ILLS OF PIONEER LIFE. 
69 
we avoided the effects of broken glass, which fell on the bed and 
all over the floor. The window w r as not permanently cased, and 
the heavy wind of the Monday night previous had loosened the 
nails. 
21 st. — A gentleman, just up from Kansas city, brought me 
some letters which I had long expected, and which have been 
lying there for weeks. He brought intelligence also of String- 
fellow’s attack upon Gov. Reeder for the maintenance of an honest 
opinion. Preparations are being made by our people to celebrate 
the coming Fourth of July. At this time, when Freedom is but 
a name; when three millions of human beings, created in the 
divine image, are sold as chattels in a country boasting of lib¬ 
erty ; when the two hundred thousand slaveholders are using 
every endeavor to enslave the twenty-five millions of our country¬ 
men, and we in Kansas already feel the iron heel of the oppressor, 
making us truly white slaves,—we will celebrate it by a new 
Declaration of our Independence, and in the God of our fathers 
trust that he will lead us safely through this Red Sea of evil, until 
we plant our feet securely on freedom’s bulwarks, having passed 
from this worse than Egyptian bondage. 
July 1th. — The morning of the Fourth came in cloudy, yet 
pleasant. Word had been sent to the people on the Wakarusa, and 
many were expected. Invitations also were sent to the Delaware 
and Shawnee Indians to mingle in our festivities. From the 
elevated position of our house we saw the people gathering from 
all quarters. Several teams, of oxen as well as horses, the 
roughness of the vehicles being hidden under garlands of green 
leaves and flowers, came in from the Wakarusa. A beautiful flag 
was presented by a Massachusetts lady to the military companies 
of Lawrence, in an appropriate speech, in behalf of the ladies of 
Lawrence. After its acceptance, the procession formed upon 
Massachusetts-street, and was escorted by the military to a fine 
grove about a mile from town. Here, in one of Nature’s grand 
old forests, seats had been provided, and a platform raised for the 
orators and other speakers, for the singers and musical instru¬ 
ments. The number present was variously estimated from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand. It was a motley gathering. There 
