Like the gregarious tenants of the air
in their annual migrations, they brought their true home, that is to say
their charities with them. In their state of extreme isolation from the
world they had left, the kindly social propensities were found to grow
more strong in the wilderness. The current of human affections in fact
naturally flows in a deeper and more vigorous tide, in proportion as it
is diverted into fewer channels.
These immigrants to the Bloody Ground, coming to survey new aspects of
nature, new forests and climates, and to encounter new privations,
difficulties and dangers, were bound together by a new sacrament of
friendship, new and unsworn oaths, to stand by each other for life and
for death. How often have we heard the remains of this primitive race of
Kentucky deplore the measured distance and jealousy, the heathen rivalry
and selfishness of the present generation, in comparison with the unity
of heart, dangers and fortunes of these primeval times--reminding one of
the simple kindness, the community of property, and the union of heart
among the first Christians!
Another circumstance of this picture ought to be redeemed from oblivion.
We suspect that the general impressions of the readers of this day is,
that the first hunters and settlers of Kentucky and Tennessee were a
sort of demi-savages. Imagination depicts them with long beard, and a
costume of skins, rude, fierce, and repulsive. Nothing can be wider from
the fact. These progenitors of the west were generally men of noble,
square, erect forms, broad chests, clear, bright, truth-telling eyes,
and of vigorous intellects.
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