Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/264

Rh I visited, in company with Chancellor Lathrop and his cheerful, intelligent wife, the University which is in progress of erection, and which will now be soon finished. It stands upon an elevation, “College Hill” as it is called, and which commands an open and extensive view; it is a large building without any unnecessary pomp of exterior, as in Gerard College at Philadelphia, but internally it has ample and spacious room. Many of the windows struck me, lighted up, as they were, by the setting sun. Such, after all, ought the Temple of the Sun to be on the Western prairies! And if it fulfils its expection, a Temple of the Light in spirit and in truth, more glorious than that of Peru!

It is only a few years since the Indians dwelt around these beautiful lakes; and they still come hither annually in the autumn to visit the graves of their ancestors, and to lift up their cry of lamentation!

&emsp; I now write to you from a little log-house, in the midst of prairie-land, between Madison and Galena. The log-house belongs to a farm, and is, at the same time, post-house, and a sort of country inn. Mr. D., the son-in-law of my good hostess in Madison, had the kindness to drive me hither himself, in a little open carriage, by which means I made the journey much more comfortably than by the stage, which comes here in the night.

Blue Mound is one of the highest hills in Wisconsin, and derives its name from its fine dark blue colour when seen from afar. It appears then as if enveloped in a clear purple veil, and is seen at many miles' distance, shining out thus against the soft blue sky. It resembles Kimkulle with us, but is more steep; like Kimkulle, it is covered with pasture-fields and wood.

When I arrived here I was so enchanted with the vast, glorious landscape, and with the view which it afforded