SOLON ROBINSON, 1841 161 



able to look beyond the many discouraging circumstances 

 attending the beginning of his new mode of life, to the 

 bright prospect of the future. There was but one fleet- 

 ing moment of gloom resting with me during the first 

 winter. The first month had been spent in the numerous 

 duties of preparation for winter, and the beautiful sunny 

 days of November had given place to cold and snowy 

 December, when it became apparent that the little maga- 

 zine of provisions must be replenished, and that right 

 speedily. And although "delays are dangerous," yet, 

 waiting better weather, delay was made to that point, 

 that upon calculation proved the stock on hand barely 

 sufficient to supply the five or six days that it would take 

 to make the journey where a supply could be obtained, 

 and return again while there was yet a little left. So 

 a trusty and persevering messenger was dispatched, with 

 due, though little needed caution, to hasten his return. 

 The weather again was mild and pleasant, and our spirits 

 all buoyant and bright as the winter sunshine, as the 

 cheerful cheering notes of the departing teamster's joy- 

 ous morning song floated away upon the breeze, that 

 swept unobstructed over miles of prairie, now blackened 

 by the annual fires, to a somber hue, and cheerless winter 

 aspect. 



Never were such appetites seen before, as those which 

 daily diminished the fast failing stock of provisions of 

 our little family in the wilderness. Before them I kept 

 a cheerful face, but oh, how my heart sunk within me on 

 the evening of the fifth day, as I descended from a tall 

 tree which I had climbed to try to discover the expected 

 team. For I easily perceived that the weather had been 

 such as to ice over the unbridged streams, though I 

 feared not sufficient to pass over a wagon. On this even- 

 ing, too, I was still further pained by the arrival of some 

 hungry wanderers, to whom hospitality could not be 

 denied. 



On the sixth day, the only neighbor within a dozen 

 miles, came to borrow a little meal. He looked upon the 



