"When youth and pleasure meet,
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet,"
who asks for "sleep till morn!" But when in weariness [125] of the flesh and in languidness of spirit, the overspent wayfarer has laid down his wearied frame to rest for the toils of the morrow, it is indeed a bitter thing rudely to have that rest broken up! "The sleep of the wayfaring man is sweet," and to have that slumber obtruded upon by causes too contemptible for a thought, is not in nature with equanimity to bear! Besides, the luckless sufferer meets with no commiseration: it is a matter all too ludicrous for pity; and as for fortitude, and firmness, and the like, what warrior ever achieved a laurel in such a war? what glory is to be gained over a host of starving—but I forbear. You are pretty well aware, kind reader, or ought to be, that the situation of your traveller just then was anything but an enviable one. Not so, however, deemed the worthy landlord on this interesting occasion. His blank bewilderment of visage may be better imagined than described, as, aroused from sleep, his eye met the vision of his stranger guest; while the comic amalgamation of distress and pique in the marvellously elongated features of the fair hostess was so truly laughable, that a smile flitted along the traveller's rebellious muscles, serving completely to disturb the serenity of her breast! The good lady was evidently not a little nettled at the apparent mirthfulness of her guest under his manifold miseries—I do assure thee, reader, the mirthfulness was only apparent—and did not neglect occasion thereupon to let slip a sly remark impugning his "gentle breeding," because, forsooth, dame Nature, in throwing together her "cunning workmanship," had gifted it with a [126] nervous system not quite of steel. Meanwhile, the honest publican, agreeable to orders, having brought forth the horse, with folded hands all meekly listened to the eloquence of his spouse; but the good man was meditating the while a retaliation in shape of a most unconscionable bill of cost, which was soon presented and was as soon discharged. Then, leaving the interesting pair to their own cogitations, with the very top of the morning the traveller flung himself upon his horse and was soon out of sight.
Kaskaskia, Ill.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] George D. Prentice (1802-70), founder of the Louisville Journal, was graduated from Brown University in 1823. Two years later he became editor of the Connecticut Mirror and in 1828-30 had charge of the New England Weekly Review. In the spring of 1830, at the earnest solicitation of several influential Connecticut Whigs, he went West to gather data for a life of Henry Clay. Once in Kentucky he threw all the force of his political genius in support of Clay's policy. On November 24, 1830, he issued the first number of the Louisville Journal, which through his able management was soon recognized as the chief Whig organ in the West. Wholly devoted to Clay's cause, its own reputation rose and declined with that of its champion. The Journal maintained an existence till 1868, when Henry Watterson consolidated it with the Courier, under the title of Courier-Journal. Prentice is reputed to have been the originator of the short, pointed paragraph in journalism. His Life of Henry Clay (Hartford, 1831) is well known. In 1859 he published a collection of poems under the name Prenticeana (New York). It was reprinted in 1870 with a biography of the author by G. W. Griffin (Philadelphia).—Ed.
[2] John M. Peck, a Baptist minister, went as a missionary to St. Louis in 1817. After nine years of preaching in Missouri and Illinois, he founded (1826) the Rocky Spring Seminary for training teachers and ministers. It is said that he travelled more than six thousand miles collecting money for endowing this school. In 1828 Peck began publishing the Western Pioneer, the first official organ of the Baptist church in the West, and served as the corresponding secretary and financial agent of the American Baptist Publication Society from 1843 to 1845. He died at Rocky Springs, Illinois, in 1858. Peck made important contributions to the publications of the early historical societies in the Northwest. His chief independent works are: A Guide for Emigrants (Boston, 1831), republished as A New Guide for Emigrants (Boston, 1836); Gazetteer of Illinois (Jacksonville, 1834 and 1837); Father Clark or the Pioneer Preacher (New York, 1855); and "Life of Daniel Boone," in Jared Sparks, American Biography.
Judge James Hall was born in Philadelphia (1793), and died near Cincinnati in 1868. He was a member of the Washington Guards during the War of 1812-15, was promoted to the 2nd United States artillery, and accompanied Decatur on his expedition to Algiers (1815). Resigning in 1818, he practiced law at Shawneetown, Illinois (1820-27), and filled the office of public prosecutor and judge of the circuit court. He moved to Vandalia (1827) and began editing the Illinois Intelligencer and the Illinois Monthly Magazine. From 1836 to 1853 he was president of the commercial bank at Cincinnati, and acted as state treasurer. He published: Letters from the West (London, 1828); Legends of the West (1832); Memoirs of the Public Services of General William Henry Harrison (Philadelphia, 1836); Sketches of History, Life and Manners of the West (Philadelphia, 1835); Statistics of the West at the Close of 1836 (Cincinnati, 1836); Notes on the Western States (Philadelphia, 1838); History and Biography of the Indians of North America (3 volumes, 1838-44); The West, its Soil, Surface, etc. (Cincinnati, 1848); The West, its Commerce and Navigation (Cincinnati, 1848); besides a few historical novels. For a contemporary estimate of the value of Hall's writings see American Monthly Magazine (New York, 1835), v, pp. 9-15.
For Timothy Flint, see Pattie's Narrative, in our volume xviii, p. 25, note 1.
Major Alphonso Wetmore (1793-1849) was of much less importance as a writer on Western history than those above mentioned. He entered the 23rd infantry in 1812, and subsequently was transferred to the 6th. He served as paymaster for his regiment from 1815 to 1821, and was promoted to a captaincy (1819). In 1816 he moved with his family to Franklinton, Missouri, and later practiced law in St. Louis. His chief contribution to Western travel is a Gazetteer of Missouri (St. Louis, 1837).—Ed.