the Michigan, waving a handkerchief to mamma on the Japan. It had been
seriously ill, and the mother, forbidden by the United States government
to remain with her sick child on the Michigan, preferred to leave him
there with his father, where he could have the care of the special surgeon
who understood the case, while she followed as closely as she could in one
of the lake-steamers. Ah, how interested we all were! It is recorded in
history that certain enemies of the Egyptians used to go into battle with
them with each man holding a cat in his arms. Suppose in our next war we
try the effect upon our enemies of letting each of our soldiers carry a
white-robed baby? One thing is certain, the Michigan captured the Japan
with all on board that day simply by exhibiting that little white figure
at its port-hole. The next day at the "Soo" not a murmur of dissent was
heard when the good-natured captain, who had no European mails on board,
said he would wait an extra hour for the Michigan to come up, that the
anxious mother might have twenty-four hours' later news.

On the second morning there was an entire change of weather and landscape.
The sun still shone gloriously (the thermometer that day in Chicago stood
at 94), but rugs, seal-skins, and hoods were in demand. We were no longer
out of sight of land, but were threading our way in and out among a
thousand isles, with hills that seemed almost mountains threatening to bar
our course before long if we did not turn back the way we came. No one,
the captain said, had ever been known to guess the channel correctly; but
before long we had made a sharp turn to the left at the only spot that
offered an outlet, and found the Great Lakes narrowed suddenly to a
beautiful winding river which led us in the course of another hour or two
to the "Soo." Here the steamer would wait three hours, and we could
explore the queer little town,--quite a popular resort in summer,--or
inspect the splendid locks of the great canal, or shoot the rapids. To me
it was a genuine pleasure to find at last some rapids that were visible to