Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/270

Rh of being able to speak with any of them, and to ask from them that politeness and hospitality which the landlord of the hotel was so wholly deficient in. I was compelled to set off.

“My good friend,” said I beseechingly to the driver of the diligence, “I am a stranger from a distant country and I am alone. Promise not to overturn me!”

“That I cannot promise you, ma'am,” replied he, “but I will promise to do my best to bring you safely to the end of your journey.”

It was a rational answer, and was spoken in a voice which inspired me with confidence. I took my seat in the diligence, and left the first inhospitable, unfriendly place which I had found in America. There were three or four gentlemen in the diligence, I was the only lady. It was so dark that I could not see their countenances; but their voices and their inquiries told me that they were young and of an uneducated class.

“Are you scared, Miss Bremer?”

“Are you afraid, ma'am?” and so on, were the exclamations with which they immediately overwhelmed me in a good-tempered and cheerful, but somewhat rude style. I replied to their questions by the monosyllable “No!” and was then left in peace. I was not, however, without uneasiness as regarded the nocturnal journey. I had heard of the diligence being lately overturned, of one lady having broken an arm, of another receiving so severe an injury in the side that she still lay sick in consequence of it, at Galena; of a gentleman who received a blow on the head that left him insensible for several hours, and various other such occurrences.

Several of the young men were unknown to each other, but they soon became acquainted. One of them was going to be the schoolmaster somewhere not far from the Mississippi. He stammered wofully, and his pronunciation was broad and like the bleating of a sheep. One of