The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1851-10-23

CHATHAM, MEDINA Co., OHIo, !
October eth 1851

CHATHAM, MEDINA Co., ONO,
October eth, 1851. !
Mr.. GooDHUE:-That our friends In Mime
sofa may know our whereabouts, | will give you
a few incidents of our journey thus far. On
Monday. the 22d Of September, we embarked
from kaposia, on the steamboat CDR. Franklin
No. e." and reached Galena "Wednesday morn
ing. refer to this simply to state a fact which
is very creditable to the officers of that boat
Mrs. Hopkins and her children, from Traverse
des Sioux, returning TO their friends in Ohio were
of our company. paid their passage 10 Gulena,
but before we reached that place, the Clerk call
ed me TO the Office and, in very sentlenanly
manner, returned her passage money. 1t was
worth SO much the more to Mrs. X. as, 80 far as
know, it was solicited by no one. 1t was the
going forth oftheIr own benevolent hearts towards
the widow and the f;therless. May the Lord re-
ward them, by bringing them to knowledge Of
Himself, and making them heirs Of eternal glo-
ry-riches not comparable to gold.
We had proposed going by The southern route,
but the Ohio river was reported to be in so low a
stage, that we feared to commit oarse ives 10 its
small and crowded stern heel boats. From Ga
lena, we took passage In two covered wagons,
that were coming to Chicago for g,ols. BY do
ing so, we made orr passage more tedious, Tut
we saved for ourselves the privilege Of sleeping
quietly at night, which was invaluable to the
children Of our company.
AT Freeport, Hts, we spent Sabbath, and had
the pleasure of listening TO Elder Knapp, who Is
quite celebrated as revival preacher In he Bap-
fist church. In many respects, he is Il remarka-
bly, interesting speaker. His frs, sermon TO which
| listened, was from the passage, ''lhe OK l<noweh
his owner and the ass his masters crib. bot Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider" 1t
was quite an or sermon. There were rather too
.y,x1o l.,
laughter in his audience. But with all ITS faults
as sermon, it produced an amazing vivid I'M
preston of the great lesson Of the text, viz That
man, so far as Col ami his eternal iatsiesfs are
concerned, is more stupid than The or and The ass
For two days, we travelled along 10y the side
of, and frequently passed under, the telegraph
wires We could not help thinking, that while
we were looking at that wire, messages of various
kinds passing to and flo along II, with light
ming speed. II is truly mysterious--j,s our Da-
koia friends would say, it is 'ratan.
We passed through Michigan OF the Central
railroad. About half way through, we were de-
tanned some four hours 10y the freight trains. The
engine Of the forward train had, b, some means,
wait until it was brought on and road repaired
One thing noticed on this road which is not as
II should be; there seems to be a settled plan on
the part OF the conductors, to make the passen-
gers IN the second class cars uncomfortable rs
TO compel them to go in the first. In this Instance,
there were three Of the first class cars in the tra
not half filled, and two of The second class Tiled
10 ouerfo,eing. Nor one blamcs them for niak-
ing the second class ears less expensive or less
comfortable, so far as cushions, Sc, are con-
cerned, than the hrst but the people have a
right TO ask that they have room to sit down when
they pay their money for it, and they might be
Nry,t~ Al.
Conductors Of railroads must know, that many Of
the most respectable aud suh-t antiai part Of the
travelling community often go in The second class
cars If they seek only their own interest, they
will not fail to look TO the accommodation Of this
class Of persons. II am correctly informed, the
second class cars on the English railroads Weld
larger aggregate profit thai the first class; but
this is the way. | have no expectation that the
Michigan Central Railroad Company will thank
me for reading them lecture.
On the evening of the 2d inst, we embarked at
DER OF for Cleveland. About three In the morn
ing, gale put the waters OF treacherous Lake
Erie into commotion. We were walked up by the
rocking and the tossing Of the vessel The waves
dashed over the deck and rolled across. Many
of the passengers were sck--some were vomiting
and some fain,ing One old lady in particular,
was exceedingly alarmed. She wished TO have
the men walked up-wan,cd to see the captain to
know OF him whether we would not III 90 TO the
bottom of the Lake. She was told that her hes:
plan, in such an hour of danger was to be quiet,
she could do nothing better than pray to God. TIC
rus, who had never seen storm 90 water, we
seemed for time to he in danger; but as the
darkness passed away, our feelings of danger
somewhat abaied, and we looked out upon the
troubled waters as some Of ''the works of tbs
Lord, and his wonders in the deep" One of oul
Minnesota ladies walked 10 the iorecasllc to en-
lcy the sublime prospect Of the high rolling wave,