A New World 



good as in Canada and far more easily brought 

 under cultivation; for in Canada the woods 

 were so close and heavy that a man might wear 

 out his life in getting a few acres cleared of trees 

 and stumps. So he changed his mind and con- 

 cluded to go to one of the Western States. 



On our wavering westward way a grain- 

 dealer in Buffalo told father that most of the 

 wheat he handled came from Wisconsin; and 

 this influential information finally determined 

 my father's choice. At Milwaukee a farmer 

 who had come in from the country near Fort 

 Winnebago with a load of wheat agreed to haul 

 us and our formidable load of stuff to a little 

 town called Kingston for thirty dollars. On 

 that hundred-mile journey, just after the spring 

 thaw, the roads over the prairies were heavy 

 and miry, causing no end of lamentation, for we 

 often got stuck in the mud, and the poor farmer 

 sadly declared that never, never again would 

 he be tempted to try to haul such a cruel, 

 heart-breaking, wagon-breaking, horse-killing 

 load, no, not for a hundred dollars. In leaving 

 [ 59] 



