1859.] LETTER TO HIS CONGREGATION. 221 



the Federal pro-slavery laws, and their own laws refusing votes 

 to the coloured race ; but somehow the freedom and beauty of 

 the country seems to be too strong for human curses, and fills 

 you with a sense of expansion and liberty that I have not 

 enjoyed in any other part of the United States." 



After exploring the stream, and getting a bathe, and gather- 

 ing ferns to dry, since Longfellow had made it classic ground, 

 " I came away with no little reluctance from such a beautiful 

 spot, and walked across the prairie two miles to Fort Snelling, 

 formerly the Ultima Thule of the American frontier, now 

 deserted. Over the vast down, you trace the valley of the 

 Mississippi by the band of trees ; but as you turn the corner 

 round the Fort, you have a beautiful prospect — the junction of 

 the Minnesota (' river of sky colour/ I believe) : it is nearly as 

 long as the rest of the Mississippi, and gives its name to the 

 State." 



He made a pleasant visit to some Warrington friends, who 

 had a farm a few miles off, where they were busy with the 

 harvest ; and then went through Wisconsin * to Chicago, and 

 stayed with Mr. Moulding and his son, whose homes were not 

 far distant. It was a great delight to him to spend a fortnight 

 with his old fellow-workers, with whom he was in such close 

 sympathy. He read his Emancipation Lecture to a little as- 

 sembly, cleared off some arrears of work, and enjoyed a rest. 



From " Prospect Farm" he wrote (August 25) to the 

 members of the Cairo Street Congregation : "The very varied 

 experience I have met with on this continent has not materially 

 altered, though it has in many ways confirmed, my previous 

 views. You know that I long since left off believing in that 

 form of religion which embodies itself in a corporation of 

 persons, employing a person to ' conduct public worship/ etc. \ 

 and that I have not for many years felt easy in the position of 

 being the sole mouth-piece of the congregation, to utter its 

 prayers* and undertake to teach Christianity. I have long 



* When walking along a railway, "I beguiled the time with singing ; 

 and found that in this extremely clear atmosphere I could make a musical 

 sound for the compass of three octaves." 



