lf, I had other
feelings as well as joy, when I first got sight of the great New World
of which I had heard, and read, and thought so much, and so long, and of
which I had dreamt so often. For America had lived in my thoughts from
my early days; and the first faint glimpse of her wooded shores thrilled
my whole soul with unspeakable emotions.

We landed. I examined the emigrant boarding houses. I sought information
about work and wages, and about means of transport to the West. I called
on Horace Greeley and others, to whom I had letters of recommendation,
who helped me to books about the West. I made my way through New York,
and across Lake Erie to Cleveland. I had three brothers who were
settled in different parts of Ohio, and a number of old friends. I
visited them. I explored Ohio. I went into Western Virginia, and
examined some lands there that had been advertised for sale in England.
I passed on to Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. I spent some
days in Chicago. The city was awfully dull. The people were despondent.
I almost think I could have bought the whole city for fifty thousand
pounds. I had a farm offered me for seven dollars and a half an acre, on
which now a great part of the city I suppose is built. I went to
Milwaukie. There the people seemed more hopeful; though several were
leaving for warmer climes. It was autumn, and I treated myself freely to
the peaches and other rich fruits of the country. About the end of
October I started for England, in one of the Cunard Steamers, crossing
the ocean in nine days, about one-sixth of the time I spent in the
voyage out.

I gave to my readers an account of all I had seen, and heard, and read,
and thousands of them left the land of their birth in search of homes in
the domains of the Great Republic. Some got home-sick, and cursed me.
Some got profitable work, or promising farms, and blessed me. And I
learned two lessons; first, that a man must not look to men for the
reward of his beneficent services, but to God and a good conscience;
and, second, that some will be miserable, and that some will be happy,
go where they may:--that it is not the land they live in, but the
dispositions they cherish, and the life they live, that makes their
heaven or hell.

I had already made up my mind to settle in America myself, and early in
1851 I disposed of my business, and prepared to transport myself and my
family to Central Ohio. I had suffered so long from pain, an