ved, and the wedding ceremony was performed at the
residence of the bride's parents, in the presence of a large number of
invited friends, whose hearty congratulations we received. I was
certainly to be congratulated, for I had become possessed of a lovely
and noble woman, and as I gazed upon her as she stood beside me arrayed
in her wedding costume, I indeed felt proud of her; and from that time
to this I have always thought that I made a most fortunate choice for a
life partner.

An hour after the ceremony we--my bride and myself--were on board of a
Missouri river steamboat, bound for our new home in Kansas. My wife's
parents had accompanied us to the boat, and had bidden us a fond farewell
and a God-speed on our journey.

During the trip up the river several very amusing, yet awkward
incidents occurred, some of which I cannot resist relating. There
happened to be on board the boat an excursion party from Lexington,
Missouri, and those comprising it seemed to shun me, for some reason
which I could not then account for. They would point at me, and quietly
talk among themselves, and eye me very closely. Their actions seemed
very strange to me. After the boat had proceeded some little distance,
I made the acquaintance of several families from Indiana, who were _en
route_ to Kansas. A gentleman, who seemed to be the leader of these
colonists, said to me, "The people of this excursion party don't seem
to have any great love for you."

"What does it mean?" I asked; "What are they saying? It's all a
mystery to me."

"They say that you are one of the Kansas jay-hawkers, and one of
Jennison's house burners," replied the gentleman.

"I am from Kansas--that's true; and was a soldier and a scout in the
Union army," said I; "and I was in Kansas during the border ruffian war
of 1856. Perhaps these people know who I am, and that explains their
hard looks." I had a lengthy conversation with this gentleman--for such
he seemed to be--and entertained him with several chapters of the
history of the early Kansas troubles, and told him the experiences of
my own family.

In the evening the Lexington folks got up a dance, but neither the
Indiana people, my wife or myself were invited to join them. My
new-found friend thereupon came to me and said: "Mr. Cody, let us have a
dance of our own."

"Very well," was my reply.

"We have some musicians along with us, so we can have plenty of music,"
remarked the gentleman.

"Good enough!"