Dr. Charles Matthews, professor of philosophy in a small New England college, is dismissed, and though heartbroken he and his daughter, Prudence, start in a prairie schooner for the west. At St. Jo, which in 1850 was the outfitting point for the great west, they meet Calliope, so named because of the vast carrying quality of his lungs. He accompanies them on their journey. On the way west, it falls... see more