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Michigan Towns Select Towns
I congratulated myself that the lateness of the season would probably prevent any of our eastern acquaintances from making ¦ us a visit until we were better prepared for their reception. I shall not soon forget my mortification when, one fine day, Mr. Alcott, having heard of our arrival, rode up with a friend from Marshall to welcome us. My pride almost got the better of my hospitality, and I hoped they would not remain to dinner; but they did not seem to require much urging to do so. Going without our dinner was in those days no small affair, as many a one can testify who remembers the voracious appetite with which he was visited during the first few months of their sojourn in the west. The dinner, however, passed off much better than I had anticipated. Our table-or rather our substitute for one-though scantily furnished with dishes, was nevertheless amply supplied with good fare. A number of farmers in the country had already raised a large surplus of grain; and venison, wild honey and cranberries could be procured in abundance, and we now looked forward with bright hopes to the future. Our workmen were now busily engaged hewing timber for our new dwelling. We were not going to have a log one, not we. It would be just as easy to build a good one (so we reasoned) first as last.
" Our beautiful plains, though abounding in small trees, did not afford any of sufficient magnitude for building purposes, and, accordingly, we had resource to 'Uncle Sam's' land.
Michigan
Page 60
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