Page:The Englishwoman in America (IA englishwomaninam00birdrich).pdf/147

CHAPTER VIII.

 

The hickory stick—Chawing up ruins—A forest scene—A curious questioner—Hard and soft shells—Dangers of a ferry—The western prairies—Nocturnal detention—The Wild West and the Father of Rivers—Breakfast in a shed—What is an alligator?—Physiognomy, and its uses—The ladies' parlour—A Chicago hotel, its inmates and its horrors—A water-drinking people—The Prairie City—Progress of the West.

 

A bright September sun glittered upon the spires of Cincinnati as I reluctantly bade it adieu, and set out in the early morning by the cars to join my travelling companions, meaning to make as long a détour as possible, or, as a "down-east" lady might say, to "make a pretty considerable circumlocution." Fortunately I had met with some friends, well acquainted with the country, who offered to take me round a much larger circle than I had contemplated; and with a feeling of excitement such as I had not before experienced, we started for the Mississippi and the western prairies en route to Detroit.

Bishop M'Ilvaine, anxious that a very valued friend of his in England should possess something from Ohio, had cut down a small sapling, which, when divested of its branches and otherwise trimmed, made a very formidable- looking bludgeon or cudgel, nearly four feet long. This being too lengthy for my trunks was tied to my umbrella, and on this day in the cars excited no little curiosity, several persons eyeing it, then me, as if wondering in