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birthplace never failed to impart the most grateful and sooth 

 ing emotions, and I had semom been placed in circumstances 

 so favourable to such enjoyment. &quot; The Beacon light&quot; sug 

 gested a thousand recollections which thrilled upon my soul ; 

 and as they flitted across my memory, I proceeded with an 

 elastic step, whistling the air to which the words of the song 

 are set, when I suddenly found myself up to the middle in 

 water. There was sufficient light to enable me to see my 

 situation was not attended with danger ; and after w^ading for 

 a hundred yards or two, and scrambling over a rail fence, 

 I found myself on dry land. On applying at the house, the 

 light of which had long attracted my notice, I was received 

 for the night, and found three or four waggoners sitting down 

 to supper, of which I partook without much solicitation. The 

 travellers slept in a different house from the family, and each 

 had the luxury of a single bed. 



Next morning I breakfasted before setting out, and assisted 

 my host, of the name of Clatterman, to brand some oxen, of 

 which he had nearly forty, with a proportionate share of 

 other agricultural wealth. In the middle of the prairie I met 

 about a dozen of horses, in charge of three individuals, one of 

 whom was particular in his enquiries regarding Chicago, 

 to which he was journeying to dispose of his horses. Like 

 most traffickers, he lost no opportunity of attaining his end, 

 and asked me to purchase one. Having walked upwards of 

 forty miles the previous day, under unfavourable circumstances, 

 and not feeling in the least degree fatigued, I determined to 

 persevere walking for some time longer. Coming in contact 

 with the river Illinois, about half a mile above its junction 

 w T ith the Fox river, I waded across a channel of free-stone, 

 where there was a considerable sized island of the same rock, 

 covered with wood. On reaching the south side of the river, 

 I walked down the banks, and dined at Ottawa, a place of 

 three or four houses, a little way below the mouth of Fox 

 river, and likely to grow into a city, from being at the head 

 of the navigation of the Illinois. Pursuing my journey until 

 nightfall, I made application for a bed at a house which was 

 filled with travellers and fever patients, and the owner recom 

 mended me to proceed four miles further on. By the light of 



