of er in its place. A few days after this the wind, and drew nearer and nearer the SPORTING through the forest wide ; In the far isles of the main ; On a league of peopled ground, With their wishes, hopes, and fears; Little children, not alone On the wide earth are ye known, MARY HOWITY. DEAR MR PARLEY, 6 LETTER FROM PHILADELPHIA. Philadelphia, May 21, 1840. HERE Well, when I got to Philadelphia, which only took about six and half hours, although it is one hundred miles, I was so eager to see the city that I did not wait for my dinner, neither did I let my uncle, who was with me, have his dinner, but dragged him off to show me the sights. with which the street and pavement was crowded, until we got to Third street, when we heard a shrill blast of a horn, which we soon saw proceeded from a train of cars coming up the city rail road loaded with goods, on their way to Pittsburg and the far-west. I told my uncle I thought it was not a good plan to lay a rail road through the very heart of such a populous city; but he said there were no accidents scarcely of any consequence on this road, except now and then an unfortunate dog has his leg amputated without paying a doctor's bill, or a slow-motioned pig gets a limb dislocated by his tardy movements. We went on up a steep hill to Fourth street. This would hardly be called a hill by a Bostonian, who is used to much more perpendicular walks than this; but the Philadelphians think it quite enough out of the level line to be comfortable, es-. pecially in a hot summer's day. The length of the next two squares is paved with wooden blocks, which is a great improvement, making the wheels pass over it as quietly as on a carpet. In this square, namely, from Fifth to Sixth, is the old Statehouse, so dear to every American as the spot where our forefathers pledged their all for their courry's welfare. In the steeple is an immense bell, the largest I ever saw, the use of We went straight up Chesnut street, which we were soon apprized of, by its at least as straight as we were able to do saluting us with four thundering strokes without getting run down by the drays, in quick succession, which I soon guessed carts, omnibusses, wheelbarrows, &c. meant fire, fire, fire!' I had often heard of the fame of the to return, having already put out the fire Philadelphia firemen, and now, thought without giving more than four or five I, we shall know all about them from our companies a chance to do any work. It own observation. And, sure enough, in was a carpenter's shop which had caught less than five minutes we had them thun- fire in the loft, but as soon as the river dering about us in such numbers that we Schuylkill was turned on it, it gave up. were absolutely confounded with the rac- In fact, a fire has no chance in this city; ket. We observed that they all seemed they scarcely know what a great fire is, to know which way to run, and I after- although now and then one gets a head wards found that the strokes of the bell of them to an extent which is not overwhich we heard indicated the fire to be come without difficulty. in the western part of the city; as, when it rings one the fire is north, two for south, three for east, and so on. A very good arrangement I think. We followed the engines and hose to see the fire, and in about ten minutes reached the place; but found them preparing I have got so tired in travelling about, that I must go to bed; and if you are so kind as to publish this, I will give you in my next a description of some of the public places, &c. in this beautiful, clean, right-angled city. Yours, S.G.W. I TREES. (Continued from vol. vii. page 325.) THE WILLOW. "Emblem of sorrow, 'neath thy drooping boughs, And mourn the loss of friend or parent dear. LETTER VIII. HAVE been torturing my memory, dear Child, by vain attempts to recollect what poet has celebrated the WILLow, which is a very graceful and beautiful tree, well deserving poetical notice; but my memory is very treacherous this morning, so I must confine my description to prose. You will perceive, by the few lines I have written above, that the willow is the emblem of melancholy. Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of the most eminent writers that ever flourished in England, planted a willow, which may still be seen near to the cathedral at Litchfield, where he was born. According to Linneus there are thirty species of willow; but Millar only mentions fourteen. The pliable sort is called Ozier, and is chiefly used for basket making. Hollow willows have been known to be nine feet in diameter, that is twenty-seven feet in circumference. The leaves and buds of the willow are used in medicine as astringents. The flowers of several sorts of willows have an agreeable scent: from the Persian Willow may be distilled a water delightfully fragrant. In some parts of India the poor people make a sort of liquor from the willow flowers before they are opened, which intoxicates them very suddenly. The bark of common willows has been found to be a useful medicine in agues. The Chinese employ their women and children in collecting cotton which they extract from a species of willow; they card it, pick out the seeds, and use it for many purposes in the place of cotton. In Lapland the bark of the willow is made into leather, which is manufactured into gloves. From the wood of the common sallow are made charcoal and drawing pencils. According to some botanists there are more than fifty British willows only. The sweet or bay-leaved willow is much used in Yorkshire for making baskets; its leaves afford a yellow dye. The common, or white willow, takes its name from the white silken surface of the leaves on the under side. The bark is used to tan leather, and to dye yarn of a cinnamon colour. It is one of the trees to which the necessitous Kamtschatdales are often obliged to go for their daily bread, which they make of the inner bark ground into flour. The grey willow or sallow, grows from six to twelve feet high. In many parts of England children gather the flowering branches of this tree on Palm Sunday and call them palms. The wood, which is soft and white, is made into handles for hatchets, spades, &c. It also furnishes shoemakers with their cutting boards, and whetting-boards to smooth the edges of their knives upon. The weeping willow is a native of the Levant, and with its long, slender, pendulous branches, is one of the most elegant ornaments of landscape scenery. It loves to grow on the margins of brooks and ponds, which increases its beauty. The famous and admired weeping willow planted by Pope at Twickenham has lately been cut down. It came from Spain inclosing a present for lady Suffolk. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was taken off; he observed that the pieces of stick appeared as if they had some vegetation, and added, Perhaps they may produce something we have not in England. Under this idea he planted it in his garden, and it produced that most beautiful willow tree that has given birth to so many others. It is said, that the destruction of this tree was caused by the eager curiosity of Pope's admirers, who by their numerous visits to see this precious relic so disturbed and fatigued the possessor that to put an end to the trouble at once, she gave orders to have it felled to the ground. The weeping willow, in addition to the pensive, drooping appearance of its branches, weeps little drops of water, which stand like fallen tears upon the leaves. 6 The willow seems, from the oldest times, to have been dedicated to grief; underneath their branches the children of Israel lamented their captivity. By the rivers of Babylon we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion; we hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.' It is worthy to be recollected, that some of the smallest trees known are willows; nay, the smallest tree known, without any exception. The herbaceous willow is sel dom higher than three inches, sometimes not more than two; and yet is in every respect a tree. Dr. Clarke says in his Travels in Norway, that he found the dwarf alpine species of willow, of which half a dozen trees, with all their branches, leaves, flowers, and roots, might be compressed within two of the pages of a lady's pocket-book, without touching each other. Some of these specimens, when framed and glazed, had the appearance of miniature drawings. "No tree in all the grove but has its charms, Though each its hue peculiar; paler some, And of a wannish grey-the willow such." |