The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-02-24

There IS woman, her skirts burned full /
Of holes by the model tt6rs-plaes. . and
wEst remains of them converted into q /
sort of fringe by the prairie stubble her
breakfast isa simple one, coffee ortea, and !
mt1sh, which is eaten with moiasses; but |
she has "a tear in either eye, for the smoke |
loiters near the earth. Yonder breakfast
left to itself a moment-for 3 crying
baby has drawnt the mother into the tent,
as it is called-has tipped over, and the
beef soup is flowing from the '.oamp ket-
tle'' into the spattering fame. But you
hare not time to linger here, gentlemen, so
please follow me int the tents and see
the eaters. Many of them, It's true, eat
sitting on the ground outside; but these
are men and boys, who have no woman
cook" But as We are passing the yari-
Gus groups, We may as we'll stop at the
cart near a. hand. The lemi5rants are
buying beef OF men who bring it III almost
daily from the prairies in the vicinity.
1t is the best beef | ever found outside
city sail, and has the advantage of being
fed in the open air with wide range and
plenty Of water. Five dollars the hund-
red pounds, TIE whole creature. or FIVE
cents the fore and cents the hind quar-
ters, is the common price.
But We were going to look in upon the
eaters in this large tent, where between
fifty and hundred are accommodated"
Yonder is man, his wife, three children,
and bis father and mother-a venerable
and excellent couple-ea:ing from the top
of a box. Two or threeeups and saucers
serve for the whole tea drinking, ditto
plates, dc. The salt and the pepper are
IN papers, q tin cup is the tea pot, and the
little boxes and the ground their seats.
There is a group of men standing round
a frying pan, each with piece OF bread
in hand, dipping in the gravy and eating
| with slices of bacon. There is COM
pany Of men round plate of pancakes
which they raised with cream tartar and
soda, and spread with molasses as they
laid them on the plate There is no but
ter to be had here, or only occasionally,
as few pounds are brought from Kan
sas, Mo. | have not tasted any in three
! weeks.
| cannot linger longer in the domestic
scenes of the settlement; but as woman S
sphere" here is out of doors, may be
allowed to suggest that those who emf
CRATE here ought to know before coming
precisely what they will find here as ma
] L.. 6 l. Il.
cost. Many have been sadly disappoint
| ed, not with tie country, but in the
means necessary to avail themselves of
its advantages. Great improvement has
been made in the appearance and the
comforts of the place in the last two
weeks. Some twenty tenementS have
been finished, or nearly so, in that time.
Two thirds of these are oflogs and frames,
the clapboards and shingles being split,
or riven oak-the others of sod, with
thatched roofs, and lined to some extent
with cotton cloth. The latter are the
warmest and most comfortable TO be had
till the saw-mill shall give boards that
can be fitted and keep out the wind, as
crooked split ones cannot. By the way,
this saw-mill, whose long, though neces-
sarily delayed operation has been TIE
cause of more discomfort and vexation
than anything else, has been fixed up and
commenced regular work.
We have had no cold weather with the
exception of three days; the thermome-
ter then was 12 degrees above zero. AS
for suffering, in the sense used by "folks
at home, or starvation, it is out of the
| question where one has money to procure
the necessaries at hand. Stoves have to
be brought in from Kansas, Missouri,
and many have been procured by families
after arriving here, which, had they un-
derstood matters, as they easily might
have done, and taken them with them,
would have saved cold fingers and helped
on the breakfasts and dinners wonderful
ly. l found a stove out of doors far
more convenient than my stick crane,
especially in baking and washing. But
it is still better in our sod cabin.
The climate is the finest; and if sick
ness comes, shall attribute it to exposure
and change of living from a vegetable to
a meat diet.
have been very kindly treated by the
people here, and found the company's
agents sympathizing and ready to share
their accommodations and extend them
as far as possible with their sparse ma
terials, for the comfort of the emigfants.
Yours truly, G. l. H. NICHOLS.