The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-04-14
Public meetings..
Fran the S.'rtngfeld, Aass., american.
Kansas Meeting.


The meeting held at the Police Court
room on Tuesday afternoon, of citizens
of Hampden comfy intending to emf
CRATE to Kansas, was large and well COM
posed. Men of the right stamp to be-
come pioneers in the achievement of a
glorious destiny were there, and in num-
bers to fully justify the enthusiasm which
this subject has awakened in the public
mind. Farmers of well knit frame, skilled
and industrious mechanics, men of mid
die age, full of grave determination,
young men buoyant with health and
youthful enthusiasm, and clergymen, In
spired by the call of duty-of all such
there was representation worthy of the
noble cause which had brought them to-
gether. At the opening of the meeting
at 2 O'Clock, P. M, the president of the
Hampden county league, R. A. Chap
man, Esq, not being present, Rev. Mr..
Seeley entertained the meeting with some
well timed remarks bearing upon the
practical duties incident to emigration,
the necessity for forecast and previous
preparation for the contingencies which
will arise in the course of emigration and
settlement. He saidamong other things,
that it would be benecessary for every farm
er to have yoke of oxen, which could
be purchased by agents, and prairie
plows would be requisite, in the pur-
chase of which two families could Join.
He thought it advisable that some organ
ization of religious kind should be
agreed upon by the Hampden county
emigrants before they go. The subject
had been talked of by the clergymen of
Springfield at a meeting of them few
days ago, and it was suggested that there
might be Unitarian colony Baptist
colony and a Congregational colony, or
they might all join together till they were
strong enough to separate.
Rev. Mr.. Denison, of Southbridge,
spoke with earnestness and eloquently in
behalf of Kansas emigration as the great
movement by which the balance of pow
er between freedom and slavery, in the
general government, is to be determined.
He was going for one, impelled, as he
believed, by sense of duty, and he ex-
pected to see freedom and temperance es-
tablished in Kansas. The friends of free
dom and of the Maine law were con-
gregating towards that point, and a great
triumph was about TO be effected for these
glorious principles, which would span
the whole North, and ultimately extend
throughout the republic. Slavery would
be encircled and hemmed in, till, like the
scorpion, it would sting itself to death.
He was glad to hear that the Congrega-
tionalists, Baptists, and Unitarians were
going to be represented m Kansas, and
he could say that another religious de-
somewhat noted for their ubi-
putty, and to which he belonged, would
also be there. He alluded to the Metho-
dists.
Mr.. Seeley apologised for not men,
tioning the Methodists, by saying that
the Methodist clergymen of this city,
did not happen to be present at the meet
ingof clergymen referred to. The Meth
odists of course would be there.
Rev. Mr.. Hatch, of Chicopee, gave an
amusing account of the vicissitudes of
pioneer life. He had tried it in Califor-
MIA, and had slept in the open air every
night for six months. There was a
charm for him in that kind of life, and
ne would walk to Chicopee any time for
the sake of camping where he could hear
the humming of rattlesnakes and the
bowling of prairie wolves. There. was
romance In waking up and finding that
you had sleptsecurely through the night,
with rattlesnake for your bedfellow.-
Neither snakes or wolves would harm
you, if you did not first modest them
Let them alone, and they viii give You a
wide berth, but insult them, and you
win be served with summons to quit .
in short order. When emigrants mix up
their batter over night for breakfast of
fritters, and in the morning find it full
of lizards and crickets, they pick out the
lizards, and leave the crickets for yari-
ETY..
Mr.. Hatch had tried pioneer life thor
oughiy, and knew something of It's risks.
In only one form had he found it positive
ly disagreeable, and that was in its ex-
posure to ague and fever. No disease
that he ever encountered had made