Decatur, Michigan,
August Twenty-third.
Came down from Grand Rapids in the morning intending to stop on the way at Lawton, but was carried by through the carelessness of a brakeman who neglected to announce the stations. The town is quite an important point on the road for its size owing to the extensive fruit orchards of the surrounding farms. This common industry which has sprung up in all parts of the State, but especially in the southern portion, and which attracts more attention than anything else, is a contradiction to the statements of those who examined the country while it was yet a wilderness.
In 1815 the surveyor-general of Ohio made a journey through the State and soberly reported that not more than one acre in a thousand in Southern Michigan would in any case admit of cultivation, yet notwithstanding that worthy's opinion, six hundred thousand peach trees flourished in Southwestern Michigan in 1872! Surely that is a fact to be proud of. On my arrival at Decatur I found the Eagle of Grand Rapids, containing mention of my lecture at that place as follows:
"A very large audience gathered at Luce's Hall last night to hear Captain Willard Glazier. The speaker was earnest and impassioned, his lecture was delivered with a force and eloquence that pleased his hearers, and all who were in the hall went away glad that they had been there, and ready to add to the praises that have been bestowed on Captain Glazier as soldier, author and orator."
Such notices were gratifying—not for the leaven of flattery which they contained, but because they helped along the cause which was to raise a shaft to the deserving dead. For this reason I appreciated the comments of the press and owed much to its co-operation. It is a pleasure to me to acknowledge my indebtedness to this most powerful agent of modern times.
One Hundred and Fifth Day.
Dyckman House,
Paw Paw, Michigan,
August Twenty-fourth.
Took the Michigan Central to Lawton, and changing cars there continued my journey to this place by the Paw Paw Road. Thinking that it might facilitate matters, I had my saddle padded here, and had a talk with the saddler besides, as the delay was becoming serious. At this crisis, if man and horse could have set up a partnership, like the fabled Centaurs, how we could have flown before the wind—or even outstripped the Michigan Central—as we galloped across country towards the setting sun! That old myth was an inspiration. Was it invented by some fanciful traveller-horseman hindered on his way to Rome or Athens, by a saddler or a veterinary surgeon?