EASTERN EMIGRATION — BORDER MEN. 
25 
the Missourians are making to go oyer into Kansas to vote on the 
80th. We heard the same while on the river; crowds are coming 
from Lexington, also from one hundred miles below that point. 
Mr. P., who was to carry us to the Baptist Mission, said he should 
be ready to start for the mission by ten o’clock. We sat with 
bonnets and shawls on over an hour; then he concluded we had 
better stay to dinner. About four o’clock, he said, again, we 
would leave Kansas city; but, as he was continually interrupted 
with company, we were not fairly in the wagon until another full 
hour had passed. 
We then had a good view of all there is to Kansas city. It is 
a most singular location for a town, being a gathering together 
of hills, high and steep. Houses of very limited dimensions are 
perched upon all the highest points. They have usually a small 
porch over the door, or light piazza. There is another peculiarity 
prevailing here, as elsewhere in Missouri; the chimneys are all 
built upon the outside of the houses. We passed several of our 
party with ox-teams. In one of the great lumber-wagons was a 
young lady from Massachusetts, who in this way was attempting to 
make the journey of more than a hundred miles into the territory. 
It was near evening when we reached Westport. It has a look 
of recent growth — some good brick buildings and a large hotel. 
A good deal of the Indian, also Sante Fe, trade comes in here. 
We were late at Dr. Barker’s, having made a call at a house off 
of the road for some time; and I was completely chilled through 
on arriving there, so much so as to be unable to walk without 
assistance. The mission is situated about a quarter of a mile from 
the great California road, four miles from Westport, and about 
two from Bev. Thomas Johnson’s Methodist Mission. After the 
road turns from the California road, it descends slightly, and, for 
an eighth of a mile, is skirted with timber upon either side. The 
night was not dark, being starlight; and there was novelty in the 
whole scene presented before us, as we reached the terminus of 
the road. A large yard was enclosed by a high fence, with stairs 
by way of entrance. Some four or five steps were on the outside 
of the fence, a platform, perhaps two feet in width, above it, and 
as many steps on the inside. The occasion of suet an uncouth 
