consequences."
Votes were afterward taken but the old man was silent contenting himself
with looking mad.

Our train was gone when we reached Chicago. We stayed all night, going
on early in the morning, reaching La Crosse at dusk and leaving the cars
to take the boat for Winona. The Mississippi was very low and the night
was spent ere we reached Winona.

Monday morning we again took the cars for St. Charles. The railroad then
called Winona and St. Peter, was not completed beyond that point.
Looking from the car windows, we saw sleds and low looking wagons with
one and sometimes two large barrels in them which those who knew, said
were for hauling water. The stage took us safely to the "American House"
at Rochester.

MONUMENT CHAPTER

Minneapolis

MARY FRANCES PARTRIDGE

(Mrs. M. E. Partridge)

ANNA MACFARLANE TORRANCE

(Mrs. Ell Torrance)

Mrs. Mary E. Partridge--1854.

The pioneers were brave souls, able to cope with emergencies of many
kinds. In them, the adage was verified, "As thy days so shall thy
strength be." In 1854 I left Wisconsin, a bride, with my husband, to
begin life on a government claim in Minnesota. As we passed through what
is now the beautiful city of Faribault, there was only one frame house,
which belonged to a half breed from whom the town was named. We settled
eight miles beyond in the township of Medford in a small log cabin with
bark floors, as there were at that time no saw mills in that locality.
Soon our simple house was crowded to the utmost with relatives and
friends looking for claims in this rare section of the state. There was
a scarcity of neighbors, no schools nor places for church or holiday
meetings. It was years before I heard a sermon preached.

It was plain living in those years of self-denial. Only necessities
could be gotten, but soon all this changed. Neighbors began to settle
near. All were willing to share, ever solicitous for the other, all were
on a level, simplicity and cordiality prevailed. There were hardships,
hard labor and trials of many kinds, but these developed strength of
character. All were in the prime of life, of strong manhood and joyous
womanhood. "How beautiful is youth, how fair it gleams, with its
illusions, aspirations, dreams." There were no complaints or murmurs.
Children were welcomed gladly. To my home came three before the oldest
was four years old.

In 1857 came the hard times. Indian corn was the staple food. Few things
th