I wish it were possible to give some idea of this scene as viewed by the
earliest freshness of dewy dawn. This habitation of man seemed like a
nest in the grass, so thoroughly were the buildings and all the objects
of human care harmonized with what was natural. The tall trees bent and
whispered all around, as if to hail with sheltering love the men who had
come to dwell among them.

The young ladies were musicians, and spoke French fluently, having been
educated in a convent. Here in the prairie, they had learned to take
care of the milk-room, and kill the rattlesnakes that assailed their
poultry yard. Beneath the shade of heavy curtains you looked out from
the high and large windows to see Norwegian peasants at work in their
national dress. In the wood grew, not only the flowers I had before
seen, and wealth of tall, wild roses, but the splendid blue spiderwort,
that ornament of our gardens. Beautiful children strayed there, who were
soon to leave these civilized regions for some really wild and western
place, a post in the buffalo country. Their no less beautiful mother was
of Welsh descent, and the eldest child bore the name of Gwynthleon.
Perhaps there she will meet with some young descendants of Madoc, to be
her friends; at any rate, her looks may retain that sweet, wild beauty,
that is soon made to vanish from eyes which look too much on shops and
streets, and the vulgarities of city "parties."

Next day we crossed the river. We ladies crossed on a little
foot-bridge, from which we could look down the stream, and see the wagon
pass over at the ford. A black thunder cloud was coming up. The sky and
waters heavy with expectation. The motion of the wagon, with its white
cover, and the laboring horses, gave just the due interest to the
picture, because it seemed as if they would not have time to cross
before the storm came on. However, they did get across, and we were a