WINTER IN THE TERRITORY —STATE LEGISLATURE. 179 
by an iron rule to King Custom’s absurd ways, and would have 
asked not the great questions of life, of its import, of its destiny, 
have learned that “ life is real, life is earnest.” In the simplicity 
of nature, in a new country, there is a mutual dependence between 
all, which is not realized at home, and the very needs of humanity 
demand that one should live, not for self, but out of self, and in 
realizing the beauty of the poem, 
“We live in deeds, not years. 
In thoughts, not breaths, in feelings, 
Not in figures on a dial. He lives most 
Who thinks most — feels the noblest — acts the best . i 9 
With a constant use of faculties and sympathies, the useless 
ornament of a city drawing-room becomes the strong, the active, 
earnest woman. 
The hours were passing, the noise down street had ceased, and 
T. returned. He laughed as he said “ No Missourians yet. The 
company have returned from Easton, and the boys were giving them 
a salute.” He said, moreover, that they had speeches, and went 
through certain military manoeuvres, and finished off with a sup¬ 
per prepared for them. . They encountered no difficulties by the 
way; the enemy having heard of their proposed visit, fled to Mis¬ 
souri, leaving a clear field. One of the men, who has been threat¬ 
ened very grievously by them, they found so strongly barricaded 
in his house, that the enemy could never have taken him. His 
wife and sis sons compose the family. The old lady has all the 
fire, the spirit of a Spartan mother. 
Jan, 27 th, — Still another snow. No security from the mur¬ 
derous midnight assassin can be more sure than the heavily drifting 
snows which cover the whole country. Plans of a guerilla war¬ 
fare had been laid through the whole border. The murder of 
Brown and the invasion at Easton were the forerunners of intended 
attacks upon the whole territory. The leaders of the free-state 
party being destroyed, they calculated upon an easy victory over 
the remainder. A letter of Atchison, written just before the mur¬ 
der of Brown, reveals the plan. The following are a few extracts 
from it. 
