Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/274

Rh the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, it is said there is room for a larger population than that of the whole of Europe; and where a great and new people are developing themselves, through a union of all races of people, in the lap of a grand and powerful natural scenery, which like a strong mother will train them up into a more vigorous and higher human life. Many a thinking man here in the Eastern States has said to me, “You will not see what the American people are becoming, not see the Young American, until you reach the West.” I had intended to set off from New York to Philadelphia in company with Mrs. Kirkland, according to her proposal, and thence go forward with Anne Lynch to Washington, to attend some of the sittings of Congress, and to see its lions; but I am so afraid of all the fatigue and excitement which mixing in society involves, and I am so anxious to go to the South, because this season of the year is best for that purpose, as in May the heat is already too great in the Southern States, that, after consultation with my friends, I have determined to go on Saturday by steamer to Charleston in South Carolina. Within seventy-two hours I shall be there, and probably in full summer, whilst here the ground is covered with snow.

From Charleston I shall travel to the different places to which I am invited, and spend in Carolina and Georgia, that paradise of North America, the months of March and April. In May, I shall go to Washington, and after a stay of a fortnight there, return here, and so go westward to Cincinnati (Ohio), on to Illinois and Wisconsin, where I shall visit my countrymen, the Swedes and Norwegians, and see how they are getting on. From this point I shall travel by the great inland lakes to Niagara, where, about the end of June, I have agreed to meet the Downings and the Lowells.

Thus, my sweet Agatha, you see my tour made out; and I am certain to have the eye of a good spirit from my