LAKE SUPERIOR. 35 



and gratified ; hereafter, the commonest home, the 

 simplest covering, the plainest food, was to be our 

 lot ; hitherto we had been in the land where gold 

 was the talisman that commanded ten thousand 

 slaves ; henceforth we were to trust ourselves to 

 kindly nature and our own capabilities. Glorious 

 were our anticipations from the change. Our ves- 

 sel, the 'uuromantic City of Cleveland, which, from 

 the beginning, had been lumbering along at the 

 moderate rate of ten miles an hour without ever 

 being betrayed into the slightest evidence of enthu- 

 siasm, seemed overjoyed at her approaching arrival, 

 and dressed herself in her gala costume of variegat- 

 ed bunting. She whistled merrily to announce to 

 the inhabitants that once more she was to bless their 

 sight, and tried to get up a little extra steam .for a 

 final burst. The travellers crowded her decks, the 

 natives collected along shore ; the former waved 

 their handkerchiefs, the latter, probably having no 

 handkerchiefs, swung their hats ; and amid all this 

 excitement we came merrily up to the dock. 



The Sault, or Soo, as the name of the village is 

 always pronounced, is not a large place, but proved 

 to be larger than I expected ; our dull plodding east- 

 ern people can hardly imagine how rapidly the 

 west is growing in wealth and population ; already 

 our little western brother is claiming to be a man, 

 and if we are not careful will be too much for us 

 some day. This newly planted village, almost at 

 the extreme northwest of American civilization, in- 

 cluded an excellent hotel, a dozen stores, and at 



