452 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Here it is. From the house, yes, from that rude, block 

 log cabin to the front gate, extended a neat arbor for 

 the support of twining flowers, climbing vines and roses. 

 Did you ever see such an outward sign, without feeling 

 at once assured that taste, intelligence, neatness, and com- 

 fort dwelt within? At all events I found it true in this 

 instance. In far less time than usual, when waiting upon 

 a negro cook, I was seated at the supper table. The neat- 

 ness and profuse variety of the dishes with which it was 

 loaded, were rendered still more palatable by the pres- 

 ence of just such a woman as might have been expected 

 from the outside sign which I have mentioned, and the 

 beauty of whose face was undoubtedly improved by the 

 healthful glow that she had acquired that very day by 

 her personal superintendence of the cultivation of her 

 flowers. But weary as she may have been, and late as 

 was the hour, she did not feel herself at liberty to neg- 

 lect the tired and hungry traveller; and I ate a far bet- 

 ter supper that night in "Tom Hardiman's" log cabin, 

 than I had before eaten in far better houses, where bet- 

 ter things might have been looked for, only that the lady 

 did not cultivate a flower garden. 



Although I am no great believer in clairvoyance, I cer- 

 tainly witnessed here a wonderful case of "guessing," 

 considering the guesser was a Tennesseean instead of one 

 of the "guessing nation." 



During supper I observed that I was undergoing a 

 most rigid scrutiny by Mr. Hardiman, who on observing 

 that I noticed him, began to excuse himself by saying 

 that he was struck by a very singular impression which 

 he could not account for, and he had been examining my 

 face to see if he could not recognize the features of "an 

 old acquaintance," whom he had never seen or known, 

 except as he had seen his features in his letters to the 

 Cultivator and other agricultural papers ; and though he 

 had never received any intimation that the person he 

 alluded to was in that part of the U. S., he was irresist- 

 ibly impressed with the idea that I was the man. 



