middle country, where the greatest amount of ad 
 vantages can be had. Why need a spirit of seem 
 ing contempt be cherished on the part of either 
 section ? It is, though, with these, as it is with the 
 professions, and all of the pursuits of life. 
 
 You will find a species of aristocracy in every de 
 partment; even the wagoner walking the crowded 
 streets, frequently entertains the most abiding con 
 tempt for those clothed in purple, and who feed 
 sumptuously, denouncing them as drones upon 
 society, never being mindful of the fulfilment of 
 the injunction of their creator, that each one shall 
 gain his living by the sweat of his brow ; but con-
 
 9(> ilANOLIA; OK, 
 
 tent to subsist on the honest gains of other men. 
 Every class claiming their own calling, as the 
 most essential to the well being and prosperity of 
 the world; this peculiar characteristic of selfish 
 ness is to be traced out into every ramification of 
 society ; even the soldier, he who is ever ready 
 to wage war, whatever may be the pretext ; some 
 times for pay, for pillage, for renown. Human 
 blood and carnage serves alone as a stimulus to 
 arouse their energies and excite their inventive 
 faculties. The hyena and jackall can make out 
 as good a claim for consideration, unless self-de 
 fence be inculcated as the characterizing spirit, by 
 which to be governed. 
 
 There was a period in the world's history, when 
 might made right ; and it doth appear we have 
 made no advancement from the principle; the civi 
 lized or Christian nations always had a perfect 
 right to extend the area of their own domination, 
 whether of freedom or despotism, over all barba 
 rous countries, as Spain, England, and France did 
 in the discovery of America. This pretext was 
 admitted by learned jurists to be in accordance 
 with the laws of nations, but agreeable to the last 
 commentary on Vattelle's law of nations, it seems 
 the convention of jurists have determined that 
 "manifest destiny" is hereafter to be the touch 
 stone by which we are to determine the right to 
 the extension of a country's area.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 97 
 
 The Pope has been considered authorized to 
 make the decision, if a country lacks the fortitude 
 to do it for herself; the necessity of a nation being 
 uncivilized, were not views sufficiently enlarged 
 to suit the indomitable spirit of progress. And 
 in pursuance of the manifest destiny of our appe 
 tites for fish, or fishes, as the case may be ; we 
 can appropriate to ourselves any shoals not de 
 fended by a stronger navy ; with the same facility 
 that the fisherman converts a shoal of fishes into 
 barrels of fish. Now if Washington Irving fell 
 from his dignity so far, as to ask whether sturgeons 
 sprang out water by the elasticity of their own 
 noses, or by the flounce of the tail, I might be 
 permitted to ask at what juncture do fishes become 
 fish? when the net encircles them, or when thrown 
 into the fishing smack ? or do they require to be 
 deviscerated first? or when salted into the barrel? 
 for it is true everywhere, that they are not fishes 
 when they are barreled up in the groceries for 
 sale; they always tell us that they have a fine 
 article of fish. Perhaps the removing of the 
 phosphorus by taking off the scales, is the pro 
 cess of rechristening ; if so, catfish, cod, and eels, 
 are not fishes, wherefore the plausibility of the 
 old woman's declaring that the latter were not 
 fish but snakes. 
 
 And now, since I have trespassed to such an 
 9
 
 98 MANOLIA; OR; 
 
 extent upon the patience of my reader, we trust 
 our vocation will serve as an apology for our im 
 perfections, in whatever violations we may have 
 committed in orthography, punctuation, or rheto 
 ric. It is not with the huntsmen as with one of 
 the learned professions ; we have no time for lite 
 rary pursuits or embellishments of any kind ; our 
 aim is to throw out suggestions, that others may 
 upon them build the superstructure. I will speedily 
 close this chapter on salmagundy fooleries, and 
 return to my tale. 
 
 I have but adopted the teaching of the schools 
 on Hygeian pharmacy ; their administerings vary 
 to suit the peculiar idiosyncrasy of our race; 
 change of water and diet to some ; change of 
 climate, leisure, or recreation for others ; and 
 physick in common. The latter, drugs and com 
 pounds, seemingly is the practice of most of au 
 thors; with Shakespeare's acknowledged ability, 
 vulgarity is an acknowledged characteristic of his 
 writings; fooleries and irrelevant matter, the 
 merest drugs and compounds, with here and there, 
 a dash of genius and elegance, have established 
 for others the highest renown. Byron has buried 
 a few fine grains in a heap of rubbish, by no means 
 enriching the world. Swift and Sterne have done 
 but little else all standard authors. I grant the 
 Lefevre story of the latter is surpassingly pa-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 99 
 
 thetic and beautiful ; and I hope, whatever follies 
 and sins I may have committed in my digressions, 
 I will meet with the mercy which Lefevre's oath 
 did, upon its being reported to the recording 
 angel; he wrote it down, "but dropped a tear 
 upon the record, which blotted it out forever."
 
 100 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 I HAVE never found anything in the fascinating 
 romances of fiction, half so attractive as the histo 
 rical portions of the Old Testament, relating to 
 Jacob and his twelve sons; Joseph was the most 
 promising, it appeared, in the father's estimation ; 
 and, when the old man was deprived of this, his fa 
 vorite son, he was moved to overflowing ; after a 
 time, as his grief became softened, his affections 
 clustered around Benoni, his youngest, who also 
 loved Joseph, without the slightest taint of envy ; 
 and this was the kind of disinterested love which 
 Cassanio bore to his brother Eossius, his father's 
 first hope, and he measured his father's love by 
 his own, which enabled him to estimate properly 
 the grief, which the sad tidings of Rossius would 
 produce upon the father ; he very naturally shrunk 
 from the task of being the first to communicate 
 the heart-rending intelligence. It was enough to 
 bear the grief, which bore like an incubus upon his 
 own bleeding heart. 
 
 He therefore gave Julius no rest until the pro 
 mise was extracted to accompany him home. 
 
 The gala week of commencement was dragged 
 heavily through with, by both Julius and Cassa 
 nio, bringing no tidings of the lost brother.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 101 
 
 I 
 
 They arranged their matters, and left for the 
 estate of Jerome Neopold, for this was the name 
 of Rossius' father, and he was a brother of Theo- 
 philus Neopold, Manolia's father. 
 
 Julius' brain was racked the whole route, in de 
 vising schemes to divulge Rossius' miraculous dis 
 appearance. He concluded, finally, to divert the 
 apprehensions of the parents, by telling the strug 
 gle for liberty that had aroused the people of the 
 old world, and that Rossius had become so in 
 spired with the love of liberty and humanity, that 
 he had joined a company of volunteers, and gone 
 on a crusade, across the waters, where probably 
 he would win golden pinions, of which his friends 
 would be proud, and give him a position at once, 
 that years of toil in a profession would not achieve 
 for him. 
 
 Cassanio thought this would be a very plausible 
 story, as his brother was known to possess an in 
 domitable ambition, provided he could wear a 
 cheerful aspect ; and this he thought he could do, 
 provided Julius would consent to spend the whole 
 of the vacation with him, for the time was but 
 short before Cassanio had to return to college to 
 rise junior. 
 
 The affability of Julius, and his plausible story, 
 enabled him to succeed pretty well in his schemes ; 
 but the sister, whom we shall now introduce, by 
 9*
 
 102 MANOLIA; OE, 
 
 the name of lolia, was not so easily appeased ; 
 she dearly loved her brother, and ever flattered 
 herself, that his feelings were identical with her 
 own. She had promised herself much happiness 
 after her brother's graduation and return home 
 she had chalked out a course of studies for her 
 self, under his tuition, and selected many subjects 
 upon which he was to lecture ; and she expressed 
 her astonishment, that his love for her could have 
 been so easily smothered by the heterogeneous 
 cries of liberty by the European press; who, if 
 triumphant in their schemes, in trampling the ty 
 rant under foot one day the much blood spilt 
 would scarcely be drank up by their thirsty old 
 fields, before they again would be hurried into a 
 state of anarchy and confusion " and their last 
 state would be worse than the first." 
 
 " These," said lolia, " were his views I have 
 heard him express them ; and it is impossible that 
 he could have been so suddenly overwhelmed with 
 enthusiasm for suffering humanity, as to have so 
 far forgotten his lolia, I am at a loss to determine, 
 and not even sent her the scratch of a pen. Ju 
 lius, if thou lovest him, as Cassanio says thou 
 didst, you can make excuses for a sister's weak 
 ness." She weeps, and kisses Cassanio, and seeks 
 the consolation of a fond, idolizing mother and 
 such a mother was she, as Manolia could scarcely 
 boast of, nor the world beside she was possessed
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 103 
 
 of those rare endowments, such as nature rarely 
 bequeaths unto the same individual talents, ten 
 derness, energy, and softness, with a spirit commen 
 surate with the highest undertakings, physically, 
 or morally and in the same mould was the 
 jewelled lolia cast, but enshrined in a casket of 
 more rare beauty. 
 
 No one of Julius' susceptibility, accomplish 
 ments, and taste, could resist for a moment; he 
 now, for the first time, was enabled to appreciate 
 the impulses which had so moved Eossius. Julius 
 had read many of the romantic teachings of beauty 
 the soft, melting blue eye, the luscious black, the 
 ever- varying gray; but as yet, he had no concep 
 tions of the bluish hazle, surpassing all descrip 
 tions he had yet read, characterizing intelligence 
 and affection, harmoniously blended with amia 
 bility and modesty. 
 
 When Julius first consented to accompany Cas- 
 sanio home, and spend the short vacation with 
 him, he expected to have dragged through with 
 the time very heavily ; but after a few days had 
 passed, he found such attractions in lolia, as he 
 had never met with before; her rare beauty, 
 grace, and personal accomplishments, he had not 
 found monopolized by one individual in so eminent 
 a degree. 
 
 She entertained him with music, and excursions 
 upon the river, in the park among the deer the
 
 104: MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 comforts and elegancies of the stately mansion, 
 with massy colonades, pilasters, and chaste veran 
 dahs, affording promenades on every side ; a gar 
 den, and shrubbery too of rare delights, and ex 
 quisite sweets, with a saloon of vines in the centre, 
 so matted all over with flowers of every variety, 
 affording such protection, that it invited every 
 woodland songster from a distance ; the mocking 
 bird gave forth continually; the twitter humnting 
 bird dispelled dull care, whilst it sipped the nec 
 tar from each opening flower ; the crimson red-bird, 
 with its shrill notes, and occasionally the jay 
 thrusted his jocund head, and paid his nodding 
 obeisance in the most uncouth salutations, contri 
 buting in no small degree in adding to the amuse 
 ment ; he ever pushes himself forward as the 
 general critic, yet he is most criticised all con 
 tributing to enliven the scene. Scarcely an even 
 ing past that lolia did not join this merry group. 
 Julius soon found out the hour for the assembling 
 of the happy conclave. He had dreamed of ely- 
 sian fields beyond the waters of sorrow, but noth 
 ing so bright and gilded ever appeared to him be 
 fore, as such a home as this one of lolia's ; and now 
 his highest ambition was to become a constant 
 participant in this paradise of joy. 
 
 Hope is ever casting about for some floating 
 plank upon which to cling ; and Julius' exalted 
 conceptions of lolia's superhuman endowments,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 105 
 
 almost placed her beyond the reach of his most 
 ambitious aspirations ; but the loss of Rossius to 
 the family now became the pivot upon which his 
 wished-for achievements rested ; there was a va 
 cuum sensibly felt by the whole family, which tar 
 nished every household enjoyment, and the hope 
 of being able to repair this breach, was the only 
 stimulus upon which Julius' hopes clung. 
 
 With Cassanio he knew the task was not a dif 
 ficult one, and upon him he plainly discovered the 
 sister's love had become more closely knitted, and 
 before he left, he made known to lolia, " that his 
 long cherished affections for Rossius, had so en 
 deared Cassanio unto him, as well as yourself, my 
 dearest lolia, that I have been unable to resist 
 Cassanio's entreaties to spend his next vacation 
 with him ; to substitute in part the place of his 
 absent brother." 
 
 " Thou wouldst receive a more hearty welcome, 
 I assure you, Julius, if thou couldst bring back 
 with you the prodigal son, and let him act out his 
 own part ; you might then still play your own, 
 with the additional claim on our gratitude, thereby 
 not in the least impairing the claims you have on 
 our welcome. We are never so much interested 
 in a substitute as the original ; you would find 
 a more hospitable welcome among us ; for thine 
 esteem for Rossi us, and his for thee, would but 
 attract and incline our feelings to you more firmly;
 
 106 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 thou, therefore, need'st not be envious of Eossius' 
 monopoly." 
 
 "Such assurances," replied Julius, "but in 
 crease the esteem I already have for Eossius ; and 
 being inclined so strongly to what thou teachest, 
 I shall spend my life in seeking out thy brother, 
 and rival thee in my esteem for him, since thou 
 hast taught me the secret of gaining thy favor." 
 
 "Thou shouldst not have told me," said lolia, 
 " that thy love for Eossius is otherwise than of a 
 disinterested character." 
 
 " Thou hast fairly caught me," said Julius, " in 
 my own trap ; but here comes Cassanio, let us 
 have his speculations if he is without experience. 
 Tell us, Cassanio ! to what extent does the divisi 
 bility of love admit? does it run 'ad infinitum,' 
 as it does with matter." 
 
 "If it does," said Cassanio, "I should be but 
 poorly content with but one of the infinitudes; if 
 I ever find a girl to love I shall expect no ex 
 periments on her part as to its infinite divisibility." 
 
 "Am I to infer, then," replied Julius, "if thy 
 brother is ever restored, that I am to be forever 
 forgotten ?" 
 
 " By no means ; thy sympathies will ever be 
 cherished, a rememberance of which would but 
 raise thee in our esteem ; and I know I would 
 love my brother more than ever; it would be like
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 107 
 
 damming up a stream, the volume and force in 
 creased thereby." 
 
 Said Julius : " Thou dost seemingly affirm one 
 thing, and straightway arguest to the contrary." 
 
 "But I would have you understand, that our 
 hearts are susceptible of two emotions. Julius, 
 thou art not the novice thou pretendest to be, our 
 love of kindred and friends, militateth not in the 
 heart against our love of beauty and worth in 
 another sex ; in fact, the degree of ardor in the 
 one, implies a corresponding fervor in the other ; 
 like our intelligence, the studying and mastering 
 one language or science, increases the facility of 
 our acquiring a knowledge of another." 
 
 "Thou art a very professor," replied Julius, 
 " I'll profit by thy teachings ; thou speakest too 
 knowingly, not to have gone through the fiery 
 ordeal of experience ; thy sister, probably can tell 
 of the fair one under whose teachings thou hast 
 become so ripe a scholar ; thou art by far better 
 entitled to a diploma than I, though I have got 
 two years the run of you." 
 
 " Your experience," retorted Cassanio, " has 
 taught you to know that discretion is the better 
 part of valor, and thou feignest ignorance to evade 
 suspicion." 
 
 " Since then," said lolia, " you both are im 
 pressed so fully in each other's prowess, I propose 
 that you join in a sort of holy alliance for your
 
 108 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 mutual benefit ; no fortress, I am sure, could long 
 withstand your assaults." 
 
 Says Julius : " If lolia would consent to be 
 come a tripartite in the treaty, we will enter forth 
 with into bonds of mutual obligation, and then I 
 am persuaded, the combined forces, from whatso 
 ever quarter, would prove as unavailing as an 
 assault upon Gibraltar." 
 
 Says lolia : " I don't so well understand these 
 tripartite obligations ; they don't so well suit the 
 genius of our republic I prefer being left un- 
 trammeled, free to act in reference to emergencies 
 and inclination as may be consistent with my own 
 notions of what I may consider as being my mani 
 fest destiny. The decision of two, might enforce 
 upon the third, the necessity of reviving the ob 
 solete doctrine of nullification in self-defence." 
 
 " lolia," said Cassanio, " thou art ever so given 
 to political allusions, that all of thy dissertations 
 doth end in state matters. I expect soon to hear 
 of your lecturing in behalf of woman's rights, or 
 political economy." 
 
 " I propose she does," added Julius ; " and that 
 domestic economy be added to the subject, and I'll 
 take a season ticket ; as each science I expect soon 
 to give my attention to." 
 
 " If you will return with Eossius," replied lolia, 
 " I'll promise to accept the appointment, and pre 
 pare myself to accomplish you both in all the
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 109 
 
 essentials of a congressman, such as manifest 
 destiny, the internal improvements as to inland 
 seas, rotation in office, constructive renown in the 
 public councils better than established, so also are 
 any of the constructives. But as to the woman's 
 rights association, the intellectual, respectable 
 portion of American ladies have determined that 
 there must be a decided improvement in the polit 
 ical complexion of our legislators, before they 
 will condescend to an association ; in fact, we are 
 too jealous of becoming public servrnts we are too 
 fond of reigning." 
 
 Said Julius: "Thou appearest to be so well 
 posted, lolia, that I am strongly inclined to hold 
 you to the engagement, and in the event of a 
 failure, the forfeit to be assessed by the opposite 
 party. From lectures I have ever received the 
 greatest advantage, it is the most pleasing way of 
 receiving instruction, and I have found it more 
 abiding than from any other source. And when 
 the duties are performed by one in whom we are 
 interested, and take pleasure in listening to, then 
 it is that the subject becomes doubly interesting, 
 and every sentiment and word doubly appreciated ; 
 and in addition to the information we gain, we 
 are improved in elocution." 
 
 " Well," replied Cassanio, "I'll only take a half 
 season ticket, so as only to remain half through 
 
 each performance; I much prefer taking it in 
 10
 
 110 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 broken doses, if this is your proof sheet, for my 
 patience has been exhausted this half hour. The 
 birds have all been sung to sleep. Now I begin 
 to hear those everlasting notes of the whippoor- 
 will ; they will prove your staunch customers, if 
 your lectures are held at night ; they will dance 
 to the music all night, as the Ohio boatmen to the 
 broad day-light let's adjourn. 
 
 The last interesting scene was acted upon the 
 mossy ottoman, covered o'er with the sweet scented 
 berbenas under the garden saloon, so canopied 
 over with vines of every variety, which grow with 
 such luxuriance in our southern temperature ; the 
 variegated and white honey-suckle, the different 
 multa floras yellow and variegated, the cerulean- 
 colored ladies' bower, woodbine, jessamines, &c., &c., 
 encircled by the sensitive mimosa, now also in full 
 bloom a well bred tree ever so mindful of any 
 thing like rudeness ; like the sensitive briar, they 
 retire to rest at an early hour, enforcing upon us 
 the old adage, for they are richly covered over 
 with blooms and filled with exhalations ; and at 
 this hour, the gray of the evening, the atmosphere 
 is more richly impregnated with the combined 
 sweets, than a Persian saloon with their fragrant 
 extracts of the East. 
 
 This conversation in the garden took place the 
 evening before Julius and Cassanio were to have 
 left, and to the casual observer, happiness and
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. Ill 
 
 contentment reigned in their midst, but the cloud 
 of portentous blackness and discontent had not 
 yet set, and its angry fury was now to rage higher 
 still. It became a great struggle for the parents 
 and sister to consent that the latter should be 
 separated to return to college, as much as they 
 appreciated a liberal education. Says the father, 
 upon the entrance of Cassanio and lolia into the 
 room where the parents sat : 
 
 "I feel the affections almost, that came upon 
 Jacob, when the demand was made on him to let 
 Benjamin be taken to Egypt. Rossius is gone 
 and perhaps Cassanio will be taken. I know not 
 my dearest, what to say as to your brother's leav 
 ing in the morning," was the father's reply to 
 lolia's tears, as she approached him. " Thou 
 must tell him," continued the father, "what a 
 desolation would come over his lolia's heart, if 
 anything should happen unto him; and that he 
 ought, too, not to be unmindful of his kind loving 
 parents, if perchance anything should befall him ; 
 this noble boy, Julius," continued he, " has pro 
 mised to try and ascertain something more definite 
 concerning thy brother, and if he can possibly get 
 on his track he will pursue him, he says, unto the 
 end ; and he assures me, if ever he can overtake 
 him, he knows his influence, with an appeal of the 
 reminiscences of home, and his loved ones, could 
 not fail to move his heart and bring him home."
 
 112 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter, we have fallen far 
 short in our pencillings, of giving adequate con 
 ceptions of the lights and shades, the sunshine and 
 darkness, that at times enlightened and enshrouded 
 the domestic horizon of the Neopold mansion. 
 Julius, answering to the dove on her mission, sent 
 forth in search of the olive branch of peace, and 
 
 " Great God !" exclaimed Julius to Cassanio, as 
 they journeyed on their way back to college, 
 " upon what a slender thread hangs everlasting 
 things upon smaller issues have the destinies of 
 man been suspended ! My all is dependent, as it 
 were, upon the cast of the die ; and thou knowest, 
 Cassanio, what suggested to me the plot of recon 
 ciliation my imagination devised to appease the 
 emotions of your anxious parents and loving sis 
 ter. Rossius had so often felt and expressed to 
 me the inspirations which Kossuth's eloquence 
 had excited in his bosom for suffering humanity. 
 Eternal hope! inspiring thought!" said Julius, 
 " this it was that led me to substitute this highly 
 problematic story in lieu of my fearful apprehen 
 sions ; for I do most dread the issue ; public sen-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. J.13 
 
 timent is too often in the right : and that has long 
 
 since sealed thy brother's fate." 
 
 " But I know him so well ; Caesar might have 
 oorrowed from him ambition's calling. He pre 
 ferred the doom of Helena's exile to the humi 
 liating execrations of a contemptuous world. He 
 dreaded less sacrificing himself in Tallulah's yawn 
 ing chasm, than to meet the taunts of a heartless 
 world ; and I think it possible that, if his search 
 for his ' belle of beauty' proved unavailing, and it 
 turned out an ' ignis fatuis' these were his appre 
 hensions ; and he has turned his face towards a 
 foreign land." 
 
 " So soon as we reach the telegraph line I will 
 send a messenger. It may meet his eye, and 
 arrest his movements. I will then make for the 
 mountains; perhaps some hunter can give an 
 account of him, that will put me on his trail." 
 
 " Julius, I must go with you," interrupted 
 Cassanio. 
 
 " It is altogether needless, for you will be of no 
 service, and might but serve to retard my pro 
 gress, in losing time in waiting for you, if I should 
 hear something, and you in search in another 
 direction. 
 
 After reaching college, Julius remained only 
 long enough to equip himself, and send off his 
 winged messenger. 
 
 10*
 
 114 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 When Julius reached the Tallulah's wilds, he 
 determined to put up his horse at a neighboring 
 huntsman's cabin; and if he could gather no 
 intelligence, to take his knapsack and scour the 
 heights and depths, over which it was impossible 
 to ride. Possibly he would meet with some hunts 
 man or fisherman, on the river, who could give 
 some account of Rossius. 
 
 When reaching a secluded cabin, which he 
 entered and made known his mission, Old Gray- 
 beard manifested the slightest concernment, and 
 replied : " I have heard tell of no such youth. 
 Them ravens you hear screaming over yon chasm 
 can give you some account of him, likely, if they 
 would ; for none of you lowlanders can feel your 
 way long down Terrora's dangers, and come off 
 with whole bones, I can tell you, my lad; and 
 unless you think the loss of two of you is better 
 than the life of one, I advise you to go back 
 home. If you would know his bones, I venture I 
 can show 'em to you in Wild Cat's Den, alongside 
 Bull Sluice Mountain, down Tugalo a piece ; for 
 all the carcasses lodge down thar, gin the giant's 
 arm chair. The ravens find them first ; and after 
 they have eaten of 'em, at night the wild cats 
 scent them up, and drag them out to their den, 
 for their young ones." 
 
 " Do show some sort of humanity," replied 
 Julius. " You hunters become so fond of blood,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 115 
 
 and butchery, that it matters not, I believe, what 
 sort." 
 
 " Well it don't much," replied Graybeard, 
 " when we have worried over these mountains all 
 day, and found no buck to see what a hole our 
 bullets can cut." 
 
 If Julius' physical courage had been less 
 than one of Georgia's best bloods, he would pro 
 bably have shrank from wandering alone in the 
 midst of these wilds, where bullets so often grew 
 thirsty for blood, and no ways choice as to its 
 character. He had heard, too, that some relics 
 of the aborigines, who were too well known to be 
 exasperated against the whites for the treatment 
 they had received, were occasionally seen climbing 
 the steeps with their rifles upon their shoulders. 
 
 But Julius would have incurred the most ha 
 zardous undertaking, with the most remote pro 
 bability of achieving something ; that in the event 
 of success lolia's smiles would have been his 
 reward ; and this now became the mainspring of 
 action with Julius. 
 
 He set out on foot alone towards the falls. 
 When he had got a short distance from the cabin 
 the old hunter cried out : 
 
 " Look here, young stranger, if you don't get 
 back in a week I'll claim your horse, saddle and 
 bridle ; and I tell you of a certain, so soon as you
 
 116 MAXOLIA; OK, 
 
 get out of sight I'll begin to claim 'em, and feel 
 that they are mine." 
 
 Upon reaching the falls, he first cast his eyes 
 across the abyss of the enchanted rock, upon 
 which the fairy was first seen. The appalling 
 majesty of the scene was greatly magnified, thought 
 Julius; his loneliness, and a swell of the river 
 from rains, had greatly increased its deafening 
 thunderings. He determined to cross over, then 
 down. 
 
 After ascending the banks of the river for 
 miles following the footsteps of Eossius as he 
 supposed he finally succeeded in crossing the 
 stream, and eventually reached the opposite heights 
 without making any discovery. He passed on 
 farther down the river, the precipice being too 
 great to allow of his descending to the water. 
 Finally, he came to a meeting of the waters, 
 which his knowledge of geography told him was 
 the junction of the Tallulah with the Chattooga, 
 forming the Tugalo. He had been descending 
 for a half mile a gentle slope down to the water's 
 edge. He seated himself on Tallulah's bank, 
 fatigued, and at fault, looking up and down, and 
 across upon Eockcliff 's heights. While thus me 
 ditating upon what should be his future plans, 
 immediately opposite to where he sat, he disco 
 vered a human figure, with rifle in hand, approach 
 ing the water's edge in a most stealthy manner,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 117 
 
 as if wishing to avoid being seen. His appear 
 ance, movements, and complexion, indicated the 
 Indian, Julius thought; however, he determined 
 to let no opportunity escape him. So he cried 
 out wishing to know how to cross over. The 
 mountaineer immediately put into the river, and 
 forded over to where Julius was; but before 
 reaching the shore he discovered him to be an 
 Indian of most athletic and bold appearance. As 
 the Indian planted the first foot upon the bank, 
 he raised his head, and addressed Julius thus : 
 
 " Young man, I was seated across on yon rock 
 when I saw you descending this long slope ; at 
 first I took you for a wild lad, who some time 
 since took a liking for those stubborn rocks above, 
 on this river ; or something or other he saw about 
 them ; and I can tell you, my lad, this is not the 
 first time old Sugar-lip has cried to me for his 
 blood : and you see here (pointing the muzzle of 
 his rifle for Julius to look in) it takes no little to 
 satisfy her cravings." 
 
 Says Julius : "I am not the youth you refer to, 
 but am his friend, and in search of him ; and if 
 thou canst give me any report of him I am glad 
 to meet thee, if your old rifle is athirst for blood. 
 I can tell thy rifle, and thee, to boot, that my 
 blood is of too friendly and cold a character to 
 appease the thirst of the blood-thirsty. Such de 
 light to drink the boiling blood from an enemy's
 
 118 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 heart: thy powder and ball would be thrown 
 away on me." 
 
 " I confess," replied the Indian, " on near ap 
 proach, I discovered you were not the right sort 
 of game ; and see now, thou art not the lad who 
 called himself Rossius." 
 
 " Oh I venerable old chief," interrupted Julius, 
 " tell me something of that boy ; for he is the dear 
 friend I am now in search of. Did any evil befall 
 him ? Tell me all and place me under the most 
 lasting obligations." 
 
 " If," said the Indian, " I had sooner seen this 
 friend of yours, and knew beforehand what trou 
 ble he would occasion to my blessed child, this 
 old friend of mine (patting his rifle) would have 
 known no other game; but as I found out the 
 thing too late for the mischief was all done I 
 went over on the cliffs where the youth ranged, 
 and held a talk with him, and got him off." 
 
 " Then nothing has happened to him ?" asked 
 Julius. 
 
 " Nothing, so far as I know," replied the savage, 
 " excepting he appeared to be very sorrowful, and 
 sick at heart, and inquired of me the route to what 
 he called the Queen of the West. I at first thought 
 him beside himself, and wanted to find out some 
 Indian queen of our western tribes; for I know 
 thy hungry race had driven off all of the rightful 
 owners of these Atlantic states, across many wa-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 119 
 
 ters, away beyond the far west, where yon sun of 
 light forever sets. I refused to go with my tribe, 
 because I preferred the early morn of his first 
 rising. But I will tell you what he meant by this 
 queen which he spoke of it was a great city on 
 the Ohio river, which he so called, because of her 
 beauty and shining magnificence, so far excelling 
 the other towns of the west. He told me that he 
 expected to meet a great orator there, who came 
 from away beyond the great waters, into which all 
 of our rivers flow. I told him the best I knew 
 what route to take : To first make for the country, 
 our people in olden times called the land of blood, 
 known to you as Kentucky. This fine country was 
 once the paradise of hunters, and so called from 
 the much blood that was spilt upon its soil, both 
 of men and beasts the different "tribes of Indians 
 had many a hard-fought, bloody battle, in trying 
 to maintain supremacy over this favored land. To 
 this day, I am told, the rains from heaven have 
 never been able to wash out the stains of blood 
 from its soil, the earth is yet said to be crimsoned 
 o'er." 
 
 Inquired Julius : " Where did you last see him, 
 and what direction did he take?" 
 
 " The last time I saw him, we parted above this, 
 on Terrora's Heights : he went up stream, and I 
 followed down to this point, and crossed over to 
 where you saw me put into this stream. I have
 
 120 MAXOLIA; OR, 
 
 heard nothing of him from that day to this. If 
 thou canst find him, it's more than I expect, for 
 he put off at a desperate pace. Farewell, my lad." 
 
 "But," says Julius, "stay yet longer, old chief, 
 and answer me a few more questions." Oothla- 
 coochy was fairly into the stream, crossing to the 
 bank he had come from ; but replied 
 
 " I have no time for any more chat ; 1 have told 
 you all thou canst get from me, and what I have 
 told you is the truth." 
 
 Julius paused : " Glorious thought ! what a happy 
 coincidence ; thus far my conjectures are substan 
 tiated ; I will follow them out to the letter, perish 
 all in the attempt." So saying, he rose and cast 
 up his eyes to see where the sun was, and dis 
 covered he had sunk behind the mountain on the 
 opposite side ofthe river. "I shall be overtaken 
 by darkness before I can reach the point where I 
 crossed. These wild solitudes appear to me as if 
 they were frequented by other rude customers, 
 than hunters and Indians ; I have heard of other 
 thirstings after human blood, than old rifle-bar 
 rels let there come weal or woe, Julius ! let us 
 act out the man throughout this drama."
 
 THE YALE OF TALLULAH. 121 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SINCE the "fast" portion of our community are 
 so on the increase, as to begin to count noses ; for 
 it has not been ten years since none were reck 
 oned under the head but boys who had drawn on 
 boots too soon, and misses in their teens, who 
 took hold of novels to find out how they ended ; 
 but in our day, their numbers have so increased, 
 that a due respect for minorities should prompt 
 some of us to write, or have published a book, 
 upside down, for their special benefit politicians 
 will not long be unmindful of their claims to 
 catch -their votes. If I were so inclined, I believe 
 I would close just here, by way of doing the thing 
 up half-way " brown," just to a " turn," to save 
 them the trouble of looking for a conclusion ; 
 however, we will proceed further with our tale, 
 but abbreviate as much as possible, and not write 
 as romance writers do generally, merely to " fill 
 up," as the farmer said, (being short,) when he 
 pounded up the cobs to throw in the manger, to 
 mix with his horses' feed. 
 
 The reader will perceive we have left three of 
 our interesting characters within hearing of the 
 crack of old Oothlacoochy's rifle. Rossius was 
 11
 
 122 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 left upon the cliff, Manolia descending to the hid 
 den valley, and Julius not far off. 
 
 When Manolia perceived Oothlacoochy eying 
 her and Eossius, she immediately descended the 
 rope ladder, and Eossius lost sight of her. He 
 wandered for many days among the rocks up and 
 down the river, but never could hear a word 
 concerning the object of his solicitude her in 
 whom all his hopes and prospects of happiness 
 were concentrated ; he met with no one but the 
 old Indian, whose attention could be even arrested 
 concerning the maid of the rocks. 
 
 Old Oothlacoochy had, as he intimated to Julius, 
 met Eossius in his solitary wandering, and to all 
 of his interrogatories concerning the beauty girl, 
 the Indian assumed an air of indifference, as well 
 as ignorance ; he told Eossius, if he wanted to 
 find his girl, he had better set out for the low 
 country, and make his search among the alligators, 
 frogs, and terrapins ; for he understood that upon 
 such diet the lowlanders lived, and she was to-day 
 probably in those swamps with her lasso, to pro 
 vide for a hasty plate; "for," said he, "they are 
 in the habit of coming up among us and pitching 
 their tents around these falls, or below in some 
 cool valley, and spending the hot season. She, 
 of whom you inquire, I tell you, young man, 
 came from below and now this is past the season 
 for them to return take my advice, young man,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 123 
 
 and don't be wasting your time to no purpose." 
 And then the conversation took place which, in 
 the preceding chapter the Indian related to Julius. 
 
 When Rossius became quite persuaded by the 
 old Indian, that all was lost to him, he became 
 overwhelmed with feelings bordering on despera 
 tion like the drunken debauchee, from the high 
 state of excitement, ready to plunge into deeper, 
 darker shades of excess and wretchedness, with 
 the delusive hope of smothering the agonizing 
 conflicts of which his soul is possessed. 
 
 Ah ! Rossius, thou art rushing to where thou 
 knowest not, and carest less, with the desperation 
 of him who rushes into danger with closed eyes. 
 
 Here now we have exposed the rock, upon 
 which oft have been wrecked the parents' fondest 
 hope, a sister's pride of existence, a student 
 brother's whispering monitor, and upon the issue 
 of this great storm of life depends his destiny. 
 
 It is not love, or its results, that always bring 
 on this convulsion, (as is familiarly termed the 
 sowing of one's wild oats,) indulgence in dissipa 
 tion, losses, &c., with different individuals, lead to 
 the verge of this maelstrom, from which so few 
 make their escape. 
 
 But if once the teachings of philosophy and 
 reason can get the ascendant before habit can seal 
 his fate, the youth may pass through the fiery or 
 deal unscathed.
 
 124: MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 Eossius continued heedless of where he was 
 going, until he found himself at the fountain head 
 of Tallulah's waters a draught of the pure, cold, 
 gushing fount, sobered his thoughts ; and after 
 meditating upon the striking identity of the 
 rugged, torn-up, shapeless, helterskelter confu 
 sion of nature's doings among which he had been 
 wandering, in comparison with his own distracted 
 soul he suddenly rose from the contemplation, 
 and indulged in the following parody : 
 
 " I am yet half sick ye mountains ! tossed and 
 twisted about by a fortnight's gale, on love's rest 
 less waves; my giddy brains are still turned 
 round, as in a whirlpool, and this gigantic coun 
 try seems yet to tremble beneath my wavering 
 steps. Alas ! there is no ray of hope left for me. 
 O 1 Kossuth, as thou expressed for thy own bleed 
 ing, beloved native land, I know not else what to 
 do, but to intercept thee, on thy march through 
 the west. I shall meet thee on the beautiful Ohio, 
 and perhaps thy inspiring eloquence, and undying 
 hope, will be able to lift my sinking soul yet, 
 above this Moscow storm, under which I have 
 been so oppressed for so many days, by its in 
 gulfing threatenings." After thus soliloquizing ho 
 departed.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 125 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MANY months have elapsed, and poor child 
 of nature the world has been unmindful of the 
 suffering, bleeding heart of our beloved Manolia. 
 
 She had no one to whom she could go to, and 
 confide in, and reveal the cause of her afflictions. 
 The dread of wounding her parents' feelings, and 
 her timid modesty, forbade that she should ever 
 appeal to their sympathies, and no relief could be 
 obtained from any quarter. She was truly an 
 emblem of what we do read of " Patience sitting 
 upon a monument smiling at Grief; for she felt 
 as if surrounded by desolation, with no kindred 
 spirit to whom she could go and confide in, and 
 tell her tale of sorrow. She lingered among the 
 flowers and rippling streams, which gushed forth 
 from the mountains which surrounded the val 
 ley almost secluding herself from her parents' 
 caresses, as she was wont to do reading, such as 
 she now preferred from choice, were selected from 
 the shelves of romance, and love's thrilling sensi 
 bilities; which but served to stamp deeper and 
 deeper the " sear and yellow leaf" upon her bleed 
 ing heart and damask cheek. " ! world of woe 
 and discontent, thou art unmindful of Manolia's
 
 126 MANOLIA; OE, 
 
 happiness ; and with each returning day, with all 
 thy gorgeous splendors, thou oppressest her with 
 a gloom more cheerless still. My former delights 
 have all forsaken me ; and my excursions, which 
 ever so elated me a return from which but 
 increased my delight, of the gladsome welcome 
 and caresses of my dear parents ; they now, too, 
 doth converse to themselves, denying to their 
 daughter the nestlings she ever received un 
 sought. But yonder comes the old Indian. I will 
 approach and reveal to him my secret. Perhaps 
 he possesses an amulet that will perchance dispel 
 all this gloom which doth so oppress me." With 
 inspired hope and assumed cheerfulness she ap 
 proached Oothlacoochy and thus addressed him : 
 " Why is it, Oothlacoochy, thou dost conti 
 nually refuse to take me up upon the rocks where 
 I so loved to roam. I have often asked thee, but 
 thou hast ceased to love thy Manolia. Thou used 
 to call me thy daughter; but now I am no o.ther 
 than my father's and mother's. I have been cast 
 off by thee, and I know not the cause ; let me 
 again become thy child, and confide in me as 
 thou wast wont to do in days past. Do tell me, 
 and I will relate to you all that he said to me ; 
 and tell you besides of the discontent he has occa 
 sioned to thy daughter. This appeal had the de 
 sired effect ; and the old chief became moved, and 
 replied : " Manolia, my child, thy foster father
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 127 
 
 knows love for none other on earth excepting for 
 his Manolia; and to-day, to mend her broken, 
 blighted happiness which for so long a time has 
 appeared to Oothlacoochy like the withering flow 
 ers after being touched by ungracious winter 
 I would mount yonder thunder mountain, and 
 srnile, in baring my bosom to receive all the thun 
 derbolts and fiery forked shafts that have been 
 playing upon its summit since the world began ; 
 but if thou wilt listen I will tell thee all. When 
 I told thy parents of what thou alludest to, they 
 cautioned me never again to take thee up those 
 dangerous heights, for two reasons, thy safety in 
 both considered. The youth I sought, and found ; 
 and told him you again he would not see, for that 
 you came from below; and that he must there 
 search, if he would find thee. He finally left, 
 with much suffering, to know where he could meet 
 thee." 
 
 " Oh ! could I once more see him," said Mano 
 lia. " He told me where he lived. He lives below, 
 on the shores of this our lovely stream ; but 
 where its size is much increased and beareth a 
 different name. I always loved thee, thou ever 
 shining, melodious stream ! But since that Ros- 
 sius has lived to bathe in thy embraces, I scarcely 
 know whether to love thee more, or be jealous of 
 thy advantages though he proffered rne thy pri 
 vilege, and 1 knew not how to accept.
 
 128 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 "He described to me his home. It doth far 
 exceed all that thou ever dreamest. He told me, 
 too, of his sister the image of thy Manolia, but I 
 think much fairer for I doth love her e'en more 
 than my own dear self. If thou, Oothlacoochy, 
 wouldst go with me, thy love for her would com 
 pensate thee. If thou lovest thy Manolia, as thou 
 sayest, thou would know no difference between 
 us. And he also described a large, beautiful 
 Indian mound on the river's edge, which marks 
 his home where thy ancestors lived, and where 
 their spirits still dwell. Say, old chief, let's visit 
 thy kindred home ; do permit us to be borne in 
 this little boat on the bosom of these lovely waters 
 to where he lives." She sighs, and continued : 
 " My parents thou knowest I do love above all 
 the world besides ; but they will never consent to 
 our going. They will be held in suspense but for 
 a few days thou canst so soon return on foot, 
 after thou hast landed me with that other self of 
 mine her name, too, is so like mine lolia I 
 know with her I would be -safe and happy. On 
 your return you could give assurances to my 
 parents of my safety and speedy return." 
 
 To which the Indian replied : " I feel almost 
 persuaded by thy eloquence ; and the love* I have 
 for thee, Manolia, doth operate still farther. We 
 must not delay ; for thy loving parents doth ap 
 prehend all things concerning thee from the in-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 129 
 
 tent of their love. " Coming events cast their 
 shadows before them." Hold yourself in readi 
 ness by the next full of the moon, that we may 
 be advantaged by her light on our voyage. I will 
 have all necessaries in readiness, as if going on a 
 hunting excursion. You adjust your clothing 
 sufficient, and such as will screen you from the 
 damps of night ; for thou must sleep in the boat 
 while I paddle you safely through the shoals all 
 night; and when thou art first missed by thy 
 parents we will have gained one-fourth of our 
 journey." 
 
 " You have but just time," continued the Indian, 
 " to observe what is our custom upon the approach 
 of great advents ; which is to wear the amulet.* 
 I will provide you with a square piece of birch 
 bark, which possesses more talismanic virtue than 
 your paper upon which you write. It is of the 
 outer, scaly portions of the same bark we make 
 our light canoes of, which has saved many a brave, 
 it being so light it can run in any depth of water ; 
 moreover, one man can shoulder the canoe and 
 launch it again where suits his convenience. The 
 portion of bark I will give you is thinner than 
 the paper you use softer, and of a flesh color. 
 
 * The writer would here remark that this was also the Per 
 sian custom. See Encyclopedia Americana (abracadabra).
 
 130 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 Less observable upon it do you write the magic 
 triangle thus : 
 
 Abracadabra 
 
 Abracadabr 
 
 Abracadab 
 
 Abracada 
 
 A b r a c a d 
 
 A b r a c a 
 
 A b r a c 
 
 A b r a 
 
 Abr 
 
 Ab 
 
 A 
 
 " Fold it up so as to hide the inscription, and 
 suspend it about your neck; the amulet to be 
 worn at the heart, stitched and suspended with a 
 scarlet thread. The ninth morning before sun 
 rise which must be the morning before we set 
 out you must approach the water's edge of some 
 stream running to the east our Terrora is just 
 such a one and turn your back to the stream 
 being observed by no one and throw the amulet 
 into the river. This will insure success in our 
 expedition." 
 
 " Honor bright I" replied Manolia. " And I 
 will leave a note on my table, telling my parents 
 that I was anxious to see beyond this vale, and 
 away over the mountains, and concluded to take 
 a hunting excursion with you."
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 131 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 IN the solitude of moonlight, drifting upon the 
 white, foaming waters of the ocean-bound Tugalo, 
 ah 1 thou jewelled treasure, thou yet may prove 
 the charmer of a world's admiration, and the 
 solace of life to some of thy race. Manolia's heart 
 became too full, and thus she spake : 
 
 " Farewell I farewell, my venerated parents ! 
 again, farewell ! A long adieu, hallowed spot of 
 earth, my sacred vale, adieu, adieu perhaps, for 
 ever ! Adieu, ye woods, ye cliffs and chasms ! 
 Yon browsing fawn, to thee, too, adieu ! Thou art 
 so beautiful and innocent, that I know not how 
 the huntsman can so butcher thy kindred ! Ye 
 waters, too, but, ah ! we go together ! Yet I feel 
 myself a poor exile, though thou art with me. 
 Are there none not one to weep a tear, but 
 thee, for poor Mariolia ? But perhaps her morn 
 of joy yet lingers, where thy dancing waves will 
 carry her and her playful barque! Upon thy 
 merry waves I have taken so many excursions 
 with my unrequited father ! Him we have left 
 behind, and my weeping mother! we, on a pil 
 grimage ; thou, to the blue ocean wave ; and 7J 
 alas ! I know not where ! If I am sad, thou doth 
 unto me smile, and smile, as though filled with
 
 132 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 love and joy ! Ye lovely waters, I see that thou 
 art not unmindful of my loneliness for thou 
 dost all that thou canst ! My own dear self I see 
 reflected Manolia, I do see deep down alongside 
 yon silvery moon why can't she speak?" 
 (Manolia sings.) 
 
 " Flow on, flow on, thou silvery stream ; 
 
 Flow on, flow on, thou shining stream ; 
 
 Flow on, flow on, thou roaring stream ; 
 
 Flow on, flow on, to the ocean wave. 
 Swell the waves, swell the waves, thou silvery stream ; 
 Swell the waves, swell the waves, thou shining stream; 
 Swell the waves, swell the waves, thou roaring stream ; 
 Swell the waves, swell the waves." 
 
 The scene, circumstances, and loneliness of night 
 upon the waters, all conspired to impart an addi 
 tional melody to her tuneful voice, which started 
 the tears of old ironsides himself the old, dried- 
 up founts of the savage, with all of the stern phi 
 losophy belonging to his race, for a cold endurance 
 of every pang, physical and mental, was unhinged 
 of its shackles, and he wept as a child. " He that 
 dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall 
 abide under the shadow of the Almighty." 
 
 Manolia's heroism was now put to its utmost ; but 
 who can measure to what extremities the vibra 
 tions of woman's heart will hurry her ; hope, never- 
 failing hope, nature's great sustaining, propelling 
 power the never-dying boon bequeathed unto the
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 133 
 
 human family by our Great Sustainer, buoyed up 
 her energies, though a wanderer, desolate, and, as 
 she thought, exiled from home. 
 
 The novelty of the occasion, and the excitement 
 naturally produced from the regrets of the past, 
 and the hopes of the future, totally banished sleep 
 for the first night and the next day. The rapidity 
 of the current, with the increased momentum 
 given to the canoe, by old Oothlacoochy's skill 
 with the paddle, hurried them on, surpassing their 
 hopes. Night again came, and was far spent, when 
 Manolia spoke thus : 
 
 " The moon doth countenance our expedition, 
 far exceeding Manolia in love ; she appears to be 
 gliding in the waters, close by our side, teaching 
 us a lesson of faithfulness, in the absence of my 
 beloved parents, thou art mindful of the object of 
 their solicitude, and hast come as divine tutelary 
 for their exiled daughter; may thy beams grow 
 brighter still in lighting her coming home. I al 
 most wish, that the basin, into which these lovely 
 waters have ever flowed, was now filled, and that 
 her founts were exhausted, that, in gratitude, she 
 might return with increased velocity, to cancel her 
 obligation in like manner; then would Manolia 
 gladly become thy rival. But, ah! he told me 
 that these same waters, upon which I have so 
 often sported, washed the shores upon which he 
 12
 
 134 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 lived. He has searched for me I well know, and 
 despairing of ever finding me, has left for his 
 nome and his friends. I knew he loved me, for 
 ne told me so, and his noble nature would have 
 disdained a falsehood ; and my parents loved me 
 so well, that I was so taught to love myself so 
 well, that Eossius is ever endeared to me for hav 
 ing loved Manolia as he declared he did. 
 
 " I will seek his home to let him know that I 
 yet live, and have not been swallowed up by 
 those angry floods, which he more than once told 
 me would be my doom, unless I consented to go 
 with him." Exhausted nature gave way, and Ma 
 nolia falls to sleep. 
 
 The faithful, ever- vigilant savage continued, un 
 mindful of slumber or fatigue. He steered his 
 skiff again safely through the shoals and rocks, 
 which would have been impossible without the 
 light which the full-orbed moon afforded. The old 
 chief beheld the rising sun over the eastern hills, 
 and away down the river, on its western bank, he 
 discerned something like a pyramid, rising from 
 an extensive flat, and he thus exclaimed : 
 
 " I know now there is truth in the boy ; for I 
 see in the distance my fatherland, where sleep the 
 spirits of the old braves may nothing thou hast 
 told, my child, prove less true." 
 
 This speech half-aroused Manolia, and she un 
 consciously said :
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 135 
 
 " Let it be as thou saidst yesterday but, Ros- 
 sius, though thou art seemingly gentle, thinkest 
 that these mountains could hold thee, as thus you 
 see they confine these waters ?" 
 
 Her dream woke her ; she raised up ; her first 
 exclamation was : 
 
 " Good morning, Oothlacoochy ! good morning, 
 bright-orbed sun ! it's been told to me, thou art 
 more intense in these southern climes, whence I 
 am bound, than where I have always known thee 
 thou wilt then give forth a more distinct, intel 
 ligible shadow mine, last night, from thy fair 
 consort, answered in all things but the comfort of 
 answering my questions ; but now I see myself so 
 plain, on yonder shore of this my Tallulah, now 
 grown so wide and deep, that I almost fear its wa 
 ters, and would gladly have thee, old chief, make 
 instantly to where rny shadow looks so bright." 
 Upon the instant the canoe shot to the bank. 
 
 Manolia addressed the object on the beach, 
 which she took for her own shadow, thus : 
 
 " My lovely self ! surely thou canst tell me some 
 thing. Oh! so lovely I surpass my own dear 
 self so wondrous fair ! no wonder that he should 
 have been so matchless, him whom I search, if 
 these climes can so soon cause me to so far exceed 
 myself. Manolia ! my dear, but better self," (ad 
 dressing the object on the bank, which she took
 
 136 MANOLIA; OB, 
 
 to be her shadow,) " tell me, canst not thou inform 
 me where I can find him ?" 
 
 To which the following reply was made : 
 
 " My name, fair nymph, is not Manolia, but I am 
 called lolia. I heard my father, in much sadness, 
 tell of his lost brother, of whom he has never 
 heard after he reached the mountains many years 
 since. When he left, he had a wife and an only 
 daughter, but three years old ; her name was Ma 
 nolia, and just my age my own dear cousin. Oh! 
 how often I have sighed to meet thee I wish 
 thou wert her, for thou art so fair!" 
 
 Manolia said : " I took thee for myself, and 
 calledst thee for whom I took thee ; and still thou 
 seemest to be so like myself, with increased attrac 
 tions, that I must kiss thee, (advancing from the 
 canoe,) to find if thou art other than Manolia's 
 shadow." They kiss again they kisss ; and con 
 tinued : 
 
 " I have been so excluded from the world in 
 my raising, that this meeting doth appear to me 
 so strange, having associated with none else than 
 my parents, this old Indian chief, and the lost one 
 I am now in search of, who vowed to me his un 
 dying love. lolia, thou dost so strikingly resemble 
 him, for which I will ever love thee, if thou dost 
 prove another than myself, which I shall with dif 
 ficulty realize. It's true, thy voice is not without 
 variation from mine, as shadowed forth from Tal-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 137 
 
 lulah's rocks, and thy coral lips are sweeter by 
 far than I have ever found my own." 
 
 To which lolia replied : 
 
 " Come, go with me, my fair one, I will promise 
 you that my dear mother and I will reveal to you, 
 that thou art no other than lolia ; for thy welcome 
 shall be the same ; unless, perchance, you can in 
 cline her to your belief, that I am no other than 
 thyself; then, in that event, she will love you bet 
 ter than her own lolia : and as I have so anxiously 
 hoped some day to meet with this lost cousin of 
 mine, I will substitute you for her, if thou 
 shouldst prove to be another. Thou answerest 
 well to what I thought, poetic dreams I had figured 
 of her." 
 
 It may appear a little out of character, that lolia 
 should have been down upon the river at so early 
 an hour; her father's residence was not far off, 
 and the romantic spot around the mound, and the 
 number of Indian relics so frequently turned up 
 and exposed, whidh she was fond of collecting to 
 make additions to her cabinet, invited her down, 
 and she selected the cool of morning for her walk ; 
 and upon seeing the approach of so strange and 
 unusual a sight, as a smal-l skiff descending the 
 river, she hurried close down upon the waters, and 
 with amazement stood eying the two strangers, 
 the sun just having risen above the trees on the 
 12*
 
 138 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 opposite side. Manolia never before having seen 
 one so like herself, excepting her own reflection, 
 all concurrent circumstances tended to complete 
 the delusion with her, that the object on shore was 
 none other than her own shadow. 
 
 The cordiality by which Manolia was received 
 by lolia set aside all restraint, and the two, as ac 
 customed friends, hastened off immediately through 
 the beautiful groves and shrubbery, along the ' 
 white walk up to Jerome Neopold's mansion, not 
 mindful of old Oothlacoochy, who sat in the canoe 
 hearing every word of the conversation. His sa 
 gacity soon discovered to him, that this was the 
 identical place described by Rossius, and lolia 
 was no other than his sister, whose refinement 
 convinced the old Indian that no farther concern 
 ment for his charge was necessary. After the 
 girls had left, he solemnly rose, and fastened his 
 canoe safely to a sugar berry, and advanced 
 towards the hallowed spot where rested the re 
 mains of his venerated ancestry ; his contortions, 
 pantomimes, and wailings, soon attracted the 
 plantation of negroes around him; some of the 
 more superstitious confidently believed that the 
 spirit of one of the old warriors, which had been 
 sleeping in the bosom of the mound for many 
 centuries, had been awakened, and probably 
 brought to life, to avenge the many sacrileges that 
 had been committed upon their graves.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 139 
 
 Of all nations of people on the face of the 
 earth, none cherish the resting-place of ancestry 
 with such reverential, holy feelings, as the wild 
 American natives. The old Indian was so ab 
 sorbed and devout in his obsequious rites, that he 
 appeared unmindful of all surrounding objects, 
 though a multitude had assembled around to wit 
 ness the tragic show ; finally, he suddenly broke 
 off from his circuitous gymnastics, ran around the 
 mound and ascended to its summit, where he spent 
 the day in fasting and imploring the Great Spirit, 
 as is their custom. After sunset, apparently labor 
 ing under the most solemn afflictions, he proceeded 
 to the house, where he was cordially met by the 
 inmates, some account of whom Manolia had 
 already given, and she conjectured his delay at 
 the mound. 
 
 lolia's father was much interested in the old 
 Indian, with whom he conversed until a late hour, 
 ascertaining to his satisfaction, that Manolia was 
 the daughter of his brother. Oothlacoochy was 
 conducted to a room the next morning he was 
 gone, and no one could give any account of him.
 
 140 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MANY months after the date of the commence 
 ment of our story, a young stranger was walking 
 along one of the promenades of the crescent city, 
 with his eyes fixed upon the pavement, in a state 
 of abstraction, when a little carrier boy thrusted 
 into his face the morning's paper, crying out " buy 
 a Picayune, something to interest you." Not being 
 much accustomed to the stratagems of these boys 
 to dispose of their papers, Rossius was startled, 
 and believed he was recognized, and with avidity 
 took the paper and searched it most critically, and 
 soon discovered the telegraphic despatch: "Rossius 
 hold on, Julius will soon join you." 
 
 He suddenly wheeled around in search of the 
 newspaper boy, supposing the boy could tell him 
 something of Julius, and the advertisement. The 
 boy was "non est inventus," as might be supposed. 
 This despatch had reached the city before Rossius 
 did, and being apprehended by Julius, he in 
 structed an acquaintance living in the city to give 
 it publication until his arrival, knowing that 
 Rossius would read the papers, but probably 
 would never think of calling at the post-office for 
 a letter, as he had given intimation to none of his 
 friends concerning his plans.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 141 
 
 The reader will recollect that we left Rossius at 
 the parent fountain of the Tallulah River ; from 
 thence he struck a course north-west, traversing 
 the two states known as the "Nurseries for 
 American soldiers," (Tennessee and Kentucky) 
 and finally reached the Belle city, on the north or 
 right bank of the beautiful Ohio. The word Ohio 
 means beautiful, and this river was so called from 
 its wide transparent waters, and from its pictur 
 esque shores, being so beautifully scolloped by 
 hills running in semicircles around the many lovely 
 vallies upon its margin. Perceiving here, if he 
 continued his contemplated journey, that his means 
 must very soon "grow small by degrees, and 
 beautifully less," and that he might visit all of 
 the points of interest in the Mississippi valley, 
 immediately contiguous to its waters, he con 
 ceived of the plan of working his passage down, 
 until reaching the great western emporium, the 
 Paris of America. 
 
 Rossius had not been long in New Orleans, 
 before he understood pretty well the western 
 character, and that it was not congenial with his 
 refined, cultivated, sensitive, sympathetic nature. 
 A man is but a unit in this western world, his life 
 scarcely appreciated ; if perchance he should fall 
 overboard of one of their headlong, high-pressure, 
 bellowing steamers, the cry of " A man over 
 board," is sung out with reluctance, so great is the
 
 142 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 eagerness to fill out the measure of their "manifest 
 destiny.' The poor fellow overboard has only 
 shown too much impatience by "plucking the 
 fruit before it was ripe," and must abide its bitter 
 ness ; if he had waited, time would have softened 
 and mellowed the thing, and it would have fallen 
 to his hand, according to the course of things ; all 
 hurry, bustle, as the scene was in Moscow, when 
 the incendiaries were hurrying from house to 
 palace, with their long light- wood torches upon 
 their shoulders. " Live, sink, swim, or die," self- 
 preservation is the first law of nature, and this 
 being the only maxim taught, "'perish credit, 
 perish commerce, perish all," so the "cohesive 
 properties," hold me and mine. 
 
 Eossius was not raised to such schooling ; and 
 though he had begun the study of law in New 
 Orleans, he was fully persuaded that the genius 
 of the people and his own sensibilities, had no 
 ainnity; and he had begun to cast about for a 
 plausible excuse to justify his return home, with 
 out too great a sacrifice of personal dignity. His 
 adventure among the rocks he continually re 
 curred to ; it would ever be to him like a fairy 
 dream, of the most pleasurable reminiscence; but 
 still it weighed him down like an incubus, over 
 whelming every pleasure of life. 
 
 While he was thus lingering in this condition 
 of uncertainty and doubt, about the propriety of
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAU. 143 
 
 returning home to his beloved fireside associations, 
 he was startled by a sudden rap at his door. 
 
 " Walk in," cried Rossius. 
 
 " 'Tis his voice," said Julius, hastily entering 
 the room. 
 
 " Chum, old fellow," spake Rossius, rising hastily 
 from his chair, " I am so glad to see you ; if you 
 had been conducted by the guardian angel of light, 
 you could not have timed the thing better; be 
 seated, old fellow, and let me tell you. Julius 
 old chum, thou knowest not the world of obliga 
 tions this visit doth clinch unto thy fortunes if 
 this ' child can ever be made to climb.'* Come 
 chum, tell me something. When did you last see 
 Cassanio ? did he say anything concerning home ? 
 Oh ! I have been so long from them that my 
 anxiety has become insupportable. 
 
 To which Julius replied : 
 
 " I saw them all, just before I left ; they were 
 all well, but held in anxious suspense concerning 
 your safety. I have followed your trail, and you 
 know the round and the time it must have taken." 
 
 " Certainly," said Rossius, " you must be equal 
 to any old stag-hound, to have ever been so for 
 tunate as to have struck my trail; and pray, 
 where did you come across it ?" 
 
 * A student's phrase, meaning thereby, if fortune should ever 
 favor him, and the opportunity is afforded he will not be un 
 mindful of the obligations he owes unto Julius.
 
 144 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 " Where your valedictory was made, I suppose, 
 to the mountain goddess," replied Julius, and con 
 tinued : " Thy brother forced me to go home with 
 him, to tell the tale for him concerning your 
 ' whereabouts,' which I did in the best manner my 
 ingenuity could devise; and I was so cordially 
 welcomed, that I believe in your absence I was 
 mistook for you, and became so pleased with my 
 new state, that I began to wish you had gone to 
 California or Australia ; however, I promised your 
 friends, that I would endeavor to overtake you, 
 and remind you of your obligations to them, and 
 what a vacuum thy absence has produced among 
 them, and. that you must return immediately." 
 
 Says Rossius : " Thy arguments and pleadings 
 may be spared for more ' special' purposes, for I arn 
 ready to confess judgment; but tell me where 
 and how managed you to so find out my course." 
 
 " I returned to the falls," said Julius, " and wan 
 dered among them pretty much, I suppose, as 
 you did an old hunter told me, that I might find 
 your bones in Wild Cat's Den on Bull Sluice 
 Mountain, and he offered to show them to me, if 
 I thought I could recognize them ; but being de 
 ficient in anatomy, I declined going, thinking I 
 might mistake some old buck's for yours. I 
 next met an old savage*, away down in the fork 
 of the two rivers ; he pointed his long, big-muz 
 zled rifle into my face, and wanted to know if I
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 145 
 
 could tell how much blood it would take to sa 
 tiate the thirstings of a stomach of such dimen 
 sions. I told him my blood would do nothing 
 towards appeasing his thirstings, or his gun's, that 
 it would be like drinking the ocean waters, that I 
 was inclined to friendship, and was in search of a 
 friend, and it would be a throwing away of powder, 
 and ball to spill my blood ; he then immediatly 
 alluded to his having met you, and that he at first 
 took me for you he it was, who put me on thy 
 track, by telling me all that he told you, and that 
 when he last saw you, he prevailed on you to 
 leave, which you consented to do, but with great 
 reluctance ; he told me you steered up stream, 
 had seen or heard nothing of you since. I then 
 followed up' the stream to where it was but a small 
 rivulet, and next to its fountain source, and there 
 it was I saw thy name inscribed upon the large 
 beech, close at hand and I exclaimed, 'spare, 
 woodman, spare that beechen treel' and named it 
 the weeping fountain, at which I supposed thy 
 valedictory was made. I then struck an air line 
 for Cincinnati, and there too found your name 
 upon the register-book of the hotel. You must 
 have stopped at no other town until you reached 
 here, I suppose?" 
 
 Says Eossius: "Since you are so expert at 
 finding out routes, I'll procure for you the princi- 
 13
 
 146 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 pal engineer's place on the Pacific and Atlantic 
 Eailroad, which will be providing for you a life 
 time berth of honor and profit. You certainly 
 must have come across a rod of divination to have 
 been enabled to have worked out your course so 
 exact, and to tell besides what I did. I actually 
 did go into a sort of declamation at this weeping 
 fount, as you have appropriately called it ; for I 
 must confess, on that trying occasion, hope for 
 sook me, and I felt all o'er, the very shakings 
 of an earthquake, and bid farewell to my under 
 taking." 
 
 " And," said Julius, " gave up the eagle to be 
 one, or an ' ignis fatuis.' " 
 
 "No, sir," replied Eossius, "I wish it had so 
 proven ; I sought-and found out the beautiful god 
 dess of the cliffs the vale of Tallulah she said 
 was her home upon inquiry nobody had ever 
 heard tell of such a place. I conversed a great deal 
 with her, and found her to be a girl of inimitable 
 beauty, and of no ordinary endowments ; her com 
 manding elegance and brilliance are unrivalled, 
 as far outshining the town and city fashionables 
 I have seen here and elsewhere, as those majestic, 
 terrifying works of nature outmeasure those of 
 our low country rivulets the greatest elevation 
 on their banks being^that made by the gopher of 
 the pine woods. I know full well that it ever 
 would be futile for me to attempt anything of an
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 147 
 
 accurate description of the girl ; for that it would 
 always be to the whole crowd of you, like the 
 doctor's syllabub, ' a great, big, little thing, noth 
 ing at all almost hardly' and it would be a per 
 fect waste of time to tell of its being anything 
 else. But I am candid to confess, whatever it 
 may be in your estimation, I know enough to be 
 assured, that my earthly happiness would be more 
 complete in the possession of the ' Iris phantom,' 
 as some of you called her, and I in destitution, 
 than to be encircled by honors and riches without 
 her. I yet entertain the hope, that some day or 
 other she will be heard of; for such a gem must 
 eventually be heralded forth to the world. Have 
 patience and suspend your irony, we may yet live 
 to see this ' thing of nothing,' shining forth the 
 most brilliant star your eyes have ever yet beheld ; 
 but enough ! every rose has its thorn. This sub 
 ject suits not my present condition ; yet I know 
 full well it is to prove as inseparable from my ex 
 istence as my own shadow. Our stay, Julius, in 
 this eternal city, must be just so long, as to give 
 you a bird's-eye view of its main springs, that 
 you may realize what a babel it is. You per 
 ceive I have likened it unto two notoriously famed 
 cities ; one of ancient renown, and the other of 
 modern times: the city of the seven hills, and 
 modern emporium of the fine arts and fashion 
 Kome was made up with adventurers of every
 
 148 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 cast, and produced her Cassars, who thought 'the 
 prize of a crown, justifies the crime by which it 
 was won' this will explain to you their identity. 
 I was strongly tempted, for the first time in my 
 life, to yield to the fascinations of euchre, so univer 
 sally the fashion on these floating palaces, and also 
 in the city. 
 
 " The world of fashion, in our large cities, know 
 not how it is, that one can be raised in the coun 
 try, particularly a female, and s.hine with lustre in 
 all the embellishments that mostly adorn their char 
 acter a casual observer would very naturally run 
 into the same error, from judging of the facilities 
 offered in cities for mental improvement, and de 
 veloping personal elegance, being so profuse ; such 
 as libraries, public lectures, reading-rooms, asso 
 ciations, ' soiree entertainments,' are reckoned as 
 the ' sine qua non ' to a high finish. And when 
 my own observation received a full demonstration 
 of the futility of such cogent arguments, I con 
 fess I was somewhat staggered ; but the very argu 
 ments offered can be used to the subversion of 
 the opinion so generally entertained these great 
 facilities, which the cities offer, all tend to create 
 artificial characters ; we are by them allured into 
 the opinions of others, our own resources become 
 a dead letter, without which, one can never main 
 tain a high position. The anxious student, it is true, 
 may learn the 'verbatim et literatim' schooling
 
 THE YALE OF TALLULAH. 149 
 
 more effectually. The old grandmother said she 
 never wanted her little grandson to go into the 
 water until he had first learned to swim. The ab 
 surdity is just as great, to expect an analyzing, 
 active mind, one capable of meeting emergencies, 
 and making a leader, without being left upon its 
 own resources. When a new question is sprung, 
 the one begins to cast about for public opinion, 
 the other for philosophical truths and the justice 
 of obligations. A bell-wether will lead his flock 
 over a precipice into sudden destruction. Native 
 graces, too, when refined by education, and a self- 
 consciousness of rectitude, are ever more com 
 manding, than when artificially taught to certain 
 observances, of wearing the feet, legs, arms, head, 
 and general contour. 
 
 "If America were converted into a city, or either 
 of our great cities could absorb every interest and 
 evolve every opinion, as Paris is said to be ' all 
 of France,' then our destiny would be truly ap 
 palling. You might find the statesman, who would 
 as Caesar did, thrice refuse the crown, but only 
 the better to secure the diadem. 
 
 " This thing of deification, or hero worship, is 
 so easily got up in our cities ; which the most ab 
 ject husbandmen in the country do utterly loathe 
 as a degeneracy of the times, and a sacrifice of 
 republican dignity ; if such disgusting deification 
 13*
 
 150 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 as we sometimes witness, be consonant with onr 
 institutions and our age, then we need not deride 
 the Hindoostans for their idolatrous -worship of 
 the great gun of Bijapoor, upon which they lavish 
 their ointments and perfumes, and strew with 
 flowers a gun so large that five men may with 
 convenience enter its muzzle. Tell me Julius, 
 what route did you take after you lost my trail in 
 Cincinnati ?" 
 
 "I followed the currents, touching at all of 
 the points I thought would have attracted thy 
 interest such as Louisville, the mouth of Spoon 
 River, (as the Tennessee is called, from its resem 
 blance to one in shape ; the term Tennessee means 
 spoon,) Cairo, the growing majestic town of Mem 
 phis, destined some day or other to rival the great 
 capital of Egypt of old, of the same name the 
 heart and nucleus of our republic, run away with 
 enthusiasm and enterprise; if the memory of 
 Washington was not so essential to our harmony, 
 this place would eventually become our capitol. 
 I next stopped at the river of death, the Yazoo, 
 thinking you were in a fit mood to meet its 
 terrors face to face, and many other points ; and 
 when I reached this place, I hurried to the great 
 St. Charles. You had been marked by the polished 
 bar-keeper, for he had no occasion to refer to the 
 register. I did not strike him so favorably ; he
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 151 
 
 interrogated me as to my business with you, as if 
 suspicious of my intent. 'Sir,' replied I, 'I am 
 Rossius' friend, and anxious to meet him.' 
 ' Waiter,' he sang out, ' conduct the gentleman to 
 No..'" 
 
 The next morning, Rossius conducted Julius 
 around to see the principal lions of the city, and 
 upon reaching the wharf, where a world of vessels 
 were presented. Says Julius : 
 
 " This reminds me of one of the big western 
 new grounds covered over with deaded trees the 
 masts are so thick. Rossius, do you know why 
 this is called the Crescent city ?" 
 
 " Every one of whom I have asked, tells me, 
 because, as you may here perceive, the course of 
 the river forms a semicircle, something resembling 
 a new moon or a crescent. But I have thought 
 that this fickle stream, which is continually 
 changing its course, may overcome this character 
 istic ; which has surprised me, that its citizens 
 have not thought to base its claims to its being 
 crescent like, upon a principal more enduring and 
 equally characteristic. Its growing, increasing 
 commerce, is as illimitable as the extent and ca 
 pacity of this great valley drained by hundreds of 
 rivers, all flowing through this one channel." 
 
 " Now," says Julius, " I feel well repaid for the 
 trip thou hast led me, and it will ever serve as
 
 152 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 a pleasing memento in after life ; and if you are 
 willing, we will set out on the next train to the 
 lake, from thence to the next gulph city of im 
 portance, at the mouth of the Alabama river; 
 travelling upon its waters will afford me sufficient 
 rest I hope as the interpretation of its name 
 ' here we rest,' originating as I am told, from an 
 exclamation of the old chief of an emigrating 
 tribe of Indians, when he reached the banks and 
 rich flats of its placid waters, he involuntarily ex 
 claimed ' Alabama ! Alabama !' Then we may be 
 considered as being homeward bound."
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 WE must now invite the attention of our readers 
 to the beautiful vale of Tallulah ; once the abode 
 of pleasure and uninterrupted happiness; but 
 now of sorrow and discontent a paradise turned 
 into woe and wretchedness. 
 
 Manolia's parents knew not what do when 
 they missed their idol daughter, the morning after 
 she left. The note which Manolia had written, the 
 mother found upon her table, giving no clue as to 
 the direction she and Oothlacoochy meant to 
 take ; which forestalled all hopes of the father's 
 intercepting them ; and thus the idolatrous parents 
 had to abide with folded arms the issue of coming 
 events. Who can measure, excepting the fond 
 parents, the angel smiles of an affectionate, caress 
 ing daughter, the touch of whose soft hands to the 
 aching temples, and musical tones of sympathetic 
 endearments, are more than all the " concord of 
 sweet sounds," and would soften down the asperi 
 ties of the god of battles, his stern cohorts ; the 
 silent tongues of Calypsa and her nymphs, would 
 be attuned to strains of music divine. Of such a 
 cherished blessing, were the parents deprived ; a 
 sacrilegious robbery, thought the father, for which 
 there is no reparation this side of Heaven.
 
 154 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 Oothlacooehy had mentioned to the father the 
 meeting between his daughter and the young 
 stranger; and now his supposition was, that the 
 old Indian had betrayed them, and probably had 
 been bribed to induce Manolia to forsake her home 
 and parents, to again meet the adventurous 
 stranger ; and he did not know what an attractive 
 young man might effect upon the artless, unsus 
 pecting affections of a young girl probably ex 
 tract from her a promise to quit the home of her 
 childhood and her parents forever. This agonizing 
 suspense, which Manolia's absence created in the 
 bosoms of her bereaved parents, was kept up until 
 the fourth night. Oothlacooehy arrived at their 
 door all was silence ; he supposed the vale had 
 been deserted. The two old Spanish hounds, 
 Turk and Sledge, met him not, nor gave tongue 
 at his approach, which he recollected never to 
 have happened before ; he entered the porch, his 
 footsteps arrested the attention of all within, pa 
 rents and dogs drowning each other's salutations. 
 The mother met him : 
 
 " Oh ! where is my daughter not with you ?" 
 The poor afflicted mother fell, as if a dagger 
 had been driven to her heart ; for many days she 
 remained insensible to passing events grief had 
 dethroned reason, and suspended vitality. Eeader, 
 let me assure you, this is not a sketch of fancy's 
 pen, but an occurrence of reality ; and a recollec-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 155 
 
 tion of the facts reopens the founts which the 
 scene occasioned. 
 
 Oothlacoochy's remonstrances and assurances, 
 that Manolia was well and safe, with her cousin 
 lolia at her uncle's house, was unheeded by the 
 mother ; until, after many days, the fountains of 
 grief had run off their excessive overflowings. 
 
 It would be well to mention here, that Oothla- 
 coochy was not indifferent as to the anxiety Mano- 
 lia's absence would create in the hearts of her 
 parents, and this is what caused him to leave 
 Jerome Leopold's so unceremoniously, in the 
 night after he was conducted to his room. The 
 indomitable spirit of the savage had engaged his 
 whole soul, which entirely banished sleep from 
 his contemplation, and he stealthily left the house 
 so soon as all became silent, and untiringly made 
 his long day's march up the river. It may appear 
 incredible, but no horse can travel as far in a day 
 as an Indian. The question might here arise, how 
 he got into the hidden vale on his return the 
 rope ladder taken away from the Eagle's nest, the 
 canoe gone? 
 
 Soon after he conducted the Neopold family 
 into the vale, he contrived to construct a foot- way 
 over a deep chasm, where Eockcliff mountain juts 
 up to the Tallulah river, just below the valley ; 
 the rock here opened into a vast impassable fis 
 sure, across which he contrived to extend two
 
 156 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 large chestnut timbers side by side, up to which 
 one could, with great difficulty, attended with 
 danger, climb up the steep rock from the valley, 
 by holding on to the small fissures and cracks in 
 the sides of the perpendicular in one instance, 
 the foot had to rest on a sloped projection not 
 wider than two fingers, and one could at very 
 great hazard descend into the valley. Over this 
 frightful pass, the author has been conducted by 
 one of the characters alluded to in our book, but 
 not without very great emotions, for one false step, 
 and the shores of eternity would be our landing 
 place. 
 
 When Oothlacoochy told the father of all the in 
 fluences which operated upon him relating all the 
 history of Manolia's interview with Kossius; and 
 then the fact being revealed, that Eossius proved 
 to be his much beloved brother's son; the brilliant 
 little boy he well remembered, and that his daugh 
 ter was with her cousin lolia, whom he also recol 
 lected as a "fac simile" of his own beloved 
 Manolia, he became reconciled to the singular 
 dispensation which had caused so much grief, al 
 most proving fatal to the mother. Rossius' disap 
 pearance the Indian had heard no account of, for 
 having remained so short a time after arriving 
 with Manolia, no allusion was made of the youth, 
 and of course he could give no account of him, 
 but supposed he had reached his father's long
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 157 
 
 since and took Cassanio, whom he saw, to be 
 Bossius and it was better so than otherwise ; for 
 if he had related to the father his knowledge of 
 KrOssius, the uneasiness of the family would very 
 naturally have been increased for the supposition 
 would have been, that he had probably fallen from 
 the dangerous cliffs and been lost, as was the in 
 ference of old Gray-beard, the hunter, whom Ju 
 lius first interrogated about Eossius. 
 
 After the excitement and apprehensions con 
 cerning the mother had been allayed, Neopold said 
 to Oothlacoochy : . 
 
 "For the first time since I have known thee, I 
 was led to suspect thy integrity and faithfulness ; 
 you know, Oothlacoochy, that we suspicioned your 
 having been bribed by the stranger you saw upon 
 the rocks, and that a scheme was plotted to rob 
 us of our only solace and jewelled hope of earthly 
 happiness, and that all the fruition our cherished 
 hopes promised to the evening of our earthly pil 
 grimage was gone, vanished forever; but thy re 
 turn has dispelled the gloom, and I feel there may 
 yet be a return of day after the watches of this 
 gloomy night shall have been passed." 
 
 To which Oothlacoochy replied : 
 
 "Thou hast been so long with Oothlacoochy 
 and not yet learned to estimate the red man's 
 Bible? "We are taught to know not, what toil is, 
 14
 
 158 MAXOLIA; OR, 
 
 nor hunger, nor suffering, when duty or gratitude 
 makes a call until I met with thee, and I take 
 thy brother to be made of the same stuff, I had 
 supposed that all of the pale-faces were Christians, 
 claiming but one Bible, which they preach and 
 talk a great deal about, but all I ever could gather, 
 means nothing more or less, than gain all you can, 
 and take care never to be cheated. The sin lies only 
 in the detection ever innocent until branded or 
 cropped, and then scouted at as dogs, by those even 
 who are ten-fold worse, but more cunning. If 
 one of thy boys but steals a tame fox, and rather 
 than be detected, he secures it under his bosom, 
 and suffers his bowels to be torn out, rather than 
 be branded with the infamy and in this consti 
 tutes your bravery. After all this, your people 
 write and talk a great deal about Indian chi 
 canery, Indian duplicity. Your arts practiced for 
 selfish purposes ; ours for our glorious inheritage, 
 the defence of our rights we never stop to count 
 cost you never stop to count anything else. 
 Thy daughter's happiness has never been priced 
 by Oothlacoochy ; pale-face has a price for every 
 thing excepting their own lives ; ours, we sell for 
 the most they will fetch Manolia's is the price 
 of Oothlacoochy's." 
 
 " Oothlacoochy," says ISTeopold, " you must go 
 out and employ men to come and assist you in 
 cutting down a safe way into our valley ; I intend
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 159 
 
 soon to have my brother to come and dwell 
 among us." 
 
 We have now done with old Oothlacoochy, the 
 last of the Cherokees, and his faithfulness proves 
 what staunch auxiliaries that people would have 
 made, if we only had dealt justly by them. Poor 
 old Indian 1 he yet lingers amidst Terrora's wilds, 
 the nearest tenant to his brother's grave.* 
 
 * Oothcalaga, the brother of Oothlacoochy, was shot by a 
 white man, whose grave the author has visited, and with his 
 own hands, hunted out a rock, and added it as a head-stone to 
 the mausoleum and while standing but a short distance from 
 the grave, on the look-out for a deer, we were attracted by an 
 object in a thicket. I cried out, "come up!" Instantly an In 
 dian ushered forth, with his rifle and wolfish dog close his heels. 
 I mentioned to him, that I had just visited his brother's grave, 
 and had contributed a stone, and written on a tree, near by, to 
 designate his resting-place. "U-ah, you have a pale face but 
 a red man's heart." His feelings were evidently touched his 
 eyes filled he dropped his head and departed.
 
 160 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 WHEN Manolia reached her uncle's house, ac 
 companied by her cousin, lolia, she- was first con 
 ducted into her aunt's chamber, where she re 
 mained until time to dress for dinner. Her 
 baggage had been sent for and taken from the 
 canoe up to lolia's chamber. She prepared, or 
 made her toilet in the most studied manner, as 
 some would say, (she made a laborious toilet,) 
 though simple in every particular, her object be 
 ing to appear as she did when Eossius first saw 
 her in snow-white upon the rocks. Her modesty 
 forbade her making any inquiries about Eossius, 
 but she expected to meet him at dinner ; yet she 
 was not a little surprised at his not having shown 
 himself before. 
 
 When invited to dinner, lolia introduced her to 
 Cassanio, merely as her brother. 
 
 Cassanio had but recently returned from col 
 lege, bringing Eender with him, "who was also in 
 troduced. 
 
 Manolia, having never heard of Cassanio, mis 
 took him for Eossius, the resemblance being very 
 striking. This appeared to her as being a very 
 cold reception, when she had every reason to 
 expect an increased ardor being whetted by
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 161 
 
 time and anxiety, which she thought must have 
 been occasioned, if Eossius had been sincere in 
 his ardent professions upon the rocks. 
 
 This disappointment was humiliating in the ex 
 treme her pride was touched her fond hopes 
 blighted her first aspirations withered in the bud. 
 
 "Ah, alas!" thought she, "that I ever should 
 have yielded to the romantic folly of leaving my 
 beloved, devoted parents, to have ventured abroad 
 upon such a crusade !" 
 
 Manolia had nothing to sustain her drooping 
 spirits, excepting the fact, that the home of Kos- 
 sius, which she had sought, turned out to be that 
 of her own dear father's brother, and that she 
 was with her cousin, lolia, who treated her as a 
 dear sister ; her affections, she thought, had been 
 wooed but to be trampled upon ; she became sick 
 at heart, and panted to be back again at her 
 peaceful home in the lovely vale of Tallulah. 
 
 It was manifest to all, that none of the luxuries 
 of dinner appeared to be relished by her, and that 
 a gloom had come over "the spirit of her dreams." 
 This sudden transition, from the gaiety and cheer 
 fulness which her every manner indicated on her 
 first arrival, could not be mistook, unless occa 
 sioned by sudden indisposition. 
 
 Immediately after dinner she hurried to her 
 cousin's room and went to bed so changed in 
 14*
 
 162 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 tone and spirits, as to become a matter of great 
 solicitude with lolia; but no interrogations, or 
 caressing endearments, could extract the slightest 
 intimation of the cause of her extreme sadness. 
 Days passed, but nothing could attract her to 
 gaiety, or even'cheerfulness. 
 
 When all seemed to be lost to her, and " the 
 sear and yellow leaf" appeared to be fastening 
 upon the lovely Maid of the Eocks, a letter was 
 received from Julius, informing lolia and the 
 family, that Rossius was found, and was home 
 ward bound. The happiness which this intelli 
 gence created in the family the glow of feeling 
 manifested by the long disconsolate, affectionate 
 sister, could not fail attracting Manolia's interest, 
 though apparently fastened upon the rock of in 
 difference. She laid aside the book which she 
 was reading, and called her cousin, and begged 
 that she might become a participant of her joys, 
 which appeared to be so uncommonly exuberant. 
 
 " Ah ! my dear cousin," replied lolia, " our long 
 lost Rossius, my brother, is heard from, and on 
 the return home ; and thou must pardon me for 
 so neglecting you all day. I have thought of 
 nothing else but rejoicing, and of mingling the 
 tears of gratitude with those of my parents and 
 brother Cassanio. 
 
 " Thou knowest nothing of this strange com-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 163 
 
 mingling of tears and smiles, despondency, so 
 quickly succeeded by hope, ever engenders; for 
 thou hast no brother, or sister, who were ever lost 
 to you ; but I am sure thou hast too sympathetic 
 a heart not to sufficiently appreciate our motives 
 as to allow its excuse." 
 
 "Ah! bright star of hope," replied Manolia, 
 "in this matter of feeling, which thou hast so 
 accurately described, I do now, and will more 
 fully appreciate and realize than thou thinkest 
 thyself art capable of; for I do feel, lolia, that 
 thy rejoicings are more to me than to thyself. 
 And now thou hast an explanation of what thou 
 hast so closely interrogated me. I had thought 
 all this time that Cassanio was thy brother Eos- 
 sius and thy only brother and that he was 
 unfaithful to his solemn pledges, which were once 
 vowed unto thy cousin. I feel now that my 
 buried hopes are once more revived."
 
 164 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 AFTER the secret mysteries which had for a 
 time so obscured Manolia's brilliance, became re 
 vealed to lolia, it tended to identify and cement 
 the two congenial spirits more closely than ever 
 in the gray of evening, while drinking the delights 
 of the hour and of the occasion, in the midst of 
 the perfumed air of the garden, redolent with the 
 exhalations of the variegated honeysuckle, cape 
 jessamine, and a multitude of other shrubbery, 
 rivalling each other in sweetness, with the same 
 harmony which characterized the two loving spi 
 rits, in the love they bore to him whom they were 
 so anxiously looking for. 
 
 This proved the eventful moment when Eossius 
 and Julius returned to the beloved home and 
 affectionate friends of the wandering youth. lie 
 knew not the pleasures which awaited him the 
 meeting of parents, sister and brother from whom 
 he had been so long separated was enough to fill 
 the measure of the highest hopes brimming for 
 once. But when the youth rushed into the em 
 braces of his devoted mother and after over 
 coming the first gush of filial affection, he cast 
 around and saw not his beauty lolia and being 
 told that she was in the garden with Manolia
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 165 
 
 " What !" exclaimed he, " Manolia ! From 
 whence? She of the mountain of Tallulah's 
 Vale?" Rossius immediately hurries off into the 
 garden, followed by Julius. As the two friends 
 enter the pavilion of vines, Tola rushed into her 
 brother's arms. 
 
 " Oh ! my dearest brother, how happy I am to 
 see you once more !. I ofttimes thought you were 
 lost to me for ever ! I had so many scolds for 
 you, but I am too happy to sum them up. But 
 here is our sweet mountain cousin ; she came to 
 fill the vacuum which thy absence occasioned." 
 
 The bliss which this unexpected meeting occa 
 sioned must be left to the reader's own imagina 
 tion ; for no tongue, or pen, can but fail to convey 
 an adequate conception of the emotions of the 
 heart when thus overwhelmed by realizing the 
 highest hopes of earthly bliss. 
 
 " Oh, Julius," said lolia, " thou hast laid us all 
 under such lasting obligations on account of the 
 love you have shown unto my brother ! thou art 
 so welcome I" 
 
 " Cherished hope," said Rossius, taking Mano 
 lia by the hand, " if thou art my cousin in truth 
 I must pledge thee a kiss though thine own an 
 gelic self doth attest that thou art something to 
 me more dear than even cousin. Ah ! Manolia, 
 my dearest, thou hast caused rne so much agony, 
 and so much happiness for I had thought that
 
 166 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 thou wert lost to me for ever which came near 
 making shipwreck of my earthly fortunes and 
 future bliss ; but the mariner's pleasure is doubly 
 enhanced, after having narrowly escaped being 
 engulphed in the angry billows of a tempest- 
 tossed ocean. The offerings of pledged affection 
 which I made thee once were too feeble; and 
 even now I am at fault for a standard of measure 
 ment by which any just conceptions of my feelings 
 can be rated. 
 
 Cassanio and Eender, just returned from hunt 
 ing, enter the garden find Eossius and Manolia 
 seated on one side of the summer house, and 
 Julius and lolia on the opposite, deeply engaged, 
 with the cheering consolations of love lighting up 
 every expression. 
 
 " Oh ! thou lost one," said Cassanio to his bro 
 ther as he approached him, " thou hast become 
 immortalized in the estimation of us all, from the 
 concernment thou hast given us about thy wan 
 derings. We are very happy though in thy 
 return. Here's Eender, whom I brought home 
 to fill thy station." 
 
 "How are you, Eender?" says Eossius. "lam 
 happy to have had my place so worthily filled by 
 so respectable a substitute. This is the happiest 
 day of my life; and I am rejoiced to have you 
 with us to contribute to our pleasures. Eender, 
 let me introduce you to our cousin from the
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 1G7 
 
 mountains. She is no more or less than the 
 mountain pheasant bird you called her, of which 
 you all laughed at me so much about." 
 
 " I perceive," replied Render, " it is a thing of 
 life, and not a phantom of light and vapor, as our 
 old philosopher divined her to be. Eossius, thou 
 art an expert trapper, to have caught the bird, 
 when no other knew upon what food it fed, to 
 have baited with, or I am sure thou would st have 
 had many rivals, and your humble servant not 
 the least formidable." 
 
 " Bender, let's go," says Cassanio ; " the tongues 
 of this quartinian group but illy suit the hunter's 
 taste. Our appetites call more strongly for a 
 ' neat's tongue dried' at this moment, after fasting 
 all day in the woods ; and they only have a pre 
 dilection for each other." 
 
 " My dear cousin Cassanio," replied Manolia, 
 " thou should not measure another by thy own 
 bushel." 
 
 " My fair cousin, retorted Cassanio, I declare if 
 thou hadst shone forth such a radiance of sweet 
 smiles before Rossius' advent, I might have been 
 inspired with a taste more refined." 
 
 " I am sure, my cousin," replied Manolia, " I 
 love thee more than if thou hadst been thy bro 
 ther Rossius ; and now I have found thee out to 
 be my cousin Cassanio, I promise to love thee 
 most intentlv: and as often as thv sister kisses
 
 168 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 thee I'll promise to do the same, so that thou 
 shalt know no difference between our love." 
 
 " I feel doubly enriched by the acquisition of 
 another sister ; and, to prove myself worthy, I'll 
 promise to spare no diligence. Come, Bender, 
 let's to the house ; they will follow on when it 
 suits them. As Cassanio and Eender retreated, 
 he continued : " These kisses and proffered loves 
 are too cordially tendered. A sister's kisses, in 
 deed! are too like the inscription on the sand 
 beach too soon obliterated. I want a kiss that 
 will thrill through, and for a month to come make 
 me feel that the perfumed ruby lips are still im 
 pressed upon my own. I care not for thy sisterly 
 kisses. I am too used to such. They are too 
 like the gentle passing breezes, which ever and 
 anon do kiss our cheeks, but passeth by, leaving 
 no impression behind. I prefer one that in my 
 dreamings doth make me feel that the soft roseate 
 cheeks are still in contact with our own a port 
 able pyerean fount of joy and bliss. Talk not to 
 this child about a sister's kisses ; he hath too oft 
 been teased by them. Such offerings are not 
 suited to this market." 
 
 " Cassanio," says Eender, " thou hast too often 
 stolen kisses for one of thy years, or thou couldst 
 not so describe them with such exactness. I can 
 tell thee, old fellow, so marketable a commodity as 
 that beauty girl has tendered thee, will prove no
 
 THE VAL1-: OF TALLULAH. 
 
 dreg in any other market ; 1 am forcibly reminded 
 of the parable which we do read of, about the 
 futility of casting pearls before swine." 
 
 " Thou wilt sooner, than relished, become thy 
 self an inmate of the habitation of the devil,* to 
 which thou alludest, if thou mindest not thy 
 ways." 
 
 " You know, Cassanio, I must keep rny wits 
 whetted, for my motto is 'quisque suae fortunai 
 faber.' My ancestors bequeathed unto me neither 
 honors nor riches ; you and 1, Cassanio, in this 
 matter, stand in different relations." 
 
 Says Cassanio : " I hold not to such cant, and 
 would ask you, does he who claims consideration 
 from the distinction of ancestry, hold a higher 
 claim than his ancestors ?" 
 
 "His ancestors of course," replied Eender. 
 
 "Then," continued Cassanio, "you who are 
 meritorious ' per se,' are entitled to be ranked with 
 the ancestors of those aristocratic inheritors of 
 distinction, and, of course, more worthy than they." 
 
 " Quod erat demonstrandum," replied Render, 
 " the very best demonstration I've seen out of the 
 lids of Euclid, the idea is exalting to Render, and 
 he will take encouragement from it." 
 
 As the party in the garden rose to follow after 
 
 * The reference is to one of Shakspeare's remarks of the 
 Jew calling swine the habitation of the devil. 
 
 15
 
 170 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 Cassanio and Bender, Bossius playfully addressed 
 himself to the company. 
 
 " And this is my fair Manolia, whom I sought, 
 and sought in vain ; and in despair I left for I 
 knew not where, believing that she was lost to 
 me forever but now meet again, wearing e'en a 
 fresher beauty ; a year's interest, added to what I 
 first thought inimitable ; surely thy flowers have 
 greatly multiplied, and, as much increased in fra 
 grance" and exhalation to your morning dews, 
 which hath imparted an unusual supply of beauti 
 fying cosmetics to thy mountain toilet ; you must 
 have surely engaged thy time, and employed all 
 of the humming birds in collecting extracts, which 
 thou hast imported along with thee. Say, Tolia, 
 is it not so ?" 
 
 To which Manolia immediately replied : 
 " Thou dost sadly mistake my employ, and as 
 to those dear pretty little birds, their own persons 
 doth clearly prove, that no time is lost on others. 
 I told thee once, I neither spared the pains nor re 
 ject the morning's roseate influences ; and if thy 
 suspicions be true as to my importations, it has 
 been thus, as I told old Oothlacoochy of "the moon, 
 while on our voyage down the Tugalo ; for she 
 appeared more faithful to Manolia, than she to her 
 dear parents. She appeared to be gliding down 
 the stream all night close alongside of the exiled 
 girl. I had trusted a change had come over ' the
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 171 
 
 spirit of thy dreams' in the watches of thy long 
 absence; and that thine old vocation had been re 
 nounced, but I see thou art still inclined to turn 
 all of my credits to thine own account as formerly. 
 I am determined to measure lances with you no 
 longer, thou art ever robbing me of my own im 
 plements, and turning them against me." 
 
 "But ah!" replied Rossius, "there is no injustice 
 in my practice, of thus robbing you, as you say, 
 as all of my offerings are for thee, and I enlist 
 under no other banner but thine, and fight no 
 other battles but in thy defence ; surely, then I 
 am justifiable in using weapons thou hast forged." 
 
 Says Manolia : " This is not the first time I 
 have heard of offerings. Virgil tells us, ' Timeo 
 Danaos et dona ferentes.' Birds, too, do frequently 
 have made prodigal offerings, which, unsuspecting, 
 they receive under the fixed trap, and then their 
 own dear selves become the forfeit." 
 
 Rossius, Julias, Render, and Cassanio in their 
 chamber. Says Render : 
 
 "Come Rossius, tell us; in thy wanderings 
 among the cliffs, didst thou see any more of such 
 birds as thou had the luck to catch ; if so, I will 
 follow thy suit, and go to the mountains, and 
 implore to become a medium of the spiritual 
 rappers." 
 
 Says Julius : " A plenty of such as old Gray- 
 beard described, to me which would make ' no
 
 172 MAXOLIA; OK, 
 
 bones' of fastening just such a rotund subject as 
 yourself, as a supper for their cubs." 
 
 " Ah!" retorted Bender, "but I will not venture 
 forth at such an hour as they do prowl about in 
 search of prey ; and perchance I should, like 
 Rossius, so far loose my chart, as to be overtaken 
 by the hour, that the birds of ill-omen do venture 
 forth, with their frightful screamings, among the 
 cliffs of Tallulah's wilds. I'll do as Rossius did, 
 crawl into old Bruin's saloon, and hug his shaggy 
 highness so ardently, that I would pass myself 
 off for one of the heirs apparent." 
 
 "Or," rejoined Rossius, "if Render should 
 stumble upon old Oothlacoochy, the Indian chief 
 of Terrora, and he should take you, Render, for a 
 nuisance to this world, and a disturber of the 
 game of his favorite haunts, and should tell you, 
 'young man, you are wasting your time here, you 
 had better go home to work,' at the same time 
 presenting the yawning mouth of his hideous old 
 yawger, with a calibre I could thrust my thumb 
 into, saying, ' don't you think it would take a 
 mighty chance of blood to satisfy her cravings, 
 old Nancy Hart herself,' he continued 'of old 
 Elbert, was a thing of nothing to this old piece, 
 though she shot three British soldiers with their 
 own muskets." 
 
 "I would tell him," says Render, "that my
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 173 
 
 blood was filled with pestilence,* and not fit to 
 drink, and offer him my flask." 
 
 "And that in all probability," said Cassanio, 
 " would be empty, for thou sayest that the coldness 
 of the mountain water requires a little of the ' all 
 joyful' mixed in, to prevent its cramping the 
 stomach." 
 
 "Cassanio," replied Bender, "thou hast fairly 
 robbed me of my vocation. Caesar exclaimed 
 that 'danger knew full well, that I am more 
 dangerous than he.' In paraphrasing the senti 
 ment, I would reverse the order, and say that 
 ambition knoweth full well that Cassanio is more 
 ambitious than he ; thy rich inheritance of honor 
 and wealth doth not satisfy thee, but contendeth 
 for a monopoly of all that is cherished by ambi 
 tious calling; but to the question, old Oothla- 
 coochy would find me so valuable a cohort, that 
 I would be taken into co-partnership, and my 
 mesmerizing manipulations practiced upon some 
 of those old seven snagged bucks Julius saw, so as 
 to get in reach, to cut their throats. I beg pardon, 
 Cassanio, for using the term throat, which has 
 become so loathsome to thy chaste sensibilities." 
 
 " Thou mistakest," retorted Cassanio, " but I do 
 
 * The Indians have a great horror of the small pox, which 
 \vas never known to them until introduced among them by the 
 whites. 
 
 15*
 
 17-1 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 loatlie vulgar perversion of terms ; it makes my 
 very flesh crawl, to hear a lady substitute throat 
 for the angelic, graceful curvatures of the swan- 
 like neck of beauty, thy yearnings after criticism 
 doth lead thee on, to the attack of virtue and 
 chastity. You merely heard me remark that I 
 preferred hearing a lady say that she wore her 
 necklace around her neck, than to say around the 
 throat or guzzle ; for the grosser animal functions 
 of beauty, we never like mention being made of, 
 for it tended to lessen our appreciation of female 
 charms and perfectibility." 
 
 Says Render: "Cassanio, thou art yet a novice 
 in the one-half of the progressivness of the age ; 
 thou art sadly behind the times, which is just as 
 bad as to be ahead of the age, as is said in com 
 pliment of some of our politicians ; thou art too 
 fastidious ever to marry a fashionable girl ; know- 
 est thou not that a fashionable life enures to the 
 development of all of the animal functions. High 
 seasoned foods, stimulating drinks, and sometimes 
 other indulgences, contribute to give rotundities 
 and protuberances, anterior and posterior, which 
 we find now, in our day, the more delicate and re 
 fined ones are attempting to rival with starch and 
 hemp-cloth. Cassanio, let's go to the mountains, 
 and marry some of those pure, unsophisticated 
 mountain girls, as untainted by fashionable fully as 
 the atmosphere which they breathe is uncontami-
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 175 
 
 nated by pestilence; the air and water they partake 
 of, must operate intellectually and morally, as 
 well as physically. We will settle down in some 
 of those deep caverns, where we can hear our 
 shaggy hounds chasing the bucks all around us, 
 making the welkin ring like the roaring of dis 
 tant mountains : as Rossius tells, that he lay one 
 night under one of those cliffs, during a thunder 
 storm, when the mountain over his head gave the 
 most sublime echoings of a concatenation of sounds, 
 startling one with the conviction, that the rocks and 
 their deep foundations were upheaving, and being 
 ripped up from their long repose, which had lasted 
 until then from the beginning of time, giving signs 
 of woe, that all was lost. Do you know that 1 
 am never reminded of Milton, but that I think 
 the vehicle in which he would have us ride is too 
 high sprung, for the safety and convenience of this 
 cab-riding, railroad-moving, impatient age of ours 
 and that he can't have a satellite whom the 
 critics will not stigmatize as being exceedingly 
 bombastic, so I must be careful of my plagiarisms. 
 I notice, whenever he is quoted, the chaste scho 
 lars put their fingers in their mouths. I do con 
 fess I had like to lost my subject and as I was 
 going to say, Cassanio, we will feast on venison 
 and do you know how the old hunters explain how 
 it is, that the flesh of deer is more healthy than 
 any other animal food ; I can't vouch for the logic
 
 176 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 of the argument ; but they do say that the deer has 
 no gall, and that therefore they can feed upon the 
 ivy and all other noxious herbs, with impunity ; 
 thereby their flesh became impregnated, and those 
 consequently who fed upon their flesh, thus con 
 stituting a peculiar idiosyncrasy, which resisted 
 all that is deleterious in the atmosphere or in diet. 
 This reminds of an old adage : ' the hair of the 
 same dog cures the bite.' What think you, Cas- 
 sanio ? Cassanio ! Eossius I Julius ! by the eter 
 nals, all asleep, and my loquacity but an elegy to 
 their slumberings. Thus it is with the world, 
 mindful of nothing but our follies, all punish 
 ments and no rewards blast the reflection, it 
 blights one's amblition ; it is pretty much as 
 the fellow said when asked for a contribution 
 for Clay's monument : ' He got what he wanted, 
 and was paid well, all but the Presidency, and if 
 he had got that, he would have been well paid, 
 and content to boot.' ' We want but little here 
 below, nor want that little long.' " Sleeps.
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAII. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 AND now, while seated upon a rock, surrounded 
 by the foaming waters of Tugalo, writing upon 
 the stock of our favorite rifle and shot-barrelled 
 gun, made for us by the distinguished smith, Ro 
 gers, of Augusta, in wait to meet the pursued 
 buck, when he makes his plunge into the boiling 
 surges, no less mad than he, whose pure and 
 limpid waters we have but recently made turbid 
 by the blood, from the deadly shot inflicted upon 
 an antlered stag, having plunged into the stream 
 to arrest his being swept off by the rapid cur 
 rent. 
 
 Manolia, who had spent her life amid the rocks 
 and cliffs, and dashing surges of the wild Tallu- 
 lah, began to grow weary of her absence, and 
 longed to return again to the bosom of her fond 
 parents, whose anxiety too, had grown almost in 
 supportable and all necessary arrangements be 
 ing made, they hastened to comply with the invi 
 tation. 
 
 But it seems to us not inappropriate, to-day, 
 while in wait for the pursued buck, again sur 
 rounded by the enchanting melodies of Tugalo's 
 rapids, my gun across my lap, serving as a desk, 
 to add in a little incident of my own life's history,
 
 178 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 by way of amusement to those of our readers who 
 are fond of the chase. Since throttling the old 
 buck, which I have but recently made mention of 
 in the beginning of this chapter, I had suspended 
 writing for many days, and have had the most excit 
 ing chase of my experience, and since I have been so 
 gratified with my day's amusement, I must tell it ; 
 for in the first place, it is so fully demonstrated, that 
 my dogs and gun were of the very best mettle 
 that ever played at the claret founts of noble 
 game, or made music and melody for the ear of 
 majesty. I well know the reader will here sarcas 
 tically exclaim, that every huntsman's dogs, like 
 every jockey's horse, are always the very best in 
 the world. 
 
 Cleveland reported to me, that I was mistaken 
 in having supposed that I had killed the notori 
 ously majestic old Eockcliff buck, whose sagacity 
 and prowess had eluded dogs and hunters for so 
 many seasons, and that he had found out his lair, 
 and no mistake. The next morning we set out 
 with our pack of dogs, mostly of the shaggy Span 
 ish breed of hounds, (the best in the world.) Im 
 mediately afer turning the summit of Bull Sluice 
 Mountain, on the south side, one of my old 
 roughs gave tongue instantly, little rough spike, 
 hurrying in, rearing up to smell the bushes higher 
 than he could reach, then all, with maddened yells 
 of revenge, joined in, making the old mountain
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 179 
 
 arid its deep caverns resound in echoings, harmo 
 nizing with the constant roar of Tugalo's rapids, 
 calculated to awaken the conviction in the poet, 
 that the naiads had assembled in conclave with all 
 of their concord of sweet sounds, to do homage to 
 the pure, living founts of this country, so un 
 rivalled. 
 
 "Ah!" says Cleveland, "I know them signs I 
 can't be fooled ; the bristled rage of Fuzzy Guzzy, 
 Clincher, Spunk, True Blue, and old Fidler, shows 
 that they know him to be noble game ; see, too, 
 how wide awake old Trim, Blanche, and Dash, all 
 appear to be. No other buck left in these moun 
 tains leaves his trail so high up on the bushes ; 
 the proper game, and no mistake. Their mettle 
 is up, and they will have the old customer up 
 and a going before you are aware. Take down 
 the ridge that leads to the seven islands, to 
 the old turkey-pen stand look well to your fire 
 locks, and when you hear him, and see him com 
 ing, mind, mate, don't let his big horns throw you 
 off of your guard, but look well to your fore and 
 hind sights ; act out your part in the drama, as 
 well as I know them dogs will, and this will be 
 the last scene acted in the tragedy of his life's 
 performance. Now don't grow uneasy if he 
 shouldn't make to the river through your stand, 
 and takes a tack away by the round-top stump, 
 (for I see every dog is full of thunder and ven-
 
 180 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 geance,) they will never stop short of putting him 
 into the Tugalo three times, and by then he will 
 never undertake to climb one of these mountains ; 
 he will then try Bull Sluice, and make for the 
 seven islands ; but you must meet him above the 
 Sluice, and settle the dispute before he reaches 
 those everlasting islands." Before I reached my 
 stand he was uncovered away they put off at a 
 killing pace towards Panther Creek. I just could 
 hear the long, loud, perplexed yellings of the 
 dogs, as if at fault. What does all that mean? 
 thought I it surely can't be the old buck the 
 dogs are after; for if he, the dogs can run full 
 speed fifty yards off of his track. Presently I 
 heard the hounds coming, " with vengeance in their 
 teeth," (as the hunter said,) as their tongues de 
 noted, right on their back track towards where 
 they had jumped him. 
 
 " I believe the dogs have been cheated, and the 
 old rascal has substituted a fawn to act out the 
 to-day's performance," sang out Cleveland. 
 
 "Never," replied I; "first heat too long" (a 
 moment's pause.) Cleveland listening high above 
 me, at the old Pine Station heights. 
 
 " You are right ; they are crossing over the 
 mountain and going above. The old fellow has 
 smelt danger in the air. They will make right 
 for the bloody gap, down woods, Thompson's 
 Ridge, over the turnpike, and round the lower
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 181 
 
 point of Rockcliff, and in at Battle Creek Island. 
 You can't get down on the river above Bull Sluice 
 too soon ; for the way the dogs are licking it into 
 him now is the right way. I wouldn't be sur 
 prised if he never quits the river after he takes it 
 the first time." 
 
 Sure enough as Cleveland predicted the old 
 veteran was brought to his low, short jumps, head 
 and tail down, by the time he reached the river ; 
 and he thought " prudence was the better part 
 of valor ;" so rather than undertake the difficult 
 ascent of the Picken's Mountain on the Carolina 
 side, he took down in the river ; and as soon as I 
 reached the point on the river which Cleveland 
 had designated, I saw the buck swimming down 
 his head and antlers lifted high above the water, 
 tossing to the right and left, nostrils distended 
 in fact, every sense on the " qui vive" for danger. 
 I planted myself on the water's edge. He was 
 descending close under the opposite shore; and 
 just above the opposite point from where I stood 
 a ledge of rocks made into the stream, upon which 
 he majestically walked, looking around, as if sur 
 veying the chances of escape and, poor old vete 
 ran, he had run his race at the crack of my rifle 
 he bounded off of the rocks into the water. 
 
 " The work is done. You gave him a lofty 
 fall," cried a voice in my rear, on the side of the 
 16
 
 182 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 mountain. " You have broke his neck : I see the 
 flow of blood from where your bullet entered. 
 After all, he is bound to go through Bull Sluice, 
 as T said, for he is fairly in the suck." 
 
 We hurried below the rapid, and, as conjec 
 tured, the counter current brought him around 
 the Giant's Arm Chair, and he was drawn by his 
 branching horns upon the rock, thereby demon 
 strating the truthfulness of old Graybeard's warn 
 ing to Julius. 
 
 This was a day worthy of commemoration, from 
 the majesty of the game, trophy of horns, the long, 
 hard run race over steeps and rocks, the melody 
 of the hounds resounding among depths and high 
 places each one earning glory sufficient, in their 
 struggling which shall be foremost in the chase 
 and at the closing scene I beheld every dog 
 swimming the rapid current, contending with 
 ambitious spirits who shall be foremost to taste 
 his blood, and complete the triumph. 
 
 " Well," says Cleveland, " he is a proper buck. 
 " I am sorry for you, old fellow, and I wish now 
 I could fetch you to life; for it will take five 
 years to make the best buck left in these moun 
 tains as good as he." 
 
 And thus it is with our every struggle in life. 
 The anticipated pleasures upon the consummation 
 of our aspirations are never realized ; and when 
 ever one object is attained, our yearnings go forth
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 183 
 
 in search of other fields of sunshine and pleasures 
 to bask in. Soon after commencing the ascent of 
 the mountain from the river on the return home, 
 the threatening, boiling black clouds, and the con 
 stant mutterings of heaven's artillery, denoted the 
 speedy approach of one of those appalling storms, 
 which the reverberation amidst these chasms and 
 cliffs ever magnify into the most sublime and ter 
 rific phenomena. Very soon I began to realize a 
 demonstration of the flashes and quick reports. 
 The windows and doors of heaven seemed to have 
 been shook open upon their grating hinges, and 
 all earth shook. Never before had I been able 
 to fully appreciate the mountain torrents which 
 we do read of. They came hurling down on 
 every hand, threatening an overwhelment of every 
 impediment. I began to cast about for a point 
 of safety, and took shelter under an oak upon a 
 rock upon a sharp knoll, the temporary cataracts 
 descending with wild fury on either hand down 
 to the swelling river. " The noise and confusion" 
 which so deafened my ears, could but excite my 
 apprehensions of the exhibitions of one of those 
 alarming phenomena which have been described 
 and their ravages marked out to me by the old 
 mountaineers of this singularly interesting country. 
 We have all read and heard of the alarm created 
 in the mariner's apprehensions upon the appear 
 ance of a water spout at sea. These mountain
 
 184 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 spouts, as they are termed, are no less to be 
 dreaded. I am told they occasionally occur after 
 long wet spells, and then a heavy fall of rain, 
 such as I have described. Two opinions are enter 
 tained as to their cause. Some with whom I have 
 conversed, believe, that the mountains become so 
 saturated, and their cavities so filled with water, 
 and then a great fall of rain, causes a bursting out 
 of the water on the side of the mountain in a sluice, 
 irresistible, tearing up trees and rocks, and hurl 
 ing them down the steep with desolating fury, ex 
 cavating a most frightful yawning chasm. Others 
 suppose that from the whirling of the atmosphere 
 the heavily charged clouds are concentrated into 
 a volume of water, and that the momentum of 
 this volume does the mischief. Which of these 
 theories is the most potent is left to conjecture 
 and future development. 
 
 These, my readers, are some of the majestic 
 sublimities amid which we mountaineers are con 
 tinually exposed ; and, if we had the graphic pen 
 of some who have written to enlighten the world, 
 we would gain for ourselves immortal fame. After 
 the vehemence of the storm began to abate, I 
 recommenced the difficult ascent ; and upon reach 
 ing the summit, smiling contentment and the 
 repose of a slumbering babe seemed to reign over 
 the wide expanse of mezzotinted peaks, as if no 
 rage had ever been awakened in their midst.
 
 THE VALE OF'TALLULAH. 185 
 
 CHAPTEK XXV. 
 
 THE pleasures of the ecstasy of mournful joy 
 we all can appreciate if we have never been over 
 whelmed by its majesty. 
 
 Woman's tears have never failed to elicit a 
 gushing forth of the fountains of the most obdu 
 rate heart. We have described the mother's grief 
 at the disappointment of a daughter's return. On 
 that occasion the excess of burning grief dammed 
 up the fountains, and the safety valves refused to 
 give vent to the impulses of nature ; and, accord 
 ing to the fixed principles of philosophy, some of 
 the machinery must give way: consequently, 
 '' reason became dethroned," and Manolia's mo 
 ther never was restored to her wonted tempera 
 ment and sociality until now we witness her bath 
 ing her child in affection's tears. After a long 
 pause, which the solemnity of the scene imposed 
 for none but were too much affected to give utter 
 ance to a sentiment finally Manolia broke the 
 silence that had reigned by exclaiming : " My 
 dearest mother, thy tears are my greatest consola 
 tion ; they do reveal to me thy daughter's for 
 giveness. Oh ! I have acted so unworthily of my 
 fond, dear parents, and I am so grieved that I 
 16*
 
 186 MANOLIA; OK, 
 
 have ever caused thy grief! May future enjoy 
 ments ever swallow them up in the oblivious 
 past I My father, too, (embracing him,) thy loving 
 kindness in the morning of my existence renders 
 remembrances of the past too dear to wish that 
 all the past should be buried in gloomy night 
 but nothing else than your wayward daughter's 
 remissness I Forgive 1 forgive ! And let these 
 kind, dear friends, by whom we are surrounded, 
 become your daughter's advocate, and contribute 
 with her to stay the sorrows of ' discontented 
 winter' unto the close of life. How many sleep 
 less nights your Manolia has passed to return 
 again to our sleepless, happy vale where, as old 
 Oothlacoochy says, the morn ever lingereth ; for 
 the eve is shut out for ever by the western 
 mountains !" 
 
 " The old Indian's philosophy, my dear child," 
 replied the father, " doth teach us an instructive 
 lesson; not to contemplate the evening with 
 sorrow and discontent, but as the harbinger of a 
 glorious coming day, and at the close, my darling 
 child, the undying effulgence of the sun' of God 
 will soften all the discontents of winter into a 
 glorious summer ; could all of the profane ener 
 gies of Shakspeare be thus paraphrased, the inter 
 dict of the moralist might never be enforced." 
 Continued Neopold : " Lost and found, this is its 
 illustration ; and also, that of ' night and morning,
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 187 
 
 in the night time of our existence, the morn of 
 happiness ushers in. My brother, (addressing 
 himself to lolia's father,) this is seemingly a joyous 
 meeting ; if adversity never crossed our path, 
 happiness would never be so complete. After a 
 troublous voyage, the calm is the more delightful. 
 Thou art so surrounded by peace and pleasure, 
 that these commotions, which so unhingeth the 
 man, appeareth strange; but a brother's love is 
 not necessarily over-shadowed by the exuberance 
 of a father's love for a darling child." 
 
 To which the brother replied, at the same time 
 presenting his daughter lolia to her uncle. 
 
 " This is lolia, and, as agreed, but the ' fac simile' 
 of thy daughter Manolia ; and she will serve to re 
 veal to you, that we are not without a standard, by 
 which to measure your feelings, and to enable us 
 to fully appreciate this interesting meeting ; and 
 the occasion is thy apology to all here present, for 
 we are not likely to affiliate with others, whose 
 sensibilities are not attuned to harmonious vibra 
 tions with our own." 
 
 " My dearest uncle," replied lolia, " my memory 
 beareth no testimony that I have ever seen thee 
 until now ; but the kind look, and resemblance so 
 like my father, denotes to me, that I should have 
 been drawn to thee, as my sister cousin and I were 
 at the time of our first meeting on the river's
 
 188 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 shore. Manolia loved me then, better than ever 
 another loved her sister ; for she mistook me for 
 her own dear self, and I have been ambitious to 
 emulate her in every impulse. And now let me 
 entreat you, if thou hast any experience of the 
 suffering occasioned by a separation from those 
 we devoutly love, thou wilt not consent to my 
 and my cousin's separation." (She continued.) 
 " Rossius my brother, and Julius, his chum while 
 in college, have both volunteered to favor our 
 motives, not having thee at hand to consult; but 
 we well knew that thou wast not so unlike thy 
 own brother, as to do otherwise, than what would 
 most contribute to thine own daughter; whose 
 love for thee I do continually find fault of, that 
 it doth impede at times her love for me, for I love 
 her so well, that I am ever jealous of hers." lolia 
 here manifested confusion, and to get out of the 
 dilemma whieh her anxiety had entangled her, 
 she continued : " But I didn't mean to imply ex 
 actly what I did, rather by both being always 
 together, you will have both of us instead of one 
 to love you, and we will be a mutual stimulus to 
 each other, to make thee happier than thou ever 
 wast." 
 
 "Oh! papa," said Manolia, "my cousin has no 
 intent, that I should not return with thee to our 
 blue mountain home; for really, I do believe I
 
 THE VALE OF TALLULAH. 
 
 have got her to entertain the love for them, and 
 our lovely valley, that so overwhelms me whenever 
 my thoughts turn that way." Continued Manolia 
 
 " ! I long to roam on the mountain brow, 
 Once more my life to thy comforts bestow ; 
 And gaze abroad upon the vast blue summits, 
 Stretching away far beyond all limits ; 
 And watch the soarings of the eagle's flight, 
 Far, far above, the tallest mountain's height ; 
 To listen to the torrent's tempestuous roar, 
 Of more dulcet strains than the ocean's shore, 
 And while life last, thy forgiveness invoke, 
 Dearest parents, ne'er again thee provoke." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THERE are three commemorative events in our 
 life's history, it has been said ; birth, marriage, and 
 death ; and of these three, the second probably, 
 is of the most absorbing interest, with the refined, 
 sensitive young female; for upon its judicious de 
 liberations, hangs all the issues of life ; and, admit 
 ting us to be free agents, extrinsic causes must 
 necessarily operate with great potency upon our 
 moral persuasions ; hence future destiny becomes 
 deeply involved.
 
 190 MANOLIA; OR, 
 
 Sensible of these truths, the parents of both 
 Manolia and lolia, though apparently overflowing 
 with joy and mutual congratulations, were not 
 without a tincture of alloy upon the near approach 
 of the crowning scenes, which were to fix the 
 destiny of Georgia's most brilliant jewels. 
 
 The day appointed at length dawned, with all 
 its autumnal effulgence. All creation appeared 
 to be o'ercast with pleasurable delight. The 
 forest canopied over with gorgeous colorings of 
 its foliage, vieing with the richest Turkish tapestry. 
 The tramping of richly caparisoned horses, and 
 glitter of polished equipage, crowded with smiling 
 intellects, with the richest paraphernalia ; music, 
 too, that would have silenced Orpheus. The win 
 dows and casements darkened with vines and 
 evergreen, hanging with the clustering purple, 
 and the gilded fruits of Hesperides ; shutting out 
 from the banquet the light of day, converting 
 thereby day into night, for the solemn occasion ; 
 so that chandeliers and branched ' candle-sticks, 
 with their many colored waxen tapers, were 
 brought into requisition. And among the boughs, 
 hanging with exotic fruits, to complete the delu 
 sion that we were transported to Elysian fields, 
 were perched the many colored equatorial birds, 
 with their warbling melodies, all tended to impress 
 every one that the scene was inimitable; but when
 
 THE YALE OF TALLITLAH. 191 
 
 the fair heroines, in their simple white, were 
 ushered in, these things of every clime and of the 
 rarest art, were as suddenly eclipsed as the 
 cornet's train is by the sun of light. 
 
 Rossius and Julius were now to be blest with 
 the richest behest that moral and intellectual worth 
 has claims to ; and may the fearful apprehension 
 of the honored parents be forever sanctified, into 
 a glorious recollection. 
 
 The conviviality of the occasion was well 
 adapted to one of Render's impulses. " Richard is 
 again himself in the field," remarked Cassanio, as 
 Render passed him, to which Render graciously 
 bowing, with uplifted hands, replied : 
 
 " Othello's occupation is gone. How is it, Cassa 
 nio ? we hear nothing from you as touching thy 
 favorite theme, politics." 
 
 To which Cassanio replied, " I care not a groat, 
 either for whig weakness or democratic duplicity." 
 
 Render, turning off, remarked " The youth art 
 under serious conviction; the little bright star 
 of the Palmetto banner, Miss Kitty Jones, will yet 
 convince him, that nullification, if not the rightful 
 remedy, an all-efficient one, she certainly has it in 
 her power to make him feel the force of the doc 
 trine." 
 
 To which Cassanio replied, "I heard nothing 
 of your remark, excepting nullification, thy ever-
 
 192 MAXOLIA. 
 
 lasting theme, if thou meanest to imply that I am 
 one ' per se,' it's preferable, young man, than to be 
 as thou art, not only one yourself, but astride of 
 so many hobbies Southern Rights, Democratic 
 Van Buren Union, Compromise, Nashville Con 
 vention, Secessionist, Thirty-six thirty or fight ; 
 though unconstitutional, yet being a strict construc- 
 tionist, too overflowing with all sorts of patriot 
 ism to ever attain thy ambitious call. I would 
 advise thee, if thou wouldst reach the goal thou 
 hast marked out, to mount the old courser, the 
 Whig Republican, and if thow hast the heels, and 
 the head to direct, the stakes will be thine." 
 
 Render, turning off " I'll let him alone for a 
 while, he hasn't yet lost his entire reason." 
 
 Joy, content, " the feast of reason and the flow 
 of soul," characterized the nuptial festival of 
 Rossi us and Manolia, and Julius and lolia ; and 
 not many days after, the Neopold family were to 
 gether in Tallulah vale. 
 
 And here ends our tale the halcyon days of 
 all restored, with interest ; and thus is the moral 
 of our book ; paradise lost is again found. 
 
 FINIS.
 
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