Requires some genius, I would have you know, -Which is the rule, When challenged on the first one (if you go Any mere Pottawottamie* or fool Can do, without ever having been to school. Kindred to this are several minor ones,- Each of their 'youthful prodigies,' Some fluent 'talent' in the H. R. for ranting, Is cutting) as the new Demosthenes Of our blest land and day, The glory and the pride of Whiggery. The poor 'youth' stuffing With such absurd conceit of his own glory, He gets a little flurried at a dinner, Or Champagne celebration, The unlucky sinner Before high heaven such tricks fantastic plays And through his lion's skin so loudly brays, As to become excessively ridiculous; Makes his own friends ashamed a whole month after, And furnishes material to tickle us With Loco-Foco laughter For twice as long. Such, too, their well-known 'talent,' Sir, for bragging, In fifty ways-from Mr. Cl-, On all occasions dragging In, by the head and shoulders, some bold boast, Where one should be a gentleman, if able, That he so soon must look For other lodging-rooms at K-nd-rh-k, *The latest Whig name for a 'huge-pawed' democratic farmer. While he will rule the roast In the White House by fair Potomac's side,) Whose gallant skill at " Brag "'s his highest pride, (In which I hope he is more lucky, Besides not playing off the same odd tricks' As in the gambling of his politics) Down to the puniest whipster of the press, Of every election "VICTORY!" And matters of that sort, This 'talent' also we must needs confess, In a remarkable degree, They certainly possess. Nor ought I to omit their talent,' I dare not give a sample, For fear that it might shock the Muse's ear, Who does not often hear Such 'winged words' by Helicon's old mountain, Where she is wont to roam. She might indeed be scared away, And not return to me for many a day, Were she to hear me say, Over the woes of this benighted nation, Of showing off his 'talent,' too, for crying. So, therefore, worthy Mr. Slicer, You'll not attempt to be, A candidate for your old chaplaincy, If you take my advice, Sir. Among their other 'talents' is In which they justly take a gentlemanly pride. Or, (if from Mr. Cl- it be no crime (The Muse yet weeps at the sad tale of sorrow!) (Strong, I should think, as half a dozen oxen) -Especially as Sunday morning Upon the "Honorable" House was dawning- Have seen him put the stocks in. Nor with the fist Alone are they accomplished thus in dealing,- -Ol, when they can Inflame their chivalry with the safe feeling That 'tis an unarmed man With whom they have to do, -Especially if he's gray-headed too well. Oh, then these gallant Hotspurs of young Whiggery Can bring him up before them in Commit -Tee- sitting as his judges- In style which I must really call atrocity- -So quick are they upon the trigger-he His elbow nudges, They'll shoot him like a dog, Sir, And such the ardor of their brave ferocity, I shouldn't be surprised if then they'd eat him! In fact, Sir, this is, A favorite 'talent,' that of bullying, Which they do sometimes truly in A very gallant style-when fortune sends One who will meekly bear it In the true Christian spirit Which when one cheek is smote the other lends. And he turns round with unexpected spunk, and Oh, then the word "quick, march-right about face!" is, And now I'm thinking, It cannot to the Whigs be quite agreeable That take delight in the Democratic Review) Which must, if any thing could be able, That after covering them with so much glory A fit place for the Muse to fold her wing. With one which-there's no blinking Why, some of their late feats in swallowing Were done on so magnificent a scale, I know the Muse would wholly fail Were she to dare the high attempt of following And therefore she knocks under, Of pious pilgrims who have such a nice sense On a small scale to tipple,— Provide your wine -If you would not be drunk, Sir, out of house and Home-by the thousand! THE INDIAN SUMMER. To a resident in New England the very name of Indian Summer calls up so many essentially poetic images, that it is difficult to approach the subject without permitting the thoughts to run riot over the fairy scenes which that season presents; and we marvel not that it has suggested to the muse of America some of her most brilliant effusions for it would require no great effort of the imagination to perceive in its balmy and buoyant air a portion of that divinus afflatus of which the old poets spake. But it is our object at present to describe the Indian Summer in sober prose, for the benefit of those readers, both in the Old World and the New, whose good fortune it has never been to become eyewitnesses of its beauties; and we must therefore strive, like the Cumæan Sybil, -Magnum pectore excussisse deum and confine ourselves as far as may be to plain matters of fact. The temperature of the last two years, owing to the proximity of Halley's Comet, or to some other cause not yet explained, has differed so materially from the average of previous observations, that the meteorological tables published during that time, supply us with no accurate data for our present investigation. It will be sufficient therefore to state in general terms, that from the end of August to the end of September, the thermometer announces a gradual and constant diminution of heat; but that in the early part of October a strange interruption occurs to the progressive fall of the mercury, and when in the natural course of events we should be led to anticipate a still farther increase of cold, we are surprised to perceive, that for two or three weeks successively, with a few slight exceptions, an elevation of temperature is experienced, to a degree greater in many cases than the average of the first week of September,sometimes as great as the mean of the month of August. This seeming anomaly of Nature is not peculiar to the American continent. A brief season of heat immediately preceding the rigors of winter is observed in all, or nearly all, the northern countries of Europe and Asia, variously designated as "the latter" or "second summer," the "after-heat," the "summer-close," and many other like terms in which the same idea is embodied, differing only with the idioms of the various languages in which they occur. In America, however, that season is marked with features so distinct from those which characterize it in other countries, as to entitle it to a separate consideration. In the Old World indeed it is accompanied |