l's call, each night, "All's well around,"
made me feel secure and at home, even in what was then a wilderness.
Many pleasant scenes, and many startling ones, come at my call. Some
are more vivid than others, and perhaps the most distinct of my early
remembrances is the arrival of the first steamboat. It had been talked
of and expected for a long time; it is hard to realize in this age of
rapid traveling how deeply interested and excited every one felt in
anticipation of what was then a great event. It was to bring us into
more direct and easy communication with the world; and small wonder
that the prospect of being at the head of steamboat navigation should
have caused excitement and rejoicing to those who had been receiving
their mails at intervals of _months_ instead of _hours_. To me, of
course, child that I was, it only meant a sight never before
witnessed, a something heard of, and seen in pictures, but never
realized. But even we children felt in listening to our elders, that
something great was about to happen.

At last, one bright summer morning, while amusing myself on the piazza
in the rear of the officers' quarters, there came a sound new and very
strange! All listened a moment in awe and gratitude, and then, broke
out, from many voices, "The steamboat is coming! the steamboat is
coming!" And look! there is the smoke curling gracefully through the
trees; hark! to the puffing of the steam, startling the echoes from a
sleep co-eval with the creation; now she rounds the point, and comes
into full view. I stand on tiptoe, but cannot see all I long to, till
Lieutenant David Hunter, my special favorite, catches me up and holds
me on the balustrade; and now I clap my hands, and almost cry with
delight, for there she is, just landing, in all her pride and beauty,
as if she _felt_ herself the Pioneer Steamboat, and knew she would
become historic.

Officers and soldiers, women and children, are hurrying down the hill;
terrified Indians rush from their wigwams and look on in amazement,
utterly confounded, refusing to go near what they call the "_Bad
Spirit_."

Greetings and congratulations warm and heartfelt are exchanged; and
speedily the mail is opened, papers and letters are distributed; all
search eagerly for news from home, and my joy is turned into grief
for my friend Lieutenant Hunter, who learned, by the very boat whose
coming he hailed with so much pleasure, that he is fatherless. All
sympathize deeply wit