We  were  shown  into  the  most  comfortable  looking  of  the  buildings.  A  large
fire  was  burning  in  the  clay  chimney,  and  the  room  was  of  a^  genial  warmth,  not-
withstanding the  apertures,  many  inches  in  width,  beside  the  doors  and  windows.
A  woman  in  a  tidy  calico  dress,  and  shabby  black  silk  cap,  trimmed  with  still
shabbier  lace,  rose  from  her  seat  beside  a  sort  of  bread-irough^  which  fulfilled  the
office  of  cradle  to  a  fine,  fat  baby.
Before  dinner  Mr.  Hamilton  came  in  and  was  introduced  to  me,  and  was  as
agreeable  and  polite  as  the  son  of  Alexander  Hamilton  would  naturally  be.  The
heusekeepor,  who  was  the  wife  of  one  of  the  miners,  prepared  us  a  plain  comfort
able  dinner.  The  blowing  of  a  horn  was  the  signal  for  the  entrance  of  ten  or
twelve  miners,  who  took  their  places  below  us  at  the  table.  They  were  the  rough-
est looking  set  of  men  1  ever  oeheld,  and  their  language  was  as  uncouth  as  their
persons.  They  wore  hunting  shirts,  trowsers,  and  moccasins  of  deerskin,  the  for-
mer being  ornamented  at  the  seams  with  a  frin^ce  of  the  same,  while  a  colored  belt
aroond  the  waist,  in  which  was  stuck  a  large  hunting-knife,  gave  each  the  appear-
ance of  a  brigand.
Mr.  Hamilton  passed  most  of  the  afternoon  with  us,  for  the  storm  raged  so  with-
out that  to  proceed  on  our  journey  was  out  of  the  question.  He  gave  us  many
pleasant  anecdotes  and  reminiscences  of  his  early  life  in  New  York,  and  of  his  ad-
ventures since  he  had  come  to  the  western  wilderness.  When  obliged  to  leave  us
for  a  while,  he  furnished  us  with  some  books  to  entertain  us,  the  most  interesting
of  which  was  the  biography  of  his  father.
