422 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



"Oh solitude, where are the charms 

 That emigrants see in this place; 

 Better stay on their own little farms, 

 Than own all this horrible waste." 

 And he might add another stanza to a lone tree stand- 

 ing solitary and alone in the midst of this ocean of land, 

 like a sentinel watching alone over the solitude of the 

 prairie, which is more profound than the solitude of the 

 darkest forest. 



No doubt many of my eastern readers would have hesi- 

 tated long, and rather put up with lodging "three in a 

 bed," sooner than undertake the passage of such a prairie 

 in the night. But we soon get used to it, and as in the 

 present instance, get through it in good order, and by 

 contrast are able to reap double enjoyment by the side 

 of a good fire in a good inn. The town of Carlinsville, 

 like many others in the west that grew up like Jonah's 

 gourd, when men forsook the cultivation of the soil to 

 grow suddenly rich in town lot speculation, now shows 

 in the dilapidated appearance of tenantless houses, that 

 it would have been better for many if they had been 

 content to pursue a steady, though slow, yet certain road 

 to comfortable independence which surely attends the 

 careful cultivation of a good soil. 



During this day's drive, after leaving Carlinsville, I 

 witnessed the rapid increase of timber that is every 

 where taking place in the prairie country, where pro- 

 tected from fire. Though during the past fall, in con- 

 sequence of the great drouth that followed the great 

 flood, immense damage, not only to the young timber, 

 but in the destruction of fences, has been done through- 

 out the whole of my journey. And this drouth still 

 continues, so much so that the few mills that are to be 

 found in this part of the State, are almost useless, and 

 settlers complain of "long trips to mill." The roads, 

 even in the beds of streams that are sometimes impassi- 

 ble, (where bridges are not, and that is every where 

 when it is possible to "get along" without them,) are 



