Southern Christian Advocate

For the Southern Christian Advocate.
A VACATION RAMBLE. -NO. I.

Dear Brother Wightman,-After the interesting and exciting scenes of our recent College commencement had passed away, and our students, together with the large and intelligent assemblage of our fellow-citizens who had honoured us with their presence on that occasion, had mostly retired to their homes, I determined to improve a portion of our limited vacation by a short excursion to the North-western region of our State, which I had long desired to visit, but which, from the pressure of professional and other engagements, I had never been able to reach. - Leaving, therefore, the quiet population of our lovely "village in the woodlands," to recover from the collapse which had necessarily come on after the late excitement, and abandoning for one brief fortnight, the fumes and fatigues of the laboratory for the incidents and vicissitudes travel, I set out in company with our respected President, Judge Longstreet, whose private affairs required his presence in Alabama, and whose route, for fifty or sixty miles, fortunately, corresponded with that which I had designed to take. The high personal gratification which the trip in question has afforded, arising as well from the topographical, geological, and mineralogical features of the country, as from the kind greeting of friends, and the formation of new and agreeable acquaintances, has led me to beg a place in your columns for a few details, which, I trust, may not prove unacceptable, at least to those of congenial tastes and kindred habits.

The first point at which my narrative finds us, is on the road to Decatur, De Kalb county, at the foot of Little Red Lane, sparingly seated on an old log of rather scanty dimensions, and tenaciously fingering a timely luncheon, taken from the Judge's sulkey box, while our panting horses, with pendant eye-lids and flexed houghs, patiently enjoyed the shade, and a lazy spring oozed out its waters to the sunshine amid a plashy flat that bordered the road. A gourd, borrowed from a neighbouring cabin, enabled us to wash down our frugal meal, and we again mounted, and were under way. At Mr. Latimer's, ten miles from Decatur, we expected to procure some food for our horses,—rest a few hours, and then reach the village before nightfall. We arrived,-had our horses fed, and after two hours' delay, had ordered them, and were on the eve of setting out, when our kind and thoughtful hostess recalled us, and would not suffer us to leave until we had honoured her table, by partaking of an ample and well dressed meal, for which she is deservedly celebrated. Her light, spongy, saleratus biscuit, and clear, well-drawn coffee, gave no questionable character to the repast; and it was denominational supper, although to accommodate our convenience, it was served up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. All this too, when (soon after our arrival,) we had told our landlord that we did not expect dinner. Such generous and pressing attentions when all remuneration was politely, but firmly refused, could only be expected under the auspices of her who was destined by Heaven to preside over the comforts and charities of the domestic circle. Our kind landlord in the village, tendered us the hospitalities of his board, and at the hour of retirement, the no less comfortable provision of some fine, plump, elastic mattresses, admirably accommodated to wearied limbs and warm weather. After tea, the evening was spent at Judge Ezzard's, and in the company of his agreeable family, with a few other friends. Here we were delighted to recognize, in the person of Mrs. Buchanan, our young and gifted acquaintance, (formerly Miss Kyle,) so favourably known to most of the readers of our Southern periodical literature. She was soon, by request, seated at the piano, and for nearly two hours, with slight intermissions, her exquisite skill and fine taste, poured upon our ears some of the most rich and thrilling combinations of sound, which that sweet, entrancing instrument, in the wide range of its symphonies, is capable of emitting, under the touch of an experienced performer. Her fingers, evidently long disciplined to the pleasing task, swept with electric rapidity the yielding keys, and evolved the whole witchery of music:-now, it came soft and subdued as the strains of a distant lute, floating on the moon-lit bosom of a mountain lake;and anon, bold, wild, and startling as the tones of the clarion on the eve of battle,-bearing alike on its swollen or ebbing tide, the willing soul of the captivated listener. An Irish lady by birth and education, and with that quickness of sensibility and ardour of temperament so characteristic of the refined of her sex from the " Emerald Isle," she was roused to enthusiasm in the inimitable performance of some of her native melodies. And here, en passant, let me remark, that her fine musical talent is perhaps only surpassed by a richer vein of poetic genius, destined, at no distant day, to secure her an eminent position in the world of letters. Several of her fugitive pieces may be found in the best Southern periodicals, as the Magnolia, Orion, &c., which, with some slight defects from inexperience and immature age, (for she has now but just numbered her 21st year,)contain high evidence of great precocity of mind, and rich and varied poetic resources. A sweet plaintive effusion in the form of an Apostrophe to Ireland, the lovely island of her birth, will appear in the next number of the Orion. The whole composition is easy, elevated, and metrical, and the closing verse deeply touching and surpassingly fine. The loveliness of virtue and the sublimityof piety, (themes on which she delights to dwell,) so beautifully sketched by her chaste and brilliant imagination, lighted up by the glowing fervor and pathos of an Irish heart, are like "applies of gold in pictures of silver." That touching simplicity of sentiment and flowing gracefulness of numbers so characteristic of her own immortal countrymen, Moore and Goldsmith, are striking features in her style of composition. Gifted with a singularly retentive memory, she composes sometimes, whole pieces of four or five hundred lines, without recording one word until the poem is complete, when it is written out at length. Should her nervous and feeble constitution be able to sustain the momentum of her ever active and vigorous mind, we hazard little in predicting for her, in riper years, the enviable appellation of " The Sigourney of the South." Long may her lovely and consecrated muse continue to contribute the melody of its lays to calm the restive passions, win the wayward to virtue, and kindle into brighter glow, in many a heart, the languishing fires of a pure devotion.
But to return from this brief digression and pursue the tenor of our journey. The next morning found us on the road to Marietta, Cobb county. Five miles from Decatur, we reached the terminus of the great Western and Atlantic Rail-Road, at Marthasville,-a little village hewn out of the forest and presenting a few scattered dwellings, together with an ample brick building designed as a depot for the road. The general surface of the country is slightly undulating and agreeable,--the public highway running frequently in close proximity to the line of road, and occasionally intersecting it.- A stupendous bridge (about 600 yards long, as we were informed,) designed for the passage of locomotives and their trains, spans the Chattahoochee, upon fourteen or fifteen arches, near Montgomery's ferry, and at an elevation of from seventy to eighty feet from the surface of the river.
A little before the dining hour, we reached the pleasant village of Marietta, and by a special invitation previously given, stopped at the hotel occupied by Mr. Roberts. Here we met with a cordial reception; and the kind attentions and liberal fare of our generous host, so freely extended to us during our whole stay, as well as the courteous hospitalities of other friends, with whom we shared our time, merits and receives our grateful remembrance. This new and thriving village presents an air of neatness and prosperity which must attract the traveller. The standard of morals and of religious character, has attained a most commendable elevation, and exhibits its controlling effects in the deportment and every day intercourse of the citizens; and yet, as in most villages, some seductive evils linger aboutits peaceful streets. The Temperance reform has swept widely through all classes and orders of community, extending its redeeming influence to the neglected retreats of poverty and wretchedness, and expelling the Bacchanalian curse from the home of wealth and the circle of fashion. Seven or eight hundred citizens, (as we were informed,) have registered their names upon the Temperance Pledge in the county of Cobb alone.
Four neat and comfortable buildings for Divine worship, erected by the prevailing denominations, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists, indicate the church-going character of its interesting population. The surface upon which the village stands, is said to be the highest level between the Atlantic and the Tennessee river, along the great Rail-Road route. Two miles to the Northward stands the Kinesaw mountain, quite a beautiful and romantic projection, rising from this elevated plain to a dizzy height, believed by actual observation to surpass that of the stone mountain in De Kalb. Tradition reports that it received its name from a distinguished chief of an Indian tribe in its neighbourhood, who was in the habit of hunting and decoying deer upon its sides. On one occasion, prepared as usual with the cranium and antlers of a large buck, projecting from his own head, to win the attention of the unsuspecting herd, and bring them within the range of his rifle, he was discovered by the keen eye of another hunter; and his bony mask instantly became the target fora well-aimed barrel. A moment more,and the warrior, Kinesaw lay weltering in his blood, the unfortunate victim of his own artifice. His people were said to be inconsolable for the loss of their chief, and savage vengeance pursued the innocent man-slayer, until he fled from the country. This vast mound, however, immortalizes the name of the Indian king.
A few hours after our arrival, a party of ladies and gentlemen was in readiness and proposed a visit to its summit. After a pleasant ride of about two and a half miles, over an agreeable road, we reached the eastern acclivity of the mountain, where its ascent is most readily effected. Here, our horses and carriages were deposited in charge of some servants, and our whole company set out on foot to reach its top. The angle of inclination with the horizon, is about 35, and the distance from base to apex, nearly 3-4 of a mile. Instead of a bare and barren surface, it presents a dark, loamy soil of the richest mould, indicated as well by its complexion, as by the vigorous and heavy forest growth which crowns its sides and summit. The toil of the ascent over, and its loftiest peak gained; we lifted our eyes upon the magnificent prospect so widely outspread around us. We have stood upon the lofty storm-beaten heights of the lonely Stone Mountain, and gazed with interest and pleasure upon the extensive horizon, and the far-off scenery outstretched below, but regard that view as tame and common-place, when contrasted with the beautiful panorama which greets the eye from the top of Kinesaw. The horizon towards the West is not marked by any object of signal importance. To the South, at the distance of about two miles, is seen in picturesque loveliness, the neat little village of Marietta, sleeping in quiet solitude among the deep recesses of its forest home,-its unobtrusive dwellings, in simple white, basking in the golden beams of an evening sun, like a flock of swans upon the tranquil bosom of a land-locked bay, far from the wild commotion which agitates the waves of the distant deep. Twenty-five miles to the Eastward, surrounded by an unbroken monotony of scene, and half-concealed, while we gaze, by a falling shower, the Stone Mountain lifts his thunder-scarred brow to the stooping clouds. His bald, sun-fevered front is seen to bathe in the cooling rain-drops, while his very seclusion from the whole mountainous world seems but to deepen the gloom that settles upon his collossal form. Nestling amid the dense foliage of the native forest, and dotting here and there with purest white, its constant green, lies the little manufacturing villa of Rozwell, thirteen miles to the North-East of our grand observatory. Then far sweeping from the North-West to the North-East, including one-fourth of the whole grand circle of the horizon, rises a chain of distant mountains, which may be regarded as the termination of the great Alleghany range. The nearest, are the Allatoonies, which are scarcely more than a succession of lofty hills, whose blue dorsal curves stand out from the plain below like huge porpoises, rolling upon a summer sea. Still farther beyond, apparently of greater elevation, and extending in a long line of perspective, until fading away upon the far-blue sky, and lost in the distance, stretch the Pine Log mountains, which entirely bound the interesting horizon in this direction. Looking downward and towards the South, the eye may trace the fitful course of the grand thoroughfare which modern enterprise is opening from the bosom of the Atlantic to the great valley of the Mississippi. Coming on from the South, it touches the environs of the village, and dashes onwards toward its destination, but suddenly meeting with the formidable proportions of the "rock-ribbed" Kinesaw, it cautiously veers off to the Eastward,sweeps a curve of about 270° around the entire base of the mountain, and shoots on westward, until a favorable surface invites to a more northern direction. It is soon lost amid the labyrinth of the Allatoonies, and after many a fearful plunge through granite, slate, and iron barriers, and many a dizzy flight over yawning chasms and rapid streams, it drives on in its tortuous course towards its goal upon the Western waters.
It was a lovely afternoon:-a shower had fallen to refresh the air, and many cumulus clouds were floating in the heavens, and casting their moving shadows upon the carpet of living green which the immeasurable forest spread out below; while the gorgeous sunbeams streamed through their interstices, and lavished their saffron glories upon the changing scenery. This charming variety of light and shade in ever-varying succession, when seen upon the remote confines of the Southern horizon, strongly resembled the distant ocean-view from the top of the Savannah Exchange, where the strained eye, ever and anon, catches the glimpse of a snow-white sail, from which the sunbeam glances, and then yields it up to dimness and shadow. To give the finishing touch tothis glowing canvas of nature, a soft and gentle cloud, floating far to the East, opened its pellucid treasures to the declining sunbeams, and shed back upon our admiring eyes, the prismatic splendours of the Bow of Heaven. Enough! enough! Here let the curtain drop, and the enchanting vision end. Farewell,wild,-romantic Kinesaw! From thine utmost heights inthe home of the clouds, I have once more learnt the Christian lesson, " to look down upon the world."—Thy tallest pinnacle has again pointed me to the "Bow of Promise," and bid me renew my confidence in the faithfulness and power of that God who laid the eternal granite of thy deep foundations.
Oxford, Ga., August 16.
A. MEaNs.