274 MOVERS MIGRATING WESTWARD. [CHAP. XXXV. 



As we approached Evansville, we passed a German 

 farm, where horses were employed to tread out the 

 maize, and another where vines were cultivated on 

 the side of a hill. At one turn of the road, in the 

 midst of the wood, we met a man with a rifle, car 

 rying in his hand an empty pail for giving water to 

 his horse, and followed at a short distance by his wife, 

 leading a steed, on which was a small sack. &quot; It 

 probably contains,&quot; said our companions, &quot; all their 

 worldly goods ; they are movers, and have their 

 faces turned westward, a small detachment of that 

 great army of emigrants, which is steadily moving 

 on every year towards the llocky Mountains. This 

 young married couple may perhaps go down to the 

 Mississippi, and buy, for a few dollars, some acres of 

 land, near a wooding station. The husband will fell 

 timber, run up a log cabin, and receive ready money 

 from the steam-boats, which burn the wood. At the 

 end of ten or fifteen years, by which time some of 

 their children will have become profitable servants, 

 they may have put by 2000 dollars, bought a farm, 

 and be living in a frame-house.&quot; 



The very moment of our arrival at Evansville, a fine 

 steam-boat, the Sultana, came in sight, and we found, 

 among the passengers, some agreeable acquaintances, 

 whom we had known at New Orleans and Natchez. 



As some of these large vessels are much more ex 

 pensive than others, Americans of the richer class, 

 when making a long voyage, choose them purposely, 

 as in England we take places in a first-class railway 

 carriage, that they may be less thrown into contact 

 with ruder travellers. One of our friends, a naval 

 officer, speaking of the improvement of society in the 



