But all this time I have not yet introduced you to my companions on
board; and one of these great American steamers is really a little
world, a little social system in itself, where a near observer of faces
and manners may find endless subjects of observation, amusement, and
interest. At the other end of the vessel we have about one hundred
emigrants on their way to the Illinois and the settlements to the west
of Lake Michigan. Among them I find a large party of Germans and
Norwegians, with their wives and families, a very respectable, orderly
community, consisting of some farmers and some artisans, having with
them a large quantity of stock and utensils--just the sort of people
best calculated to improve and enrich their adopted country, wherever
that may be. Then we have twenty or thirty poor ragged Irish emigrants,
with good-natured faces, and strong arms and willing hearts. Men are
smoking, women nursing, washing, sewing; children squalling and rolling
about.
The ladies' saloon and upper deck exhibit a very different scene; there
are about twenty ladies and children in the cabin and state-rooms, which
are beautifully furnished and carpeted with draperies of blue silk, &c.
On the upper deck, shaded by an awning, we have sofas, rocking-chairs,
and people lounging up and down; some reading, some chattering, some
sleeping: there are missionaries and missionaries' wives, and officers
on their way to the garrisons on the Indian frontier; and settlers, and
traders, and some few nondescripts--like myself.