THE PRAIRIE HOME.
Illinois—as every traveler in the Great West knows—abounds in
prairies, many of them of great extent. Among them all, however, there
are none so large and varied as _La Prairie_, so called, which stretches
from the Mississippi River more than a hundred miles into the interior.
Now, it spreads to the horizon’s verge a vast level, carpeted, in the
spring-time, with luxuriant verdure, amid which are scattered myriads of
beautiful wild flowers—anon, the surface slopes in gentle undulations,
rising higher as you proceed, until they become romantic and broken,
dividing into hills and ridges, while clear and sparkling rivulets flow
down the valleys between. Here and there the eye rests upon an oasis of
timber, covering a few acres, and again the traveler scans the field of
vision in vain for a single tree or shrub to relieve the wearisome
monotony of space. Although the soil is rich, and easy of cultivation,
the extreme scarcity of timber has deterred the emigrant from its
occupation, and, save a few settlements in the neighborhood of these
timber-groves, La Prairie is to this day the same solitude as when the
buffalo fed in its green pastures, undisturbed by the ride of the
pale-faced hunter.
Having an opportunity of buying an improvement in one of these beautiful
groves, at a trifling advance from the government price, Mr. Merritt
selected it for his home. They named it Elmwood, and Selkirk, in the
South American isle, was not more isolated from his race than were the
mechanic and his little family in their new abode.
The limits of this history will not allow us to detail the many
ingenious devices that were of necessity resorted to, or the ludicrous
contrivances of Mr. Merritt in the way of carpentry, or the substitutes
adopted for the thousand conveniences they had always been used to, and
never knew the value of before; but suffice it to say, the mechanic
labored earnestly in his new vocation, and succeeded in planting acres
sufficient to insure a plentiful provision for his little flock.