38 THE DEPARTURE. 



unvarnished facts can ever he stamped with 

 the seal of the world's approbation — that a 

 work, in order to prove permanently attrac- 

 tive, should teem with absurdities and abound 

 in exaggerated details. How far such an 

 assumption would be correct, I shall not pause 

 to inquire. 



At last all are fairly launched upon the 

 broad prairie — the miseries of preparation are 

 over — the thousand anxieties occasioned by 

 wearisome consultations and delays are felt 

 no more. The charioteer, as he smacks his 

 whip, feels aboundhig elasticity of soiil witliin 

 him, which he finds it impossible to restrain ; 



even the mules prick up their ears with a 

 pecuharly conceited air, as if in anticipation 

 of that change of scene which wiU presently 

 follow. Harmony and good feehng prevail 

 everywhere. The hilarious song, the bon 

 mot and the witty repartee, go round in quick 

 succession ; and before people have had 

 leisure to take cognizance of the fact,' the 

 lovely village of Independence, with its mul- 

 titude of associations, is already lost to the 

 eye. 



It was on the 15th of May, 1831, and one 

 of the brightest and most lovely of all the 

 days in the calendar, that our httle party set 

 out from Independence. The general ren- 

 dezvous at Council Grove was our immediate 

 destination. It is usual for the traders to 

 travel thus far m detached parties, and to as- 

 semble there for the purpose of entering into 

 some kmd of organization, for mutual securi- 



