that there is no such thing as matter or material substances. His verses, above quoted, seem to have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy; and the concluding lines are often quoted, though more than half of those who quote them do not know who the writer was.

LESSON XVI.

SUCH is a prophetic glimpse of the future state of the midland districts of North-Carolina; but, lo! while drawing this picture, we have passed through Alamance county, noisy with factories, and have failed to notice the almost universal goodness of the soil, the close tillage, and general air of prosperity along this part of our journey. We have failed, too, to point out the battle-ground of the Regulators, though we passed in sight of it; and for an account of these Regulators and their battle, at Alamance creek, with Gov. Tryon and his myrmidons, we must refer you to the History.

These Regulators were the ancestors of those among whom we are now sojourning; and they fought without leaders, and without hopes of power, or conquest, or plunder.

They ran together at the call of Liberty, and without any captain but her; and on the memorable field of Alamance fought the first fight in the great cause which ten years afterwards united all the colonies.

This battle-ground at present looks cheerful enough; and the rank corn now waves over the mouldering bones of the first patriot martyrs.

The ploughman, as he turns the green sod of their resting-place, still occasionally finds a relic of those unremembered heroes; and thus are their ashes and their bones scattered about, while even their names are forgotten.

No matter their memory lives in the free institutions of the United States, and their souls animate the now victorious and allconquering cause of Freedom. Their monument is this glorious country; their praise the universal hymn of thanks that goes up from millions of rejoicing hearts. Let sweating slaves heap up piles of brick, and stone, and mortar, to the memory of more ignoble warriors, and let them be ornamented with brazen cannon and the insignia of Death, whom they served. Let the ploughshare, the emblem of Peace, stir the soil of Alamance; let freemen, with happy hearts, harvest in peace for ever the luxuriant crops that spring from the dust of patriot heroes.-Thus let it be for ever!

LESSON XVII.

ALAMANCE.

By S. W. WHITING, of North-Carolina.

No stately column marks the hallow'd place
Where silent sleeps, unurn'd, their sacred dust:
The first free martyrs of a glorious race,

Their fame a people's wealth, a nation's trust.
The rustic ploughman, at the early morn,

The yielding furrow turns with heedless tread;
Or tends with frugal care the springing corn,
Where tyrants conquer'd and where heroes bled.
Above their rest the golden harvest waves,

The glorious stars stand sentinels on high,
While in sad requiem, near their turfless graves,
The winding river murmurs, mourning, by.
No stern ambition waved them to the dead,-
In Freedom's cause they nobly dared to die-
The first to conquer, or the first to bleed,
God and their country's right their battle-cry.
But holier watchers here their vigils keep

Than storied urn or monumental stone-
For Law and Justice guard their dreamless sleep,
And Plenty smiles above their bloody home.
Immortal youth shall crown their deathless fame,
And as their country's glories still advance,
Shall brighter blaze, o'er all the earth, thy name
Thou first-fought field of Freedom, Alamance.

LESSON XVIII.

We have now arrived in Greensboro', a middle point on the great Central Railroad; and here we notice that the road makes an elbow pointing towards Virginia.

On the northern and north-western sides of this elbow are counties watered by the upper branches of the Dan, a tributary of the Roanoke river; and these are the counties of Rockingham, Stokes, and Forsythe.

The lands along the Dan are very rich; and here are some of the finest plantations in the United States.

The whole country is a pleasant, healthy, and fertile one; and is capable of containing and supporting a very large population. Greensboro' is just such a town as ought to be on the centre of the road; it contains a great deal of capital, and a vast amount of enterprise.

It was not made by accident or chance; it was built up entirely by the industrious, and active, and enterprising character of the people.

It had, at first, not one advantage as a town; now it is a very thriving, handsome place, full of schools, of intelligence, life and bustle, and containing the best elements of a great city.

It is in the midst of a people as laborious as any on earth; and Guilford county, of which it is the county-seat, contains many mechanics skilled in all the ordinary branches of industry. It contains also a dense population; and with facilities for getting to market, it will be cultivated like a garden. As much may be said of the agricultural tendency of the surrounding country; it must inevitably become very thickly settled by many small proprietors, and the full capacities of the soil be developed. Along the head waters of the deep river, which runs through Guilford and Randolph, are excellent mills and several factories; and on the Dan are also good milling facilities and improvements.

Not far from Greensboro', in a northern direction, is the battle-ground of Guilford; a locality which will have a celebrity while the history of the Revolution is remembered. Here two of the master-spirits of that war had a general engagement; and in it were displayed; on both sides, superior generalship, indomitable and chivalrous courage.

energy, But we have not time to linger about this scene of carnage; nor shall we be able to visit Salem, in Forsythe county.

We can tell you it is an old and celebrated town, was settled long before the war, by the Moravians, and has ever since been

under their control.

The beautiful word Salem means peace; and the Moravians are a sect devoted to peace and peaceful arts.

Their town has long been the seat of learning; and here is a female school known all over the United States, and more celebrated, perhaps, than any other in this country. The old graveyard, shaded by large and venerable cedars, and the grounds about the school-buildings are very handsome and interesting; and the town itself contains an excellent population, while several factories in the suburbs give it now a lively and business-like appear

ance.

Nor can we stop to examine that stupendous wonder of nature, the Pilot Mountain, undoubtedly one of the greatest curiosities in

the world. It is but a half-day's journey from Salem, in Surry county; and we can almost see its castellated summit at the distance of fifty miles.

From the midst of a plain it shoots up a "dread ambassador from earth to heaven," till its head is nearly lost in the clouds; and on its summit stands an immense rock, looking so much like a castle, while the mountain itself is so regularly rounded, and slopes up so gracefully, that we will persist in believing that the whole is the work of man. But a near approach will satisfy us that the Deity only could have reared this magnificent pile; and if we could stand on the summit of the castle, and take a view of a panorama extending for hundreds of miles over hills, plains, and mountains, we should feel, more strongly than we ever felt before, the littleness of man and all his achievements, when compared with the glorious works of God.

From Greensboro' we start westward, and stop first at Lexington, the country-seat of Davidson; and here we begin to realize a slight change in the appearance of the country. We are surprised at the fertility of the soil, and as we pass along we are continually regretting that this desirable country has no means as yet of getting to market.

We are pleased with our hospitable reception in the flourishing little town of Lexington; and as we continue our route in a south-westerly direction, we skirt what is called the Jersey settlements. This country was settled by emigrants from NewJersey, and contains a rank and vigorous soil.

LESSON XIX.

THE PILOT: FROM 66 CAROLINA."

By James B. SHEPARD, of North-Carolina.

ALL-SHADOWING Pilot! high, and lone, and cold,
Thou rear'st thy form in grandeur, and the light
Which gilds thy brow at sunset, as of old,
Shall be to thee a diadem all bright,
Amid the ages distant and untold,

To guide the pilgrim's dim and failing sight
Along thy battlements. And now the sun
Goes down behind the mountains-day is gone.

'Tis night upon the Pilot! come and see
The startling of the mighty pile;

Look how the lightnings glance-and now the free
Wild winds are rushing o'er this earth-born isle,
Thrown up amid the wide and desert sea.

The clouds are gathering, and no lovely smile
Of the bright stars is ours.
Hark! the tone

Of the loud thunder from its flashing throne !

Night on the Pilot! From the stormy west
The clouds are mustering, and their banners gleam
In shadowy glory, and their folds are dress'd
In the mild livery of Orion's beam.

And now each glen and lofty mountain's crest
Grow bright beneath the moon's resplendent stream
Of living radiance. Now the light is gone,
And darkness girds us with her rayless zone.

The morn is up-the bright and dewy morn-
And darkness rolls from off the lofty pile,
And voices, deep and wild, and mountain-born,
Go up in thankfulness; for now the smile
Of day is on us; now the huntsman's horn

Winds its rich numbers through each deep defile,
Startling the eagle from his high abode

Mid the rough crags where mortal foot ne'er trod.

Journey we eastward. Hail! old Guilford, hail!
Thy soil is sacred. Thine the battle-ground
Where England's strong and haughty hosts grew pale
In victory's presence. Here the brave were crown'd
With fame immortal. Here the loudest gale

Of battle sounded, while the blue profound,
Rent with thy shouts of triumph, clear'd away,
And pour'd upon thee Freedom's perfect day.