Only about six months married, Secretary Cuming, for such he had been appointed by President Pierce, with his bride left Keokuk late in September, 1854, in a light covered wagon containing a supply of provisions and a man and wife in his employ. Mrs. Cuming was only eighteen, and with the enthusiasm of youth she regarded the trip as a pleasant adventure, as, indeed, she seems to have done the whole of those first years in Nebraska. And with reason, for, surrounded by the watchful care of her energetic and brilliant lover-husband, with her mother, her brothers, and her sister beside her, occupying a position which afforded much of the pleasure of life and the responsibilities of which were rendered easy to bear by the joint co-operation of her family, those first years were a pleasant dream, rudely dissipated by the death of the idol of her youth, whose too lavish giving of himself to his work had sapped his life forces before anyone was aware of the strain upon him.

Arrived at Council Bluffs they were obliged to remain there until better quarters could be provided within the limits of the territory, and they boarded at the LaClede House, Governor Cuming, as he shortly became, going back and forth to Bellevue, where Governor Burt was located.

"I well remember one trip over to Omaha while still at Council Bluffs," said Mrs. Cuming. "I had been persuaded to drive over with some friends, the Misses Rockwood, Judge Larrimer, and a newspaper man, Mr. Pattison, I believe, and getting caught on this side in one of those severe windstorms which we used to have. They said it was not safe to try to cross the river, and we took refuge in a house by crawling through the window. The house had just been built by General Thayer, who was still in Council Bluffs. I waited very patiently, for I felt certain when my husband returned from Bellevue he would come for me. Some provisions had been stored in the house, as General and Mrs. Thayer were expecting to move in in a few days, and we appropriated some of them and prepared supper. The rest of the party were groaning over the necessity of staying there all night when we heard a shouting, and looking out saw three or

four forms approaching, illuminated by pitch torches which they were carrying. It was my husband, my brother, and our man. Mr. Cuming insisted on starting back immediately, notwithstanding the protests of our male companions, and we were soon off, jumping quickly over the treacherous quicksands until we reached our boats, and crossing in the face of the wind under their vigorous rowing. Those who had told Mr. Cuming on the other side that he couldn't get across were soon astonished to see us walking in."

Mrs. Cuming tells the following story of their inexperience as cooks: "One of our number, who had just gone to housekeeping, invited us to spend the day with her. She had obtained some beans and consulted her cook book as to the way to cook them, but unfortunately these were bake beans and she got the receipt for Lima beans, which said boil about half an hour. She put on the beans according to directions, but they refused to be tender as they should at the expiration of the half hour, so we all sat and waited for those beans until we were so hungry! We were still patiently watching them bubbling up and down in the water when our carriage arrived with word from Mr. Cuming that there was an alarm of Indians and for all to come immediately to the Douglas House, so we left our dinner still boiling and drove into town. The proprietor of the Douglas House had a hungry crowd to feed, none of whom, it was very evident, came from Massachusetts, the land of baked beans."

In 1855 Governor Cuming built the house on Dodge street, near Nineteenth, which, with some additions, remained the home of Mrs. Cuming until about ten years ago. It was a palace for those days, and Governor and Mrs. Cuming set out trees and shrubbery and made a garden, so the grounds also were soon conspicuous for their beauty. The gradual slope, with the outlook upon the river and the hills in the distance, made it a lovely location, and the generous hospitality of the governor and his family made many a pleasant occasion, upon which the settlers of those times look back with affection. When, a few years ago, the old house was torn down and the grounds graded, removing

the trees and obliterating the old landmark, there was many an expression of regret.

"I well remember," said one gentleman, "New Year's day, 1856. Several of us called upon Mrs. Cuming and her mother and sister Fanny, afterwards Mrs. C. W. Hamilton, who were keeping open house. Mrs. Murphy had made a delicious egg-nog, the first tasted since we came to the territory, and we had a merry time." Mrs. Cuming, in speaking of the privations of those early days, said: "I did not realize them then as I have done since, for I personally had so few of them to endure. I remember being complimented on our delicious coffee, and I took it as a tribute to my skill, when the fact was the most delicious Mocha and Java came to us from Mr. Cuming's uncle in New York by the sack, such as is hard to get even now. Thirty dozen eggs came in one day, and when I asked my husband why he bought so many he said we might not have another opportunity to get more during the winter. I afterwards found he paid a dollar a dozen for them." Probably those eggs went to the making of that egg-nog.

There were many social functions in those days; receptions, balls, dances, given at the Douglas House, or the state house, which was down on Ninth street, between Farnam and Douglas, or upon the steamboats, which always made the occasion of their landing the opportunity for a ball in their spacious saloons. The majority of those who participated in them had been accustomed to all the elegancies of social life in the east, and while they laughed at the unavoidable crudenesses of house and banquet table and orchestra, they imparted after all an atmosphere of ease and elegance that was noticeable even then, and with it all was that hearty comradeship which is one of the delights of a new country, and which once participated in is never forgotten. The universal statement to the writer was, "There has never been such hearty sociability since in Nebraska as in those early days." Many of the women who came were brides, and wedding gowns and delicate silks adorned these occasions, and from the first lady of the territory through the list they graced their silken at

Mrs. Murphy, Mrs. Cuming's mother, ended her days in Nebraska in the same house that she and her daughter had dedicated to a governor's hospitality, and Mrs. Cuming has always been and still is a resident of the city which her husband first called into prominence. Although the affliction of his death and the blindness of her mother withdrew her much from sociciety, she is nevertheless identified even in later days with some of the most delightful hospitality of the metropolis of the state. Another official of the first territorial staff was Hon. Experience Estabrook, who was appointed attorney general. He came from Geneva Lake, Wis., in 1855, and was followed by his wife and two children a few months later. They first occupied a house belonging to Dr. Miller, who, with his wife, was absent on a trip up the Missouri in a government steamboat to give his professional services to the soldiers in an epidemic of cholera. Like a true pioneer, his wife had gone with him.

With all possible haste General Estabrook built a house on his own lots at the corner of Tenth and Capitol avenue, that they might get away before Dr. Miller and wife returned. It was built of cottonwood boards nailed up and down to the framework, had one room, with brush and hay roof, and no floor. Dry hay was scattered over the ground and carpets laid over that, and when the rain penetrated the primitive roof and dripped on the carpets and hay they were carried out and hung up, and dry hay substituted. Partitions were made by hanging up other carpets. In this house they lived until a more comfortable one could be erected. At that time Henry Estabrook, since become an orator whose silvery eloquence does honor to Nebraska, was a baby.

Within these primitive surroundings Mrs. Estabrook became famous for her generous aid to every one who needed help. "I hope," said Mrs. Poppleton, another of those pioneer women who has left her impress upon those times, "that you will tell of Mrs. Estabrook that she was always helping someone. She was famous for her cookery, and everyone was made welcome to her table."

Thus do the women of those times bear testimony to the good deeds of each other.

Mrs. Estabrook still lives and still is known as she always was for the quiet unostentatious doing of good.

From Mrs. Lyman Richardson comes the following most interesting sketch, and although she with her family did not come until just after the period prescribed for this article, their experiences as portrayed by her are so interesting a picture of those times that I give them entire. Mrs. Richardson was a daughter of John T. Clark, and the three sisters spoken of were Miss Imogene, who still resides in Omaha; Miss Dora, who married Rev. Algernon Batte; and Miss, who became Mrs. King.

"We arrived in Omaha early in May, '56, after a trip of twelve days on a steamboat, from St. Louis. The trip was a very pleasant one, though at times a little monotonous, as we traveled up stream, and were frequently on a sand bar several hours at a time. We had lovely days and beautiful moonlight nights, and to four young girls, without a thought or a care, life seemed full of joy and pleasure. When we landed there were a number of young men at the landing to see for themselves if it was really true that four young ladies were to be added to the few already here.

"My father had succeeded in renting a house of four small rooms, with a lean-to for a kitchen, from Mr. J. I. Redick, and it stood where the Millard Hotel now stands. The ladies all called on us after a few days. Mrs. Cuming, with her sister Fanny, now Mrs. C. W. Hamilton, Mrs. Hanscom, Mrs. Peck, wife of our physician, Mrs. John McCormick, Miss Lide Patrick, now Mrs. Joseph Barker, and others. We had brought a servant girl with us from St. Louis, who had promised to stay with us one year, but she married in less than three weeks, so we had to cook, wash, iron, and do the housework. As we were novices in it all, it came pretty hard on our dear mother, who, of course, had a general oversight of the work. Later in the season we were able to procure 'help' by going up to Florence and persuading a very incompetent girl to remain over a trip; the Mormons were start