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Si
HARPER’S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
smoking pine or in some open field to escape their tormentors.
On a sudden curve of the road I found myself near one of these “stamping grounds,” and a simultaneous roar from fire hundred infuriated animals gave notice of my danger. It is well known that the Spanish matadores provoke the wounded bulls in the arena by flaunting the nio-Uta or blood-red flag in their face*. It was the vermilion of my buggy that excited this bellowing herd. They snuffed the air, planted their heads near the ground, tore it np with their hoofs and horns, and glared at me with savage eves. The fierce phalanx blocked the road, and it was the “ better part of valor" to retreat. The instant I wheeled the pursuit commenced. A cloud of dust enveloped them, and the trampling of their feet was like the roll of thunder. My horse dashed forward frantic with terror, and they plunged on every side, crushing down ,.ie brush-wood in their course, goring and tumbling over each other, filling the forest with their dreadful cries, and gathering nearer nnd nearer in the fearful chase. The struggle now became desperate. In five minutes we should have been overturned and trampled to death; but at this juncture Tom threw out my overcoat, and with an awful clamor they paused to fight over it, and to tear it into shreds. Driving at full speed, I directed Tom to to«s out the cushion. The infuriated devils trampled it into atoms, and camc charging on, their horns clashing against the buggy, and ripping up the ribs of my horse. At this fearful moment we were providentially saved. A huge oak, with a forked top, had fallen by the wayside, and into this I plunged my horse breast-high, and he was safe, the back of the buggy being then the only assailable point. At this the whole column made a dash, but I met the foremost with six discharges from my revolver; two bottles of Cognac were shivered on their foreheads ; next a cold turkey; and, finally, a bot-'« of Scotch snuff—the last shot in the locker!
nis did the business. Such a sneezing and bellowing was never heard before; and the one that got the most of it put out with the whole troop nt his heels, circling round, scenting the blood of the wounded, and shaking the earth with their thundering tramp.
I was now fairly in for it, and made np my mind to remain until night, when I knew they would disperse. I was relieved, however, by the approach of some cattlc-drivers, who, galloping up on shaggy but muscular horses, with whips twenty feet long, which they manage with surprising dexterity, soon drove the belligerent herd to their cow-pens, for the purpose of marking and branding. This is done every year in “ fly time.” The cattle ranging over an area of thirty square miles are now easily collected, driven to a common pen or pound, when the reflective owners put their mark and brand on the increase of the season. Thus this Egyptian plague is turned to a useful purpose.
I was now approaching the ancient village of Augusta, oncc the stamping-ground of the fa* I
mous Coon Morris. Being advised to tako a near cut when within three miles, I turned to the right and drove ahead through leafy bypaths and across deserted fields grown over with stunted pines. For three hours I drove about, describing three segments of a circle, and finally got back to the poin 11 started from. [Nota bent Let all travelers stick to the beaten road, for in this country one may travel twenty miles without meeting a traveler or a finger-board.] The country through which I passed was poor, the population sparse, and no indications of the proximity of a town that I had heard of for twenty-five years. I drove on, however, expectation on tip-toe, the sun ponring down vertically, and my flagging steed sinking above his fetlocks in the sand, when, lo! the ancient village stood before me— an extensive parallelogram, garnished round with twelve or fifteen crumbling tenements, the wrecks of by-gone years! Not a tree stood in the gaping square for the eye to rest upon; the grass was all withered ap; the burning sun fell on the white and barren sand as on a huge mirror, and was reflected back until your cheeks scorched and your eyes filled with tears. Even of these dilapidated houses several were unoccupied, and we drove round two-thirds of the square before we could find a huninn being to direct us to the tavern. It was n log-cabin, with one room, a deal table, some bcnches and cots, and a back shed for kitchen.- Stable there was none, nor bar, nor servant, nor landlord visible. I turned my horse on the public square and took peaceable possession of the establishment. Nobody was to be seen. I was hungry and fatigued. The idea of a town once famous, and its hundred-and-one little comforts for the traveler, had buoyed me np during the morning drive, and fancy had diagramed something very different from what I was then realizing. In a few hours, however, the bachelor landlord camc in. Not expecting company he had gone out on a foraging expedition. He feasted us on delicious venison, and, being a Virginian, soon concocted an ample julep. The mint grew near the grave of a jolly lawyer, a son of the “ Old Dominion,” who died there a few years before. No man can live ip such a place without losing his energies. The mind stagnates, and in six months one would go completely asleep. I never saw such a picture of desolation. All was silence and solitude. In reply to my inquiry, my old friend, Colonel Mixon, said that times were dull; there was a little activity in one line only; and hobbling off he soon returned with a pair of babies in his arms — twin gems, plump, blueeyed, rosy-cheeked, hanging around his neck like flowers on the stump of a storm-battered oak. Counselor Barrett, who seemed thoroughly posted in this branch of statistics, informed me that, during the last twelve months, thirteen matrons of that vicinity had produced doublets! The Colonel said that any disconsolate pair who would board with him six months, and drink from a peculiar spring on the premises, without having their expectations realized, should have
BOUGH RIDING DOWN SOUTH.
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•	free ticket at his table for sixty days to try it again.
These infant phenomena, however, are by no means confincd to Perry County. East Mississippi every where is equally prolific. In the Paulding Clarion I read the following, from the Rev. Marmaduke Gardiner, of Clarke County: “Faluto Sramo, Feb. t.
"More than ok hundred persona have visited my house since Saturday last, for the purpose of seeing three beautiful boy babies which my wife gave Mnh to on the 2Sth alt. One weight TJ, th* other* 6( mcA, and are perfectly formed. We have named them Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I married my wife twenty years ago, and ahe liai given me nine sons and nine daughter*, but no triplicate* until the last,**
Married couplet in search of heir* often cross the Atlantic, or drug themselves with nostrums •nd stinking mineral waters, when a single summer in these pine-woods would accomplish what they desire without extraordinary efforts, and at one-twentieth of the expense.
The old town next day presented a more lively sccne. That certain premonitory of a piny-woods’ gathering, the beer and gin-ger-brcad cart, came rumbling into the square.—
Bickcty vehicles, of odd shapes, laden with melons, trundled along behind. A comer shanty displayed several suspicious-lookingjugs and kegs. Buck negroes, dressed in their holiday suits, strode in, looking about'for the candidates as one would for the giraffe.
No candidate except the Hon. Robert J. Walker had Tisited the defunct town for years. It was quite an event. Finally, the stout sovereigns from the country came in, and the comedy commenced. The largest portion of the crowd was in the court-house to bear the orators, but a pretty considerable group was posted about the doggery.
A number were playing “old sledge" on the heads of empty whisky barrels, and others were discussing the preliminaries of a quarter race.
Three of the candidate* had spoken, when the late Judge Mitchell (formerly a well-known Member of Congress from Tennessee) rose. After an elaborate reply to the arguments of two of them, he turned to the third, and laying his hand on his head, said, “I
have only one word to say in answer to m v young friend. He has a lcetle soft spot right here, and it is mushy all round it.1’
When R. J. Walker was canvassing against George Poindexter for the Senate, he was ac-companicd, said Colonel Mixon, by n queer fish, one Isaac M'Farrcn, a fellow of infinite jest, and whose countenance was a comedy of itself. On a ccrtain occasion they put up with a new settler, nnd had to sleep on the floor, while the man and his wife occupied a bunk in the same room. A very buxom damsel slept in a small kitchen near by. Mac had cast shccp's-eycs at her, and being uncomfortable on the floor, concluded to go and whisper a few soft nothings in her ear. He slipped out very quietly; but it being a crispy and frosty night, the door of the kitchen crcaked upon its hinges, nnd the woman exclaimed, “Husband! husband! one of them men’s arter Sally!" He sprang up, seized his rifle, and was rushing out, when Mr. Walker seized his arm. M‘Furrca hearing the
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