EASTERN EMIGRATION-BORDER MEN. 
35 
sun sinks, still shedding its lingering beams upon earth and sky. 
We made our descent into the river’s bed rapidly, for the bank is 
steep, and from a clear, gushing spring in the shadow of the trees 
overhanging the bank, quenched our thirst. A heavily-loaded 
wagon having reached the top of the opposite bank, and the horses 
proving refractorjg has slid backwards into the river. It was no 
pleasant sight to us. However, we reached the top safely ; and 
there were still six miles between us and our destination, our new 
home in fair Kansas. We drove on as swiftly as stumps in every 
direction in the wood would allow; the trees, which stood most 
nearly in the road, being cut down, leaving a foot or more of the 
base, which required a good deal of expertness to avoid. After I 
had come so near running over a tree, that the gallant steed bear¬ 
ing us had reason to discover which was the harder of the two, 
his head or the tree, the doctor took' the ribbons, and guided us 
onward through the gathering shadows. We saw the lights from 
the dwellings in Franklin, as we passed. Another hour, and we 
were home; yes, home, after a journey of near two thousand 
miles, and five weeks among strangers, sometimes pinched with 
cold, and sometimes suffocated with heat, crowded into dusty 
cars, and jostled at every turn; tired, sick children, and worn 
out, impatient mothers everywhere. Hive us fresh, pure air, cold 
water plenty, a shelter from the sun and rain, and we will call it 
home, and soon gather around us home comforts and home joys 
enough to verify the truth, that the purest joys left of Eden are 
found under the home roof. 
