THROUGH LANGUOROUS LANDS OF THE SUNNY SOUTH.—A visit to the Gettysburg battle-field—Through the Wilderness of Virginia—Scene of the closing event of the war—From Fortress Monroe to the Dismal Swamp—Story of Nat Turner’s Insurrection—A Dream of the Old Cabin Home—From Georgia to the orange lands of Florida—Olden times in St. Augustine—A boat journey down Indian River, into a land of perpetual bloom—Visions of tropic beauty and luxuriance—A trip on St. John’s River, and on the Ocklawaha—Alligators, snakes, and other slimy things—Marvels of Silver Spring—’Way Down Upon the Suwanee River—From Mobile to New Orleans—A trip to Mammoth Cave—Descriptions of its subterranean wonders—A tour of Wyandotte Cave—Magnificence of its halls, in which the splendors of Aladdin’s Cavern are reproduced— Conclusion, 449-503 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: BERYL SPRINGS AND CLEOPATRA TERRACE, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GLIMPSES OF AMERICA. The most interesting, because most diversified, country in the world is America, and the center of that unexampled interest belongs to the territory comprised within the United States. The castles of England, crushed by the hand of time; the lochs and friths of Scotland, that murmur to the sea their wails of the Viking invaders; the lakes and heaths of Ireland, around which old legends hold perpetual carnival; the Rhine of Germany, whose banks are strewn with the relics of feudalism; the Bernese Alps, that flaunt their whitened locks like aged giants taunting the walled cities about which the sound of battle still seems to linger; the red glare of Vesuvius, wrestling with fiery wrath in mad ambition to overwhelm the cities built upon her ashes; the roar and blaze of Ætna, that growls with the voice of Polyphemus thirsting for the life of Ulysses; the hills of Greece, on which a thousand gods held council; the welling breast of Mother Nile, carrying to the sea remembrances of her ancient children; the Holy Land, blooming with sacred memories that fill the human heart with fragrance; the mighty peaks of Himalayas, piercing the heavens with frosted heads and draped with the fogs of centuries; the plains of Asshur, where Babylon stood, and the wrath of God was kindled. All these, and more, speak with siren tongue to lure the traveler and give him appetite for history. But, if we except the associations which make these places of the Old World memorable, the student of nature will find a thousand greater charms in the picturesque, grand, marvelous and sublime scenery that diversifies our own country. No picture has ever equaled the real, and no book has ever vividly described the wonders that God has scattered over the American landscape.