sand, uttering a
great, wild cry, and giving my little boy a throw at the same time. I
felt sorry for the man, but thought I should die laughing at the queer
figure he cut. And, ungrateful as it seemed, I was obliged, in going
for my boy, to pass around our huge friend, and ride off, leaving him
to pick himself up at his leisure."

There was much merriment at this recital, which was increased by a
portly Englishman behind her saying, in a jolly way,--

"Hi feel as if hi could happreciate that story, mem!"

"But how do you think you'll like living west?" asked the motherly
woman. "It seems to me that the likes of you won't know how to put up
with our rough ways."

"O," replied the clergyman's wife, with an enthusiasm which showed
what manner of spirit she was of, "I did not come out here for
enjoyment, but to cheer and help my husband in laboring for Christ."

"Well," answered the other, wiping a tear from her eye, "the land
knows we need such folks among us; and if we don't have things as nice
as you do your way, I hope you'll find us westerners ready to do what
we can for the good cause. Most of us have seen better times, and have
known what it was to go to meeting every Sunday, and do our mite
towards supporting preaching, and we are willing to do it again."

"See, mother," exclaimed little Helen,--a bright, wide-awake miss of
six years,--"what a large garden!"

The team had passed the irregular ridges of the bluffs extending
inland from the Mississippi, and had attained the summit of a gentle
swell of land commanding an extensive prairie view, and the whole
landscape was bedecked with flowers of every hue and shape. The
child's wondering eyes danced with delight, and she said,--

"Mother, isn't the man who owns this great garden very rich?"

"This don't belong to any one man, my dear," replied her mother,
smiling; "it is one of _God's_ gardens. He planted all these flowers,
and made them grow without anybody's help. All these are wild
flowers."

"O," exclaimed the child, "how good he is!--isn't he, mother? Has God
such a garden where our new home is?"

"I expect he has," she answered; "for out here, my child, it's almost
all garden. You might ride thousands of miles, and not see a stone, or
any sand--nothing but the green grass and the sweet blooming
flowers."

"O," cried Blue-eye, clapping her hands, "I'm so glad we've come
west!--aren't you, mother?"

The passengers were delighted with the prattle