Visits Meadville. 1 1 1 



milk on the table. We asked for a place in which to 

 rest, and were shown into a room in which were several 

 beds. My companion and myself were soon in bed and 

 asleep ; but our slumbers were broken by a light, which 

 we found to be carried by three young damsels, who, 

 having observed where we lay, blew it out and got into a 

 bed opposite ours. As we had not spoken, the girls 

 supposed we were sound asleep, and we heard them say 

 how delighted they would be to have their portraits 

 taken as well as their grandmother, whose likeness I 

 had promised to draw. Day dawned, and as we were 

 dressing we discovered the girls had dressed in silence 

 and left us before we had awakened. No sooner had I 

 offered to draw the portraits of the girls than they dis- 

 appeared, and soon returned in their Sunday clothes. 

 The black chalk was at work in a few minutes, to their 

 great delight ; and while the flavor of the breakfast 

 reached my sensitive nose, I worked with redoubled 

 ardor. The sketches were soon finished, and the break- 

 fast over. I played a few airs on my flageolet while out 

 guide was putting the horses to the cart, and by ten 

 o'clock we were once more on the road to Meadville. 



" The country was covered with heavy timber, princi- 

 pally evergreens ; the pines and cucumber trees, loaded 

 with brilliant fruits, and the spruce, throwing a shade 

 over the land, in good keeping with the picture. The 

 lateness of the crops alone struck us as unpleasant. At 

 length we came in sight of French Creek, and soon after 

 we reached Meadville. Here we paid the five dollars 

 promised to our conductor, who instantly faced about, 

 and applying the whip to his nags, bade us adieu. 



" We had now only one dollar and fifty cents. No 

 time was to be lost We put our luggage and ourselves 

 under the roof of a tavern-keeper, known by the name 

 of J. F. Smith, at the sign of the ' Travellers' Rest,' and 



