oney from the rural
pockets. Then in the afternoon come the races, and, having paid a
quarter for a seat in the "amphitheatre," they give themselves up to the
great excitement of the day. The incidents of fair-time will serve as
food for thought and conversation for weeks afterward. It is the
legitimate dissipation of the season.

What character shall I choose as a typical Iowan? Not the occupant of
the large brick house with tall evergreens in front which meets my sight
whenever I look toward the country. An old woman lives there alone,
except for a servant or two, having buried her husband and ten children.
She is worth a hundred thousand dollars, but can neither read nor write.
Her strong common sense and deep fund of experience supply her lack of
education, and one would not think while listening to her that she was
ignorant of letters. Her life has been one of toil and sorrow, but her
expression is one of brave cheerfulness. She and her husband came to
this place forty years ago. They were the first white settlers, and for
neighbors they had Indians and wolves. They entered most of the land on
which the town now stands, and when other settlers came in and the town
was laid out their land became valuable, and thus the foundation of
their fortune was laid. But as riches increased, cares also increased:
the husband was so weighed down by responsibility and anxiety that his
mind gave way, and in a fit of despondency he committed suicide. The
sons and daughters who died, with the exception of two or three, were
taken away in childhood. So the large mansion, with its richly-furnished
rooms, is shut up from the sunlight and rarely echoes to the patter of
childish feet. The mistress lives in the back part, but exercises a care
over the whole house, which is kept in a state of perfect order and
neatness. Not a speck of dirt is to be seen on the painted wood-work or
the window-glass, not a stain mars the floor--long as the deck of a
ship--of the porch which extends the length of the ell. The plates in
the corner cupboard in the sitting-room are freshly arranged every day,
the tins in the kitchen shine till you can see your face in them, and in
summer the clean flower-beds, bright with pansies, roses, carnations and
geraniums, that border the long walk leading to the front gate and adorn
the side yards, attest the care and neatness of the mistress. Though she
has lived on the prairie for forty years, yet the expressions that s