where I was most kindly received by his wife, a little, good-tempered Irish lady. That was in the evening. The next morning was rainy, but afterwards cleared up, and became one of the most lovely days. The whole of the forenoon I was obliged to enact the lioness to an incessant stream of callers, ladies and gentlemen, received from them presents of flowers, books, verses, and through all was obliged to be polite, answer the same questions over and over again, and play over and over again on the piano the same ballads and polskas. Some of these people were evidently interesting people, from whose conversation I could have derived pleasure and profit; but ah! this stream carries all pearls along with it.
I was this forenoon in a large ladies' school, where I saw many handsome young girls, made them a speech, and congratulated them on being Americans; I also saw some agreeable teachers, and then again more gentlemen and ladies. An important reformation in female schools is taking place in these Western States at the present time under the guidance of a Miss Beecher, sister to the highly-gifted young minister at Brooklyn, and who is a kind of lady-abbess in educational matters. In the afternoon I was driven about to see all the lions of the place in a carriage, which a gentleman of the town had placed at my disposal. It was very agreeable, for the town is beautiful; has a charming situation on elevated ground, between Lake Michigan and Millewankee river, and increases with all its might. Four great school-houses, one in each quarter of the town, shone in the sunlight with their ascending cupolas. They are as yet in progress of erection, are all alike, and in a good style of architecture—ornamental without pomp. I saw some handsome, well-built streets, with handsome shops and houses, quite different to those of Chicago. Nearly all the houses in Millewankee are built of brick, a peculiar kind of brick, which is made here from the clay of the
