398 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK. 



a lively talk on "Old York State/' and I became 

 much interested in the work of this enterprising wo- 

 man and her family. 



Mrs. Bills has succeeded in a direction which has 

 not generally been attempted by women ; this is the 

 management of a farm. She does a good business and 

 supports herself and children by raising corn for 

 which, in this stock-raising locality, she finds a ready 

 market. The corn is generally bought for hog feed 

 and as these animals quickly fatten upon it, it is prof- 

 itable. The practical rather than the romantic has 

 place with these Western people who are striving for 

 a livelihood. Each day gave me new ideas of peo- 

 ple and their occupations — but this woman-farmer 

 was something unusual and certainly very praise- 

 worthy. 



®iu ^uuiJreb ani Jortietl) 3I)at). 



Milan House, 

 Milan, Illinois, 



September Twenty-eighth. 



Mounted my horse at eight o'clock and by easy 

 riding reached a farm house in Rock River Bottom, 

 where I passed the noon hour. After dinner I made 

 good time as the weather had changed and become 

 cold, reminding me of the necessity of hurrying on if 

 I would avoid the deep snows which the traveller is 

 sure to encounter in the elevated regions farther west 

 and it was every day more evident that I could not 

 well afford to allow my lecture appointments to con- 

 flict with the dispatch of my journey. 



On starting from Genesseo in the morning it was 



