Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/393

Rh to a certain degree, I was really borne down by them. The violent torrent of new, and for the most part, rapturous impressions, the incessant labour with new objects, new people, together with the effects of a hot climate, and food to which I was unaccustomed, reduced me to that state of feverish, nervous excitement, that for months I was unable to read, or even to think on any subject which required the slightest exertion of mind.

The mercy of God, however, the care of good people, and the healing powers of nature and art, raised me, by degrees, above this state of weakness. I was able once more to live and learn.

But during that daily labour to make myself master of those subjects which pressed upon me on all sides, during my wanderings, and the endeavour to arrange my thoughts, it became more and more clear to me, that in order to arrive at any just conclusion with regard to the moral, intellectual, and religious culture, as it existed in the States of North America, I must see more of its various forms and developments; I must become acquainted with life, not only in the North-Eastern, but in the Southern and the Western States of the Union also; I must see the life of America, both where it had established and perfected itself, and where it was yet endeavouring to break the clod of the earth's surface, to build new homes, to conquer new life and new lands.

“When I shall have seen the great West, the valley of the Mississippi, Cincinnati, the Queen of the West, I will write to Böklin. Then I shall better understand, shall be better able to speak of the New World, and of that future for humanity, which it bears in its bosom!” Thus said I to myself.

Now I am at Cincinnati. I have seen and I see before me the great West, the central region of North America. I have travelled through the valley of the Mississippi, the future home of more than two hundred and