ons for the
winters in that fort, so completely shut away from the world, and so
environed by snow and ice, but various devices were planned to keep up
the general cheerfulness and to ward off gloomy feelings and
homesickness. I can dimly remember the acting of plays in which the
gentlemen personated all the characters and the ladies and children
looked on. I know the women of the plays looked very tall and angular,
and there was much merriment about the costumes which were eked out to
fit them. It may be that the performances were as much enjoyed as if
everything had been more complete, for I know there was a great deal
of fun and jollity at their theatricals.

Among my earliest recollections is that of sitting on a low stool
beside Mrs. Snelling and my mother while they read and studied French
under the instruction of a soldier named Simon, and the memory of
those days was revived a few months ago by the receipt of a card from
"Zeller C. Simon," now Mrs. F. L. Grisard, Vevay, Indiana, daughter of
the old man, as a reminder of 1822 and 1823 when she and I quietly
amused ourselves while these ladies received instructions in that
language. In Mrs. Ellet's "_Pioneer Women of the West_," Mrs. Snelling
alludes to this old French teacher and regrets his loss by discharge,
adding that, when on the arrival of the first steamboat bringing among
other passengers, the Chevalier Count Beltrami, an Italian adventurer,
she expressed this regret, he kindly offered to continue the lessons
during his visit. He could speak French fluently, but did not
understand English, and was therefore much gratified to find anyone
who could converse with him.

In the month of May, 1823, the steamboat Virginia, 118 feet in length
and 22 in width, arrived at the fort. "It was built by Knox and McKee
at Wheeling, Virginia, and loaded with Government stores for Fort
Snelling," so writes one of the firm, Mr. Redick McKee to the
secretary of "Historical Society of Minnesota." Its arrival was a
great event indelibly impressed upon the memory of all who were there
to witness it.

_CHAPTER VI._

A COINCIDENCE.

"Backward! turn backward, O Time, in thy flight;
Make me a child again, just for to-night."

Take me to my early home at Fort Snelling, and help me to live over
again that happy time, when I knew nothing of care and sorrow, and
when the sight of the dear old flag, run up, each morning, to the roll
of the drum, and the sentine