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CHAPTER XXI
PROGRESS
IT was by the family of
J. R. Irvine that I had been first
welcomed, and in whose house I found a home.
The reader who has visited St. Paul will hardly believe
that theirs was so recently the only dwelling in Upper
Town, or that the site of the spacious "American"
near that dwelling was then a dense swamp of hazel
bushes, and that the ground of the superb "Winslow,"
and all the fine buildings around it, was covered
with huge forest trees. The brook, which rippled in
the deep shade, is turned into lead pipes, and has
forgotten its ceaseless song of yore. The trees have
disappeared beneath the woodman's ax, and the countless
throng thread the graded streets where for centuries
they had stood.
One hallowed tree the
as has spared, for beneath its shade we laid to rest
the youngest pet-lamb of the family, and we almost
fancy we hear the "angel whispers" among
the flowers on that little mound.
It was a lovely morning
in spring, when one little one "kissed mamma,
good bye," lisped it it her sisters, and went
home with one of her neighbors. There, in an ecstasy
of glee with a sportive kitten, she seated herself
in a pan of glowing coals. O! ask me not to depict
that scene! In less than two weeks of suffering, heart-sickening
to behold, Heaven received the treasure.
"Death found strange beauty on that cherub brow,
And dashed it out."
"What would'st thou, mother, for thy darling?
Could'st ask a greater boon than Heaven's bliss?"
The autumn of 1847 had brought some
acquisitions to the society of St. Paul, so that the
American population, consisted of six, instead of
three, families. A few neat frame cottages were erected,
and a log-cabin, with three rooms, speedily grew to
the spacious "Merchant's Hotel," and in
it Mr. J. W. Bass opened and kept
the first regular public house. His young and accomplished
wife, with a fund of good sense and native dignity
and grace, presided over her department with wisdom
rarely exceeded, and established the fact that a frontier
log-cabin can be as deservedly popular as the Irving,
or Astor. The testimony of those who knew her then
is, that she shone no less the star of her household
than when, at a later day, she was surrounded by all
the luxuries of wealth and fashion.
With the other arrivals of this season
was that of Dr. John Dewey, brother
of ex-Governor Dewey, of Wisconsin.
The community hailed him with joy, for hitherto they
had laboured [labored] under much inconvenience for
the want of a physician. He was a young man, just
graduated from Albany Medical College, possessing
skill in his profession. Thus, provision was made
for the healing of bodily maladies, but who should
attend to those of the soul? Each alternate Sabbath
a motley throng gathered from far and near at the
cross-surmounted building, where the deluded, ignorant
people were instructed to avoid, as a pestilence,
the Protestant Sunday-school, and in the midst of
such innovation to be more zealous for the "true
faith."
Will there ever be a church built here?
will faithful
100
gospel watchmen ever stand upon this
ground? and will there ever be here a people who shall
fear God?—were the frequent and anxious inquiries
of the heart. And shall the rum-traffic ever cease?
and will there be even one man who shall
dare stand up boldly in defense of temperance? These
were mental interrogatories to be answered in due
time. I now learned an important lesson—that
we are not to look for the "full corn in
the ear" as soon as the seed was sown.
Chapter XXII
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