I have neglected my journal a little on account of sickness. The boat is
anything but agreeable to a person in good health, but to a sick man it
is almost insupportable. When I awoke yesterday morning, I was very much
oppressed with heat, and supposed the weather had moderated in the
night. I got up and went on deck, and fancied that the weather was very
mild, but instead of this, I suppose the difference was in myself,
having contracted a slight fever in the night. In cooling myself I
caught a severe cold, and soon began to feel very chilly. I sat by a hot
stove, wrapped in my overcoat, but it was impossible to get warm, so I
sat shivering all day. Owing to the crowded state of the boat, I had not
got a berth when I took passage, but slept upon the cabin floor, with
about fifty others. I again attempted to get a berth, but could not, so
I was compelled to "chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy" alone. Today
I succeeded in getting a berth of one of the passengers, in which I took
a refreshing sleep, took some quinine, and now begin to feel better. I
also had a very severe pain in my side, but I am getting better of that,
too. As I have been close by the stove for a day or two past, I can say
but little about the country through which I have passed. Yet I know we
have run upon numerous sand bars, backed out and found other channels;
stopped for wood and passengers, and I felt the jarring of the machinery
beneath me. A large number of the passengers on board are more or less
indisposed, so I have not suffered more than many others. We have passed
several respectable towns in coming up, the principal of which are
Boonville, Lexington and Independence. The latter is some four miles
from the river. We expect to reach St. Joseph tomorrow. There is a
report abroad that the cholera prevails at St. Joseph, and some of our
passengers are leaving the boat to avoid it. It is also said to prevail
at other towns on the river. I shall not deviate from my course on that
account. If it is my fate to be stricken down at this time, I shall try
to meet my fate like a Christian. But I have hope and a strong belief
that--
"There's a divinity that shapes our ends
Rough hew them how we will."