The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-16

camps and other points of interest on
the way TO Fort Winnebago, their des-
tination. During this journey. they met
Rev. Eleazer Williams. the supposed
Dauphin of France, lately made famil-
lar to all through. Mrs. Catherwood's =
popular "Lazarre" " Describing him.
Mrs. Kinzie says: Mr.. Williams was
a dark-complexioned good-looklng
man. Having always heard him spoken
of by his relations in Connecticut as
our Indian cousin il never occurred
to me TO doubt his belonging to that
race. although / now Shink IL | had
met him elsewhere l should have taken
him for Spaniard or a Mexican. His
complexion had decidedly more of the
olive than the copper hue and his
countenance was grave, almost mol
ancholy. He was very silent during
this interview, asking few questions
and Offering no observations except in
reply to some question addressed TO
him"
When the Kinzies reached Fort Win
nebago they were assigned to quar-
ters built especially for them under the
supervision of one of the young lieu
tenants. This Lieutenant. at a later
date became president of the South
ern Confederacy AS yet he was sim
ply Lieut.. Davis. In designing this
building he forgot to put in closet
rooms, and attempted to remedy the
deficit by curious addition, in which
the shelves of the pantry were so close
as to hardly admit gravyboat The
closet was playfully named Davis"
thus placing, as Mrs. Kinzie says. "the
first laurel on the brow of one who
was afterward to sighalize himself in
cabinet king of quite a different
character"
The privations which this gentlewo-
man endured, the suffering from cX-
treme cold weather, the insecure build
ings and smoky chimneys are reported
with degree of merriment that 'ihdi-
Gates one of the cheerlest dispositions.
'"rhe water would freeze In our par
lors at a very short distance from the
fire, for, although the men kept the
halls filled with wood. almost up TO tie
ceiling, that did not counterbalance the
Inconvenience of having the wide doors
thrown omen to the outer air for a
great portion of the day to allow them
to bring IL in"
One of the most interesting parts OF
the book is an account Of journey
on horseback from Fort Wnnebago to
Chicago in the month of March. Mrs.
Kinzie and her husband were of the
party. They were Obliged to cross
marshes. ford streams, pitch their tent
WITH the EIOuuN FCONtIeQ Will SlOW.
They lost the trail and travelled miles
out of the way, nearly overcome by
fatigue and the want of food. Occa-
sionally they came to settlement or
single house and were always received
with hospitality of the most cordial
kind. In these wild regions they came
upon the son of Alexander Hamilton.
Mr.. Hamilton at first hesitated to pre-
sent himself, being unwilling that one
who had been acquainted with his fam
ilv in the East should see him in his
present mode of life, but the spirit Of
hospitality got the better Of him. and
he was "as agreeable and polite as the
son of Alexander Hamilton should be-.
Mrs. Kinzie describes Chicago in 1891
picturing it with her pencil as well as
pen, and naively saying to her readers:
"To those who visit Chicago, and still
! more to those who come to make It
their home. It may not be without In
terest to look back to it's first begin
nings, TO contemplate the almost magi-
cal change which a few years have
wrought, and from the past to auger
the marvellous prosperity of the fu-
ture' In the volume is included an
account of the massacre of 1912. Mrs
Kinzie wrote at the dictation of Mr..
Kinzie's mother and OF his sister, Mrs.
Helm, both of whom were eyewitness es
4 of all the facts narrated. The bool.
was first published in 1852 but has
long been out of print. The publish
ers are justified In giving to, the new
generation an edition OF a work which
must grow more valuable as time goes
on. 1t is book whose contents should
be familiar to every Chicsgoan proud
of the history and growth of his city.
In some respects the book reads like a
romance, but it is the actual romance
of the heroic, enterprising spirit Of the
| great Northwest.