DES 3I0INES TO OMAHA. 435 



appearance, has a destiny above that which it has 

 attained. 



©lie fjuuiireb a\\b StAtD-first Sail. 



Columbia House, 



AvocA, Iowa, 



October Nineteenth. 



Weather cloudy, threatening rain as I rode out of 

 Atlantic in the morning at ten o'clock. Covered twenty 

 miles and stopped for dinner at another farm, near 

 Walnut. On my road saw a man at W'Ork in a large 

 cornfield and, hailing him, inquired the distance to 

 Avoca. After a few words had passed between us, I 

 was surprised and pleased to discover that he was from 

 my native county — St. Lawrence, New York, and 

 knew many of my old friends and acquaintances in 

 that quarter. Our conversation turned upon old 

 localities and associations, much to our mutual enjoy- 

 ment. The days of our youth were recalled, and 

 although we had never met before, we parted after 

 half an hour's chat as if we had been friends of many 

 years' standing. My friend expressed perfect satisfac- 

 tion with his rustic life on the prairie and was quite 

 enthusiastic over the prospects of his farming opera- 

 tions. The soil he said was excellent, easy to cultivate 

 and, in fact, second to none in the State. 



Avoca is a })urely agricultural village with a popu- 

 lation of about 1,500, all, more or less, interested in 

 the big farms within a radius of one to two miles of 

 the busy town. Two weekly newspapers kept the 

 citizens en rapport with the outside world and the hus' 

 tling life of the large cities. 



