The new era., 1860-06-28

maoe into rolls twenty inches long and
four IN diameter, with straw or hay
worked into them to hold them together
Ihese are put on framework of up
right poles and cross sticks, and mould
ed and rubbed and worked by hand,
piece after piece, and layer after layer,
TIL at length they form chimney
And no other chimney did / ever see
used in that country till | had been there
fifteen years. Our house was open and
leaky. The second day after our ar
ival we removed our goods into it, un-
packed our boxes and trunks, and ar
ranged them as well as we could for
use.
Our house was divided into three
place and no means Of warming more
than one room. The building was
lighted by small glass windows of sin
gle sash to each, ''few and far between, :"
and SO high from the floor that we had
to stand to look out of them. Our fur
niture was composed Of very few arti-
clesofth rudest construction. We had
one or two chairs which had once been
in civilized society. But we used our
trunks and boxes principally for seats,
till we could make some benches and
stools. We found some rude bedsteads,
composed Of rough boards and poles
upon which we laid our beds. Our
floor was composed of rough boards,
loosely put down. The clay was con-
stantly falling from the logs in the walls
of the building, covering the floor with
dirt and every thing in it with DUST
The hearth was made of clay morter
dried, which was so soft that when the
broom passed over it, it would leave
more dirt behind than it removed -
These were annoyances, and ofen re-
minded US by contrast of other days and
of ether circumstances In few days,
however, we began to feel at home in
our new habitation We were general
ly cheerful in each others presence;
but | can hardly doubt that feeling Of
loneliness and sadness crossed each
ones mind occasionally, checking the
buoyancy of the spirits and nterrupting
enjoyment. We had more to keep up
our spirits while on our passage along
the lake. We were travelling with
large company. We had enjoyed the
society of several whose acquaintance
he had formed. The excitements and
incidents of the voyage, and the desire
to reach our place of residence had oc-
cupied our minds, and diverted our
thoughts from the past and the future.
Now, most Of these with whom we had
been travelling had left us, and gone to
their own posts. We had few left with
whom we could communicate. We he
gan to realize for the first time that we
were excluded from society-that the
busy world was left behind-and that
we must make world for ourselves
The romance of missIonery life began to
wane, and the reality of it became more
apparent.
There we're not more than three or
four persons at the place during our first
winter, besides our own family of four.
who could speak or understand the
English language, and these, with the
exception of Mr.. W., but imperfectly.
we were inexperienced in the work we
came to perform. We were unac-
Iualnted with Indian character. The
Indians were strangers to us, and we to
hem. We knew not word of their
ansuage and they as little of ours. We
we're unaccustomed to their modes of
lie, their manners and ways Of thinking.
Almost all the communication we could
lave with them was through an inter-
're:er-a hard way indeed to gain the
of such people and acquire
IN influence over them.
Our situation, however, was rendered
somewhat more pleasant after few
weeks by Mr.. w. proposing to us to
lccupy part of his house which he
Kindly preferred US, much to his own
inconvenience, and which was much
more comfortable than the one we occu-
,ied..
The winter set in early that year
The channel and bays ofthe lake froze
over early, and by December the
ground was covered with snow. Desc
alton seemed to reign in all directions