The Island and Its Associations [pp. 677-680]

1840.] Te Itland, and 18 JissociationS. 679
they will one day or other make themselves heard audibly been registered to our accounts, gentle reader, since thenin the land. when this island was inhabited; by whom, or for what pur The Island has other recommendations. Although within pose is totally forgotten. It could not be the Indian-for long
a stone's throw of one of the largest and most enterprising before my memory was sufficiently active to retain the recommercial cities of the West, "whose merchants are prin-!collection of a passing event, he had disappeared like the
ces, the mighty of the land"-whose women are fair to be- mists of the river. Once, indeed, a youth somewhat given
hold as the cedars of Lebanon, and beautiful as dreams of to poetry, wandered over there in search of the picturesque,
paradise; and whose poets have worshipped at the true and returned home to tell his friends that he had seen an
shrine, and drank of the pure waters of Castaly; it still Indian; but as he was addicted to day-dreaming, he found
retains its primitive silence and solitude. Everything about none but incredulous listeners. Early in the morning
it is much the same as when the morning stars sang together-if indeed it was then in existence. No rude sound Ere yet the hunter's startling horn was heard
Uponye the golder'trlng hill ws,"ar
is heard upon its shores; common consent seems to have Upon the golden hills,"
dedicated it to the genius of solitude. Party spirit has he was wandering listlessly along through the forest, and
n e v e r yet breathed its pestilential breath there; fashion has at length seated himself on the branch of a tree, which a
n eve r displayed her peacock-feathers; smooth-faced i bigo- hurricane had felled-it was just such a spot as the woundtry has never reared her temples of strife a nd discord; even ed deer would seek to lie down in and die. All around
t h e doctors have forgot to quarrel there; and perhaps stran- was quiet and motionless as the first sleep of childhood.
g er still, our enterprising, money-making, good hearted Not a breath of air stirred the leaves of the forest-not a
f r iends of New England, have never yet visited the Island, ripple disturbed the repose of the sparkling river, and even
ei t h e r to vend their notions, or lay it out in town l ots, and the birds seemed not to wish to break the silence with their
a dv e r t i s e them to the world with lithographed maps highly "wood-notes wild." After awhile, the rustle of leaves atc o l o red, and a long catalogue of the extensive prospects tracted his attention, and on looking up, he beheld a figure
a n d numerous advantages of the embryo city. It seems to that might well have seemed the embodied personification
have been held as consecrated ground-one of the few out- of one of the Titans, who, in days of eld, assaulted the
of-the-way places saved from the dilapidating hand of m an, heights of Olympus,- it was that of an Indian-tall, musthat you may see here and there, like green and shady spots cularand gigantic. He was doubtless engaged in the hunt,
upon the desert-one of the lingering and deserted abodes I as his hunting-shirt and accoutrements denoted; and beof poetry and romance, to which might be appropriated fore our valiant young friend had approached within speakthese beautiful lines of one of the noblest champions and ing distance of him he had disappeared-and was never
sons of British sonilg: more seen. A party of five or six immediately scoured the
"Oh! many are the beauteous isles, island, but returned without seeing the wandering Indian,
Unknown to human eye, much to the chagrin of the youth, who between jest and
That, sleeping mid the ocean smiles, quiz would rather to this day brave the peltings of a
In happy silence lie. thunder-storm than hear the word "Indian" spoken or hint The ship may pass them in the night, ed at.
Nor the sailors know what a lovely sight When in the early settlement of the West, Virginia se Is resting on the main; cretly commissioned Major George Rogers Clark to march
Some wandering ship who'hath lost her way, against the British at Kaskaskia, he landed his troops on
And never, or by night or day, Indian Island, and fortified it. He then called his compa Shall pass these Isles again. nions together, and for the first time told them the object
"There groves that bloom in endless Spring, of his mission; and to their eternal honor be it said, his
Are rustlingf to the radiant wing proposition was gallantly accepted by all of them, except Of birds, in various plumage, bright ing a few dastardly cowards, who, under the control of a
As rainbow hues, or dawning light. young lieutenant, (whose name Major Clark has nobly
As rainbow hues, or dawning light. ~.
Soft fallin showers of blossoms fawi thheld from infamy,) secretly crept from the fort at mid Float fgevher on the fragrant air, night, and crossed over to the other shore. They immedi Like showers of vernal snow t aately made for Harrods-town-at present one of the most
And from the fruit trees, spreading tall, beautiful and enterprising villages in Kentucky-but their
AThe richly ripened clusters fall, infamy had travelled faster than themselves; and when they
Oft as sea breezedcuts blow. reached the fort at that place, they were driven away amidst
Ofth as sea brees balowe the insults and hisses of the whole fortress. Only three of
" The sun and clouds alonle possess
Tmhe sun and cloud s ae them were ever seen again-some were destroyed by the
The joy of all that loveliness'
The jyoalttlwild animals of the forest, others by the diseases of the
And sweetly to each other smile —
And sweetly to each other smile- climate, and many fell under the tomahawk of the savage.
The live-long day-sun, cloud and isle! After undergoing the severest of hardships, and narrowly
How- silent lies each sheltered bay!X
How silent lies each sheltered bay! escaping death in all of its most appalling and terrific
No other visiters have they,
Nas ev viie ev he,shapes, these three deserters resolved to return to the island
To their shores of silvery sand,
Te thi saesesleree,and throw themselves upon the mercy of Major Clark, pre Than the waves, that murmerieg ir their glee, ferring to meet the penalty so richly deserved by them
All hurryinlg in a joyXful band,
Al hurrying in a jeyful baud, than suffer the fatigue and misery that they were undergo Come daa~,eing from the sea!" John Wilson.
-eme dmeving every moment of the day. Imagine their agony, when
Blessings-a thousand blessings on you, dear Christo- upon reaching the island they found not a soul upon it.
pher-" May your shadow never be less," beloved North; Major Clark had marched a week previous for Kaskaskia.
and when at last the glory of your eye is dimmed, and the When they discovered this, and saw that exertion alone
blood that now warms with generous and noble impulses could prolong their lives; that they were alone-deserteddances but lazily through your veins, may the close of surrounded on every side by dangers of the most fearful
your life be quiet and gentle as the murmur of one of the description; hated by their former friends, and hunted
beautiful lochs which your genius has embalmed in i-m- down by their old enemies, the red-men; they determined
mortal song! to remain where they were; and accordingly, with all the
I think that I can almost remember the day-many have "pomp and circumstance" attendant on such ceremonial,
The Island, and its d3ssociations.
679