The next morning I took the stage-coach for Keosauqua, but owing to the condition of the roads, and particularly of Skunk river, I was taken to Keokuk where I had to stay all night. After paying my bill the next morning I found I had only twenty cents left. The next day the stage-coach took me to The Divide, as we called it, as far as Utica postoffice in Van Buren county, and there left me. The hack that should have taken me from there to Keosauqua had already gone before our arrival. I could not stay here all night because I had no money to pay any bill, so I left my one trunk in charge of the postoffice to be sent to Keosauqua the next day on the hack, and I started to walk, then about ten miles, to reach Keosauqua. I had not walked far before I found that I had sprained my ankle slightly in jumping from the coach that morning. The walking became very painful, but I managed to reach Keosauqua about sundown that evening. The first building that looked like a hotel or public house was a frame building that stood southeast of the court house. The high waters of the Des Moines river had flooded the lower part of the town, and I found this house was a boarding house, at that time full of guests. I inquired for the lady of the house and took my seat on a bench on the porch near the front door. Presently the lady of the house appeared, and looking at me very inquiringly wanted to know who I was, where I was from, what was my business, and where I was going. I was a sorry looking subject, having waded through the mud for ten miles, and I presume I looked as I felt--very tired. I gave her my real name, told her I had no business, that I did not know where I was going, and that I had come from Keokuk that day. She told me her house was full and she did not believe she could accommodate me with a night's lodging. I then asked her very politely for permission to remain upon the porch until I was sufficiently rested so I could go further down town and obtain lodging, but I asked her about the town, its population, and about the high waters. The lady turned out to be Mrs. Obed Stannard, the mother of Ed Stannard, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and a very successful business man of St. Louis. She was a good talker, and after conversing with her about twenty minutes I got up to leave, thanking her very cordially for her kindness in permitting me to rest on the porch. She relented and told me she thought if I would stay that she could find accommodations for me. I told her no, that I could not put a lady to any inconvenience when it was unnecessary and I must go, so I left and went down to the front street in the town to the Keosauqua House, kept then by "Father Shepherd," as we always called him, with whom I boarded until after I was married in 1853.