REDOUBLED EFFORTS FOR A NEW INVASION. 215 
The stairs were little, narrow boards laid on insecurely! How 
dizzy one’s head grew at the first steep ascent! Time and use 
even did not render them wholly safe to me, with nothing to steady 
one’s self by, and there was no security against reaching the bot¬ 
tom by a quicker mode than stairways usually anticipate. On 
reaching the landing at the top, we found ourselves in a room of 
the same size as the lower one. This, evidently, was a general 
sleeping apartment, for there were beds, beds, nothing but beds. 
They stood along the sides of the room, the foot of the first reach¬ 
ing the head of the second, and leaving only a space a few feet 
square by the stairway. Stepping about two feet in a straightfor¬ 
ward direction, we came to another little entry, from which stairs 
to the attic ascended. On the left was a door opening into the 
printing-office, and on the right a curtain, which supplied the place 
of door, was uplifted, and we were ushered into an apartment. 
We sat down on a sofa (two were standing close together, and 
filled one side of the room), and realized that, as Mr. G. said, 
“ they are topsy-turvy,” and not that exactly, but that there is a 
great deal of furniture in one room. The width of the sofa, sera- 
phine, and large French bedstead, was a nice fit for one end of 
the room. The lounge and handsome secretary, with a chair at 
each end of it, filled in between the bedstead and another one at 
the other end of the room. Centre-table stood a little in front 
of the secretary, with a vase of beautiful flowers, and jewelry 
case upon it. A large Boston rocker, with mahogany squab-seat 
chairs and cricket, made up the movable furniture. A family 
portrait gallery adorned the walls. There were pictures of beau¬ 
tiful little children, and pictures, also, of scriptural design, drawn 
from the times of the Saviour. This room was set apart for Mrs. 
S. and I, and, though one could hardly take two steps without 
moving a chair, we soon felt quite at home. There was a number 
of boarders in the house, and in the two families keeping the 
house only thirteen children. This house, at the time of the con¬ 
stitutional convention, accommodated seventy boarders. 
The ladies of Topeka, with their wealth of social feeling, soon 
called to see us. The sewing-circle and temperance society also 
held their meeting while we were there. The ladies, coming from 
