The Cabin on the Prairie

URP

nd children to L––, Minnesota?" inquired a lady of the attenti

he replied; "but we can send a team with

get there with as little cost as I can. My husba

rned the clerk, bowing respectfully; and

one here going

short, sharp-nosed, black-eyed man

ke a passenge

swered; "but I always find room

and children," said the

y shall go along, pay or no pay;" and he followed the

son. He will take yo

is that?" s

twenty

t over the remainde

ied the man, heartily. "I guess there

ted the conveyance. Its owner had been on a trading expedition, but, with an eye to "the main chance," was prepared to catch some of the travel going westward. The wagon was crowded with passengers; and, disposing of the three children,–a 118 delicate, intelligent

ith me the other day. He had been down to the Mississippi waiting for you a whole week, and the la

o venture on the journey alone with the children, and wrote that he would return for me if I could not fin

ent on the way," observed a man on the

ear losing one of

n?" asked a mothe

oing, all was bustle and confusion, and I hurried, not having been away but a moment; but little Fannie, my youngest girl, was missing. Helen, the eldest, had been so taken up with the sights and sounds about her, that s

child! I've

gave of her. Nobody seemed to have seen her; and a terrible dread that I might not

?" and a gentleman, holding her aloft, brough

o of the wheels, playing with them, saying, 'Car may hurt a me; car may hurt a me.' 120 The

you," remarked a passenger, "to brin

to the trains: the children are so small, and the rush of passengers so great, that t

see more of the selfishness of human nature while travelling than under any other circu

l some one help my children into the cars?' when one of the largest, fattest men I ever saw, who was panting and puffing from his unusual efforts at hurrying, caught up my little boy, and, trotting on like an elephant, he struck his foot 121 against a stone, and came down sprawling into the sand, uttering a gre

, which was increased by a portly Englis

could happreciat

d the motherly woman. "It seems to me that the likes

what manner of spirit she was of, "I did not come out here for en

as you do your way, I hope you'll find us westerners ready to do what we can for the good cause. Most of us have seen better times, and h

elen,–a bright, wide-awake miss o

ned the summit of a gentle swell of land commanding an extensive prairie view, and the whole landscape was

an who owns this gre

ling; "it is one of God's gardens. He planted all these flowers, and

he is!–isn't he, mother? Has God s

all garden. You might ride thousands of miles, and not see a stone, or

er hands, 123 "I'm so glad we'v

e dear girl, and the matronly lady who had her in ch

th nothing more unpleasa

nely way with his gun on his shoulder, his tall figure standing in bold relief

, later, seeing a cow grazing, s

yer deposited the missionary's family

she took her guest's things, "you've s

ed Mrs. Payson, with

124 each boat as it arrived, and had the porter at the hotel call him up at every boat through the night, inquiring of the passengers if they had seen a lady of your description with three young children; and hearing, since he ret

en the missionary returned,

d your lost wife and babies,"

accident of late. I am afraid she has been taken sick on the way. It was barbarous in me to listen a moment to the idea of her coming all the wa

t wasn't prudent to venture on such a journey, a

e had decided to do so as a matter of duty; and, having made her mind up on that point, she would c

. Lincoln, abruptly, turning her head to concea

this piece of advice; but Mr. Lincoln

family, has been fixing up your room a bit, and I suppose she wo

hree children, sleeping peacefully in their nice beds, and his wife seated in a rocking-c