XXVII

"What a large volume of adventures may be grasped in this little

span of life by him who interests his heart in everything, and

who, having his eyes to see what time and chance are perpetually

holding out to him as he journeyeth on his way, misses nothing he

can _fairly_ lay his hands on."--STERNE'S _Sentimental Journal_.

"Take this in good part, whosoever thou be,

And wish me no worse than I wish unto thee."

TURNER.

It was a remark of that celebrated British statesman, Horace Walpole,

that the vicissitudes of no man's life were too slight to prove

interesting, if detailed in the simple order of their occurrence. The

idea originated with the poet Gray, if an idea which has suggested

itself to the mind of every man may be appropriated by an individual.

Assuming the sentiment as true, the author of these SKETCHES has alone

presumed to lay his observations and adventures as a traveller before

the _majesty of the public_; and upon this principle _solely_ must

they rely for any interest they may {51} claim. A mere glance at those

which have preceded must convince the reader that their object has

been by no means exact geographical and statistical information.

Errors and omissions have, doubtless, often occurred in the hasty view

which has been taken: partially through negligence, sometimes through

lack of knowledge, misinformation, or attempt at brevity, but never

through aforethought or malice prepense. Upon the whole, the writer

admits himself completely laid open to criticism; and, should any

public-spirited worthy deem it his duty to rise up in judgment and

avenge the wrongs of literature and the community, he has undoubted

right so to do: nathless, he is most veritably forewarned that he will

hardly gather up his "labour for his pains!" But _allons_.

It is only ten or twelve years since the town site of Jacksonville,

now, perhaps, the most flourishing inland village in Illinois, was

first _laid off_; and it is but within the past five years that its

present unprecedented advancement can be dated.[188] Its site is a

broad elevated roll in the midst of a beautiful prairie; and, from

whatever point it is approached, few places present a more delightful

prospect. The spot seems marked and noted by Nature for the abode of

man. The neighbouring prairie is undulating, and the soil uncommonly

rich, even in this land of fertility. It is mostly under high

cultivation, and upon its northern and western edge is environed by

pleasant groves, watered by many a "sweet and curious brook." The

public square in the centre of the town is of noble dimensions, {52}

occupied by a handsome courthouse and a market, both of brick, and its

sides filled up with dwelling-houses, stores, law-offices, a church,

bank, and hotel. From this point radiate streets and avenues in all

directions: one through each side of every angle near its vertex, and

one through the middle of every side; so that the town-plat is

completely cut up into rectangles. If I mistake not in my description,

it will be perceived that the public square of Jacksonville may be

entered at no less than twelve distinct avenues. In addition to the

spacious courthouse, the public buildings consist of three or four

churches. One of these, belonging to the Congregational order, betrays

much correct taste; and its pulpit is the most simply elegant I

remember ever to have seen. It consists merely of a broad platform in

the chancel of the building, richly carpeted; a dark mahogany bar

without drapery, highly polished; and a neat sofa of the same material

in a plain back-ground. The outline and proportion are perfect; and,

like the doctrines of the sect which worships here, there is an air

of severe, dignified elegance about the whole structure, pleasing as

it is rare. The number of Congregational churches in the West is

exceedingly small; and as it is always pleasant for the stranger in a

strange land to meet the peculiarities of that worship to which from

childhood-days he has been attached, so it is peculiarly grateful to

the New-England emigrant to recognise in this distant spot the simple

faith and ceremony of the Pilgrims. Jacksonville is largely made up of

emigrants from {53} the North; and they have brought with them many of

their customs and peculiarities. The State of Illinois may, indeed, be

truly considered the New-England of the West. In many respects it is

more congenial than any other to the character and prejudices of the

Northern emigrant. It is not a slave state; internal improvement is

the grand feature of its civil polity; and measures for the universal

diffusion of intellectual, moral, and religious culture are in active

progression. In Henry county, in the northern section of the state,

two town-plats have within the past year been laid off for colonies of

emigrants from Connecticut, which intend removing in the ensuing fall,

accompanied each by their minister, physician, lawyer, and with all

the various artisans of mechanical labour necessary for such

communities. The settlements are to be called Wethersfield and

Andover.[189] Active measures for securing the blessings of

education, religion, temperance, etc., have already been taken.[190]

The edifices of "Illinois College," to which I have before alluded,

are situated upon a beautiful eminence one mile west of the village,

formerly known as "Wilson's Grove." The site is truly delightful. In

the rear lies a dense green clump of oaks, and in front is spread out

the village, with a boundless extent of prairie beyond, covered for

miles with cultivation. Away to the south, the wildflower flashes as

gayly in the sunlight, and {54} waves as gracefully when swept by the

breeze, as centuries ago, when no eye of man looked upon its

loveliness. During my stay at Jacksonville I visited several times

this pleasant spot, and always with renewed delight at the glorious

scenery it presented. Connected with the college buildings are

extensive grounds; and students, at their option, may devote a portion

of each day to manual labour in the workshop or on the farm. Some

individuals have, it is said, in this manner defrayed all the expenses

of their education. This system of instruction cannot be too highly

recommended. Apart from the benefits derived in acquiring a knowledge

of the use of mechanical instruments, and the development of

mechanical genius, there are others of a higher nature which every one

who has been educated at a public institution will appreciate. Who has

not gazed with anguish on the sunken cheek and the emaciated frame of

the young aspirant for literary distinction? Who has not beheld the

funeral fires of intellect while the lamp of life was fading, flaming

yet more beautifully forth, only to be dimmed for ever! The lyre is

soon to be crushed; but, ere its hour is come, it flings forth notes

of melody sweet beyond expression! Who does not know that protracted,

unremitting intellectual labour is _always_ fatal, unaccompanied by

corresponding physical exertion; and who cannot perceive that _any_

inducement, be it what it may, which can draw forth the student from

his retirement, is invaluable. Such an inducement is the lively

interest which the cultivated mind {55} always manifests in the

operations of mechanical art.

Illinois College has been founded but five or six years, yet it is now

one of the most flourishing institutions west of the mountains. The

library consists of nearly two thousand volumes, and its chymical

apparatus is sufficient. The faculty are five in number, and its first

class was graduated two years since. No one can doubt the vast

influence this seminary is destined to exert, not only upon this

beautiful region of country and this state, but over the whole great

Western Valley. It owes its origin to the noble enterprise of seven

young men, graduates of Yale College, whose names another age will

enrol among our Harvards and our Bowdoins, our Holworthys, Elliots,

and Gores, great and venerable as those names are. And, surely, we

cannot but believe that "some divinity has shaped their ends," when we

consider the character of the spot upon which a wise Providence has

been pleased to succeed their design. From the Northern lakes to the

gulf, where may a more eligible site be designated for an institution

whose influence shall be wide, and powerful, and salutary, than that

same beautiful grove, in that pleasant village of Jacksonville.

To the left of the college buildings is situated the lordly residence

of Governor Duncan, surrounded by its extensive grounds.[191] There

are other fine edifices scattered here and there upon the eminence,

among which the beautiful little cottage of Mr. C., brother to the

great orator of the {56} West, holds a conspicuous station.[192]

Society in Jacksonville is said to be superior to any in the state. It

is of a cast decidedly moral, and possesses much literary taste. This

is betrayed in the number of its schools and churches; its lyceum,

circulating library, and periodicals. In fine, there are few spots in

the West, and none in Illinois, which to the _Northern_ emigrant

present stronger attractions than the town of Jacksonville and its

vicinity. Located in the heart of a tract of country the most fertile

and beautiful in the state; swept by the sweet breath of health

throughout the year; tilled by a race of enterprising, intelligent,

hardy yeomen; possessing a moral, refined, and enlightened society,

the tired wanderer may here find his necessities relieved and his

peculiarities respected: he may here find congeniality of feeling and

sympathy of heart. And when his memory wanders, as it sometimes must,

with melancholy musings, mayhap, over the loved scenes of his own

distant New-England, it will be sweet to realize that, though he sees

not, indeed, around him the beautiful romance of his native hills, yet

many a kindly heart is throbbing near, whose emotions, like his own,

were nurtured in their rugged bosom. "_Cælum non animum mutatur._" And

is it indeed true, as they often tell us, that New-England character,

like her own ungenial clime, is cold, penurious, and heartless; while

to her brethren, from whom she is separated only by an imaginary

boundary, may be ascribed all that is lofty, and honourable, and

chivalrous in man! This is an old {57} calumny, the offspring of

prejudice and ignorance, and it were time it were at rest. But it is

not for me to contrast the leading features of Northern character with

those of the South, or to repel the aspersions which have been heaped

upon either. Yet, reader, believe them not; many are false as ever

stained the poisoned lip of slander.

It was Saturday evening when I reached the village of Jacksonville,

and on the following Sabbath I listened to the sage instruction of

that eccentric preacher, but venerable old man, Dr. P. of

Philadelphia, since deceased, but then casually present. "_The Young

Men of the West_" was a subject which had been presented him for

discourse, and worthily was it elaborated. The good people of this

little town, in more features than one, present a faithful transcript

of New-England; but in none do they betray their Pilgrim origin more

decidedly than in their devotedness to the public worship of the

sanctuary. Here the young and the old, the great and small, the rich

and poor, are all as steadily church-goers as were ever the pious

husbandmen of Connecticut--men of the broad breast and giant

stride--in the most "high and palmy day" of blue-laws and tything men.

You smile, reader, yet

"Noble deeds those iron men have done!"

It was these same church-going, psalm-singing husbandmen who planted

Liberty's fair tree within our borders, the leaves of which are now

for the "healing of the nations," and whose broad branches are

overshadowing the earth; and they watered it--ay, watered it with

their blood! The Pilgrim Fathers!--{58} the elder yeomanry of

New-England!--the Patriots of the American Revolution!--great names!

they shall live enshrined in the heart of Liberty long after those of

many a railer are as if they had never been. And happy, happy would it

be for the fair heritage bequeathed by them, were not the present

generation degenerate sons of noble sires.

At Jacksonville I tarried only a few days; but during that short

period I met with a few things of tramontane origin, strange enough to

my Yankee notions. It was the season approaching the annual election

of representatives for the state and national councils, and on one of

the days to which I have alluded the political candidates of various

creeds _addressed the people_; that is--for the benefit of the

uninitiated be it stated--each one made manifest what great things he

had done for the people in times past, and promised to do greater

things, should the dear people, in the overflowing of their kindness,

be pleased to let their choice fall upon him. This is a custom of

universal prevalence in the Southern and Western states, and much is

urged in its support; yet, sure it is, in no way could a Northern

candidate more utterly defeat his election than by attempting to

pursue the same. The charge of _self-electioneering_ is, indeed, a

powerful engine often employed by political partisans.

The candidates, upon the occasion of which I am speaking, were six or

seven in number: and though I was not permitted to listen to the

_eloquence_ of all, some of these harangues are said to have been

powerful productions, especially that of Mr. S. The day {59} was

exceedingly sultry, and Mr. W., candidate for the state Senate, was on

the _stump_, in shape of a huge meat-block at one corner of the

market-house, when I entered.[193] He was a broadfaced, farmer-like

personage, with features imbrowned by exposure, and hands hardened by

honourable toil; with a huge rent, moreover, athwart his left

shoulder-blade--a badge of democracy, I presume, and either neglected

or produced there for the occasion; much upon the same principle,

doubtless, that Quintilian counselled his disciples to disorder the

hair and tumble the toga before they began to speak. Now mind ye,

reader, I do not accuse the worthy man of having followed the Roman's

instructions, or even of acquaintance therewith, or any such thing;

but, verily, he did, in all charity, seem to have hung on his worst

rigging, and that, too, for no other reason than to demonstrate the

democracy aforesaid, and his affection for the _sans-culottes_. His

speech, though garnished with some little rhodomontade, was, upon the

whole, a sensible production. I could hardly restrain a smile,

however, at one of the worthy man's figures, in which he likened

himself to "the _morning sun_, mounting a stump to scatter the mists

which had been gathering around his fair fame." Close upon the heels

of this _ruse_ followed a beautiful simile--"a people free as the wild

breezes of their own broad prairies!" The candidates alternated

according to their political creeds, and denounced each other in no

very measured terms. The approaching election was found, indeed, to be

the prevailing topic of thought and conversation all over the land;

insomuch {60} that the writer, himself an unassuming wayfarer, was

more than once, strangely enough, mistaken for a _candidate_ as he

rode through the country, and was everywhere _catechumened_ as to the

articles of his political faith. It would be an amusing thing to a

solitary traveller in a country like this, could he always detect the

curious surmisings to which his presence gives rise in the minds of

those among whom he chances to be thrown; especially so when, from any

circumstance, his appearance does not betray his definite rank or

calling in life, and anything of mystery hangs around his movements.

Internal Improvement seems now to be the order of the day in Northern

Illinois. This was the hobby of most of the stump-speakers; and the

projected railway from Jacksonville to the river was under sober

consideration. I became acquainted, while here, with Mr. C., a young

gentleman engaged in laying off the route.

It was late in the afternoon when I at length broke away from the

hustings, and mounted my horse to pursue my journey to Springfield.

The road strikes off from the public square, in a direct line through

the prairie, at right angles with that by which I entered, and, _like_

that, ornamented by fine farms. I had rode but a few miles from the

village, and was leisurely pursuing my way across the dusty plain,

when a quick tramping behind attracted my attention, and in a few

moments a little, portly, red-faced man at my side, in linsey-woolsey

and a broad-brimmed hat, saluted me frankly with the title of

"friend," and forthwith announced himself a "Baptist {61}

circuit-rider!" I became much interested in the worthy man before his

path diverged from my own; and I flatter myself he reciprocated my

regard, for he asked all manner of questions, and related all manner

of anecdotes, questioned or not. Among other edifying matter, he gave

a full-length biography of a "_billards fever_" from which he was just

recovering; even from the premonitory symptoms thereof to the relapse

and final convalescence.

At nightfall I found myself alone in the heart of an extensive

prairie; but the beautiful crescent had now begun to beam forth from

the blue heavens; and the wild, fresh breeze of evening, playing among

the silvered grass-tops, rendered the hour a delightful one to the

traveller. "Spring Island Grove," a thick wood upon an eminence to the

right, looked like a region of fairy-land as its dark foliage

trembled in the moonlight. The silence and solitude of the prairie was

almost startling; and a Herculean figure upon a white horse, as it

drew nigh, passed me "on the other side" with a glance of suspicion at

my closely-buttoned surtout and muffled mouth, as if to say, "this is

too lone a spot to form acquaintance." A few hours--I had crossed the

prairie, and was snugly deposited in a pretty little farmhouse in the

edge of the grove, with a crusty, surly fellow enough for its master.

_Springfield, Ill._