t as well always to be sure
beforehand when it comes to pay-though, of course, I should have been
glad to have him with me without money and without price.

"In the golden future of Iowa," he said, "you will occasionally want
legal advice. I will accept transportation in your very safe, but
undeniably slow equipage as a retainer."

"Captain Sproule used to say," I said, "that what you pay the lawyer is
the least of the matter when you go to law."

"Wise Captain Sproule," replied N.V.; "and my rule shall be to keep my
first client, Mr. Jacob T. Vandemark, out of the courts; and in addition
to my prospective legal services, I can wield the goad-stick and
manipulate the blacksnake. Moreover, when these feet of mine get their
blisters healed, I can help drive the cattle; and I can gather firewood,
kindle fires, and perhaps I may suggest that my conversation may not be
entirely unprofitable."

I told him I would take him in as a passenger; and there our life-long
friendship began. His conversation was not unprofitable. He had the
vision of the future of Iowa which I had until then lacked. He could see
on every quarter-section a prosperous farm, and he knew what the
building of the railways must mean. As we forded the Maquoketa he
laughed at the settlers working at the timber, grubbing out stumps,
burning off the logs, struggling with roots.

"Your ancestors, the Dutch," said he, "have been held up to ridicule
because they refused to establish a town until they found a place where
dykes had to be built to keep out the sea, though there were plenty of
dry places available. These settlers are acting just as foolishly. They
have been used to grubbing, and they go where grubbing has to be done.
Two miles either way is better land ready for the plow! Why can't every
one be wise like us?"

"They have to have wood for houses, stables, and fuel," I said. "I hope
my land has timber on it."

"The railroads are coming," said he, "and they will bring you coal and
wood and everything you want. They are racing for the crossings of the
Mississippi. Soon they will reach the Missouri--and some day they will
cross the continent to the Pacific. No more Erie Canals; no more Aaron
Burr conspiracies for the control of the mouth of the Mississippi.
Towns! Cities! Counties! States! We are pioneers; but civilization is
treading on our heels. I feel it galling my kibes[8]--and what are a few
blisters to me! I see in my own adopted city of Lith