152 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



was very hot and very dusty. At five o'clock President 

 Geo. F. F. Fairchild called, and we had some interesting 

 talk about the college. This, too, is open to both sexes, and 

 one-third of the pupils are women. Some come direct from 

 the common and high schools, others are adults. The men 

 learn the theory and practice of agriculture, agricultural 

 chemistry, English, mechanics, use of tools, etc. The girls 

 and women learn horticulture, cooking, domestic economy, 

 poultry rearing, etc. In the evening I strolled about the 

 town ; no liquor-shops, but abundance of " real estate " and 

 loan offices, the former a common mode of gambling in 

 Western America. 



Next morning (Sunday) Professor Marlott called with 

 Mr. Hogg, a young Englishman farming here, who had a 

 ranch of a thousand acres twelve miles out. He offered to 

 take me for a drive. We went a few miles round the city, 

 by fine grassy fields on the improved prairie, but saw very 

 few flowers. Mr. Hogg complained of the climate ; the long 

 very cold winter, often 20° below zero Fahr., and the hot 

 dusty summer. There are only a few pleasant months in 

 winter and spring, few nice houses, and no gardens. After 

 dinner I took a walk alone across the river to some woods 

 and alluvial meadows, but all very dusty and no flowers. 

 After tea. Professor E. A. Popenhoe, a botanist, called in his 

 buggy and took me for a drive to the top of a rocky bluff, 

 where there were a number of interesting plants, of which a 

 few were in flower, among them Tradescantia virginica, a 

 Sisyrinchium, a yellow Baptisia, etc. 



On Monday morning I went to the college to put up my 

 diagrams, and was then, of course, taken over the buildings 

 from top to bottom. Everybody wanted to show me every- 

 thing in their departments — the clothes the girls made, the 

 nice cupboards they kept the clothes in, the store-rooms for 

 flour, potatoes, sugar, spices, jams, etc., the kitchen and all its 

 arrangements. Then every class-room, and all the classes, 

 and all the teachers. Then out-of-doors to see the sheds 

 and stables, the cattle and the horses, and the machines ; 

 how the calves and the cows are fed ; to inspect the tool- and 



