the human affections! But it was now night; and cold, and hungry, I could not wait for his assistance. I therefore rode up to a house on the brow of the hill and inquired of a woman standing at the door:
"Madam, will you please direct me to a house of entertainment?"
"We take in strangers," was her ominous reply.
"Thanks, madam, thanks! I am very tired and hungry, and would like an early supper."
I soon dismounted and took the first opportunity to survey the premises, It was a log cabin, built two stories high, with but two rooms, one above and one below. It stood on the slope of the hill, with the lower side to the street. On the upper side was a small addition, made by driving four posts in the ground and fastening thereto, by means of wooden pins, huge slabs of boards sawed out from butts of trees, and placed at such a distance apart as to admit air and light. This addition was the great convenience of the premises. It served for kitchen, smoke-house, larder, pantry, wash-house ; in fact for every thing but the entertainment of strangers, The first floor of the main building was filled quite full of chairs, tables, and cupboards, in which the nicely-wiped crockery was tastefully displayed. In one corner of the room was a bed, which, from its cozy, home look, I took to be the resting-place of the master and mistress of the premises. The darkness of the room prevented my making any further observations as to the upper story, except to see that those bound upward had to climb a small, narrow, rickety ladder that stood in one corner.
There was nothing peculiar about the host and hostess except a glaring disparity in their ages, the lady looking as if she might be more readily taken for daughter than wife. Still there was a robust vigor about the man which might readily encourage a widower in a new country to venture a second wife rather than undergo the ills of solitude, Beside, some how or other, in all new countries, the male animal being in reality a kind of monarch of all he surveys, has a wonderful propensity to be waited upon, and the last act of benevolence he would be likely to be guilty of would be to allow any young lady to live without a master while he could officiate in that capacity.
