few people more free from care, or more light-hearted and happy.
In the present instance, though all were poor and some destitute, and though man and beast were ex- posed to driving rain and hail, and the chill blasts of a western winter often sweeping down upon them un- checked from the limitless prairie, they made the best of it, and instead of wasting time in useless repining, set themselves at work to make the most of their joys and the least of their sorrows. On the night of March 1st, when the first camp was pitched beyond Sugar Creek, after prayer they held a dance, and as the men of Iowa looked on they wondered how these homeless outcasts from Christian civilization could thus praise and make merry in view of their near abandoning of themselves to the mercies of sav- ages and wild beasts.^" Food and raiment were pro- vided for all; for shelter they had their tents and wagons, and after the weather had spent somewhat of its ruggedness, no extreme hardships were suffered. Without attempting long distances in a single day, they made camp rather early, and after the usual manner of emigrants, the wagons in a circle or semi- circle round the camp-fire, placed so as best to shield them from the wind and wild beasts and Indians, with the animals at a convenient distance, some staked, and some, running loose, but all carefully guarded. The country through which they passed was much of it well wooded ; the land was fertile and afforded abun- dant pastures, the grass in summer being from one to ten feet high. Provisions were cheap: corn twelve cents and wheat twenty-five to thirty cents a bushel,
^^ ' In the latter part of March we started for Council Bluffs, 400 miles dis- tant, and were three months on the way. Crossing a long prairie in a fearful storm, the mud became so soft that we could not travel, and we were obliged to encamp; the water was several inches deep all over our camping-ground; we had no wood for a lire, and no means of drying our soaked clothing. In the morning everything was frozen fast; and a squirrel was found frozen. . Frequently boughs were laid on the ground before the teams could pass. . . We had to camp in mud until the roads were dry enough to travel.' Hornets Migrations, MS., 18-19.
