om LaPorte, Indiana and arrived in Portland, Oregon, in the winter of 1827. lese final entries provide her first-person account of a pioneering family's allenging voyage and arrival to the West.
ovember 18
1. My husband is sick. It rains and snows. We start around the falls this morning with our wagons. We have five miles to go. I carry my babe and lead, or rather carry another, through snow, mud, and water almost to my knees. It is the worst road a team could possibly travel. I went ahead with my children and I was afraid to look behind me for fear of seeing the wagons overturn into the mud and water with everything in them. My children gave out with cold and fatigue and could not travel, and the boys had to unhitch the oxen and bring them and carry the children on to camp. I was so cold and numb that I could not tell by the feeling that I had any feet. We started this morning at sunrise and did not camp until after dark, and there was not one dry thread on one of us -not even on the babe...
6. She and another widow were in this house. My family and Welch's went in with them and you could have stirred us with a stick. (...)
What does the underlined figurative language contribute to the meaning of this section?
It allows the reader to understand how dirty and unlivable the house was.
It allows the reader to visualize how cramped and crowded the house was.
It allows the reader to realize that the narrator is hoping her children will make new friends.
It allows the reader to sympathize with how poor and desolate the families are.