LAWRENCE. 
37 
When we came to look out upon Lawrence and the surround¬ 
ing country, as we had nearly run through the vocabulary finding 
words to express our rapture at the ever-changing beauty of every 
part of our route, and as this view from our window, and from 
the hill beyond us, was the master-piece, silence expressed most 
truly our feelings, stirred as they were by a divine hand. The 
house fronts the east, and is situated upon an elevation command¬ 
ing a prospect unequalled for extent, or variety of loveliness, for 
miles in all directions. Half a mile to the north sits Lawrence, 
a little hamlet upon the prairie, whose fame has even now crossed 
the continent, awakening hopes and fears, in the hearts of many, 
for friends who for six months have battled with pioneer life. 
Malignity and hatred have been aroused in the souls of others, 
who see in this little gathering of dwellings of wood, thatch, 
and mud hovels, the promise of a new state, glorious in its 
future. 
The town reaches to the river, whose further shore is skirted 
with a line of beautiful timber, while beyond all rises the Dela¬ 
ware lands, which in the distance have all the appearance of 
cultivated fields and orchards, and form a back-ground to the pic¬ 
ture of singular loveliness. To the eastward the prairie stretches 
away eight or ten miles, and we can scarcely help believing that the 
ocean lies beyond the low range of hills meeting the horizon. The 
line of travel from the east, or from Kansas city, passes into the 
territory by this way. Blue Mound rises in the south-east, and, 
with the shadows resting over it, looks green and velvety. A line 
of timber between us and Blue Mound marks the course of the 
Wakarusa, while beyond the eye rests upon a country diversified 
in surface, sloping hills, finely rolling prairies, and timbered creeks. 
A half mile to the south of us, Mount Oread, upon which our 
house stands, becomes yet more elevated, and over the top of it 
passes the great California road. West of us also is a high hill, 
a half mile in the distance, with a beautiful valley lying between, 
while to the north-west there is the most delightful mingling 
together of hill, valley, prairie, woodland and river. As far as 
the eye rests, we see the humble dwellings of the pioneer, with 
other improvements. 
4 
