purser. We had walked twelve miles over rugged paths and pebbly
shores, and soon proceeded along the edge of the river. Seven tough
miles ended, we found a house near the bank, and in it we determined to
pass the night. The first person we met with was a woman picking cotton
in a small field. On asking her if we might stay in her cabin for the
night, she answered we might, and hoped we could make a shift with the
fare on which she and her husband lived. While she went to the house
to prepare supper, I took my son and Mr ROSE to the water, knowing
how much we should be refreshed by a bath. Our fellow-traveller refused,
and stretched himself on a bench by the door. The sun was setting
; thousands of robins were flying southward in the calm and clear
air; the Ohio was spread before us smooth as a mirror, and into its waters
we leaped with pleasure. In a short time the goodman of the hut
called us to supper, and in a trice we were at his heels. He was a tall
raw-boned fellow, with an honest bronzed face. After our frugal meal,
we all four lay down in a large bed spread on the floor, while the good
people went up to a loft.
The woodsman having, agreeably to our instructions, roused us at
day-break, told us that about seven miles farther we should meet with a
breakfast much better than the last supper we had. He refused any pecuniary
compensation, but accepted from me a knife. So we again started.
My dear boy appeared very weak at first, but soon recovered, and our
stout companion, whom I shall call S., evidently shewed symptoms of
lassitude. On arriving at the cabin of a lazy man blessed with an industrious
wife and six healthy children, all of whom laboured for his support,
we were welcomed by the woman, whose motions and language indicated
her right to belong to a much higher class. Better breakfast I never ate:
the bread was made of new corn ground on a tin-grater by the beautiful
hands of our blue-eyed hostess; the chickens had been prepared by one
of her lovely daughters; some good coffee was added, and my son had
fresh milk. The good woman, who now held a babe to her bosom, seemed
pleased to see how heartily we all ate; the children went to work, and the
lazy husband went to the door to smoke a corn-cob pipe. A dollar was
put into the ruddy hand of the chubby urchin, and we bade its mother
farewell. Again we trudged along the beach, but after a while betook
ourselves to the woods. My son became faint. Dear boy ! never can I
forget how he lay exhausted on a log, large tears rolling down his cheeks.
I bathed his temples, spoke soothingly to him, and chancing to see a fine
turkey cock run close by, directed his attention to it, when, as if suddenly
refreshed, he got up and ran a few yards towards the bird. From that
moment he seemed to acquire new vigour, and at length we reached Wilcox's,
where we stopped for the night We were reluctantly received at
the house, and had little attention paid to us, but we had a meal and went
to bed.
The sun rose in all its splendour, and the Ohio reflected its ruddy beams.
A finer view of that river can scarcely be obtained than that from the
house which we were leaving. Two miles through intricate woods brought
us to Belgrade, and having passed Fort Massacre, we halted and took
breakfast. S. gave us to understand that the want of roads made travelling
very unpleasant; he was not, he added, in the habit of " skulking
through the bushes or tramping over stony bars in the full sunshine,"
but how else he had travelled was not explained. Mr ROSE kept up
about as well as VICTOR, and I now led the way. Towards sunset we
reached the shores of the river, opposite the mouth of the Cumberland,
On a hill, the property of a Major B., we found a house, and a solitary
woman, wretchedly poor, but very kind. She assured us, that if we
could not cross the river, she would give us food and shelter for the night,
but said that as the moon was up, she could get us put over when her
skiff came back. Hungry and fatigued we laid us down on the brown
grass, waiting either a scanty meal, or the skiff that was to convey us
across the river. I had already grated the corn for our supper, run down
the chickens, and made a fire, when a cry of " Boat coming1"' roused us
all. We crossed half of the Ohio, walked over Cumberland Isle, and
after a short ferry found ourselves in Kentucky, the native land of my
beloved sons. I was now within a few miles of the spot where, some
years before, I had a horse killed under me by lightning.
It is unnecessary to detain you with a long narrative, and state every
occurrence until we reached the banks of Green River. We had left
Trinity at 12 o'clock of the 15th October, and on the morning of the
18th four travellers descending a hill, were admiring the reflection of the
sun's rays on the forest-margined horizon. The frost which lay thick
on the ground and the fences, glittered in the sheen, and dissolved away ;
all nature seemed beautiful in its calm repose; but the pleasure which I
felt on gazing on the scene was damped by the fatigue of my son, who
now limped like a lamed turkey, although, as the rest of the party were
not much better off, he smiled, straightened himself, and strove to keep