on the
farther shore of which the savage hordes still held the mastery, and
on the other the romantic region through which they hunted and pressed
their war enterprises. And here, amid the scenes of border warfare,
his son William had that spirit, which has animated him through life,
educated by the legends of the Indian-fighting hunters of Kentucky.

To the feelings and taste inspired by the peculiarities of the place
and circumstances adverted to, must be attributed the return of Col.
Butler to his father's home, to enter on his profession as a lawyer.
There were no great causes or rich clients to attract him--no dense
population to lift him to the political honors of the State. The
eloquence and learning, the industry and integrity which he gave to
adjust the controversies of Gallatin and the surrounding counties,
would have crowned him with wealth and professional distinction, if
exhibited at Louisville or Lexington. But he coveted neither.
Independence, the affections of his early associates, the love of a
family circle, and the charm which the recollection of a happy boyhood
gave to the scenes in which he was reared, were all he sought. And he
found them all in the romantic dells and woodland heights of Kentucky,
and on the sides of the far spreading, gently flowing, beautiful Ohio.
The feeling which his sincere and sensitive nature had imbibed here
was as strong as that of the Switzer for his bright lakes, lofty
mountains, and deep valleys. The wild airs of the boat horn, which
have resounded for so many years from arks descending the Ohio and
Kentucky, floating along the current and recurring in echoes from the
hollows of the hills, like its eddies, became as dear to him as the
famous Rans de Vache to the native of Switzerland. We insert, as
characteristic alike of the poetical talent and temperament of Butler,
some verses which the sound of this rude instrument evoked when he
returned home, resigning with rapture "the ear piercing fife and
spirit stirring drum" for the wooden horn, which can only compass in
its simple melody such airs as that to which Burns has set his
beautiful words--

When wild war's deadly blast was blawn,
And gentle peace returning,
Wi' mony a sweet babe fatherless,
And many a widow mourning;
I left the lines and tented field.

The music of this song made the burden of the "Boatman's Horn," and
always announced the approaching ark to the river villages.

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