Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/373

DELAWARE COUNTY. 849 IV. The scene is changed. Once more I feel the pressure of thy hand, and Thy warm kiss on my cheek." A few years passed, and Mrs. L. received a letter from lier husband, wishing her to join him at Prairie Du Chien, and bring their daughter with her. Hasty were the preparations for their departure. Minutes appeared like hours, and hours like days to her. A person unlike Mrs. L. would have shud- dered at the idea of undertaking so long and tedious a journey, alone and unprotected, but with her usual courage and fortitude, she only said : I will try,^^ and half of the task was accom- plished. We now behold her wending her way to the Far West." Her course is south on the Atlantic, across the Gulf of Mexi- co, and north on the Mississippi river, to St. Louis. These were lonely hours to her ; yet, as she was a great admirer of Nature and its works, she enjoyed many pleasant hours in be- holding the sun as it seemed to rise out of the bosom of the sea, decking the eastern sky with all possible loveliness, or watch its decline as it sunk gradually in the ocean, burnish- ing the waters with a golden light, or watch the foam of the ocean's billow as the noble ship sails swiftly o'er its bosom. Arriving at St. Louis, she repaired to the hotel her husband had directed her to. Reaching the inn, she inquired of the landlord, " If any person was waiting at his house for Mrs. h." He replied, ^Uhere was," and left the room. A few moments elapsed, and Mrs. L. heard a gentle rap at her door. She obeyed the summons. Before her stood the tall and athletic form of an Indian chief. The feathers that adorned his head were beautiful, and waved gracefully to-and-fro. His face 80