Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/247

Rh it is that we are first aware of the advance and mode of this new cultivation.

Your majesty has certainly often read descriptions of the wonderful waterfall, Niagara; of the almost miraculous prairies of the West, where the sun mirrors his image in an ocean of sunflowers waving in the wind; of the rapid growth of states and cities in the great West; of the great river Mississippi, and the gold mines of California, and many other lions of the great West.

But less known are the first steps of cultivation, its first impress on the wilderness; and this it was together with the great spectacle of nature, which most attracted my earliest attention. For it is amusing to observe the first steps of the child, and how he advances and grows to man's estate. It is an image worthy the regards of a motherly queen.

The trees fall before the axe along the banks of the river—and rivers everywhere abound in North America—a little log-house is erected on the skirts of the forest and the banks of the river; a woman stands in the door-way with a little chubby child in her arms. The husband has dug up the earth around the house, and planted maize; beyond, graze a couple of fat cows and some sheep in the free, unenclosed meadow-land. The husband tills the land and milks the cows, and performs the whole out-of-doors labour. The wife remains in the house, and takes care of child and home; nor can any woman do it better. The cleanliness and order of her person are reflected by everything within the house. No neater nor more excellent home can be found on the face of the earth than that of the American woman, even of the poorest. No wonder that the husband is happy within it; that the American knows few other pleasures than those which he finds in his home, no other goal of bliss on earth than that of possessing a good wife—a good home!

The log-house has been erected in the forest, and not