, for a sum which would have been but a drop of water to
the thirsty fever of his native land, he commands a residence
which has all that is desirable, in its independence, its beautiful
retirement, and means of benefit to others.

His park, his deer-chase, he found already prepared; he had only to
make an avenue through it. This brought us to the house by a drive,
which in the heat of noon seemed long, though afterwards, in the cool
of morning and evening, delightful. This is, for that part of the
world, a large and commodious dwelling. Near it stands the log-cabin
where its master lived while it was building, a very ornamental
accessory.

In front of the house was a lawn, adorned by the most graceful trees.
A few of these had been taken out to give a full view of the river,
gliding through banks such as I have described. On this bend the bank
is high and bold, so from, the house or the lawn the view was very
rich and commanding. But if you descended a ravine at the side to the
water's edge, you found there a long walk on the narrow shore, with
a wall above of the richest hanging wood, in which they said the deer
lay hid. I never saw one but often fancied that I heard them rustling,
at daybreak, by these bright, clear waters, stretching out in such
smiling promise where no sound broke the deep and blissful seclusion,
unless now and then this rustling, or the splash of some fish a little
gayer than the others; it seemed not necessary to have any better
heaven, or fuller expression of love and freedom, than in the mood of
Nature here.

Then, leaving the bank, you would walk far and yet farther through
long, grassy paths, full of the most brilliant, also the most delicate
flowers. The brilliant are more common on the prairie, but both kinds
loved this place.

Amid the grass of the lawn, with a profusion of wild strawberries, we
greeted also a familiar love, the Scottish harebell, the gentlest and
most touching form of the flower-world.

The master of the house was absent, but with a kindness beyond thanks
had offered us a resting-place there. Here we were taken care of by
a deputy, who would, for his youth, have been assigned the place of
a page in former times, but in the young West, it seems, he was old
enough for a steward. Whatever be called his function, he did the
honors of the place so much in harmony with it, as to leave the guests
free to imagine themselves in Elysium. And the three days passed here
were d