No such caravan as the Padgett family has been seen moving West
since those days when all the States were in a ferment: when New York
and the New England States poured into Ohio, and Pennsylvania and
Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee into Indiana, Illinois, and even--as a
desperate venture, Missouri. The Old National Turnpike was then a
lively thoroughfare. Sometimes a dozen white-covered wagons stretched
along in company. All classes of society were represented among the
movers. There were squalid lots to--be avoided as thieves: and there
were carriages full of families who would raise Senators, Presidents,
and large financiers in their new home. The forefathers of many a man
and woman, now abroad studying older civilization in Europe, came
West as movers by the wagon route.
Aunt Corinne and her nephew were glad when Zene drove upon the
'pike, and the carriage followed. The 'pike had a solid rumbling base
to offer wheels. You were comparatively in town while driving there,
for every little while you met somebody, and that body always
appeared to feel more important for driving on the 'pike. It was a
glittering white highway the ruts worn by wheels were literally worn
in stone.
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