xperiment is carried. Let me relate to thee a case which came
to my personal knowledge. This was of a buyer of wheat in a country town.
It seems that it is the custom of the large commission-merchants of
Chicago and Milwaukee to receive from country buyers consignments of
produce for disposal, on which they make advances. This person had
secured, by the aid of a friend, a credit of a few hundred dollars at a
certain country store, and proceeded to buy produce from the farmers,
paying in orders on the store. When he had sufficient he shipped a car to
the Eastern market, making at the same time a draft on the consignee
against the bill of lading. This he assigned to the keeper of the store,
and drew orders against it for more produce. I was informed that he had, a
short time ago, in a busy season, purchased and shipped during one single
week fifty thousand bushels of wheat, and all without a dollar of capital
he could call his own. I am assured, Amos, that thee will be as much
astonished as thy friend was to learn that such things are regularly done
by these wonderful people. These things account quite easily for the
constant ebbing and flowing of the tide of business-men in these little
"cities."

Society, in the newer sections, is evidently unsettled. Money of course
commands respect, as money does everywhere; intelligence, in at least
reasonable measure, and some little cultivation, are regarded as
essentials among the better class of associates; but while the mixture is
settling, and the constituents separating and crystallizing, many
wandering atoms seem to be at home nowhere. Family or blood is but little
regarded, occupation is no hinderance ordinarily, and even well-known
irregularities do not necessarily exclude. One of the earliest cautions I
received was never to allude slightingly to divorced people in public,
"For who knows but there may be several such among the company?" Among the
ladies, accomplishments, except dancing, are said to be somewhat
neglected, although in all the arts of pleasing and in the graces of
domestic life they are peculiarly happy.

Trusting now, Friend Amos, that thee may learn to appreciate as I have the
excellencies of this country and these people, and to realize how greatly
in reality they surpass our estimates, I will tell thee no more till I see
thee in person. Though I very much admire the people, and wonder at their
methods and their progress, I long to free myself from all thi