was
invited to his house, to be present at a great pigeon-hunt which was to
come off in the fall. The colonel's plantation stood among beech woods,
and he had therefore an annual visitation of the pigeons, and could tell
almost to a day when they would appear. The hunt he had arranged for
the gratification of his numerous friends.

"As you all know, gentlemen, sixty miles in our western travel is a mere
bagatelle; and tired of pills and prescriptions, I flung myself into a
boat, and in a few hours arrived at the colonel's stately home. A word
or two about this stately home and its proprietor.

"Colonel P-- was a splendid specimen of the backwoods' gentleman--you
will admit there _are_ gentlemen in the backwoods." (Here the doctor
glanced good-humouredly, first at our English friend Thompson, and then
at the Kentuckian, both of whom answered him with a laugh.) "His house
was the type of a backwoods mansion; a wooden structure, both walls and
roof. No matter. It has distributed as much hospitality in its time as
many a marble palace; that was one of its backwoods' characteristics.
It stood, and I hope still stands, upon the north bank of the Ohio--that
beautiful stream--`_La belle riviere_,' as the French colonists, and
before their time the Indians, used to call it. It was in the midst of
the woods, though around it were a thousand acres of `clearing,' where
you might distinguish fields of golden wheat, and groves of shining
maize plants waving aloft their yellow-flower tassels. You might note,
too, the broad green leaf of the Nicotian `weed,' or the bursting pod of
the snow-white cotton. In the garden you might observe the sweet
potato, the common one, the refreshing tomato, the huge water-melon,
cantelopes, and musk melons, with many other delicious vegetables. You
could see pods of red and green pepper growing upon trailing plants; and
beside them several species of peas and beans--all valuable for the
colonel's _cuisine_. There was an orchard, too, of several acres in
extent. It was filled with fruit-trees, the finest peaches in the
world, and the finest apples--the Newton pippins. Besides, there were
luscious pears and plums, and upon the espaliers, vines bearing bushels
of sweet grapes. If Colonel P-- lived in the woods, it cannot be said
that he was surrounded by a desert.

"There were several substantial log-houses near the main building or
mansion. They were the stable--and good horses there wer