XXVIII The Nature of Man--Facilities for its Study--A Pilgrimage of Observation--Dissection of Character, Physical and Moral--The young Student--The brighter Features of Humanity--An unwitting Episode--Our World a _Ruin_--Sunrise on the Prairies-- Springfield--Its Location--Advantages--Structures--Society-- Prospects--The Sangamon River--Its Navigation--Bottom-lands-- Aged Forests--Cathedral Pomp--A splendid Phenomenon--Civic Honours--"_Sic itur ad astra!_"--A Morning Ride--"Demands of Appetite"--"Old Jim"--A tipsy Host--A revolting Exhibition-- Jacob's Cattle and the Prairie-wolves--An Illinois Table-- The Staples--A Tea Story--Poultry and Bacon--_Chicken Fixens_ and _Common Doins_--An Object of Commiseration 315 XXIX The Burial-ground--A _holy_ Spot--Our culpable Indifference-- Cemeteries in our Land--A sad Reflection--The last Petition-- Reverence for the Departed--Civilized and Savage Nations--The last Resting-place--Worthy of Thought--A touching Expression of the Heart--FRANKLIN--The Object of Admiration and _Love_-- The Burial-ground of Decatur--The dying Emigrant--The Spirit's Sympathy--A soothing Reflection to Friends--The "Grand Prairie"-- The "Lost Rocks"--Decatur--Site and Prospects--A sunset Scene-- The Prairie by Moonlight--The Log-cabin--The Exotic of the Prairie--The Heart--The Thank-offering--The Pre-emption Right-- The Mormonites--Their Customs--Millennial Anticipations--The Angelic Visitant--The _dénouément_--The Miracle!--The System of "New Light"--Its Rise and Fall--Aberrations of the Mind-- A melancholy Reflection--Absurdity of Mormonism 325 XXX A wild Night--An Illusion--Sleeplessness--Loneliness--A Storm-wind on the Prairies--A magnificent Scene--Beauty of {vi} the lesser Prairies--Nature's _chef d'oeuvre_--Loveliness lost in Grandeur--Waves of the Prairie--Ravines--Light and Shade--"Alone, alone, all, all alone!"--Origin of the Prairie-- Argument for _Natural_ Origin--Similar Plains--Derivation of "_Prairie_"--Absence of Trees accounted for--The _Diluvial_ Origin--Prairie Phenomena explained--The Autumnal Fires--An Exception--The Prairie _sui generis_--No Identity with other Plains--A Bed of the Ocean--A new Hypothesis--Extent of Prairie-surface--Characteristic Carelessness--Hunger and Thirst--A tedious Jaunt--Horrible Suggestions!--Land ho!-- A Log-cabin--Hog and Honey 338 XXXI