Ladys Life on a Farm in Manitoba | Page 6

out of ten prevents our sitting up in bed, and one never can have much
ventilation.
We were awoke earlier on Saturday morning than we either of us quite

appreciated, to be in time for breakfast at La Crosse at 7 o'clock. La
Crosse is a large settlement of sawmills on the banks of the Mississippi,
for cutting up the wood brought down by the curiously flat-bottomed
steamers worked by a paddle in stern the same width as the boat, and
which push innumerable rafts of wood before them. We saw several of
these steamers, and were detained for a long time on the bridge which
crosses the Mississippi, said to be a mile and a quarter long, whilst the
farther end of it was drawn aside to allow of two steamers passing
through. Our railroad skirted the banks of the river, and we were very
excited at seeing an Indian and his squaw in a canoe going down stream.
The conductor of the car conversed with us a good deal the whole way,
was most anxious to know all about our comings and goings, and told
us he would be glad to "learn the train by which we returned, as no
ladies would ever be allowed to leave Manitoba." Unfortunately we
took his advice about the hotels in this place, and on arriving came to
the wrong inn. This one is the most frequented, being close to the
station, but certainly is not as pleasant, either as regards company or
situation, as the other, the Metropolitan. We found one of our fellow
Atlantic passengers at the last-named, and I never saw anyone so
genuinely glad to see friends. He is one of the three men we told you
about, who have invested in thirteen thousand acres in Minnesota. He is
down here trying to hurry the contractors who are to build their houses
and stables at Warren; also to buy farming implements and lumber. His
horses and mules he intends buying at St. Louis. He gives a most vivid
account of all the roughing they have under gone. They are living in a
small way-side inn, nine men in one room with no furniture. One of
them managed one night to get hold of a stretcher in lieu of a bed, and
just as he was settling down to his first beauty-sleep a carter came and
told him to move on, as the stretcher was his. He suggested that as we
are to pass Warren we should pay them a visit on our way up; that he
would take up a tent and furniture, besides provisions; but I do not
think it sounds inviting enough, as, though I do believe we should do
the community a good turn, besides the pleasure of our company, they
would have a tent and a few luxuries after our departure, instead of
feeding, as they daily do, on beans and bacon, living in a filthy hotel
and having had nothing to wash in until they bought themselves a
bucket. Last night, just after we had gone to bed, a loud knock was

made at our door, and a man asked "if we intended getting up to-night,"
at which we were furious; but he persisted in the most determined way
in questioning us as to whether "it wasn't Mrs. H----'s room," and we
had time to get more than angry before we recognised A----'s voice and
simultaneously both jumped out of bed to receive him, en deshabille. It
is very nice of him coming all this way, four hundred miles, to meet us.
He looks much the same as ever, only as brown as a berry from the
reflection of a fortnight's sun on the snow. He is wonderfully cheery,
seems glad to see us, has so many questions to ask of you all, and
swears by the healthiness of the Canadian climate and the life they lead
at the farm. We are none of us ever to be sick or sorry again!
We have been a long drive to-day, starting at 11 o'clock, and only back
just in time to do our last packing, send off this letter, and dine before
we go on to Winnipeg at about 7 o'clock. We drove across a bridge on
the Missouri to Fort Snelldon, a miniature Aldershot, with huts and
tents, and a beautiful stretch of grass for manoeuvres or galloping, on to
the Minhaha Falls, where, we stayed some time gazing and admiring
and even walking under the falls. The volume of water falling seemed
extraordinary, but was completely eclipsed by the falls of St. Anthony
at Minneopolis, which we saw later. The latter originally fell
perpendicularly; but to utilise them for the enormous saw-mills built at
the water's edge they have been under-planked, so that the