dergone a considerable change; and many of them began to think of becoming a polished and fashionable people. School houses were erected all over the country, in which the children were instructed, not only in the various branches of literature, but, it was the business of school-teachers, at that day, to instruct the youth in the rules of politeness and morality, as well as in those of literature and science; and it was rare to meet with a boy of thirteen years of age, who would not make a more genteel bow than is now made by our members of Congress. Children, at that day, were not permitted to join in the conversations of grown-up people, but were taught to be listeners instead of talkers; and educated to respect hoary hairs, and treat the aged with politeness and veneration. Although the inhabitants were, in many respects, wild and rude, and profane swearing was pretty much reduced to a science, yet the forms, at least, of decency and respect for the opinions of their neighbors, were preserved; and it was but seldom that any man, however rude, ventured to use profane expressions in the hearing of a professor of religion, or utter an oath in the presence of a lady. CHAPTER XIII. THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION OF TENNESSEE-RIVERS, WATER-FALLS, &c. Cliffs on cliffs in towering grandeur rise, Rearing their lofty peaks, as if to reach the skies; In the romantic highlands of Eastern Tennessee, including the mountain district, the eye of the inhabitant is so accustomed to look upon the grand sublimity of nature's works, that he passes by the most wonderful natural curiosities without an emotion. This region of country is, in truth, one of nature's grand museums, in which she has collected and stored away, an almost endless variety of her most romantic, sublime and majestic works. When we take a survey of the gigantic and lofty mountains of Tennessee, with their thousands of yawning chasms, frightful gulfs, towering and projecting crags, and massy over-hanging cliffs, the sides and summits of these mountains studded with tall and stately trees, and their surface covered with an endless variety of shrubbery, herbage and grass, through which meander a hundred rivers and a thousand rivulets; all rushing onward with a current as swift as the winds, foaming and thundering over the smaller cliffs, until many of them dash, headlong, from the summits of over-hanging precipices of hundreds of feet elevation, it is well calculated to in spire the soul with feelings of astonishment, awe and ad oration; and yet, a poetic mind, when beholding these splendid and sublime works of nature, standing in wild and unutterable confusion and incongruity, cannot well resist the imaginary idea, that nature, when on her grand errand of creation, as she passed through this region of space, was in a fanciful mood, and slackened her flight, for a moment, to indulge in a fantastical display of capricious and whimsical freaks; or, that otherwise, she dashed up these huge and ragged protuberances in confused disorder, to give to the balance of creation a more splendid, beautiful and brilliant aspect. The Cumberland mountains of Tennessee, are a part of the great Apalachian chain, extending through the United States, from New Hampshire to Alabama. They are the Blue Mountains of Virginia, the Alleghany and Laurel Mountains of Pennsylvania, the Catskill Mountains of New York, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The highest summit of this great chain of mountains are in the State of New Hampshire, and are between six and seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. Their name in the language of the Indians, signified endless. In the State of Tennessee their average altitude is between two and three thousand feet above the level of the valleys at their base. They intersect the northern boundary of Tennessee near the eastern extremity of the State, and, running in a direction from north-east to south-west, cross her southern limits about mid-way, from east to west. The sources of the rivers Holston, Clinch and Cumberland are in this range of mountains. The head springs of the Holston and Clinch are in Virginia, and those of the Cumberland in Kentucky and Tennessee. The branches of the Cumberland and Clinch, present a singu lar and strange natural phenomenon; those of the Clinch, rising near the northern and those of the Cumberland, near the southern summits of this grand highland region; and, consequently present an interlock of from thirty to fifty miles; this grand chain of mountain being from fifty to sixty miles across. Hundreds of streams, frequently, not more than from two to five miles distant from each other, are found, running with a most rapid current, in directly opposite directions. One of the branches of the Clinch, called Emery's river, has its source in this chain of mountains, in what is now Morgan county; and from its source its general course is south, until it falls into the Clinch about two miles above the town of Kingston. The principal branch of Emery's river, however, is called Obed's river, which is, in fact, much the largest stream, though its name has been swallowed up by the mingling of its waters with the Emery. It presents a strange and singular natural curiosity. Rising in the county of White, it runs in a north-eastern direction, (exactly the opposite course of Cumberland and Tennessee) along the summit of the mountain, occupying the dividing ground between the branches of the Cumberland on the north, and Tennessee on the south, until after running some fifty miles, it falls into the Emery: and if it had not struck here, at right angles, the rapid current of the Emery, dashing and foaming along its rough and rocky path, and plunging down rugged steeps, to Lord knows where this strange little river would have stopped in its wild career of running up the mountain. The Little Tennessee river, which rises in the State of South Carolina, runs through the chain of mountains that skirt the southern limits of East Tennessee, and receives the Holston about twenty-five miles below Knox ville; and here it robs the Holston of its name, although the latter is much the most important river. The Clinch and Tennessee unite about a mile and a half below Kingston, the Tennessee still maintaining its name. From thence the Tennessee flows on, passing through the Cumberland mountains-then making a curve to the South, it runs through a part of North Alabama, and then tacks about, and runs nearly north, until it crosses the whole State of Tennessee, runs through a part of Kentucky, and falls into the Ohio river about fifty miles above its junction with the Mississippi. The Cumberland river, the most important branches of which, rise in Kentucky, (though many considerable tributaries rise in the mountains of Tennessee) passes through the northern and middle regions of Tennessee, flows on by the city of Nashville, and then taking pretty nearly a northern direction, falls into the Ohio, some twelve or thirteen miles above the mouth of Tennessee. The Cumberland river, from its junction with the Ohio up to the city of Nashville, is, perhaps, one of the finest navigable streams of its size, upon the habitable globe. Its current is generally deep, smooth and gentle, though its channel is remarkably narrow for a river of its length. On the other hand, the Tennessee, though a beautiful river, presents frightful obstructions to its navigation. Its current is generally rapid, and filled with innumerable rocks, shoals and shallows, as well as many dangerous eddies and whirlpoc' The range of mountains that skirt the south-eas and southern border of East Tennessee, shoot out from the main Apalachian chain, about the head waters of the Holston, and running in a south-western direction, through a portion of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, terminate in the State of Georgia. They are known at different points by different names, such as the |