St. James Hotel,
Iowa City, Iowa,
October Seventh.
The former State House is a fine and capacious building and an ornament to the city. On the removal of the seat of government to Des Moines, one hundred and twenty miles farther west, the building with its extensive grounds was granted by the Legislature to the State University.
I also noted several large places of business here, including dry goods, groceries and hardware. There are several lumber yards, flouring mills, plow factories, iron foundries, for manufacturing machinery; also due proportion to the population.
The newspapers published here are, according to all accounts, ably conducted and well sustained. The surrounding country is well adapted to all the wants of the agriculturist and is thickly settled.
In the evening I delivered my promised lecture to a very full house—Hon. G. B. Edmunds introducing me to the audience. The walls were covered with flags and a profusion of flowers greeted me on my arrival on the platform.
One hundred and fiftieth Day.
Tiffin House,
Tiffin, Iowa,
October Eighth.
Mounted Paul in front of the Saint James to continue my journey and felt the need of an overcoat. Drew rein at Tiffin, a few miles from Iowa City. Of Tiffin little more can be said than that it has a rustic population of about fifty souls. The accommodations at the Tiffin House I must leave to conjecture, as any description would fall short of the reality. The only guests were a Methodist parson, two farmers on an expedition in quest of apples, and an overland tourist. The nabob of the village came into the public room in the course of the evening—a farmer and former State senator. This "Hon." gentleman engrossed our attention for about three hours by a long-winded description of the varieties of the "genus hog"—how to breed, how to feed and fatten, and how to drive him to market; all of which would probably have been edifying and elevating to the average Tiffinite, but it made me and the parson drowsy and I retired to dream of hogs and fat bacon until awakened by the daylight.
One hundred and fifty-first Day.
Grand Pacific Hotel,
Marengo, Iowa,
October Ninth.