The Church is quite a nice little building, and the service
delightful after so many weeks of not hearing it. We had to take
our horse out, tie it to the churchyard paling, and put the dog,
in the buggy to take care of our goods and chattels.
We are getting quite low at the thoughts of leaving this in ten
days' time; being rather like cats, attached to any place where
one has heaps of occupation, and where one is kindly treated and
well fed, however ugly that place may be.
We have been very busy haymaking since we got home, and a grand
stack is in the course of erection nearly opposite the dining-room
window. You never saw anything so astonishing as the way the oats,
potatoes, etc., have shot up in our absence. Even the puppy, which
we left a fluffy ball, seems to have grown inches. Then, all my
chickens are hatched, and are an endless pleasure and anxiety. I
am supposed to spend hours over them.
We have received four sheets of official paper from Mr. W - - ,
full, of directions about our journey to Colorado, describing his
home, etc., even to the nickel-plated tap we shall find in his
kitchen, which is to supply us with an unlimited amount of water.
He tells us we need bring nothing but a saddle and a
toothbrush, - he will find all the rest; and that we are to make it
a note that it is one of the strictest rules of mining camps that
guests are never allowed to pay for anything. As we hope he is
making a fortune by his mines, we shall not have so much
compunction of accepting these terms. We are to sight-see, climb
I mountains, go into the mines, fish for trout, and do nothing the
live-long day but amuse ourselves.
I am afraid A - - will miss us terribly, dear old soul! He is very
fond of having us here, and is always bemoaning our departure. I
think it will make a great difference to him and to his humdrum
hard-working life, as we are always cheery and have never had a
difficulty or annoyance of any sort.
* * * * *
August 6th.
We are rejoicing now that we have settled to go to the Rocky
Mountains, as the hot weather we speculated on avoiding has come
in with a rush, and for a whole week the thermometer has been at
80 to 85 degrees. One morning before a thunder-storm, when it fell
forty degrees in a few hours, it was up to 90 degrees. We have had
some rain, but not the heavy if storms we have seen wandering round
which generally follow the course of the Assiniboine - a relief to our
minds, as our hay is still out.
