SALT LAKE. 
175 
time in smoking, consulting familiar spirits — 
evoked from pocket-flasks— and seeing how much 
wood could be crowded through two immense 
stoves ; the attention of the feminine portion was 
given to the wants and vocal exercises of a 
number of small children ; while Mrs. Maxwell 
passed her time (it was January) in a struggle 
between suffocation and the cold from an open 
window. As, through the entire journey, the 
car was frequently switched off on to side tracks, 
to wait for its passengers knew not what, exist- 
ence, even in the conscious possession of an 
entire suit of ancient armor, grew to seem not 
wholly an unmixed blessing. 
A most agreeable respite was taken, however, 
in a stay of a few days at Salt Lake, where, 
through the kindness of friends, she procured 
some valuable minerals and other curiosities, and 
had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of 
five forlorn widows and their numerous children, 
all left in a bereaved condition by the death of 
one frail man ! 
During the remainder of the journey the 
objectionable features of her mode of travelling 
were intensified rather than diminished, and, 
though the conductors did all they could for her 
comfort, some days before she reached Cheyenne 
she was suffering intensely from a cold. The 
wife of the last conductor before reaching that 
