Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/359

 the rivers over which they were scrambled together—built I cannot say. We seemed to be in a wild and newly-inclosed country. At Bishop Eliott's lovely country seat all was again cultivated and beautiful—a continuation of the romantic and luxurious district around Maçon; and in the bishop himself I became acquainted with one of the most beautiful examples of that old cavalier race which gives tone and stamp to the nobler life of the Southern States. Personal beauty and dignity, and the most agreeable manners, were in this instance ennobled by great Christian earnestness.

Bishop E. is said to have been in his youth a great lover of social life, of dancing, and ladies' society, and to have been a great favourite in the gay world. His conversion to religious earnestness, is said to have been rapid and decided. He is now known as one of the most pre-eminently religious men in the country; and his kindness and amiability win all hearts. Mine he also won; but of that by and by.

On the evening of my arrival I sate with him and his family on the piazza in front of his house, and saw the fireflies shining in the air, among the trees and on the grass everywhere in the park. These little insects produce an effect which delights me during the dark evenings and nights here. They are small beetles, somewhat larger, and certainly longer, than our wood-louse, and they emit as they fly along a bright light, quickly shining out and then again extinguished, like a lightning-flash, but soon renewing itself again. It is a phosphoric light, and presents an incessant display of fireworks in the air and on the earth at this season. If these little creatures are injured, nay even trampled upon, as I have seen happen by accident, they still give out light, and shine beautifully as long as there is any life left in them. Their light is never utterly extinguished but with their life, and even outlives that a good hour.