The Minnesota Handbook for 1856-7

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1857. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XV: LIFE IN THE WEST. EASTERN ERRORS CORRECTED. WESTERN MEN. HOW WESTERN CITIES ARE MADE. GROWTH OF THE WEST. "OVERWROUGHT REPRESENTATIONS" OF THE WEST. Very few Eastern people have a correct conception of Western society, or the rapid progress of the West. The exultant " Eureka" springs to the lips of the wanderer from boyhood's Eastern home, when he treads the horizon-bound prairie, or roams along the banks of our lakes and rivers; but it dies away unuttered as he mingles in our society, or compares our works of improvement with the time in which they have been accomplished; for then his soul is filled with emotions of wonder and surprise to find that our valley is so unlike what his day-dream fancies had painted it. The prairie, with its rich soil and profuse vegetation -- a wide expanse of natural garden plot -- is like what he had conceived; the forests, the rivers, the lakes, the mounds, these are somewhat like his fanciful ideas; but the character of our people, and the works they have performed, are totally unlike all that the generality of Eastern people have imagined. In emigrating to the West, men have come here, not to be conquered by nature, but to make her lavish bounty subservient to their wants and aspirations. Therefore, in our Western homes, idleness, or vulgarity, or ignorance, are rarely met. The father remembers the gentle courtesy, that gave such a charm to the social intercourse which had made his early years a long season of almost undisturbed happiness; he remembers how, in his former home, the priceless boon of education raised men far above the level; he looks forward to the coming time, when his children will jostle through a crowded city, or dwell in the country whose every acre of rich soil shall yield to industry ...