Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-02-01

something, besides, it gave us an op-
portunity to walk occasionally, and
after all the distance was not SO
very great, only one hundred miles,
and after five weeks in the steerage
of a sailing vessel in the company
of four hundred other emigrants we
were ready for almost anything.
So we journeyed on till we reach
ed La Sale. There we sojourned
for three weeks, which gave my
mother and sisters a much needed
rest for they were almost worn out
with the long, continuous travelling
under such depressing conditions.
My father and | obtained employ
ment during our stay at La Sale,
which had really become almost a
necessity for our funds were getting
low. 1 was employed at a bakery
and was paid all that my services
were worth. Suddenly one evening
while strolling along the shores of
the canal little good fortune came
upon me. l found several pieces of
silver amounting in all to between
two and three dollars; of course /
was greatly elated over what l had
found and l thought if America was
all like this it would not be so bad.
Soon after our arrival at La Sale
was sent to a grocery store to
make some purchases for the house.
Among other things / was directed
to get a pound of treacle, but alas,
when l asked the groceryman for
it he was bewildered; / could not
make him understand what I want
ed. He was all abroad and l was
completely at sea; he showed me
some pickles and wanted to know
if that was what l wanted and when
l said no" he suggested crackers,
vinegar, salt, pepper and many
other things all good in their places,
but none of them was what l was
after. Then he wanted to know what
in blazes treacle looked like anyhow,
and what they did with it. l told
him it looked like-like-like trea-
Gle, and they ate it when they could
get it, which had not been very
often of late. At that he became
quite uneasy, could l see it any
where, was it in any of them boxes
or packages?" l was confident it
was not, Well" he said, "Tll be
burned" Happily, however, he was
saved from such catastrophe for
just then l caught sight of a barrel
which looked as though it might
contain what l wanted, so l said:
Whats in that barrel?" "Molas-
ses." he replied "It looks like il
might be treacle," said, whereup-
on he went to the barrel and drew
little of its contents on a piece OF
white paper. That's what I'm af-
ter" / said, at which he snapped
out. "Why didn't you say you
wanted molasses in the first place so
as not to make so much trouble, the
fool notion of calm molasses trea-
Gle and wantin' to buy it by the
pound; these blamed furriners don't
know nothin' nohow." But there
was nothing the matter with the
molasses and l was already begin
ming to learn things.
! After the. family had, as we
thought, sufficiently recovered from
the fatigues Of travel and my father
and l had earned enough With what
we had on hand to carry us through
preparations were made for an i'm,
mediate move still farther westward
in the van of the course of empire
Taking passage on an Illinois river
boat at Peru, we were carried dowr
that stream past Peoria to its mouth
at Grafton; then down the Missis
sippi river to st. Louis, where we
Changed to an up river boat whosS
prov was pointed toward the nortl