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POETRY. THE BLDE BIRD. BY WILSON. When winter’s cold tempests and snows are no more, Green meadows and brown furrow’d fields re-appearing, The fishermen hauling their shad to the shore, And cloud-cleaving geese to the lakes are a-steejing; When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing; When red glow the maples, so fresh and so pleasing, O then comes the Blue-Bird, the herald of firing! And hails with his warbling the charms of the season. Then loud piping frogs make the marsh es to ring; Then warm glows the sunshine, and fine is the weather, The blue woodland flowers just beginning to spring, And spice-wood and sassafras budding to gether; O then to your gardens, ye housewives, re nail! lour walks border up; sow and plant at your leisure, The blue bird will chant from his box such an air, That all your hard toils will seem truly a pleasure. He flits through the orchard, he visits each tree, The red glowing peach and the apple’s ’ sweet, blossoms, He snaps up destroyers wherever they be, And seirres the caitiffs that lurk in their bosoms; He drags the vile grub from the corn it devours; The worm from their webs where they ri ot and welter; His song and his services freely are ours, And all that he asks is, in summer a shelter. The ploughman is pleased when he gleans in his train, jfow searching the furrows—now mount- ingto cheer him: . The gardner delights in his sweet simple strain* And leans on his spade to survey and to hear him; The slow, lingering school-boys forget they’ll be chid, While gazing intent as he warbles before' ’em In mantle of sky blue and bosom so red, That each little loiterer seems to adore him. When all Ihe gay scenes of the summer are o’er, And autumn slow enters so silent and sal low, And millions of warblers that charmed us before, Have fled in the train of the sun seeking swallow, TJic blue bird forsaken yet true to his home, Still lingers, and looks for a milder to-mor row, Till forced by the horrors of winter to roam, He sings his adieu in a lone note of sorrow. While spring’s lovely season, serene, dewv, warm, The green face of earth, and the pure blue of heaven, Or love’s native music have influence to charm, Or sympathy’s glow to our feelings is given, Still dear to each bosom the blue bird shall be; His voice, like the tln illings of hope, is a treasure; For, through blackest storms if a calm he but see, He comes to remind us of sunshine and pleasure! MISCELLANEOUS. TRAITS OF INDIAN CHARACTER, Bv Washington Irving, [concluded.] “Notwithstanding al! the obloquy With which early historians of the col onies have overshadowed ihe charac ters of the unfortunate natives, some bright gleams will occasionally break through, that throw a degree of mel ancholy lustre on their memories. Facts are occasionally to he met with, in their rude annals, which, though re corded with all the colouring of pre judice and bigotry, yet speak for them selves; and will be dwelt on with ap plause and sympathy, when prejudice shall have passed away. “In one of the homely narratives of the Indian wars in Nevv-England, there is a touching account of the desolation carried into the tribe of the Pequod Indians. Humanity shudders at the coM-hlooded accounts given, of indis criminate butchery on the port of the settlers. In one place we read of the aurnrisal of an Indian fort in the night, when the wigwams were wrapped in flames, and the miserable inhabitants shot down and slain, in attempting to ^es-ape. “all being despatched and en ded in the course of an hour.” After a sei-ies of similar tr'>ns->e(ions, “Or •soldiers, ” as the historian piously ob serves, “being resolved by God’s as sistance to make a final destruction of them,” the unhappy savages being hunted from their homes and fortress es, and pursued with fire and sword, a scanty but gallant band, the sad remnant of the Pequod warriors, with their wives- and children, took refuge in a swamp. “Burning with indignation, and ren dered sullen by despair—with hearts bursting with grief at the destruction of their tribe, and spiritfcgalled and sore at the fancied ignomii^of their defeat, they refused to ask their lives at the hands of an insulting foe, and preferred death to submission. “As the night drew on they were surrounded in their dismal retreat, in such manner as to render escape impracticable. Thus situated, their enemy “plied them with shot all the time, by which means many were kill ed and buried in the mire.” In the darkness and fog that preceded the dawn of day, some few broke through the besiegers and escaped into the woods: “the rest were left to the con querors, of which many were killed in the swamp, like sullen dogs who would rather, in their self-wildedness and madness, sit still and be shot through, or cut to pieces,” than im plore for mercy. When the day broke upon this handful of forlorn, but dauntless spirits, the soldiers, we are told, entering the swamp, “found sev eral heaps of them sitting dose togeth er, upon whom they discharged their pieces, laden with ten or twelve pis tol bullets at a time; putting the muz zles of their pieces under the houghs , within a few yards of them; so as be sides those that were dead, many more were killed and sunk into the mire, and never were minded more by friend or foe.'* “Can any one read this plain unvar nished tale, without admiring the stern resolution, the unbending pride, and loftiness of spi it, that' seemed to nerve the hearts of these self-taught heroes, and to raise them above the instinctive feelings of human nature? When the Gauls iaid waste the city of Rome, they found the nobles clothed in their robes, and seated with stern tranquility in their curule chairs: in this manner they suffered death with out an attempt at supplication or re sistance. Such conduct in them was applauded as noble and magnanimous: in the hapless Indians it was reviled as obstinate and sullen. IIow much are we the dupes of show and circum stance! IIow different is virtue, ar rayed in purple and enthroned in state, from virtue, destitute and naked, re duced <o the last stage of wretched ness and perishing obscurely in a wil derness. “Do these records of ancient ex cesses fill us with disgust and aversion? Let us take heed that we do not suffer ourselves to be hurried into the same iniquities. Posterity lifts up its hands with horror at past misdeeds, because the passions that urged to them are not felt, and the argu ments that persuaded to them are for gotten; but we are reconciled to the present perpetration of injustice by all the selfish motives with which in terest chills the heart and silences the conscience. Even at the present ad vanced day, when we should suppose that enlightened philosophy had expan ded our minds, and true religion had warmed our hearts into philnntluopy- wlien we have been admonished' by a sense of past transgressions, and in structed by the indignant censure of candid history—even now, we per ceive a dispostion breaking out to re new’ the persecutions of these hapless beings. Sober-thoughted men, far from the scenes of danger, in the se curities of cities and populous regions, can coolly talk of “exterminating measures,” and discuss the policy of exptirpating thousands. If such is the talk in the cities, what is the temper displayed on the borders? The sen tence of desolation has gone forth— “the roar is up amidst woods” im placable wrath, goaded on by inter est and prejudice, is ready to confound all rights, to trample on all claims of justice and humanity, rnd to act over rhose scenes of sanguinary vengeance, which have too offen stained the pages of colonial history. “These are not the idle suggestions of fancy; thev are wrung forth by re cent facts which still haunt the pub lic mind. We need-hut turn to the ravaged country of the Creeks to be hold a picture of exterminating war fare. < T» <ese deluded savages, cipher ex cited by private injury or private in trigue, or by both, have lately taken up tiie hulciiet, and made ucaiily in roads into our frontier settlements.— Their punishment has been pitiless and terrible. Vengeance has gone like a devouring lire through their country—the smoke of their village yet rises to heaven, and the blood of the slaughtered Indians yet reeks upon the earth. Of this merciless ravage, an idea may be foinied by a single ex ploit, boastfully set forth in an official letter that has darkened our public journals.* A detachment of soldiery had been sent under the command of one general Coffee to destroy the Tallushatchcs towns, where the hos tile Creeks had assembled. The en terprise was executed as the com mander in chief) expresses it, instyle- but, in the name of mercy, in what style! The towns were surrounded before the break of day. The inhab itants, starting from their sleep, Hew to arms, with beat of drums and hi deous veilings. The soldiery press ed upon them on every side, and met with desperate resistance—but what was. savage valour against the array and discipline of scientific warfare? The Creeks made gallant charges, but were beaten back by overwhelm ing numbers. Hemmed in like sav age beasts surrounded by the hunters, wherever they turned they met aloe, and iu every foe they found a butcher. ’•Theenemy retreated firing,” says Coffee in his letter, “ until they got around and in their buildings, where they made all the resistance that an overpowered soldier could do; they fought as long as one existed, but theii destruction v. as very soon completed; our men rushed up to the doors of the houses, and in a few minutes killed the last warrior of them; the enemy fought with savage fury, and met death with all its horrors, without shrinking or complaining; not one ask ed lo be spared, but fought so long as they could stand or sit. In consc- quemc of their flying- to (heir houses, and mixing with (ho families, our men in killing the mates, without intention. killed and wounded a Jew < J ti.c squaws and children.' “So unsparing was the carnage of the sword that not one oi the warriors escaped to cany the heart-breaking tidings to the remainder of the tribe. Such is what is termed executing hostilities in style!—Let those who exclaim wiih abhorrence at Indian in road—those who are so eloquent about the bitterness of Indian recrimination —let them turn lo the horrible victo ry of general Loiice, and be silent. “As yet onr government lias m some measure restrained the tide ol venge ance, and inculcated lenity towards the hapless Indians who have bo'en du ped into the present war. Such tem per is worthy of an enlightened gov ernment—let it still be observed—let sharp rebuke and signal punishment be inflicted on the se who abuse their delegated power, and disgrace their victories with massacre and conflagra tion. The enormities of'the Indians form no excuse for the enormities oi w hite men. It has pleased heaven to give them but limited powers of inind,| and feeble lights to guide their judgments; it becomes us who are blessed with higher intellects to think for them, and to set them an example of humanity. It is the nature oi ven geance, if unrestrained, to be head long in its actions, and to lay up, in a moment of passion, ample cause for an age s repentance. We may roll over these miserable beings with our chariot wheels, and crush them to the earth; but when war lias done its worst —when passion has subsided, and it is to late to pity or to save—we shall look back with unavailing compunc tion at the mangled corses of those whose cries were unheeded in the fu ry of our career. “Let the fate of war go as it may, the fate of those ignorant tribes that have been inveigled from their forests to mingle in the strife of white men, will be inevitably the same. In the col lision of two powerful nations, these intervening particles of population will be crumbled to dust, and scatter ed to the winds of heaven. In a lit tle while, and they will go to the way ♦ hat sj many tribes have gone before. The few hordes that, still linger about the shores of Huron and Superior, and the tributary streams of the Mississip pi, will share the fate of those tribes that once lorded it along the proud banks of the Hudson; of that gigantic ■•ace that are said to have existed on •he borders of the Susquehanna, and >f those various nations that flourished about the Potowmac and the Rappa- hanoc, and that peopled the forests of of the vast valley Shenandoah. They will vanish like a vapour from the lace of the earth—their very history w ill be lost in forgetfulness—and “the places that know them, will know them no more forever.” “Or if perchance some dubious memorial of them should survive the lapse of time, it may be iu the roman tic dream of the poet, to populate in imagination his glades and gioves, like the fauns, and satyrs, and sylvan dei ties of antiquity. But should he ven ture the dark story of their wrongs and wretchedness—driven from their native abodes and the sepulchres oi' their fathers—hunted like wild beasts about the earth, and sent doun in vio lence and butchery to the grave—pos terity will either turn with horror and incredulity from the tale, or blush with indignation at the inhumanity of their forefathers.— u We are driven back,’’ said an old warrior, “until we can re treat no further—our hatchets are broken—our bows are snapped—our fires are nearly extinguished—a little longer and the while men will cease to persecute us—for we will cease to exist!” * Letter of Gen. Coffee, dated Nov. 4, 1813. t Gen. Andrew Jackson. j We should very reluctontly concede the truth of this remark, though we are a- ware that it is the belief'of many. The re al dilioitrice between the whites and the Indians, we should attribute to the extent of advantages of improvement, enjoyed by the one, and the same withheld from the other; and this may be said of all the hu- man race. The w hite man, who has his mind improved, certainly can lay claim to greater acquired abilities, than an Indian in his rune state, this nevertheless does not prove that God has seen tit to give the Abo rigines of this Country, limited powers ol mind. Abundant evidence has been given that the natural powers ol the mind, a- mougst most of the Indians, are very mu h like most nations, and we have had, as yet, no reason to believe, that under suitable ad vantages, and proper instruction, they wdi fail of equal aquired abilities. j£u. Hoaxing.—A man who was accus tomed to deal in the marvellous, totu a country cousin of his, that he had three curiosities in ids house: an ox that could go three hundred miles a any, a cock that told the houi oi the night, and a dog that could read tn a superior manner, bays the cousin, “these are extraordinary things in deed! 1 must call upon you unu heg a sight oi them/ Trie liar retunic-u home and tells his wife what huu hap pened, saying that he had got nuo a scrape, & did not know how to extri cate himself. “Oh, never maid,' says she, “1 can manage it.' IN ext bay, the countryman called and iuquiicu al ter his cousin-—is told lie has gone oii to Pekin. And w hat time is nu expec ted hack? In seven or oigul days, flow can he return so quick r ncs gone olf on our ox. Apropos, ol that, continued the guest, i am tom that you have a cock that mums the fioui., A cock happened then to crow, l cs, that’s he; he not only leiis tiie hour ol the night, but reports when a stranger comes. Then your uog, that reads books! might 1 beg to borrow a sight at him? Why, to speak the truth, as our circumstances are but narrow, we have scut the dog out to keep school. Effects of War.—It is remarked in a statistical article in a French Journal, that the effect of the wars of the Rev olution has been to diminish the sta ture of the human species in that country. This is explained in the fol lowing manner. Soldiers are formed only of men, who, for their physical formation, are the elite of the youth of the country. For the space of thirty years, there was an immense consump tion of such men; and in the mean time the care of re-peopling the country was left in a greater part, to those men who were not large enough, strong e- nough, or well enough formed, for sol diers. The large proportion of men who are of a short stature is proved by the following facts. According to the report of the operat ions of the con- seription in Franco for the year 1826, in the number cf 1,03d,422 young men who were examined by the officers ol revision, 380,213 were rejected be cause they were not four feet six inch es in height. The French foot is a- bout three quarters of an inch longer than ours, and Consequently four feet six inches French, are equal to about four feet nine and a half inches of our measure. After the rejection of Ihe above proportion of men for the French army, it is ascertained from the in spections. that thirty-seven in a hun dred are under five feet one inch in height, and oplv forty-five in a hundred, over fivo feet two inches. From these facts, it would seem that after reject ing in the proportion of one third, for want of sulficjent size, one half of the soldiers of the French 1 army are un der five feet six inches, of our mca-- sure, in height.—JS'cw Y. Ob. Warning to Drunkards.—One even- ing in the month of December last, A——W , who had lately become an inhabitant of Westfield, returned; to his home in a state of intoxication, flis violence rendered it necessary • hat his family should take shelter mi*, dcr a neighboring roof. While alone he fell into the fire, and was found, stilk intoxicated, with his shoulders severe ly burnt. He lingered about one week and died—a victim to intemperance.— Eliz. Journal. Another.—A man in the town of' L , who for a number of years had been given to intemperance, was at length taken ill with a liver com-, plaint, probably brought on by intem perance. lie became very low, so that it was thought he could not live from one day to another, but after ly ing so near the point of death for sev er al days, he at length revived, and by degrees gained his strength, until he was soon able to ride out. He was then affectionately informed by his physician that he must leave off his former habits of intomperance, or lose his life. He however paid no regard to the advice of his physician, hut im mediately betook himself to drinking; this brought him immediately upon his. death bed, and I believe it was not three weeks frqm the time he recov ered from his firet fit of sickness, be fore his immortal spirit had takrn its flight to appear before that God who- hath declared that no drunkard con ever enter heaven.—Boston Itccordcr. ANIMAL GRATITUDE. A few days since, a boy of 14 years of age, while herding cattle on the farm of Reideley’s, was attacked by a bull, without the least provocation. He was repeatedly knocked down and trampled upon for a length of time so as to be severely bruised in all parts of the body. Nobody being near, his cries were not heard—and fatal con sequences would very soon have ensu ed; had be not been released in a mosv singular manner. While this furious animal uas getting more enraged, he was attacked by the rest of the cattle (oxen) in so determined a manner, that in order lo defend himself, he left (lie boy, who was fortunately still able to remove, and who was thus enabled to escape. Such an example of the exertion of a degree of intellect in cattle led loan inquiry of the boy re. garding the circumstances of the case- The boy informed the writer of this article, that only one of the cattle came first to his rescue and attacked the bull, and in a little time the oth ers came, as if to assistance of the first. This grateful and generous ox had been during the last winter in rath er a sickly condition, during which time the hoy had paid it considerably attention.—London Paper. English Ladies.—-There is a dignity, an elegance, and ease, in the manners of English ladies accustomed to tho society of London, a readiness in con versation, a flow of choice language; a quickness and correctness of Caste* derived from a constant intercourse with well educated men, and x iliarity with the authors, which render them the most engaging company. Without attempting to fascinate by the brilliancy of their wit. they instant ly secure esteem by their unvarying propriety, their sterling good sense, and unaffected simplicity of manners.; Miss Hannah More describes them asi “q class of excellent characters, who, ; on account of that very excellence, fl are little known, because to be known® is not their object. If they occasion® little sensation abroad, they produce ® much happiness at home. And when® a woman, who lias “all appliances and® means to get it,” can withstand the® intoxication of (lie flatterer, and the® adoration of (he fashionable; can con-® quer tire fondness for public distinc-® tion; can resist (he temptation of that® magic circle lo which she is ccurtedy® and in v Inch she is qualified to shine—® this is indeed a (rial cf firmness; a (rial,® in which those who have never been® called (o resist themselves, can -hardly® judge of (he merit of resistance in® others. These are (he women who® bless dignify, and truly adorn sociffl® tv.—Ep. Watchman. fl