Many did go, and they
made another New England in some of our Western States.
The missionary spirit was strong among my companions. I never
thought that I had the right qualifications for that work; but I
had a desire to see the prairies and the great rivers of the
West, and to get a taste of free, primitive life among pioneers.
Before the year 1845, several of my friends had emigrated as
teachers or missionaries. One of the editors of the "Operatives'
Magazine" had gone to Arkansas with a mill-girl who had worked
beside her among the looms. They were at an Indian mission--to
the Cherokees and Choctaws. I seemed to breathe the air of that
far Southwest, in a spray of yellow jessamine which one of those
friends sent me, pressed in a letter. People wrote very long
letters then, in those days of twenty-five cent postage.
Rachel, at whose house our German class had been accustomed to
meet, had also left her work, and had gone to western Virginia to
take charge of a school. She wrote alluring letters to us about
the scenery there; it was in the neighborhood of the Natural
Bridge.
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