. "I like these people and the prairies are beautiful."

"It is the land of plenty at last," said Samson, as they came
out-of-doors. "It is even better than I thought."

"As Douglas Jerrold said of Australia: 'Tickle it with a hoe and it
laughs with a harvest,'" said Dr. Allen, who still sat in the shaded
dooryard, smoking his pipe. "I have an extra horse and saddle. Suppose
you leave the family with Mrs. Rutledge and ride around with me a little
this afternoon. I can show you how the land lies off to the west of us,
and to-morrow we'll look at the other side."

"Thank you--I want to look around here a little," said Samson. "What's
the name of this place?"

"New Salem. We call it a village. It has a mill, a carding machine, a
tavern, a schoolhouse, five stores, fourteen houses, two or three men of
genius, and a noisy dam. You will hear other damns, if you stay here long
enough, but they don't amount to much. It's a crude but growing place and
soon it will have all the embellishments of civilized life."

That evening many of the inhabitants of the little village came to the
tavern to see the travelers and were introduced by Dr. Allen. Most of
them had come from Kentucky, although there were two Yankee families who
had moved on from Ohio.

"These are good folks," said the Doctor. "There are others who are not so
good. I could show you some pretty rough customers at Clary's Grove, not
far from here. We have to take things as they are and do our best to make
'em better."

"Any Indians?" Sarah asked.

"You see one now and then, but they're peaceable. Most of 'em have gone
with the buffalos--farther west. We have make-believe Indians--some
reckless white boys who come whooping into the village, half crazy with
drink, once in a while. They're not so bad as they seem to be. We'll have
to do a little missionary work with them. The Indians have left their
imitators all over the West, but they only make a loud noise. That will
pass away soon. It's a noisy land. Now and then a circuit rider gets here
and preaches to us. You'll hear the Reverend Stephen Nuckles if you
settle in these parts. He can holler louder than any man in the state."

"You bet he can holler some when he gits fixed for it," said Abe, who sat
near the open door.

"He's for them that need scarin'. The man that don't need that has to be
his own preacher here and sow and reap his own morality. He can make
himself just as much of a saint as he pleases."