Ever since Governor Slade, of
Vermont, brought some bright young school mistresses up to St. Paul
(in 1849), common school education has been diffusing its precious
influences. The government wisely sets apart two sections of land
the 16th and 36th in every township for school purposes. A township
is six miles square; and the two sections thus reserved in each
township comprise 1280 acres. Other territories have the same
provision. This affords a very good fund for educational uses, or
rather it is a great aid to the exertions of the people. There are
some nourishing institutions of learning in the territory. But the
greatest institution after all in the country the surest protection
of our liberties and our laws is the FREE SCHOOL.
LETTER XIII.
CROW WING TO ST. CLOUD.
Pleasant drive in the stage Scenery The past Fort Ripley Ferry
Delay at the Post Office Belle Prairie A Catholic priest Dinner
at Swan River Potatoes Arrival at Watab St. Cloud.
ST. CLOUD, October, 1856.
YESTERDAY morning at seven I took my departure, on the stage, from
Crow Wing. It was a most delightful morning, the air not damp, but
bracing; and the welcome rays of the sun shed a mellow lustre upon a
scene of "sylvan beauty." The first hour's ride was over a road I had
passed in the dark on my upward journey, and this was the first view I
had of the country immediately below Crow Wing.
