September 20th. Mrs. Manford returned to Chicago, and at 5 o’clock P. M., I took cars for Quincy, one hundred miles south; and the next morning was steaming across the Missouri prairies to Macon City, sixty miles west of the great river. Most of the country is prairie, high, dry and rolling, with good soil, but thinly settled. Saw large herds of cattle, horses, mules and sheep, feeding on the vast savannas. Lectured in Macon City. A good congregation would immediately be gathered here, if a minister could be obtained. Two lawyers, especially, expressed much anxiety for such an arrangement. Macon is at the crossing of the Hannibal and St. Joseph, and North Missouri railroads, and is bound to be an important town.
September 22d. Rode to Brookfield, forty miles west. Crossed the dividing ridge between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, two of the great rivers of the world. Most of the country is hilly, timber is plenty, and the soil middling. Brookfield is exactly midway between the two rivers. The railroad company has its machine shops here, and the town is in a flourishing condition. The country around is beautiful and productive. It is a charming locality for a home. Rode into the country the next day, Sunday, eight miles, and talked to the people; returned in the afternoon, and lectured to a fair congregation.
September 25th. Proceeded to Chillicothe, forty miles toward the setting sun, and delivered my message. This is a fine town, and improving rapidly. We ought to have a church here, and could soon have one if proper effort was made. We always have large congregations here. I. M. Westfall, several years since, had a discussion in this place with a Methodist minister, and he made the dry bones shake.
September 27th. Journeyed to St. Joseph, about seventy miles. This is the largest town in North Missouri. It is located on the east bank of the Missouri river; has quite a city appearance; the streets are paved, and the business houses are chiefly brick, and of a substantial character. This, and three other towns within seventy-five miles, are striving for the mastery—Kansas City, Leavenworth and Lawrence. Time only will determine which will win. But there is bound to be one large commercial center somewhere in this region. Which of the four will be that city? I refer to 1875 for an answer.
September 28th. Rode to Savannah, thirteen miles northward, and lectured in the evening. R. K. Jones, an active and enterprising man, preaches here monthly. Expect to spend three weeks traveling where there are no railroads; and as I have no conveyance of my own, shall depend on a kind Providence, and good friends for transportation.
September 29th. Rode horseback to Fillmore, ten miles; a sprightly boy went with me to lead the horse back; and on the next day, Sunday, was conveyed by a friend, to Mound City, eighteen miles, where I delivered a long discourse at eleven o’clock, in a beautiful grove, and in the evening spoke in a school-house, four miles distant.
October 1st. Rode a borrowed horse twelve miles, and lectured at night. Was sick two days from excessive speaking. Met a woman who heard me in Ohio twenty-five years ago. Am now sixty miles above St. Joseph, on the Missouri river bottom. The soil is as rich as was that of the far-famed valley of Egypt. Most of the bottom is prairie, and the land dry, warm and easily tilled. It is a charming region—beautiful beyond description. A few miles west, the Missouri bluffs in Kansas and Nebraska are visible. Although barely able to sit on the horse, I rode twelve miles.
October 4th. The ride did me good—am all right again. Went in a buggy to Oregon, twelve miles, and heard an excellent discourse by R. K. Jones. About one year previous, I delivered three discourses in this town, the first of the kind heard there, and they caused considerable excitement; whereupon Mr. Smith, a Presbyterian clergyman, proposed debating, to which I consented. We settled the preliminaries; but Mr. Smith’s ardor for the discussion soon abated, and the subject was dropped. But another party is now trying to get up a discussion with me, and they are corresponding with Mr. Summerhill, of Cincinnati, Ohio, a noted minister in his order, about engaging in it.
October 5th. Went to Fillmore—rode part way, and walked part way—and lectured in the evening. A society will probably soon be organized here, as we have a goodly number of friends within a few miles of the place. At a previous visit to this town, a preacher replied to my discourse. There were several clergymen of different denominations present, and they delegated this one to be spokesman. But he yielded so much that his colleagues were disgusted and said, “he might as well have proclaimed himself a Universalist.”
October 7th. A friend conveyed me on Sunday morning, to Whitesville, eighteen miles, where I spoke on that day twice. Here also a society could be formed.