It was a frontier agency, in
immediate juxtaposition with Canada and Hudson's Bay, fifteen hundred
miles of whose boundary closed upon them, separated only by the chain of
lakes and rivers. Questions of national policy frequently came up, and
tended much to augment the interest, which grew out of the national
intercourse.
I had now attained that position of repose and quiet which were so
congenial to my mind. The influence I exercised; the respect I enjoyed,
both as an officer and as a scientific and literary man: every
circumstance, in fact, that can add to the enjoyment of a man of
moderate desires, seeking to run no political race, was calculated to
insure my happiness. And I was happy. No part of my life had so
completely all the elements of entire contentment, as my residence at
the wild and picturesque homestead of Elmwood. I removed my family to
this spot in October, having now a little daughter to enlarge my family
circle, and take away, in a measure, the solitariness effected by the
loss of my son, William Henry.
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