390 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



There were no railways in the state and we had brought 

 our team from Virginia with us and we loaded our goods 

 and started for Oskaloosa. The front of the destroyed 

 Mormon Temple at Nauvoo rose white and beautiful in 

 the distance when we got out on the high prairies north- 

 west of Keokuk. 



I was anxious to see a real wild and unbroken prairie 

 and soon we began to see them, covered with waving grass 

 and flowers. We took our time for the trip and I walked 

 nearly all the way full of wonder and delight at every- 

 thing that we saw. 



Oskaloosa was a small village when we arrived, having 

 less than one thousand people. From the time of our ar- 

 rival till the present, Oskaloosa, or the county of Mahas- 

 ka, has been my home. 



In the summer of 1855 I helped my father, tending him 

 at his work as a mason and plasterer, and learned the 

 trade sufficiently during the next few years to be eligible 

 to a bricklayers' or plasterers' union. 



In the winter of 1856 James and I attended George W. 

 Drake's Academy in the old Normal School Building and 

 Will went to the public school. 



In the spring of 1856 father moved out on the Des 

 Moines River to the farm that he had purchased there, 

 and we at once commenced the active work of making a 

 farm. 



The farm was part timber and brush and part prairie, 

 so that there was a variety of work. Both game and fish 

 were plentiful and the next few years had much of enjoy- 

 ment and an unlimited amount of hard work. 



In the winter of 1856 I worked for my board with Judge 

 Wm. Loughridge, who was then state senator from Ma- 

 haska County, afterward congressman, and I attended 

 Professor Johnson's school in the old Normal Building. 



In the summer of 1857 I worked on the farm and with 



