126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



the middle of February, 1862, two stout horses 

 were in-spanned, and we turned our faces toward 

 Mount Pleasant, Iowa. We chose this place rather 

 than another because Nathan Palmer of Stillwell 

 Prairie, whose children had been in school with 

 me, was living there. If on our overland journey 

 the cold prairie winds should make it too uncom- 

 fortable for the mother and baby Mary then 

 sixteen months old I planned to send them on 

 ahead by rail, for our route lay nearly parallel 

 with a main line. If it thawed out and if the 

 bottom of the prairie roads fell out as they some- 

 times did even in mid-winter, the boxes of goods 

 could be shipped and the span and wagon could 

 still be driven to their destination. 



As it happened however, the roads were ideal; 

 an early warm spell followed by rain and a sudden 

 freeze had left them hard, smooth and icy; one 

 could almost have skated across the state of Illi- 

 nois. We always began each day's journey late 

 in the morning, drove rapidly, made the lunch hour 

 short, and put up for the night as early as possible. 

 With the good roads and a team always fresh, 

 although the load exceeded half-a-ton weight, the 

 horses could be kept at a trot most of the time. 

 My horses proved the economy of an eight-hour 



