diff options
Diffstat (limited to '35575.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 35575.txt | 16137 |
1 files changed, 16137 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/35575.txt b/35575.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5541205 --- /dev/null +++ b/35575.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16137 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Peculiarities of American Cities, by Willard Glazier + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Peculiarities of American Cities + +Author: Willard Glazier + +Release Date: March 14, 2011 [EBook #35575] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PECULIARITIES OF AMERICAN CITIES *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Louise Hope and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: Willard Glazier] + + + + + PECULIARITIES + OF + AMERICAN CITIES. + + BY + + CAPTAIN WILLARD GLAZIER, + + AUTHOR OF "SOLDIERS OF THE SADDLE," "CAPTURE, PRISON-PEN AND + ESCAPE," "BATTLES FOR THE UNION," "HEROES OF THREE WARS," + "DOWN THE GREAT RIVER," ETC., ETC. + + + Illustrated. + + + PHILADELPHIA: + HUBBARD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + No. 723 CHESTNUT STREET. + 1886. + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by + WILLARD GLAZIER, + In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. + + + + + To her + + WHO IS NEAREST AND DEAREST; + WHOSE HEART HAS ENCOURAGED; + WHOSE HAND HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE + ILLUSTRATION AND EMBELLISHMENT + OF ALL MY LITERARY WORK, + + This Volume + IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED + + BY + + _THE AUTHOR_. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It has occurred to the author very often that a volume presenting the +peculiar features, favorite resorts and distinguishing characteristics, +of the leading cities of America, would prove of interest to thousands +who could, at best, see them only in imagination, and to others, who, +having visited them, would like to compare notes with one who has made +their PECULIARITIES a study for many years. + +A residence in more than a hundred cities, including nearly all that +are introduced in this work, leads me to feel that I shall succeed in +my purpose of giving to the public a book, without the necessity of +marching in slow and solemn procession before my readers a monumental +array of time-honored statistics; on the contrary, it will be my aim, in +the following pages, to talk of cities as I have seen and found them in +my walks, from day to day, with but slight reference to their origin and +past history. + + WILLARD GLAZIER. + + 22 Jay Street, + ALBANY, _September 24, 1883_. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Portrait of the Author (Steel) FRONTISPIECE. + PAGE + State Street and Capitol, Albany, N. Y. 34 + Boston, as Viewed from the Bay 38 + Soldiers' Monument at Buffalo, N. Y. 62 + View of Baltimore, from Federal Hill 92 + View of the Battery, Charleston, South Carolina 108 + Garden at Mount Pleasant, opposite Charleston, S. C. 112 + Custom House, Charleston, South Carolina 116 + Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina 120 + Public Square and Perry Monument, Cleveland, Ohio 150 + Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 156 + Bird's-eye View of Chicago, from the Lake Side 160 + Burning of Chicago, the World's Greatest Conflagration 164 + Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago 170 + Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 192 + Harrisburg and Bridges over the Susquehanna 200 + Jackson Square and Old Cathedral, New Orleans 274 + Mardi Gras Festival, New Orleans 278 + Bird's-eye View of New York 296 + New York and Brooklyn Bridge 318 + Pittsburg and its Rivers 336 + Night Scene in Market Square, Portland, Maine 360 + Old Independence Hall, Philadelphia 370 + Masonic Temple, Philadelphia 378 + Girard Avenue Bridge, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia 394 + View of Providence, Rhode Island, from Prospect Terrace 400 + Tabernacle and Temple, Salt Lake City 440 + Seal Rocks from the Cliff House, near San Francisco 462 + Levee and Great Bridge at St. Louis 492 + Shaw's Garden at St. Louis, Missouri 502 + University of Toronto, Canada 524 + East Front of Capitol at Washington 538 + State, War and Navy Departments, Washington, D. C. 546 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I.--ALBANY. + + From Boston to Albany.--Worcester and Pittsfield.--The Empire + State and its Capital.--Old Associations.--State Street.-- + Sketch of Early History.--Killian Van Rensselaer.--Dutch + Emigration.--Old Fort Orange.--City Heights.--The Lumber + District.--Van Rensselaer Homestead.--The New Capitol.-- + Military Bureau.--War Relics.--Letter of General Dix.-- + Ellsworth and Lincoln Memorials.--Geological Rooms.--The + Cathedral.--Dudley Observatory.--Street Marketing.--Troy and + Cohoes.--Stove Works.--Paper Boats.--Grand Army Rooms.--Down + the Hudson. 25-37 + + +CHAPTER II.--BOSTON. + + Geographical Location of Boston.--Ancient Names.--Etymology + of the Word Massachusetts.--Changes in the Peninsula.--Noted + Points of Interest.--Boston Common.--Old Elm.--Duel Under + its Branches.--Soldiers' Monument.--Fragmentary History.-- + Courtship on the Common.--Faneuil Hall and Market.--Old State + House.--King's Chapel.--Brattle Square Church.--New State + House.--New Post Office.--Old South Church.--Birthplace of + Franklin.--"News Letter."--City Hall.--Custom House.-- + Providence Railroad Station.--Places of General Interest. 38-56 + + +CHAPTER III.--BUFFALO. + + The Niagara Frontier.--Unfortunate Fate of the Eries.--The + Battle of Doom.--Times of 1812.--Burning of Buffalo.--Early + Names.--Origin of Present Name.--Growth and Population.-- + Railway Lines.--Queen of the Great Lakes.--Fort Porter and + Fort Erie.--International Bridge.--Iron Manufacture.--Danger + of the Niagara.--Forest Lawn Cemetery.--Decoration Day.-- + The Spaulding Monument.--Parks and Boulevard.--Delaware + Avenue.--On the Terrace.--Elevator District.--Church and + Schools.--Grosvenor Library.--Historical Rooms.--Journalism.-- + Public Buildings.--City Hall.--Dog-carts and their Attendants. 57-71 + + +CHAPTER IV.--BROOKLYN. + + Brooklyn a Suburb of New York.--A City of Homes.--Public + Buildings.--Churches.--Henry Ward Beecher.--Thomas De + Witt Talmage.--Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D.--Justin D. Fulton, + D.D.--R. S. Storrs, D.D.--Navy Yard.--Atlantic Dock.-- + Washington Park.--Prospect Park.--Greenwood Cemetery.-- + Evergreen and Cyprus Hills Cemeteries.--Coney Island.-- + Rockaway.--Staten Island.--Glen Island.--Future of Brooklyn. 72-84 + + +CHAPTER V.--BALTIMORE. + + Position of Baltimore.--Streets.--Cathedral and Churches.-- + Public Buildings.--Educational Institutions.--Art + Collections.--Charitable Institutions.--Monuments.--Railway + Tunnels.--Parks and Cemeteries.--Druid Hill Park.--Commerce + and Manufactures.--Foundation of the City.--Early History.-- + Bonaparte-Patterson Marriage.--Storming of Baltimore in + 1814.--Maryland at the Breaking-out of the Rebellion.--Assault + on Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, in April, 1861.--Subsequent + Events during the War.--Baltimore Proves Herself Loyal.-- + Re-union of Grand Army of the Republic in Baltimore, + September, 1882.--Old Differences Forgotten and Fraternal + Relations Established. 85-106 + + +CHAPTER VI.--CHARLESTON. + + First Visit to Charleston.--Jail Yard.--Bombardment of the + City.--Roper Hospital.--Charleston During the War.--Secession + of South Carolina.--Attack and Surrender of Fort Sumter.-- + Blockade of the Harbor.--Great Fire of 1861.--Capitulation + in 1865.--First Settlement of the City.--Battles of the + Revolution.--Nullification Act.--John C. Calhoun.--Population + of the City.--Commerce and Manufactures.--Charleston Harbor.-- + "American Venice."--Battery.--Streets, Public Buildings and + Churches.--Scenery about Charleston.--Railways and Steamship + Lines.--An Ancient Church.--Magnolia Cemetery.--Drives near + the City.--Charleston Purified by Fire. 107-120 + + +CHAPTER VII.--CINCINNATI. + + Founding of Cincinnati.--Rapid Increase of Population.-- + Character of its Early Settlers.--Pro-slavery Sympathies.-- + During the Rebellion.--Description of the City.--Smoke and + Soot--Suburbs.--"Fifth Avenue" of Cincinnati.--Streets, + Public Buildings, Private Art Galleries, Hotels, Churches + and Educational Institutions.--"Over the Rhine."--Hebrew + Population.--Liberal Religious Sentiment.--Commerce and + Manufacturing Interests.--Stock Yards and Pork-packing + Establishments.--Wine Making.--Covington and Newport + Suspension Bridge.--High Water.--Spring Grove Cemetery. 121-139 + + +CHAPTER VIII.--CLEVELAND. + + The "Western Reserve."--Character of Early Settlers.-- + Fairport.--Richmond.--Early History of Cleveland.--Indians.-- + Opening of Ohio and Portsmouth Canal.--Commerce in 1845.-- + Cleveland in 1850.--First Railroad.--Manufacturing + Interests.--Cuyahoga "Flats" at Night.--The "Forest City."-- + Streets and Avenues.--Monumental Park.--Public Buildings + and Churches.--Union Depot.--Water Rents.--Educational + Institutions.--Rocky River.--Approach to the City.--Freshet of + 1883.--Funeral of President Garfield.--Lake Side Cemetery.-- + Site of the Garfield Monument. 140-156 + + +CHAPTER IX.--CHICAGO. + + Topographical Situation of Chicago.--Meaning of the Name.-- + Early History.--Massacre at Fort Dearborn.--Last of the Red + Men.--The Great Land Bubble.--Rapid Increase in Population + and Business.--The Canal.--First Railroad.--Status of + the City in 1871.--The Great Fire.--Its Origin, Progress and + Extent.--Heartrending Scenes.--Estimated Total Loss.--Help + from all Quarters.--Work of Reconstruction.--Second Fire.-- + Its Public Buildings, Educational and Charitable Institutions, + Streets and Parks.--Its Waterworks.--Its Stock Yards.--Its + Suburbs.--Future of the City. 157-175 + + +CHAPTER X.--CHEYENNE. + + Location of Cheyenne.--Founding of the City.--Lawlessness.-- + Vigilance Committee.--Woman Suffrage.--Rapid Increase of + Population and Business.--A Reaction.--Stock Raising.-- + Irrigation.--Mineral Resources.--Present Prospects. 176-181 + + +CHAPTER XI--DETROIT. + + Detroit and Her Avenues of Approach.--Competing Lines.-- + London in Canada.--The Strait and the Ferry.--Music on the + Waters.--The Home of the Algonquins.--Teusha-grondie.-- + Wa-we-aw-to-nong.--Fort Ponchartrain and the Early French + Settlers.--The Red Cross of St. George.--Conspiracy of + Pontiac.--Battle of Bloody Run.--The Long Siege.--Detroit's + First American Flag.--Old Landmarks.--The Pontiac Tree.-- + Devastation by Fire.--Site of the Modern City.--New City + Hall.--Public Library.--Mexican Antiquities. 182-193 + + +CHAPTER XII.--ERIE. + + Decoration Day in Pennsylvania.--Lake Erie.--Natural + Advantages of Erie.--Her Harbor, Commerce and Manufactures.-- + Streets and Public Buildings.--Soldiers' Monument.--Erie + Cemetery.--East and West Parks.--Perry's Victory. 194-198 + + +CHAPTER XIII.--HARRISBURG. + + A Historic Tree.--John Harris' Wild Adventure with the + Indians.--Harris Park.--History of Harrisburg.--Situation + and Surroundings.--State House.--State Library.--A Historic + Flag.--View from State House Dome.--Capitol Park.--Monument + to Soldiers of Mexican War.--Monument to Soldiers of Late + War.--Public Buildings.--Front Street.--Bridges over the + Susquehanna.--Mt. Kalmia Cemetery.--Present Advantages and + Future Prospects of Harrisburg. 199-206 + + +CHAPTER XIV.--HARTFORD. + + The City of Publishers.--Its Geographical Location.--The New + State House.--Mark Twain and the "None Such."--The "Heathen + Chinee."--Wadsworth Atheneum.--Charter Oak.--George H. Clark's + Poem.--Putnam's Hotel.--Asylum for Deaf Mutes.--The Sign + Language.--A Fragment of Witchcraftism.--Hartford + _Courant_.--The Connecticut. 207-215 + + +CHAPTER XV.--LANCASTER. + + First Visit to Lancaster.--Eastern Pennsylvania.--Conestoga + River.--Early History of Lancaster.--Early Dutch Settlers.-- + Manufactures.--Public Buildings.--Whit-Monday.--Home of + three Noted Persons.--James Buchanan, his Life and Death.-- + Thaddeus Stevens and his Burial Place.--General Reynolds + and his Death.--"Cemetery City." 216-221 + + +CHAPTER XVI.--MILWAUKEE. + + Rapid Development of the Northwest.--The "West" Forty + Years Ago.--Milwaukee and its Commerce and Manufactures.-- + Grain Elevators.--Harbor.--Divisions of the City.--Public + Buildings.--Northwestern National Asylum for Disabled + Soldiers.--German Population.--Influence and Results of German + Immigration.--Bank Riot in 1862.--Ancient Tumuli.--Mound + Builders.--Mounds Near Milwaukee.--Significance of Same.-- + Early Traders.--Foundation of the City in 1835.--Excelling + Chicago in 1870.--Population and Commerce in 1880. 222-235 + + +CHAPTER XVII--MONTREAL. + + Thousand Islands.--Long Sault Rapids.--Lachine Rapids.-- + Victoria Bridge--Mont Real.--Early History of Montreal.-- + Its Shipping Interests.--Quays.--Manufactures.--Population.-- + Roman Catholic Supremacy.--Churches.--Nunneries.--Hospitals, + Colleges.--Streets.--Public Buildings.--Victoria Skating + Rink.--Sleighing.--Early Disasters.--Points of Interest.-- + The "Canucks." 236-247 + + +CHAPTER XVIII.--NEWARK. + + From New York to Newark.--Two Hundred Years Ago.--The + Pioneers.--Public Parks.--City of Churches.--The Canal.-- + Sailing Up-Hill.--An Old Graveyard.--New Amsterdam and New + Netherlands.--The Dutch and English.--Adventurers from New + England.--The Indians.--Rate of Population.--Manufactures.-- + Rank as a City. 248-255 + + +CHAPTER XIX.--NEW HAVEN. + + The City of Elms.--First Impressions.--A New England Sunday.-- + A Sail on the Harbor.--Oyster Beds.--East Rock.--The Lonely + Denizen of the Bluff.--Romance of John Turner.--West Rock.-- + The Judges' Cave.--Its Historical Association.--Escape of + the Judges.--Monument on the City Green.--Yale College.--Its + Stormy Infancy.--Battle on the Weathersfield Road.--Harvard, + the Fruit of the Struggle. 256-263 + + +CHAPTER XX.--NEW ORLEANS. + + Locality of New Orleans.--The Mississippi.--The Old and the + New.--Ceded to Spain.--Creole Part in the American Revolution. + Retransferred to France.--Purchased by the United States.-- + Creole Discontent.--Battle of New Orleans.--Increase of + Population.--The Levee.--Shipping.--Public Buildings, + Churches, Hospitals, Hotels and Places of Amusement.-- + Streets.--Suburbs.--Public Squares and Parks.--Places + of Historic Interest.--Cemeteries.--French Market.-- + Mardi-gras.--Climate and Productions.--New Orleans during + the Rebellion.--Chief Cotton Mart of the World.--Exports.-- + Imports.--Future Prosperity of the City. 264-280 + + +CHAPTER XXI.--NEW YORK. + + Early History of New York.--During the Revolution.--Evacuation + Day.--Bowling Green.--Wall Street.--Stock Exchange.-- + Jacob Little.--Daniel Drew.--Jay Cooke.--Rufus Hatch.-- + The Vanderbilts.--Jay Gould.--Trinity Church.--John Jacob + Astor.--Post-Office.--City Hall and Court House.--James Gordon + Bennett.--Printing House Square.--Horace Greeley.--Broadway.-- + Union Square.--Washington Square.--Fifth Avenue.--Madison + Square.--Cathedral.--Murray Hill.--Second Avenue.--Booth's + Theatre and Grand Opera House.--The Bowery.--Peter Cooper.-- + Fourth Avenue.--Park Avenue.--Five Points and its Vicinity.-- + Chinese Quarter.--Tombs.--Central Park.--Water Front.-- + Blackwell's Island.--Hell Gate.--Suspension Bridge.--Opening + Day.--Tragedy of Decoration Day.--New York of the Present and + Future. 281-318 + + +CHAPTER XXII.--OMAHA. + + Arrival in Omaha.--The Missouri River.--Position and + Appearance of the City.--Public Buildings.--History.--Land + Speculation.--Panic of 1857.--Discovery of Gold in Colorado.-- + "Pike's Peak or Bust."--Sudden Revival of Business.--First + Railroad.--Union Pacific Railroad.--Population.--Commercial + and Manufacturing Interests.--Bridge over the Missouri.-- + Union Pacific Depot--Prospects for the Future. 319-325 + + +CHAPTER XXIII.--OTTAWA. + + Ottawa, the Seat of the Canadian Government.--History.-- + Population.--Geographical Position.--Scenery.--Chaudiere + Falls.--Rideau Falls.--Ottawa River.--Lumber Business.-- + Manufactures.--Steamboat and Railway Communications.--Moore's + Canadian Boat Song.--Description of the City.--Churches, + Nunneries, and Charitable Institutions.--Government + Buildings.--Rideau Hall.--Princess Louise and Marquis + of Lorne.--Ottawa's Proud Boast. 326-331 + + +CHAPTER XXIV.--PITTSBURG. + + Pittsburg at Night.--A Pittsburg Fog.--Smoke.--Description of + the City.--The Oil Business.--Ohio River.--Public Buildings, + Educational and Charitable Institutions.--Glass Industry.-- + Iron Foundries.--Fort Pitt Works--Casting a Monster Gun.-- + American Iron Works.--Nail Works.--A City of Workers.-- + A True Democracy.--Wages.--Character of Workmen.--Value of + Organization.--Knights of Labor.--Opposed to Strikes.--True + Relations of Capital and Labor.--Railroad Strike of 1877.-- + Allegheny City.--Population of Pittsburg.--Early History.-- + Braddock's Defeat.--Old Battle Ground.--Historic Relics.-- + The Past and the Present. 332-347 + + +CHAPTER XXV.--PORTLAND. + + The Coast of Maine.--Early Settlements in Portland.--Troubles + with the Indians.--Destruction of the Town in 1690.--Destroyed + Again in 1703.--Subsequent Settlement and Growth.--During the + Revolution.--First Newspaper.--Portland Harbor.--Commercial + Facilities and Progress.--During the Rebellion.--Great Fire + of 1866.--Reconstruction.--Position of the City.--Streets.-- + Munjoy Hill.--Maine General Hospital.--Eastern and Western + Promenades.--Longfellow's House.--Birthplace of the Poet.-- + Market Square and Hall.--First Unitarian Church.--Lincoln + Park.--Eastern Cemetery.--Deering's Woods.--Commercial + Street.--Old-time Mansion.--Case's Bay and Islands.-- + Cushing's Island.--Peak's Island.--Ling Island.--Little + Chebague Island.--Harpswell. 348-365 + + +CHAPTER XXVI.--PHILADELPHIA. + + Early History.--William Penn.--The Revolution.--Declaration + of Independence.--First Railroad.--Riots.--Streets and + Houses.--Relics of the Past.--Independence Hall.--Carpenters' + Hall.--Blue Anchor.--Letitia Court.--Christ Church.--Old + Swedes' Church.--Benjamin Franklin.--Libraries.--Old Quaker + Almshouse.--Old Houses in Germantown.--Manufactures.-- + Theatres.--Churches--Scientific Institutions.--Newspapers.-- + Medical Colleges.--Schools.--Public Buildings.-- + Penitentiary.--River Front.--Fairmount Park.--ZoAślogical + Gardens.--Cemeteries.--Centennial Exhibition.-- + Bi-Centennial.--Past, Present and Future of the City. 366-398 + + +CHAPTER XXVII.--PROVIDENCE. + + Origin of the City.--Roger Williams.--Geographical Location + and Importance.--Topography of Providence.--The Cove.-- + Railroad Connections.--Brown University.--Patriotism of Rhode + Island.--Soldiers' Monument.--The Roger Williams Park.-- + Narragansett Bay.--Suburban Villages.--Points of Interest.-- + Butter Exchange.--Lamplighting on a New Plan.--Jewelry + Manufactories. 399-404 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII.--QUEBEC. + + Appearance of Quebec.--Gibraltar of America.--Fortifications + and Walls.--The Walled City.--Churches, Nunneries and + Hospitals.--Views from the Cliff.--Upper Town.--Lower Town.-- + Manufactures.--Public Buildings.--Plains of Abraham.--Falls of + Montmorenci.--Sledding on the "Cone."--History of Quebec.-- + Capture of the City by the British.--Death of Generals Wolfe + and Montcalm.--Disaster under General Murray.--Ceding of + Canada, by France, to England.--Attack by American Forces + under Montgomery and Arnold.--Death of Montgomery.--Capital + of Lower Canada and of the Province of Quebec. 405-414 + + +CHAPTER XXIX.--READING. + + Geographical Position and History of Reading.--Manufacturing + Interests.--Population, Streets, Churches and Public + Buildings.--Boating on the Schuylkill.--White Spot and the + View from its Summit.--Other Pleasure Resorts.--Decoration + Day.--Wealth Created by Industry. 415-420 + + +CHAPTER XXX.--RICHMOND. + + Arrival in Richmond.--Libby Prison.--Situation of the City.-- + Historical Associations.--Early Settlement.--Attacked by + British Forces in the Revolution.--Monumental Church.-- + St. John's Church.--State Capital.--Passage of the Ordinance + of Secession.--Richmond the Capital of the Confederate + States.--Military Expeditions against the City.--Evacuation + of Petersburg.--Surrender of the City.--Visit of President + Lincoln.--Historical Places.--Statues.--Rapid Recuperation + After the War.--Manufacturing and Commercial Interests.-- + Streets and Public Buildings.--Population and Future + Prospects. 421-432 + + +CHAPTER XXXI.--SAINT PAUL. + + Early History of Saint Paul.--Founding of the City.--Public + Buildings.--Roman Catholics.--Places of Resort.--Falls of + Minnehaha.--Carver's Cave.--Fountain Cave.--Commercial + Interests.--Present and Future Prospects. 433-487 + + +CHAPTER XXXII.--SALT LAKE CITY. + + The Mormons.--Pilgrimage Across the Continent.--Site of Salt + Lake City.--A People of Workers.--Spread of Mormons through + other Territories.--City of the Saints.--Streets.--Fruit and + Shade Trees.--Irrigation.--The Tabernacle.--Residences of + the late Brigham Young.--Museum.--Public Buildings.--Warm + and Hot Springs.--Number and Character of Population.-- + Barter System before Completion of Railroad.--Mormons and + Gentiles.--Present Advantages and Future Prospects of Salt + Lake City. 438-447 + + +CHAPTER XXXIII.--SAN FRANCISCO. + + San Francisco.--The Golden State.--San Francisco Bay.--Golden + Gate.--Conquest of California by Fremont, 1848.--Discovery of + Gold.--Rush to the Mines, 1849.--"Forty-niners."--Great Rise + in Provisions and Wages.--Miners Homeward Bound.--Dissipation + and Vice in the City.--Vigilance Committee.--Great Influx of + Miners in 1850.--Immense Gold Yield.--Climate.--Earthquakes.-- + Productions.--Irrigation.--Streets and Buildings.--Churches.-- + Lone Mountain Cemetery.--Cliff House.--Seal Rock.--Theatres.-- + Chinese Quarter.--Chinese Theatres.--Joss Houses.--Emigration + Companies.--The Chinese Question.--Cheap Labor.--"The Chinese + Must Go."--Present Population and Commerce of San Francisco.-- + Exports.--Manufactures.--Cosmopolitan Nature of Inhabitants. 448-472 + + +CHAPTER XXXIV.--SAVANNAH. + + First Visit to Savannah.--Camp Davidson.--The City During + the War.--An Escaped Prisoner.--Recapture and Final + Escape.--A "City of Refuge."--Savannah by Night.--Position + of the City.--Streets and Public Squares.--Forsyth Park.-- + Monuments.--Commerce.--View from the Wharves.--Railroads.-- + Founding of the City.--Revolutionary History.--Death of + Pulaski.--Secession.--Approach of Sherman.--Investment of + the City by Union Troops.--Recuperation After the War.-- + Climate.--Colored Population.--Bonaventure, Thunderbolt, + and Other Suburban Resorts. 473-486 + + +CHAPTER XXXV.--SPRINGFIELD. + + Valley of the Connecticut.--Location of Springfield.-- + The United States Armory.--Springfield Library.--Origin + of the Present Library System.--The Wayland Celebration.-- + Settlement of Springfield.--Indian Hostilities.--Days of + Witchcraft.--Trial of Hugh Parsons.--Hope Daggett.-- + Springfield "Republican." 487-491 + + +CHAPTER XXXVI.--ST. LOUIS. + + Approach to St. Louis.--Bridge Over the Mississippi.--View + of the City.--Material Resources of Missouri.--Early History + of St. Louis.--Increase of Population.--Manufacturing and + Commercial Interests.--Locality.--Description of St. Louis + in 1842.--Resemblance to Philadelphia.--Public Buildings.-- + Streets.--Parks.--Fair Week.--Educational and Charitable + Institutions.--Hotels.--Mississippi River.--St. Louis During + the Rebellion.--Peculiar Characteristics.--The Future of the + City. 492-510 + + +CHAPTER XXXVII--SYRACUSE. + + Glimpses on the Rail.--Schenectady.--Valley of the Mohawk.-- + "Lover's Leap."--Rome and its Doctor.--Oneida Stone.--The + Lo Race.--Oneida Community.--The City of Salt.--The Six + Nations.--The Onondagas.--Traditions of Red Americans.-- + Hiawatha.--Sacrifice of White Dogs.--Ceremonies.--The Lost + Tribes of Israel.--Witches and Wizards.--A Jules Verne + Story.--The Salt Wells of Salina.--Lake Onondaga.--Indian + Knowledge of Salt Wells.--"Over the Hills and Far Away."-- + A Castle.--Steam Canal Boats.--Adieux.--Westward Ho! 511-521 + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII--TORONTO. + + Situation of Toronto.--The Bay.--History.--Rebellion of + 1837.--Fenian Invasion of 1866.--Population.--General + Appearance.--Sleighing.--Streets.--Railways.--Commerce.-- + Manufactures.--Schools and Colleges.--Queen Park.-- + Churches.--Benevolent Institutions.--Halls and Other + Public Buildings.--Hotels.--Newspapers.--General + Characteristics and Progress. 522-527 + + +CHAPTER XXXIX.--WASHINGTON. + + Situation of the National Capital.--Site Selected by + Washington.--Statues of General Andrew Jackson, Scott, + McPherson, Rawlins.--Lincoln Emancipation Group.--Navy Yard + Bridge.--Capitol Building.--The White House.--Department + of State, War and Navy.--The Treasury Department.--Patent + Office.--Post Office Department.--Agricultural Building.-- + Army Medical Museum.--Government Printing Office.--United + States Barracks.--Smithsonian Institute.--National Museum.-- + The Washington Monument.--Corcoran Art Gallery.--National + Medical College.--Deaf and Dumb Asylum.--Increase of + Population.--Washington's Future Greatness. 528-558 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ALBANY. + + From Boston to Albany.--Worcester and Pittsfield.--The Empire + State and its Capital.--Old Associations.--State Street.--Sketch + of Early History.--Killian Van Rensselaer.--Dutch Emigration.-- + Old Fort Orange.--City Heights.--The Lumber District.--Van + Rensselaer Homestead.--The New Capitol.--Military Bureau.-- + War Relics.--Letter of General Dix.--Ellsworth and Lincoln + Memorials.--Geological Rooms.--The Cathedral.--Dudley + Observatory.--Street Marketing.--Troy and Cohoes.--Stove + Works.--Paper Boats.--Grand Army Rooms.--Down the Hudson. + + +An exceedingly cold day was February fourth, 1875, the day which marked +our journey from Boston to Albany. My inclination to step outside our +car and tip my hat to the various familiar places along the route was +suddenly checked by a gust of cutting, freezing, zero-stinging air. A +ride of between one and two hours brought us to Worcester, a stirring +town of about forty thousand inhabitants. Worcester is noted principally +for its cotton factories, and as a political center in Eastern +Massachusetts. + +Springfield, Westfield and Pittsfield follow in succession along the +route, in central and Western Massachusetts, the first of which has been +made the subject of a special chapter in this book. The last I remember +chiefly as the place where, in the summer of 1866, I took my first steps +in a new enterprise. Pittsfield has large cotton mills, is a summer +resort, and is the nearest point, by rail, to the Shaker community at +Lebanon, five miles distant. At Westfield the Mount Holyoke Railroad +joins the main line, and semi-annually conveys the daughters of the land +to the famous _Holyoke Female Seminary_. + +Leaving Pittsfield we soon reached the State line between New York and +Massachusetts. I sometimes think that after a residence in almost every +State of the Union, I ought to feel no greater attraction for my native +State than any other, yet I cannot repress a sentiment of stronger +affection for good, grand old New York than any other in the united +sisterhood. The Empire State has indeed a charm for me, and a congenial +breeze, I imagine, always awaits me at its boundary. + +A ride of another hour brings to view the church spires of Albany, and +with them a long line of thrilling memories come rushing, like many +waters, to my mind. Here, in 1859, I entered the State Normal School; +here I resolved to enter the army; and here the first edition of my +first book was published, in the autumn of 1865. The work, therefore, of +presenting this chapter upon the peculiar features of the Capital City +of New York, may be regarded as one of the most agreeable duties I have +to perform in the preparation of these pages. + +The traveler now entering Albany from the east crosses the Hudson on a +beautiful iron railroad bridge, which, in the steady march of +improvements, has succeeded the old-time ferry boat. He is landed at the +commodious stone building of the New York Central and Hudson River +Railroad, which is conveniently sandwiched between the Delavan House and +Stanwix Hall, two large, well known and well conducted hotels. + +My first night in a city and a hotel was spent here, at the old Adams +House, located at that time on Broadway just opposite the Delavan. I was +awakened in the morning by the roll and rattle of vehicles, and the +usual din and confusion of a city street. The contrast to my quiet home +in the Valley of the St. Lawrence was so marked, I can never forget the +impression I then received, and as I walked up State street toward the +old Capitol, I almost fancied that such a street might be a fit road to +Paradise. Albany was the gate through which I entered the world, and to +my boyish vision the view it disclosed was very wide, and the grand +possibilities that lay in the dim distance seemed manifold. It is the +oldest city, save Jamestown, Va., in the Union, having been settled in +the very babyhood of the seventeenth century, somewhere about 1612 or +1614. It was originally, until the year 1661, only a trading post on the +frontier, the entire region of country to the westward being unexplored +and unknown, except as the "far west." The red warriors of the Mohegans, +Senecas, Mohawks and the remaining bands of the "Six Nations" held +undisputed possession of the soil, and kindled their council fires and +danced their "corn dances" in peace, unmolested as yet by the aggressive +pale-faces. + +The baptismal name of the embryo city of Albany was Scho-negh-ta-da, an +Indian word meaning "over the plains." The name was afterwards +transferred to the outlying suburban town now known as Schenectady. An +immense tract of land bordering the Hudson for twenty-four miles, and +reaching back from the river three times that distance, included Albany +within its jurisdiction, and was originally owned by a rich Dutch +merchant, one Killian Van Rensselaer, from Amsterdam. The land was +purchased from the Indians for the merest trifle, after the usual +fashion of white cupidity when dealing with Indian generosity and +ignorance. Emigrants were sent over from the old country to people this +wide domain, and thus the first white colony was established, which +subsequently grew into sufficient importance to become the Capital city +of the Empire State. + +Before the purchase of Killian Van Rensselaer, a fort was built +somewhere on what is now known as Broadway, and was named Fort Orange, +in honor of the Prince of Orange, who was at that time patroon of New +Netherlands, as New York was at first called. Old Fort Orange afterwards +went by various names, among which were Rensselaerwyck, Beaverwyck and +Williamstadt. In 1664 the sovereignty of the tract passed into the hands +of the English, and was named Albany, in compliment to the Duke of +Albany. In 1686 the young city aspired to a city charter, and its first +mayor, Peter Schuyler, was then elected. In 1807 it became the Capital +of the State. As an item of interest, it may be mentioned that the first +vessel which ascended the river as far as Albany was the yacht Half +Moon, Captain Hendrick Hudson commanding. + +Albany, like ancient Rome, sits upon her many hills, and the views +obtained from the city heights are beautiful in the extreme. The +Helderbergs and the Catskill ranges loom blue and beautiful towards the +south, Troy and the Green Mountains of Vermont can be seen from the +north, while beyond the river, Bath-on-the-Hudson and the misty hill +tops further away, rim the horizon's distant verge. The city has a +large trade in lumber, and that portion of it which is known as the +"lumber district" is devoted almost exclusively to this branch. One may +walk, of a summer's day, along the smooth and winding road between the +river and the canal, for two miles or more, and encounter nothing save +the tasteful cottage-like offices, done in Gothic architecture, of the +merchant princes in this trade, sandwiched between huge piles of lumber, +rising white and high in the sun, and giving out resinous, piney odors. +Not far from this vicinity stands the old Van Rensselaer homestead, +guarded by a few primeval forest trees that have survived the wreck of +time and still keep their ancient watch and ward. The old house, I have +been told, is now deserted of all save an elderly lady, one of the last +of the descendants of the long and ancient line of Van Rensselaer. +Numerous points of interest dot the city in all directions, from limit +to limit, and claim the attention of the stranger. Among the most +prominent of these is, of course, the new Capitol building now in +process of construction at the head of State street. A very pretty model +of the structure is on exhibition in a small wooden building standing at +the entrance to the grounds, which gives, I should judge, a clever idea +of what the future monumental pile is to be like. Its height is very +imposing, and the tall towers and minarets which rise from its roof will +give it an appearance of still greater grandeur. It is built of granite +quarried from Maine and New Hampshire, and is in the form of a +parallelogram, enclosing an open court. Had I a sufficient knowledge of +architecture to enable me to talk of orders, of pilasters, columns, +entablatures and facades, I might perhaps give my readers a clearer +idea of the magnificence of this new structure, which will stand without +a rival, in this country at least, and may even dare to compete with +some of the marvellous splendors of the old world. + +The Old Capitol and the State Library stand just in front of the new +building, and obscure the view from the foot of State street. The Senate +and Assembly chambers in the old building have an antiquated air, with +their straight-backed chairs upholstered in green and red, and the rough +stairways leading to the cupola, through an unfurnished attic, are +suggestive of accident. In this cupola, once upon a time, in the year +1832, a certain Mr. Weaver, tired of life and its turmoil, swung himself +out of it on a rope. So the cupola has its bit of romance. In this +neighborhood, on State street, above the Library, is located the Bureau +of Military Statistics, which is well worth a visit from every New +Yorker who takes a pride in the military glory of his native State. One +is greeted at the entrance with a host of mementos of our recent civil +war, which bring back a flood of patriotic memories. Here is a +collection of nine hundred battle flags, all belonging to the State, +most of them torn and tattered in hard service, and inscribed with the +names of historic fields into which they went fresh and bright, and out +of which they came smoked and begrimed, and torn with the conflict of +battle. Here are old canteens which have furnished solace to true +comrades on many occasions of mutual hardship. Here, too, is the Lincoln +collection, with its sad reminders of the nation's loved and murdered +President; and in a corner of the same room the Ellsworth collection is +displayed from a glass case. His gun and the Zouave suit worn by him at +the time of his death hang side by side, and there, too, is the flag +which, with impetuous bravery, he tore down from the top of the Marshall +House at Alexandria, Virginia. In the same case hangs the picture of his +avenger, Captain Brownell, and the rifle with which he shot Jackson. In +another part of the room may be seen the original letter of Governor, +then Secretary, Dix, which afterwards became so famous, and which +created, in a great measure, the wave of popularity that carried him +into the gubernatorial chair. + +The letter reads as follows:-- + + "TREASURY DEPARTMENT, + January, 29th, 1861. + +"Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwood, assume command of +the cutter, and obey the order I gave through you. If Captain Breshwood, +after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command of the cutter, +tell Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him as a mutineer and treat him +accordingly. If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot +him on the spot. + + "JOHN A. DIX, _Secretary of the Treasury_." + +The captured office chairs used by Jeff. Davis, in Richmond, the lock +from John Brown's prison door at Harper's Ferry, pieces of plate from +the monitors off Charleston, torpedoes from James River, the bell of the +old guard-house at Fort Fisher, captured slave chains, miniature pontoon +bridges, draft boxes and captured Rebel shoes, may be mentioned as a few +among the many curiosities of this military bureau. Here, too, may be +seen the pardon, from Lincoln, for Roswell Mclntire, taken from his dead +body at the battle of Five Forks; and near by hangs the picture of +Sergeant Amos Humiston, of the 154th New York Regiment, who was +identified by means of the picture of his three children, found clasped +in his hand as he lay dead on the field of Gettysburg. In this room, +also, is the Jamestown, New York, flag, made by the ladies of that place +in six hours after the attack on Sumter, and which was displayed from +the office of the Jamestown _Journal_. Mr. Daly, the polite janitor of +the building, is always happy to receive visitors, and will show them +every courtesy. + +The Geological Rooms, on State street, are also well worthy the time and +attention of the visitor. Large collections of the various kinds of rock +which underlie the soil of our country are here on exhibition, as, also, +the coral formations and geological curiosities of all ages. In an upper +room towers the mammoth Cohoes mastodon, whose skeleton reaches from +floor to ceiling. This monster of a former age was accidentally +discovered at that place by parties who were excavating for a building. +In these rooms, also, there are huge jaws of whales, which enable one to +better understand the disposition of the Bible whales, and how easy it +must have been for them to gulp down two or three Jonahs, if one little +Jonah should fail to appease the delicate appetite of such sportive +fishes. I couldn't help thinking of the lost races that must have +peopled the earth when this old world was young--when these fossils were +undergoing formation, and these mastodons made the ground tremble +beneath their tread. + +Where are these peoples now, and where their unrevealed histories? Shall +we never know more of them than Runic stones and mysterious mounds can +unfold? These reminders of the things that once had an existence but +have now vanished from the face of the earth, and well nigh from the +memory of men--these things are full of suggestion, to say the least, +and are quite apt to correct any undue vanity which may take possession +of us, or any large idea of future fame. We may, perhaps, create a +ripple in the surface of remembrance which marks the place where our +human existence went out, and which, at the furthest, may last a few +hundred years. But who can hope for more than that, or hoping, can +reasonably expect to find the wish realized? "There are more things in +heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy." + +The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, on Eagle street, is one of +the finest church structures in Albany. It is built of brown freestone, +in the Gothic style of architecture, and its two towers are each two +hundred-and-eighty feet in height. Its cost was six hundred thousand +dollars. The interior decorations are beautiful, and the rich stained +glass windows are the gifts of sister societies. On Easter mornings the +Cathedral is sure to be crowded by people of all sects and creeds, +brought there to witness the joyous Easter services which terminate the +long fast of Lent. + +About a mile and a half from the city, on Patroon's Hill, is situated +the Dudley Observatory, where on clear summer nights Albanians come to +gaze at the stars and the moon, through the large Observatory +refractor. The structure is built in the form of a cross, eighty-six +feet long and seventy feet deep. + +One of the first peculiarities which attracts the attention of the +non-resident of Albany is the appearance of the business portion of +State street, in the forenoon, from eight o'clock until twelve. Any time +between these hours the street, from the lower end of Capitol Park down +to Pearl street, is transformed into a vast market-place. Meat-wagons, +vegetable carts, restaurants on wheels, and all sorts of huckstering +establishments, are backed up to the sidewalk, on either side, blocking +the way and so filling the wide avenue that there is barely room for the +street-car in its passage up and down the hill. The descendants of +Killian Van Rensselaer and the aristocratic Ten Eycks and Van Woerts, of +Albany, should exhibit enterprise enough, I think, to erect a city +market and spare State street this spectacle. + + [Illustration: STATE STREET AND CAPITOL, ALBANY, NEW YORK.] + +The manufacturing interest of Albany consists largely of stove works, in +which department it competes with its near neighbor, Troy. This +flourishing city, of about forty-eight thousand souls, is seven miles +distant from Albany, up the river, and is in manifold communication with +it by railroads on both sides of the Hudson, as well as by street +railway. Steam cars run between Albany and Troy half hourly, during the +day and far into the night, and one always encounters a stream of people +between these two places, whose current sets both ways, at all times and +seasons. Troy is at the head of navigation on the Hudson and +communicates by street car with Cohoes, Lansingburg and Waterford. +Cohoes is a place of great natural beauty, and the Cataract Falls of +the Mohawk River at that place add an element of wild grandeur to the +scenery. One of the large, rocky islands in the river, known as Simmons' +Island, is a popular resort for picnic excursions, and is a delightful +place in summer, with its groves of forest trees, and the pleasant noise +of waters around its base. The place seems haunted by an atmosphere of +Indian legend, and one could well imagine the departed warriors of the +lost tribes of the Mohawk treading these wild forest paths, and making +eloquent "talks" before their red brothers gathered around the council +fire. + +The Mohawk and Hudson rivers unite at Troy, and seek a common passage to +the sea. Mrs. Willard's Seminary for young ladies is located in this +city, and is a standard institution of learning. Many of the streets of +Troy are remarkably clean and finely shaded, and handsome residences and +business blocks adorn them. The city is also a headquarters for +Spiritualism in this section of the country. The Spiritualistic Society +has, I am told, a flourishing, progressive Lyceum, which supersedes, +with them, the orthodox Sunday school, and the exercises, consisting in +part of marches and recitations, are conducted in a spirited and +interesting manner. + +Foundries for hollow-ware and stoves constitute the leading branch of +manufacture in the city of Troy. To one not familiar with the process by +which iron is shaped into the various articles of common use among us, a +visit to the foundries of Troy or Albany would be full of interest and +instruction. Piles of yellow sand are lying in the long buildings used +as foundries, while on either side the room workmen are busily engaged +fashioning the wet sand into moulds for the reception of the melted +iron. Originally the sand is of a bright yellow color, but it soon +becomes a dingy brown, by repeated use in cooling the liquid metal. + +Each moulder has his "floor," or special amount of room allotted him for +work, and here, during the forenoon, and up to three or four o'clock in +the afternoon, he is very busy indeed, preparing for the "pouring" +operation. Pig iron, thrown into a huge cauldron or boiler, and melted +to a white heat, is then poured, from a kettle lined with clay, into the +sand-moulds, and in a remarkably short space of time the greenish-white +liquid which you saw flowing into a tiny, black aperture is shaken out +of the sand by the workmen, having been transformed into portions of +stoves. These go to the polishing room, and thence to the finishing +apartment, where the detached pieces are hammered together, with +deafening noise. + +Troy rejoices also in a paper boat manufactory--the boats being made +especially for racing and feats of skill. They find sale principally in +foreign markets, and at stated seasons divide the attention of the +English with the "Derby." The boats are made of layers of brown paper +put together with shellac. + +There is a large society of Grand Army men in Albany, one Post numbering +five or six hundred members. Their rooms are tastefully decorated, and +hung with patriotic pictures, which make the blood thrill anew, as in +the days of '61. A miniature fort occupies the centre of the room, and +emblematic cannon and crossed swords are to be seen in conspicuous +places. + +A trip down the Hudson, in summer, from Albany to New York, is said to +afford some of the finest scenery in the world, not excepting the +famous sail on the castled Rhine; and the large river boats which leave +Albany wharf daily, for our American London, are, indeed, floating +palaces. The capital city of the Empire State is not, therefore, without +its attractions, despite the fact that it was settled by the Dutch, and +that a sort of Rip Van Winkle sleep seems, at times, to have fastened +itself upon the drowsy spirit of Albanian enterprise. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BOSTON. + + Geographical Location of Boston.--Ancient Names.--Etymology + of the Word Massachusetts.--Changes in the Peninsula.--Noted + Points of Interest.--Boston Common.--Old Elm.--Duel Under its + Branches.--Soldiers' Monument.--Fragmentary History.--Courtship + on the Common.--Faneuil Hall and Market.--Old State House.-- + King's Chapel.--Brattle Square Church.--New State House.-- + New Post Office.--Old South Church.--Birthplace of Franklin.-- + "News Letter."--City Hall.--Custom House.--Providence Railroad + Station.--Places of General Interest. + + +Boston sits like a queen at the head of her harbor on the Massachusetts +coast, and wears her crown of past and present glory with an easy and +self-satisfied grace. Her commercial importance is large; her ships +float on many seas; and she rejoices now in the same uncompromising +spirit of independence which controlled the actions of the celebrated +"Tea Party" in the pioneer days of '76. Her safe harbor is one of the +best on the Atlantic seaboard, and is dotted with over a hundred +islands. On some of these, garrisoned forts look grimly seaward. + +Boston is built on a peninsula about four miles in circumference, and to +this fact may be attributed the origin of her first name, Shawmutt, that +word signifying in the Indian vocabulary a peninsula. Its second name, +Tremount, took its rise from the three peaks of Beacon Hill, prominently +seen from Charlestown by the first settlers there. Many of the colonists +were from old Boston, in Lincolnshire, England, and on the seventh of +September, 1630, this name supplanted the first two. + + [Illustration: BOSTON, AS VIEWED FROM THE BAY.] + +In this connection may be given the etymology of the word Massachusetts, +which is somewhat curious. It is said that the red Sachem who governed +in this part of the country had his seat on a hill about two leagues +south of Boston. It lay in the shape of an Indian arrow's head, which in +their language was called Mos. Wetuset, pronounced _Wechuset_, was also +their name for a hill, and the Sachem's seat was therefore named +Mosentuset, which a slight variation changed into the name afterwards +received by the colony. Boston, as the centre of this colony, began from +the first to assume the importance of the first city of New England. Its +history belongs not only to itself, but to the country at large, as the +pioneer city in the grand struggle for constitutional and political +liberty. A large majority of the old landmarks which connected it with +the stormy days of the past, and stood as monuments of its primeval +history, are now obliterated by time and the steady march of +improvements. The face of the country is changed. The three peaks of +Beacon Hill, which once lifted themselves to the height of a hundred and +thirty feet above the sea, are now cut down into insignificant knolls. +The waters of the "black bay" which swelled around its base have receded +to give place to the encroachments of the city. Made lands, laid out in +streets and set thick with dwellings, supplant the mud flats formerly +covered by the tide. Thousands of acres which were once the bed of the +harbor are now densely populated. + +The house on Harrison avenue where the writer is at present domiciled is +located on the spot which once was occupied by one of the best wharves +in the city. The largest ocean craft moored to this wharf, on account of +the great depth of water flowing around it. The land has steadily +encroached on the water, until the peninsula that was is a peninsula no +longer, and its former geographical outlines have dropped out of sight +in the whirl and rush of the populous and growing city. A few old +landmarks of the past, however, still remain, linking the _now_ and the +_then_, and among the most prominent of these are Faneuil Hall, the Old +South Church, which was founded in 1660, King's Chapel, the Old Granary +Burying-ground, Brattle Square Church, quite recently demolished, the +old State House, and Boston Common. The Common antedates nearly all +other special features of the city, and is the pride of Bostonians. Here +juvenile Boston comes in winter to enjoy the exciting exercise of +"coasting," and woe to the unwary foot passenger who may chance to +collide with the long sleds full of noisy boys which shoot like black +streaks from the head of Beacon street Mall, down the diagonal length of +the Common, to the junction of Boylston and Tremont streets. This winter +(1874-5), owing to several unfortunate accidents to passers-by across +the snowy roads of the coasters, elevated bridges have been erected, to +meet the wants of the people without interfering with the rights of the +boys. The Common was originally a fifty-acre lot belonging to a Mr. +Blackstone. This was in 1633. It was designed as a cow pasture and +training ground, and was sold to the people of Boston the next year, +1634, for thirty pounds. The city was taxed for this purpose to the +amount of not less than five shillings for each inhabitant. Mr. +Blackstone afterwards removed to Cumberland, Rhode Island, where he +died, in the spring of 1675. It is said that John Hancock's cows were +pastured on the Common in the days of the Revolution. On the tenth of +May, 1830, the city authorities forbade the use of the Common for cows, +at which time it was inclosed by a two-rail fence. The handsome iron +paling which now surrounds the historic area has long since taken the +place of the ancient fence. + +Perhaps the most noticeable, certainly the most famous object on Boston +Common, is the Great Tree, or Old Elm, which stands in a hollow of rich +soil near a permanent pond of water, not far from the centre of the +enclosure. It is of unknown age. It was probably over a hundred years +old in 1722. Governor Winthrop came to Boston in 1630, but before that +period the tree probably had its existence. It antedates the arrival of +the first settlers, and it seems not unlikely that the Indian Shawmutt +smoked the pipe of peace under its pendent branches. In 1844 its height +was given at seventy-two and a half feet--girth, one foot above the +ground, twenty-two and a half feet. The storms of over two centuries +have vented their fury upon it and destroyed its graceful outlines. But +in its age and decrepitude it has been tenderly nursed and partially +rejuvenated. Broken limbs, torn off by violent gales, have been replaced +by means of iron clamps, and such skill as tree doctors may use. In the +last century a hollow orifice in its trunk was covered with canvas and +its edges protected by a mixture of clay and other substances. Later, in +1854, Mr. J. V. C. Smith, Mayor of the city, placed around it an iron +fence bearing the following inscription:-- + + "THE OLD ELM." + + "This tree has been standing here for an unknown period. It is + believed to have existed before the settlement of Boston, being + full-grown in 1722. Exhibited marks of old age in 1792, and was + nearly destroyed by a storm in 1832. Protected by an iron + inclosure in 1854." + +What a long array of exciting events has this tree witnessed! In the +stirring days of the Revolution the British army was encamped around it. +In 1812 the patriot army occupied the same place, in protecting the town +against the invasion of a foreign foe. Tumultuous crowds have here +assembled on election and Independence days, and its sturdy branches +have faced alike the anger of the elements and the wrath of man. Public +executions have taken place under its shadow, and witches have dangled +from its branches in death's last agonies. Here, in 1740, Rev. George +Whitfield preached his farewell sermon to an audience of thirty thousand +people; and here, also, at an earlier date, old Matoonas, of the Nipmuck +tribe, was shot to death by the dusky warriors of Sagamore John, on a +charge of committing the first murder in Massachusetts Colony. An +incident of still more romantic interest belongs to the history of the +Old Elm. On July third, 1728, this spot was the scene of a mortal combat +between two young men belonging to the upper circle of Boston society. +The cause of dispute was the possession of an unknown fair one. The +names of the young men were Benjamin Woodbridge and Henry Phillips, both +about twenty years old. The time was evening, the weapons rapiers, and +Woodbridge was fatally dispatched by a thrust from the rapier of his +antagonist. Phillips fled to a British ship of war lying in the harbor, +and was borne by fair breezes to English shores. He did not long survive +his opponent, however, dying, it is said, of despair, shortly after his +arrival in England. + +Frog Pond, or Fountain Pond, near the Old Elm, has been transformed from +a low, marshy spot of stagnant water, to the clear sheet which is now +the delight of the boys. October twenty-fifth, 1848, the water from +Cochituate Lake was introduced through this pond, and in honor of the +occasion a large procession marched through the principal streets of the +city to the Common. Addresses, hymns, prayers, and songs, were the order +of the day, and when the pure water of the lake leaped through the +fountain gate, the ringing of bells and boom of cannon attested the joy +of the people. + +Near the Old Elm and the Frog Pond, on Flagstaff Hill, the corner-stone +of a Soldiers' Monument was laid, September eighteenth, 1871. Some idea +of the style of the monument may be gathered from the following +description:--"Upon a granite platform will rest the plinth, in the form +of a Greek cross, with four panels, in which will be inserted +bas-reliefs representing the Sanitary Commission, the Navy, the +Departure for the War and the Return. At each of the four corners will +be a statue, of heroic size, representing Peace, History, the Army, and +the Navy. The die upon the plinth will also be richly sculptured, and +upon it, surrounding the shaft in alto-relievo, will be four allegorical +figures representing the North, South, East and West. The shaft is to be +an elegant Doric column, the whole to be surmounted by a colossal statue +of America resting on a hemisphere, guarded by four figures of the +American eagle, with outspread wings. 'America' will hold in her left +hand the national standard, and in her right she will support a sheathed +sword, and wreaths for the victors. The extreme height of the monument +will be ninety feet. The artist is Martin Millmore, of Boston." + +In the year 1668, a certain Mr. Dunton visited Boston, and wrote the +following letter to his friends in England. It will serve to show the +custom of Bostonians on training day, and recall some of the scenes +which transpired over two hundred years ago on the historic Common. "It +is a custom here," he says, "for all that can bear arms to go out on a +training day. I thought a pike was best for a young soldier, so I +carried a pike; 'twas the first time I ever was in arms. Having come +into the field, the Captain called us into line to go to prayer, and +then prayed himself, and when the exercise was done the Captain likewise +concluded with a prayer. Solemn prayer upon a field, on training day, I +never knew but in New England, where it seems it is a common custom. +About three o'clock, our exercises and prayers being over, we had a very +noble dinner, to which all the clergymen were invited." + +In 1640, Arthur Perry was Town Drummer for all public purposes. There +being no meeting-house bell in town, he called the congregation together +with his drum. "He joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in +that capacity, for which yearly service he received five pounds. The +second additional musical instrument was a clarionet, performed on by a +tall, strapping fellow with but one eye, who headed the Ancient and +Honorable a few strides." The first band of music used in Boston was in +1790, at the funeral of Colonel Joseph Jackson. Yearly, for a period of +between two and three hundred years, this military company has appeared +on the Common, to be received by the Governor of the State, with his +aides, who appointed the new commissions for the year to come and +received those for the year just past. Their anniversary occurs on the +first Monday in June. + +The Brewer Fountain, the Deer Park and the Tremont and Beacon Street +Malls complete the list of conspicuous attractions on the Common. The +Beacon Street Mall is perhaps the finest, being heavily shaded by +thickly-set rows of American elms. A particular portion of this mall is +described as the scene of at least _one_ courtship, and how many more +may have transpired in the neighborhood history or tradition tells us +not! + +The "Autocrat of the Breakfast-table" loved the schoolmistress who +partook of her daily food at the same board with himself and listened +quietly to his wise morning talks, with only an occasional sensible +reply. The schoolmistress returned his passion, but the young Autocrat, +uncertain of his fate, rashly determined that if she said him "nay" to +this most important question of his life, he would take passage in the +next steamer bound for Liverpool, and never look upon her face again. +The fateful hour which was to decide his fate approached, and the +Autocrat proposed a walk. They took the direction of the Beacon Street +Mall, and what happened next his own charming pen-picture best +describes: + +"It was on the Common that we were walking. The _mall_ or boulevard of +our Common, you know, has various branches leading from it in different +directions. One of these runs down from opposite Joy street, southward, +across the length of the whole Common, to Boylston street. We called it +the long path, and were fond of it. + +"I felt very weak indeed (though of a tolerably robust habit) as we came +opposite the head of this path on that morning. I think I tried to speak +twice without making myself distinctly audible. At last I got out the +question:--'Will you take the long path with me?' + +"'Certainly,' said the schoolmistress, 'with much pleasure.' + +"'Think,' I said, 'before you answer; if you take the long path with me +now, I shall interpret it that we are to part no more!' The +schoolmistress stepped back with a sudden movement, as if an arrow had +struck her. + +"One of the long, granite blocks used as seats was hard by, the one you +may still see close by the Ginko tree. 'Pray, sit down,' I said. + +"'No, no,' she answered softly, 'I will walk the _long path_ with you.'" + +Propositions to convert the Common into public thoroughfares have ever +met with stout resistance from "we the people"--the Commoners of +Boston--and only this winter a meeting was held in Faneuil Hall for the +purpose of protesting against this causeless desecration. The occasion +of the meeting was a clique movement to have a street-car track run +through the sacred ground. One of the speakers--a workingman--waxed +eloquent on the theme of the "poor man's park, where in summer a soiled +son of labor might buy a cent apple and lounge at his ease under the +shady trees." + +In 1734, by vote of the town, a South End and North End Market were +established. Before this the people were supplied with meats and +vegetables at their own doors. In 1740, Peter Faneuil offered to build a +market-house at his own expense, and present it to the town. His +proposition was carried by seven majority. Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of +Liberty," was first built two stories high, forty feet wide, and one +hundred feet in length. It was nearly destroyed by fire in 1761, and in +1805 it was enlarged to eighty feet in width and twenty feet greater +elevation. "The Hall is never let for money," but is at the disposal of +the people whenever a sufficient number of persons, complying with +certain regulations, ask to have it opened. The city charter of Boston +contains a provision forbidding the sale or lease of this Hall. For a +period of over eighty years--from the time of its erection until +1822--all town meetings were held within its walls. It is "peculiarly +fitted for popular assemblies, possessing admirable acoustic +properties." + +The capacity of the Hall is increased by the absence of all seats on the +floor--the gallery only being provided with these conveniences. +Portraits cover the walls. Healy's picture of Webster replying to Hayne +hangs in heavy gilt, back of the rostrum. Paintings of the two Adamses, +of General Warren and Commodore Preble, of Edward Everett and Governor +Andrew, adorn other portions of the Hall. Nor are Washington and Lincoln +forgotten. The pictured faces of these noble patriots of the past seem +to shed a mysterious influence around, and silently plead the cause of +right and of justice. The words which echoed from this rostrum in the +days before the Revolution still ring down from the past, touching the +present with a living power whenever liberty needs a champion or the +people an advocate. + +Faneuil Hall Market, or Quincy Market, as it is popularly called, grew +out of a recommendation by Mayor Quincy, in 1823. Two years later the +corner-stone was laid, and in 1827 the building was completed. It is +five hundred and thirty-five feet long, fifty feet wide, and two stories +high. Its site was reclaimed from the tide waters, and one hundred and +fifty thousand dollars were expended in its erection. + +The capital for its construction was managed in such a judicious way +that not only the market was built, but six new streets were opened and +a seventh enlarged, without a cent of city tax or a dollar's increase of +the city's debt. + +The Old State House was located on the site of the first public market, +at the head or western end of State street. It was commenced with a +bequest of five hundred pounds from Robert Keayne, the first commander +of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company." It was known as the +Town House, and was erected about the year 1670. The present Old State +House was built in 1748, on the same site. Its vicinity is historic. The +square in State street below the Old State House, was the scene of the +Boston massacre, March fifth, 1770. "The funeral of the victims of the +massacre was attended by an immense concourse of people from all parts +of New England." About the same year also, in front of this Town House, +occurred the famous battle of the broom, between a fencing master just +arrived from England and Goff, the regicide. This English fencer erected +an elevated platform in front of the Town House and paraded, sword in +hand, for three days, challenging all America for a trial of his skill. +At this time three of the judges who signed the death warrant for +beheading Charles the First, of England, had escaped to Boston, and were +concealed by the people of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Their names +were Goff, Whalley and Dixwell, for whom, dead or alive, Parliament +offered one hundred pounds each. The fencing master made such a stir +about his skill that Goff, hearing of it at his place of concealment in +the woods of Hadley, came to Boston and confronted the wordy hero. His +sword was a birch broom, his shield a white oak cheese slung from his +arm in a napkin. After he had soaked his broom in a mud-puddle he +mounted the platform for battle. The fencing master ordered him off, but +Goff stood his ground and neatly parried the first thrust of the +braggart. The battle then commenced in earnest, and the cheese three +times received the sword of the fencing master. Before it could be +withdrawn, Goff each time daubed the face of his antagonist with the +muddy broom, amid the huzzas of the crowd which had gathered from all +quarters to witness the contest. At the third lunge into the huge cheese +the swordsman threw aside his small blade, and, unsheathing a +broadsword, rushed furiously upon Goff. + +"Stop, sir!" exclaimed Goff; "hitherto, you see, I have only played with +you, and have not attempted to hurt you, but if you come at me with the +broadsword, know that I will certainly take your life!" + +"Who can you be?" replied the other; "you are either Goff, Whalley or +the devil, for there was no other man in England could beat me!" + +Goff immediately retired, amid the plaudits of the crowd, and the +subdued fencing master slunk away with chagrin. + +The interior arrangement of the Old State House has been entirely +remodeled, and is now used exclusively for business. + +King's Chapel, at the corner of Tremont and School streets, is another +noteworthy point of interest. The corner-stone was laid in 1750, and +four years were occupied in its construction, the stone for the building +material being imported. Its church-yard was Boston's first +burial-ground, and some of the tombstones date back as far as 1658. Mr. +Isaac Johnson, one of the founders of Boston, is said to have here found +his last resting place. John Winthrop, his son and grandson--all +governors of Connecticut, lay in the same family tomb in this yard. Four +pastors of the "First Church of Christ in Boston" are also buried here. +The body of General Joseph Warren was placed in King's Chapel before it +was re-interred at Cambridge, and "dust to dust" has been pronounced +over many other distinguished men at this stone church. The edifice is +constructed in a peculiar way, with Doric columns of gray stone, and is +sure to attract the attention of the stranger. It was the first +Episcopal, as well as the first Unitarian church in Boston, and its +pulpit is now the exponent of Unitarian doctrine, added to the Church of +England service. + +Going down Washington street towards Charlestown, we come to the famous +Brattle Square, and its church, which once consecrated the spot. Here +Edward Everett preached to his listening flock, and here, on July +thirtieth, 1871, Dr. S. K. Lothrop pronounced the last sermon within its +walls. Its ancient bell has ceased to ring, and the old-fashioned pulpit +echoes no more to the tread of distinguished men. + +The first Brattle Square Church was built in 1699. It was torn down in +1772, and the next year rebuilt on the same site, the dedication taking +place July twenty-fifth. + +On the night of March sixteenth, 1776, the British under Lord Howe were +encamped in this neighborhood, some of the regiments using Brattle +Square Church as a barrack. A cannon ball, fired from Cambridge, where +the American army was then stationed, struck the church, and was +afterwards built into the wall of the historic edifice, above the porch. +On the next night ten thousand of Lord Howe's troops embarked from +Boston. In 1871 the building was sold by the society, and a handsome +granite block now takes its place. + +The new State House on Beacon street is one of the most prominent +geographical points in all Boston, and the view from its cupola is +second only to that obtained from the glorious height of Bunker Hill +monument. Its gilded dome is a conspicuous object far and near, and +glitters in the sunlight like veritable gold. The land on which the +State House stands was bought by the town from Governor Hancock's heirs, +and given to the State. The corner-stone was laid July fourth, 1793, the +ceremony being conducted by the Freemasons, Paul Revere, as Grand +Master, at their head. The massive stone was drawn to its place by +fifteen white horses, that being the number then of the States in the +Union. Ex-Governor Samuel Adams delivered the address. The Legislature +first convened in the new State House in January, 1798. In 1852 it was +greatly enlarged, and in 1867 the interior was entirely remodeled. +Chantry's statue of Washington, the statues of Webster and Mann, busts +of Adams, Lincoln and Sumner, and that beautiful piece of art in marble, +the full-length statue of Governor Andrew, in the Doric Hall--all +attract the attention of the visitor. In this rotunda there are also +copies of the tombstones of the Washington family of Brington Parish, +England, presented by Charles Sumner, and the torn and soiled +battle-flags of Massachusetts regiments, hanging in glass cases. In the +Hall of Representatives and the Senate Chamber, relics of the past are +scattered about, and the walls are adorned with portraits of +distinguished men. The eastern wing of the State House is occupied with +the State Library Large numbers of visitors yearly throng the building +and climb the circular stairways for the fine view of Boston to be +obtained from the cupola. + +The new Post Office is accounted one of the finest public buildings in +New England. It has a frontage on Devonshire street, of over two hundred +feet and occupies the entire square between Milk and Water streets. It +was several years in building, being occupied this winter for the first +time since the great fire. Its cost was something like three millions of +dollars. Its style of architecture is grand in the extreme. Groups of +statuary ornament the central projections of the building, and orders of +pilasters, columns, entablatures and balustrades add to it their elegant +finish. Its roof is an elaboration of the Louvre and Mansard styles, and +the interior arrangement cannot be surpassed for beauty or convenience. +It has three street facades, from one of which a broad staircase leads +to the four upper stories. On these floors are located important public +offices. The Post Office corridor is twelve feet in height and extends +across two sides of the immense building. At the time of the great fire +of 1872 this structure was receiving its roof, and became a barrier +against the onward sweep of the flames. The massive granite walls were +cracked and split, but they effectually stopped the work of the fire +fiend. + +In the heart of the city, at the corner of Milk and Washington streets, +stands one of the most famous buildings in Boston, and perhaps the most +celebrated house of religious worship in the United States. It was +founded in 1669, and received the name of the Old South Church. The +first building was made of cedar, and stood for sixty years. In 1729 it +was taken down, and the present building erected on the same spot. The +interior arrangement is described as having been exceedingly quaint, +with its pulpit sounding board, its high, square pews, and double tier +of galleries. During the Revolution it was frequently used for public +meetings, and Faneuil Hall assemblies adjourned to the Old South +whenever the size of the crowd demanded it. Here the celebrated "Tea +Party" held their meetings, and discussed the measures which resulted in +consigning the British tea, together with the hated tax, to the bottom +of Boston Harbor. Here Joseph Warren delivered his famous oration on the +Boston Massacre, drawing tears from the eyes of even the British +soldiery, sent there to intimidate him. In 1775 the edifice was occupied +by the British as a place for cavalry drill, and a grog-shop was +established in one of the galleries. In 1782 the building was put in +repair, and has stood without further change until the present time, +nearly a hundred years. In 1872 it was occupied as a Post Office, and +has only been vacated this winter. Its day of religious service is +doubtless over. It will probably be used for business purposes, but +never again as a society sanctuary. + +Opposite the south front of the Old South Church, on Milk street, stood +the house in which Benjamin Franklin was born. Here, on the seventeenth +of January, 1706, the great philosopher was ushered into existence, and +on the same day was christened at the Old South. When he was ten years +old, he worked with his father in a candle manufactory, on the corner of +Union and Hanover streets, at the sign of the Blue Bell. He was +afterwards printer's devil for his brother James, and at eighteen +established the fourth newspaper printed in this country. It was +entitled "The New England Courant." + +The first newspaper of Boston was also the first in the colonies, and +was printed on a half sheet of Pot paper, in small pica. It was entitled +"The Boston News Letter. Published, by authority, from Monday, April +seventeenth, to Monday, April twenty-fourth, 1704." John Campbell, a +Scotchman and bookseller, was proprietor. + +Now the Boston press stands in the front rank of the world's journalism, +and is commodiously accommodated; as the elegant buildings of the +_Transcript_, _Globe_, _Journal_, _Herald_ and other papers, testify. +The _Advertiser_ is the oldest daily paper in the city. + +It is impossible to properly describe Boston within the limits of so +short a chapter, and only a glance at a few other points of interest +will therefore be given. + +The City Hall, on School street, is on the site of the house of Isaac +Johnson, who lived here in 1630, and who has been styled the founder of +Boston. The corner-stone of the new building was laid December +twenty-second, 1672. It is of Concord granite, and is in the finest +style of modern architecture. Here, under the arching roof of the French +dome, the fire-alarm telegraph centres, and the sentinel who stands +guard at this important point never leaves his post, night or day. The +mysterious signal, though touched in the city's remotest rim, is +instantly obeyed, and in less time than it takes to tell it the brave +firemen are rushing to the rescue. A fine bronze statue of Benjamin +Franklin stands in the inclosure in front of the building. + +The Custom House, on State street, is built of granite, even to the +roof. It is constructed in the form of a Greek cross, and is surrounded +by thirty-two granite columns, a little over five feet in diameter. The +site was reclaimed from the tide waters, and the massive building rests +upon about three thousand piles. Over a million dollars were expended in +its erection. + +The Old Granary Burying-ground, once a part of the Common, received its +name from a public granary which formerly stood within its limits. Some +of the most distinguished dust in history is consigned to its keeping. +Paul Revere, Peter Faneuil, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, the victims of +the Boston Massacre, the parents of Franklin, the first Mayor of Boston, +and a long list of other names famed in their day and ours, lie buried +within this ancient ground. Near by, between the Common and the Granary +Cemetery, stands the celebrated Park Street Church, of which W. H. H. +Murray, the brilliant writer and preacher, was, until lately, the +pastor. It used to be known as "brimstone corner." This winter we +attended Park Street Church on the same day with the _brunette_ monarch, +Kalakaua and suite. + +One of the most commodious and elegant stations in New England, or this +country, is that of the Boston and Providence Railroad. It is about +eight hundred feet in length, and is built of brick, with two shades of +sandstone. The track house is seven hundred feet long, covering five +tracks, and has a span of one hundred and twenty-five feet. Its cost is +somewhere in the neighborhood of six hundred thousand dollars. The +interior arrangement is quite novel in style. The waiting-rooms open out +of an immense central apartment with a balcony reaching around the +entire inner circumference. Theatre tickets, flower and cigar stands, a +billiard room and a barber shop, are some of the special features of the +station. Refreshment rooms and dressing rooms, in oak and crimson, are +also an integral part of the building. + +Hundreds of interesting places in this singular and devious city of +Boston must go unnoticed in these pages. The beautiful Tremont Temple +and its Sunday temperance lectures; Music Hall, with its big organ of +six thousand pipes, through one of which Henry Ward Beecher is said to +have crawled, before its erection; the Parker House, one of the crack +hotels of the city; the Revere House, where all the distinguished people +stop, with its special suite of rooms upholstered in blue satin, where +King Kalakaua smoked his cigars in peace; the beneficent Public Library; +the Boston AthenA|um, home of art; the Boston Theatre, the new and +elegant Globe Theatre, and the suburban limits, including Charlestown +and famous Bunker Hill, Cambridge and Harvard University, Mt. Auburn, +Dorchester Heights, Roxbury and East Boston, which was formerly known as +Noddle's Island, and where now the Cunard line of steamers arrive and +depart--all these tempt my pen to linger within their charmed +localities. But it is a temptation to be resisted. When, after many +weeks' sojourn in the intellectual "Hub," I was at last seated in the +outward bound train, ticketed for the west, a regret, born of pleasant +associations and a taste of Boston atmosphere, took possession of me. +The farewells I uttered held an undertone of pain. But the train sped +onward, unheeding, and the city of the harbor seemed to dissolve and +disappear in the smoke of her thousand chimneys, like a dream of the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +BUFFALO. + + The Niagara Frontier.--Unfortunate Fate of the Eries.--The + Battle of Doom.--Times of 1812.--Burning of Buffalo.--Early + Names.--Origin of Present Name.--Growth and Population.-- + Railway Lines.--Queen of the Great Lakes.--Fort Porter and Fort + Erie.--International Bridge.--Iron Manufacture.--Danger of the + Niagara.--Forest Lawn Cemetery.--Decoration Day.--The Spaulding + Monument.--Parks and Boulevard.--Delaware Avenue.--On the + Terrace.--Elevator District.--Church and Schools.--Grosvenor + Library.--Historical Rooms.--Journalism.--Public Buildings.-- + City Hall.--Dog-carts and their Attendants. + + +Buffalo is a kind of half-way house between the East and the West--if +anything may be called west this side of the Mississippi River--and it +partakes of the characteristics of both sections. It was once the chief +trading post on the Niagara frontier, and its vicinity has been the +scene of many a hotly contested battle between dusky races now forever +lost to this part of the world, and almost forgotten of history. Long +ago, the Eries, or the Cat Nation, lived on the southern shores of the +same lake whose waters now lap the wharves of Buffalo. They left it the +heritage of their name, and that is all. + +The race, in its lack of calculation, did not greatly differ from many +isolated instances of the paler race of mankind around us now; for it +died of a too o'erreaching ambition. Jealous of the distant fame of the +Five Nations, the Eries set out to surprise and conquer them in deadly +battle, and themselves met the fate they had meant for the Iroquois. +They were exterminated; and few returned to the squaws in their lonely +wigwams, to tell the tale of doom. + +The noble race of Senecas succeeded the Cat Nation on the shores of Lake +Erie, and after them, from across the great seas, came the dominant, +pushing, civilizing Anglo-Saxons. + +When the war of 1812 broke out, Buffalo was an exceedingly infant city, +and did not promise well at all. Nobody would have then predicted her +importance of to-day. Later, in 1813, the battle of Black Rock was +fought, and while a few old soldiers made a determined stand against the +onset of the solid British phalanx, most of the raw recruits fled down +Niagara street in a regular Bull Run panic, chased by the pursuing foe. +The village was then fired by the enemy, and every building except one +was burned to the ground. The description of the suffering and flight of +women and children, during that harrowing time, draws largely on the +sympathies of the reader, and sounds strangely similar to the newspaper +accounts of the burning of Western and Pennsylvania towns, of more +recent occurrence. + +But, though Buffalo was destroyed by fire, it shortly evinced all the +power of the fabled phoenix, and rose from its ashes to a grander +future than its early settlers ever dreamed of prophesying for it. The +young city, however, suffered in its first days from a multiplicity of +names, struggling under no less than three. The Indians named it +Te-osah-wa, or "Place of Basswood;" the Holland Land Company dragged the +Dutch name of New Amsterdam across the ocean and endeavored to drop it +at the foot of Lake Erie; and finally, it took its present name of +Buffalo, from the frequent visits of the American Bison to a salt +spring which welled up about three miles out of the village, on Buffalo +creek. + +I think Buffalonians have reason to be grateful that the last name +proved more tenacious than the other two. Think of the "Queen City" of +the most Eastern West being overshadowed by the tiled-roof name of New +Amsterdam! + +It was not until 1822, on the completion of the Erie Canal, that Buffalo +began the rapid advance towards prosperity that now marks its growth, +the muster-roll of its population, at this writing, numbering the round +figures of one hundred and sixty-one thousand. It now rejoices in +business streets three and four miles long--full-fledged two-thirds of +the distance, and the remainder embryonic. The harbor-front, facing the +ship canal and the Lake, bristles with the tall tops of huge grain +elevators--a whole village of them. A network of railroad lines, and the +commerce of the great Lakes, have combined to build up and carry on a +vast business at this point, and to make it a station of much importance +between the East and the West. The rails of the New York Central, the +Great Western, the Lake Shore, and the Buffalo and Philadelphia roads, +besides many other lines, all centre here, carrying their tide of human +freight, mainly westward, and transporting the cereals of the great +grain regions in exchange for the manufactured products of less favored +localities. When the representative of New York or New England wishes to +go west, he finds his most direct route by rail, via Buffalo; or, if he +desires a most charming water trip, he embarks, also via Buffalo, on one +of the handsome propellers which ply the Lakes between this city and +Chicago, and steaming down the length of Lake Erie, up through the +narrower St. Clair and the broad Huron, he passes the wooded shores of +Mackinac's beautiful island, surmounted by its old fort, and entering +Lake Michigan, in due time is landed on the breezy Milwaukee banks, or +is set down within that maelstrom of business, named Chicago. Indeed, +after Chicago, Buffalo is the ranking city of the Lakes, and is said to +cover more territory than almost any city in the country outside the +great metropolis--the distance, from limit to limit, averaging seven and +eight miles. Its suburban drives and places of summer resort, owing to +the superior water localities of this region, are much out of the usual +line. Niagara River, famous the world over, allures the daring boatman +from Fort Porter onward, and the wonderful Falls themselves are only +eighteen miles beyond that. Fort Porter, about two miles out from the +heart of the city, is located just at the point where Niagara River +leaves the lake in its mad race to the Falls. Here the banks are high +and command a wide water prospect. Away to the westward the blue lake +and the blue sky seem to meet and blend together as one; and in the +opposite direction the rushing river spreads out like another lake, +towards Squaw Island and Black Rock. One or more companies of United +States Regulars are stationed here, and the barracks and officers' +quarters surround a square inclosure, which is used as a parade ground. +Graveled walks are laid out around it, and a grassy foot-path leads from +the soldiers' quarters to the site of the old Fort on the brow of a +gentle elevation just beyond. The Fort was built for frontier defence, +in 1812, and the interior, now grass-grown and unused, is so deep that +the roof of the stone structure, once appropriated as a magazine, is +nearly on a level with the high ground at your feet. During our last +war the building was occupied as a place of confinement for Rebel +prisoners. It is now in a state of advanced collapse, and the battered +walls and open windows expose to view the ruin within. A small, square +outhouse, near one of the embrasures higher up, which was used for +firing hot shot, is still intact. Field pieces, pointing grimly towards +the Lake, and little heaps of cannon balls lying near, bring freshly to +mind the nation's last war days, when "the winding rivers ran red" with +the mingled blood of comrade and foe. The sunset gun boomed over the +waters while we lingered at the old Fort, and the fading glow of day +bridged the river with arches of crimson and gold. + +Diagonally opposite from this point, one looks across into the Queen's +dominions, where lies the little village of Fort Erie, historic as the +place from which the British crossed to our shores on the night +preceding the burning of Buffalo. + +At Black Rock, about two miles below Fort Porter, the great +International Railroad Bridge, a mile in length, spans the mighty river, +having superseded the old-time ferry. This bridge is the connecting link +on the Grand Trunk Road, between Canada and the States. + +Near its terminus, on the American side, are located the immense +malleable iron works of Pratt & Letchworth, said to be the largest +manufactory of the kind in the world. Their goods certainly find a +world-wide market, taking in New England and the Pacific coast, Mexico, +England and Australia. A pretty picture of the country seat of Mr. +Letchworth, at Portage, New York, may be seen at the Historical Rooms. +It is named Glen Iris, and is surrounded by handsome grounds, groves +and fountains. + +Boating on the Niagara is much in vogue here, notwithstanding the rapid +current and the dreadful certainty of the Falls in case of accident. The +keeper of a boat house at Black Rock, opposite Squaw Island, told me +that the proportion of accidents on the river was frightfully large--far +greater than ever got into the public prints. + + [Illustration: SOLDIERS' MONUMENT AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK.] + +Forest Lawn Cemetery--Buffalo's city of the dead--is one of the +loveliest burial places between Brooklyn and Chicago. It is picturesque +with hill and dale and grove, not to mention a large artificial lake +lapped in one of its grassy hollows, and a winding, wide and +rocky-bedded creek running through it. The name of the creek is spelled +S-c-a-j-a-q-u-a-d-a and pronounced Kon-joc'-e-ta. The Pratt monument, in +a remote portion of the grounds, is perhaps the handsomest in the +cemetery. It looks like a gothic gateway with fluted pillars of Italian +marbles. A sculptured image of a child of one of the Fargos--of the +famous Wells, Fargo & Co.--rests under a glass case on the lap of earth +which marks her grave. The head is peculiarly noble, reminding one of +that of the Belvidere Apollo. It is said to be a truthful likeness. +Decoration Day at Forest Lawn was a picture long to be remembered. On a +little knoll under the trees at the entrance to the grounds the military +and civic processions assembled to listen to the eloquent words of Rev. +Mr. Barrett, of Rochester. When the brief address was concluded, and the +band music and singing were over, we followed the committees of +decoration to the scattered graves of the patriot dead, and witnessed +the strewing of flowers upon their sacred dust. A hushed circle above +the mound of earth, a few fitly-spoken words from one of their number +who knew the soldier-hero, and the floral tributes were tenderly placed +above the sleeper's head. Thus, oh heroes, shall your memory be kept +forever green! The flowers were wrought into every symbolic shape by +which the language of affection could be translated. Crowns, and +crosses, and stars, and anchors of hope, spoke their love and solace. +The graves of the Confederate dead were also decorated, and side by +side, under a common mantle of flowers, the Blue and the Gray received +alike the benediction of the hour. + + "Then beautiful flowers strew, + This sweet memorial day, + With tears and love for the Blue, + And pity for the fallen Gray." + +At Forest Lawn, also, on the historic seventeenth of June--the Bunker +Hill Centennial--a monument was dedicated to the memory of nine +Spauldings who fought at that battle, one hundred years before. The +granite cenotaph was erected by E. G. Spaulding, of Buffalo, descended +from the same blood with the heroic nine. The names of the list +inscribed on the Western front of the monument were headed by that of +his grandfather, Levi Spaulding, who was captain of the ninth company, +third regiment, under Colonel Reed, of the New Hampshire troops, engaged +on that day. + + "For bright and green the memory still + Of those who stood on Bunker Hill, + And nobly met the battle shock, + Firm as their native granite rock." + +Speeches reviving Revolutionary memories, and fresh descriptions of the +Bunker Hill contest, were in order. There was a semi-military +procession, and the interest felt in the occasion was general. A grand +reception at Mr. Spaulding's residence in the evening, concluded the +patriotic anniversary. + +The large park adjoining Forest Lawn is plentiful in attractions, +including the delights of boating on the Konjoceta and loitering in the +shadowy coolness of the primeval woods. In addition to these, Buffalo is +completing a grand boulevard system which encircles half the City, +beginning at what is called the Front, in the neighborhood of Fort +Porter, and making the circuit of the outskirts through Bidwell and +Lincoln and Humboldt parkways to the intersection of Genesee street with +the Parade, on the opposite arc of the circle. One is sure to find cool +breezes along this drive, though the day be the hottest of the season. +Indeed, the summer heats are, at all times, shorn of their fervor in +this Queen City of the Lakes, and its climatic advantages are, +therefore, superior. + +Delaware Avenue is the leading street of Buffalo for private residences, +and here much of the aristocracy do congregate. It is about three miles +long, and double rows of shade trees line either side. Fast driving on +this avenue is licensed by city authority, and racing down its gentle +incline is much in vogue. In winter, when sleighing is good, this is +carried to greater excess, and the snowy road is black with flying +vehicles. Main street, the principal business thoroughfare of the city, +at least for retail trade, is wide, well paved and straight, and is +built up with substantial business blocks. Its sister thoroughfare on +the east, Washington street, towards the lower end as it approaches the +lake, degenerates into manufacturing, and the buzz of machinery and +incessant din of hammers break in on the maiden meditations of the +passive sight-seer. + +As one approaches the Terrace, which is an elbow of blocks at one end +and a diagonal at the other, one is confronted by a confusion of cross +streets, which look as if they had been gotten up expressly to +demoralize one's points of compass. They all look out on Buffalo harbor +and the sea-wall beyond. Ohio street, following the bend of the harbor, +is the great elevator district of the greatest grain mart in the world. +Here, when business is at high tide, between two and three million +bushels of grain per day are transferred by these giant monsters with +high heads. The business places of this department of Buffalo enterprise +are located principally on Central Wharf, in this vicinity, which fronts +the harbor and which is crowded with offices two tiers deep. + +Along the wharf the very air is charged with bustle and activity. +Vessels of all descriptions are arriving and departing at all hours, and +the commerce of the great lakes pours its flood tide into Buffalo +through this gateway. + +As for churches and schools, the city overflows with them. It is +sprinkled in all directions with handsome religious edifices, like +interrogation points, in stone and brick, asking the questions of a +higher life. And there are thirty-six public schools, besides the State +Normal, the Central, and the Buffalo Female Academy. This last is under +the able guidance of Dr. Chester. But even these do not complete the +list, as I understand there are numerous other private institutions of +learning. + +In one of the triangular pieces of ground where the three streets of +Niagara, Erie and Church make their entrance into Main street, stands +the picturesque structure of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. It is +built of brown stone, and the creeping ivy nearly covers one end of it, +from the crosses and minarets at the pinnacle to the trailing vines on +the ground. The gray, gothic edifice of St. Joseph's Romish Cathedral, +fronting on Franklin street, is also very large, and the interior is +rich in architectural design. + +As for the immeasurable realm of books, Buffalo furnishes her children +access to this, through her libraries. Chiefest among them is the +Grosvenor, which has a bit of history all by itself. It was founded by a +retired merchant of New York, who had lived in Buffalo during the +earliest infancy of the city, and whose property had been destroyed when +the then frontier village was fired by the British and Indians, in +retaliation for the burning of Newark. This generous gentleman also left +thirty thousand dollars to found a reference library for the High School +of New York City. His will provided a legacy of ten thousand for +Buffalo, to be applied towards a fire-proof building for a library, and +the sum of thirty thousand, the interest of which was to be used for the +purchase of books. The building fund having been on interest ever since, +now amounts to twenty-eight thousand, and in addition the city has +donated what is known as the Mohawk street property, used at present for +police purposes, which will sell for an amount sufficiently large, +together with the deposit already on hand, to erect a handsome building. +The library is now located over the Buffalo Savings Bank, facing a +pleasant little park between Washington and Main streets. + +In 1870 the interest had more than doubled the donation, and the +Trustees then commenced the work of making the library a living +institution. After a great deal of trouble, they at last secured the +services of Alexander J. Sheldon, who was willing, without any certain +compensation, to undertake the task of organizing and superintending the +library. Mr. Sheldon, who is an expert in books, is native to the city, +and from boyhood has been connected with this line of business. The +first year of his hard labor at the Grosvenor was rewarded by the large +sum of five hundred dollars! It was well for the institution, however, +that Mr. Sheldon was not dependent on his salary for support. He entered +into the work with an enthusiasm which surmounted all difficulties, and +which has brought the library to its present state of progress, making +it a credit to the city of Buffalo. + +The large reading room is neatly fitted up with black walnut cases, nine +feet in length, and eight feet high, opening on both sides, and capable +of holding eight or nine hundred average volumes. There are about thirty +of these cases in the room, with reading tables and easy chairs +interspersed between them. The style of alcove and arrangement, which +was also Mr. Sheldon's suggestion, produces a very handsome effect. The +cases stand on black walnut platforms six inches in height, and are +surmounted by a pretty cornice. The shelves are interchangeable, and are +of such moderate height that the necessity for step-ladders is entirely +avoided. There are also dummy volumes, made to resemble books and +properly titled, which, if their mission is to deceive the uninitiated, +certainly accomplish that task. The number of volumes has now +accumulated to about eighteen thousand, and includes the choicest works +in art, science, literature and the professions. The fiction department +comprehends all the recognized standard works, but the mass of worthless +novels, which pass current in some of our circulating libraries, is +unhesitatingly excluded. The bindings are nearly all morocco, with gilt +or marbled tops, and the back of each book, as it is added to the +library, is given a coat of white shellac varnish, which prevents it, in +a great degree, from fading, and renders it easy of renovation. + +The small ante-room which is used by the librarian and committeemen +contains several hundred volumes on bibliography, which is a very +important feature of such an institution. The rooms in summer are +breezy, from the lake winds, and in winter are heated by steam +radiators. A heavy cocoa matting deadens all sound on the floors, and +absolute quiet is thus secured. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Sheldon, +the Grosvenor is undoubtedly the best library for a student west of the +Hudson. + +The Historical Rooms deserve notice as one of the salient points of +Buffalo, and though the Society is young and not by any means wealthy, +yet it is fairly started on its road to distinction. It was founded in +1862, and subsists principally by donations, as it is yet too poor to +make purchases of books or relics. The Rooms are located at the corner +of Main and Court streets, nearly opposite the ancient site of the old +Eagle Tavern. A picture of this hotel as it looked fifty years ago may +be seen among their collection. A huge gilt eagle surmounted the main +entrance, and an enclosed porch, or what looks like it, at one end of +the building, bore the inscription "_Coach Office_," in large letters +over the doorway. Here also is the noble looking portrait of Red Jacket, +the great Seneca Chief, together with the grand-daughter of Red Jacket's +second wife--Nancy Stevenson--taken at sixteen. This bright-eyed, brown +maiden married an Indian named Hiram Dennis, and was still living in +1872. Belts of wampum, war hatchets and pipes of peace, besides numerous +pictures, in oil, of celebrated red warriors, are among the Indian +mementoes connected with Buffalo's early history. The war of 1812 also +contributes its scattered waifs to keep alive the memory of that time. +The sword of Major-General Brown, worn at the battle of Sackett's +Harbor, and a piece of timber from Perry's ship, on which is traced the +legend "We have met the enemy and they are ours," are among the +heirlooms of history. Here, too, is a Mexican lance from the field of +Monterey, and the clarionette used in Buffalo's first band of music, +whose strains helped swell the chorus during the triumphal march of +Lafayette through her streets in 1824. A representation of the first +boat on the Erie Canal, named "Chief Engineer of Rome," looks quaint +enough. The walls of the large apartment devoted to historical +collections are covered with pictures of Buffalo's prominent men, and at +one end of the room hangs a handsome portrait of Millard Fillmore, set +in heavy gilt. Their list of books and directories is also quite large. +The story of a city's growth is always one of deep interest, and the +generations of future years will, no doubt, be grateful for these +landmarks of their early history. + +Journalism in Buffalo rides on the top wave, and her leading papers have +achieved an enviable fame. Eight dailies swell the list, four of which +are German, besides ten weeklies and seven monthly papers. The history +of the _Commercial Advertiser_ dates back to October, 1811. It was +issued at that time, under the name of the _Buffalo Gazette_, by the +Salisbury brothers, from Canandaigua. With the exception of a paper at +Batavia, begun in 1807, the _Gazette_ was the only paper published at +that time in Western New York. It afterwards changed its name to the +_Buffalo Patriot_, and since 1836 it has been issued as the _Daily +Commercial Advertiser_. The _Courier_ and _Commercial_ are the ranking +papers of the city, in point of influence. + +Buffalo doesn't seem to be ambitious of display in her public buildings, +judging from the quality of those already on hand. The new City Hall, +however, is a noble exception to the general rule. It is built of Maine +granite, in the form of a double Roman cross, and the tower, which is +two hundred and forty-five feet high, is surmounted by four pieces of +statuary. Its estimated cost is over two millions of dollars. + +St. James' Hall and the Academy of Music are the chief places of +amusement in the city, the latter place being conducted by the Meech +brothers, two young gentlemen of acknowledged ability. Many noted stars +of the stage whose names have blazed forth in histrionic glory have here +made their first conquests, before applauding audiences. The stock +company is unusually good, Ben Rogers, stage manager and first comedian, +being a host in himself. + +The fire department of the city is said to be exceedingly efficient, and +the police system has gained a reputation for thorough work which ought +to be the terror of the criminal class. It embraces a body of mounted +police, a corps of detectives and of patrolmen, besides the regular +force stationed at the harbor. + +Among the minor peculiarities of Buffalo may be mentioned the +superabundance of dog carts to be seen in her streets; not the +conventional kind that goes rolling down Fifth Avenue, among the +bewildering array of splendid equipages--coupes, landaus, landaulets, +drags and what not--that daily make their way to Central Park; not any +of these; but the original dog cart, with the dog attached. He is to be +seen in all the varieties of the species, from a muddy yellow to the +fierce-looking mastiff. He is usually harnessed in company with a +collapsed old woman or a cadaverous looking little boy, and he carries +all kinds of mixed freight, from an ash barrel to a load of sticks. The +undercurrent of Buffalo society does not seem to look upon the dog in a +purely ornamental light. + +This chapter on a place so fertile in suggestion might be prolonged +indefinitely; but we are gazing westward, along a line of cities whose +terminus does not end until it reaches the Golden Gate and the most +famous centre of population on the Pacific coast. Our steps are bent +toward that far-off goal, and we must say good-bye to the ancient land +of the Eries and the former haunts of the buffalo. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BROOKLYN. + + Brooklyn a Suburb of New York.--A City of Homes.--Public + Buildings.--Churches.--Henry Ward Beecher.--Thomas De Witt + Talmage.--Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D.--Justin D. Fulton, D.D.-- + R. S. Storrs, D.D.--Navy Yard.--Atlantic Dock.--Washington + Park.--Prospect Park.--Greenwood Cemetery.--Evergreen and + Cyprus Hills Cemeteries.--Coney Island.--Rockaway.--Staten + Island.--Glen Island.--Future of Brooklyn. + + +New York holds such supremacy over the other cities of the United States +that she almost overshadows Brooklyn, which lies so near her as to be +separated only by the narrow channel of the East River. Yet Brooklyn in +any other locality would be a city of the first importance, ranking, as +she does, the third in the Union as to size and population, and +numbering not less than six hundred thousand inhabitants. Practically +New York and Brooklyn are but one city, with identical commercial +interests, and a great deal else in common. Many of the most prominent +business men of the former city find their homes in the latter; and by +means of the numerous ferries and the great Suspension Bridge there is a +constant interchange of people between them. The time may come when they +will be united under one municipal government; though, no doubt, many of +the older residents of Brooklyn, who have helped to build her up to her +present extent and prosperity, would object to losing her name and +identity. But should such a union ever take place, there will be at once +created, next to London, the largest city of the world, with a +population of not less than two millions of people. + +Brooklyn is situated on the west end of Long Island, and overlooks both +the East River and the Bay. It extends nearly eight miles from north to +south, and is about four miles from east to west. Its business is not so +extended or so important as that of New York, nor, as a rule, are its +business edifices so imposing, though some of them present a very fine +appearance. It is, in fact, a great suburb of the metropolitan city, +composed more largely of dwellings than of commercial houses. Its +business men, each morning, make an exodus across the East River to Wall +street, or Broadway, or other streets of New York, and then return at +night. It is, in fact, a great city of homes, all of them comfortable +and many of them elegant. There is no squalor, such as is found in Mott +or Baxter streets and the Five Points and their neighborhood, in its +sister city. Handsome mansions, tasteful cottages and plain but neat +rows of dwellings are found everywhere, and the streets are beautifully +shaded by avenues of trees. + +The public buildings of Brooklyn worthy of notice are few, compared to +those of New York. Fulton street is its principal thoroughfare, and +contains occasional handsome edifices. The City Hall, on an open square +at the junction of Fulton court and Joraleman street, is a fine, white +marble building, in Ionic style, with six columns supporting the roof of +the portico. It is surmounted by a tower one hundred and fifty-three +feet in height. Just back of this, to the southeast, and facing toward +Fulton street, is the County Court House, with a white marble front, a +Corinthian portico, and an iron dome one hundred and four feet high. +Beside the Court House, to the westward, stands the Municipal Building, +also of marble, four stories in height, with a mansard roof, and a tower +at each corner. The Post Office is in Washington street, north of the +City Hall. The Long Island Historical Society has a fine edifice at the +corner of Clinton and Pierrepont streets, and possesses a large library +and collection of curiosities. The Academy of Design, on Montague +street, has a handsome exterior; opposite is the Mercantile Library, a +striking Gothic structure, containing two reading rooms and a library of +forty-eight thousand volumes. The building of the Young Men's Christian +Association is on Fulton street, at the corner of Gallatin Place, and +contains a library and free reading room. The Penitentiary is an immense +stone structure on Nostrand avenue, near the city limits. The County +Jail, in Raymond street, is constructed of red sandstone, in castellated +Gothic style. The Long Island College Hospital is an imposing building, +surrounded by extensive grounds, on Henry street near Pacific. + +Brooklyn is, preeminently, the City of Churches, of which she is said to +contain not less than one hundred. She has secured the services of the +most eminent clergymen in the country, and thousands of people each year +make a pilgrimage thither, for the sole purpose of listening to some one +or other of those whom they have long admired and appreciated at a +distance. Most prominent among all these clergymen is Henry Ward +Beecher, who has been the pastor of Plymouth Church ever since its +organization in 1847. Mr. Beecher came of a noted family, his father, +Rev. Lyman Beecher, being one of the theological lights of his day and +generation, while his brothers and sisters have all distinguished +themselves in some way. The author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was his +sister, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, while all of his brothers are, like +himself, in the ministry. + +Mr. Beecher's popularity has been unparalleled. Besides the hundreds who +listen to him every Sunday, each sermon is reported in full and read by +thousands of people throughout the country. He has been a leader of +liberal thought in the Protestant churches; and it is largely due to his +bold and advanced utterances that the church in which he holds communion +has taken a long step ahead of the position which it occupied early in +the present century. + +Plymouth Church is a plain edifice, in Orange street, near Hicks. It has +a large seating capacity, yet every Sunday it is filled. A goodly +proportion of the audience is composed of strangers, who are not +permitted to take seats until the pewholders are provided for. These +visitors stand in long rows at each of the doors, the rows sometimes +extending out upon the sidewalk, waiting their turns to be seated. Ten +minutes before the hour of service they are conducted to seats, and the +pewholders who come after that time must take their chances with the +rest. On pleasant Sundays every seat is occupied, and the aisles and +vestibules are crowded. + +Mr. Beecher occupies no pulpit, in the strict sense of the word. In +front of the organ and choir is a platform, upon which are three chairs +and three small tables, or stands. On one of the latter is a Bible, and +on the others a profusion of flowers. One realizes in this church the +grandeur of congregational singing, which is led here by a choir of one +hundred voices, and accompanied by a magnificent organ. When the entire +congregation join in some familiar hymn, the singing is exceedingly +impressive. Mr. Beecher, albeit his reputation is that of a sensational +preacher, makes little attempt at sensationalism in his manner of +delivery. He reads well and speaks well, with a clear, distinct +enunciation, which is heard in every part of his church. He talks +directly to his point, using plain but forcible language, his sermons +sparkling with original thought and brilliant language, all based upon a +foundation of plain, practical common sense. He has great dramatic +power, yet manifests it in so unstudied a manner that it is never +offensive. He imitates the voice and manner of the man of whom he is +speaking; the maudlin condition of the drunkard, the whine of the +beggar, the sanctimoniousness of the hypocrite; and keeps his audience +interested and on the alert. The Friday evening lectures are also +features of this church, and are conducted without formality, yet in a +decorous manner. + +The Brooklyn preacher who is a rival of Beecher, in the popular +estimation, is Thomas De Witt Talmage, whose church is in Schermerhorn +street, and known as the Tabernacle. It is built in Gothic style, +semi-circular in form, like an opera house, and is capable of seating +5,000 persons. It is the largest Protestant place of worship in the +United States, yet every Sunday it is filled nearly, if not quite, to +its utmost capacity. + +Talmage was born at Bound Brook, New Jersey, in 1832. After graduating +at the Theological Seminary, at New Brunswick, he preached in +Belleville, New Jersey; Syracuse, New York; and Philadelphia, until +1869, when he came to Brooklyn to be pastor of the Central Presbyterian +Church. Within a year he had become the acknowledged rival of Beecher. +His church was crowded, and in 1870 a large amphitheatre, called the +Brooklyn Tabernacle, capable of seating four thousand persons, was +built. This building was destroyed by fire in 1872, and while it was +being rebuilt in its present size and form, Talmage preached in the +Academy of Music, to immense crowds. The great organ used in the Boston +Coliseum, during the Musical Peace Jubilee, accompanies the singing at +the Tabernacle, which is principally congregational, though a choir of +four male singers give one or more voluntaries. The singing was led by +Arbuckle, the celebrated cornetist, but he died in May, 1883, and was +buried on the day of the opening of the Suspension Bridge. + +In 1879, Talmage visited Great Britain, and made a most successful +lecture tour, receiving from five to six hundred dollars for each +lecture, and netting about fifty thousand dollars for the tour. In this +country he has not been so popular as a lecturer as Beecher. He is a +tall, angular man, with dark hair, red whiskers, light complexion, large +mouth and blue eyes. His pulpit is merely a platform, about thirty feet +in length, built in front of the organ, between the pipes and the +performer; and back and forth on this he paces while delivering his +sermon, frequently making forcible gestures, which have caused him to be +caricatured as a contortionist or gymnast. He is fluent in his style, +with much originality of expression, yet with a certain drawl in the +middle of his sentences, and snarl at their end, which renders his +elocution not entirely pleasing. He carries his audience with him +through the heights and depths of his oratory, now provoking to smiles, +again affecting to tears. + +Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D., has been pastor of the Lafayette Avenue +Presbyterian Church since 1860. He was born at Aurora, New York, on +January tenth, 1822, and preached in Market street church, in New York +City, from 1853 to 1860. The church edifice where he now ministers is +one of the most spacious and complete, in all its arrangements, in +either New York or Brooklyn, having seats for two thousand people, while +the Sabbath-school hall will accommodate one thousand. + +Dr. Cuyler, during the thirty-seven years of his ministry, has delivered +five thousand three hundred and forty discourses, and a multitude of +platform addresses. He has received four thousand and forty-one persons +into church membership, of whom about one-half have been on confession +of faith. He has published several volumes and over two thousand +articles in the leading religious newspapers. The present membership of +the Lafayette Avenue Church is nineteen hundred and twenty persons. His +congregations are very large on every Sunday, and he is an untiring +pastor, especially zealous for temperance. He preaches the old orthodox +gospel, with no "modern improvements." His discourses are able and +eloquent, while his chief aim in the pulpit is to reach the heart. + +Justin D. Fulton, D.D., is still another eminent clergyman of Brooklyn. +He was born in 1828, in Sherburne, Madison County, New York, and +literally worked his way through college and to the ministry. He began +his public life in St. Louis, where he was engaged as editor of the +_Gospel Banner_. Preaching in the Tabernacle Baptist Church of that +city, he delivered the first Free-state sermon ever heard in St. Louis. +He also put his anti-slavery sentiments into his paper, and was shortly +deposed from his position as editor because he would not believe +slavery to be right and defend it. From St. Louis he went to Sandusky, +Ohio, preaching there a short period; and from thence, in 1859, to +Albany, New York, where he became pastor of the Tabernacle Church. In +1863 he received a call from the Tremont Temple Church of Boston, and +labored with that church for ten years, increasing its membership from +fifty to one thousand. In 1873, he became pastor of the Hanson Place +Church, of Brooklyn, leaving it, however, in 1875, to organize the +Centennial Baptist Church, in the same city. His popularity as a +preacher became so great that it was presently found necessary to seek a +larger place of worship. Therefore, in 1879, the Rink was purchased, for +much less than its original cost, and was consecrated as a People's +Church. The Rink is an immense edifice, capable of seating nearly six +thousand persons. + +Dr. Fulton is an able writer, having published a number of volumes, the +most prominent among which is "The Roman Catholic Element in America." +In the old days of slavery he was a most able and eloquent anti-slavery +advocate, and as such created strong prejudice against himself in +certain quarters. He preached the funeral sermon of Colonel Ellsworth, +in Tweddle Hall, Albany, in which he said that the war must go on until +the musket should be put in the hands of the black man, and he was +permitted to prove his manhood on the battle field. This drew down upon +him the denunciation of the conservative press; but he was appointed +Chaplain of Governor Morgan's staff, and served in hospital and camp. He +is no less famous as an advocate of temperance, and devotes much of his +energies to work in this field. + +In person, Dr. Fulton is tall, stout, finely formed, with black whiskers +and moustache, and a somewhat bald forehead. His manner in the pulpit is +full of earnestness and impetuosity. He sometimes overwhelms his +audience with a whirlwind of words. He has strong magnetic and nervous +power, while he impresses his listeners with his sincerity and candor. +He makes frequent and expressive gestures, and combines in his oratory +the carefulness of art with the fire of genius. In belief he is +thoroughly orthodox, having no leanings toward the so-called +"liberality" of many popular clergymen. + +R. S. Storrs, D.D., is pastor of the Church of the Pilgrims, at the +corner of Remsen and Henry streets. He is one of the most noted +clergymen of the city, and was selected to assist in the opening of the +New York and Brooklyn Suspension Bridge, making one of the addresses of +the occasion. + +The Unitarian Church of the Saviour, at the corner of Pierrepont street +and Monroe Place, is an elaborate Gothic edifice, as is also St. Ann's +Episcopal Church, at the corner of Clinton and Livingston streets. The +Roman Catholic Church of St. Charles Borromeo, in Sidney Place, is +famous for its music. The Dutch Reformed Church, in Pierrepont street, +is of brown stone, in the richest Corinthian style, and the interior +elaborately finished. + +The United States Navy Yard is one of the features of Brooklyn, and is +the chief naval station of the country. It is on the south shore of +Wallabout Bay, and contains forty-five acres. The yard is inclosed by a +high brick wall, and contains numerous foundries, workshops and +storehouses. Vessels of every kind used by the navy may be seen at +almost any time at the yard, and it has also a large and varied +collection of trophies taken in war and relics of earlier times, which +prove of interest to the visitor. + +At the other extremity of Brooklyn, a mile below South Ferry, is the +Atlantic Dock, which covers an area of forty-two and one-half acres, and +deserves special attention. It is surrounded by piers of solid granite, +upon which are spacious warehouses. + +In the heart of the city, a little south of the Navy Yard, between +Myrtle and DeKalb avenues, is Washington Park, or old Fort Greene. It is +on an elevated plateau, contains thirty acres, and commands extensive +views. Its name of Fort Greene dates back to the time of the Revolution, +when it was the seat of extensive fortifications. + +The special pride of Brooklyn is Prospect Park, one of the finest in +America, where art and the landscape gardener have assisted rather than +thwarted nature in her efforts to produce beauty. It is situated on an +elevated ridge on the southeastern borders of the city, and from certain +localities commands broad views of Brooklyn, New York, the inner and +outer harbor, and the Jersey shore. It contains five hundred and fifty +acres, which embrace broad, green lawns, grassy slopes, groves, wooded +hills, beautiful with ferns and wild flowers, lakes and rocky dells. It +contains eight miles of drives, four miles of bridle paths, and eleven +miles of walks. At the main entrance, on Flatbush avenue, is a large, +circular open place known as the Plaza, paved with stone and bordered by +grassy mounds. A fountain of novel design furnishes the welcome sound of +splashing, trickling water, and not far distant from it is a bronze +statue of President Lincoln. Within the Park, on an eminence overlooking +the cottages and dell, is a monument, erected in 1877, to the memory of +John Howard Payne, author of "Home, Sweet Home." + +On Gowanus Heights, overlooking Gowanus Bay, in the southern portion of +Brooklyn, is situated Greenwood Cemetery, one of the most beautiful +"cities of the dead" in the world. It was laid out in 1842, and contains +over five hundred acres. At least two hundred thousand interments have +been made in it. It is a perfect wilderness of beauty. The surface of +the ground is uneven, and hills and valleys, grassy slopes, beautiful +little lakes with fountains playing in their midst, overshadowing trees, +a profusion of brilliant flowers, and the white or gray gleam of a +thousand monuments, varied and beautiful in design, all unite in forming +an exquisite spot for the resting place of the dead, which is a fitting +embodiment and expression of the loving remembrance in which they +continue to be held by the living. Among the many elegant and expensive +monuments which this cemetery contains, not one will attract more +attention for its beauty and elaborateness than that erected to +Charlotte Canda, a young French girl, whose fortune was expended in the +marble pile above her grave. The main entrance to Greenwood, near Fifth +Avenue and Twenty-third street, has a magnificent gateway in the pointed +Gothic style, and opens upon a most enchanting landscape. On an +elevation to the right of this entrance, within this cemetery, is +obtained an extensive view of Brooklyn and the bay. The cemetery +contains nineteen miles of carriage roads, and seventeen miles of +footpaths. + +Four miles to the eastward of Greenwood are the cemeteries of the +Evergreen and Cypress Hills, both beautiful spots, and the latter +especially celebrated as containing the grave of a large number of +soldiers of the late war. + +Radiating from Brooklyn, in almost every direction, are routes leading +to some of the most frequented pleasure resorts of the country. On the +southern coast of Long Island, just east of the Narrows, is Coney +Island, four and a half miles long, with a firm, gently-sloping beach. +The island is divided into four distinct places of resort: Coney Island +Point, or Morton's, at the west end, the oldest of the four; West +Brighton Beach, or Cable's, where there is an iron pier one thousand +feet long, extending out into the ocean, and an observatory three +hundred feet high; Brighton Beach, connecting with West Brighton by a +wide drive and promenade, known as the Concourse; and Manhattan Beach, +the most fashionable resort on the island. At the latter place are two +vast hotels, and an amphitheatre, with three thousand five hundred +seats, upon the beach, for the accommodation of those who wish to watch +the bathers. + +Rockaway Beach is to the westward of Coney Island, and is about four +miles long, with surf bathing on one side and still bathing on the +other. A colossal tubular iron pier, twelve hundred feet long, extends +out into the ocean, affording a landing for steamboats. + +Staten Island, the western boundary of the Narrows, is a sort of earthly +paradise, which separates the Lower Bay from the Upper. It is a +beautiful island, having an area of nearly sixty square miles, and +rising boldly from the waters of the bays. It commands extensive views +over harbor and ocean, and is a favorite summer home or place of +temporary resort. + +Along the shores of the Sound are many places for summer rest and +recreation. Glen Island, lying in the East River, is a famous and +attractive picnicing spot for both New Yorkers and Brooklynites. + +Brooklyn is a beautiful and an extensive city, a fitting suburb of the +metropolis. The additional facilities for transit between the two cities +afforded by the completion of the Suspension Bridge will tend to her +material advantage, drawing thither a still larger class of people to +make their homes in its quiet suburban streets and avenues, out of the +noise and whirl of the great city. Her prosperity must keep pace with +that of her elder sister, and so close is the bond of common interest +between them, that whatever benefits one must benefit the other. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BALTIMORE. + + Position of Baltimore.--Streets.--Cathedral and Churches.-- + Public Buildings.--Educational Institutions.--Art Collections.-- + Charitable Institutions.--Monuments.--Railway Tunnels.--Parks + and Cemeteries.--Druid Hill Park.--Commerce and Manufactures.-- + Foundation of the City.--Early History.--Bonaparte-Patterson + Marriage.--Storming of Baltimore in 1814.--Maryland at the + Breaking-out of the Rebellion.--Assault on Sixth Massachusetts + Regiment, in April, 1861.--Subsequent Events during the War.-- + Baltimore Proves Herself Loyal.--Re-union of Grand Army of + the Republic in Baltimore, September, 1882.--Old Differences + Forgotten and Fraternal Relations Established. + + +The first in commercial and manufacturing importance of all southern +cities is Baltimore, situated on the north branch of the Patapsco River, +fourteen miles from its entrance into the Chesapeake Bay, and one +hundred and ninety-eight miles from the Atlantic. It embraces an area of +nearly twelve square miles, about one-half of which is built up solidly +with residences and business houses. The city is divided into East and +West Baltimore, by Jones' Falls, a small stream running nearly north and +south, and spanned by numerous bridges. The northwest branch of the +Patapsco also runs up into the heart of the city, forming a basin, into +which small vessels can enter. The outer harbor, or main branch of the +Patapsco, is accessible to the largest ships. The harbor is a safe and +capacious one, capable of furnishing anchorage to a thousand vessels. At +the point of the peninsula separating the two branches of the river is +situated Fort McHenry, which defends the entrance, and which was +unsuccessfully bombarded by the British fleet in the War of 1812. + +The general appearance of the city is striking and picturesque. It is +regularly laid out, the streets for the most part crossing one another +at right angles, but there is sufficient diversity to prevent sameness. +Thus while the main part of the city is laid out with streets running +north and south, crossed by others running east and west, large sections +show streets running diagonally to the points of the compass. The +surface of the ground upon which the city is built is undulating, and +its streets are moderately wide. Baltimore street, running east and +west, is the main business thoroughfare, containing the principal retail +stores and hotels. North Charles street is the most fashionable +promenade, while Mount Vernon Place, and the vicinity of the Monument +and Broadway are favorite resorts. + +The city abounds in handsome edifices. A generation ago, the Catholic +Cathedral, at the corner of Mulberry and Cathedral streets--a large +granite edifice in the form of a cross, one hundred and ninety feet +long, one hundred and seventy-seven feet at the arms of the cross, and +surmounted by a dome one hundred and twenty-seven feet high--was the +especial pride and boast of Baltimoreans. At its west end are two tall +towers with Saracenic cupolas, resembling the minarets of a Mohammedan +mosque. It contains one of the largest organs in America, and two +valuable paintings, "The Descent from the Cross," the gift of Louis XVI, +and "St. Louis burying his officers and soldiers slain before Tunis," +presented by Charles X, of France. Now other buildings are found equally +as magnificent. The Roman Catholic churches of St. Alphonsus, at the +corner of Saratoga and Park Streets, and of St. Vincent de Paul, in +North Front Street, are fine in architectural design and interior +decorations. The Unitarian Church, at the corner of North Charles and +Franklin streets, is a handsome edifice, faced by a colonnade composed +of four Tuscan columns and two pilasters, which form arcades, and +containing five bronze entrance doors. Grace Church, Episcopal, at the +corner of Monument and Park streets, and Emmanuel Church, also +Episcopal, at the corner of Reed and Cathedral streets, are handsome +gothic structures, the former of red and the latter of gray sandstone. +Christ's and St. Peter's Episcopal churches, the one at the corner of +St. Paul and Chase streets, and the other at the corner of Druid Hill +avenue and Lanvale street, are both of marble. The Eutaw Place Baptist +Church, at the corner of Eutaw and Dolphin streets, has a beautiful +marble spire one hundred and eighty-six feet high. The First +Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Park and Madison streets, has a +spire two hundred and sixty-eight feet high, with side towers, +respectively seventy-eight and one hundred and twenty-eight feet in +height, and is the most elaborate specimen of Lancet-Gothic architecture +in the country. The Westminster, at the corner of Green and Fayette +streets, contains the grave and monument of Edgar Allan Poe. Mount +Vernon Church, which fronts Washington Monument, at the corner of +Charles and Monument streets, and is in the most aristocratic residence +quarter of Baltimore, is built of green serpentine stone, with buff Ohio +and red Connecticut sandstone, and has eighteen polished columns of +Aberdeen granite. The Hebrew Synagogue, in Lloyd street near Baltimore +street, is a large and handsome edifice. + +The City Hall, filling the entire square bounded by Holliday, Lexington, +North and Fayette streets, built of marble, in the Renaissance style, +was completed in 1875, and is one of the finest municipal edifices in +the United States. It is four stories in height, with a French roof, and +an iron dome two hundred and sixty feet high, with a balcony elevated +two hundred and fifty feet above the sidewalk, from which a magnificent +view of the city may be obtained. The Masonic Temple, in Charles street, +near Saratoga, is a handsome building, completed in 1870, at a cost of +$200,000. The Exchange, in Gay street, between Second and Lombard +streets, is an extensive structure, surmounted by an immense dome, one +hundred and fifteen feet high, and fifty-three feet in diameter, which +overarches a spacious and brilliantly frescoed rotunda. Six Ionic +columns, the shafts of which are single blocks of Italian marble, form +colonnades on the east and west sides. It contains the United States +Custom House, Post Office, Merchants' Bank, and a fine, large +reading-room. The Corn and Flour Exchange, the Rialto Building, Odd +Fellows' Hall, Y. M. C. A. Building, are all modern and elegant +structures. The Merchant's Shot Tower, which stands at the corner of +Front and Fayette streets, is two hundred and sixteen feet high, and +from sixty to twenty feet in diameter, and is one of the landmarks of +the city. One million, one hundred thousand bricks were used in its +construction. + +Peabody Institute faces Washington monument, on the south, and was +founded and endowed by George Peabody, the eminent American-born London +banker, for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. It contains a +free library of fifty-eight thousand volumes, a conservatory of music, +lecture hall, and a Department of Art, which includes art collections +and an art school. The AthenA|um, at the corner of Saratoga and St. Paul +streets, contains the Merchants' Library, with twenty-six thousand +volumes, the Baltimore Library, with fifteen thousand volumes, and the +collections of the Maryland Historical Society, comprising a library of +ten thousand volumes, numerous historical relics, and fine pictures and +statuary. The Johns Hopkins University, which was endowed with over +three millions of dollars, by Johns Hopkins, a wealthy citizen of +Baltimore, who died in 1873, has a temporary location at the corner of +Howard street and Druid Hill avenue, but will probably be permanently +located at Clifton, two miles from the city on the Harford road. The +Johns Hopkins Hospital, to be connected with the Medical Department of +the Johns Hopkins University, and endowed with over two millions of +dollars by the same generous testator, is in process of construction at +the corner of Broadway and Monument street, and will be the finest +building of its kind in America. The Maryland Institute is a vast +structure at the corner of Baltimore and Harrison streets, and is +designed for the promotion of the mechanical arts. The main hall is two +hundred and fifty feet long, and in it is held an annual exhibition of +the products of American mechanical industry. It contains a library of +fourteen thousand volumes, a lecture room, and a school of design. The +first floor is used as a market. The Academy of Science, in Mulberry +street, opposite Cathedral street, has a fine museum of natural history, +embracing a rich collection of birds and minerals, and including a +complete representation of the flora and fauna of Maryland. + +Not only is Baltimore noted for free educational institutions, but for +her art collections as well. Annual exhibitions of American paintings +are held in the AthenA|um, and the Academy of Art and Science contains a +fine collection of paintings, engravings and casts. The private art +gallery of William T. Walters, of No. 65 Mount Vernon Place, is one of +the finest in America. + +There are numerous charitable institutions in the city, prominent among +which are the Hospital for the Insane, in East Monument street; +Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, in North avenue near +Charles street; State Insane Asylum, a massive pile of granite +buildings, near Catonsville, six miles from the city; Bay View Asylum, +an almshouse, on a commanding eminence near the outskirts of the city, +on the Philadelphia road; Mount Hope Hospital, conducted by the Sisters +of Charity, on North avenue, corner of Bolton street; Episcopal Church +Home, in Broadway near Baltimore street; Sheppard Asylum for the Insane, +founded by Moses Sheppard, a wealthy Quaker, situated on a commanding +site near Towsontown, seven miles from the city, and Mount Hope Retreat +for the insane and sick, four miles from the city, on the Reistertown +road. + +But her monuments are the special pride of Baltimore, and from them she +derives her name of "The Monumental City." Chief among them is +Washington Monument, whose construction was authorized by the +Legislature in 1809, the land being donated for the purpose by Colonel +John Eager Howard. The site is one hundred feet above tide-water, in +Mount Vernon Place, at the intersection of Monument and Washington +streets. It is a Doric shaft rising one hundred and seventy-six and +one-half feet, from a base fifty feet square by thirty-five feet in +height, and is surmounted by a colossal figure of Washington, fifteen +feet high, the whole rising more than three hundred feet above the level +of the river. It is built of brick, cased with white marble, and cost +$200,000. From the balcony at the head of the shaft, reached by a +winding stairs within, a most extensive view of the city, harbor and +surrounding country may be obtained. Battle Monument stands in Battle +Square, at the intersection of Calvert and Fayette streets, and is +commemorative of those who fell defending the city when it was attacked +by the British in 1814. A square base, twenty feet high, with a pedestal +ornamented at four corners by a sculptured griffin, has on each front an +Egyptian door, on which are appropriate inscriptions and basso relievo +decorations illustrating certain incidents in the battle. A fascial +column eighteen feet in height rises above the base, surrounded by bands +on which are inscribed the names of those who fell. The column is +surmounted by a female figure in marble, emblematic of the city of +Baltimore. The Poe Monument, raised in memory of Baltimore's poet, Edgar +Allan Poe, stands in the churchyard of Westminster Presbyterian Church, +at the corner of Green and Fayette streets. The Wildey Monument has a +plain marble pediment and shaft, surmounted by a group representing +Charity protecting orphans, and has been raised in honor of Thomas +Wildey, the founder of the order of Odd Fellows in the United States. It +is on Broadway near Baltimore street. The Wells and McComas Monument, at +the corner of Gay and Monument streets, perpetuates the memory of two +boys bearing those names, who shot General Ross, the British Commander, +on September twelfth, 1814. + +The railway tunnels, by which the railroads on the north side of the +city are connected with tide water at Canton, are among the wonders of +Baltimore. That of the Baltimore and Potomac Road is second in length +only to the Hoosac Tunnel, in America, it being 6969 feet long, while +the Union tunnel is half the length. They were completed in 1873, at a +cost of four million, five hundred thousand dollars. Previous to their +construction, passengers and freight were transferred through the city +by means of horses and mules attached to the cars. + +Federal Hill is a commanding eminence on the south side of the river +basin, and from it extensive views are obtained of the city and harbor. +It was occupied by Union troops during the civil war, and now contains a +United States Signal Station. It has been purchased by the city for a +park. Greenmount Cemetery, in the northern part of the city, and Loudon +Park Cemetery, both have imposing entrances and contain handsome +monuments. Patterson Park, at the east end of Baltimore street, contains +seventy acres handsomely laid out, and commanding extensive views. + + [Illustration: VIEW OF BALTIMORE FROM FEDERAL HILL.] + +The people of the present day can scarcely comprehend the grand scale on +which landscape gardening was attempted a hundred or more years ago. The +landed gentry, themselves or their fathers immigrants from England, +considered a well-kept park, like those of the immense English estates, +an essential to an American one. To this day may be seen traces of their +efforts in this direction, in stately avenues of venerable trees, which +the iconoclastic hand of modern progress has considerately spared. In +some rare instances whole estates have remained untouched, and have +become public property, and their beauties thus perpetuated. Bonaventure +Cemetery, near Savannah, is a notable instance of this, where a +magnificently planned Southern plantation has been transferred from +private to public hands, and its valuable trees remain, though the hand +of art, in attempting to improve, has rather marred the majestic beauty +of the place. Lemon Hill, the nucleus of Fairmount Park, in +Philadelphia, was, in revolutionary times, the estate of Robert Morris, +and though the landscape gardener has been almost ruthless in his +improvements (?), he has been considerate enough to spare some of the +century-old trees. To the same private enterprise, love of the +picturesque and appreciation of beauty, Baltimore is indebted for Druid +Hill Park, in the northern suburbs of the city. Colonel Nicholas Rogers, +a soldier of the Revolution and a gentleman of taste and leisure, when +the war was over, retired to his country residence, a little distance +from Baltimore, then a city of some ten thousand inhabitants, and +devoted the remainder of his life to improving and adorning its +extensive grounds. He seemed a thorough master of landscape gardening, +and all his plans were most carefully matured, so that the trees are +most artistically grouped and alternated with lawns; dense masses of +foliage are broken into by bays and avenues, and beautiful vistas +secured in various directions. Also in the selection of his trees a +careful consideration was had of their autumn foliage, so that fine +contrasts of color should be produced at that season of the year. The +result of all this care and labor was one of the most charming and +enchanting private parks which the country afforded. It contained an +area of nearly five hundred acres. + +When Colonel Rogers died, his son, Lloyd N. Rogers, who seemed to have +inherited only in part the tastes of his father, devoted himself solely +to the cultivation of fruit, doing nothing to add to or preserve the +beauty of his domain, but, on the other hand, allowing it to fall into +neglect and decay. However, the harm that he wrought was only negative, +for he did nothing to mar it, and preserved, with jealous care, the +grand old trees which his father had planted, and with unremitting +vigilance warded off interlopers and depredators. The estate was +secluded from the outside world by fringes of woodland, and though the +city had gradually crept to within a quarter of a mile, few people knew +anything of its beauties. When, therefore, the Commission appointed to +select the site for a new park decided upon Druid Hill as the most +available for that purpose, it was absolutely necessary to detail its +advantages. Mr. Rogers reluctantly consented to accept one thousand +dollars an acre for his estate, and it became city property. +Subsequently, other small pieces of adjoining property were bought, and +Druid Lake and grounds were finally added, and the people of Baltimore +found themselves in the possession of a park embracing an area of six +hundred and eighty acres, which needed not to be created, but only to be +improved, to be one of the most beautiful in the country. + +There has been but little attempt at architectural decoration. A costly +and imposing gateway, a Moorish music stand, bright with many colors, a +boat-house crowning a little island in a miniature lake, a pretty bridge +and a Moorish arch thrown across a ravine, a few handsome fountains, +and, finally, the old mansion, renovated and enlarged, standing out +against the densely-wooded hill from which the park takes its +name--these are about all which have been attempted in that line. The +surface of the Park is gently undulating, with occasional bold +eminences from which fine views may be obtained of the city and +surrounding country. Its special attractions are its secluded walks, +well-kept drives and tree-arched bridle-paths, its smooth, velvety turf, +and the venerable beauty of its trees, which are the oldest of those of +any park in the country. Its glades and dells have been left as nature +made them, having been spared the artificial touches of the landscape +gardener; and its little trickling springs and cool, secluded brooks, +have a sylvan, rustic beauty which is surpassingly delightful. + +The future care and improvement of the Park are well provided for. About +the time that it became a matter of public interest, the charter for the +first line of street passenger railways was granted, and this charter +stipulated that one-fifth of the gross receipts of the road, or one cent +for each passenger carried, should be paid to the city, to constitute a +Park Fund. This amount, small at first, but gradually increasing until +it now amounts to more than a hundred thousand dollars annually, was +devoted first to paying the interest on the Park bonds, and finally to +the preservation and improvement of the Park. The Park Commissioners, +who receive no pay for their services, have most judiciously +administered the fund entrusted to their care. + +The foreign and coasting trade of Baltimore are both extensive. Two +lines of steamships leave the port weekly for Europe, and she commands a +large share of the trade of the West and Northwest. Her shipments to +Europe are principally grain, tobacco, cotton, petroleum and provisions. +The city contains rolling mills, iron works, nail factories, locomotive +works, cotton factories and other industrial establishments, numbering +more than two thousand in all. The rich copper ores of Lake Superior are +chiefly worked here, and nearly four thousand tons of refined copper are +produced annually. The smelting works in Canton, a southern suburb of +the city, employ one thousand men. There are also extensive flouring +mills, while oysters, fruit and vegetables, to the value of five million +dollars, are canned annually. Five hundred thousand hides are also +annually made into leather and sent to New England. Baltimore oysters +are renowned as being among the best the Atlantic seaboard produces, and +no one should think of visiting the city without testing them. The +Chesapeake oyster beds are apparently exhaustless, and supply plants for +beds all along the coast. + +Although the first settlements in Maryland were made early in the +seventeenth century, the present site of Baltimore was not chosen until +1729, and in 1745 the town was named Baltimore, in honor of Lord +Baltimore, a Catholic, to whom the patent of the province of Maryland +had been originally made out. In 1782 the first regular communication +with Philadelphia, by means of a line of stage coaches, was established, +and Baltimore was chartered as a city in 1787, having at that time a +population of twenty thousand, which, by 1850, had increased to nearly +two hundred thousand; and, according to the census of 1880, the +population was 332,190 inhabitants. In 1780 the city became a port of +entry, and in 1782 the first pavement was laid in Baltimore street. + +In 1803 Baltimore became the scene of a romance which is even yet +remembered with interest. Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest brother of +Napoleon, born in Ajaccio, November fifteenth, 1784, found himself, in +the year just mentioned, while cruising off the West Indies, on account +of the war between France and England, compelled to take refuge in New +York. Being introduced into the best society of that and neighboring +cities, he made the acquaintance of Miss Elizabeth Patterson, daughter +of a merchant of Baltimore. The manner of their introduction was +peculiar. In a crowded saloon the button of young Bonaparte's coat +caught in the dress of a young lady, and as it took a little time to +disengage it, the future King of Westphalia had opportunity to see that +the lady was young, surpassingly beautiful and charming. This interview, +by some who knew the lady and who were acquainted with her ambition, +thought to be not entirely accidental, resulted, on the twenty-seventh +of December of the same year, in a marriage between the two, the +bridegroom being but nineteen years of age. Being summoned back to +France by his Imperial brother, he was quickly followed by his young +wife, who, however, was not permitted to land in France, and retired to +England, where she shortly afterwards gave birth to a son, whom she +named Jerome, after his father. Napoleon annulled the marriage, on the +ground that it had been made contrary to French law, which stipulates +that the consent of parents must be gained in order to legalize a +marriage. Jerome was compelled, after he succeeded to the Westphalian +crown, to marry Sophia Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I, of +Wurtemburg. Madame Patterson, as she was called to the day of her death, +though she maintained her title to the name of Bonaparte, having an +utter scorn for America and its democratic institutions, spent much of +her life in Europe, where at first her beauty, and to the last her wit +and charming manners, secured her admission to the most exclusive +salons, and a sort of acknowledgment of her claims. She never saw her +husband again, save on one occasion, when she came face to face with him +in a European picture-gallery. + +Madame Patterson's aristocratic prejudices were greatly shocked when her +son married a most estimable American lady, the mother's ambition +seeking for him an alliance among the royal or at least noble families +of the Old World. During the reign of Napoleon III, the Pope recognized +the first marriage of Jerome Bonaparte, and the Emperor, who had taken +offence at his cousin, the son of Jerome by his princess wife, also +legitimatized the son, and took him into his service. Madame Patterson +lived to be nearly a hundred years old, having spent her last days in +her native city, and dying but a few years ago. Her son Jerome survived +her not many years, leaving two sons, who are known as the +Patterson-Bonapartes. + +In December, 1814, Baltimore was made the object of attack by the +British forces, then at war with the United States. On the eleventh of +that month the fleet reached the mouth of the Patapsco, and on the next +day six thousand men landed at North Point, and proceeded, under command +of General Ross, toward the city. An army of over three thousand men met +them and kept them in check, in order to gain time to put the forts and +batteries of Baltimore in proper condition for defence. A battle was +fought, and the Americans defeated, with considerable loss. Among the +killed and wounded, which numbered one hundred and three, were many of +the most prominent citizens of Baltimore. The next morning the British +advanced to the entrenchments about two miles from the city, and at the +same time a vigorous attack was made by the fleet, upon Fort McHenry, at +the entrance of the harbor. The fort was vigorously bombarded during the +next twenty-four hours, but without visible effect. The troops which had +landed, after hovering at a respectful distance from the city, until the +evening of the thirtieth, then retired to their shipping, and set sail +down the river, leaving behind them their commander, General Ross, who +had been killed in the battle of the twelfth. It was during the siege of +Baltimore, while the British fleet lay off Fort McHenry, and the bombs +were raining upon it, that Philip Barton Key wrote the "Star Spangled +Banner." + +From 1814 to 1861, nearly half a century, Baltimore had nothing to do +but develop her resources and extend her commerce, which she did so well +and so thoroughly, that in 1860 her inhabitants numbered more than +212,000, and she stood in the front rank as a manufacturing and +commercial town. + +At the inauguration of President Lincoln, in 1861, the sentiments of the +people assimilated rather with those of Virginia and the South, than +with those of Pennsylvania and the North. Had it not, by its +geographical position, been so completely in the power of the Federal +government, Maryland would probably have seceded with Virginia. Great +excitement was aroused by the attack on Fort Sumter, and the State was +with difficulty made to retain her old position in the Union. The only +line of railway from the north and east to Washington passed through +Baltimore, and when, on the fifteenth of April, the President made his +call for seventy-five thousand men, it was necessary that, in reaching +the seat of war, they should pass through that city. Apprehensions were +felt that they might be disturbed, but the Marshal of Police, on the +eighteenth of April, maintained perfect order in the city, and summarily +quieted all attempts at riot. He also received from the State Rights +Association a most solemn pledge that the Federal troops should not be +interfered with. The Mayor issued a proclamation invoking all good +citizens to uphold and maintain the peace and good order of the city. + +On the nineteenth, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, the first to +respond to the President's call, arrived, by the Philadelphia and +Baltimore Railroad. A crowd of two or three thousand persons had +gathered at the depot early in the day, to witness their arrival. Soon +after eleven o'clock in the morning twenty-nine cars arrived from +Philadelphia, filled with soldiers. Horses were attached to the cars, +which were driven along Pratt street to the Camden station. The +multitude hooted and yelled after the first six cars, but did not +otherwise molest them. The horses becoming frightened by the uproar, +were detached from the seventh car, which moved without their aid nearly +to Gay street, where a body of laborers were removing the cobblestones +from the bed of the street, in order to repair it. Some thirty or forty +men had followed the car to this point, cheering for President Davis and +the Southern Confederacy, and applying contemptuous and insulting +epithets to the troops. The latter received these taunts in perfect +silence; and when the horses were again attached, and the car commenced +moving off, a proposition was made to stone it. Almost instantly, acting +on the suggestion, nearly every window was smashed by projectiles +snatched from the street. The eighth car was treated in a like manner. +The ninth car was suffered to pass unmolested, as it was apparently +empty. When the tenth car approached, after an ineffectual attempt to +tear up the track, it was heaped with paving stones, and a cartload of +sand dumped upon them, and four or five large anchors, dragged from the +sidewalk, completed the barricade. Progress was impossible, and the car +returned to the President Street Depot. + +Two-thirds of the cars still remained, filled with troops, besides +others loaded with ammunition and baggage. Mayor Brown hastened to the +depot, in order to prevent any disturbance. The troops were ordered to +leave the cars and form into line. While forming they were surrounded by +a dense mass of people, who impeded their march, threw great quantities +of stones, and knocked down and severely injured two soldiers. + +Marching through the city, from the President Street Depot to the Pratt +Street Bridge, they were pursued by the excited crowd, who continued to +throw stones, and even fired muskets at them. When they reached Gay +street, where the track had been torn up, they were again violently +assaulted by a fresh mob, and a number knocked down and wounded. At the +corner of South and Pratt streets a man fired a pistol into the ranks of +the military, when those in the rear ranks immediately wheeled and fired +upon their assailants, wounding several. The guns of the wounded +soldiers were seized, and fired upon the ranks, killing two soldiers. +Reaching Calvert street, the troops succeeded in checking their pursuers +by a rapid fire, and were not again seriously molested until they +reached Howard street, where still another mob had assembled. + +The police did their utmost to protect the troops from assault, but +were pressed back by the excited crowd. The soldiers left the Camden +station about half-past twelve o'clock, and a body of infantry, about +one hundred and fifty strong, from one of the Northern States, which had +arrived meantime, next attracted the malevolence of the crowd. The +excitement was now intense. A man displayed the flag of the Confederate +States, and a general panic ensued. As many as twenty shots were fired, +happily without injury to any one, and cobblestones fell like hail. At +last the soldiers gained refuge in the cars. Other troops, by order of +Governor Hicks, were sent back to the borders of the State, and the +military was called out and quiet restored, by evening. Nine citizens of +Baltimore had been killed, and many wounded; while twenty-five wounded +Massachusetts troops were sent to the Washington Hospital, and their +dead numbered two. + +Thus Baltimore shares with Charleston the doubtful honor of being first +in the great civil war which devastated the country and sent desolation +to many thousand homes, both north and south. Charleston fired the first +gun, and Baltimore shed the first blood. + +During the succeeding night, a report reaching the city that more +Northern troops were on their way southward, the bridge at Canton, the +two bridges between Cockeysville and Ashland, also the bridges over +Little Gunpowder and Bush rivers were destroyed, by order of the +authorities of Baltimore. Upon a representation of the matter to +President Lincoln, he ordered that "no more troops should be brought +through Baltimore, if, in a military point of view, and without +interruption or opposition, they can be marched around Baltimore." The +transmission of mails, and removal of provisions from the city, were +suspended, by the order of the Mayor and Board of Police. Four car-loads +of military stores and equipments, sufficient to furnish a thousand men, +belonging to the Government, were thus detained. On the twenty-fourth of +the month the city had the appearance of a military camp. Twenty-five +thousand volunteers had enlisted, and four hundred picked men left the +city for the Relay House, on the Baltimore and Ohio Road, for the +purpose of seizing and protecting that point, in order to cut off +communications with Washington by that route. + +For a week an unparalleled excitement prevailed in Baltimore, which was +succeeded by a counter-revolution, when the volunteer militia were +dismissed, and a large number of troops landed at Fort McHenry and +shipped for Washington, from Locust Point. On the fifth of May General +Butler removed a portion of his troops to Baltimore, and they were +permitted to enter and remain in the city without disturbance. As they +proceeded on their way to Federal Hill, they were even greeted with +cheers, while ladies at windows and doors waved their handkerchiefs and +applauded. On the sixteenth of May the passenger trains between +Baltimore and Washington resumed their regular trips. On the +twenty-seventh of June, Marshal of Police Kane was arrested and escorted +to Fort McHenry, on the charge of being at the head of an unlawful +combination of men organized for resistance to the laws of the United +States and the State of Maryland. On the first of July the Commissioners +of Police were arrested, for having acted unlawfully. On the sixteenth +of July General Dix was put in command of the troops stationed at +Baltimore, and the city thenceforth remained tranquil. At the fall +elections a full vote was cast, which resulted in the Union candidates +receiving a very large majority. At the meeting of the Legislature, it +appropriated seven thousand dollars for the relief of the families of +the Massachusetts troops killed and wounded at Baltimore on April +nineteenth. + +On June thirtieth, 1863, Major General Schenck, in command at Baltimore, +put that city and Maryland under martial law. The value of merchandise +exported that year from Baltimore was $8,054,112, and her imports during +the same time were $4,098,189, showing that although on the borderland +of strife, her commerce was in an exceedingly healthy condition. During +July a number of her citizens were arrested, on a charge of being +disloyal to the government. On the Fourth of July all citizens were +required by the Commander to show their colors, from ten o'clock A.M. +to six o'clock, P.M.; an absence of the national flag being considered +tantamount to a confession of disloyalty. In 1864 the State adopted a +new Constitution, which conferred freedom upon the slaves within her +borders, and in November a Freedman's Bureau was established by Major +General Wallace, having its headquarters at Baltimore. + +The following year saw the close of the war, and Baltimore, which had +not suffered like her sister cities at the South, her port being free +from blockade, but had rather witnessed increased prosperity arising +from the demands of the war, continued her prosperous career. Although +many violent disunionists had found their homes within the city, the +popular sentiment had grown strongly in favor of the North, and +Baltimore had come to see that she had little to lose and much to gain +by the reestablishment of the Union. + +The bitterness of the old war times has passed away, and, as if to +emphasize this fact, the Grand Army of the Republic was invited to hold +a reunion in Baltimore in September, 1882. Accepting the invitation, her +citizens vied with each other in honoring the veterans of the war, and +made their visit a regular ovation. Of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, +who had passed through Baltimore on that fateful day in April, +twenty-one years before, and who suffered from the fury of an ungoverned +mob, only one member attended the reunion, Captain C. P. Lord, a +resident of Vineland, New Jersey. He was lionized on every hand. + +This Grand Army reunion had many pleasant and amusing features. Here men +met each other again who had last parted on the battlefield or in a +Southern prison. Here the dead seemed to come to life, and the lost were +found. Many officers and soldiers of the Confederate army were also +present, and it was as satisfactory as curious, as more than once +happened during this occasion, to have two men meet and clasp hands in a +cordial greeting, as one of them said to the other, "The last time we +met I tried to put a bullet hole through you on a battlefield;" or, "I +took you prisoner when I saw you last;" or, "This empty sleeve, or these +crutches, I must thank you for." + +The gathering was one which will long be remembered by Union and +Confederate soldiers, and by the citizens of Baltimore as well. It was +the inauguration of an era of good feeling between the North and the +South. All personal and sectional enmity had died out, and this +gathering joined those who had represented, on one side the North and on +the other the South, in that great intestine struggle which is now so +long past, and the terror of which, thank God, is being gradually +obliterated by time from our memories, in new fraternal bonds, which are +a good augury for the preservation of our Union. When soldiers who +suffered so much at each other's hands, who were stirred by all the evil +passions which war develops, and who bore the brunt of the conflict, +offering all, if need be, as a sacrifice on the altar of the cause they +had espoused, can so forget the past, and shaking hands over the chasm +which divided them, look forward to a happy and concordant future, +surely civilians should be willing to bury the hatred and prejudice +which has so embittered the past, and live only for a common country, +made of many parts whose interests are identical. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CHARLESTON. + + First Visit to Charleston.--Jail Yard.--Bombardment of the + City.--Roper Hospital.--Charleston During the War.--Secession of + South Carolina.--Attack and Surrender of Fort Sumter.--Blockade + of the Harbor.--Great Fire of 1861.--Capitulation in 1865.-- + First Settlement of the City.--Battles of the Revolution.-- + Nullification Act.--John C. Calhoun.--Population of the City.-- + Commerce and Manufactures.--Charleston Harbor.--"American + Venice."--Battery.--Streets, Public Buildings and Churches.-- + Scenery about Charleston.--Railways and Steamship Lines.--An + Ancient Church.--Magnolia Cemetery.--Drives near the City.-- + Charleston Purified by Fire. + + +My first introduction to the city of Charleston can scarcely be said to +have been under propitious circumstances. True, a retinue of troops +conducted my companions and myself, with military pomp, to our quarters +in the city. But these quarters, instead of being any one of its fine +hotels, were none other than the Charleston Jail Yard, for the year was +1864, and we were prisoners of war. + +After a varied experience of prison life at Richmond, Danville, Macon +and Savannah, I had been sent, with a number of others, to Charleston, +South Carolina, to be placed under the fire of our batteries, which were +then bombarding the city. We had received more humane treatment at +Savannah than at any previous place of detention; therefore it was with +a sinking of the heart that we found ourselves, when we arrived at our +destination, thrown into the jail yard at Charleston, which was the +grand receptacle of all Union prisoners in that city. The jail was a +large octagonal building, four stories high, surmounted by a lofty +tower. A workhouse and a gallows also occupied the yard. The jail +building was for the accommodation of criminals, military prisoners, and +Federal and Rebel deserters, all of whom at least had the advantage of +shelter from sun and storm. The war prisoners were permitted the use of +the yard only, which was in the most filthy condition conceivable, +having been long used as a prison-pen, without receiving any cleaning or +purification whatever. The only shelter afforded us were the remnants of +a few tents, which had been cut to pieces, more or less, by former +prisoners, to make themselves clothing. + +This jail yard was in the southeastern portion of the city, and +apparently directly under the fire of our batteries on Morris Island. +But though the shells came screaming over our heads, and proved a +subject of interest, discussion, and even mathematical calculation among +the prisoners, who were thankful for anything which should take their +minds, even momentarily, from the misery which they endured, so +carefully were they aimed, not to do us mischief, that though they +exploded all about us--in front, behind, and on either side--not one of +them fell within the prison enclosure. The scene at night was of +peculiar beauty. These messengers of death presented the spectacle of +magnificent fireworks, and every explosion sounded as the voice of a +friend to us, assuring us that the great Northern army was still +exerting itself to crush out the rebellion and open our prison doors and +set us free. + + [Illustration: VIEW ON THE BATTERY, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.] + +Reaching Charleston and its jail yard September twelfth, 1864, on the +twenty-ninth I was transferred to the Roper Hospital, having given my +parole that I would not attempt to escape. The quarters here were so +much more comfortable that it was almost like a transition from hell to +heaven. Leaving behind me the filthiness of the jail yard, and my bed +there on the chill, bare ground, where I had protection against neither +heat nor cold, storm nor sunshine, to be permitted the freedom of the +beautiful garden of the hospital, and to sleep even upon the hard floor +of the piazza, were luxuries before unenjoyed in my experience of +southern prisons. And here the Sisters of Charity, those angels among +women, did what they could to alleviate the sufferings of the sick, and +to add to the comfort of us all. Their ministrations were bestowed +indiscriminately on Rebels and Federals, with a charity as broad and +boundless as true religion. + +On October fifth we were ordered to leave Charleston, and were sent, in +the foulest of cattle cars, to Columbia, the Capital of the State. We +left Charleston without a regret. It was the breeding place of the +rankest treason, the cradle of the Rebellion, and the scene of untold +cruelties to Union prisoners. At the time of our brief visit to the +city, it was undergoing all the horrors of an actual siege. About +one-third of its territory had been destroyed by fire during the early +part of the war, caused by shells thrown from the Union batteries on +Morris Island. This portion of the city was deserted by all its +inhabitants save the negroes, who, during every brief cessation in the +bombardment, flocked in and took possession, rent free, to scatter as +quickly when one or more of them had been killed by the sudden +appearance and explosion of shells in this quarter. The balance of the +city was forsaken by non-combatants, and the blockade had put an end to +all her commerce. The quiet industries of peace had given place to all +the turmoil of war. Her streets were filled with military, while the +boom of the distant batteries, the whiz of the flying shells, and the +noise of their explosion, were daily and familiar sounds. + +During the four years of the war, Charleston was one of the chief points +of Federal attack, though it remained in possession of the Confederate +forces until the beginning of 1865. These were four terrible years to +the city. Yet her sufferings she had brought upon herself. The first +open and public movement in favor of the dissolution of the Union was +made in that city. South Carolina was the first to call a State +convention, and to secede from the Union. This convention was held at +Columbia, the Capital of the State, but was adjourned to Charleston, +where the Ordinance of Secession was unanimously passed on the twentieth +of December, 1860. Fort Sumter, which was one of the largest forts in +Charleston, a massive fortress of solid masonry, standing on an island +commanding the principal entrance, at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, +was in command of Major Robert Anderson, with a garrison of eighty men. +On the twenty-seventh of December he ran up the stars and stripes. +Governor Pickens immediately demanded a surrender of the fort, which was +promptly refused. Early on Friday morning, April twelfth, 1861, the +initial gun of the terrible four years' war was fired by the Rebel +forces from the howitzer battery on James Island, west of Sumter. Fort +Moultrie, on Sullivan Island, on the northeast, the gun battery at +Cumming's Point, the northwest extremity of Morris Island, and other +batteries and fortifications which the Confederates had seized and +appropriated to their own use, all followed in a deadly rain of shells +upon Sumter. The firing was kept up for thirty-five hours, and Sumter +made a vigorous defence, until the quarters were entirely burned, the +main gates destroyed by fire, the supplies exhausted, and the magazine +surrounded by flames, when Major Anderson accepted the terms of +capitulation offered by General Beauregard. + +Upon the surrender of the Fort, which was received as a good omen by the +South, troops began to pour into the city, so that by the sixteenth of +the same month as many as ten thousand had arrived. The blockade of the +port was commenced on the tenth of May, and continued until the close of +the war. In the latter part of 1861 an attempt was made by the Federal +government to seal up the channel of the harbor with sunken ships, to +prevent the egress of privateers. On the twenty-first of December +seventeen vessels were sunk, in three or four rows, across the channel. +But this attempt at blockade proved a failure. The current washed some +of them away, and many passages in a water front of six miles were left +unobserved, and more vessels ran the blockade and reached the city, than +at any other southern port. + +On the tenth of December, 1861, a fire broke out in the city, which +destroyed nearly all its public buildings, banks and insurance offices, +and several churches, besides many dwellings, reducing thousands to +homelessness and the extremity of want. The loss occasioned by this +conflagration was estimated at ten millions of dollars. + +In 1863, the women, children and other non-combatants were ordered out +of the city, and free transportation, food and lodgings were furnished +those unable to pay for them. Morris Island had been captured by the +Federal Army, who used it as a point of attack against Sumter and the +city. Its shells had wrought destruction in all parts of the city, +especially in its lower portions. On February seventeenth, 1865, +Charleston, which had withstood all attacks from the seaward, +capitulated to the Union forces, Columbia having been captured by +Sherman. + +The history of Charleston goes back to earliest colonial times. In 1671 +a few persons located themselves on Ashley River, at Old Charleston. But +in 1680 this settlement was abandoned, and the foundations of the +present city laid, several miles nearer the sea. The whole country, up +to 1671, between the thirtieth and thirty-sixth parallel of latitude, +was called Carolina, having received the name in honor of Charles IX, of +France. In that year the division was made between the Northern and +Southern provinces. In 1685 the young settlement received a considerable +influx of French Huguenot refugees. + +During the early part of the eighteenth century the war of Queen Anne +against France and Spain greatly disturbed the young colony; and a +little later the Indians threatened its existence. All the inhabitants +of the region took refuge at Charleston, which was vigorously defended. + +In 1700, the same year that Kidd was captured and taken to England, no +less then seven pirates were secured, and executed at Charleston. +Subsequently others shared the same fate. + + [Illustration: GARDEN AT MOUNT PLEASANT, OPPOSITE CHARLESTON, SOUTH + CAROLINA.] + +South Carolina was among the foremost of the American colonies to strike +for independence. On the twenty-eighth of June, 1776, Charleston was +attacked by the British, an attempt being made to destroy the +military works on Sullivan's Island. But Colonel Moultrie, in honor of +whom the fort was subsequently named, made a gallant defence and +repulsed them. In 1779 they made a second attack upon the city, this +time approaching it by land, but were again compelled to retreat. Sir +Henry Clinton, with seven or eight thousand men, opened his batteries +upon Charleston on the second of April, 1780. Fort Moultrie, on +Sullivan's Island, was compelled to surrender on the fourteenth, and the +city yielded on May eleventh. The British retained possession of the +city until the close of the war. + +Charleston took a prominent part in the passage of the nullification act +by the State, which maintained that any one of the States might set +aside or nullify any act of Congress which it deemed unconstitutional or +oppressive. The occasion of this nullification act was the Tariff Laws +of 1828, which were not considered favorable to the Southern States. A +convention of the State declared them null and void, and made +preparations to resist their execution. John C. Calhoun, who was at that +time Vice-President under Andrew Jackson, resigned his office, became a +leader in the nullification movement, and was the father of the doctrine +of State Sovereignty, the legitimate outcome of the principles of which +was the late attempt to dissolve the Union. + +The population of Charleston in 1800 was 18,711; in 1850, 42,985 +inhabitants; in 1860, 40,519; in 1870, 48,956; and in 1880, 50,000 +inhabitants. It has not made so rapid a growth as other cities, even in +the South, but is, nevertheless, a prosperous town, with large +commercial, and since the war, large manufacturing interests. It is one +of the chief shipping ports for cotton, and also exports rice, lumber, +naval stores and fertilizers. Immense beds of marl were discovered in +the vicinity of the city in 1868, and now the manufacture of fertilizers +from marl and phosphate is one of its principal industries. There are +also flour and rice mills, carriage and wagon factories and machine +shops. The city is learning that the surest foundation stone for its +future prosperity is its manufacturing interests; and, probably, the +political battle of 1861, could it be fought over again to-day, in that +city, would find the nullifiers largely in the minority. The city which +was so marred and blemished during its long state of siege, has been +rebuilt, and all traces of the fratricidal conflict removed; and though +Charleston would not be true to her traditions if she did not still +cherish a strong Southern sentiment, the years which have passed since +the cessation of hostilities have done much toward softening the +asperities of feeling on both sides. + +As a seaboard city, Charleston is most favorably situated. It has an +excellent harbor, seven miles in length, with an average width of two +miles, landlocked on all sides, except an entrance about a mile in +width. This entrance is blocked by a bar, which, however, serves both as +a bulwark and a breakwater. Of its two passages, its best gives +twenty-two feet in depth at flood tide, and sixteen feet at ebb. + +The harbor of Charleston is impregnable, as the Union troops learned to +their cost during the late war. Standing directly in the channel are +forts Ripley and Sumter. On a point extending out into the strait, +between the two, is Fort Johnson. Directly in front of the city, one +mile distant from it, is Castle Pinckney, covering the crest of a mud +shoal, and facing the entrance. Sullivan's Island, a long, low, gray +stretch of an island, dotted here and there by clumps of palmettoes, +lies on the north of the entrance of the harbor, with Fort Moultrie on +its extreme southern point, as a doorkeeper to the harbor. On the +southern side is Morris Island, long, low and gray also, with tufts of +pines instead of palmettoes, and with batteries at intervals along its +whole sea front, Fort Wagner standing near its northern end. Sullivan's +Island, the scene of fierce conflict during the Revolution, and later, +during the Rebellion, is to-day the Long Branch or Coney Island of South +Carolina, containing many beautiful cottages and fine drives, and +furnishing good sea bathing. The village occupies the point extending +into the harbor. + +As one approaches Charleston from the sea, the name which has been +applied to it, of the "American Venice," seems not inappropriate. The +shores are low, and the city seems to rise out of the water. It is built +something after the manner of New York, on a long and narrow peninsula, +formed by the Cooper and Ashley rivers, which unite in front of the +city. It has, like New York, its Battery, occupying the extreme point of +the peninsula, its outlook commanding the entire harbor, bristling with +fortifications, so harmless in time of peace, so terrible in war. The +Battery contains plots of thin clover, neatly fenced and shelled +promenades, a long, solid stone quay, which forms the finest sea-walk in +the United States, and has a background of the finest residences in the +city, three storied, and faced with verandahs. The dwelling-houses +throughout the city are mostly of brick or wood, and have large open +grounds around them, ornamented with trees, shrubbery, vines and +flowers. The city is laid out with tolerable regularity, the streets +generally crossing each other at right angles. King street, running +north and south, is the fashionable promenade, containing the leading +retail stores. Meeting street, nearly parallel with King, contains the +jobbing and wholesale stores. Broad street, the banks, brokers' and +insurance offices. Meeting street, below Broad, Rutledge street, and the +west end of Wentworth street, contain fine private residences. + +The City Hall, an imposing building, standing in an open square, the +Court House, the Police Headquarters, and the venerable St. Michael's +Church (Episcopal), all stand at the intersection of Broad and Meeting +streets. St. Michael's was built in 1752, after designs by a pupil of +Sir Christopher Wren. The view from the belfry is very fine, embracing +the far stretch of sea and shore, the shipping, fortresses of the +harbor, and near at hand buildings as ancient as the church itself. It +is the church of the poem--a favorite with elocutionists--"How he saved +St. Michael." Says the poem, in one of its stanzas, its spire rose + + "High over the lesser steeples, tipped with a golden ball + That hung like a radiant planet caught in its earthward fall, + First glimpse of home to the sailor who made the harbor round, + And last slow fading vision, dear, to the outward bound." + +Next in interest among the churches of Charleston is St. Philip's +Episcopal Church, in Church street, near Queen. The building itself is +not so venerable as St. Michael's, though its church establishment is +older. The view from the steeple is fine; but its chief interest centres +in the churchyard, where lie some of South Carolina's most illustrious +dead. In one portion of the churchyard is the tomb of John C. Calhoun, +consisting of a plain granite slab, supported by brick walls, and +bearing the simple inscription "Calhoun." The ruins of St. Finbar's +Cathedral (Roman Catholic) stand at the corner of Broad and Friend +streets. The building, which was one of the costliest edifices of +Charleston, was destroyed by the great fire of 1861, and the walls, +turrets and niches still standing are exceedingly picturesque. Other +handsome church edifices abound. The old Huguenot Church, at the corner +of Church and Queen streets has its walls lined with quaint and elegant +mural entablatures. + + [Illustration: CUSTOM HOUSE, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.] + +The Post Office, at the foot of Broad street, is a venerable structure, +dating back to the colonial period, the original material for its +construction having being brought from England in 1761. It received +considerable damage during the war, but has since been renovated. + +The new United States Custom House, which, when completed, will be the +finest edifice in the city, is of white marble, in very elegant +Corinthian style, and is situated south of the market wharf, on Cooper +River. + +The old Orphan House of Charleston is one of the most famous +institutions in the country. It stands in spacious grounds between +Calhoun and Vanderbuist streets, and a statue of William Pitt, erected +during the Revolution, stands in the centre of the grounds. John Charles +Fremont, the conqueror of California, and once a candidate for the +Presidency, and C.C. Memminger, Secretary of the Treasury of the +Confederate States, were both educated here. The Charleston Library, at +the corner of Broad and Church streets, founded in 1748, and the College +of Charleston, located in the square bounded by George, Green, College +and St. Philip streets, and founded in 1788, are both spacious and +commodious buildings. + +One of the most characteristic sights of Charleston is to be seen +between six and nine o'clock in the morning, in and about market Hall, +in Meeting street, near the Bay. The Hall is a fine building in temple +form, with a lofty portico in front, and a row of long, low sheds in the +rear. + +There is nothing picturesque in the country around about Charleston. On +the contrary, it is low, flat and uninteresting. Looking across the +Ashley River, which is more than a quarter of a mile wide here, there is +on the opposite side a long, low line of nearly dead level, with +occasional sparse pine forests, interspersed with fields of open sand. +There are no palmettoes, but here and there are gigantic oaks, hung with +pendants of gray Spanish moss, and occasional green spikes of the +Spanish bayonet. The view across the Cooper is very similar. Large +extents of country in the neighborhood of Charleston, especially that +lying along the streams, and stretching for many miles inland, are low +and swampy. The region is sparsely settled, and furnishes no thriving +agricultural or manufacturing population, which, seeking a market or a +port for its productions, and wanting supplies in return, helps to build +up the city. Several railways connecting with the North, West and South +centre here; and she is also connected, by means of steamship lines, +with the principal Atlantic seaports and some European ones. She is also +the centre of a great lumber region, and annually exports many million +feet of lumber. + +There are few points of interest about the city. Besides Sullivan's +Island, Mount Pleasant, on the northern shore of the harbor, so named, +probably, because the land is sufficiently high to escape being a swamp, +is a favorite picnic resort. The antiquarian will find interest in the +old Church of St. James, about fifteen miles from Charleston, on Goose +Creek. It is secluded in the very heart of the pine forest, entirely +isolated from habitations, and is approached by a road scarcely more +than a bridle-path. The church was built in 1711, and the royal arms of +England, which are emblazoned over the pulpit, saved it from destruction +during the Revolutionary War. On the walls and altars are tablets in +memory of the early members of the organization, one dated 1711, and +another 1717. The pews are square and high, the pulpit or reading desk +exceedingly small, and the floor is of stone. On the other side of the +road, a short distance from this church, is a farm known as The Oaks, +approached by a magnificent avenue, a quarter of a mile in length, of +those trees, believed to be nearly two hundred years old. They are +exceedingly large, and form a continuous archway over the road, their +branches festooned with long fringes of gray moss, which soften and +conceal the ravages of age. + +Magnolia Cemetery lies just outside the city, on its northern boundary. +It is beautified by live oaks and magnolias, and contains, among other +fine monuments, those of Colonel William Washington, of Revolutionary +fame, Hugh Legare and Dr. Gilmore Simms, the novelist. The roads leading +out of the city by the Cooper and Ashley rivers afford attractive +drives. What the scenery lacks in grandeur and picturesqueness is made +up in beauty by the abundance of lovely foliage, composed of pines, +oaks, magnolias, myrtles and jasmines, exhibiting a tropical +luxuriance. + +On the twenty-seventh of April, 1838, Charleston was visited by a fire +which proved exceedingly disastrous. Nearly one-half the city was swept +by the flames, which raged for twenty-eight hours, and were finally +averted only by the blowing up of buildings in their path. There were +1158 buildings destroyed, involving a loss of three millions of dollars. +The most shocking feature of the catastrophe was that, in the +carelessness of handling the gunpowder in blowing up these buildings, +four of the most prominent citizens were killed, and several others +injured. The fire of 1861 exceeded this in destructiveness, and to it +were added the terrific effects of a four years' besiegement. So that it +can be truly said that Charleston has been purified by fire. She is +to-day fully recovered from the effects, and as prosperous as her +geographical position will permit. + + [Illustration: MAGNOLIA CEMETERY, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CINCINNATI. + + Founding of Cincinnati.--Rapid Increase of Population.-- + Character of its Early Settlers.--Pro-slavery Sympathies.-- + During the Rebellion.--Description of the City.--Smoke and + Soot.--Suburbs.--"Fifth Avenue" of Cincinnati.--Streets, + Public Buildings, Private Art Galleries, Hotels, Churches + and Educational Institutions.--"Over the Rhine."--Hebrew + Population.--Liberal Religious Sentiment.--Commerce and + Manufacturing Interests.--Stock Yards and Pork-packing + Establishments.--Wine Making.--Covington and Newport + Suspension Bridge.--High Water.--Spring Grove Cemetery. + + +Cincinnati, whether we consider what its past history has been, or +whether we regard it as it is to-day, is probably the most +matter-of-fact and prosaic of all our western cities. A generation ago +it derived its chief importance from the pork-packing business, in +which, though it once stood at the head, it is now completely distanced +by Chicago. Its extensive factories and foundries give it material +wealth, while its geographical situation guarantees its commercial +importance. Unlike most of the towns and cities of this western world, +no interesting historical associations cling around its site. The +Indians seem to have been troublesome and treacherous here, as +elsewhere; but the records tell no stories of famous wars, terrible +massacres, or hairbreadth escapes. In all the uninteresting accumulation +of dry facts and statistics regarding the founding and subsequent growth +of the city, there is just one exceptional romance. + +In early times three settlements were made along the banks of the Ohio +River, on what is now the southern boundary of the State of Ohio. The +first was at Columbia, at the mouth of the Little Miami River, in +November, 1788, on ten thousand acres, purchased by Major Benjamin +Stites, from Judge Symmes. The second settlement was commenced but a +month later, on the north bank of the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of +the Licking River, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, being the leading +spirit in the new undertaking, he having purchased about eight hundred +acres, also from Judge Symmes, for an equivalent of fifteen pence an +acre. Judge Symmes himself directed the third settlement, which was +founded in February, 1789, and gave it the name of North Bend, from the +fact that it was the most northern bend of the Ohio River, below the +mouth of the great Kanawha. + +A spirit of rivalry existed between these three settlements, which lay +but a few miles apart. Each one regarded itself as the future great city +of the west. In the beginning, Columbia took the lead; but North Bend +presently gained the advantage, as the troops detailed by General Harmer +for the protection of the settlers in the Miami Valley landed there, +through the influence of Judge Symmes. This detachment soon took its +departure for Louisville, and was succeeded by another, under Ensign +Luce, who was at liberty to select the spot, for the erection of a +substantial block-house, which seemed to him best calculated to afford +protection to the Miami settlers. He put up temporary quarters at North +Bend, sufficient for the security of his troops, and began to look for a +suitable site on which to build the block-house. While he was leisurely +pursuing this occupation, he was attracted by a pair of beautiful black +eyes, whose owner was apparently not indifferent to his attentions. This +woman was the wife of one of the settlers at the Bend, who, when he +perceived the condition of affairs, thought best to remove her out of +danger, and at once proceeded to take up his residence at Cincinnati. +The gallant commander, still ostensibly engaged in locating his +block-house, felt immediately impelled to go to Cincinnati, on a tour of +inspection. He was forcibly struck by the superior advantages offered by +that town, over all other points on the river, for a military station. +In spite of remonstrance from the Judge, the troops were, accordingly, +removed, and the erection of a block-house commenced at once. The +settlers at the Bend, who at that time outnumbered those of the more +favored place, finding their protection gone, gave up their land and +followed the soldiers, and ere long the town was almost deserted. In the +course of the ensuing summer, Major Doughty arrived at Cincinnati, with +troops from Fort Harmer, and established Fort Washington, which was made +the most important and extensive military station in the northwest +territory. North Bend still continued its existence as a town, and was +finally honored by becoming the home of General Wm. H. Harrison, ninth +President of the United States, and there still rest his mortal remains. +Farms now occupy the place where Columbia once stood. + +The unsettled condition of the frontier prevented Cincinnati from making +a rapid growth in its early years. In 1800, twelve years after the first +colonist landed on the shore of the Ohio opposite the Licking River, +there were but 750 inhabitants. In 1814 the town was incorporated as a +city. In 1820 its inhabitants numbered 9,602, and in 1830, 16,230. About +this time the Miami Canal was built, running through the western portion +of the State of Ohio, and connecting Cincinnati with Lake Erie at +Toledo. This gave an impetus to trade, and during the next ten years the +population increased nearly three hundred per cent., numbering in 1840, +46,382 inhabitants. In 1850 it had again more than doubled, amounting to +115,436. In 1860 the number was 161,044; in 1870, 216,239; while +according to the United States census returns of 1880 the population in +that year was 255,708. + +The career of Cincinnati will not compare in brilliancy with that of +Chicago. It has not displayed the same energy and activity. Outwardly, +it has not made the most of its superior natural advantages, and +intellectually, although it boasts some of the most readable and +successful newspapers in the country, it has fallen behind other cities. +Settled originally by emigrants from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, +descendants of Germans, Swedes and Danes, its inhabitants were plodders +rather than pushers. They lacked the practical and mental activity of +New Englanders and New Yorkers. By habits of industry and economy they +were sure to accumulate wealth; but they cared little for outward +display, and less for educational and intellectual advancement. The +churches met better support than the schools, "book learning" being held +in small estimation by this stolid yet thrifty race. They patterned +their city after Philadelphia, the most magnificent city their eyes had +ever beheld, and anything more splendid than which their imaginations +were powerless to depict; called their streets Walnut, Spruce and Vine, +and felt that they should be commended for having built them up with a +view to substantiality rather than to display. + +Yankee capital and enterprise, in the course of time, found their way to +Cincinnati, to build up its factories and stimulate public improvements. +But, on the line between freedom and slavery, its population largely +southern by immigration or descent, and by sympathy, Cincinnati up to +the time of the war was more a southern than a northern city. Her +leading families were connected by marriage with Kentucky, Virginia and +Maryland; many of her leading men had immigrated from those States; and +her aristocracy scorned the northern element which had helped to build +up the city, and repudiated all its tendencies. + +Public sentiment had been, from its earliest history, intensely +pro-slavery. In 1836 a mob broke into and destroyed the office of the +_Philanthropist_, an anti-slavery paper, published by James G. Birney, +scattered the type, and threw the press into the river, having +previously resolved that no "abolition paper" should be either +"published or distributed" in the town. In 1841 the office of the same +paper was again raided and destroyed, and a frenzied mob, numbering at +one time as many as fifteen hundred men, engaged in a riot against the +negro residents in the city, until, to secure their safety, it was found +necessary to incarcerate the latter, to the number of 250 to 300, in the +county jail. Houses were broken into and furniture destroyed, several +persons killed, and twenty or thirty more or less seriously wounded. Yet +at this very period, Salmon Portland Chase, the future statesman and +financier, but then an obscure young lawyer, was living in Cincinnati, +and was already planning the beginnings of that Liberty party which, +after many vicissitudes, and under a different name, finally +accomplished the abolition of slavery; and in this same city, but ten +years later, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin." + +When the war began, Cincinnati found itself in an anomalous position. +Geographically it was on the side of the north, while to a large extent +its social and business relations allied it with the south. Many of the +leading families furnished adherents to the southern cause; but the +masses of the people, notably the Germans, who had already become an +important factor in its population, were stirred by the spirit of +patriotism, and casting aside once for all their conservatism, they +identified themselves with the cause of the Union. Trade was greatly +disturbed. The old profitable relations with the south were broken up +for the time being, but Cincinnati did not find herself a loser. Army +contractors made fortunes, and the business of supplying gunboats, +military stores and provisions to the army gave employment to immense +numbers, and stimulated all branches of trade. From this period +Cincinnati dates her new life. Heretofore she had stagnated in all but a +business sense. With the steady increase of her population came a new +element. Southern supineness and Middle State stolidity were aroused and +shaken out of themselves, when slavery no longer exerted its baleful +influence over the country and the city. Fresh life was infused into her +people, and the war marked the dawn of a new era for the city, an era in +which public spirit took a prominent place. + +The name, Cincinnati, was bestowed upon the city at its foundation, as +tradition has it, by General St. Clair, who called it after the society +of that name, of which himself and General Hamilton were both members. +The county was subsequently named in honor of General Hamilton. The +young town barely escaped the name of Losantiville, a word of original +etymology, compounded by a pedantic schoolmaster, who, wishing to +indicate the position of the future city as opposite the mouth of the +Licking River, united _os_, mouth, _anti_, against or opposite to, and +_ville_, as meaning city, prefacing the whole with L, the initial letter +of Licking; hence "Losantiville." But the name, although accepted for +several months, was not permanently adopted. + +Cincinnati is nearly in the centre of the great valley of the Ohio, +being only fifty-eight miles nearer Cairo, at its junction with the +Mississippi, than to its head waters at Pittsburg. It occupies the half +circle formed by an outward curve of the river, which bends continually +in one direction or another. The plateau upon which the business part of +the city is built is sixty feet above the low-water mark of the river. +Back of this is a terrace some fifty feet higher yet, graded to an easy +slope, the whole shut in by an amphitheatre of what appears to be hills, +though when one mounts to their summits he finds himself on an +undulating table-land, four or five hundred feet above the river, which +extends backward into the country. The river flows through a wide and +deep ravine, which the raging floods have, in the long ages since they +began their course, cut for themselves, through an elevated region of +country. In the remote west these ravines, chiseled through the solid +rocks, are bordered by steep precipices; on the Ohio the yielding soil +has been washed away in a gradual slope, leaving the graceful outlines +of hills. + +The city proper is occupied by stores, offices, public buildings, +factories, foundries, and the dwelling houses of the poorer and middle +classes, over all which hangs a pall of smoke, caused by the bituminous +coal used as fuel in the city. Cleanliness in either person or in dress +is almost an impossibility. Hands and faces become grimy, and clean +collars and light-hued garments are perceptibly coated with a thin layer +of soot. Clothes hung out in the weekly wash acquire a permanent yellow +hue which no bleaching can remove. The smoke of hundreds of factories, +locomotives and steamboats arises and unites to form this dismal pall, +which obscures the sunlight, and gives a sickly cast to the moonbeams. + +But beyond the city, on the magnificent amphitheatre of hills which +encircle it, are half a dozen beautiful suburbs, where the homes of +Cincinnati's merchant princes and millionaires are found, as elegant as +wealth combined with art can make them, surrounded by enchanting +scenery, and commanding extensive views over the city and surrounding +country. Cincinnati has no Fifth Avenue like New York, but it has its +Mount Auburn, its Walnut Hills, its Price's Hill, its Clifton and its +Avondale, which are as much superior to Fifth Avenue as the country is +superior to the city, and as space is preferable to narrowness. As far +as the eye can reach, on these billowed outlines of hills and valleys, +elegant cottages, tasteful villas, and substantial mansions, surrounded +by a paradise of grass, gardens, lawns, and tree-shaded roads, are +clustered. Each little suburb has its own corporation, and its own +municipal government, while even its mayor and aldermen may do daily +business in the large city below it. + +In the city itself Pearl street is noted for its wholesale trade, and +for the uniform elegance of its buildings. Third street, between Main +and Vine, contains the banking, brokering, and insurance offices. Fourth +street is the fashionable promenade and business street. Freeman street, +in the neighborhood of Lincoln Park, is also a favorite promenade. Both +the East and West Ends contain many fine residences. Along Front street, +at the foot of Main, is the public landing, an open space one thousand +feet long and four hundred and twenty-five feet wide. The city has a +frontage of ten miles on the river, and extends back three miles. + +The United States Government building, occupying the square bounded by +Main and Walnut, and Fifth and Sixth streets, and accommodating the +Custom House, Post Office, and United States Courts; the County Court +House, in Main street, near Canal street; the City buildings occupying +an entire square on Plum street, between Eighth and Ninth; the Chamber +of Commerce, on Fourth street between Main and Walnut; and the Masonic +Temple, at the corner of Third and Walnut streets, are among the most +imposing buildings of the city. The Exposition buildings, in Elm street, +fronting Washington Park, cover three and one-half acres of ground, and +have seven acres of space for exhibiting. The Exhibition opens annually, +during the first week in September, and closes the first week in +October. The Springer Music Hall will seat 5,000 persons, and contains +one of the largest organs in the world, having more pipes, but fewer +speaking stops, than the famous Boston organ. Pike's Opera House, in +Fourth street, between Vine and Walnut, is a very handsome building. +Cincinnati is noted for its appreciation and encouragement of fine +music. The Emery Arcade, said to be the largest in America, extends +from Vine to Race street, between Fourth and Fifth. The roof is of +glass, and in it are shops of various kinds, and the Hotel Emery. + +The late Henry Probasco, on Clifton Heights, and Joseph Longworth, on +Walnut Hills, each had very fine private art galleries, to which +visitors were courteously admitted, and the city itself occupies a high +standard in art matters. The Tyler-Davidson fountain, in Fifth street, +between Vine and Walnut, the gift of Mr. Probasco, exhibits a series of +basins, one above another, the shaft ornamented by figures, and the +whole surmounted by a gigantic female figure, from whose outstretched +hands the water rains down in fine spray. The fountain was cast in +Munich, and cost nearly $200,000. + +The Burnet House has been, for more than a quarter of a century, the +principal hotel in Cincinnati. The Grand Hotel is newer and more +elegant. The Gibson House is large and centrally located. There are +various opera houses, theatres, variety and concert halls, a gymnasium, +a Floating Bath, and Zoological Gardens, with a collection of birds and +animals, among the best in the country. + +St. Peter's Cathedral (Roman Catholic), in Plum street, between Seventh +and Eighth, is the finest religious edifice in the city. Its altar of +Carrara marble was carved in Genoa, and its altar-piece, "St. Peter +Delivered," by Murillo, a work of art of world-wide reputation. Many of +the Protestant churches are elegant, and some of them actually +magnificent. The Hebrew Synagogue on Plum street, opposite the +Cathedral, and the Hebrew Temple, at the corner of Eighth and Mound +streets, both handsome edifices, one in Moorish and the other in Gothic +style, have each of them brilliant interiors. + +Among the educational institutions of Cincinnati are the University of +Cincinnati, having in connection with it a School of Design and a Law +School, St. Xavier's College (Jesuit); Wesleyan Female College; Seminary +of Mount St. Mary's, a famous Roman Catholic College; Lane Theological +Seminary, of which Dr. Lyman Beecher was once president, and where Henry +Ward Beecher once studied theology for three years; several medical +colleges, and scientific, classical and mechanical institutes. + +A number of parks surround the city, furnishing fine pleasure grounds, +and containing magnificent views of the river and its shores. + +More than a third of the residents of Cincinnati are of German birth or +descent. Besides being scattered all through the city, they also occupy +a quarter exclusively their own, on the north of the Miami Canal, which +they have named "the Rhine." "Over the Rhine," one seems to have left +America entirely, and to have entered, as by magic, the Fatherland. The +German tongue is the only one spoken, and all signs and placards are in +German. There are German schools, churches and places of amusement. The +beer gardens will especially recall Germany to the mind of the tourist. +The Grand Arbeiter and Turner Halls are distinctive features of this +quarter of the city, and specially worthy of a visit. + +The Jews also constitute a proportion of the inhabitants, respectable +both as to numbers and character; and, what is worthy of remark, there +is an unwonted harmony between Christians and Hebrews, so that an +exchange of pulpits between them has been among the actual facts of the +past. Dr. Max Lilienthal, one of the most eloquent and learned rabbis of +the country, presides over one of the Jewish congregations, and has +preached to Christian audiences; and Mr. Mayo, the Unitarian clergyman, +has spoken by invitation in the synagogues. The Jews of the city are +noted for their intelligence, public spirit and liberality, and are +represented in the municipal government, and on the boards of public and +charitable institutions. Quite as worthy of note is the fact that the +Young Men's Christian Association of Cincinnati is not influenced by +that spirit of narrow bigotry which in certain other cities of the Union +excludes Unitarians from fellowship. + +The venerable Archbishop Purcell, who for half a century had been at the +head of the Roman Catholic Church in this diocese, was a man of genial +manners, sincerely beloved by all. But the closing days of his life were +sadly clouded by a gigantic financial failure, amounting to several +millions of dollars, with which he was connected. As heavily as the blow +has fallen upon many of his flock, the only blame they impute to the +dead prelate is that of most faulty judgment and general incapacity in +financial affairs. The most singular part of it all was that the +difficulties should have remained so long undiscovered, until such an +immense amount of property was involved. + +Cincinnati's commerce is very extended, and so are her manufacturing +interests. Steamboats from all points on the Mississippi and the Ohio +lay up at her levee, which extends five or six miles around the bank of +the river in front of the city. The traveler may take his ticket for St. +Paul, New Orleans, Pittsburg, high up the Red River, or any intervening +point. The staple article of trade is pork, though she exports wine, +flour, iron, machinery, whisky, paper and books. In addition to the +water ways, a large number of railways, connecting the city with every +section of the country, centres here. + +The stock yards of Cincinnati are on an extended scale, though not +equaling those of Chicago. The Union Railroad's Stock Yards, comprising +fifty acres on Spring Grove avenue, have accommodations for 25,000 hogs, +10,000 sheep, and 5,000 cattle. In the pork packing establishments, +thousands of hogs from the farms of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, are +slaughtered daily. In a single establishment fifty men will slaughter +and dispose of 1,500 hogs a day. Each man has his own special line of +work, the labor being divided among pen-men, knockers-down, stickers, +scalders, bristle-snatchers, scrapers, shavers, hangers or "gamble-men," +gutters, hose-boys, slide-boys, splitters, cutters with their +attendants, weighers, cleavers, knife-men, ham-trimmers, +shoulder-trimmers, packers, salters, weighers and branders, lard-men, +bookkeepers, porters and laborers, of whom fifty will unitedly dispose +of a hog once in every twenty seconds. The old saying is that it takes +nine tailors to make a man, but it takes fifty men, belonging to all the +professions named above, to make one complete butcher. The work is +accomplished so rapidly that the creature has no time to realize what +has happened to him, before the different portions of his dissected body +are slipping down wooden pipes, each to its appropriate apartment below, +to be finally disposed of. + +Nowhere east of the Rocky Mountains are grapes cultivated to such an +extent, and such quantities of wine manufactured, as on the southern +slopes of the hills which hem in the city of Cincinnati. This business +is mostly engaged in by Germans, who make excellent wine, which has +acquired a world-wide celebrity. But the grape-rot, which has especially +affected the Catawbas, from which the best wine is produced, has of late +years rather checked the industry. Some of the wine cellars of +Cincinnati are famous, not only for the quantity of native wine which +they contain, but for its quality as well. + +Looking across the river, which at low water is, perhaps, a third of a +mile wide, to the Kentucky side, one sees, on the right bank of the +Licking River, the city of Covington, a mass of black factories and tall +chimneys, from which dense smoke is always ascending, and spreading out +over the valley. On the left or opposite bank of the Licking is Newport, +the two towns connected by a suspension bridge. Covington is also +connected with Cincinnati by a suspension bridge, 1,057 feet long from +tower to tower, its entire length 2,252 feet, and elevated by two iron +cables above the river, at low water, one hundred feet. Its weight is +600 tons, but it is estimated that it will sustain a weight of 16,000 +tons, and is one of the finest structures of its kind in the world. This +bridge was nine years in construction, and cost nearly two millions of +dollars. There are also two pier railroad bridges across the Ohio at +Cincinnati. + +Along the summit of the steep levee, close to the line of stores, there +is a row of massive posts, three feet thick and twenty feet high, and +forty or fifty feet above the usual low water mark. The stranger will be +puzzled to imagine their use. But let him visit the city during the +spring freshet, and he will speedily discover their purpose. The +swelling of the river at that period brings the steamboats face to face +with the warehouses on the levee, and they are secured to these huge +posts by means of strong cables, to prevent them being swept down the +stream by the mighty rush of waters. The usual difference between the +high and low water mark of the Ohio River at Cincinnati is about forty +feet, though a flood has been known to mark a much higher figure than +that. When this occurs, which it does once or twice in a generation, the +overflowing water carries desolation to all the lower parts of the city. +The ground floors of houses are submerged, cellars filled, merchandise +damaged or destroyed. People betake themselves to the upper stories, and +make their way about the streets in boats. + +The latest and most disastrous flood on record was that of 1883, when, +on February fifteenth, the river indicated sixty-six feet and four +inches above low water mark. Furious rain storms throughout the Ohio +Valley had swollen all the streams to an unprecedented height, and +caused terrible disaster to all the towns and cities on the shores of +the Ohio River. For seven miles along the water front of Cincinnati the +water overflowed valuable property, reaching from two to eight blocks +into the city, so that the great suspension bridge, entrance to which is +from the top of the decline, could not be reached except in boats. A +thousand firms were washed out. In Mill Creek Valley are the large +manufacturing establishments, which employ over thirty thousand men, +women, and children, and these were all cut off by water. Twelve wards +in the city, and seven townships in the country, were more or less +affected by the flood. The entire population of the flooded city +districts is nearly 130,000, and one quarter of these, exclusive of +business interests, were sufferers by the flood, their houses being +either under water or totally destroyed. The waterworks were stopped, +and the city was left in darkness by the submergence of the gasworks. + +On Tuesday, February thirteenth, although the flood had not yet reached +its height, the freight depot of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad was +undermined by the bursting of a culvert under it, and fell into the +surrounding water, carrying with it, to certain death, several people. +More than twenty railroad tracks were submerged, some of them to a depth +of twelve feet, so that nearly all communication was cut off. Policemen +patrolled the streets in boats. The churches were thrown open to receive +the homeless, and nearly every organization in the city, from the +Chamber of Commerce to the ladies' sewing societies, entered upon the +work of relieving the sufferers. Contributions poured in most liberally +from abroad, the Free Masons of Cleveland alone shipping twelve large +boats, with a generous supply of stores. Before relief could come to +them, many persons suffered severely, from both cold and hunger. They +were rescued from their flooded homes by the aid of skiffs, some of them +with barely enough clothing to conceal their nakedness. + +It is estimated that eight square miles of Cincinnati were under water, +five of which were in the Mill Creek Valley. Provisions became scarce, +and commanded high prices. Newport, on the Kentucky shore, was in even a +more deplorable condition than Cincinnati. Supplies became entirely +exhausted, and on the night of the fourteenth, fifteen thousand people +there were without fuel or provisions. + +On the sixteenth of February the waters had begun to subside, and +gradually regained their normal level, making more apparent, as the +flood decreased, the ruin and desolation which had attended it. A vast +deposit of mud was left upon the streets, many premises had been +undermined by the sucking currents, malaria haunted the wet cellars, the +destruction of merchandise was found to be very heavy indeed, while +thousands of men were compelled to remain out of employment until the +factories and mills could be put in working condition. The great flood +of 1883 will long be remembered by the citizens of Cincinnati. + +The breaking up of the ice in the river, in the spring, is also a time +of great peril to property. There is usually more or less rise in the +river at that period, with a swifter current, and the floating blocks +sometimes drag boats away from their moorings, and crush them to either +partial or utter destruction. The Ohio River, known to the French as _La +Belle Riviere_, so called because of its high and picturesque banks, is, +like the Mississippi, a capricious stream, and neither life nor property +is always safe upon its bosom or along its shores. + +The pride of Cincinnati is Spring Grove Cemetery, five miles northwest +of the city, which is one of the most beautiful in the West. It is in +the valley of Mill Creek, and is approached by a handsome avenue, one +hundred feet wide. It contains six hundred acres, well wooded, and so +laid out as to present the appearance of a park. The boundaries of the +lots are indicated by sunken stone posts at each corner, there being +neither railing, fence, nor hedge within the cemetery, to define these +lots. The graves are leveled off, even with the ground, and the +monuments are remarkable, for their variety and good taste. The Dexter +mausoleum, which represents a Gothic chapel, will attract special +attention; while one of the principal objects in the cemetery is the +bronze statue of a soldier, cast in Munich, and erected in 1864, to the +memory of the Ohio volunteer soldiers who died during the War. + +In spite of many changes for the better since the war, Cincinnati still +retains her distinctive character. She has taken long strides in the +direction of intellectual development, and has now numerous and +extensive public libraries, of which any city might be proud. The +theatres and other places of amusement, which, not long since, were +represented by shaky buildings, third-rate talent and a general dearth +of attractions, and patronized more largely by the river men than by any +other single class, have risen to take rank among the best in the +country. But she is still a city noted for her wealth; for her solid +business enterprises and scrupulous honesty, rather than for that spirit +of speculation in which, in other cities, fortunes are quickly made, and +even more quickly lost. Her prosperity has a solid foundation in her +factories, her foundries, her mills and engine shops. A man, to be +successful in Cincinnati, must know how to _make_ and to _do_, as well +as how to buy and sell. Men have risen from the humblest ranks by dint +of industry and energy alone, while they were yet young, to be the +masters of princely fortunes. Even a newspaper publisher in that city, a +few years since, estimated his property at five millions of dollars, an +instance which, probably, has not a parallel in the civilized world. +Nicholas Longworth died worth twelve millions of dollars, and her +living millionaires are to be counted by hundreds. + +Cincinnati stands in the front rank of the manufacturing cities of +America, and the secret of her financial success is that she has made +what the people of Ohio and other States needed and were sure to buy. +Receiving their products in return, and turning these to account, her +merchants have made a double profit. As long as the Ohio River sweeps by +the city's front, and as long as the smoke of her factories and her +foundries ascends to heaven and obscures the fair face thereof, and +corn, transformed into pork, is sent away in such quantities to the +Eastern cities and to Europe; so long as the cotton of the South, the +hay of the blue grass region, and the grain of the North and West, find +a market on her shores, her prosperity is secure; and the Queen City of +the West, as she proudly styles herself, will go on increasing in +population and in prosperity. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CLEVELAND. + + The "Western Reserve."--Character of Early Settlers.-- + Fairport.--Richmond.--Early History of Cleveland.--Indians.-- + Opening of Ohio and Portsmouth Canal.--Commerce in 1845.-- + Cleveland in 1850--First Railroad.--Manufacturing Interests.-- + Cuyahoga "Flats" at Night.--The "Forest City."--Streets and + Avenues.--Monumental Park.--Public Buildings and Churches.-- + Union Depot.--Water Rents.--Educational Institutions.--Rocky + River.--Approach to the City.--Freshet of 1883.--Funeral of + President Garfield.--Lake Side Cemetery.--Site of the Garfield + Monument. + + +In early colonial times, out of utter ignorance of the boundless +territory extending westward, the first American Colonies were chartered +by the Kings of England with permission to extend westward indefinitely. +After the close of the Revolutionary War, while negotiations were in +progress in regard to the final treaty of peace with the United States, +which was ultimately signed at Paris on November thirtieth, 1782, Mr. +Oswald, the British Commissioner, proposed the Ohio River as the western +boundary of the young nation, and had it not been for the firmness and +persistence of John Adams, one of the American Commissioners, who +insisted upon the right of the United Colonies to the territory as far +westward as the Mississippi, it is probable that the rich section of +country between these two rivers would still have formed a portion of +the British dominions, or have been the source of subsequent contention +and expense. When the Colonies had become independent States, many of +them claimed the right of soil and jurisdiction over large portions of +western unappropriated land originally embraced in their charters. +Congress urged upon these States to cede these lands to the general +government, for the benefit of all. They all yielded to this request, +except Connecticut, who retained a small tract of land in the +northeastern portion of the present State of Ohio, which was +subsequently divided up five counties in length along the lake, with an +average width of two counties. The lower boundary of this tract of land +was 40A deg. 22' north latitude, and it extended from the Pennsylvania line +on the east, one hundred and twenty miles westward, to a line running +north and south, a little west of the present location of Sandusky City. +This tract of land was called the "Western Reserve of Connecticut." + +In 1801 Connecticut ceded all her jurisdictional claims over the +territory, but it continues to be known, to this day, as the +"Connecticut Reserve," the "Western Reserve," or simply as the +"Reserve." This "Western Reserve" is like a little piece of New England +in a mosaic, representing many sections and many peoples. It is a +peculiarity of the Anglo-Saxon race, that in emigrating it usually moves +along parallels of latitude, and rarely diverges much either northward +or southward. We find to the eastward of Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode +Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and +Virginia, and all of these States have contributed to her population. +Thus, below the Reserve, the people are largely from Pennsylvania; still +further south, from Maryland and Virginia; and the lower section of the +State is allied more by kindred and sympathy with the South than with +the North. But on the Western Reserve, the cosmopolitan character of the +inhabitants is at once lost. It is New England in descent and ideas. The +little white meeting house, and the little red school house not far off, +both as bare and homely as a stern Puritan race could conceive of, were +everywhere met in the early days of its settlement, after the log cabin +epoch had passed away. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont furnished +the principal immigrants, and they built their neat and thrifty little +New England towns over again, and maintained their New England +sturdiness and simplicity. + +The inhabitants of the Reserve have been, and are still, noted for their +thrift, their intelligence and their superior culture. That section has +furnished many distinguished public men, and one President, to the +country. It was, in the old slavery days, spoken of contemptuously as +"the hotbed of abolitionism," and gave both Giddings and Wade to fight +the battle against Southern dominion in the United States Congress. Here +Garfield was born, and here he is buried. Howells, the novelist, was a +native of the Reserve, and passed his life until early manhood in its +northeasternmost county. + +The northern shores of the Reserve are washed by Lake Erie, one of the +shallowest, most treacherous and least picturesque of the chain of lakes +which form our northern boundary. It embraces the "Great Divide" between +the north and the south, its waters flowing to the sea by both the St. +Lawrence and the Mississippi. Summit and Portage counties, by their +names, indicate the locality of this Divide. + +Very early in the present century, the sturdy New England pioneers, +looking for a suitable harbor upon the lake, discovered the mouth of +Grand River, about thirty-five miles northeast of the Cuyahoga River; +and in 1803, two miles up this river, the first warehouse on the lake +was built. + +In 1812 the town of Fairport, at the mouth of this river, was laid out, +and was destined by its founders to be the future great lake city of +Ohio. It had one of the best harbors on the lake, if not the best, well +defended from storms, and easy of access, so that vessels entered it +without difficulty when they could not make other ports. The water was +deep enough for any large craft, and in the course of time the +government expended a considerable sum of money in improving the harbor. +A line of boats was speedily established between Fairport and Buffalo, +which in those railroadless days were liberally patronized. Nearly all +the lake steamers bound for other ports stopped there, and its business +constantly increased. A lighthouse was built, and its future prosperity +seemed assured. + +During the great period of land speculation, between 1830 and 1840, the +town of Richmond was laid out on the opposite bank of the Grand River, +by wealthy eastern capitalists, who established their homes there, and +transported to the infant city the wealth, magnificence and luxurious +social customs of the east. During their brief reign, they gave +entertainments such as were not equaled in that section of the country +for many long years afterwards. A large village was built and a +steamboat was owned there. + +Meantime, a little town had been growing up on the banks of the +Cuyahoga. The first permanent settlement had been made as early as +1796, and named Cleveland, in honor of General Moses Cleveland, of +Canterbury, Connecticut. At that period the nearest white settlement was +Conneaut, on the east, and another at the mouth of the River Raisin, to +the west. Immigration at that period did not march steadily westward, +each new settlement being in close proximity to an older one, but it +took sudden jumps over wide extents of territory, so that for many years +isolated families or small neighborhoods were far apart. Each little +settlement had to be sufficient unto itself, since, to reach any other +involved a long, difficult and often dangerous journey. Up to nearly +1800 each house in Cleveland had its own hand grist-mill standing in the +chimney-corner, in which the flour or meal for the family consumption +was slowly and laboriously ground each day. In the spring of 1799 +Wheeler W. Williams and Major Wyatt erected the first grist and saw mill +on the Reserve, at Newburg, a few miles above the mouth of the Cuyahoga. + +The first ball ever given in Cleveland was on the Fourth of July, 1801, +in a log cabin, the company numbering thirty, of both sexes. The first +militia muster was held at Doane's Corners, on the sixteenth of June, +1806. The spot is now incorporated in the city of Cleveland. Never +before had been so many whites collected together in this region as on +this occasion, which was one of general excitement. The militia +consisted of about fifty privates, with the usual complement of +officers, but a surveying party and a number of strangers were present +and added to the spectators. + +In the beginning of the century the Indians were in the habit of meeting +every autumn, at Cleveland, piling their canoes up at the mouth of the +Cuyahoga, and scattering into the interior of the country, which +constituted their great winter hunting ground. In the spring they +returned, disposed of their furs, and entering their canoes, departed up +the lake for their villages, in the region of Sandusky and Maumee, where +they raised their crops of corn and potatoes. Many local names are of +Indian origin; Cuyahoga means "crooked river." Geauga, the name of an +adjoining county, signifies "raccoon." Their encampment on going and +returning was usually on the west bank of the river, and in their +drinking bouts, in which they occasionally indulged, they were sometimes +quarrelsome and dangerous, but do not seem, on the whole, to have given +the settlers much trouble. On the twenty-sixth of June, 1812, an Indian +named McMic was hanged for murder, on the public square of Cleveland. +There were fears that the Indians would rally to his rescue, and a large +number of citizens from Cuyahoga and adjoining counties, armed +themselves and attended the execution, prepared for any outbreak. The +Indians remained peaceable, but the prisoner, at the last moment, +refused to ascend the scaffold. Finally, his scruples were overcome by a +pint of whisky, which he swallowed with satisfaction before yielding to +the inevitable. + +In 1813 Cleveland became a depot for supplies and troops during the war, +and a permanent garrison was established here, a small stockade having +been erected on the lake bank, at the foot of Ontario street. The return +of peace was celebrated in true American style. The cannon which was +fired in honor of the occasion was supplied with powder by one Uncle +Abram, who carried an open pail of the explosive material on his arm. +Another citizen bore a lighted stick with which to touch off the gun. +In the excitement, the latter swung his stick in the air; a spark fell +into Uncle Abram's powder, and that worthy, whether from astonishment or +some other cause, suddenly sprang twenty feet into the air, his ascent +being accompanied by a deafening report. When he came down again, his +clothing was singed off, and he vociferously protested that he was dead. +But the multitude refused to take his word for it, and it was not a +great while before he had completely recovered from the accident. + +The Ohio Canal, which connects Lake Erie at this point with the Ohio +River at Portsmouth, was completed in 1834, and from that date her +prosperity seems to have been established. She was incorporated a city +in 1836. About this time the great western land bubble burst, and with +it the hopes of Fairport and Richmond. The latter city speedily +disappeared from the face of the earth, and its name from the map. Its +houses were taken up bodily and removed to adjacent towns. Boats still +continued to stop at Fairport, but they began to stop more frequently at +Cleveland, and while the business of the former point was at a +standstill, that of the latter continued to increase. In 1840 its +population was over 6,000, and its supremacy fairly established. In 1850 +Fairport was still a little hamlet, the boats passing her far out in the +lake without giving her so much as a nod of recognition; while the +wharves of Cleveland were lined with shipping, and her population did +not fall far short of 20,000. + +Besides the Cleveland and Portsmouth Canal, which opened up a line of +traffic with the south and southwest, communication was also had with +the East, by means of canal to Pittsburg and to New York, and the lakes +were a highway, not only to the East but to the North and West. +Cleveland became the great mart of the grain-growing country. Its harbor +was extended and improved by the erection of piers each side of the +mouth of the river, two hundred feet apart, and extending out several +hundred feet into the lake, furnishing effective break-waters, and ample +room for the loading and unloading of vessels. A lighthouse was erected +at the end of each pier, and one already stood upon the cliff. + +In 1845 the number of vessels which arrived by lake was 2,136; and of +these 927 were steamers. The tonnage then owned at that port amounted to +13,493, and the number of vessels of all kinds eighty-five. The total +value of exports and imports by the lake for that year was over +$9,000,000. Cleveland occupied a small region on the cliff at the mouth +of the Cuyahoga. Ontario street was filled with boarding-houses and +private residences. Euclid avenue and Prospect street extended for a few +squares, and were then lost in the country. The flats through which the +river wound its devious way were occupied as pastures for the cows of +persons living in the heart of the city. The business portion of the +town was contained, for the most part, in the two squares on Superior +street, west of Ontario. Ohio City was a separate corporation, a +straggling, dilapidated town, looking like a country village, on the +western bank of the Cuyahoga, connected with Cleveland by means of +drawbridges. + +In the fall of 1852 the first whistle of the locomotive was heard down +by the river side, in the city of Cleveland. It started the city into +new life, and woke all the farmers within the sound of its hoarse +screech into renewed energy. That fall and winter there was a butter +famine in all that region. The market being opened to New York, butter +went suddenly up from eight and ten cents a pound, to twelve, sixteen, +and then to twenty cents. Buyers could afford to pay no such fancy price +for an article which might be dispensed with; and producers were equally +unwilling to put upon their own tables anything which would yield them +such a handsome profit on selling. And so many families, not only of +mechanics, but of farmers as well, went without butter that winter; the +latter happy in receiving, first twenty, then twenty-two, and finally +twenty-five cents per pound for the products of their dairies. + +This first railroad gave the city a fresh start, and presently others +found their terminus here. Population and business have both steadily +increased since then, until in 1880 the former was 160,142, and its +commerce immense, especially with Canada and the mining regions of Lake +Superior. Since 1860 the city has rapidly developed in the direction of +manufacturing industries. The headquarters of the giant monopoly, known +as the Standard Oil Company, Cleveland is the first city of the world in +the production of refined petroleum. The old pasture grounds of the cows +of 1850 are now completely occupied by oil refineries and manufacturing +establishments; and the river, which but a generation ago flowed +peaceful and placid through green fields, is now almost choked with +barges, tugs and immense rafts. Looking down upon the Cuyahoga Flats, +from the heights of what was once Ohio City, but is now known as the +West Side of Cleveland itself, the view, though far from beautiful, is a +very interesting one. There are copper smelting, iron rolling, and iron +manufacturing works, lumber yards, paper mills, breweries, flour mills, +nail works, pork-packing establishments, and the multitudinous +industries of a great manufacturing city, which depends upon these +industries largely for its prosperity. The scene at night, from this +same elevated position, is picturesque in the extreme. The whole valley +shows a black background, lit up with a thousand points of light from +factories, foundries and steamboats, which are multiplied into two +thousand as they are reflected in the waters of the Cuyahoga, which +looks like a silver ribbon flowing through the blackness. + +Cleveland is acknowledged to be the most beautiful city of the many +which are found upon the shores of the great lakes. It stands on a high +bluff overlooking Lake Erie. It is laid out, for the most part, with +parallel streets, crossed by others at right angles; and even in the +heart of the city nearly every house has its little side and front yard +filled with shrubbery and shaded by trees, a large majority of the +latter being elms. The great number of these trees fairly entitle +Cleveland to be known as the "Forest City." The streets are very wide, +and the principal ones are paved. + +The main business thoroughfare and fashionable promenade is Superior +street, which is one hundred and thirty-two feet wide, and lined with +handsome hotels and retail stores. From the foot of this street, and on +a level with it, was completed, in 1878, a great stone viaduct, +connecting the East Side with the West Side, reaching the latter at the +junction of Pearl and Detroit streets. This roadway is 3,211 feet long, +and cost $2,200,000. Some years before a bridge had been constructed in +the same locality, at a sufficient elevation to permit the passage +under it of various craft; but even at this height there was quite a +descent to reach it, and an equal ascent on leaving it on the other +side. The drawbridge near the mouth of the river was totally inadequate +to meet the needs of business, and was often open for long periods of +time while vessels were passing through. + +Ontario, Bank, Water, Mervin and River streets and Euclid avenue are +other important business streets on the East Side. Detroit, Pearl and +Lorain are the principal thoroughfares on the West Side. + +Monument Park is a square ten acres in extent, in the centre of the +city, crossed by Superior and Ontario streets. It is divided by these +streets into four sections and is shaded by fine trees. In the southeast +section stands a monument to Commodore Perry, the hero of the battle of +Lake Erie, erected in 1860, at a cost of $8,000. It contains a colossal +statue of the Commodore, in Italian marble, standing on a pedestal of +Rhode Island granite, the entire monument being about twenty feet in +height. In front of the pedestal is a marble medallion, representing +Perry in a small boat passing from the Lawrence to the Niagara, in the +heat of battle. In the southwest corner of the Park is a pool and +cascade, and in the northwest a handsome fountain. In this park was +erected the large catafalque under which the casket containing the +remains of the late President Garfield was laid in state until and +during the grand public funeral, after which it was taken to the +cemetery. This park is surrounded by very handsome churches and public +buildings, among which latter are the Custom House, Post Office, Federal +Courts, County Court House and City Hall, all magnificent edifices. +Case Hall, near the park, contains a concert hall capable of seating +fifteen hundred persons, a library, reading room, and the rooms of the +Cleveland Library Association. The Opera House, a new and handsome +building, is on Euclid avenue. There are, besides, an Academy of Music +and the Globe Theatre and several minor theatres. + + [Illustration: PUBLIC SQUARE AND PERRY MONUMENT, CLEVELAND, OHIO.] + +The business portion of Euclid avenue extends from the Park to Erie +street, beyond which it is lined with handsome residences, elegant +cottages and superb villas, the grounds around each being more and more +extensive as it approaches the country. It is one of the finest avenues +in the world, and is not less than ten miles in length, embracing during +its course several suburbs which a generation since were remote from the +city, and are now considerably surprised to find themselves brought so +near it. Euclid avenue crosses the other streets diagonally, and was +evidently one of the original roads leading into the city before it +attained its present dimensions. The majority of the streets are +parallel with the lake front, which pursues a course from the northeast +to the southwest. But Euclid avenue runs directly eastward for about +three miles, to Doane's Corners, one of the historic spots in the +neighborhood of Cleveland, and then turns to the northeast, following +nearly parallel to the course of the lake. Prospect street runs parallel +to Euclid avenue, and is only second to it in the beauty and elegance of +its residences. St. Clair street is also a favorite suburban avenue, +extending parallel to the lake, a little distance from it, far out into +the country, and containing many handsome residences. + +Newburg, once three miles from the city, and the site of the first saw +and grist mill on the Reserve, is now included as a suburb of +Cleveland, and contains extensive iron manufactories. + +The Union Depot, erected in 1866, is one of the finest and largest in +the country. It is built on the shore of the lake, below the bluff, and +near the mouth of the Cuyahoga. Streets more or less steeply graded +furnish access to it for carriages and vehicles of all descriptions, +while a long flight of massive stone steps conduct the pedestrian +directly to the summit of the cliff, where horse-cars, leading by +various routes to all quarters of the city, are waiting for him. All the +railroads leading out of the city centre here. In the keystone over the +main entrance of the depot is a bas relief portrait of Mr. Amasa Stone, +under whose supervision it was built. Similar portraits of Grant and +Lincoln are found upon keystones at either end of the building. + +The waterworks stand near the lake, west of the river, and by means of a +tunnel extending some six thousand feet out under the lake, pure water, +forced by two powerful engines into a large reservoir upon the cliff, is +supplied to the entire city. This reservoir is a popular resort for +pleasure seekers, and furnishes a fine view of the city, lake and +surrounding country. + +Cleveland enjoys superior educational facilities. Her schools are not +excelled by any in the country, and she has, besides, several large +libraries. The Western Reserve College, until recently located at +Hudson, a small village about twenty miles to the southeast, has been, +within the last few years, removed to this city. The Medical College, a +branch of the Western Reserve College, founded in 1843, occupies an +imposing building at the corner of Erie and St. Clair streets. Near this +college, on the shore of the lake, stands the extensive United States +Marine Hospital, surrounded by grounds nine acres in extent, beautifully +laid out and well kept. + +There are a number of parks and gardens in the suburbs of Cleveland, one +of the most extensive having been a donation to the city by Mr. Wade, +one of her millionaires. The favorite drive, however, next to the +avenue, is across the Cuyahoga and seven miles westward to Rocky River, +which flows into the lake through a narrow gorge between perpendicular +cliffs which project themselves boldly into the lake. Here a park has +been laid out, and all that art can do has been done to add to the +natural beauties of the place. From this point a distant view of the +city may be obtained, its spires pointing to the sky out of a billow of +green. To the west is Black River Point, with its rocky promontories, +and on the north stretches out an unbroken expanse of water, with here +and there the long black trail of a steamer floating in the air, its +wake like a white line upon the water; or white specks of sails dotting +the horizon. The coast between Cleveland and Rocky River is high and +precipitous, the emerging streams rushing into the lake by means of +rapids and waterfalls. On this inhospitable coast, which affords no +landing for even a small boat, more than one frail bark came to grief in +the early days of the white man's possession of the land, and nearly all +its living freight found a watery grave. In 1806 a man by the name of +Hunter, his wife and child, a colored man named Ben, and a small colored +boy, were driven by a squall upon these rocks. They climbed up as far as +possible, the surge constantly beating over them, and finally they died, +one after the other, from exposure and hunger, and after five days only +the man Ben was rescued alive. A similar occurrence transpired the +following spring. Of the eighteen deaths which took place at Cleveland +during the first twelve years after its settlement, eleven were caused +by drowning. + +Twenty or thirty years ago nothing more desolate or devoid of beauty can +be imagined than was the lake and river approach to Cleveland. The cars +ran along the foot of the cliff, while the space between the tracks and +the table land upon which the city is built was given up to rubbish and +neglect. Little huts, the size of organ boxes, were perched here and +there, swarming with dirty, half-clad children and untidy women, and +festooned with clothes-lines, from which dangled a motley array of +garments. Blackness, dirt and decay were visible everywhere; and the +vestibule of the most beautiful city in America presented to the visitor +the opposite extreme of repulsiveness. But now all this is changed; one +enters the Forest City through a continuous park. Coming from the east, +the waves of the beautiful inland sea almost wash the tracks. On the +left the steep slope is covered by green grass, shrubbery and trees, the +line broken here and there, perhaps, by private grounds no less +beautiful, while the United States Marine Hospital crowns the cliff, at +Erie street, with its ample and well-kept grounds. Reaching the depot +the traveler at once ascends the cliff, and avoids the necessary +ugliness of the immense railroad yard, with its gridiron of tracks. Even +the river, once so unsightly, presents to view the ceaseless movements +of multifarious business, all of which indicate the prosperity and +thriving industry of the city. + +It is a peculiarity of western cities that they give so much thought and +spend so much money in public improvements, and especially those which +are merely decorative. Cleveland is in no wise behind the rest. No city +in the east, though many of them boast extensive and expensive public +parks, bestows so much thought, labor and money, to make her general +appearance beautiful and attractive to the stranger. If first +impressions count for much, as it is said they do, then Cleveland has +proved herself wise. She possesses many natural advantages of position. +She is not in a slough, like Chicago, being built on a gravelly plain +about one hundred feet above the lake. Nor is she subject to inundation, +like Cincinnati, most of her business sites and residences being far +above the water. The Cuyahoga River sometimes, however, does damage to +the manufacturing establishments along its shores. In February, 1883, a +freshet occurred, which raised the river ten feet above its ordinary +level, and flooded all its valley. Enormous quantities of lumber and +shingles were washed from the lumber yards. The Valley Railroad was +several feet under water; paper mills, furnaces and other property +submerged nearly to the top of the first story. The Infirmary Farm, +further up the river, was under water, and the damage of the flood was +estimated at not less than a million dollars. The water was higher than +at any period since 1859, when a similar disaster occurred. + +All eyes were turned towards Cleveland, when, in September, 1881, a +mournful cortege proceeded thither, accompanying the remains of the +murdered Chief Magistrate. A mighty concourse of people assembled in the +park to assist at the last sad rites, and then the funeral procession +passed out the beautiful Euclid avenue to Lake View Cemetery, where the +casket was deposited in a vault prepared for it, and was guarded by +soldiers night and day; and there, on a spot overlooking the lake, and +surrounded by a lovely country, varied by hill and dale, cultivated +farms and elegant suburban residences, all that is mortal of James Abram +Garfield has found its last resting-place, while his memory lives in +fifty millions of hearts, and his fame is immortal. The youngest son of +his mother, and she a widow, reared in poverty and obscurity, by dint of +his unswerving integrity and overmastering intellect, he rose to occupy +the highest position which man can accord to his fellow man, that of +being the chosen head of a free, intelligent and powerful people. Cut +off as he was, in the prime of his life, a nation mourned her dead, and +Lake View Cemetery is to-day a spot of national interest. It is five +miles from the city, contains three hundred acres, and lies two hundred +and fifty feet above the level of the lake. It commands extensive views, +and though opened as late as 1870, is already very beautiful. It was +here that Garfield expressed his desire to be buried. Here, on a knoll +commanding one of the finest views the cemetery affords, his tomb will +be eventually constructed, and a monument reared to him, as a mark of +the nation's appreciation of his character and sorrow at his untimely +death. + + [Illustration: EUCLID AVENUE, CLEVELAND, OHIO.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CHICAGO. + + Topographical Situation of Chicago.--Meaning of the Name.--Early + History.--Massacre at Fort Dearborn.--Last of the Red Men.--The + Great Land Bubble.--Rapid Increase in Population and Business.-- + The Canal.--First Railroad.--Status of the City in 1871.--The + Great Fire.--Its Origin, Progress and Extent.--Heartrending + Scenes.--Estimated Total Loss.--Help from all Quarters.-- + Work of Reconstruction.--Second Fire.--Its Public Buildings, + Educational and Charitable Institutions, Streets and Parks.--Its + Waterworks.--Its Stock Yards.--Its Suburbs.--Future of the City. + + +"See two things in the United States, if nothing else--see Niagara and +Chicago," said Richard Cobden, the English statesman, to Goldwin Smith, +on the eve of the departure of the latter to America. And truly, if one +would obtain a proper sense of America's wonders and achievements, then +Niagara and Chicago may be accepted as respectively the highest types of +each. Niagara remains the same yesterday, to-day and forever. But if it +were a desirable thing to see Chicago at the time of the visit referred +to, how much more so is it to-day, when, Phoenix-like, she has arisen +from her own ashes, turning that which seemed an overwhelming disaster +into positive blessing; drawing her fire-singed robes proudly about her, +crowning herself with the diadem of her own matchless achievements, and +sitting beside her inland sea, the queenliest city of them all. + +Situated upon a flat and relatively low tract of country, Chicago is yet +upon one of the highest plane elevations of our continent. Lake +Michigan represents the headwaters of the great chain of American lakes, +through which, in connection with the St. Lawrence, much of the rainfall +of that city finds its way to the Atlantic; while through the canal to +the Illinois River, its sewage is borne to the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps +no more hopeless site could have been selected for a city than that +seemed half a century ago. A bayou or arm of the lake penetrated the +land for half a mile or more, but a sand-bar across its mouth prevented +the ingress of all but the smallest craft. This bayou, called by +courtesy the Chicago River, separated into two branches, the course of +one of which was in a northerly direction, and of the other in a +southerly one. The land was barely on a level with the lake, and at +portions of the year was a vast morass, some parts of it being entirely +under water. Teams struggled helplessly through the black ooze of its +prairies, and a carriage would sink three or four feet in mud and mire +within two miles of where the court house now stands. Sometimes in this +slough a board would be set up, with a rude inscription: "No bottom +here." But American enterprise has found a bottom and reared a city, the +history of whose seemingly magical building almost rivals the tales of +the Arabian Nights. + +Chicago is an Indian word, signifying the widely-varying titles of a +king or deity, and a skunk or wild onion. In its early history, while +drainage it had none, and its water supply was mere surface water, foul +with all the accumulated impurities of the soil, and while from the +lagoon, which lay stagnant for twelve or fifteen miles, a horrible, +sickening stench constantly arose, the latter appellations seemed +singularly appropriate, and no doubt originated in these conditions. +But since the city has been purified by fire, and its sanitary +conditions made such as they should be, it has earned its right to the +nobler titles. + +The first white visitors to the site of Chicago were Joliet and +Marquette, who arrived in August, 1673. The year following his first +visit Pere Marquette returned and erected a rude church. Later the +French seem to have built a fort on the spot, but no traces of it now +remain. Very early in the nineteenth century John Kinzie, an Indian +trader, and agent of the American Fur Company, having traded with the +Indians at this point for some time, probably influenced the government +to build a fort here. Accordingly, in 1804, Fort Dearborn was built and +garrisoned with about fifty men and three pieces of artillery. Mr. +Kinzie removed his family to the place the same year. + +In 1812, Fort Dearborn was the scene of a bloody Indian massacre. +Captain Hull, then in command of the fort, having placed too great +confidence in the professions of fidelity of the Pottawatomie tribe, and +trusting to an escort of that tribe to convey the soldiers and +inhabitants of the fort to Fort Wayne, saw his entire party either +killed or taken prisoners, and found himself a prisoner. The fort stood +at the head of Michigan avenue, below its intersection with Lake street. +Abandoned and destroyed at this period, it was rebuilt in 1816, and +finally demolished in 1856. + +For four years the place was deserted by the whites, and even the fur +traders did not care to visit it. In 1818 two families had established +themselves upon the spot. In 1820 some dozen houses represented the +future city, and in 1827 a government agent reported the place as a +collection of pens and kennels, inhabited by squatters, "a miserable +race of men, hardly equal to the Indians." The population numbered +seventy in 1830. In 1832 there were six hundred people in the miserable +little town. In September, 1833, the United States purchased of the +Indians 20,000,000 acres of land in the northwest, the latter pledging +themselves to remove twenty days' journey west of the Mississippi. Seven +thousand redskins attended the making of this treaty, which was ratified +by the chiefs in a large tent on the bank of the river. A year later +four thousand Indians returned to receive an annuity of $30,000 worth of +goods. The distribution of these goods was the occasion of, first, a +fierce scramble, followed by a bloody fight, in which several Indians +were killed and others wounded; the scene closing by a wild debauch, so +that on the following morning few of the recipients were any better off +for the property which had been given them. Similar scenes, with similar +results, were enacted in 1835. But that was the last Chicago saw of the +red men. In September, a train of forty wagons, each drawn by four oxen, +conveyed away on their far westward march the children and effects of +the Pottawatomies, while the squaws and braves walked beside them. It +took them twenty days to reach the Mississippi, and twenty days longer +it took them to attain a point which can now be reached from Chicago in +fifteen hours. + + [Illustration: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF CHICAGO, FROM THE LAKE SIDE.] + +In 1827, Major Long, a government agent sent to visit the place, spoke +of the site as "affording no inducements to the settler, the whole +amount of trade on the lake not exceeding the cargoes of five or six +schooners, even at the time when the garrison received its supplies from +the Mackinac." In 1833 the tide of immigration began. At the end of +that year there were fifty families floundering in the Chicago mud. In +1834 there were nearly two thousand inhabitants of the town, and at the +close of 1835 more than three thousand. In 1835-6 Chicago became the +headquarters of a great land speculation. Multitudes of towns sprang up +in every direction, on paper. The country was wild with excitement. Even +eastern capitalists were seized with the mania, and fortunes were made +and lost in this wild gambling in prospective cities. The bubble shortly +burst, resulting in great business depression. The State was bankrupt, +and Chicago languished. But not for long. Turning from the frenzy of +speculation, its inhabitants wisely gave their attention to developing +legitimate business interests. The United States had, in 1833, spent +$30,000 in dredging out the Chicago River, and in the spring of 1834 a +most timely freshet had swept away the bar at the mouth of the river, +making it accessible for the largest craft. In 1838 a venturesome trader +shipped from that port seventy-eight bushels of wheat. In 1839 four +thousand bushels were sent. In 1842 the amount of wheat exported arose +all at once from forty thousand bushels to nearly six hundred thousand +bushels. In 1839 three thousand cattle were driven across the prairies, +and sent to the eastern market; and every year thereafter showed a +surprising increase. Yet with all this accumulating commerce, the +streets of the city were still quagmires, and many a farmer came to +grief with his load of grain within what is now city limits. Before +there was a railroad begun or a canal finished, Chicago exported two and +a quarter millions of bushels of grain in a year, and sent back on the +wagons which brought it loads of merchandise. + +The Illinois River is connected with the Chicago River, and through that +to Lake Michigan, by a canal which enters it at La Salle, ninety-six +miles from Chicago. This canal was begun in 1836 and completed in 1848. +It gave a fresh impetus to the youthful western town, and established +its future prosperity. Connected as it already was with the east by the +magnificent lake and river system of our northern borders, this canal +opened up communication with the south and west, and made Chicago the +portal, so to speak, between the different sections of our country. + +In 1849 the first railroad had approached within ten miles of the city. +In 1852 direct communication with the east was gained by the completion +of the Michigan Central and Michigan Southern railroads, while more than +one western railroad was projected, and some of them were in actual +progress of construction. To-day, Illinois and its adjoining States are +literally gridironed with iron roads, nearly all of which centre at +Chicago. In 1857 there were living beside the still stagnant waters of +the Chicago River one hundred thousand people. + +In 1871 Chicago was the fourth city of the country, claiming a +population of 334,000 persons. By a _chef d'ouvre_ of engineering, the +waters of the river had been turned backward, and made to carry away its +sewage to fertilize the shores of the Illinois and the Mississippi. The +streets had been drained, hollow places filled up, and their grade had +been gradually raised, until it stood twelve feet higher than at first. +Some of the buildings were raised at once to the latest established +grade, and others remained as they had been built. The consequence was +that the plank sidewalks became a series of stairs, adapting themselves +to the buildings which they fronted. The principal streets were paved +with stone or with the Nicholson pavement. The triple river was spanned +by no less than seventeen drawbridges, while two tunnels afforded +uninterrupted travel between the opposite sides. Efficient waterworks +had been constructed to provide pure water for the use of the city. The +total trade for the year previous to the great fire was estimated at +$400,000,000. Its grain trade had reached such enormous proportions that +seventeen large elevators, with an aggregate capacity of 11,580,000 +bushels were required for its accommodation. Eighteen banks were in +operation, with an aggregate capital of $10,000,000 and with nearly +$17,000,000 of deposits. The city was beginning to give its attention +largely to manufactures, and its lumber trade had grown into something +almost fabulous. Miles of lumber yards extended along one of the forks +of the river, and its harbor was sometimes choked with arriving lumber +vessels. In a single day, three or four years before the fire, a +favorable wind blew into port no less than two hundred and eighteen +vessels loaded with lumber. One hundred passenger and one hundred and +twenty freight trains arrived and departed daily; and seventy-five +vessels unloaded and loaded at her wharves every twenty-four hours. + +Chicago _Redivivus_ should bear upon her shield a cow rampant. On the +evening of the eighth of October, 1871, Mrs. Scully's cow kicked herself +into history, and Chicago into ruin and desolation. Chicago is divided +by the river and its branches into three different sections, known as +the north, south and west sides. The principal business portion of the +city is on the south side, and along the margins of the lake and +streams. The "burnt district," which even yet the Chicagoan will outline +to the visitor with peculiar pride, was confined almost wholly to the +south and north sides. + +On the evening of October seventh a planing mill had caught fire on the +west side, and the conflagration had spread over a territory embracing +about twenty acres, destroying a million dollars' worth of property. +This fire, terrible as it seemed, probably saved the west side from +destruction on that fatal night of the eighth, imposing as it did a +broad banner of desolation, when the flames essayed to leap across the +river. + +At about nine o'clock in the evening of Sunday, October eighth, 1871, a +cow kicked over a lantern among loose, dry hay, in a stable at or near +the corner of Jefferson and DeKoven streets, on the west side. There had +been no rain of any consequence for fourteen weeks, and roofs and wooden +buildings were as dry as tinder. There was a strong wind blowing from +the southwest, and before the engines could reach the spot, half a dozen +adjoining buildings were wrapped in flames. The buildings of that +quarter were mostly of wood, and there were several lumber yards along +the margin of the river. The flames swept through these with resistless +fury, and then made a bold and sudden leap across the river into the +very heart of the business portion of the south side. Many of the +buildings here also were of wood, while the wooden sidewalks, and wooden +block pavements, the latter filled with an inflammable composition, +seemed constructed especially to aid and hasten the work of the flames. +The fire marched steadily toward the north and east, destroying +everything in its course. Even fireproof buildings seemed to melt down +as it touched them. + + [Illustration: BURNING OF CHICAGO. THE WORLD'S GREATEST + CONFLAGRATION.] + +The wind increased to a gale, and all night long the fire wrought its +terrible will, like a devouring demon; and at sunrise it had already +leaped the narrow barrier of the river, and was devastating the northern +side, sweeping away block after block of the wooden structures which +occupied to a large extent that quarter of the city. The flames seized +upon the shipping in the river, and when it left it only blackened hulls +remained. The water supply, upon which the city had founded hopes in +case of such extremity, failed. The walls of the buildings, weakened by +the overpowering heat, had fallen in upon the engines, and hope was +quenched in that quarter. + +The flames spread southward as far as Taylor street, and to the +northward they only paused when, at Fullerton avenue, the broad prairie +lay before them, and there was nothing more to burn. The track of the +fire was nearly five miles in length, running north and south, and +averaged a mile in width. It continued from nine o'clock on Sunday night +until daybreak Tuesday morning, and then nothing was left of all the +business portion of Chicago, save a vast blackened field on which the +flames still smouldered, with piles of rubbish, formed by fallen +buildings, and here and there portions of walls still standing. Every +bank, insurance office, hotel, theatre, railroad depot, law office, +newspaper office, most of the churches, all but one of the wholesale +stores, and many of the warehouses and retail stores, six elevators, +fifty vessels, and sixteen thousand dwellings, including many elegant +mansions, besides numberless humble homes, were destroyed; two hundred +persons killed, and a hundred thousand people suddenly found themselves +homeless and penniless, without food to eat or clothes to wear. + +The scenes accompanying the fire were terrible and heart-rending. They +were a mingling of the horrible and grotesque, the tragic and the +ridiculous, such as was probably never witnessed before on so grand a +scale, and we trust will never be repeated; and over it all the smoke +hung like a pall, stifling and blinding, and the flames cast a baleful +glare, which lit up the scene and made it seem like a literal inferno. + +The fire spread with a rapidity which baffled all attempts to check it. +Many made a feeble effort to save their household goods, an effort which +was too often futile, while others barely escaped with their lives, clad +only in their scant night garments. The streets were filled with a +frantic multitude; vehicles of every description, laden with movable +property; men, women and children, some of them burdened with their +belongings, and others nearly naked, forgetful of all but the terrible +danger of the hour, all wild with the insanity born of fear, and all +fleeing from the pursuing demon which pressed on behind them, and whose +hot breath scorched their garments and singed their hair. Many took +refuge in the river or the lake; but the hissing flames stooped down and +licked the water, and the poor victims were made to feel the tortures of +a double death. Very few of these escaped with their lives. + +The progress of the flames was so swift that many were overwhelmed by +the crumbling walls of their houses or workshops before they had time to +escape, and found in them a fiery tomb. Others were suffocated by the +smoke. Children were separated from parents, and young and old sought +safety wherever they could find it, and a mad panic reigned everywhere. +Many saloons were thrown open, and whisky flowed freely, and the +turbulent riot of drunkenness was added, to increase the confusion and +despair of the dreadful night. Sneak thieves and larger depredators +found spoil on every hand. In this terrible calamity each one seemed to +throw off his mask, and become what he really was--the brave man, the +noble gentleman, the selfish coward, the bully or the thief. + +A single leaf of a quarto Bible, charred around its edges, was all that +was left of the immense stock of the Western News Company. It contained +the first chapter of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which begins with the +following words: "How doth the city sit solitary that was full of +people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the +nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! +She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among +all her lovers she hath none to comfort her." + +The amount lost by the insurance companies, American and foreign, by the +Chicago fire, was $88,634,133. More than 2,200 acres were swept by the +flames in the space of thirty hours. The value of buildings alone +consumed was estimated at $75,000,000, while their contents were at +least as much more. The total loss probably was not much less than +$200,000,000. + +No sooner had the news of the dreadful calamity gone abroad to the +world, than the spirit of generosity prompted efficient aid from all +quarters. St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New York, Boston, +Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Montreal, cities and towns in the north, +south, east and west, sent generous, and some of them princely, +donations. Even China forwarded $1,290. By December first the public +cash donations had reached $2,508,000. The naked were clothed, the +hungry fed, the homeless housed in at least temporary quarters, and +Chicago set herself to the task of reconstruction. + +The smouldering ruins were yet glowing with heat, and the smoke was +still ascending here and there, when, on Wednesday morning, the work of +regeneration began. Within a month, five or six thousand temporary +tenements had been erected. Meantime the foundations for the permanent +structures were being laid, on a scale far surpassing those of the past. +In a year not a trace of the fire remained. + +Nearly three years later, on July fourteenth, 1874, another great fire +swept over the devoted city, destroying eighteen blocks, or sixty acres, +in the heart of the city, and about $4,000,000 worth of property. Over +six hundred houses were consumed, but by far the larger number were mere +wooden shanties. + +To-day Chicago counts her great fire as one of her chief blessings. The +city is entirely rebuilt, but not with rickety wooden structures, the +previous plenitude of which had rendered her so easy a prey to the +devouring element. Solid, substantial, handsome, and in many instances +magnificent, the stranger can scarcely realize that these blocks of +buildings are not the growth of a century, or of a generation even, but +have sprung from the ground almost in a night. The new Chicago is +surpassingly beautiful and grand. The visitor will walk through squares +and squares of streets, each teeming with life and commercial activity, +and bearing no trace, save in increased elegance, of the disaster of +little more than a decade ago; and is forced to the conclusion that, for +courage and enterprise, Chicago has proved herself unsurpassed by any +city in the world. + +Chicago has a water frontage of thirty-eight miles, of which twenty-four +are improved, without including the lake front, where an outer harbor is +in process of construction. The rivers are now spanned by thirty-five +drawbridges, while a tunnel, 1,608 feet long, with a descent of +forty-five feet, connects the south and west sides of Washington street, +and another tunnel, with a total length of 1,854 feet, connects the +north and south sides on the line of La Salle street. + +State street, on the south side, is the Broadway of Chicago. Randolph +street is famous for its magnificent buildings, among which are the city +and the county halls. Washington street is one of the fashionable +promenades, lined with retail stores, though Dearborn street closely +rivals it. The United States Custom House and Post Office, a magnificent +structure, costing upward of $5,000,000, occupies the square bounded by +Clark, Adams, Jackson and Dearborn streets. The Chamber of Commerce, a +spacious and imposing building, with elaborate interior decorations, is +at the corner of Washington and La Salle streets, opposite City Hall +Square. Its ceiling is frescoed with allegorical pictures representing +the trade of the city, the great fire and the rebuilding. The Union +Depot, in Van Buren street, at the head of La Salle, is among the finest +buildings of the city. The Exposition Building is a vast ornate +structure of iron and glass, occupying the lake front, extending from +Monroe to Jackson street, and with a front of eight hundred feet on +Michigan avenue. The centre of the edifice is surmounted by a dome one +hundred and sixty feet high and sixty feet in diameter. Annual +expositions of the art and industry of the city are held here every +autumn. + +Among the hotels of Chicago the Palmer House takes the lead. This house +was destroyed by the fire, but has been rebuilt with a magnitude and +elaborateness far exceeding its former self, and constituting it one of +the finest, if not the finest, in the world. It is entirely fireproof, +being constructed only of incombustible materials, brick, stone, iron, +marble and cement. It has three fronts, on State and Monroe streets and +Wabash avenue, and the building and furnishing cost $3,500,000. It is +kept on both the American and European plans, and continually +accommodates from six hundred to one thousand guests. The Grand Pacific +Hotel is but little inferior to the Palmer House. It occupies half the +block bounded by Jackson, Clark, Adams and La Salle streets. The Sherman +and Tremont Houses are fine hotels and centrally located. + +There are about three hundred churches in Chicago, including those +untouched by fire and those which have been since rebuilt. The great +Tabernacle, on Monroe street, where Messrs. Moody and Sankey held their +meetings, is used for sacred concerts and other religious gatherings, +and will seat ten thousand persons. + +In literary and educational institutions Chicago holds a foremost place. +Its common schools are among the best in the country, with large, +handsome, convenient and well-ventilated buildings. The University of +Chicago, founded by the late Stephen A. Douglas, occupies a beautiful +site overlooking the lake, and boasts the largest telescope in America. +It has a Public Library containing 60,000 volumes. The Academy of +Sciences lost a valuable collection of 38,000 specimens in the fire, but +has erected a new building and is slowly gathering a new museum and +library. There are three Theological Seminaries, and three Medical +Colleges, three hospitals, and a large number of charitable institutions +within the city. The fire department is most efficiently organized, and +its annual expenses are scarcely less than $1,000,000. + + [Illustration: GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL, CHICAGO.] + +Chicago has the most extensive system of parks and boulevards of any +city in the United States. Lincoln Park, lying upon the lake to the +northward, contains 310 acres, and served, during the great fire, as a +place of refuge for thousands of people driven thither by the raging +element. The Lake Shore Drive, the great north side boulevard, extends +from Pine street to Lake View, and is one of the finest drives in the +world. Humboldt Park, Central Park and Douglas Park extend along the +western boundaries of the city, are large, contain lakes, ponds, walks, +drives, fountains and statuary, and are connected with each other by +wide and elaborately ornamented boulevards. The great South Parks are +approached on the north by Drexel and Grant Boulevards. Drexel Boulevard +is devoted exclusively to pleasure, all traffic over it being forbidden. +The most southerly of the two south parks extends upwards of a mile and +a half along the shore of the lake. Union Park is located in the very +centre of the residence portion of the west side. + +Whatever Chicago accomplishes is on so gigantic a scale that strangers +almost hold their breath in astonishment. Among the titanic achievements +of this youthful giant are the waterworks, which supply pure drinking +water to its six hundred thousand population. The water supply is by +means of a tunnel sent out under Lake Michigan for a distance of two +miles, the water being forced by numerous engines into an immense +standpipe, 154 feet high. The works are situated at the foot of Chicago +avenue. In tunneling under the lake, excavations went on simultaneously +at the land end and two miles out in the lake; and so accurate were the +calculations that when the two tunnels met in the centre, they were +found to be but seven and one-half inches out of the line, and there was +a variation of but three inches in the horizontal measurements. This +tunnel, which is made of iron, protected by heavy masonry, is large +enough for a canoe to pass through it when it is but partially filled +with water, it being nine feet in diameter. The exit at the lake end of +the tunnel is protected by a breakwater, and securely anchored to its +place by means of heavy stones. Storms never affect it, save sometimes +to produce a light tremor; and even large fields of ice, which grate by +it with a fearful, crunching noise, have thus far failed to shake its +foundations. + +Chicago ships a considerable portion of her grain in the shape of flour, +there being extensive flouring mills in the city. The present annual +export of flour is probably not less than 3,000,000 barrels. Chicagoans +have also found it possible to pack fifteen or twenty bushels of corn in +a single barrel. "The corn crop," remarks Mr. Ruggles, "is condensed and +reduced in bulk by feeding it into an animal form, more portable. The +hog eats the corn, and Europe eats the hog. Corn thus becomes incarnate, +for what is a hog but fifteen or twenty bushels of corn on four legs?" +The business of pork-packing has attained enormous proportions in +Chicago. It has entirely superseded Cincinnati, the former "Porkopolis," +in this branch of trade. Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Indianapolis +and Milwaukee do not together furnish a total number of head slaughtered +equal to that of Chicago. + +The stock yards, just outside the city limits on the southwest, are the +largest in the world. They cover hundreds of acres, and constitute what +has been styled "The Great Bovine City of the World." This bovine city +is regularly laid out in streets and alleys crossing each other at right +angles. The principal street is called Broadway, and it is a mile long +and seventy-five feet wide. On either side are the cattle pens, and it +is divided by a light fence into three paths, so that herds of cattle +can pass one another without wrangling, and leave an unobstructed road +for the drovers. These yards are connected with all the railroads in the +west centering in Chicago. The company have twenty-five miles of track. +A cattle train stops along the street of pens; the side of each car is +removed, and the living freight pass over a declining bridge into clean, +planked inclosures, where food and water is quickly furnished them. A +large and comfortable hotel furnishes accommodation for their owners; +there is a Cattle Exchange, a spacious and elegant edifice; a bank +solely for the cattle-men's use; and a telegraph office, which reports +the price of beef, pork and mutton from all parts of the world. The +present capacity of the yards is 25,000 head of cattle, 100,000 hogs, +22,000 sheep, and 1,200 horses. A town of five thousand inhabitants has +grown up in the immediate vicinity of these stock yards. + +In some of the yards not less than five hundred beeves are slaughtered +daily. Much of this beef is sent in refrigerator cars to the Atlantic +cities, while enormous quantities are cooked and packed in cans and sent +all over the world. + +Suburban towns have spread out from Chicago, in every direction, over +the prairie. South Chicago, one of the principal of these, is twelve +miles to the southward, at the mouth of the Calumet river, and has a +large amount of capital invested in iron and steel works. The sloughy +morasses which still exist between the parent city and its thrifty +offshoots are fast being filled up, and bridged over with pavements, so +that the mud, which a generation ago was the chief distinguishing +feature of Chicago and its vicinity, but which is now confined to +outlying sections, will soon be a thing of the past. Chicago is itself +extending rapidly in all directions, and numberless suburban streets are +lined with pretty cottages, whose rural surroundings have given to the +city its appropriate name of "The Garden City." + +Taking its past as a criterion, who shall dare to predict the future of +Chicago? It has by no means come to a stand-still, but is to-day +increasing its population, developing its resources, and extending its +commercial enterprises to a degree that is scarcely credible, save as +one is faced by actual facts and figures. These miles of streets, filled +with the incessant roar of business; these lofty temples, magnificent +warehouses and elegant residences; these public institutions of +learning; this gigantic commerce, this high degree of civilization; all +of which have been attained by older cities after a prolonged struggle +with adversity, are here the creations and accumulations of less than +two generations. Up the Chicago River, where considerably less than a +century ago the Indian paddled his solitary canoe, and John Jacob Astor +annually sent his single small schooner to bring provisions to the +garrison and to take away his furs, there swarms a fleet of vessels of +all descriptions, bringing goods from, and sending them to, every +quarter of the world. Where, no later than 1834, a grand wolf hunt was +held, and one bear and forty wolf scalps were the trophies of the day, +the bears of the Stock Exchange alone rage and howl, and the only wolves +are human ones. Chicago is a great and a magnificent city, embodying +more perfectly than any other in the world the possibilities of +accomplishment of the Anglo-Saxon race, given its best conditions of +freedom, independence and intelligence. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +CHEYENNE. + + Location of Cheyenne.--Founding of the City.--Lawlessness.-- + Vigilance Committee.--Woman Suffrage.--Rapid Increase of + Population and Business.--A Reaction.--Stock Raising.-- + Irrigation.--Mineral Resources.--Present Prospects. + + +Cheyenne is the half-way house, on the Union Pacific Railroad, between +the civilization of the East and that of the West. It is situated on +Crow Creek, a branch of the South Platte River, just at the foot of the +Rocky Mountains. A few miles away to the westward the ascent of the +Black Hills begins, the road ascending over the rugged granite hills, +and winding in and out of miles of snow sheds. It is five hundred and +sixteen miles from Omaha, and has an elevation of more than six thousand +feet above the sea, being one thousand more than Denver, and with an +atmosphere proportionately rarer and dryer. + +The city is a child of the Pacific Railroad, being, during the building +of that road, its winter terminus. When it was found that Cheyenne was +probably to become an important railroad point, there was a grand influx +of roughs, of all classes and of both sexes, to the spot. Habitations +sprang up as if by magic, and were of the rudest construction, some of +them being mere dug-outs in the sand hills. Town lots ran up to fabulous +prices. The first city government was organized in August, 1867, and the +first newspaper, the _Cheyenne Leader_, published on the nineteenth day +of the following month. On the thirtieth of November, 1867, the track +layers reached the city limits, and were greeted by music and a grand +demonstration on the part of the people. The first passenger train +arrived the next day. + +In the winter of 1868 Cheyenne contained not less than six thousand +inhabitants. Lawlessness was the order of the day, and gambling, +drinking and shooting were the favorite recreations. Knock-downs and +robberies were matters of course, and murders of too frequent occurrence +to cause special excitement. During these early days of its history the +young city acquired two names, both of which were exceedingly +suggestive, not to say appropriate. Its rapid growth fastened upon it +the name of "Magic City of the Plains;" the desperate character of its +inhabitants, that of "Hell on Wheels." + +When the city was but six months old, the patience of the order-loving +people was tried beyond endurance. A Vigilance Committee was formed, and +justice came swift and sure, without the intervening and delaying +processes of the law. Its first public demonstration occurred in the +following manner. Three men had been arrested on January tenth, 1868, +charged with stealing $900, and put under bonds to appear at court. On +the morning of the day after their arrest they were found on Eddy +street, walking abreast and tied together, with a placard attached to +them, bearing the following inscription, in conspicuous lettering: "$900 +stole; $500 returned; thieves, F. S. Clair, W. Grier, E. D. Brownville. +City authorities, please not interfere until 10 o'clock A. M. Next case +goes up a tree. Beware of Vigilance Committee." During that year no less +than twelve desperadoes were hung and shot, and five sent to the +penitentiary, through the agency of the Vigilance Committee. The +condition of affairs was at once materially improved. + +In 1871 the Territorial Legislature passed a bill giving universal +suffrage, without distinction of sex. The ladies at once made use of +their newly-acquired political right, with an earnestness and +universality entirely unexpected by those who had conferred its exercise +upon them. In their capacity as grand jurors, they closed every gambling +saloon and brothel in the city, put restrictions upon the liquor +traffic, brought criminals to justice who had heretofore defied the law, +and, in brief, made a clean sweep of the city, raising its social and +moral standard. Women of all classes voted, and, strange to say, even +the worst women voted for law and order. Political parties found it +necessary to put up men with a good moral record, as well as those +politically sound, for the women would not vote for a bad man. All +classes recognized the good results of woman suffrage, and all +opposition to it was speedily overcome. + +Cheyenne is now one of the best governed and most orderly cities in the +country; and every Governor of the Territory, whatever his political +complexion, has given his unqualified testimony in favor of women at the +polls. Women not only deposit their ballots unmolested, but are treated +with the utmost courtesy, and the polling places are made comfortable, +and even elegant, for their reception. It is no uncommon thing for +husband and wife to vote opposing tickets, but no divisions or even +disturbances in families have resulted, thus far. + +On the first of July, 1867, there was but one house in Cheyenne, +standing on what is now Eddy street, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth +streets, built of logs, smoothly plastered outside and in, and owned by +Judge J. R. Whitehead. Six months thereafter there were no less than +three thousand houses in the city. The first lots were offered for sale +in July, 1867, at one hundred and fifty dollars. Thirty days afterward +they sold at one thousand dollars each, and in two or three months later +for two thousand five hundred and three thousand dollars. Stores were +erected with marvelous rapidity, in its early history, a good-sized and +comparatively substantial warehouse being put up in forty-eight hours. +The business of the first six months was enormous, single houses making +sales of from ten thousand to thirty thousand dollars per month. In two +months after the Post-Office was established, it averaged twenty-six +hundred letters a day. + +As the railroad progressed westward across the mountains, and finally +reached the Pacific, Cheyenne suffered a reaction from its sudden and +wonderful prosperity. The road took much of its business with it, and +the town fell dead. But the discovery of gold in the Black Hills gave a +fresh impetus to its business interests. It is also located in the midst +of a great stock-raising region, and is surrounded by ranches of +stock-men engaged in raising cattle, horses and sheep for market. The +cattle and horses find sustenance the year round in the native grasses, +and Cheyenne is the natural centre and trading post of these ranch-men. +Each year the business increases, and the shipments from the city become +larger. Wool is becoming an important export, being produced in great +quantities on the large sheep farms. + +The railroad has constructed extensive machine and repair shops at +Cheyenne, which furnish employment for a large number of workmen. The +rickety structures of its early days are fast giving place to +substantial brick buildings. There is a fine Court House and Jail, a +City Hall, Opera House, and several Public School buildings. In +proportion to its population, Cheyenne has now more substantial and +handsome business houses than any other western city. + +Stock raising is the only agricultural pursuit for which Wyoming is +adapted. The soil about Cheyenne is barren, and in no way suited for +farming purposes. The rainfall during the year is very slight, and it +has been found necessary to resort to irrigation. Therefore, ditches run +through the streets, supplying water for the gardens throughout the +city, and, by means of this irrigation, what was once a desert is +becoming green with trees and shrubbery. + +The mineral resources of Wyoming are very rich. Silver and gold are both +found in the ranges of hills and mountains to the north and west. Moss +agates, opals, topaz, garnets, amethysts, onyx and jasper have all been +found in the immediate neighborhood of Cheyenne, and some of the +specimens are exceedingly beautiful. + +The high elevation of the city gives it a delightful climate. The +winters are mild, and the summers free from excessive heat. + +Cheyenne has a special niche in my memory, since, in making my horseback +journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 1876, it was the last place +at which I dined before entering the Black Hills and falling into the +hands of the treacherous Arrapahoes. + +The rapid growth which Cheyenne made at the beginning of her existence, +and the feverish activity of her business enterprises, have given place +long since to a slower but more healthy life and development. Her trade +interests are being placed on a firmer foundation, and when the +resources of the surrounding country are utilized to the fullest +advantage of the city, its prosperity will be assured. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +DETROIT. + + Detroit and Her Avenues of Approach.--Competing Lines.--London + in Canada.--The Strait and the Ferry.--Music on the Waters.--The + Home of the Algonquins.--Teusha-grondie.--Wa-we-aw-to-nong.-- + Fort Ponchartrain and the Early French Settlers.--The Red + Cross of St. George.--Conspiracy of Pontiac.--Battle of Bloody + Run.--The Long Siege.--Detroit's First American Flag.--Old + Landmarks.--The Pontiac Tree.--Devastation by Fire.--Site of + the Modern City.--New City Hall.--Public Library.--Mexican + Antiquities. + + +Four lines of railway leading westward from Niagara, place Buffalo and +Detroit _en rapport_ with each other, through their connecting steel +rails, and compete for the patronage of the traveler. In addition to +this, there are not less than two lines by water, thus affording the +tourist--if he develops a desire to tempt the waves of Old Erie--ample +scope for his choice. The Lake Shore route takes one through a +continuous succession of ever-changing landscapes on the southern shore +of Lake Erie, and skirts the two great States of Ohio and Pennsylvania +before reaching Michigan. It is, perhaps, the preferable route by rail, +looking at it from a purely A|sthetic standpoint. The Great Western Road +crosses, at Suspension Bridge, the famous chasm cut by Niagara, in its +recession from Ontario, and gives a faint conception, as seen in the +distance, of the glorious Falls themselves. The roar and rush of +water--at the rate of twenty-five million tons per minute--is borne +down the deeply-cut channel, and clouds of spray are visible from the +car windows. Below the bridge the swift drifts and eddies can be seen +foaming on their way to the whirlpool, a mile and a half further down. +This route also takes the traveler through London, Canada, a quaint old +English town of twenty thousand inhabitants, on the Thames River. The +place is brimming over with localities the names of which, carried in +the affections of her settlers across the ocean, serve as reminders of +the old London left forever behind them on Britannia's Isle. +Blackfriar's Bridge and Westminster Bridge both cross the new Thames, +and Kensington and Covent Garden market belong also to the transplanted +nomenclature. On Saturdays the great square in the heart of the town is +filled with marketers and hucksters of all descriptions, and every kind +of merchandise, from a feather bed to a table knife, is there bought and +sold. Squaws and Indians and quaintly dressed women commingle with the +crowd and sell their various wares. The scene is very picturesque, and +wears an atmosphere of being a hundred years old. + +The Grand Trunk Road--the most northerly of the three routes leading +through Canada--has nothing except its easy-going time to recommend it +to favor. The traveler on this road stands a fair chance of missing his +connecting links in the great railway chain which interthreads the +continent east and west, or of being delayed for hours at a time by +running off the rails. The Canada Southern is a newly completed road, +and is said to be the most direct and shortest of all the competing +lines. This route follows the windings of the northern shore of Lake +Erie, just opposite from the Lake Shore Road on the southern side, and +the shifting landscapes are perhaps quite as full of natural beauty. + +Detroit, the fair "City of the Strait," spreads itself along the river +front for miles, and the approach from Windsor, on the opposite shore, +is suggestive of the pictured lagoons of Venice, Queen of the Adriatic. +The Detroit River, or strait, is one of the most beautiful water avenues +west of the Hudson. It is from half a mile to a mile wide, is always of +a clear green color, and is never troubled by sand bars or anything +which might affect its navigation. It has an average depth of +twenty-five feet at the wharves and perhaps forty or fifty feet in the +centre of the river bed. No floods disturb its calm flow or change the +pervading green of its waters. It is, with reason, the pride of the +city, and the ferry boats of the several lines plying between Detroit +and Windsor are of the most attractive type. In summer a corps of +musicians are engaged for the regular trips, and are considered as +indispensable to the boat's outfit as the captain or pilot. Their syren +strains entice the lounger at the wharf, and he may ride all day, if he +chooses, for the sum of ten cents. Whole families spend the day on the +river, in this way, taking their dinner in baskets, as they would go to +a picnic. The people of Detroit, perhaps, inherit the pleasure-loving +characteristics of their French ancestors, or at least they do not seem +to have their minds exclusively concentrated on the struggle after the +almighty dollar. + +Detroit, as the principal mart of the Peninsular State--the nucleus +which gradually crystallized into the heart of Michigan--has an early +history of thrilling interest; the site of the present populous city of +a hundred and twenty thousand souls was long ago, in the shadowy years +of its Indian lore, the home of a dusky tribe of the Algonquin family--a +race which was once as populous and widespread as the waves of the +ocean. + +In 1610 the first white man who set foot on these wild and unexplored +shores found it occupied by the clustered wigwams of a peaceful Indian +village named _Teushagrondie_. + + "Beside that broad but gentle tide + + * * * * * + + Whose waters creep along the shore + Ere long to swell Niagara's roar, + Here, quiet, stood an Indian village; + Unknown its origin or date; + Algonquin huts and rustic tillage, + Where stands the City of the Strait. + + * * * * * + + From dark antiquity it came, + In myths and dreamy ages cast." + +Another of its ancient names was "Wa-we-aw-to-nong," meaning _round by_, +in allusion to its circuitous way of approach. + + "No savage home, however rare, + If told in legend or in song, + Could with that charming spot compare, + The lovely Wa-we-aw-to-nong." + +In 1679, the _Griffin_, under La Salle--the first vessel that ever +sailed these inland seas--anchored off the group of islands at the +entrance to Detroit River. Peaceful Indian tribes were scattered along +the banks, and the white man was received with friendly overtures. + +In 1701, La Motte Cadillac founded Detroit. He erected a military fort +on the site of the future city, which he named after his French patron, +_Pontchartrain_. It was surrounded by a strong stockade of wooden +pickets, with bastions at each angle. A few log huts with thatched +roofs of straw and grass were built within the enclosure, and as the +number of settlers increased the stockade was enlarged, until it +included about a hundred houses closely crowded together. The streets +were very narrow, with the exception of a wide carriage road or +boulevard which encircled the town just within the palisades. The object +of the establishment of this military post was to aid in securing to the +French the large fur trade of the northwest, and it was also a point +from whence the early Jesuit fathers extended their missionary labors. + +The little military colony was the centre of the settlement, and the +Canadian dwellings were scattered up and down the banks above and below +the fort for miles. The river almost washed the foot of the +stockade--Woodbridge street being at that time the margin of the +water--and three large Indian villages were within the limits of the +settlement. Below the fort were the lodges of the Pottawattomies, on the +eastern shore dwelt the Wyandots, and higher up Pontiac and the Ottawas +had pitched their wigwams. + +Fort Pontchartrain remained in the possession of the French until 1760, +when, by the fall of Quebec, it fell into the hands of the British, and +was surrendered to Major Robert Rogers on the twelfth of September. The +Red Cross of St. George now supplanted the _Fleur-de-lis_ of France, and +the change to British rule was ill relished by the surrounding Indian +tribes, who had been the firm friends and allies of the French. The well +known Pontiac conspiracy grew out of this change of administration, and +a general massacre of the whites was determined upon. Pontiac, chief of +the Ottawas, was the leading spirit of the bloody plot, and so well +laid were his plans that ten out of the thirteen posts which were +simultaneously attacked fell before their savage onsets. The post at +Detroit, at that time under command of Major Gladwyn, was only saved +through the timely betrayal of Pontiac's plot, by Catherine, a beautiful +Ojibway girl, who dwelt in the village of the Pottawattomies, and who +had become much attached to Major Gladwyn, of the Fort. The day before +the intended massacre she brought him a pair of moccasins which she had +made for him, and then revealed the intended surprise of Pontiac. The +garrison and occupants of the fort were supported by two small vessels, +the Beaver and the Gladwyn, which lay anchored in the river. + +On the morning of May sixth, 1763, a large flotilla of birch canoes, +filled with warriors lying flat on their faces, crossed the river above +the Port, landing just beyond the banks of Bloody Run, or Parent's +Creek, as it was then called. About ten o'clock, sixty chiefs, with +Pontiac at their head, marched to the Port and demanded admittance. It +was granted, but all preparation was made on the part of Gladwyn to +repel the first sign of treachery. Every soldier was armed to the teeth, +and the eagle eye of Gladwyn watched every movement of Pontiac, as that +brave made a speech of mock friendship. When the savages discovered the +failure of their plans, their disappointed rage knew no bounds, and +after passing out of the gates of the Fort, their mad thirst for blood +was only glutted by massacres of isolated families, and the tomahawk and +scalping knife sealed the doom of many an unhappy victim who that day +crossed the path of Pontiac's warriors. + +From this hour Detroit was in a state of siege, and for eleven long +months the siege continued. Bravely the little band at the Fort held out +until reinforcements arrived--Captain Dalzell, with a force of three +hundred regulars, coming to their aid. A few days afterwards--at two +o'clock on the morning of July thirty-first--an attack was made on the +Indians, who were stationed along the banks of Parent's Creek, about a +mile and a half from the Fort. The troops neared the narrow, wooden +bridge which spanned the creek, when suddenly, in the gloom of night, +the Indian war-whoop burst on their ears, and a blaze of leaden death +followed. Captain Dalzell rushed to the front across the bridge, leading +his men forward, but their foes were not to be seen. + +Bewildered in the gloom, the English troops were obliged to fall back to +the fort and wait for daylight before renewing the attack. Hundreds of +Indians lay in ambuscade along the river, whither the soldiers were +obliged to pass on their way to the Fort, and the creek ran red with +their blood. The waters of the little stream, after this crimson +baptism, were re-christened with the name of Bloody Run. The survivors +entered the Fort next morning with a loss of seventy killed and forty +wounded. + +During the war of the Revolution, Detroit was subjected to greater +annoyance from Indian tribes than before, but this was the only way in +which the war affected it. Through the treaty of Greenville, made by +General Wayne with the red men, in August, 1795, Detroit and all the +region of the northwest became the property of the United States, and in +1796 Captain Porter, from General Wayne's army, took possession of the +post, and flung to the breeze the first American banner that ever +floated over the soil of the Peninsular State. + +"Pontiac's Grate" was the eastern entrance to the town, and occupies the +site of the old United States Court House. In 1763, a rude chapel stood +on the north side of St. Ann street--nearly in the middle of the present +Jefferson avenue--while opposite was a large military garden, in the +centre of which stood a block house, where all the councils with the +Indians were held. These were the only public buildings in the town. + +The "Pontiac Tree," behind which many a soldier took shelter on the +night of the bloody battle at Parent's Creek, and whose bark is fabled +to have been thickly pierced with bullets, stood as an old landmark for +years, on the site of the ancient field of conflict, and many a stirring +legend is told of it. + +On June eleventh, 1805--just five months after Michigan was organized as +a territory--Detroit was laid in ruins by a wholesale conflagration, +which left only two houses unharmed. An act of Congress was passed for +her relief, and thus, through baptisms of fire and blood, and through +tribulation, has she arisen to her present proud estate. The stranger +landing on these shores now is struck with the handsome general +appearance of the city--its clean, wide streets, varying in width from +fifty to two hundred feet--its elegant business blocks and pervading air +of enterprise. The ground on which the city stands rises gradually from +the river to an elevation of thirty or forty feet, thus affording both a +commanding prospect and excellent drainage. Detroit is an authorized +port of entry, and is about seven miles distant from Lake St. Clair and +eighteen miles from Lake Erie. Ship and boat building has been an +extensive branch of business here, and in 1859 there were nine steam saw +mills located in the city, sawing forty million feet of lumber annually. +There are also works for smelting copper ore two miles below the city, +or rather within that suburban portion of the city known as Hamtramck. + +Among the first objects of interest which attract the stranger's +attention are the new City Hall and the Soldiers' Monument. The City +Hall, fronting on one side of the square known as the Campus Martius, is +a structure of which any city in the land might be proud. It is built of +Cleveland sandstone, and faces on four streets,--being two hundred feet +long on Woodward avenue and Griswold street, with a width of ninety feet +on Fort street and Michigan avenue. + +It is built in the style of the Italian renaissance, with Mansard roof +and a tower rising from the centre of the building, adorned at its four +corners with colossal figures fourteen feet high, representing +"_Justice_," "_Industry_," "_Arts_," and "_Commerce_." Its height from +the ground to the top of the tower is a hundred and eighty feet, and the +three ample stories above the basement furnish accommodation to the city +and county offices, in addition to the Circuit and Recorder's Courts. +The walls are frescoed, the floors laid in mosaics of colored marbles, +and the Council Chamber and other public rooms are furnished with black +walnut chairs and desks, and paneled in oak. With these exceptions, +there is no woodwork about the immense building. Everything, from +basement to dome, is brick and iron and stone. Even the floors are built +in delicate arches of brick and iron, and iron staircases follow the +windings of the tower to its dizzy top. It is reckoned fireproof. The +exterior is curiously carved, and two large fountains adorn the +inclosing grounds. The estimated cost of the building is about six +hundred thousand dollars. + +From the airy outlook of the City Hall Tower, Detroit appears like a +vast wheel, many of whose streets diverge like spokes from this common +centre, reaching outward until they touch, or seem to touch, the wooded +rim of the distant horizon. The hub of this immense wheel is the +triangular open space called the Campus Martius, and the Soldiers' +Monument, occupying the centre of the Campus Martius, is also the centre +of this imaginary hub. Michigan avenue--one of the long arms of the +wheel--loses itself in the western distance, and is called the Chicago +road. Woodward avenue leads into the interior, toward Pontiac, and +Gratiot avenue goes in the direction of Port Huron. Fort street, in yet +another direction, guides the eye to Fort Wayne and the steeples of +Sandwich, four miles away. Toward the southern or river side of the +city, the resemblance to the wheel is nearly lost, and one sees nothing +but compact squares of blocks, cut by streets crossing each other at +right angles and running parallel and perpendicular to the river. +Between the Campus Martius and Grand Circus Park there are half a dozen +or more short streets, which form a group by themselves, and break in +somewhat on the symmetry of the larger wheel, without destroying it. +This point gives the best view of Detroit to be obtained anywhere about +the city. + +The Soldiers' Monument is a handsome granite structure, fifty-five feet +in height, the material of which was quarried from the granite beds of +Westerly, Rhode Island, and modeled into shape under the superintending +genius of Randolph Rogers, of Rome, Italy. It is surmounted by a massive +allegorical statue, in bronze, of Michigan, and figures of the soldier +and sailor, in the same material, adorn the four projections of the +monument; while bronze eagles with spread wings are perched on smaller +pedestals in the intermediate spaces. Large medallions, also in bronze, +with the busts of Grant, Lincoln, Sherman and Farragut, in low relief, +cover the four sides of the main shaft, and higher up the following +inscription is imprinted against the white background of granite:-- + + "ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF MICHIGAN + IN HONOR OF THE MARTYRS WHO FELL + AND THE HEROES WHO FOUGHT + IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY AND UNION." + +The bronzes and ornaments were imported from the celebrated foundry at +Munich, Bavaria, and the cost of the monument--donated exclusively by +private subscription--amounted to fifty-eight thousand dollars. The +unveiling of the statue took place April ninth, 1872. + +Another feature of the city is the Public Library, founded in March, +1865, and at present occupying the old Capitol, until the new and +elegant Library building now in process of construction is completed. + + [Illustration: WOODWARD AVENUE, DETROIT, MICHIGAN.] + +Beginning entirely without funds, ten years ago, it can now exhibit a +muster roll of twenty-five thousand volumes, and is fairly started on +the high road to fortune. There is a kind of poetic justice in the fact +that its principal source of revenue accrues from county fines and +penalties. Here is a knotty question for the divinity doctors, for in +this case, at least, good is born of evil. The library is under the +control of the Board of Education, and was given an existence from the +State constitution. Some very rare volumes of Mexican antiquities have +recently been purchased from England by the School Board and added to +the library, at a cost of four hundred dollars. They contain a pictorial +and hieroglyphic history of the Aztec races occupying Mexico when Cortes +came over from a foreign shore with his Spanish galleons. The earliest +date goes back to 1324, and the strange figures in the centre of the +page are surrounded by devices indicating cycles of thirteen years, four +of which made a great cycle, or a period of fifty-two years. The deeds +of the Aztec king, _Tenuch_, and his successors, are here recorded, and +through the efforts of an English nobleman who devoted his life to these +researches, we have the translation rendered for us. + +The city has a scientific association, two years old, and also a +Historical Society, in which her citizens manifest considerable pride. + +Detroit has been called, with reason, one of the most beautiful cities +of the West. Transformed from the ancient _Teushagrondie_ into the +present populous "City of the Strait," she sits like a happy princess, +serene, on the banks of her broad river, guarding the gates of St. +Clair. Backed by a State whose resources are second to none in the +Union, emerging from an early history of bloody struggle and battle, +rising like the fabled Phoenix, from the ashes of an apparent ruin, +contributing her best blood and treasure to the war for liberty and +union, she may well be proud of her past record, her present progress, +her advancement toward a high civilization and her assured position. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ERIE. + + Decoration Day in Pennsylvania.--Lake Erie.--Natural Advantages + of Erie.--Her Harbor, Commerce, and Manufactures.--Streets and + Public Buildings.--Soldiers' Monument.--Erie Cemetery.--East and + West Parks.--Perry's Victory. + + +I took my fourth ride from Buffalo westward, on the Lake Shore Road, on +the afternoon of May twenty-ninth, 1875, the day set apart that year by +the patriotic citizens of Pennsylvania, for the decoration of her +soldiers' graves. Passing the State line or boundary between New York +and Pennsylvania, a little beyond Dunkirk, an unusually large assemblage +of citizens and soldiers, with bouquets and a great profusion of +flowers, at nearly every station, betokened the earnest patriotism of +the old Keystone State. Pennsylvania will never be behind her sister +States in doing honor to the brave men who gave up their lives while +fighting her battles; and the demonstrations of each Decoration Day are +evidences that she will not soon forget their deeds, or their claim upon +her deepest gratitude. + +A beautiful sight opens to the view of the tourist as he turns his eye +toward the broad, blue expanse of the lake, which may be seen at +intervals from the car windows, from Buffalo to Toledo. The mind is +quite naturally occupied with grand commercial schemes, on viewing such +wonderful facilities for the promotion of enterprise. We have here, in +Lake Erie, the connecting link in a chain of fresh-water oceans, which +stretch from the Atlantic, westward, almost to the Rocky Mountains. Our +internal prosperity is largely due to this great chain of lakes, which +secure and facilitate cheap transportation, and have made possible the +great inland cities, the pride of our Middle States. + +Erie is an intermediate point between Buffalo and Cleveland, and having +a most excellent harbor, would seem destined to take rank among the +first cities of America. But by that inscrutable law which, seemingly +beyond reason, governs and controls the foundation and growth of cities +and towns, natural advantages do not always seem to count; and as a +large fish swallows a smaller one, so has Erie been dwarfed by her older +rivals, who, getting an earlier foothold upon the shore of the lake, +have absorbed its trade, and continued to maintain the advantage they at +first secured. An increase of commerce on Lake Erie will undoubtedly +throw a share to the city of Erie, and thus she may eventually succeed +in occupying the position to which her harbor and railroads entitle her. + +Erie is on the lake, about midway of the brief stretch of shore which +the narrow section of Western Pennsylvania, jutting up between New York +and Ohio, secures to that State. It is her only lake town of any +importance, is a port of entry, and has a population of nearly thirty +thousand inhabitants. The harbor is the largest and best on Lake Erie. +It is about four miles in length, one mile in width, and in depth +varying from nine to twenty-five feet, thus permitting access to the +largest lake vessels. It is formed by an island four miles in length, +which lies in front of the city, and which, from its name of Presque +Isle, indicates that within the memory of man it has been a peninsula. +The bay is known as Presque Isle Bay. It is protected by a breakwater, +and three lighthouses guard the entrance. Several large docks, furnished +with railroad tracks, permit the transfer of merchandise to take place +directly between the vessels and the cars. The terminus of the +Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, and connected by the Lake Shore Railroad +with all important points in the east and west, the city is fast +developing into a strong commercial centre. A canal connecting with +Beaver River, a tributary of the Ohio, facilitates commerce in the +western section of Pennsylvania, and furnishes extensive water-power, of +which various kinds of mills avail themselves. These mills and the many +factories and foundries of the city--for Erie is a manufacturing town of +considerable importance--produce iron ware, cars, machinery, organs, +furniture, brass, leather, boots and shoes, and send them, by the +various methods of transportation, to markets in the States and Canada. +The great forest and mining regions of Pennsylvania find, at Erie, an +outlet for their lumber, coal and iron ore; while the numerous +productive farms which lie in the vicinity of the lake send quantities +of grain to be shipped at this port. + +The city is built upon an elevated bluff, commanding an extensive view +of the lake. It is regularly laid out, with broad streets crossing each +other at right angles, and its general appearance is prosperous and +pleasing. In the centre of the city are the Parks, two finely shaded +inclosures, intersected by State street, and surrounded by handsome +buildings. A Soldiers' Monument stands in one of them, erected to +commemorate the memory of the brave men who fell in the War of the +Rebellion. It is surmounted by two bronze statues of heroic size. There +are also two handsome fountains within the Park inclosure. Near by is +the classic structure used as a Court House. The Custom House is erected +in a substantial style, near the shores of the lake. A new Opera House +is also one of the features of the city. The Union Depot is an immense +building, nearly five hundred feet in length, in the Romanesque style, +two stories in height and surmounted by a cupola forty feet high. State +street is the principal business thoroughfare. + +The Erie Cemetery, on the south side, is one of the most beautiful in +the country. It is on a bluff overlooking the city and the lake, and +comprises seventy-five acres, in which tree-shaded walks, elegant +drives, velvet turf, running water, masses of shrubbery and brilliant +flowers, together with the plain white headstones and the elaborate +monuments which mark the resting-places of the dead, are united in a +harmonious effect, which is most satisfactory to the beholder. Erie is +very proud of this cemetery, and spares no pains to perfect it, while +every year adds to its beauty. + +East and West Parks lie, as their names indicate, in opposite directions +within the city, and are beautiful breathing places where its citizens +resort for rest and recreation. Art has joined with nature in rendering +these places attractive, and their trees, shrubbery, lawns, walks and +drives, and general picturesqueness, combine to make them very charming +spots. + +Erie has historical associations which render her of interest to one who +would gather facts concerning his country. Lake Erie was the scene of a +naval engagement between the British and Americans, on September tenth, +1813, in which the latter were victorious. Commodore Perry, in command +of the American fleet, sailed from this port on the memorable day, and +when the engagement was concluded, brought thither his prizes. Several +of his ships sunk in Lawrence Bay, and in fair weather the hull of the +Niagara is still visible. + +The development of Western Pennsylvania is contributing more and more, +as the years go by, to the prosperity of Erie. Her exceptionally fine +harbor is already beginning to be recognized by commerce, and though the +city may never rival Cleveland or Buffalo, the time may come when Erie +will take rank as only second to them on Lake Erie, in commercial +importance. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HARRISBURG. + + A Historic Tree.--John Harris' Wild Adventure with the + Indians.--Harris Park.--History of Harrisburg.--Situation + and Surroundings.--State House.--State Library.--A Historic + Flag.--View from State House Dome.--Capitol Park.--Monument + to Soldiers of Mexican War.--Monument to Soldiers of Late + War.--Public Buildings.--Front Street.--Bridges over the + Susquehanna.--Mt. Kalmia Cemetery.--Present Advantages and + Future Prospects of Harrisburg. + + +A century and a half ago, John Harris, seeking traffic with the red men +of the Susquehanna, built a rude hut, dug a well, and thereby began a +work which, taken up by his son, led to the founding of the Capital City +of Pennsylvania, a city destined to take rank among the first of a great +State. The stump of an old tree, in a beautiful little park which skirts +the Susquehanna, on a line parallel with Front street, marks the scene +of an early adventure of Harris with the Indians, and tells the stranger +of his birth and death. About 1718 or 1719, Harris, who had settled at +this point on the Susquehanna, as a trader, was visited by a predatory +band of Indians returning from the "Patowmark," who made an exchange of +goods with him, for rum. Becoming drunken and riotous, he finally +refused them any more liquor, when they seized him and bound him to a +tree, dancing around their captive, until he thought his last day had +come. His negro servant, however, summoned some friendly Shawnees from +the opposite side of the river, who, after a slight struggle with the +drunken Indians, rescued Harris from his bonds and probably from a death +by torture. The stump referred to is that of the historical tree, which +was a gigantic mulberry, eleven feet seven inches in circumference. Here +also is the grave of Harris, which is surrounded by a strong iron fence, +and a young mulberry tree has been planted, by one of his descendants, +to take the place of the one whose trunk alone stands as a monument of +the past. + +During the summer months this romantic spot is the favorite resort of +the boys and girls of the neighborhood, and whenever the weather is +favorable, a large troop of juveniles may be seen spinning their tops, +rolling their hoops and playing at croquet on the lawn. What a contrast +is here unfolded to the imagination, as we stand at the grave of the +venerable pioneer, and contemplate the wonderful change that has +characterized the progress of events during the past hundred years. But +little more than a century ago there was a solitary trader with his +family upon the borders of a great river in the wilderness. His goods +were brought on a pack-horse, and his ferry was a row boat. To-day a +thriving, beautiful city takes the place of the log cabin; children +sport where once the treacherous Indian sought the life of the hardy +frontiersman; the river is spanned by wonderful bridges; and a hundred +railroad trains pass through its streets in the course of twenty-four +hours. + +Harrisburg was laid out by John Harris, Jr., the son of the pioneer, in +1785; it was incorporated as a borough in 1791; became the State Capital +in 1812; and received a city charter in 1860. Its population in 1880 +numbered more than thirty thousand persons. + + [Illustration: HARRISBURG AND BRIDGES OVER THE SUSQUEHANNA.] + +Harrisburg is most picturesquely situated, on the Susquehanna River, +at the eastern gateway of the Alleghenies. The river is here a mile +wide, shallow at most seasons of the year, but capable of becoming a +turbulent torrent, carrying destruction along its banks. On the opposite +side of the river to the south are the Conestoga Hills; while to the +northward are the bold and craggy outlines of the Kittatinny or Blue +Mountains. But five miles away is the gap in these mountains through +which the Susquehanna forces its way, and the summits of these sentinels +are plainly visible. Although on the very threshold of the mountainous +region of Pennsylvania, the pastoral beauty of landscape which +characterizes eastern Pennsylvania creeps up to meet the ruggedness +which predominates beyond; and the two are here blended with most +charming results; the softness of the one half veiling the ruggedness of +the other; while the picturesqueness of each is heightened by contrast. + +The handsomest and most noticeable building of Harrisburg is the State +House, which is conspicuously placed on an eminence near the centre of +the city. It is T-shaped, having a front of one hundred and eighty feet +by eighty in depth, and with an extension of one hundred and five feet +by fifty-four feet. It is built of brick, and is three stories high, +including the basement. A large circular portico, sustained by six Ionic +columns, fronts the main entrance. The building is surmounted by a dome, +reaching an altitude of one hundred and eight feet. A State Library, +with accommodation for one hundred thousand volumes, and possessing at +the present time thirty thousand volumes, is one of the features of the +Capitol. This library contains a number of portraits, curiosities and +art treasures, prominent among which are two small portraits of +Columbus and Americus Vespucius, the work of a celebrated Florentine +artist; a picture of the event already narrated in the life of John +Harris; and a reflecting telescope, purchased by Benjamin Franklin, and +through which was taken the first observation in the western hemisphere, +of the transit of Venus. + +In the Flag Room of the State House, where are preserved the +Pennsylvania State flags used by the different regimental organizations +in the war for the Union, is a flag captured by the Confederates at +Gettysburg, and afterwards recaptured in the baggage of Jefferson Davis. +We find the following brief account of the capture of this flag in the +"Harrisburg Visitors' Guide," prepared by Mr. J. R. Orwig, Assistant +State Librarian, to whom we are indebted for favors in our literary +work. "It was on the evening of the first day; all the color guard were +killed, the last being Corporal Joseph Gutelius, of Mifflinburg, Union +County. When surrounded, and almost alone, he was commanded to surrender +the flag. His mute reply was to enfold it in his arms, and he was +instantly shot dead through its silken folds." He lies buried at +Gettysburg. + +The view from the State House dome is exceptionally grand. I stood on +that eminence one bright morning, during the early part of my sojourn at +Harrisburg, in the spring of 1877. To eastward is a picturesque, rolling +country, varied by hill and dale, field and woodland, with villages or +isolated farmhouses nestling here and there in their midst, the +brilliant green tint of the foreground melting imperceptibly away into +the soft purple haze of the far distance. In front of the city to the +westward lies the broad river, gleaming like a ribbon of silver in the +sunlight, dotted with emerald islands, and winding away to the +southeast, between sloping banks and rocky crags, until it at last loses +itself in the misty horizon. To the northward is distinctly seen the gap +in the mountains through which the river approaches the city. The bold +and abrupt outlines of the mountains are plainly traced, and the scenery +in this region is exceptionally grand. Immediately surrounding the State +House is the city, spread out with its labyrinth of streets, its +factories and furnaces, its stately public buildings, and its elegant +private residences, presenting a panorama fair to look upon, and +evidencing the prosperity and industry of its people. To obtain a view +from this dome is well worth a visit to Harrisburg. + +The State House is surrounded by Capitol Park, embracing thirteen acres, +and inclosed by an iron fence. These grounds gently slope from the +centre, and are ornamented with stately trees, beautiful shrubbery and +flowers and closely-shorn greensward. The site was set apart for its +present purpose before Harrisburg was a city, by John Harris, its +public-spirited founder. Fine views are obtained from it of the suburb +of East Harrisburg and the Reservoir, Mt. Kalmia Cemetery, the tower of +the new State Arsenal, and the dome of the State Insane Asylum. The +prominent feature of this park, next to the State House, is, however, +the beautiful monument erected to the memory of the soldiers who fell in +the Mexican War. It is one hundred and five feet high, with a sub-base +of granite, a base proper, with buttresses at each corner surmounted by +eagles, and a Corinthian column of Maryland marble, surmounted by a +statue of Victory, the latter executed at Rome, of fine Italian marble. +The sides of the base are paneled, and contain the names of the +different battles of the Mexican War. The monument is surrounded by an +inclosure constructed of muskets used by the United States soldiers in +Mexico. In front of the monument are a number of guns, trophies of the +Mexican war, and several others presented by General Lafayette. + +Another monument, at the intersection of State and Second streets, is in +its design purely antique, being founded on the proportions of the pair +of obelisks at the gate of Memphis, and of that which stands in the +Place Vendome at Paris. It contains the following inscription: "To the +Soldiers of Dauphin County, who gave their lives for the life of the +Union, in the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, 1861-5. Erected +by their fellow-citizens, 1869." + +In East Harrisburg, or "Allison's Hill," as it is called, will be seen +Brant's private residence, built in the style of the Elizabethan period, +the massive stone Catholic Convent, and St. Genevieve's Academy. On +State street is Grace M. E. Church, one of the most costly and beautiful +churches in the State. Not far away is St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral. The +State Lunatic Asylum is a vast and imposing edifice, a mile and a half +north of the city. + +Front street, which overlooks the river, is the favorite promenade of +the city. Here may be seen the broad river, with its craft and numerous +islands, the villages on the opposite shore, and the delightful +landscape beyond. Here the citizens often congregate on fine evenings, +to watch the sunset views, which are especially fine from this point. On +the ridge opposite, is Fort Washington and the line of defenses erected +in 1863, in expectation of an invasion of the Southern army. Front +street is by far the finest street in the city, containing the most +imposing residences, being bordered by trees, and forming a most +attractive drive. From State street to Paxton, it presents an almost +unbroken range of palatial buildings of brick, stone, marble or granite. +On this street is found the residence of the Governor, presented to the +State by the citizens of Harrisburg, in 1864, as the Executive Mansion. +A more desirable location for a residence can scarcely be imagined than +that of Hon. J. D. Cameron, on the southeast corner of State and Front +streets, overlooking the Susquehanna. Near the corner of Front street +and Washington avenue is the old "Harris Mansion," originally erected in +1766, by John Harris, and remaining in the Harris family until 1840, but +now the home of Hon. Simon Cameron. + +The Market street bridge spans the river, resting midway on Forster's +Island, the western end being an ancient structure, dating back to 1812, +while the eastern end, having once been destroyed by flood, and once by +fire, was rebuilt in modern style in 1866. The second bridge across the +river is at the head of Mulberry street, but it is used for trains +alone. This bridge is also divided by Forster's Island. It has once been +destroyed by fire, and was entirely remodeled in 1856. + +Mt. Kalmia Cemetery is a charming resting-place of the dead, on the +heights overlooking the city. Its natural beauties are many, and they +have been enhanced by art. It is reached from East State street. + +Harrisburg has extensive iron manufactories, and is the centre of six +important railways. More than one hundred passenger trains arrive and +depart daily, and few cities have a greater number of transient +visitors. It is one of the most prosperous cities of the Commonwealth; +situated in a fertile valley, in view of some of the grandest scenery in +America, with railroads, canals and macadamized roads, diverging in all +directions, and connecting it with every section of the country; with +important business interests, and an intelligent, industrious and +prosperous population; the political centre of one of the chief States +of the Union; it has much to congratulate itself upon in the present, +and more to hope for from the future. Another decade will see vastly +increased business interests, and a population nearly if not quite +double that of to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +HARTFORD. + + The City of Publishers.--Its Geographical Location.--The New + State House.--Mark Twain and the "None Such."--The "Heathen + Chinee."--Wadsworth Atheneum.--Charter Oak.--George H. Clark's + Poem.--Putnam's Hotel.--Asylum for Deaf Mutes.--The Sign + Language.--A Fragment of Witchcraftism.--Hartford _Courant_.-- + The Connecticut River. + + +Having decided to pitch our tents in Hartford, we moved from New Haven +by rail, on the afternoon of September eighth, 1874. A hot, dusty day it +was, indeed, with mercury at ninety-two in the shade, and dust enough to +enable passengers of the rollicking order to inscribe monograms on the +backs of their unsuspecting neighbors. + +The distance, according to recent time tables, is one dollar, or an hour +and fifteen minutes. The scenery encountered on this route is less +varied than that from New York to New Haven, and yet there is much to +interest the careful observer. The only town of any importance between +these rival cities is Meriden, an enterprising city of twenty thousand +souls, standing midway between them. + +Hartford, the capital of nutmegdom, is the second city of Connecticut, +having, as shown by the last census, a population of thirty-seven +thousand. Pleasantly situated on the Connecticut River, and enjoying now +the advantage of exclusive legislation for the State, Hartford is +destined to become one of the most important cities of New England. + +Authors, artists and publishers have ever found Hartford a fruitful +field for the development of brains and enterprise. It is, perhaps, not +exaggeration to say that in no other city of the United States of the +same size is there so large a proportion of the population devoted to +literature. The American and Hartford Publishing Companies, the firms of +Burr, Scranton, Worthington, Dustin, Gilman and Company, and many others +of less note, are located here. + +The new State House, now in process of erection, is destined to be one +of the finest buildings in the country. The site commands a view of the +city and its surroundings for many miles. Among the objects of interest +to be found here are the residence of "Mark Twain" and the State Insane +Asylum. "Mark's" house is at the end of Farmington avenue, on a little +eminence, at the foot of which flows a nameless stream. + +Its style of construction is so unlike the average house that it has won +for itself the characteristic title of "The None Such." + +It is still in the hands of the architect, and will probably not be +ready for occupancy before November. If this building is not regarded as +a marvel, then I will confess that, after nearly twenty years of travel, +I have yet to learn the meaning of that term as applied to architecture. +The plat of ground on which the house and adjacent buildings stand was +selected and purchased by Mrs. "Twain"--so said the gentlemanly +architect who replied to our inquiries. As the genial "Mark" desires the +maximum quantity of light, his apartments are so arranged as to give him +the sun all day. The bricks of the outer walls of the house are painted +in three colors, making the general effect decidedly fantastic. + +Taking it all in all, I have nowhere seen a more curious study in +architecture, and hope, for the satisfaction of its eccentric owner, +that it will quite meet his expectations. + +The Celestials, or representatives from China, are now so often seen, +from California eastward to New England, that they have ceased to be +considered objects of special interest in any part of the United States. +I have met them more or less in my journeyings during the last two +years, and have often wondered if others see their strange +characteristics from the same standpoint that I do. To me, Ah Sin is +ingenious, enterprising, economical, and the essence of quiet good +humor. + +Opposite my quarters here in Hartford are two of these odd-looking +Chinamen, whom I will, for convenience, name Ching Wing Shing and Chang +Boomerang. + +My rooms being directly opposite the store of Boomerang and Company, an +excellent opportunity is afforded me for witnessing their varied devices +to invite trade and entertain their customers. Although only tea and +coffee are advertised, Chang's store will be found, on close inspection, +to strongly resemble the "Old Curiosity Shop," described by Dickens, +there being a small assortment of everything in their line, from tea and +coffee to watermelons. + +Chang and Ching invariably wear a smile upon their "childlike and bland" +features. School children passing that way seem to take pleasure in +teasing these mild-mannered China merchants, and unfortunate indeed is +the firm of Boomerang and Company, if their backs are turned on their +youthful tormenters; for these mischievous urchins seem to think it no +crime to pilfer anything owned or presided over by their pig-tailed +neighbors. Should Chang or Ching discover their sportive enemies gliding +away with the tempting fruits of their stands, it is useless to pursue, +for a troop of juvenile confederates will rush into the store the moment +it is vacated and help themselves to whatever may please their fancy. + + +THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM. + +While taking a stroll down Main street the other day my attention was +arrested by a three-story brownstone building, standing on the east side +and back some distance from the street. I had only to glance at the +large, bold lettering across its front to be told that it was the +Wadsworth Atheneum. Deciding to take a look at the interior of this +receptacle of antiquities, I soon made the acquaintance of W. J. +Fletcher, the gentlemanly assistant librarian of the Watkins Library, +who seemed to take an especial pleasure in showing me everything of +interest, and who spared no pains in explaining everything about which I +had a question to ask. + +There were so many curiosities of ancient as well as modern pattern, +that it would be impossible to notice all in a work of this magnitude, +and hence I shall content myself with presenting a few subjects which, +to me at least, were of striking interest. Stepping into the Historical +Rooms my attention was first called to the stump of the famous Charter +Oak, which will ever form an interesting chapter in Connecticut history. +A very comfortable seat or arm-chair has been moulded from this aged +relic, and while sitting within its venerable arms, I copied the +following poem by George H. Clark, the manuscript of which is framed and +hung up over the chair. I cannot endorse the sentiment of the poet, but +will record his lines. + + September 10th, 1858. + +DEAR SIR:--You seem to take so much interest in my lines on the +destruction of the old oak, that I have thought you might be pleased +with a copy in the author's handwriting, and accordingly inclose one. +Yours, + + GEO. H. CLARK. + + +THE OAK. + + 1. "Yes--blot the last sad vestige out-- + Burn all the useless wood; + Root up the stump, that none may know + Where the dead monarch stood. + Let traffic's inauspicious din + Here run its daily round, + And break the solemn memories + Of this once holy ground. + + 2. "Your fathers, long the hallowed spot + Have kept with jealous care, + That worshippers from many lands + Might pay their homage there; + You spurn the loved memento now, + Forget the tyrant's yoke, + And lend Oblivion aid to gorge + Our cherished Charter Oak. + + 3. "'Tis well, when all our household gods + For paltry gain are sold, + That e'en their altars should be razed + And sacrificed for gold. + Then tear the strong, tenacious roots, + With vandal hands, away, + And pour within that sacred crypt + The garish light of day. + + 4. "Let crowds unconscious tread the soil + By Wordsworth sanctified, + Let Mammon bring, to crown the hill, + Its retinue of pride, + Destroy the patriot pilgrim's shrine, + His idols overthrow, + Till o'er the ruin grimly stalks + The ghost of long ago. + + 5. "So may the muse of coming time + Indignant speak of them + Who Freedom's brightest jewel rent + From her proud diadem,-- + And lash with her contemptuous scorn + The man who gave the stroke + That desecrates the place where stood + The brave old Charter Oak." + +It appears to me that no more sensible thing could have been done after +the tree fell to the ground, August twenty-first, 1859, than to preserve +it here, where it will outlive, by centuries, its rapid decay in an open +field, exposed to sun and storm. Thousands may now see the famous oak +that otherwise might never know its location or history. It stood on the +grounds formerly owned by Samuel Wordsworth, near Charter Oak Avenue, +and its top having been blown down and broken during a violent storm, it +was afterwards dug up and taken to the Historical Rooms of the Wadsworth +Atheneum. + +After occupying two hours in looking through the Historical Department, +we came to a corner of the room devoted to an exhibition of the relics +identified with the history of General Israel Putnam, the Revolutionary +patriot, who was commander-in-chief of the American forces engaged at +the battle of Bunker Hill. + +Connecticut takes a lively interest in anything that pertains to her +favorite hero, and we were engaged not less than half an hour in an +examination of the various articles impersonating "Old Put." Most +Americans are familiar with the story of his early life and adventures, +but I think few are aware of the fact that at one time he was a country +landlord. Here at the Atheneum they have the very sign-board that +attracted the traveler to "Putnam's Hotel." A life-size portrait of the +gallant General Wolfe, who was slain while leading his army against +Quebec, is painted on the board, which is three feet long by two and a +half wide. Imagine now, the hero of a hundred battles and adventures, +performing the duties of "mine host"--at once hostler, bartender and +perhaps table girl in the dining room. + +The character of the man who had the ability to rise from the position +of an humble farmer and inn-keeper to that of Senior Major-General of +the United States armies, is an index to the character of the American +people. Often on the battle-field were the titled nobility of Great +Britain compelled to fly before the crushing blows of this sturdy +yeoman, who, leaving his plow in the furrow, rushed to the field of +danger and glory. Casting aside the habiliments of the farmer, he +buckled on his armor and dared to lead where the bravest dared to +follow. Israel Putman + + "Sleeps the sleep that knows not breaking," + +but his glorious deeds will never be forgotten while the blessings of +liberty are appreciated by the descendants of that galaxy of devoted +patriots who rallied around the standard of George Washington. + +The Deaf and Dumb Institute, situated on Asylum Hill, is the oldest +institution of the kind in the United States, having been established in +1817, by Rev. F. H. Gallaudet, a noble and generous philanthropist, who +devoted his life and fortune to the elevation and enlightenment of the +afflicted. A monument recently erected to his memory, in front of the +Institute, attests the regard in which he is still held by those who +revere him as their benefactor. + +It was my pleasure, while in Hartford, to attend a lecture in the sign +language, by Professor D. E. Bartlett, who is reputed to be the oldest +teacher living, and who commenced work at this institute forty years +ago. I shall never forget my emotions as I eagerly watched sign and +gesture, and at the same time noted its effect upon the features of each +face in his attentive audience. What a noble mission, to thus lead these +children of silence from the prison darkness of ignorance into the +beautiful light of knowledge? May those who devote their lives to such a +cause reap the rich reward which their benevolence deserves! + +In 1652 Hartford had the _honor_ of executing the first witch ever heard +of in America. Her name was Mrs. Greensmith. She was accused in the +indictment of practicing evil things on the body of Ann Cole, which did +not appear to be true; but a certain Rev. Mr. Stone and other ministers +swore that Greensmith had confessed to them that the devil possessed +her, and the righteous court hung her on their indictment. + +What would that court have done with the spiritual manifestations rife +in these parts to-day? It is a bitter sarcasm on our Plymouth Rock +progenitors that, having fled from the old country on account of +religious persecution, they should inaugurate their freedom to worship +God on the shores of the new world by hanging witches! + +The leading paper of the city is the Hartford _Courant_, which is ably +edited by General Joseph R. Hawley, and is a powerful political organ +throughout New England. General Hawley distinguished himself during the +late war as a brave officer, entering the army as captain and rising to +the rank of brigadier general. The _Courant_, like its soldier-editor, +may always be found fighting in the van. + +The Connecticut River at Hartford is about a quarter of a mile wide, and +sweeps onward in a swift current, through sinuous banks, until it +mingles with the waters of the Sound at Saybrook. The valley through +which this river seeks a passage to the sea is one of the loveliest to +be found anywhere, and gazing down upon it from the surrounding heights, +as it lies veiled in blue distance, is like looking upon a dream of +Arcadia. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LANCASTER. + + First Visit to Lancaster.--Eastern Pennsylvania.--Conestoga + River.--Early History of Lancaster.--Early Dutch Settlers.-- + Manufactures.--Public Buildings.--Whit-Monday.--Home of three + Noted Persons.--James Buchanan, his Life and Death.--Thaddeus + Stevens and his Burial Place.--General Reynolds and his + Death.--"Cemetery City." + + +My first visit to Lancaster was made on a bright morning in the early +part of April, 1877. We rode out of the West Philadelphia Depot in the +eight o'clock accommodation, which we were told would make sixty-five +stops in a short journey of seventy-three miles. I did not count the +stations, but should have no hesitancy in fully indorsing my informant. +The frequency of the halts gave us an excellent opportunity to explore +the surrounding country, and reminded one of street-car experiences in +metropolitan cities, where one is brought to a stand at every crossing. +Eastern Pennsylvania is beyond question the finest section of the State; +and the tourist who sojourns at Bryn Mawr, Downingtown, Bird-in-Hand, +and many of their sister villages, will see abundant evidences of the +wealth and prosperity of an industrious people. The country is +sufficiently rolling to be picturesque, without any of the ruggedness +which characterizes the central and western portions of the State. +Sometimes from the car windows the roofs and spires of several villages +may be seen in different directions, while substantial farmhouses with +their commodious out-buildings, are on every hand. The land is brought +to a high state of cultivation, and the entire region seems almost like +an extensive park. + +Lancaster, the county-seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is +situated on the Conestoga River, seventy-three miles from Philadelphia. +This river, which is a tributary of the Susquehanna, is made navigable +by nine locks and slack-water pools, from Lancaster to its mouth at Safe +Harbor, eighteen miles distant. Considerable trade is brought to the +city by its means; while Tidewater Canal opens up navigable +communication to Baltimore, by way of Port Deposit. Lancaster was, from +1799 to 1812, the seat of the State government; it was incorporated in +1818, and was at one time the principal inland town of Pennsylvania. The +oldest turnpike in the United States terminates at Lancaster, connecting +that city with Philadelphia. It has now something more than twenty-five +thousand inhabitants, largely descended from the early Dutch settlers, +whose names are still borne, and whose language, corrupted into +"Pennsylvania Dutch," is still a most familiar one in that region. + +The city is principally a manufacturing one, producing locomotives, +axes, carriages and cotton goods, and being particularly celebrated for +its rifles. It has many fine buildings, both public and private. The +Court House and County Prison will both attract attention, the former +being in the Corinthian and the latter in the Norman style of +architecture. Fulton Hall, near the Market-place, is a large edifice +used for public assemblies. Franklin and Marshall College, organized in +1853 by the union of Marshall College with the old Franklin College, +founded in 1787, is found on James street, and possesses a library of +thirteen thousand volumes. It has a large number of both daily and +weekly newspapers, and not less than fifteen churches. + +Whit-Monday is by far the greatest social holiday with the Germans of +Lancaster city and county, and, as such, is the scene of general +festivities among the city folk and a large influx of country visitors. +On the return of this day in Lancaster, the venders of beer, peanuts, +colored lemonade and pop-corn are stationed at every corner, and are +unusually clamorous and busy. The pic-nics, shows and flying horses are +well patronized; but I am told that the scene in the public square is +not so animated as in former days, when soap venders and the razor strop +man monopolized the attention of the rustic lads and lasses. Public +ceremonies have no apparent place in the observance of this anniversary. + +Lancaster is noted for having been the residence of three persons who +have played an important part in the affairs of the nation: James +Buchanan, our fifteenth President; Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, the champion +of the slave; and General Reynolds, the gallant soldier, who fell at +Gettysburg. These all sleep their last sleep within the city limits. +James Buchanan, though born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, made his +home at Lancaster during all the years of his statesmanship, finding at +Wheatland, his country residence, in the vicinity of the city, +relaxation from the cares of public life. Born in 1791, in 1814 he was +elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1820 +he was elected Congressman, holding that position until 1831, when he +was appointed ambassador to Russia. In 1834 he was made Senator; in 1845 +Secretary of State under President Polk, and Ambassador to England in +1854. In 1856 he was elected President of the United States, the close +of his administration being signalized by the secession of South +Carolina, and the incipient steps of the Rebellion. He died at his home +at Wheatland, in Lancaster, on June first, 1868. + +The remains of Thaddeus Stevens, for so many years one of the most +fearless champions of the anti-slavery cause in Congress, lie buried in +"Schreiner's Cemetery," in a quiet and retired corner at the side +furthest from its entrance on West Chestnut street. An exceedingly plain +stone, with a simple but expressive inscription, tells the stranger the +date of his birth and death, and the reasons which led him to request +that his remains should be laid in this, the most unpretentious cemetery +I have ever seen within the limits of any city. The word Stevens is +clearly cut in large letters on the west end of the stone. On the +opposite end I noticed a gilt star. On the north side is the following +inscription:-- + + "THADDEUS STEVENS, + BORN AT DANVILLE, CALEDONIA CO., VERMONT, + APRIL 4TH, 1792. + DIED AT WASHINGTON, D. C, + AUGUST 11TH, 1868." + +On the south side of the monument are found these words:-- + + "I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, + Not from any natural preference for solitude, + But finding other cemeteries limited as to race, + By charter rules, + I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death + The principles which I advocated through a long life: + Equality of man before his Creator." + +General Reynolds was among the first to fall at the battle of +Gettysburg. On the evening of June thirtieth, 1863, while commanding the +First, Third and Eleventh Corps of the Army of the Potomac, he encamped +near the village of Emmetsburg, Maryland. He was ordered by General +Meade to move early in the morning, with his First and Third Corps, in +the direction of Gettysburg. The Third Cavalry Division, under General +John Buford, was attacked on Wednesday morning, on the Chambersburg +pike, about two miles west of the village, by the vanguard of the Rebel +army, which, however, were driven back upon their reserves, but advanced +again and, with greatly augmented numbers, drove the Union troops before +them. General Wadsworth, hearing the sound of the conflict, came up with +his men and seized the range of hills in the direction of Chambersburg, +overlooking the battle ground from the northwest. While Wadsworth was +getting into position, Reynolds rode forward, unattended, to gain an +idea of the position and numbers of the enemy. He discovered a heavy +force not far distant, in a grove, and, while reconnoitring through his +field-glass, one of the enemy's sharpshooters took aim at him, with +fatal effect. He fell to the ground, never to rise again. He was a brave +and dauntless soldier, who had already won such distinction on the +battlefield that few were entrusted with as heavy responsibilities as +he. Had his life been prolonged, no doubt he would have been promoted +still higher, and his name might have been written among those of the +successful generals of the war. His ashes repose at Lancaster, where due +honor is done them. + +Lancaster might not inappropriately be called the Cemetery City, for +every principal street seems to lead to a cemetery. Here, in these +cities of the dead, lie those who have passed away for many generations +back. Numerous venerable stones record, in Dutch, the names and virtues +of Herrs and Fraus who lived and died in the last century, while more +modern tombstones and monuments are erected over the later dead. Few +places are more interesting to one who would study a people and their +history, than an old graveyard; and few cities furnish the visitor more +numerous or better opportunities than Lancaster. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +MILWAUKEE. + + Rapid Development of the Northwest.--The "West" Forty Years + Ago.--Milwaukee and its Commerce and Manufactures.--Grain + Elevators.--Harbor.--Divisions of the City.--Public + Buildings.--Northwestern National Asylum for Disabled + Soldiers.--German Population.--Influence and Results of German + Immigration.--Bank Riot in 1862.--Ancient Tumuli.--Mound + Builders.--Mounds Near Milwaukee.--Significance of Same.--Early + Traders.--Foundation of the City in 1835.--Excelling Chicago in + 1870.--Population and Commerce in 1880. + + +There is no more astonishing fact connected with the history of our +country than the rapid settlement of the Northwest, the development of +its vast agricultural and mineral resources, and the almost magical +growth of towns and cities along the margins of its lakes and rivers. A +person who has not passed middle age can remember when the "West" +indicated Indiana and Illinois, which were reached by the emigrant after +many days of weary travel in his own rude-covered wagon, and before +starting on his journey to which he bade kindred and friends a solemn +adieu, scarcely hoping to meet them again in this world. Then the +present great trade centres of the west were mere villages, with +ambitious aspirations, it is true, but contending for a successful +future against fearful odds. A man who has reached threescore and ten +can remember when most of these towns and cities had no existence save +as Indian trading posts, and when most of the country west of the +Mississippi was as yet unexplored and regarded either as a desert waste +or a howling wilderness. Only the brave Jesuit missionaries had at that +period dared the perils of something even more dangerous than a frontier +life, and established missions throughout the Northwest, on the sites of +what are to-day thriving towns. + +But the genius and daring of the Anglo-Saxon race have changed all this. +Civilization has impressed itself so deeply on our Northwestern +territory, that were it, by any unfortunate contingency, destroyed or +removed to-day, it would take longer time to obliterate its footprints +than it has required to make them. + +Among the cities of the West remarkable for rapid growth, Milwaukee, on +the western bank of Lake Michigan, is especially prominent. First +settled in 1835, and not chartered as a city until 1846, she has made +such rapid strides in both population and commerce, that in 1880 her +inhabitants numbered 115,578, and in 1870 she claimed the rank of the +fourth city in the Union in marine commerce, a rank which she has since +lost, not by any backward steps on her own part, but because of the +sudden and astonishing development of other cities. + +A rival of Chicago, Milwaukee shares with that city the commerce of the +lakes, and is connected by steamboats with many points on the opposite +side of Lake Michigan and with more distant ports. She is the lake +terminus of a large number of railroads which drain an agricultural +region of great extent and fertility; while her nearness to the copper +mines of Lake Superior and the inexhaustible iron mines distant but from +forty to fifty miles to the northward, contribute to make her a +manufacturing centre. A single establishment for the manufacture of +railroad iron was established, at a cost of a million of dollars. She +has other iron works, and manufactures machinery, agricultural +implements, car wheels and steam boilers, large quantities of tobacco +and cigars; furnishes the Northwest with furniture, and has extensive +pork packing establishments, while the products of her flouring mills +and lager beer breweries find markets in every quarter of the United +States, and have a reputation all their own. The rolling mill of the +North Chicago Rolling Mill Company is one of the most extensive in the +West. + +As a grain depot, Milwaukee takes high rank. There are six immense +elevators within the limits of the city, with a united capacity of +3,450,000 bushels; the largest one, the grain elevator of the Milwaukee +and St. Paul Railroad, being one of the largest on the continent, and +having a storage capacity of 1,500,000 bushels. The flour mills of E. +Sanderson & Company have a daily capacity of one thousand barrels of +flour. + +The harbor of Milwaukee is the best on the south or west shore of Lake +Michigan. It is formed by the mouth of the Milwaukee River, and the +largest lake boat can ascend it for two miles, to the heart of the city, +at which point the Menomonee River unites with the Milwaukee. The course +of the Milwaukee River is nearly due south, while that of the Menomonee +is nearly due west; and by these two rivers and their united stream +after their junction, the city is divided into three very nearly equal +districts, which are severally known as the East, being that portion of +the city between the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan; the West, that +portion included between the two rivers; and the South, or the territory +south of them both. The city embraces an area of seventeen square miles, +and is laid out with the regularity characteristic of western cities. +The business quarter lies in a sort of hollow in the neighborhood of the +two rivers, whose shores are lined with wharves. The East and West +portions of the city are chiefly occupied by residences, the former +being upon a high bluff, overlooking the lake, and the latter upon a +still higher bluff west of the river. + +Milwaukee is known as the "Cream City of the Lakes," this name being +derived from the cream-colored brick of which many of the buildings are +constructed. It gives to the streets a peculiarly light and cheerful +aspect. The whole architectural appearance of the city is one of +primness rather than of grandeur, which might not inappropriately +suggest for it the name of the "Quaker City of the West." The residence +streets are shaded by avenues of trees, which add to the cheerful beauty +of the town. The principal hotels and retail stores are found upon East +Water street, Wisconsin street and Second avenue, which are all three +wide and handsome thoroughfares. The United States Custom House stands +on the corner of Wisconsin and Milwaukee streets, and is the finest +public building in the city. It is of Athens stone, and contains the +Post Office and United States Courts. The County Court House is also a +striking edifice. The Opera House, used for theatrical purposes, is +worthy of mention; while the Academy of Music, which was erected in +1864, by the German Musical Society, at a cost of $65,000, has an +elegant auditorium, seating two thousand three hundred persons. The +Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John, and the new Baptist Church, are +fine church edifices, but the finest which the city contains is the +Immanual Presbyterian Church. A Free Public Library possesses a +collection of fourteen thousand volumes, and a well-supplied reading +room. Several banking houses have imposing buildings. The most prominent +among the educational institutions of the city is the Milwaukee Female +College, which was finished in 1873. There are three Orphan Asylums, a +Home for the Friendless, and two Hospitals. One of the chief points of +interest to the visitor is the Northwestern National Asylum for disabled +soldiers, which furnishes excellent accommodation for from seven hundred +to eight hundred inmates. It is an immense brick edifice, located three +miles from the city, in the midst of grounds four hundred and +twenty-five acres in extent, more than half of which is under +cultivation, and the remainder laid out as a park. The institution has a +reading room, and a library of two thousand five hundred volumes, for +the use and benefit of its patriot guests. + +No one who visits Milwaukee can fail to be struck with the semi-foreign +appearance of the city. Breweries are multiplied throughout its streets, +lager beer saloons abound, beer gardens, with their flowers and music +and cleanly arbor-shaded tables, attract the tired and thirsty in +various quarters. German music halls, gasthausen, and restaurants are +found everywhere, and German signs are manifest over many doors. One +hears German spoken upon the streets quite as often as English, and +Teuton influence upon the political and social life of the city is +everywhere seen and felt. Germans constitute nearly one-half the entire +population of Milwaukee, and have impressed their character upon the +people and the city itself in other ways than socially. Steady-going +plodders, with their love for music and flowers, they have yet no keen +taste for display, and every time choose the substantial rather than the +ornamental. Milwaukee is a sort of rendezvous for the Scandinavian +emigrants, who are pouring in like a mighty tide to fill up the States +of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Danes and Swedes, and especially Norwegians, +stop here, and it may be, linger for a longer or shorter period, before +they strike out into the, to them, unknown country which is to be their +future home. Domestic service is largely supplied by the Norwegians, who +prove themselves honest, industrious and capable. + +This mighty influx of the Germanic and Scandinavian races into our +Northwest is certain to produce a permanent impression upon the social +condition of those States. Yet our system of government is adapted to +the successful management of such immigration. It cannot, perhaps, do so +much with the immigrants themselves. Many of them intelligent, but more +of them ignorant and stupid, they remain foreign in their habits and +ideas to the end of their lives. But it makes citizens of their sons, +trains them up with an understanding of democratic institutions, gives +them an education, for the most part, forces them to acquire our +language, and instead of making them a separate class, recognizes them +as an undivided part of the whole population. In brief, it Americanizes +them, and though habits and traits of character and race still cling to +them in some degree, their original nationality is soon lost in the +great cosmopolitan tide of civilized humanity which swells and surges +around them. Different races intermarry and blend, and form a composite +of personnel and character which is fast becoming individualized and +recognized as the type of the true American. After a few generations but +little remains save the patronymic to remind the descendants of these +immigrants of their original descent. + +Wherever the German race has settled it has taken substantial prosperity +with it. The members of that race have proved themselves honest, +industrious, and preeminently loyal. To the "Dutch" St. Louis owed her +own modified loyalty during the late civil war. The German element of +Cincinnati also turned the tide of popular sentiment in favor of the +North, and secured for that city, during war times, an immunity from +disturbance, and a prosperity unexampled during her previous history. +They bring with them not only thrift, but an appreciation for the +refining arts which is not found in any other class of immigrants. The +German quarter of a city may nearly always be discovered by the +abundance of flowers in windows and balconies, and growing thriftily in +secluded courts. The German better appreciates his beer when sipped in +the midst of natural beauties, and to the sound of music. To this +music-loving characteristic of her German population Milwaukee owes her +finest music hall, the Academy of Music already described. They are not +quick of thought, but even their stolidity, when it is offset and +modified by the almost supernatural sharpness and quickness of wit of +other nationalities which also look to America as a refuge from +oppression, produces a useful counter-balance, and the offspring of the +two will be apt to possess stability of character with intellectual +alertness. The Germans have their faults, undoubtedly, but they are less +obnoxious than those of some other classes of immigrants, and when +modified often become virtues. + +Milwaukee, since her existence as a city, has had a comparatively +uneventful history. She has not been ravaged by flood, like Cincinnati, +nor by fire, like Chicago, nor by pestilence, like Memphis, nor by +famine, like many cities in the old world. She has moved on in the even +tenor of her way, increasing her commerce and adding to her industries, +perfecting her school system and enlarging her own domain. The only +disturbance which is recorded against her in the chronicles of her +existence, occurred in June, 1862, when there was a riot, in consequence +of the rejection, by the bankers of Milwaukee, of the notes of most of +the banks of the State. The banks of Wisconsin being governed, at that +time, by a free banking law, modeled, in a great measure, after that of +New York, had purchased largely the bonds of different Southern States, +and deposited them with the State Comptroller as a security for their +issues, the bonds of said States usually being lower than those of the +Northern States. When the Southern States withdrew from the Union there +was, in consequence, a rapid reduction of the value of these securities, +and an equally rapid depreciation of the value of the bank notes based +upon them. Their issues were finally curtailed, occasioning severe loss +and great bitterness of feeling on the part of those who held them. The +riot consequent on this state of affairs resulted in a considerable +destruction of property, though no lives were lost. It was finally +quelled by the State authorities. + +Of the original inhabitants of Wisconsin, we have no knowledge whatever. +The only traces they have left of their existence are numerous ancient +mounds or tumuli, which are scattered at various points all over the +State. Their antiquity is attested by the fact that trees of four +hundred years' growth are found standing upon them. Discoveries in the +Lake Superior copper regions, of mines which had once been worked, over +which trees of a like age were growing, seem to indicate that the same +people raised the mounds and worked the mines. In all probability their +antiquity extends further backward than this. The Indians, improperly +called the aborigines, have no traditions concerning the construction of +these mounds, which are evidently none of their handiwork, but belong to +a race which has been supplanted and disappeared from the globe. The +similarity of these mounds to those discovered in Central America leads +to the conclusion that they were both the work of one and the same race; +but whether they were constructed as tombs or as places for altars, +there is a division of opinion. Those in Central America were evidently +once surmounted by temples or places of worship and sacrifice. + +These mounds vary in size, shape and height. At Prairie du Chien one of +the largest of these tumuli was leveled to furnish a site for Fort +Crawford. It was circular in form, having a base of some two hundred +feet, and was twenty feet high. The circular form is the most common in +those mounds, although there are many different shapes. Some appear like +wells, inclosing an open space; others like breastworks with angles; +still others have a space through them, as if they formed a sort of +gateway. On the dividing ridge between the Mississippi and Wisconsin +rivers mounds are found in the form of birds with their wings and tails +spread; of deer, rabbits and other animals. One even bears a marked +resemblance to an elephant. There are also a few mounds representing a +man lying on his face. They are three or four feet high at the highest +points, rounding over the sides. + +One of the most singular characteristics of these mounds is that they +seem invariably to be composed of earth brought from a greater or less +distance. The surface of the surrounding ground usually comes up to the +base of the mound in a smooth level, when it does not already possess a +natural elevation; but there is no evidence of the ground anywhere in +the neighborhood having been disturbed to furnish the earth for their +construction. In some instances the soil of these tumuli is of an +actually different character, the like of which has not been discovered +within several miles of the mounds. + +These antiquities constitute the only mementos and annals transmitted to +us, of the mysterious race which once peopled our western territory, and +extended as far east as the shores of the Ohio, as far north as the +great lakes, and westward and southward to Central America. It seems a +pity that no systematic effort has been made to perpetuate them, if not +for the benefit of future generations whose interest and curiosity +should be excited at beholding them, at least out of a consideration for +the unknown race whose work they are, and as enduring monuments to whose +numbers and industry they have remained up to the present time, when all +else has perished. The plow, the hoe and the spade, those iconoclastic +weapons of civilization, are fast effacing them from the surface of the +country. When the plow once breaks the sod which has covered them and +preserved their form, the wind and rain each lend speedy assistance to +the work of destruction, and but a few years will elapse before most of +them will have disappeared altogether, and the places which have known +them for untold centuries will know them no more forever. + +It is a fact worthy of mention that these mounds have most frequently +been found on sites selected for modern towns and cities, as though +ancients and moderns alike had instinctively chosen for their abiding +places those localities most favored by nature for the uses of man. +Numerous earthworks about Milwaukee attest the favor in which the +locality of that city was held by this pre-historic race. These works +extend from Kinnickinnic Creek, near the "Indian Fields," where they are +most abundant, to a point six miles above the city. They occupy high +grounds near but not in immediate proximity to the lake and streams, and +are most varied in their form, while many are of large extent. They are +chiefly from one hundred to four hundred feet in diameter, and represent +turtles, lizards, birds, the otter and buffalo, while a number have the +form of a war club. Occasionally, a mound is elevated so as to overlook +or command many others, as though it was a sort of high or superior +altar for the observance of religious or sacrificial rites. Milwaukee is +to be commended for her failure to manifest that spirit of modern +vandalism which, in other sections, has sacrificed the relics of a +by-gone age and people to the fancied utility of civilization. The +Forest Home Cemetery incloses a number of these mounds, and so they are +preserved for the benefit of the antiquary and curiosity seeker. We +trust she will continue to cherish sacredly these few monuments left as +the sole legacy of the ancient inhabitants of the West. + +The early Indian name of the river upon which the city of Milwaukee now +stands was Mellcoki. So says one tradition. Another gives the name as +Man-a-wau-kee, from the name of a valuable medicinal root known as +Man-wau; hence, the land or place of the Man-wau. Still another gives +the Indian name as Me-ne-wau-kee---a rich or beautiful land. The Indians +had a village on the site of the present city. The Milwaukee tribe were +troublesome and difficult to manage. About the first trader who ventured +to establish a post among them was Alexander Laframboise, who came from +Mackinaw and located on the spot previous to or about 1785. This trading +post, having been mismanaged, was discontinued about 1800, and another +soon took its place. A succession of trading posts and fur stations +followed, until about 1818, when Solomon Juneau, a Frenchman, +established himself there permanently, with a little colony of +half-breeds, who built themselves log cabins on the banks of the stream, +two miles from the lake, near the junction of the Menomonee. Below them, +on the river flats, where now extend the business streets of the city, +the low marshy ground was overgrown by tall reeds and rushes, while away +back from the river stretched the boundless prairie. The place was +known, thenceforth, as Juneau's Settlement. This settlement gradually +attracted, first, other traders, and finally immigrants. In 1825 it was +still nothing more than a trading station, but ten years later it had +become a settlement and called itself a town, taking the name of +Milwaukee, from the river upon which it was built. + +Chicago had already begun her marvelous growth, and was at that very +time extending herself to extraordinary dimensions--on paper. The little +town of Milwaukee had then no thought of rivalry, but was content to +plod along for eleven years more before it received its city charter. By +1850 its growth had been remarkable, and it numbered more than twenty +thousand inhabitants. In 1860 it had more than doubled this population, +recording over forty-five thousand inhabitants, and in 1870 it had +almost doubled again, the census reporting more than seventy-one +thousand persons for that year. In the same year Milwaukee received +18,466,167 bushels of wheat, actually exceeding Chicago by about a +million of bushels. The shipments of wheat the same year were 16,027,780 +bushels, and of flour 1,225,340 barrels. Her exports for that year also +included butter, hops, lumber, wool and shingles, of all which +commodities she shipped immense quantities. From 1870 to 1880 the +increase of population and commerce was equally astonishing, while her +manufactures had grown in like proportion. + +The vast lumber regions to the northwest help to build up her business; +new towns which spring up throughout the State become tributary to her; +and the farms which are multiplying in that fertile region send a share +of their products to find a gateway through her to the eastern markets +and to Europe. She divides with Chicago the trade which, by means of the +great lakes and the great railway trunk lines, is busy going to and fro +in the land, from east to west and from west to east. When the Northern +Pacific Railway furnishes a continuous route of travel and freight +between Lake Superior and the Northern Pacific States, the business of +Milwaukee will be naturally augmented. But her future prosperity depends +largely upon the prosperity of the agricultural population which +surrounds her, which fills her elevators and warehouses, and furnishes +freight for her boats with its products, and has need of her +manufactures in return. And thus we see illustrated the fundamental +principle of political economy, that that which concerns one must +concern all; that one class or section of people cannot suffer without +affecting in some degree all classes and sections. All are +interdependent, and all must stand or fall together. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +MONTREAL. + + Thousand Islands.--Long Sault Rapids.--Lachine Rapids.--Victoria + Bridge.--Mont Real.--Early History of Montreal.--Its Shipping + Interests.--Quays.--Manufactures.--Population.--Roman Catholic + Supremacy.--Churches.--Nunneries.--Hospitals.--Colleges.-- + Streets.--Public Buildings.--Victoria Skating Rink.-- + Sleighing.--Early Disasters.--Points of Interest.--The + "Canucks." + + +The traveler who visits Montreal should, if possible, make his approach +to that city by a descent of the St. Lawrence River, that he may become +acquainted with some of the most beautiful scenery in America. Leaving +Kingston, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, he will wind his way through +the mazes of the Thousand Islands, which will seem to him as if +belonging to an enchanted country. These islands, situated at the head +of the St. Lawrence, extend down the river for a distance of thirty +miles, and are innumerable and of every size and shape. Wolf Island, +about fifteen miles in length, is the largest; while some of the +smallest seem like mere flower-pots rising out of the water, with but a +single plant. They are most picturesque in appearance, their rocky +foundations being veiled and softened by the trees and shrubbery which +cover them. In past ages mythology would have made these islands the +sacred abodes of the gods, and peopled their woods and dells with nymphs +and fauns, while the intervening channels would have been presided over +by naiads. A little more than a generation ago, a single inhabitant, a +freebooter, who levied toll upon the passers up and down the river, and +who concealed his ill-gotten booty in his numerous lurking-places in the +islands, turned this terrestrial paradise into a pirate's den. To-day +the Thousand Islands have become famous summer resorts for the denizens +of our northern cities; and large and small are studded with attractive +cottages and imposing villas; while nature, already so beautiful in its +wild state, has been trained into the tamer beauty of modern landscape +gardening. + +Beyond the islands the majestic St. Lawrence rolls on until it reaches +the rapids, celebrated in song by Thomas Moore. Here the river narrows, +and the current rushes impetuously over and between the rocks which jut +from its bottom; while the pilot, with watchfulness and skill, guides +the boat through the treacherous channel, and lands her safely in the +smoother waters beyond. These rapids are known as the Long Sault Rapids, +and are nine miles in length. A raft will drift this whole distance in +forty minutes. The passage of boats down these rapids was considered +impossible until 1840, when the famous Indian pilot, Teronhiahere, after +watching the course of rafts down the stream, attempted it, and +discovered a safe channel for steamboats. Many of the pilots are still +Indians, who exhibit great skill and courage in the undertaking. There +has never yet been a fatal accident in shooting these rapids. The +Cornwall Canal, eleven miles long, permits vessels to go around the +rapids in ascending the river. + +The Lachine Rapids, nine miles above Montreal, although the shortest, +are the most dangerous. It is easy enough to descend these rapids, if +one is not particular as to results; but it is difficult enough to +descend them safely. The faint-hearted had better commit themselves to +the more placid waters of the canal, or take to the railroad. But to the +brave traveler there is a certain exhilaration in thus toying with and +conquering danger. The rapids fairly passed, one can distinguish the +long line and graceful archways of the Victoria Bridge, and the towers +and spires of Montreal. + +Montreal is on an island thirty-two miles in length, and with a width at +its widest of ten miles. It is at the junction of the St. Lawrence and +Ottawa, both of them noble rivers, and is connected with the mainland by +two bridges, one of them spanning the Ottawa by a series of immense +arches; and the other, the Victoria bridge, thrown across the St. +Lawrence. The length of the latter bridge is nearly two miles. It rests +upon twenty-three piers and two abutments of solid masonry, the central +span being three hundred and thirty feet long. Its total cost was about +$6,300,000. It was formally opened to the public by the Prince of Wales, +on the occasion of his visit to America during the summer of 1860. The +railway track runs through an iron tube, twenty-two feet high and +sixteen feet wide. The river rolls nearly a hundred feet below, in +summer a sweeping flood, and in winter a sort of glacier, the ice masses +piled and heaped upon one another, as they have been upheaved or hurled +in the contentions between the current and the frost-king. + +The city of Montreal is distinctly outlined against Mount Royal or Mont +Real, which rises back of it, its edifices showing dark and gray, except +where the sun catches its numerous tin roofs, making them glitter like +burnished steel. It takes its name from Mont Real, the mountain already +referred to, which closes it in on one side, and rises seven hundred and +fifty feet above the river. Its eastern suburb, still known as +Hochelaga, was the site of an Indian village when it was discovered, in +1535, by Jacques Cartier, and this explorer it was who gave the name to +the mountain. In 1642, just one hundred and fifty years after the +discovery of America, it was settled by the French, retaining its Indian +name for a century later, when that appellation was replaced by the +French one of "Ville Marie." In 1761 the city came into the possession +of the British, and received its present name. In 1775 it was captured +by the Americans under General Montgomery, and held by them until the +following summer. + +Montreal was, under both French and British rule, an outpost of Quebec +until 1832, when it became a separate port. The shallower parts of the +river being deepened above Quebec, Montreal became accessible to boats +drawing from nineteen to twenty-two feet of water. It is now the chief +shipping port of Canada. It is five hundred miles from the sea, and +ninety miles above tidewater; and being at the head of ship navigation +of the St. Lawrence, and at the foot of the great chain of inland lakes, +rivers and canals which connect it with the very centre of the American +continent, its commerce is very important. At the confluence of the +Ottawa with the St. Lawrence, it is also the outlet of a vast lumber +country. It feels, however, the serious disadvantage of being, for five +months in the year, blockaded, and made, to all intents and purposes, an +inland city, by the closing of navigation during the winter. Then, by +means of the Grand Trunk and other railways, it becomes tributary to +Portland, Maine, and finds, at that city, a port for its commerce. Its +two miles of quays, including the locks and stone-cut wharves of the +Lachine Canal, all built of solid limestone, would do credit to any city +in the world; while a broad wall or esplanade extends between these +quays and the houses which overlook the river. Montreal takes a front +rank in its manufacturing interests, which embrace all kinds of +agricultural and mechanical implements, steam engines, printing types, +India-rubber shoes, paper, furniture, woolens, cordage and flour. In +1874 its exports were valued at over twenty-two millions of dollars. + +The population of Montreal in 1779 was only about seven thousand +inhabitants. In 1861 it had increased to 70,323; and in 1871 the census +returns made the population 115,926. Of these inhabitants, probably more +than one-half are Roman Catholics, representing a great variety of +nationalities, among which, however, French Canadians and Irish +predominate. The Catholics were, at first, under French dominion, in +exclusive possession of the city, and the different religious societies +gained vast wealth. Ever since Canada has passed into the hands of +England they still hold their own, and exercise an influence over the +people, and display a magnificence in their edifices and appointments, +unknown in other sections of America. + +No city of the same size in the United States has such splendid +churches. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame, fronting on the +Place d'Armes, is the largest on the continent. It is two hundred and +forty-one feet in length, by one hundred and thirty-five feet in width, +and is capable of seating more than ten thousand persons. It is a +massive structure, built of stone, in the Gothic style with a tower at +each corner, and one in the middle of each flank, numbering six in all. +The towers on the main front are two hundred and twelve feet high, and +furnish to visitors a magnificent view of the city. In one of these +towers is a fine chime of bells, the largest of which, the "Gros +Bourdon," weighs twenty-nine thousand four hundred pounds. But as large +as is this cathedral, it will be surpassed in size by the Cathedral of +St. Peter, now in process of erection at the corner of Dorchester and +Cemetery streets, and built after the general plan of St. Peter's at +Rome. This cathedral will be three hundred feet long by two hundred and +twenty-five feet wide at the transepts, and will be surmounted by five +domes, the largest of which will be two hundred and fifty feet in +height, supported on four piers and thirty-two Corinthian columns. The +vestibule alone will be two hundred feet long by thirty feet wide, and +will be fronted by a portico, surmounted by colossal statues of the +Apostles. It will, when completed, be by far the finest and largest +church edifice in America. St Patrick's Church at the west end of +Lagauchere street, is noticeable for its handsome Gothic windows of +stained glass, and will seat five thousand persons. The Church of the +Gesu, in Blewry street, has the finest interior in the city, the vast +nave, seventy-five feet in height, being bordered by rich composite +columns, and the walls and ceilings beautifully frescoed. + +The Roman Catholic churches undoubtedly exceed in size and number those +of the Protestants, though some of the latter are worthy of note. Christ +Church Cathedral--Episcopal, in St. Catherine street, is the most +perfect specimen of English Gothic architecture in America. It is built +of rough Montreal stone, with Caen stone facings, cruciform, and +surmounted by a spire two hundred and twenty-four feet high. St. +Andrew's Church--Presbyterian, in Radegonde street, is a fine specimen +of Gothic architecture, being an imitation, on a reduced scale, of +Salisbury Cathedral. Zion Church--Independent, in Radegonde street, near +Victoria Square, was the scene of the riot and loss of life on the +occasion of Gavazzi's lecture in 1852. + +Like Quebec, Montreal is famous for its nunneries. The Gray Nunnery, +founded in 1692, for the care of lunatics and children, is situated in +Dorchester street. This nunnery owns Nun's Island, in Lake St. Louis, +above Montreal, once an Indian burial ground, but now in a high state of +cultivation. In Notre Dame street, near the Place d'Armes, is the Black +or Congregational Nunnery, which dates from 1659, and is devoted to the +education of girls. At Hochelaga is the Convent of the Holy Name of +Mary. The Hotel Dieu, founded in 1644, for the cure of the sick, and St. +Patrick's Hospital, are both under the charge of the Sisters of St. +Joseph. The Christian Brothers have control of numerous schools, and +render material aid to morality and religion. The Seminary of St. +Sulspice is a large and stately building, devoted to the education of +Catholic priests. Nuns and priests are familiar objects upon the +streets, and not always a welcome sight to the Protestant eye; +nevertheless, the good works in which they engage are numerous and not +to be undervalued. + +The number of hospitals, scientific institutions, libraries, +reading-rooms, schools and universities of Montreal is remarkable. Many +of them are under Catholic control, and all are worthy of a highly +civilized and prosperous community. First among the educational +institutions of the city is McGill College, founded by a bequest of the +Hon. James McGill, in 1811, and erected into a university, by royal +charter, in 1821. It is beautifully situated at the base of Mount Royal, +and, besides a large corps of able professors, possesses one of the +finest museums in the country. + +Montreal is a beautiful city. Its public buildings are constructed of +solid stone, in which a handsome limestone, found in the neighborhood, +predominates. Its churches, banks, hospitals and colleges are all +edifices of which to be proud. Its private dwellings are, a majority of +them, substantially built, while many of the roofs, cupolas and spires +are covered with metal, which, seen at a distance, glitters in the sun. +The most elegant private residences are found upon the slope of Mont +Real, surrounded by ample grounds containing fine lawns, trees and +shrubbery. From these hillside residences the scenery is most lovely, +looking over a panorama of city, river and country, with the blue tops +of the mountain ranges of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire plainly +perceptible on clear days. + +St. Paul street is the chief commercial thoroughfare, and extends nearly +parallel to the river, but a square or two back from it, the whole +length of the city. Commissioner street faces the quays and monopolizes +much of the wholesale trade. McGill, St. James and Notre Dame are also +important business streets. Great St. James and Notre Dame streets are +the fashionable promenades, while Catherine, Dorchester and Sherbrook +streets contain the finest private residences. At the intersection of +McGill and St. James streets, in a small public square, called Victoria +Square, is a fountain and a bronze statue of Queen Victoria. A number of +fine buildings surround this square, prominent among which are the +Albert buildings and the beautiful Gothic structure of the Young Men's +Christian Association. + +Bontecour's Market, a spacious stone edifice in the Doric style, is one +of the handsomest buildings in the city. It fronts the river at the +corner of St. Paul and Water streets, is three stories high, surmounted +by a dome, from which the view is exceptionally fine. The new City Hall, +at the head of Jacques Cartier Square, containing the offices of the +various civil and corporate functionaries, is an elegant structure, +spacious and perfect in all its appointments. The Court House, in Notre +Dame street, is three hundred feet long by one hundred and twenty-five +feet wide, in the Doric style, and erected at a cost of over three +hundred thousand dollars. It includes a law library of six thousand +volumes. Back of it is the Champs de Mars, a fine military parade +ground. The Custom House is between St. Paul street and the river, on +the site of an old market-place, and is a massive structure with a fine +tower. The Post Office is an elegant building near the Place d'Armes, in +great St. James street. In the Place d'Armes, is the Bank of Montreal +and the City Bank, Masonic Hall, the headquarters of the Masons of +Canada, and several other of the principal banks of the city. Mechanics' +Institute, in great St. James street, though plain externally, has an +elaborately decorated lecture room. The principal hotels are the +Windsor, in Dorchester street, one of the finest of its kind in America; +the St. Lawrence, in Great St. James street; the Ottawa House, corner of +St. James and Notre Dame streets; Montreal House, in Custom House +Square; the Richelieu Hotel, and the Albion. + +One of the principal points of attraction in both winter and summer is +the Victoria Skating Rink, in Dominion Square. This extensive building +is used during the milder months of the year for horticultural shows, +concerts and miscellaneous gatherings. In the winter the doors of this +place are thronged with a crowd of sleighs and sleigh drivers, while +inside, skaters and spectators form a living, moving panorama, pleasant +to look upon. The place is lighted by gas, and men and women, old and +young, with a plentiful sprinkling of children, on skates, are +practicing all sorts of gyrations. The ladies are prettily and +appropriately dressed in skating costumes, and some of them are +proficient in the art of skating. The spectators sit or stand on a +raised ledge around the ice parallelogram, while the skaters dart off, +singly or in pairs, executing quadrilles, waltzes, curves, straight +lines, letters, labyrinths, and every conceivable figure. Now and then +some one comes to grief in the surging, moving throng; but is quickly on +his or her feet again, the ice and water shaken off, and the zigzag +resumed. Children skate; boys and girls; ladies and gentlemen, and even +dignified military officers. Some skate well, some medium, some +shockingly ill; but all skate, or essay to do so. It is the grand +Montrealese pastime, and though the ice is sloppy, and the air chill and +heavy with moisture, everybody has a good time. + +There is one other amusement of the public, and that is sleighing. The +winter in the latitude of Montreal is long and cold, and sometimes the +snow falls to a depth of several feet, lying upon the ground for +months. When winter settles down upon the city, the river freezes over, +leaving the island an island no longer, but making it part and parcel of +the surrounding continent. Then the people wrap themselves in furs and +betake themselves to their sleighs, and glide swiftly along the +well-beaten roads, between the white drifts. Vehicles of every +description, from the most elegant appointed sleigh down to the rough +box sled, are seen upon the road, and the jingle of bells is everywhere +heard, as the sledges follow, pass and repass one another on the snowy +track. Ladies closely wrapped in furs and veils, and their cavaliers in +fur caps with flaps brought closely around ears and chin, alike bid +defiance to the temperature, which is not infrequently in the +neighborhood of zero; and the blood seems to course more quickly for the +keenness of the atmosphere. + +During its long history, Montreal has had disasters as well as +successes. Something over a hundred years after its founding as a French +colony it was nearly destroyed by fire, and a little later it became a +favorite point of attack during the two American wars. But to-day it is +the most thriving city of the British provinces. It has pushed its +railway communications with great energy, and so long as peace is +maintained between Canada and the United States it will continue to +prosper. In the event of war, the city lies in an exposed position, and +during the winter its only outlet, by rail to Portland, would be cut +off. + +The Nelson Monument in Jacques Cartier Square, and near it the old +Government House, will prove objects of interest to the visitor, though +the former is in somewhat of a dilapidated condition. The city is +supplied with water by works which are situated a mile or so above it, +in the midst of beautiful scenery. Mount Royal Cemetery is two miles +from the city, on the northern slope of the mountain. One of the most +beautiful views in the neighborhood of Montreal is the famous around the +mountain drive, nine miles in length, and passing by Mount Royal Park. + +First settled by the French, their descendants, the French Canadians, +form a considerable proportion of the population of Montreal. But +whatever they may have been in the past, they have degenerated into an +illiterate, unenterprising people. The English, Irish and Scotch, who +during the past century have been emigrating to Canada in such numbers, +have monopolized most of the business, and have rescued Montreal, as +well as Lower Canada generally, from a stagnation which was sure to +creep upon it if left in the hands of the descendants of the early +French settlers. Arcadian innocence and simplicity have developed, or +rather degenerated, into indolence, stolidity and ignorance. The priests +do the thinking for these people, who, apparently have few ambitions in +life beyond meeting its daily wants. Thus, though the streets of +Montreal still bear the old names, and though its architecture still +retains much of the quaintness which it early assumed, the business is +largely in the hands of the Anglo-Saxons and Celts, who are its later +settlers; and English pluck, Irish industry, Scotch thrift and American +push, are all brought into marked contrast with the sluggishness and +lethargy of the "Canucks." The names over the principal business houses +are either English, Scotch or Irish; and the sympathies of the +intelligent people are entirely in harmony with the government under +which they live. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +NEWARK. + + From New York to Newark.--Two Hundred Years Ago.--The + Pioneers.--Public Parks.--City of Churches.--The Canal.-- + Sailing Up-Hill.--An Old Graveyard.--New Amsterdam and New + Netherlands.--The Dutch and English.--Adventurers from New + England.--The Indians.--Rate of Population.--Manufactures.-- + Rank as a City. + + +Nine miles, in a westerly direction, from New York, on a lovely morning +in the early autumn of 1880, by the comfortable cars of that most +perfect of all railways, the "Pennsylvania," brought our little party to +Newark, which I had often heard spoken of as the leading commercial and +manufacturing city of New Jersey. + +Situated in the northeastern corner of the State, on the west bank of +the Passaic, three miles from its entrance into Newark Bay--the city of +Newark occupies the most delightful spot in a State famed for its +beauty. In our short journey from New York we passed over broad, level +meadows, bearing some resemblance to a western prairie. The Passaic and +the Hackensack rivers traverse these prairie-like meadows, while rising +abruptly in the distance you behold the historic Bergen Heights. + +Disembarking at the conveniently located Market Street Depot, we sought +and found a temporary home, and then lost no time in gratifying our +native curiosity, by exploring the city and learning something of its +origin and history. + +Newark is over two hundred years old, and yet is regularly laid out; its +wide and well paved streets are adorned and shaded with grand old +elms--some of them coeval with the founding of the city. Its chief +business thoroughfare, Broad street, running north and south, through +the central part of the city, has many fine business blocks, and a finer +avenue cannot be found than the south end of Broad street, lined with +wide-spreading elms, and extending, apparently, into infinitude. One +peculiarity that absorbed my attention, was the vast number of +manufacturing establishments here, located, for the most part, outside +of the central streets, and these are doubtless the source of her +prosperity. + +About two hundred years ago Newark was an obscure hamlet of some sixty +odd settlers. Since that time it has grown into a city of one hundred +and thirty thousand inhabitants. The handful of original settlers were, +for the most part, upright, earnest and sturdy mechanics, of Anglo-Saxon +blood, and they laid the foundation of what is now one of the most +important cities of the Union, ranking, indeed, among the foremost of +the world's industrial bee-hives--a monster workshop, whose skilled +labor cannot well be surpassed anywhere. They called their village after +the old English town of Newark-on-Trent; and Newark-on Passaic has now +grown into a city ten times greater than its ancient namesake. + +The public parks possess a startling interest to the stranger visiting +Newark for the first time. Seldom have I found so many, and of such +extent, in a city that measures only five miles long, by five broad. +Possessed of such breathing places, a town must of necessity be healthy, +and I accordingly found this strongly indicated in the faces of all I +met, more especially of the blooming young maidens and their mammas. We +are told that when the first settlers purchased the site of Newark and +its surrounding lands, of the native Indians, and laid out their embryo +city, they wisely reserved certain tracts for public purposes, and that +most of these still exist as ornaments of the city. Besides those set +apart for churches and graveyards, the principal reservations were the +"Training-place," the "Market-place," and the "Watering-place." The +Training-place is now Military Park, on the east side of Broad street, +near its centre; and the Market-place is now Washington Park. These and +several others in various parts of this favored city, form delightful +retreats from the sun's rays--shaded by majestic elms--a veritable _rus +in urbe_. The suburbs also are passing beautiful, extending to Orange on +the west, and to within a mile of Elizabeth on the south--both busy +towns. + +Like Brooklyn, Newark may be called a city of churches, and its +enlightened and industrious citizens are a church-going people. The +Reformed Dutch Church dates from 1663; and the First Presbyterian from +1667. These were the parent churches, and their progeny are manifold and +prosperous, as noted in the exceptionally high standard of morality that +generally characterizes the peaceful workers in this hive of industry. + +I was especially struck with the canal which flows under Broad street, +and the ingenuity displayed in surmounting a hill that crosses it, by +the barges navigating its waters. Here it may be almost said that among +their numberless other inventions, the inhabitants of Newark have +discovered the art of sailing up a hill! Instead of a lock, by which +similar difficulties of inland navigation are usually overcome, the +barges are drawn in a cradle up an inclined plane, by means of a +stationary steam engine placed at the top of the hill, where the canal +recommences, and the barges are re-launched to continue their course +westward. + +In my rambles down Broad street, on its well-paved sidewalk, flanked by +flourishing stores, in which every commodity, from a five hundred dollar +chronometer down to a ten cent pair of men's socks, is presented for +sale, I stopped at an arched gateway on my right, my attention being +arrested by a patch of green sward behind it. The gate stood invitingly +open, and passing through, I found myself in a venerable and disused +graveyard. + +"This is the oldest of the city graveyards," said an elderly gentleman, +to whom I addressed myself for information, "and is of the same age as +the city itself. It is the resting-place of many of the original +inhabitants. The first church of Newark stood here, and around, you will +observe, are tombs, bearing dates of two centuries ago." Such, I found, +on investigation, to be the case. These old stones--most of their +inscriptions now undecipherable,--were erected to commemorate the dead +colonists' names and virtues, more than one hundred years before +Washington was born, or they had dreamed of casting off the authority of +mother England. I reflected: what was Newark like in those far-away +days, two hundred years ago? How did she compare with Newark in the year +of grace 1880? + +In 1608 Henry Hudson descended the noble river which bears his name, and +the settlement of _New Amsterdam_ by the Hollanders soon followed. Next, +_New Netherlands_ was added to the territory of the Dutchmen, then a +great maritime people. Down to the beginning of the seventeenth century +the colonization of New Netherlands, on the western banks of the Hudson, +had made but little progress. It was all a wilderness, peopled only by +Indians. The white man had scarcely penetrated its fertile valleys. The +story is told, however, that some of Hudson's hardy crew had sailed in +their boats through the _Kill-von-Kule_, at the north of what is now +Staten Island, and passed northward into the Passaic River. The +enterprising Dutch traders were no doubt fully cognizant of the +boundless possibilities of the country, whose fairest spot was destined +to form the site of the city of Newark. + +But these Dutchmen were only lawless adventurers. By right of discovery, +a priority of title to all the lands in North America was claimed by +England, who declared war upon Holland and all her reputed possessions. +_New Amsterdam_ and the province of _New Netherlands_ were among the +first to succumb, and in 1664 England obtained complete command of the +Atlantic coast. _New Amsterdam_ then became _New York_, in honor of the +Duke of York, brother of King Charles II; and _New Netherlands_ became +_New Jersey_, in compliment to the Countess of Jersey, a court favorite. +To this conquest by England we owe our English tongue, for had the +Hollanders vanquished the English, and retained possession, we should +doubtless all be speaking "low Dutch" to-day, instead of English. But +this is a digression. + +Colonization rapidly followed when the phlegmatic Dutchmen were turned +out, and the first English governor of the province of New Jersey +inaugurated a very liberal form of government. This induced many +adventurers from New England to unite their fortunes with the colonists +of New Jersey. Under the leadership of the enterprising Captain Treat, +these New Englanders proceeded to select a site for their new town. They +soon found a spot exactly suited to their wishes; a fertile soil, +beautiful woodlands, and a navigable stream; while away to the eastward +was a wide and sheltered bay. + +In May, 1666, about thirty families, John Treat being their captain, +laid the foundation of Newark. A conference was held with the Indians, +which resulted satisfactorily to all. They transferred the land to the +white men, and received in payment for what now constitutes the county +of Essex, "Fifty double-hands of powder, one hundred bars of lead, +twenty axes, twenty coats, ten guns, twenty pistols, ten kettles, ten +swords, four blankets, four barrels of beer, two pairs of breeches, +fifty knives, twenty hoes, eight hundred and fifty fathoms of wampum, +two ankers of liquor, or something equivalent; and three troopers' +coats, with the ornaments thereon." + +A few years later a second purchase was made, by which the limits of the +city they were building were extended westward to the top of Orange +Hill, the equivalent being "two guns, three coats and thirteen cans of +rum." + +For many years, Newark grew and prospered. In 1681 she was the "most +compact town in the province, with a population of 500." In 1713 Queen +Anne granted a charter of incorporation, thus making the township of +Newark a body politic, which continued in force until the Revolution. +With the successful close of the war, Newark entered on a new and +prosperous era, and the population increased very largely. In 1795 +bridges were built over the Passaic and the Hackensack. In 1810 the +population is given as 6,000, and in 1830 it had increased to 11,000. +From this date its rate of progress has been very rapid, and at the +present time Newark ranks as the thirteenth city of the Union in +population. + +I cannot conclude this chapter without a few words on the manufactures +of Newark. The early settlers were, as we have said, in the main, +mechanics and artisans, and from this circumstance the growth of the +city lay in the direction of manufactures. Newark, to-day, is among the +foremost cities of the Union in intelligent industry. So early as 1676 +efforts were made to promote the introduction of manufactures. The +nearness of the city to New York, the chief market in the Union, with +shipping facilities to every quarter of the globe; with the great iron +and coal fields easy of access, and a thrifty and industrious people, +Newark drew to her mills and factories abundant capital and skilled +workmen. She has contributed more useful inventions to industrial +progress than any other American city. The Newark Industrial Exposition +was originated in 1872, for the purpose of holding an annual exhibition +of her local manufactures. The enterprise met with signal success. We +have counted no less than four hundred distinct manufactories in +operation in this extraordinary city, a list of which would occupy too +much of our space. Hardware, tools, machinery, jewelry, leather, hats, +and trunks seem to predominate. Of the last-named indispensable article, +Newark has the most extensive manufactory in the world, 7,000 trunks per +week, or about 365,000 yearly being produced here. It is said that in +the manufacture of the best steam fire-engines, Newark ranks first. The +number of persons finding employment in the factories is about 25,000, +and the amount of wages paid weekly averages $250,000, or about +$13,000,000 per year. The annual value of the productions of all her +manufactories amounts to about $60,000,000. + +Thus it is seen that Newark has developed into one of the principal +producing cities of the United States, the value of her diversified +manufactured products making her, in this respect, the third, if not the +second city of the Union. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +NEW HAVEN. + + The City of Elms.--First Impressions.--A New England Sunday.-- + A Sail on the Harbor.--Oyster Beds.--East Rock.--The Lonely + Denizen of the Bluff.--Romance of John Turner.--West Rock.-- + The Judges' Cave.--Its Historical Association.--Escape of the + Judges.--Monument on the City Green.--Yale College.--Its Stormy + Infancy.--Battle on the Weathersfield Road.--Harvard, the Fruit + of the Struggle. + + +Leaving New York by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, we +found ourselves, at the end of a three hours' ride, in New Haven, the +beautiful "City of Elms." + +Everything here bears the impress of New England, with the special +peculiarities of Connecticut, land of smart sayings and of the +proverbial wooden nutmegs and oak hams. Stepping from the cars, my ears +were first saluted by the salutations of two genial Yankees, one of +whom, I inferred from the conversation, had just arrived from +Bridgeport, and the other at the depot had awaited his coming. +Compliments were passed by the latter, who saluted his friend with-- + +"Well, old boy, where have you been all summer? I see you have got your +dust full of eyes." + +The reply to this salute was in entire harmony with the interrogation, +and both walked away from the station, amusing each other with odd +maxims and witty retorts. + +It being our intention to remain several weeks in New Haven, we decided +to take up our abode at a private house, and with this object in view +we started in pursuit of suitable accommodations. It was soon discovered +that in the matter of board we were competing with "Old Yale," students +always being preferred, owing to the prospect of permanency. + +A reconnoissance of several hours, during which we saw more stately elms +than I ever expect to see again in so short a period, brought us to 66 +Chapel street, where we were pleasantly lodged, with an excellent table, +and favored with a Yankee landlord from the classic banks of the Rhine. + +Universal quiet on the streets, and an inexhaustible supply of brown +bread and beans at the breakfast table, was an unmistakable evidence +that we had reached a New England Sunday. After breakfast, the weather +being fine, I was invited to accompany some young gentlemen in a sail +down the harbor. Being uncertain as to the propriety of such a +proceeding on the seventh day, I was promptly assured that the Blue Laws +of Connecticut would not be outraged in case I had taken a generous +ration of brown bread and beans before starting. + +A ride of half an hour, with but little wind in our sails, carried us +down through the oyster beds, to a point nearly opposite the lighthouse +at the mouth of the harbor. A novel sight, in my judgment, is a +multitude of oyster plantations staked out in such a manner as to show +the proprietor of each particular section his exact limit or boundary. + +To those of my readers who are familiar with hop-growing regions, I +would say that an oyster farm is not unlike a hop field which seems to +have been suddenly inundated by water, leaving only the tops of the +poles above the surface. Oyster raising is one of the leading features +of New Haven enterprise, and the Fair Haven oysters, in particular, are +regarded among the best that are cultivated on the Atlantic coast. On +our return trip up the harbor the tide was going out, and as the water +was extremely shallow in many places, and also very clear, we could see +oysters and their less palatable neighbors, clams, in great abundance. I +was strongly tempted to make substantial preparation for an oyster +dinner, but on being informed that such a course would be equivalent to +staking out claims in a strange water-melon patch, I concluded to +desist, and contented myself with seeing more oysters in half an hour +than I had seen in all my life before. + + +EAST ROCK. + +One of the famous places of resort in the neighborhood of New Haven is +East Rock, an abrupt pile of red-brown trap rock, lifting itself up from +the plain to a height of four hundred feet. The summit of this +monumental pile spreads out in a wide plateau of twenty-five or thirty +acres, sloping gradually back towards the meadow lands which border the +winding Quinnipiac River. It is owned and occupied by a somewhat +eccentric individual, rejoicing in the name of Milton Stuart, who +related to me the story of his life in this strange locality since +taking up his abode here, some twenty years ago. On being told that I +would commit to paper some account of my wanderings about New Haven, he +seemed to take an especial pleasure in showing me his grounds and +telling me everything of interest concerning them. + +With ready courtesy he pointed out a heap of stones on the western +slope of the bluff, which he said was all that remained of a hut +formerly occupied by one John Turner, who made a hermit of himself on +this rock, years ago, all because the lady of his love refused to become +Mrs. Turner. He met her while teaching in the South--so the story +ran--and all his energies seemed to be paralyzed by her refusal to +listen to his suit. He came to East Rock and built this wretched hovel +of stone, where he lived in solitude, and where one morning in that long +ago, he was found dead on the floor of his hovel. How many romances like +this lie about us unseen, under the every-day occurrences of life! + + +WEST ROCK + +is a continuation of the precipitous bluff of which East Rock is one +extremity, and is about a mile further up the valley. It is not so high +nor so imposing as East Rock, and the view from its wooded top fades +into tameness beside the remote ocean distance and the flash of city +spires to be seen from East Rock. But it makes up in historical interest +what it may lack in other attractions; for here, about a quarter of a +mile from its southernmost point, is located the "Judge's Cave," famous +as the hiding-place of the regicides who tried and sentenced King +Charles the First, in the seventeenth century. + +On the restoration of Charles II to the throne of his father, three of +the high court which had condemned the first Charles wisely left England +for the shores of the New World. Their names were Goffe, Whalley and +Dixwell. Whalley was a lieutenant-general, Dixwell was a colonel, and +Goffe a major-general. These noted army officers arrived at Boston, from +England, July twenty-seventh, 1660, and first made their home in +Cambridge. Finding that place unsafe, they afterwards went to New Haven. + +The next year news came from England that thirty-nine of the regicide +judges were condemned, and ten already executed, as traitors. An order +from the king was sent to the Colonial governors of Massachusetts and +Connecticut, for the arrest of the judges. They were thus compelled to +fly for their lives, and sought refuge in the cave on West Rock, which +afterwards bore their name. Here they lived concealed for some time, +being supplied with food by Richard Sperry, who lived about a mile west +of the cave. The food was tied up in a cloth and laid on a stump near +by, from which the judges could take it unobserved. + +One night they beheld the blazing eyes of a catamount or panther, +peering in upon them at their cave, and were so frightened that they +fled in haste to the house of Mr. Sperry, and could not again be induced +to return. Several large boulders, from twenty to thirty feet in height, +thrown together, doubtless, by some volcanic convulsions, unite to form +the cave. + +Dixwell afterwards lived in New Haven, under an assumed name, and the +graves of all three may now be seen, at one side of Centre Church, on +the City Green. + +The following inscription is on a marble slab over the ashes of Dixwell, +erected by his descendants in 1849:-- + + "Here rests the remains of John Dixwell, Esq., of the Priory of + Folkestone, in the county of Kent, England. Of a family long + prominent in Kent and Warwickshire, and himself possessing large + estates and much influence in his county, he espoused the popular + cause in the revolution of 1640. Between 1640 and 1660 he was + Colonel in the Army, an active member of four parliaments, and + thrice in the Council of State; and one of the High Court which + tried and condemned King Charles the First. At the restoration of + the monarchy he was compelled to leave his country, and after a + brief residence in Germany, came to New Haven, and here lived in + seclusion, but enjoying the esteem and friendship of its most + worthy citizens, till his death in 1688-9." + +The little brown headstone which first marked his resting place bore +only his initials and the date of his death:-- + + "J. D. Esq. + + Deceased March Y^e 18th in Y^e 82^D Year of his age 1688/9." + +That was all--his name being suppressed, at his request. + +The headstones of Goffe and Whalley are marked in the same obscure way. + +Yale College adds largely to the importance of New Haven, and the +elegant new College buildings now in process of erection, built of brown +freestone, cannot well be surpassed in style of architecture. "Old Yale" +was originally a small school, established in Saybrook by Rev. Thomas +Peters, who lived at that place, and who bequeathed his library to the +school at his death. It soon acquired the title of the "Illustrious +School," and about the year 1700 was given a charter of incorporation +from the General Assembly, making it a college. + +It was named Yale, after its greatest benefactor, who was at that time +governor of one of the West India islands. The historian, Dr. Samuel +Peters, who wrote nearly a hundred years ago, said that Greek, Latin, +Geography, History and Logic were well taught in this seminary, but it +suffered for want of tutors in the Hebrew, French and Spanish languages. +He remarks, incidentally, that "oratory, music and _politeness_ are +equally neglected here and in the Colony." The students, numbering at +that time one hundred and eighty, were allowed two hours' play with the +foot ball every day, and were seated at four tables in the large dining +room. This ancient historian says the college was built of wood, was one +hundred and sixty feet long and three stories high, besides garrets. In +1754 another building, of brick, one hundred feet long, with double +rooms and a double front, was added. About 1760 a chapel and library +were erected, which was described as being "very elegant." The "elegant" +structure of a hundred years ago will soon be discarded for the new one +of brown freestone. + +In the year 1717 the seminary was removed from Saybrook to New Haven, +but it had a hard time in getting there. A vote was passed to remove the +college from Saybrook, because, as the historian says, Saybrook was +suspected of being too much in sympathy with the Church of England and +not sufficiently alienated from the mother country. But there was a +division in the vote, the Hartford ballot being in favor of removing the +college to Weathersfield, while the New Haven party declared in behalf +of their own city. A small battle grew out of this split between the +Weathersfield and New Haven factions. Hartford, in order to carry its +vote into execution, prepared teams, boats and a mob, and privately set +off for Saybrook, seizing upon the college apparatus, library and +students, which they carried to Weathersfield. + +This redoubled the jealousy of the "saints" at New Haven, who thereupon +determined to fulfill their vote, and accordingly, having collected a +mob, they set out for Weathersfield, where they seized by surprise the +students and library. On the road to New Haven they were overtaken by +the Hartford faction, who, after an inglorious battle, were obliged to +retire with only part of the library and part of the students. From this +affair sprang the two colleges, Yale and Harvard. + +The Massachusetts Bay people acted the part of peacemakers, and settled +the difficulty between these two hostile factions, which resulted +finally in placing the college at New Haven. So it seems our Puritan +ancestors had their little disputations then, much as our Alabama and +Arkansas brothers do now. + +What a flaming head-line that college battle doubtless furnished the +bulletin boards and colonial press of 1717! Imagine a column beginning +with this:-- + + _Sharp Fight on the Weathersfield Road!_ + + _Large Captures of Students!_ + + _New Haven Victorious!_ + +But out of revenge for the victory, the sons of Hartford were not sent +to Yale College to be educated. No, rather than go to Yale they went +much further away, at greater expense, and where fewer educational +advantages could be obtained. What were such disadvantages, however, +compared to the satisfaction of standing by their party and ignoring the +New Haven vote? + +But old Yale grew and flourished, despite the stormy days of its +childhood, and has now a world-wide reputation. Many distinguished men +of letters call her "Alma Mater," and in all their wanderings carry her +memory green in their hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +NEW ORLEANS. + + Locality of New Orleans.--The Mississippi.--The Old and the + New.--Ceded to Spain.--Creole Part in the American Revolution.-- + Retransferred to France.--Purchased by the United States.-- + Creole Discontent.--Battle of New Orleans.--Increase of + Population.--The Levee.--Shipping.--Public Buildings, Churches, + Hospitals, Hotels and Places of Amusement.--Streets.--Suburbs.-- + Public Squares and Parks.--Places of Historic Interest.-- + Cemeteries.--French Market.--Mardi-gras.--Climate and + Productions.--New Orleans during the Rebellion.--Chief Cotton + Mart of the World.--Exports.--Imports.--Future Prosperity of + the City. + + +As the traveler proceeds down the Mississippi, from its source to its +mouth, a unique phenomenon strikes his attention. The river seems to +grow higher as he descends. The bluffs, which on one side or the other +rise prominently along its banks in its upper waters, grow less bold, +and finally disappear as he progresses southward. And if it should be +the season of high water, he will find himself, as he nears New Orleans, +gliding down a river which is higher than its bordering land, and which +is restrained in its penchant for destruction, by massive dykes, or +levees, as they are termed in this section. + +New Orleans, the commercial metropolis of Louisiana, known as the +"Crescent City," is situated on the eastern, or, more correctly +speaking, the northern bank of the Mississippi River, which here, after +running northward several miles, takes a turn to the eastward. +Originally built in the form of a crescent, around this bend in the +river, it has at the present time extended itself so far up stream that +its shore line is now more in the shape of a letter S. It is one hundred +and twelve miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, 1,200 miles south of +St. Louis, and 1,438 miles southwest of Washington. The city limits +embrace an area of nearly 150 square miles, but the city proper is a +little more than twelve miles long and three miles wide. It is built on +alluvial soil, the ground falling off toward Lake Pontchartrain, which +is five miles distant to the northward, so that portions of the city are +four feet lower than the high water level of the river. The city is +protected from inundation by a levee, twenty-six miles in length, +fifteen feet wide and fourteen feet high. The streets are drained into +canals, from which the water is raised by means of steam pumps, with a +daily capacity of 42,000,000 gallons, which elevates it sufficiently to +carry it off to Lake Pontchartrain. + +The geological history of this section of the country is extremely +interesting. The whole region south of New Orleans is made land, having +been brought down from the Rocky Mountains and the western plains, by +that tireless builder, the Mississippi, which has heaped it up, grain by +grain, probably changing the entire course of its lower waters in doing +so, filling up old channels and wearing itself new ones, until it +finally extends its delta, like an outstretched hand, far out into the +waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The river has a history and a romance, all +its own, beginning with the time when French and Spanish, alike, were +searching for the "Hidden River"--that mysterious stream which, +according to Indian tradition, "flowed to the land from which the sweet +winds of the southwest brought them health and happiness, and where +there was neither snow nor ice," and which was known by so many +different names--and ending with the construction of the gigantic +jetties, which have given depth and permanence to the channels of its +delta. + +The visitor finds the city very unlike northern towns with which he has +been familiar. To the Creole quarter especially there is a foreign look, +which is intensified by the frequent sound of foreign speech. It is as +if one had stepped into some old-world town, and left America, with its +newness and its harshness of speech, far behind. But it is not so far +away, either. It is only around the corner, or, at best, a few squares +off. New Orleans of the nineteenth century jostles New Orleans of the +eighteenth on every hand. It has seized upon the old streets, with their +quaint French and Spanish names, and carried them to an extent never +dreamed of by those who originally planned them. It has reared modern +structures beside those hoary with age, and set down the post common +school building and the heretical Protestant church beside the venerable +convent and the solemn cathedral. + +The main streets describe a curve, running parallel to the river, and +present an unbroken line from the upper to the lower limits of the city, +a distance of about twelve miles. The cross streets run for the most +part at right angles from the Mississippi River, with greater regularity +than might be expected from the curved outline of the river banks. Many +of the streets are well paved, and some of them are shelled; but many +are unpaved, and, from the nature of the soil, exceedingly muddy in wet +weather, and intolerably dusty in dry. The city is surrounded by cypress +swamps, and its locality and environments render it very unhealthy, +especially during the summer season. Yet, notwithstanding its +insalubrity, it is constantly increasing in population and business +importance. Certain sanitary precautions, adopted in later years, have +somewhat improved its condition. + +New Orleans has a history extending further back than that of most +southern towns. While others were making their first feeble struggles +for existence with their treacherous foes, the red-skins, New Orleans +was stirred by discontent and insurrection. In 1690, d'Iberville, in the +name of France, founded the province of Louisiana, and Old Biloxi, at +the mouth of the Lost River, as the Mississippi was still termed, was +made the capital. The choice of site proved a disastrous one, and the +seat of government was moved to New Biloxi, further up the river. +Meantime, Bienville, his younger brother, laid out a little +parallelogram of streets and ditches on a crescent-shaped shore of the +river, in the midst of cypress swamps and willow jungles. A colony of +fifty persons, many of them galley slaves, formed this new settlement. +Houses were built, a fort added, and the little town received its +present name, in honor of the Regent of France, the Duke of Orleans. In +the same year John Law sent eight hundred men from La Rochelle. They had +no sooner landed than they scattered to the four winds, a number of +Germans among them alone remaining in or near the promised city. Amid +many discouragements the town prospered, and when, one after another, +three cargoes of women were sent out from the old country, to furnish +wives for the new settlers, their content was complete. Thus many of the +proudest aristocrats of New Orleans trace their descent from these +"_Filles de Casette_," as they were called, each one being endowed with +a small chest of property. + +Here the French Creoles were born, and lived a wild, unrestrained life, +valorous but uneducated, and became such men and women as one would +expect to find in a military outpost so far from the civilized world. +For sixty-three years the little colony struggled for life, enduring +floods and famines, and the terrors of Indian warfare, when, in 1762, +the province of Louisiana was transferred by an unprincipled king to +Spain. The news did not reach the remote American settlement until 1764. +It was hardly to be expected that a colony so separated by time and +distance from the mother country should be intensely loyal, but the +people felt themselves to be French and French only, and they resented +this unwitting transfer of their allegiance as an unendurable grievance. + +The Spanish Governor, Ulloa, did not land in New Orleans until two years +later; and though he showed himself to be a man of great discretion, and +inclined to adopt a conciliatory policy, the people made the little town +so hot for him, that in two more years he was glad to return to Spain. +They sent a memorial after him, which, being a most unique document, is +worth recording, in substance. Says a recent historian, Mr. George W. +Cable:-- + +"It enumerated real wrongs, for which France and Spain, but not Ulloa, +were to blame. Again, with these it mingled such charges against the +banished Governor as--that he had a chapel in his own house; that he +absented himself from the French churches; that he inclosed a fourth of +the public common to pasture his private horses; that he sent to Havana +for a wet nurse; that he ordered the abandonment of a brick-yard near +the town, on account of its pools of putrid water; that he removed +leprous children from the town to the inhospitable settlement at the +mouth of the river; that he forbade the public whipping of slaves in the +town; that masters had to go six miles to get a negro flogged; that he +had landed in New Orleans during a thunder and rain storm, and under +other ill omens; that he claimed to be king of the colony; that he +offended the people with evidences of sordid avarice; and that he added +to these crimes--as the text has it--'many others, equally just and +terrible!'" + +In 1769 the colony was in open revolt, and was considering the project +of forming a republic. But the arrival of a Spanish fleet of twenty-four +sail checked their aspirations towards independence, and paralyzed their +efforts, and they yielded without a struggle. + +In 1768 New Orleans was a town of 3,200 persons, a third of whom were +black slaves. After the establishment of Spanish rule, although the +population was thoroughly Creole, and opposed to the presence of English +traders, the government at first winked at their appearance, and finally +openly tolerated them, so that English boats supplied the planters with +goods and slaves, and English warehouses moored upon the river opposite +the town disposed of merchandise. + +In 1776, at the breaking out of the American Revolution, the Creole and +Anglo-American came into active relations with each other, a relation +which has since qualified every public question in Louisiana. The +British traders were suddenly cut off from communication, and French +merchants commanded the trade of the Mississippi. Americans followed +close after the French, and the tide of immigration became Anglo-Saxon. +France was openly supporting the American colonies in their rebellion +against England, and in 1779 Spain declared war against Great Britain, +so that the sympathies of the Creoles were led, by every tie, to the +rebels. Galvez, then Governor of Louisiana, and also son of the Viceroy +of Mexico, a young man, brave, talented and sagacious, who had adopted a +most liberal policy in his administration, discovered that the British +were planning the surprise of New Orleans. Making hasty but efficient +preparations, with a little army of 1,430 men, and with a miniature gun +fleet of but ten guns, he marched, on the twenty-second of August, 1779, +against the British forts on the Mississippi. On the seventh of +September, Fort Bute, on Bayou Manchac, yielded to the first assault of +the Creole Militia. The Fort of Baton Rouge was garrisoned by five +hundred men with thirteen heavy guns. On the twenty-first of September, +after an engagement of ten hours, Galvez reached the fort. Its +capitulation included the surrender of Fort Panmure, a place which, by +its position, would have been very difficult of assault. In the +Mississippi and Manchac, four English schooners, a brig and two cutters +were captured. On the fourteenth of the following March, Galvez, with an +army of two thousand men, having set sail down the Mississippi, captured +Fort Charlotte, on the Mobile River. On the eighth of May, 1781, +Pensacola, with a garrison of eight hundred men, and the whole of West +Florida, surrendered to Galvez. One of the rewards bestowed upon her +Governor for his valorous achievements was the Captain-generalship of +Louisiana and West Florida. He never returned to New Orleans, however, +and four years later succeeded his father as Viceroy of Mexico. Thus, +while Andrew Jackson was yet a child, New Orleans was defended from +British conquest by this gallant Spanish soldier. + +In 1803 Louisiana was transferred to France by Spain, and great was the +rejoicing of the Creole colonists, who, during the forty years of their +Spanish domination, had never forgotten their French origin. But their +joy was quickly turned to bitterness by the news which speedily +followed, that Louisiana had been sold, by Napoleon I, to the United +States. The younger generation, and those who had a clear apprehension +of all in the way of prosperity which this change might mean to them, +were quickly reconciled, and set about the business of life with renewed +interest. But to the French Creoles, as a class, who, during their long +alienation had still at heart been thoroughly French, to become a part +of a republic, and that republic English in its origin, was intensely +distasteful. This was the deluge indeed, which Providence had not kindly +stayed until after their time. They withdrew into a little community of +their own, and refused companionship with such as sacrificed their caste +by accepting the situation, and adapting themselves to it. But in spite +of these disaffected persons, the prosperity of the city dated from that +time. Its population increased, and its commerce made its first small +beginnings. + +New Orleans was incorporated as a city in 1804, having then a population +of about 8,000 inhabitants. In 1812 the first steamboat was put upon the +Mississippi, though it was not until several years later that, after a +period of experiment and disaster, success was attained with them. Yet +without steamboats the development of the great Mississippi Valley, and +the creation of the extended cities upon its banks, would have been +well-nigh impossible. Its winding course, its swift current, its +shifting channel, and the snags which line its bottom, make navigation +by other craft than steamboats well-nigh impossible. Canoes, batteaux +and flat-boats might make the voyage down the river with tolerable speed +and safety, but to return against the current was a difficult thing to +do; and a trip from St. Louis or Louisville to New Orleans and return +required months. Where, then, would have been the mighty commerce of the +West, but for the timely invention of the steam engine, and its +application to water craft? + +On January eighth, 1815, New Orleans was successfully defended against +the British by General Jackson, who threw up a strong line of defences +around the city, protected by batteries, and who, with a force of +scarcely six thousand men, defeated fifteen thousand British, under Sir +Edward Packenham, the enemy sustaining a loss of seven hundred killed, +fourteen hundred wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners, while the +American loss was but seven men killed and six wounded. The old battle +field is still retained as a historic spot. It is four and one-half +miles south of Canal street, washed by the waters of the Mississippi, +and extends backward about a mile, to the cedar swamps. A marble +monument, seventy feet in height, and yet unfinished, commemorative of +the victory, overlooks the ground. In the southwest corner of the field +is a national cemetery. + +The old city bears the impress of the two nations to which it at +different times belonged. Many of the streets still retain the old +French and Spanish names, as, for instance, Tchapitoulas, Baronne, +Perdido, Toulouse, Bourbon and Burgundy streets. There are still, here +and there, the old houses, sandwiched in between those of a later +generation--quaint, dilapidated, and picturesque. Sometimes they are +rickety, wooden structures, with overhanging porticoes, and with windows +and doors all out of perpendicular, and ready to crumble to ruin with +age. Others are massive stone or brick structures, with great arched +doorways, and paved floors, worn by the feet of many generations, +dilapidated and heavy, and possessing no beauty save that which is lent +them by time. + +The city is made up of strange compounds, which even yet, after the +lapse of more than three-quarters of a century since it became an +American city, do not perfectly assimilate. Spanish, French, Italians, +Mexicans and Indians, Creoles, West Indians, Negroes and Mulattoes of +every shade, from shiny black to a faint creamy hue, Southerners who +have forgotten their foreign blood, Northerners, Westerners, Germans, +Irish and Scandinavians, all come together here, and jostle one another +in the busy pursuits of life. The levee at New Orleans represents all +spoken languages; and the popular levee clerk must have a knowledge of +multitudinous tongues, which would have secured him a high and +authoritative position at Babel. The Romish devotee, the mild-faced +"sister," in her ugly black habiliments and picturesque head-gear, the +disciple of Confucius, the descendant of the New England Puritan, the +dusky savage, who still looks to the Great Spirit as the giver of all +life and light, the modern skeptic, and the black devotee of Voodoo, all +meet and pass and repass each other. All nationalities, all religions, +all civilizations, meet and mingle to make up this city, which, +upholding the cross to indicate its religion, still, in its municipal +character, accepts the Mohammedan symbol of the crescent. Added to the +throng which comes and goes upon the levee, merchants, clerks, hotel +runners, hackmen, stevedores, and river men of all grades, keep up a +general motion and excitement, while piled upon the platforms which +serve as a connecting link between the water-craft and the shore, are +packages of merchandise in every conceivable shape, cotton bales seeming +to be most numerous. + +Along the river front are congregated hundreds of steamers, and +thousands of nondescript boats, among them numerous barges and +flat-boats, thickly interspersed with ships of the largest size, from +whose masts float the colors of every nation in the civilized world. New +Orleans is emphatically a commercial town, depending in only a small +degree, for her success, upon manufactures. + + [Illustration: JACKSON SQUARE AND OLD CATHEDRAL, NEW ORLEANS.] + +New Orleans is not a handsome city, architecturally speaking, though it +has a number of fine buildings. Its situation is such that it could +never become imposing, under the most favorable circumstances. The +Custom House, a magnificent structure, built of Quincy granite, is, next +to the Capitol at Washington, the largest building in the United States. +It occupies an entire square, its main front being on Canal street, the +broadest and handsomest thoroughfare in the city. The Post Office +occupies its basement, and is one of the most commodious in the country. +The State House is located on St. Louis street, between Royal and +Chartres streets, and was known, until 1874, as the St. Louis Hotel. The +old dining hall is one of the most beautiful rooms in the country, +and the great inner circle of the dome is richly frescoed, with +allegorical scenes and busts of eminent Americans. The United States +Branch Mint, at the corner of Esplanade and Decatur streets, is an +imposing building, in the Ionian style. The City Hall, at the +intersection of St. Charles and Lafayette streets, is the most artistic +of the public buildings of the city. It is of white marble, in the Ionic +style, with a wide and high flight of granite steps, leading to a +beautiful portico. The old Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Louis is the +most interesting church edifice in New Orleans. It stands in Chartres +street, on the east side of Jackson Square. The foundations were laid in +1793, and the building completed in 1794, by Don Andre Almonaster, +perpetual _regidor_ of the province. It was altered and enlarged in +1850. The paintings in the roof of the building are by Canova and Rossi. +The old Ursuline Convent, in Conde street, a quaint and venerable +building, erected in 1787, during the reign of Carlos III, by Don Andre +Almonaster, is one of the most interesting relics of the early Church +history of New Orleans. It is now occupied as a residence by the Bishop. + +The Charity Hospital, on Common street, was founded in 1784, has stood +on its present site since 1832, and is one of the most famous +institutions of the kind in the country. Roman Catholic churches, +schools, hospitals and asylums abound, some of them dating back for +nearly or quite a century. + +The St. Charles Hotel is one of the institutions of New Orleans, and one +of the largest and finest hotels in the United States. It occupies half +a square, and is bounded by St. Charles, Gravior and Common streets. The +city has a French opera house, an academy of music, and several +theatres and halls. Like those of St. Louis, its inhabitants are +passionately fond of gayety, and places of amusement are well +patronized. Sunday, as in all Catholic cities, is devoted to recreation, +and the inhabitants, in their holiday garments, give themselves up to +enjoyment. Theatres, concert rooms and beer gardens are filled with +pleasure-seekers. + +Canal street, the main business thoroughfare and promenade of New +Orleans, is nearly two hundred feet wide, and has a grass plot +twenty-five feet wide, in the centre, bordered on each side by trees. +Claiborne, Rampart, St. Charles and Esplanade streets are similarly +embellished. They all contain many fine stores and handsome residences. +Royal, Rampart and Esplanade streets are the principal promenades of the +French quarter. The favorite drives are out the Shell Road to Lake +Pontchartrain, and out a similar road to Carrollton. The lake is about +five miles north of the city, forty miles long and twenty-four wide, and +is famous for its fish and game. Cypress swamps, the trees covered with +the long, gray Spanish moss peculiar to the latitude, lie between the +lake and the city, and render the drive in that direction an interesting +one. + +Carrollton, in the north suburbs, has many fine public gardens and +private residences. On the opposite shore of the river is Algiers, where +there are extensive dry docks and ship-yards. A little further up the +river, on the same side, is Gretna, where, during Spanish rule, lay +moored two large floating English warehouses, fitted up with counters +and shelves, and stocked with assorted merchandise. + +New Orleans has a few small, tastefully laid out squares, among which +are Jackson, Lafayette, Douglass, Annunciation and Tivoli Circle. The +City Park, near the northeast boundary, contains one hundred and fifty +acres, which are tastefully laid out, but which is little frequented. +Jackson Square has a historic interest, it having been the old Place +d'Armes of colonial times. It was here that Ulloa landed in that +ill-omened thunder storm, and here that public meetings were held and +the colony's small armies gathered together. The inclosure, though +small, is adorned with beautiful trees and shrubbery, and shell-strewn +paths, and in the centre stands Mills' equestrian statue of General +Jackson. + +The city is not without other objects of historic interest. During the +Indian wars barracks arose on either side of the Place d'Armes, and in +1758 other barracks were added, a part of whose ruin still stands, in +the neighborhood of Barracks street. Then there is the battle field, +already referred to, and many buildings belonging to a past century, +some of which have distinctive historic associations. Near Jackson +Square is the site of the oldest Capuchin Monastery in the United +States. Sailing down the Mississippi, the voyager will reach a portion +of the stream which flows almost directly south. Here is a point in the +river which bears the name, to this day, of the English Turn. Up the +mouth of the Mississippi sailed one day, in the seventeenth century, a +proud English vessel, bent on exploration and acquisition of territory +to England. Threading for a hundred miles the comparatively direct +course of the stream, it had then made two abrupt right-angled turns, +when, coming around a third point, in advance of it, it saw a French +ship, armed and equipped, and bearing down stream under full sail. The +English ship was given to understand that the Mississippi was "no +thoroughfare" for boats of its nationality, and commanded to turn and +retrace its course, which it reluctantly, but no less surely did. Hence +the name "English Turn." + +The Cemeteries of New Orleans are most peculiar in their arrangement and +modes of interment. The ground is filled with water up to within two or +three feet of the surface, and the tombs are all above ground. A great +majority of them are also placed one above another. Each "oven," as it +is called, is just large enough to admit a coffin, and is hermetically +sealed when the funeral rites are over. A marble tablet is usually +placed upon the brick opening. Some of the structures are, however, +costly and beautiful, being made of marble, granite or iron. There are +thirty-three cemeteries in and near the city, and of these the Cypress +Grove and Greenwood are best worth visiting. + +The most picturesque and characteristic feature of New Orleans is the +French Market, on the Levee, near Jackson Square. The gathering begins +at break of day on week-days and a little later on Sunday morning, and +comprises people of every nationality represented in the city. French is +the prevailing language, but it will be heard in every variety, from the +pure Parisian to the childish jargon of the negroes. + +Mardi-Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, is observed in New Orleans by peculiar +rites and ceremonies. Rex, King of the Carnival, takes possession of the +city, and passes through the streets, accompanied by a large retinue, +his staff and courtiers robed in Oriental splendor. The city gives +itself up to mirth and gayety, with an abandon only paralleled by that +witnessed in Italy on the same occasion; and the day is concluded by +receptions, tableaux and balls. + + [Illustration: NIGHT PARADE OF THE MYSTIC CREW--MARDI-GRAS FESTIVAL, + NEW ORLEANS.] + +New Orleans boasts a semi-tropical climate, being situated in latitude +29 deg. 58' north. The summers are oppressively hot, but the winters are +mild and pleasant, with just sufficient frost to kill any germs of +disease engendered by her unhealthful situation. Semi-tropical fruits, +such as the orange, banana, fig and pine-apple, grow readily in her +gardens, where are also cultivated many of the productions of the +temperate zone. The neighboring country is clothed with a rich and +luxuriant semi-tropical vegetation, and forests of perennial green, in +which the cypress and live-oak predominate. + +New Orleans had a population, in 1820, of 27,000. In 1850 it had +increased to 116,375, and in 1860 to 168,675. In common with other +cities of the South, New Orleans suffered in her business interests +severely during the war of the Rebellion. Louisiana having seceded from +the Union in 1861, New Orleans was closely blockaded by the Federal +fleet, and on April twenty-fourth, 1862, the defences near the mouth of +the river were forced by Commodore Farragut, in command of an expedition +of gunboats. On the surrender of the city General B. F. Butler was +appointed its military Governor, and held possession of it until the +close of the war. Its commerce was entirely destroyed during that +period, its business interests crushed, and many of its leading men +impoverished, and, in addition, the State was disturbed by intestine +troubles, which kept affairs in an unsettled condition. New Orleans did +not rally as quickly as St. Louis from the effects of the war. +Nevertheless, in 1870 its population had increased to 191,418, and in +1874 the value of its exports, including rice, flour, pork, tobacco, +sugar, etc., but excepting cotton, were estimated at $93,715,710. Its +imports the same year were valued at more than $14,000,000. It is the +chief cotton mart of the world, and its wharves are lined with ships +which bear this commodity to every quarter of the globe. In the amount +and value of its exports, it ranks second only to New York, though its +imports are not in the same proportion, which always speaks well for the +business prosperity of a city. The census of 1880 gave it a population +of 216,140, showing that its progress still continues. No longer cursed +by the presence of the "peculiar institution," its former slave marts +turned into commercial depots or abolished altogether, and its +population numbering to a greater degree every year the industrious +class, New Orleans will do more in the future than maintain her present +prosperity; she will build up new industries, and originate new schemes +of advancement; so that she is certain to continue her present supremacy +over her sister cities in the South. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +NEW YORK. + + Early History of New York.--During the Revolution.-- + Evacuation Day.--Bowling Green.--Wall Street.--Stock Exchange.-- + Jacob Little.--Daniel Drew.--Jay Cooke.--Rufus Hatch.--The + Vanderbilts.--Jay Gould.--Trinity Church.--John Jacob Astor.-- + Post-Office.--City Hall and Court House.--James Gordon + Bennett.--Printing House Square.--Horace Greeley.--Broadway.-- + Union Square.--Washington Square.--Fifth Avenue.--Madison + Square.--Cathedral.--Murray Hill.--Second Avenue.--Booth's + Theatre and Grand Opera House.--The Bowery.--Peter Cooper.-- + Fourth Avenue.--Park Avenue.--Five Points and its Vicinity.-- + Chinese Quarter.--Tombs.--Central Park.--Water Front.-- + Blackwell's Island.--Hell Gate.--Suspension Bridge.--Opening + Day.--Tragedy of Decoration Day.--New York of the Present and + Future. + + +Less than three hundred years ago the narrow strip of territory now +occupied by what its wide-awake and self-asserting citizens delight to +term "The Metropolis of the New World," was a broken and rugged +wilderness, which the foot of white man had never trod, not, at least, +within the memory of its then oldest inhabitants, a few half-naked +savages of the Manhattan tribe, from whom the island derives its name of +Manhattan. In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English navigator in the service of +the Dutch East India Company, landed near the present site of the +Battery, securing, by right of discovery, the territory to the States of +the Netherlands. Dutch traders soon followed, and in 1614 a small fort +and four houses were erected in the neighborhood of what is now Bowling +Green. The infant metropolis was christened New Amsterdam, and Peter +Minuits sent out, in 1626, as its first Governor. He purchased the +island from its native owners, for goods, about twenty-four dollars in +value. Minuits was recalled in 1631, his successors being Wonter Von +Twiller, 1633; William Krift, 1638; and Peter Stuyvesant, 1647. In 1644 +a fence was built nearly along the line of what is now Wall street, and +in 1653 palisades and breastworks, protected by a ditch, were added +along this line. These palisades remained in existence until near the +beginning of the present century. + +Peter Stuyvesant was the last of the Dutch Governors. In 1664 Charles +II, of England, gave the territory to his brother James, Duke of York, +and an expedition was sent out under the command of Colonel Richard +Nicholls, to take possession of it. The fort was easily captured, and +the name of the settlement changed to New York. In 1673 the town was +recaptured by the Dutch, who again changed its name to New Orange; but +the following year it was restored to the English by treaty. + +In 1689 Jacob Leister instituted an insurrection against the unpopular +administration of Nicholls, which he easily overthrew, and strengthened +the fort by a battery of six guns outside its walls. This was the origin +of the "Battery." In 1691 he was arrested and convicted on a charge of +treason and murder, condemned to death, and executed. + +Negro slavery was introduced into New York at an early period, and in +the year 1741 the alleged discovery of a plot of the slaves to burn the +city and murder the whites resulted in twenty negroes being hanged, a +lesser number being burned at the stake, and seventy-five being +transported. + +From the very first the mass of citizens of New York took an active part +in the struggle for independence. In 1765 the "Sons of Liberty" were +organized to resist the Stamp Act; in 1770 a meeting of three thousand +citizens resolved not to submit to this oppression; and in 1773 a +Vigilance Committee was formed to resist the landing of the tea, by +whom, in the following year, a tea-laden vessel was sent back to +England, while eighteen chests of tea were thrown overboard from +another. On the eighteenth of September, 1776, as a result of the +disastrous defeat of the American troops, under General Washington, on +Long Island, New York fell into the hands of the British, who held it +until the twenty-sixth of November, 1783, when they evacuated it. The +day is still annually celebrated, under the name of "Evacuation Day." + +From 1784 to 1797 New York was the Capital of the State, and from 1785 +to 1790 the seat of government of the United States. The adoption of the +National Constitution was celebrated in grand style in 1788; and on +April thirtieth, 1789, Washington was inaugurated at the City Hall, as +the first President of the United States. + +In 1791 the city was visited by yellow fever. In 1795 and 1798 it +reappeared, with added violence, over two thousand persons falling +victims to it during the latter year. It made visits at intervals until +1805, after which it did not reappear until 1819. It came again in 1822 +and 1823, occasioning considerable alarm, but since then its visits in +an epidemic form have ceased. + +In 1820 the surveying and laying out of Manhattan Island north of +Houston street, after ten years of labor, was completed. The opening of +the Erie Canal, in 1825, gave the city a fresh impetus on the road to +prosperity. The first steam ferry between New York and Jersey City was +started in 1812. In 1825 the city was first lighted by gas; while the +great Croton Aqueduct, through which it receives its immense water +supply, was not completed until 1842. + +In December, 1835, the most disastrous fire ever known in the city +destroyed over $18,000,000 worth of property. In July, 1845, a second +conflagration consumed property to the amount of $5,000,000. Both these +great fires were in the very heart of the business portion of the city. + +In July, 1853, an industrial exhibition was opened, with striking +ceremonies, in a so-called Crystal Palace, on Reservoir Square. This +building, in the form of a Greek cross, was made almost wholly of iron +and glass, being three hundred and sixty-five feet in length each way, +with a dome one hundred and twenty-three feet high. The flooring covered +nearly six acres of ground. This structure was destroyed by fire in +1858. + +New York has been the scene of several sanguinary riots within the past +half century. In 1849, when Macready, the English tragedian, attempted +to play a second engagement at the Astor Place Opera House, the friends +of Forrest attacked the building, resulting in calling out of the +military, the killing of thirty-two persons, and wounding of thirty-six +others. In July, 1863, a mob, made up of the poorer classes of the +population, rose in fierce opposition to the draft rendered necessary by +the requisition for troops by the general government. For several days +this mob was in practical possession of the city, and it was dispersed +only by a free use of military force. This mob resulted in the death of +one thousand persons, and the destruction of $1,500,000 worth of +property. In 1871 a collision occurred between a procession of Irish +Orangemen, who were commemorating the Battle of the Boyne, and their +Catholic fellow-countrymen, during which sixty-two persons lost their +lives. + +The summer of 1871 was made memorable by the discovery that the most +stupendous frauds upon the public treasury had been carried on for +several years, by certain city officials, some of whom had been +extraordinarily popular. A mass meeting, called at Cooper Institute on +the fourth of September, appointed a committee of seventy-six to take +measures for securing better government for the city. The elections in +November following resulted in a complete sweeping out of the obnoxious +officials, many of whom were subsequently prosecuted, convicted and +imprisoned, or obliged to fly the country. + +New York City, the greater portion of which lies on Manhattan Island, is +situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, some eighteen miles from the +Atlantic Ocean. Its extreme length north from the Battery is sixteen +miles, while the average breadth of the island is one and three-fifths +of a mile. The city has an area of about 27,000 acres, of which 14,000 +are on Manhattan Island, and about 12,000 on the main land; while the +remainder is in the East River and the Bay, and includes Ward's, +Blackwell's, Randall's, Governor's Ellis', and Bedloe's Islands. It is +bounded on the north by the town of Yonkers; on the east by the Bronx +and East Rivers; on the south by the Bay; and on the west by the Hudson +River. Manhattan Island is separated on the north, from the main land, +by Spuyten Duyvel Creek and Harlem River, both names recalling the Dutch +origin of the city. + +The more ancient portion of New York, from Fourteenth street to the +Battery, is laid out somewhat irregularly. As far north as Central Park, +five miles from the Battery, it is quite compactly built. Various +localities in the more northern and less densely built-up part of the +island are known by different names; as Yorkville, near Eighty-sixth +street; and Harlem, in the vicinity of One-hundred-and-twenty-fifth +street, on the eastern side; and Bloomingdale and Manhattanville, +opposite them, on the western. North of Manhattanville, near +One-hundred-and-fiftieth street, is Carmansville, and a mile and a half +further north are Washington Heights; while Inwood lies at the extreme +northwestern point of the island. All these are places of interest, and +offer numerous attractions to the visitor. + +That part of New York lying on the mainland, comprising the twenty-third +and twenty-fourth wards, was added to it in 1874, and contains many +thriving towns and villages. Prominent among them is Morrisania, with +avenues running north and south, and streets crossing them at right +angles, and numbered in continuation of those of Manhattan Island. +Numerous other towns, with a host of beautiful country residences, are +scattered over the high and rolling land of which this late addition to +the area of the city is composed; but with the exception of Morrisania +it has not yet been regularly laid out for building purposes. The whole +country in this section of the city, with a romantic natural beauty, to +which wealth and artistic taste have largely contributed, is a perfect +paradise of picturesqueness. + +The foreigner who visits New York usually approaches it from the lower +bay, through the "Narrows," a strait lying between Staten Island on the +left and Long Island on the right. From the heights of the former, a +beautiful island, rising green and bold from the water's edge, frown the +massive battlements of Fort Wadsworth and Fort Tompkins; while on the +latter is Fort Hamilton; and in the midst of the water, gloomy and +barren, is Fort Lafayette, famous as a political prison during the late +war. New York Bay is one of the most beautiful, if not _the_ most +beautiful, in the world. Staten Island rises abruptly on one shore, with +hills and valleys, green fields and trees, villages and villas; and on +the other shore are the wood-crowned bluffs of Long Island. Within the +bay Ellis' Island is near the Jersey shore; Bedloe's Island is not far +from its centre, and is the selected site of the colossal statue of +Liberty which France has presented to New York; while Governor's Island, +the largest of the three, lies to the right, between New York and +Brooklyn. Each island is fortified, the latter containing Castle William +and old Fort Columbus. + +The bay is dotted with the shipping of every nation. Ocean steamers are +setting out on their long journeys, or just returning from foreign +shores. The finest steamboats and ferry boats in the world dart hither +and thither, like water spiders on the surface of a glassy pool. Tugs, +oyster boats, and sailing vessels of every size and description, are all +represented. It is a moving panorama of water craft. As the city is +approached, gradually, from the distant haze which broods over it, is +evolved the forms of towers, spires, and roofs, and all its varied and +picturesque outlines. The city presents a beautiful view from the bay. +It rises gradually from the water's edge, some portions of it to a +considerable elevation. A prominent feature in its outline is the +graceful, tapering spire of Trinity Church, while higher still rises the +clock-tower of the Tribune building. Other towers, spires and domes, +break the monotony of roofs and walls. Approaching the mouth of the East +River, the most striking objects are the massive towers of the +Suspension Bridge, one on either shore, while between them is the +bridge, swung upon what seem at a distance like the merest cobwebs. + +At the extreme southern end of Manhattan Island is the Battery, already +referred to, a park of several acres, protected by a granite sea wall. +It presents a beautiful stretch of green turf, fine trees and wide +pathways. On its southwest border is Castle Garden, a circular brick +structure, which has a history of its own. It was originally constructed +for a fort, and was afterwards converted into a summer garden. A great +ball, to Marquis Lafayette, was given in it in 1824; and General Jackson +in 1832, and President Tyler in 1843, held public receptions there. Then +it was turned into a concert hall, and is chiefly famous, as such, as +being the place where Jenny Lind made her first appearance in America. +It is now an emigrant depot, and on days of the arrival of emigrant +ships, it is very entertaining to watch the troops of emigrants, with +their quaint gait, unfamiliar language, and strange, un-American faces, +passing out of its portals, and making their first entrance into their +new life on the western continent. + +Just east of the Battery is Whitehall, the terminus of numerous omnibus +and car lines, and the location of the Staten Island, South and Hamilton +ferries. There, too, is the depot of the elevated railways, which extend +in four lines, two on the eastern side and two on the western, the +entire length of the city. The Corn Exchange, an imposing building, is +at the upper end of Whitehall. At the junction of Whitehall with +Broadway is a pretty, old-fashioned square, shaded with trees, and +surrounded by an iron fence, called Bowling Green. This was the +aristocratic quarter of the city in its early days. No. 1 Broadway, +known as the "old Kennedy House," was built in 1760, and has been, +successively, the residence and headquarters of Lords Conwallis and +Howe, General Sir Henry Clinton and General Washington, while Talleyrand +lived there during his stay in America. Benedict Arnold concocted his +treasonable projects at No. 5 Broadway. At No. 11 General Gates had his +headquarters. A few of the old buildings still remain, but they have +many of them already given way to more modern and more pretentious +structures. The posts of the iron fence around Bowling Green were once +surmounted by balls, but they were knocked off and used for cannon balls +during the Revolution. An equestrian statue of King George III, which +once ornamented the Square, was melted up during the same period, and +furnished material for forty-two thousand bullets. + +The stranger in New York sometimes wonders why its principal business +street is called Broadway, since there are many others which are quite +as broad, some of them even broader. But if he will visit the extreme +southern portion of the city, he will quickly comprehend. The old +streets are narrow, being scarcely more than mere alleys, with pavements +barely broad enough for two to walk abreast, so that Broadway, when +originally laid out, seemed a magnificent thoroughfare. + +As already described, Wall street formed the northern boundary of the +young colonial city. In that early day, as now, wealth and fashion +sought to avoid the more plebeian business streets, and so withdrew to +the neighborhood of this northern boundary, and established, first their +residences, and then their commercial houses. Wall street then became +what it has since remained, the monetary centre of the city, only that +now it is more than that; it is the great monetary centre of the entire +country. On it and the blocks leading from it, all embraced in +comparatively a few acres, are probably stored more gold and silver than +in all the rest of the United States put together, while the business +interests represented extend to every section, not only of the +continent, but of the world. + +Nowhere else in America are there such and so many magnificent buildings +as in this section of the city. The streets are narrow, and overshadowed +as they are by edifices six or more stories in height, seem to be +dwarfed into mere alley-ways. Nearly every building is worthy of being +called a temple or a palace. White marble and brown stone, with every +style of architecture, abound. The United States Sub-Treasury Building, +at the corner of Wall and Nassau streets, is a stately white marble +structure in the Doric style, occupying the site of the old Federal +Hall, in which Washington delivered his first inaugural address. +Opposite is the white marble palace, in the style of the Renaissance, +known as the Drexel Building. A little further down the street, at the +corner of William, is the United States Custom House, formerly the +Merchants' Exchange, built of granite. It has a portico supported by +twelve massive columns, and its rotunda in the interior is supported by +eight columns of Italian marble, the Corinthian capitals of which were +carved in Italy. Opposite this building is the handsome structure of the +Bank of New York. Banks, and bankers' and brokers' offices fill the +street, and are crowded into the side streets. + +On Broad street, a short distance below Wall, is the Stock Exchange, a +handsome, but not large building, which in point of interest towers over +all others in the locality. Here are daily exacted the comedies and +tragedies of financial life, and here fortunes are made and fortunes +lost by that system of gigantic gambling which has come to be known as +"dealing in stocks." The operations of the Stock Exchange and Gold Room +concern the whole country, both financially and industrially. Here is +the true governmental centre, rather than at Washington. Wall and Broad +streets dictate to Congress what the laws of the country concerning +finance shall be, and Congress obeys. The Bankers' Association holds the +menace over the government that if their interests are not consulted, +they will bring ruin upon the country; and it is in their power to +execute the threat. This power was illustrated on the twenty-fourth of. +September, 1869, a day memorable as Black Friday in the history of Wall +street. By a small but strong combination of bears, gold was made to +fall in seventeen minutes, from 1.60 to 1.30, after a sale of +$50,000,000 had been effected, and thousands of men, from the Atlantic +to the Pacific, were ruined. Money was locked up, and could not be +obtained even at a premium of one hundred per cent. This was the +forerunner of the panic which came four years later, in 1873. Then the +Union Trust Company failed, carrying with it Jay Cooke, Fisk and Hatch, +Henry Clews, Howe and Macy, and other houses. For the first time during +its existence the Stock Exchange was closed. Without its closing, not a +merchant or banker could have survived. With its doors shut no contract +could be completed nor stocks transferred, and it gave people time, +which was absolutely needed, to do what they could; or else universal +and overwhelming ruin would have swept over the country. As it was, not +less than twenty thousand firms went under, and the stringency of the +times was felt throughout the nation, depressing business and checking +industry, until Congress took measures for its relief. + +The names of Jacob Little, Leonard W. Jerome, Daniel Drew, Jay Cooke, +Augustus Schell, Rufus Hatch, James Fisk, Jr., Jay Gould, Commodore +Vanderbilt, Wm. H. Vanderbilt, and others, are permanently associated +with Wall street. Jacob Little was known as the "Great Bear of Wall +street." He originated the daring, dashing style of business in stocks, +and was always identified with the bears. Meeting many reverses, he died +at last, comparatively poor, the Southern Rebellion having swept away +his little remaining fortune. + +Leonard W. Jerome was at one time financially the rival of Vanderbilt +and Drew, with a fortune estimated at from six to ten millions. He +assumed an unequaled style of magnificence in living; but reverses came, +and his splendid property on Madison Square, including residence, costly +stables and private theatre, passed into the hands of the Union League +Club, and was occupied by them until they went to their new quarters in +Fifth Avenue. He himself is now forgotten, although a man scarcely past +the prime of life; but his name is perpetuated in the Jerome Race +Course. + +Daniel Drew came to New York a poor boy, and, by persistent industry and +business capacity, worked his way up to the highest round of the +commercial ladder. In 1838 Drew put an opposition boat upon the Hudson, +with fare at one dollar to Albany; and shortly afterward established the +People's Line, which has been so successful. The panic of 1873 affected +him seriously, but he staved off failure until 1875. He died in 1879, +leaving next to nothing of the millions he had made during his lifetime. +St. Paul's Church, in Fourth avenue; the Methodist Church at Carmel, +Putnam County, New York, his native place; and Drew Theological +Seminary, are monuments of his munificence while money was at his +command. + +Jay Cooke, having been already tolerably successful in business, amassed +his millions by negotiating the war loan. He was regarded as one of the +most prominent and safe financiers in the country; but in 1873 his +failure was complete, and he has not since been heard of in financial +circles. + +Rufus Hatch is one of the successful stock operators of New York. +Beginning life with nothing, and meeting reverses as well as successes, +he is now known as one of the boldest and most gigantic of street +operators. + +The name of James Fisk, Jr., is associated with that of the Erie +Railroad. He commenced life as a peddler. In 1868 he was appointed +Comptroller of the Erie Road, and immediately set about building up the +fortunes of that corporation. He appeared on Wall street as an assistant +of Daniel Drew; made himself master of the Narragansett Steamship +Company, and changed the condition of its affairs from disaster to +success. He was one of the conspirators on Black Friday of 1869. He +purchased the Opera House and the Fifth Avenue Theatre, finding them +both good investments. He was shot by Edward S. Stokes, both himself +and Stokes having become entangled with a woman named Helen Josephine +Mansfield. After his death his supposed great private fortune dwindled +into a comparatively small amount. + +Commodore Vanderbilt also started in life a penniless boy, and became, +eventually, the great King of Wall street. He built up the Harlem River +Railroad, originated gigantic enterprises; sent a line of steamships +across the ocean; gained control of the Hudson River Railroad and other +roads; and died in 1877, worth not far from $100,000,000, the bulk of +which he left to his eldest son, William H. Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilt +name has lost none of its lustre in the hands of the second generation. +In less than ten years, after a career of unequaled brilliancy in the +financial world, William H. Vanderbilt retired, with a fortune probably +double that of his father. + +Jay Gould also achieved success from small beginnings. He was in company +with Fisk in the control of the Erie Railroad, and an associate in +bringing about the disasters of Black Friday. Soon after the death of +Greeley he secured a controlling interest in the New York _Tribune_. He +is still a power in Wall street, and a great railroad magnate. + +Broad street still has historical associations clinging about it. At the +corner of Broad and Pearl streets is the famous De Lancy House, built +early in the last century by Stephen De Lancy, a Huguenot refugee from +Normandy. In this house, on the evening of November twenty-fifth, 1783, +Washington and his staff, with Governor Clinton, celebrated the +evacuation of the city by the British troops, and a few days later +Washington bade his officers farewell, before departing for Annapolis to +resign his commission. The house, having passed through successive +stages of degeneration, had at one time sunk so low as to have become a +German tenement house, with a lager beer saloon on the third floor. It +has recently been renovated, and has again put on an air of +respectability. It still bears upon it the words: "Washington's +Headquarters." All about it are, here and there, the relics of the past, +in the shape of houses which once were homes of the gentility, in +colonial times. + +Pearl street is said to have been originally a cow-path, and it is +certainly crooked enough to justify such an origin. It is the locality +of the Cotton Exchange and the cotton brokers. + +On Broadway, at the head of Wall street, is Trinity Church, whose spire +was, until a recent period, the highest in the city, being two hundred +and eighty-four feet in height. In the early days, when the aristocracy +were seeking the select neighborhood of Wall street, this church +corporation established itself upon the utmost northern confines of the +city. Its original edifice was destroyed by fire, and the present one +was erected in 1846. It is of brown stone, in pure gothic architecture, +and one of the most beautiful in New York. In the rich carving of the +exterior numerous birds have built their nests. It has stained glass +windows, and the finest chime of bells in America. Within the church is +a costly reredos in memory of John Jacob Astor. A venerable graveyard +lies to its north, where repose the remains of Alexander Hamilton, +Captain Lawrence, of the Chesapeake, Robert Fulton, and the unfortunate +Charlotte Temple. Some of the headstones, brown and crumbling with age, +and bearing grotesque carved effigies of angels, date back for more than +a century. In the northeast corner is a stately monument erected to the +memory of the patriots who died in British prisons in New York during +the Revolution. Trinity Parish is the oldest in the city, and fabulously +wealthy, the corporation having been granted, by Queen Anne, in 1705, a +large tract of land west of Broadway, extending as far north as +Christopher street, known as the "Queen's Farm." The land, at that time +remote from the city, now embraces some of its most valuable business +portions. It is all leased of Trinity Church by the occupants, and the +church, when the leases expire, becomes possessed of the buildings and +improvements upon the ground, and is thus constantly augmenting its +wealth. The claims of the Jans Anneke heirs involve this vast estate. It +has three chapels, one of which, St. Paul's, is a few blocks above, on +the corner of Broadway and Vesey streets, and is surrounded by a +graveyard almost as ancient as that of Trinity. + +At the northwest corner of Vesey street and Broadway is the Astor House, +which, when it was built, something more than a generation ago, was a +marvel of size and splendor, though it is now thrown in the shade by +more modern structures. John Jacob Astor, its builder, was born near +Heidelberg, in Germany, in 1765, and came penniless to the new world, to +seek his fortune. After serving as a clerk, he then engaged in a small +way in the fur business, which eventually grew to the proportions of the +American Fur Company, and brought to its founder a large fortune, though +no one outside his family ever knew its exact amount. He settled most of +his affairs before his death, selling the Astor House to his son +William, for the consideration of one dollar. Much of his property was +in real estate, which constantly increased in value. He died in 1848, +and his senior son being an imbecile, William B. Astor, the younger +brother, inherited most of his father's fortune. The son became vastly +richer than his father, dying in 1875, leaving behind him a fortune of +$50,000,000, which was mostly bequeathed to his eldest son, John Jacob, +who is now the head of the house. + + [Illustration: BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF NEW YORK.] + +The Post Office stands opposite the Astor House, on the east side of +Broadway, at the southern extremity of City Hall Park. It is a massive +structure, of Doric and Renaissance architecture, four stories in +height, beside a Mansard roof, costing $7,000,000. + +Half a century ago the City Hall Park was the chief park of New York, +and the elegance and aristocracy of the city gathered around it. The +City Hall stands in the park, and back of it is the new Court House, +still unfinished, a massive edifice in Corinthian style, which, when +completed, will have a dome two hundred and ten feet above the sidewalk. + +On the western side of Broadway, opposite St. Paul's, is the splendid +building of the New York _Herald_. The _Herald_ is the representative +newspaper of New York, and is probably the most enterprising sheet in +the world. James Gordon Bennett, its founder, was born in Scotland in +1795, and came to America in 1819. After various literary ventures, he +decided to establish a paper which should embody his ideal of a +metropolitan journal. On the sixth of May, 1855, the first number of the +New York _Herald_ was issued, being then a small penny sheet. Mr. +Bennett was editor, reporter and correspondent. He was his own +compositor and errand boy, mailed his papers and kept his accounts. His +rule, from the very first, was never to run a dollar in debt. He +succeeded in establishing a paper which has no parallel in history, +while, since his death, his son's enterprise has still further increased +its scope and popularity. Young Bennett, the present proprietor of the +_Herald_, named after his father, was trained especially for the duties +which were to devolve upon him. He is thoroughly at home in French, +German, Italian and Scotch. He is a skilled engineer, and can run either +the engines or presses of his establishment. He is a practical printer, +and can also telegraph with skill and accuracy. He gives strict personal +supervision to the affairs of his immense establishment, which yields +him a yearly income equaling that of a merchant prince. + +Extending from the _Herald_ Building northward, on the eastern side of +City Hall Park, is what is known as Printing House Square, including the +offices of the principal daily and weekly papers. The magnificent +granite structure of the _Staats Zeitung_ faces this square on the +north. The immense _Tribune_ Building, nine stories high, with its tall +clock tower, flanks it on the east, on Nassau street. The _Sun_ modestly +nestles in the shadow of the _Tribune_. The _Times_ Building is found on +Park Row, where also is the _World_ office. _Truth_ lurks in a basement +on Nassau street. But a square or two below is the _Evening Post_ +Building, where the venerable poet Bryant labored at his editorial +duties for so many years. A statue of Franklin occupies a small open +triangular space in the midst of the square. + +Horace Greeley's name is inseparably associated with that of the +_Tribune_, which he founded. Honest and single-minded, he wielded a +mighty influence, and his paper was a great political power in the +country. He often made enemies by his honesty and straight-forwardness; +but both enemies and friends respected him. In 1872 the Liberal +Republican and Democratic parties nominated him as their choice for +President. Believing that he could rally around him men of all parties +who desired to see reform in political methods, he accepted the +nomination; and was attacked so bitterly by those whom he had supposed +to be his friends, and met such overwhelming defeat in the contest, +that, taken with the death of his wife within a week of the election, he +was crushed completely, his reason left him, and before the end of a +month he died a broken-hearted man. + +North of the City Hall Park, on the corner of Chambers street, is the +old wholesale house of A. T. Stewart, now devoted to other purposes, and +having two stories added to its top. Here, a generation ago, the belles +of New York City came to do their shopping, it having been originally +built for the retail trade, as a few years later they flocked to the new +retail store on Broadway, between Ninth and Tenth. The name of A. T. +Stewart is no longer heard in New York, save in connection with the +past. It was a power in its day and generation. Few men had more to do +with Wall street than Stewart, and his mercantile business was carried +on in the Wall street style. He "cornered" goods, "sold short," "loaded +the market," and "bought long." Having emigrated from the north of +Ireland, he first opened business in a small way, himself and wife +living in one room over their store. Beginning at the very lowest round +of the ladder, he worked with the fixed resolution of becoming the first +merchant in the land. He always lived within his income, and never +bought a dollar's worth of merchandise that he could not pay cash for. +In the days of his prosperity he built for himself and wife a marble +palace, at the corner of Fifth avenue and Thirty-fourth street, the most +finely-finished and elegantly-furnished residence in the country. He +died in 1876, worth, probably, $50,000,000. The theft of his remains +from the graveyard of St. Mark's Church, at Ninth street and Second +avenue, was the nine days' wonder of the time; and the vault prepared +for their reception, in the fine Cathedral at Garden City, Long Island, +remains empty. + +Broadway, almost from the Battery, is bordered by magnificent +structures. The lower end of this thoroughfare is devoted principally to +insurance, bankers' and brokers', railway and other offices, and to the +wholesale trade. Above Canal street the retail stores begin to appear at +intervals, and as one approaches Ninth street ladies multiply on the +western pavement. From Ninth street up, the retail trade monopolizes the +street, and on pleasant afternoons the pavement is filled with elegantly +dressed ladies who are out shopping. At Tenth street Broadway makes a +bend to the westward, and on the eastern side of the way, facing +obliquely down the thoroughfare, is Grace Church and parsonage, both +elegant structures. Grace Church is a fashionable place of worship, and +the scene of the most exclusive weddings and funerals of the city. + +Union Square is reached at Fourteenth street. It is oval in form, with +beautiful green turf, trees and walks, and contains a fine fountain in +the centre, a colossal bronze statue of Washington on a granite +pedestal, and statues of Hamilton and Lafayette. Along its northern end +is a wide plaza for military parades and popular assemblies. Union +Square was once a fashionable residence quarter, but it is now occupied +almost wholly by business. At Twenty-third street, Broadway runs +diagonally across Fifth avenue, touching the southwestern corner of +Madison Square--not so very long since the most genteel locality in New +York, but now, like Union Square, becoming occupied by hotels and +business houses. + +Fifth Avenue, the most splendid avenue in America, makes a beginning at +Washington Square, a lovely public park embowered in trees, which was +once Potters' Field, the pauper burying ground, and where one hundred +thousand bodies lie buried. New York University and Dr. Hutton's Church +face the square on the east. The southern side is given up to business, +but the north and west are still occupied by handsome private +residences. Fifth Avenue is a continuous line of palatial hotels, +gorgeous club-houses, brownstone mansions and magnificent churches. No +plebeian horse cars are permitted to disturb its well-bred quiet, and +the rumble of elegant equipages is alone heard upon its Belgian +pavement. + +Business is already invading the lower portion of the avenue, piano +warehouses being especially prominent. On Madison Square are the Fifth +Avenue Hotel and the Hoffman House. Opposite the latter house is a +monument erected to General Worth, a hero of the Mexican war. +Delmonico's and the Cafe Brunswick, rival restaurants, occupy opposite +corners of Twenty-sixth street. The Stevens House is an elegant family +hotel on Fifth Avenue and Twenty-seventh street, running to Broadway. At +Twenty-ninth street is the Congregational Church, a stately granite +edifice; and on the same street, just east of the Avenue, is the Church +of the Transfiguration, popularly known as "the little church around the +corner," a name bestowed on it by a neighboring clergyman, who, refusing +to bury an actor from his own church, referred the applicant to this. At +the corner of Thirty-fourth street is the Stewart marble palace already +referred to. From Forty-first to Forty-second streets is the +distributing reservoir of the Croton Water-works, with walls of massive +masonry in the Egyptian style. The Crystal Palace of 1853 occupied this +square. The Avenue has at this place ascended to a considerable +elevation, and the locality, embracing several streets and avenues, is +known as Murray Hill, the most wealthy and exclusive quarter of the +city. At Forty-third street is the Jewish Temple Emanuel, the finest +specimen of Moorish architecture in the country. + +Occupying the block between Fiftieth and Fifty-first streets is the +Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Patrick, commenced in 1858, and with the +towers still incomplete. It is of white marble, in decorated Gothic +style; and the largest and handsomest church in the country. It is +elaborately carved, the numerous rose windows seeming almost like lace +work. When completed it will have two spires, ornamented with +buttresses, niches with statues, and pinnacles, and three hundred and +twenty-eight feet in height. The interior is as beautiful as a dream. It +is entirely of white marble. Massive pillars with elaborately carved +capitals support the arched roof, while the light is softened and +subdued by beautiful stained-glass windows. The building is in such +perfect proportion that one does not realize its immense size until he +descries the priest at the altar, so far away as to seem a mere child. + +But eight squares away is Central Park, the great breathing-place of the +city. Looking back, down the Avenue, from the entrance to the Park, +there is seen a forest of spires rising from magnificent churches which +we have had no space to mention, and blocks upon blocks of palatial +residences, the homes of the millionaires of the city. The eastern side +of Fifth Avenue, facing the Park for a number of blocks, is occupied by +elegant private residences. + +Madison Avenue starts from Madison Square, running through to +Forty-second street. It, with parallel avenues and places, shares the +prestige of Fifth Avenue, as being the aristocratic quarter of the city. + +Fourteenth street, once a fashionable thoroughfare, is now fast being +occupied by large retail stores. + +The avenues, commencing at First, and numbering as high as Eleventh, run +north and south, parallel to Fifth Avenue, already described. They are +supplemented on the eastern side, at the widest part of the island, by +avenues A, B, C, and D. Most of these avenues commence on the eastern +side at Houston street, the northern boundary of the city in the early +part of the present century. On the western side, with the exception of +Fifth and Sixth, they commence but little below Fourteenth street. They +are mostly devoted to retail trade, and, on seeing their miles of +stores, one wonders where, even in a great city like New York, all the +people come from who support them. + +Second Avenue is almost the only exception among the avenues. Early in +the century it was what Fifth Avenue has become to-day, the fashionable +residence avenue; and even yet some of the old Knickerbocker families +cling to it, living in their roomy, old-fashioned houses, and +maintaining an exclusive society, while they look down with disdain upon +the parvenues of Fifth avenue. Stuyvesant Square, intersected by Second +avenue, and bounded on the east by Livingston Place, and on the west by +Rutherford Place, is one of the quarters of the _ancient regime_. Here +still live the Rutherfords and the Stuyvesants. Here is the residence of +Hamilton Fish and William M. Evarts. St. George Church, with the largest +seating capacity of any church in the city, faces this square. + +Booth's Theatre is on the corner of Sixth avenue and Twenty-third +street. It is the most magnificent place of amusement in America; built +in the Renaissance style, with a Mansard roof. Opposite is the Masonic +Temple, in Ionic and Doric architecture. At the corner of Eighth avenue +and Twenty-third street is the Grand Opera House, once owned by James +Fisk, Jr. + +New York is at once spendthrift and parsimonious in the naming of her +streets. Thus, she sometimes repeats a name more than once, and again, +bestows two or three names upon the same street. There is a Broadway, an +East Broadway, a West Broadway, and a Broad street. There is Greenwich +avenue and Greenwich street. There are two Pearl streets. There is a +Park avenue, a Park street, a Park row, and a Park place. On the other +hand, Chatham becomes East Broadway east of Bowery; Dey street is +transformed into John street east of Broadway; Cortlandt becomes Maiden +Lane at the same dividing line; and other streets are in like manner +metamorphosed. Fourth Avenue, beginning at the Battery as Pearl street, +changes to the Bowery at Franklin Square. At Eighth street, without any +change in its direction, it becomes Fourth Avenue; from Thirty-fourth to +Forty-second streets it is Park Avenue, and then relapses into Fourth +Avenue again. This is one of the most interesting avenues in the city; +as Pearl street, its windings and its business occupations have been +referred to. + +Bowery has a character all its own. It takes its name from Peter +Stuyvesant's "Bowerie Farm," through which it passes. In it is probably +represented every civilized nation on the globe. It is unqualifiedly a +democratic street. While Fifth Avenue represents one extreme of city +life, the Bowery represents the other. Here are the streets and shops of +the working classes, consisting of dry and fancy goods, cigar shops, +lager beer saloons, shoe stores, confectionery stores, pawnbrokers' +shops, and ready-made clothing, plentifully besprinkled with variety and +concert saloons and beer gardens. There are no elegant store fronts or +marble stores here. The buildings are plain brick edifices, three or +four stories in height, the upper stories occupied by the families of +the merchants, or as tenement houses. The Germans visit the beer gardens +with their wives and families, to listen to what is sometimes excellent +music, and to drink beer. The concert saloons are, some of them, the +resorts of the lowest of both sexes. Near Canal street is the site of +the old Bowery Theatre, which, having been thrice destroyed by fire, has +been thrice rebuilt, the last time, quite recently, and is now known as +Thalia Theatre. A generation and a half ago the gamins of New York +reigned supreme in the pit. Now that they have been relegated to the +gallery, they still criticise the performance with the frankness and +originality of expression characteristic of the "Bowery boys" of old. +One should visit the Bowery at night, when the workmen and shop girls, +having finished their daily labor, are out for recreation and amusement. +Then he will gain an idea of one phase of city life and people which he +would not obtain otherwise. + +At Seventh street, where Third avenue branches off, looking down the +Bowery, and occupying the entire block to Eighth street, is Cooper +Institute, containing a free library, free reading-room, free schools of +art, telegraphy and science, and a hall and lecture room. Peter Cooper +was one of the representative men of New York. Acquiring a large fortune +by strictly honorable methods, he devoted a generous portion of it to +charitable objects, and this Institute is one of the lasting monuments +of his generosity. He was a true philanthropist, a man of broad thought +and kindly impulses, whose name was honored by all classes of the +community. He died in April, 1883, at a ripe old age. + +Occupying the block between Third Avenue and the Bowery, which is now +dignified by the name of Fourth avenue, is the Bible House, the largest +structure of its kind in the world, except that of London. Here the +Bible is printed in almost every known language, and here are +congregated the offices of the various religious societies of the city +and country. The Young Men's Christian Association and Academy of Design +occupy opposite corners at Twenty-third street, on the west side of the +avenue. The exterior of the latter is copied from a famous palace in +Venice, and it is peculiar as well as beautiful in its appearance. From +Thirty-second to Thirty-third streets is the immense structure intended +by A. T. Stewart as the crowning charitable object of his life, to be, +perhaps, in some sort, an atonement for injustice of which he may have +been guilty toward the working classes. It was designed as a hotel for +working women, but in its very plan indicated how little its founder +understood the nature or needs of that class. At its completion, after +his death, it did not take many weeks to demonstrate that working women +preferred a place more home-like, and fettered by less restrictions than +this palace-prison; and so the edifice was turned into an ordinary +hotel. + +Park avenue commences at Thirty-fourth street, being built over the +track of the Fourth avenue car line. In the centre of this avenue, over +the tunnels, are little spaces inclosed by iron fences, and containing a +profusion of shrubbery and flowers. The avenue abounds in elegant +churches and equally fine residences. At Forty-second street is the +Grand Central Depot, seven hundred feet in length, its exterior +imposing, and with corner and central towers surmounted by domes. At +Sixty-ninth street, between Fourth and Lexington avenues, is the new +Normal College, an ecclesiastical-looking building, the most complete of +its kind in America. + +Retracing our steps to near the foot of Bowery, we come to Chatham +street, where the Jews reign supreme, and which is the vestibule of the +worst quarter of the city. Passing along a pavement festooned with +cheap, ready-made clothing, one comes to Baxter street, and from thence +to the Five Points, once the most infamous locality of New York. Here, a +generation ago, a respectable man took his life in his hands, who +attempted to pass through this quarter, even in broad daylight. It was +the abode of thieves, burglars, garotters, murderers and prostitutes. +Hundreds of families were huddled together in tumble-down tenement +houses, living in such filth and with such an utter lack of decency as +is scarcely to be credited. But home missionaries visited the quarter, +established mission-schools and a house of industry, tore down the +disgraceful tenement-houses and built better ones in their place; and +to-day the old Bowery, Cow Bay and Murderers' Alley are known only in +name. The Five Points is at the crossing of Baxter, Worth and Parker +streets, and is really five points no longer, the carrying through of +Worth street to the Bowery, forming an additional point. The locality is +still dreadful enough, with all its improvements. Drunken men, depraved +women, and swarms of half-clad children fill the neighborhood, and even +the "improved tenement houses," as viewed from the outside, seem but +sorry abodes for human beings. This is the heart of a wretched quarter, +which extends westward to Broadway, and almost indefinitely in other +directions. Mott, Mulberry, Baxter, Centre, Elm and Crosby streets are +all densely populated, containing numberless tenement houses. It is +possible to walk through some of these streets and never hear a word of +English. Mulberry and Crosby streets are especially the homes of +Italians, who on Sunday mornings pour out of the tenements upon the +pavement and street below in such throngs that a stranger can scarcely +elbow his way through. The Chinese have taken possession of the lower +part of Mott street, and established laundries, groceries, tea-houses, +lodging-houses, and opium-smoking dens. The latter are already +attracting the attention of the public, and a feeble effort has been +made by the city government to put a check upon their evil influence. +These streets are a festering sore in the very heart of the city, and +require attention. + +The Tombs, the city prison, famous in the criminal history of New York, +is located in the midst of this quarter, on Centre street, occupying an +entire block. It is a gloomy building, constructed of granite, in +imitation of an Egyptian temple. Within these forbidding walls is the +Tombs Police Court, where, early each morning, petty cases are disposed +of by the magistrate upon the bench; and here prisoners are kept +awaiting trial. Eleven cells of special strength and security are for +murderers awaiting trial or punishment. There is also a special +department for women. In the inner quadrangle of the building murderers +are made to suffer the utmost penalty of the law, and the last act of +many a tragedy which has excited and horrified the public has been +performed here. + +It will be a relief to turn from the gloom and wretchedness of the Tombs +to the sunshine and freedom of New York's great breathing place. Central +Park contains eight hundred and forty-three acres, and embraces an area +extending from Fifth to Eighth avenues, and from Fifty-ninth to +One-hundred-and-tenth streets. Originally, it was a desolate stretch of +country in the suburbs of the city, varied by rocks and marshes, and +dotted by the hovels of Irish and Dutch squatters, its most picturesque +features being their goats, which picked up a scant living among the +rubbish with which it was covered. Its whole extent is now covered with +a heavy sod, planted with trees and shrubbery, and furnishes many miles +of drives and walks. Every day in the year it has numerous visitors, but +on Sunday, one must fairly elbow one's way through the crowds. In the +southeast corner are the Zoological Gardens and the old State Arsenal; +the Metropolitan Museum of Art, recently opened, is north of Belvidere, +on the east side of the Park. The Egyptian Obelisk stands on an eminence +west of the museum. Winding paths conduct the visitor to the Mall, a +stately avenue shaded by double rows of elms, and ornamented at +intervals with bronze statues of celebrated American and European +statesmen and poets; also a number of groups which are especially fine. +The Terrace is at the northern terminus of the Mall, and leads by a +flight of broad, stone stairs to Central Lake, the prettiest body of +water in the Park, dotted by gondolas. A fountain, with immense granite +basins, and a colossal statue of the Angel of Bethesda, stands between +the terrace and the lake. Beyond the lake is the Ramble, consisting of +winding, shaded paths, and covering thirty-six acres of sloping hills. +From the tower at Belvidere, a magnificent piece of architecture, in the +Norman style, may be obtained a fine bird's-eye view of the Park. Just +above Belvidere are the two reservoirs of the water works, extending as +far north as Ninety-sixth street. Beyond that the Park is less +embellished by art, and is richer in natural beauties. From the eminence +upon which stands the old Block House, on the northern border of the +Park, a magnificent and extensive view may be obtained of the hills +which bound in the landscape, and including High Bridge. + +One should visit the water front of New York, which circles the city on +three sides, to gain an idea of its immense commerce. A river wall of +solid masonry has been commenced, which, when completed, will make the +American metropolis equal to London and Liverpool in this respect. A +perfect forest of masts lines the wharves, representing every kind of +craft, and almost every nation that sails the seas. Twice a week +European steamships leave from the foot of Canal street; while from +various points along the wharves, indicated by handsome ferry or +shipping houses, boats go and come, to and from every port on the river +or on the Atlantic coast. At Desbrosses and Cortlandt streets ferries +connect with Jersey City. South, Wall and Fulton ferries give access to +Brooklyn; while other ferries convey passengers to other points on the +rivers and bay. + +Passing up the East River, with the ship-thronged wharves and docks of +New York on one hand, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the other, the +visitor soon obtains a view of Blackwell's, Ward's and Randall's +islands. Blackwell's Island is at the foot of Forty-sixth street, and is +one hundred and twenty acres in extent. Upon it are located the +Almshouse, Female Lunatic Asylum, Penitentiary, Work House, Blind +Asylum, Charity, Smallpox and Typhus Fever hospitals. These buildings +are all constructed of granite, quarried from the island by convicts. +They are plain but substantial in appearance. + +Leaving Blackwell's Island, the boat passes cautiously through the +swirling waters of Hell Gate, once the terror of all sailors, but now +robbed of most of its horrors. It was originally a collection of rocks +in mid channel, which, as the tides swept in and out, caused the waters +to rush in a succession of whirlpools and rapids. But a few years ago +United States engineers undertook and accomplished a gigantic +excavation, directly under these threatening rocks and reefs. When it +was completed a grand explosion, effected by means of connecting wires, +blew up these dangerous obstructions, and left a comparatively clear and +safe channel for vessels. The few remaining rocks which this explosion +failed to disturb are being removed, and with its dangers, much of the +romantic interest which attached to Hell Gate will pass away. + +Ward's Island, embracing two hundred acres, and containing the Male +Lunatic Asylum, the Emigrant Hospital, and the Inebriate Asylum, divides +the Harlem from the East River. Randall's Island is separated from +Ward's Island by a narrow channel, and is the last of the group. It +contains the Idiot Asylum, the House of Refuge, the Infant Hospital, +Nurseries, and other charities provided by the city for destitute +children. + +The visitor in New York should, if possible, make an excursion to High +Bridge, a magnificent structure by which the Croton Aqueduct is carried +across Harlem River. It is built of granite, and spans the entire width +of valley and river, from cliff to cliff. It is composed of eight +arches, each with a span of eighty feet, and with an elevation of a +hundred feet clear from the surface of the river. The water is led over +the bridge, a distance of fourteen hundred and fifty feet, in immense +iron pipes, six feet in diameter. Above these pipes is a pathway for +pedestrians. At One-hundred-and-sixty-ninth street, a little below the +High Bridge, is the site of the elegant mansion of Colonel Roger Morris, +and the head-quarters of General Washington during active operations in +this portion of the island. The situation is one of picturesque and +historic interest. + +Rising grandly above all the shipping of the East River, on both its +sides, are the massive towers of the Suspension Bridge, connecting the +sister cities of New York and Brooklyn. Ponderous cables swing in a +single grand sweep from tower to tower, supporting the bridge in its +place. It does not seem very much elevated above the river, and you feel +that a certain majestic sailing vessel which is bearing down upon it +will bring the top of her masts in contact with it. But she sails +proudly beneath the structure, never bowing her head, and there is +plenty of room and to spare; for the bridge is one hundred and +thirty-five feet above high water mark. The distance from tower to tower +is one thousand five hundred and ninety-five feet, while the entire +length of the bridge, from Park Place to its terminus, on the heights in +Brooklyn, is six thousand feet, or a little more than a mile. Its width +is eighty-five feet, affording space for two railways, besides two +double carriageways, and one foot-path. It was commenced in 1871, and +cost $15,000,000. Its formal opening took place on May twenty-fourth, +1883. The day was a rarely beautiful one, and was observed as a general +holiday by the people of both cities. President Arthur and his Cabinet, +the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, with many other +distinguished persons, were among the guests, while the honors of the +occasion were done by the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn. Every street +in the neighborhood of the bridge was packed with a dense throng of +spectators, while windows, balconies and roofs were filled with curious +sight seers. + +Shortly after noon the procession moved down Broadway, and a little +after one o'clock the President and other distinguished guests entered +the gateway of the bridge, preceded by the Seventh Regiment, the +procession headed by a company of mounted policemen, while Cappa's band +played "Hail to the Chief." When the party reached the New York tower, +they were met by President Kingsley of the bridge trustees, and there +were introductions and welcomes, and the march was resumed. At the +Brooklyn tower Mayor Low met the President, and the Seventy-third +Regiment presented arms. In announcement of the fact that the bridge was +crossed, cannons thundered forth salutes, the steam whistles of vessels +and factories screamed, bells rang, and deafening cheers went up from +the watching multitude. The further ceremonies of the day took place in +a pavilion on the Brooklyn end, when Mr. William E. Kingsley, the +President of the Bridge Association, Mayor Low, of Brooklyn, Mayor Edson +of New York, Hon. Abram S. Hewitt and Rev. B. S. Storrs, made able +addresses. A reception was tendered in the evening, at the Academy of +Music, by the City of Brooklyn, to the President and the Governor of the +State, previous to which there was a fine display of fireworks from the +bridge. + +During all the excitement of the day, while cannon thundered and the +multitude cheered, an invalid sat alone in his house on Columbia +Heights, and regarded from afar the completion of his toil of years. +John A. Roebling, the elder of the two Roeblings, first conceived and +planned the bridge which connects New York and Brooklyn. He had built +the chief suspension bridges in the country, and to him was intrusted +the task of putting his own plans into tangible form. While testing and +perfecting his surveys, his foot was crushed between the planking of a +pier; lockjaw supervened, and the man who had designed the bridge lost +his life in its service. He was succeeded by his son, Colonel Washington +A. Roebling, who was equally qualified for the undertaking. He labored +with zeal, giving personal superintendence to his workmen, until in the +caissons he contracted a mysterious disease, which had proved fatal to +several men in his employ. From that period he was confined to his home, +a hopeless invalid, his intellect apparently quickened as his physical +system was enfeebled. He has never seen the structure, save as it stands +from a distance; but from his sick-room he has directed and watched over +the progress of the enterprise, his active assistant being his wife, of +whom Mayor Edson, in his address on the occasion, spoke in the following +terms: "With this bridge will ever be coupled the thought of one, +through the subtle alembic of whose brain, and by whose facile fingers, +communication was maintained between the directing power of its +construction and the obedient agencies of its execution. It is thus an +everlasting monument to the self-sacrificing devotion of woman." After +the conclusion of the address, the President and his Cabinet, the +Governor, and hundreds of others, paid their respects to Colonel +Roebling, and did honor to the man the completion of whose work they +were celebrating. After it was over Roebling replied, to the suggestion +that he must be happy, "I am satisfied." + +The great bridge was opened to the public at midnight, and the waiting +throng, which even at that hour numbered about twenty thousand persons, +were permitted to enter the gates and cross the structure. A +representative of the New York _Herald_ was the first to pay the toll of +one cent demanded, and the first to begin the passage across. With the +completion of this bridge the continent is entirely spanned, and one may +visit, dry shod and without the use of ferry boats, every city from the +Atlantic to the Golden Gate. + +But the great bridge was not to be consecrated to the use of the public +without a baptism of blood. On Decoration Day, which occurred the +seventh day after the opening of the bridge, there was a grand military +parade in New York, reviewed by President Arthur from a stand in Madison +Square, and impressive ceremonies at the various cemeteries in Brooklyn. +From early morning a steady stream of pedestrians poured each way, +across the bridge. About four o'clock in the afternoon there came a lock +in the crowd, just at the top of the stairs on the New York side, +leading down to the concrete roadway Men, women and children were wedged +together in a jam, created by the fearful pressure of two opposing +crowds, extending to either end of the bridge. Some one stumbled and +fell on the stairs. The terrible pressure prevented him or her from +rising, and others fell over the obstacle thus placed in the pathway. +Those immediately behind were hopelessly forced on over them. A panic +ensued. Women screamed and wrung their hands; children cried and called +pitifully for "help!" Men shouted themselves hoarse, swore and fought. A +hundred hats and bonnets were afterwards found upon the spot, trampled +into shapelessness. Clothes were torn off, and many emerged from the +crush in only their undergarments. Parents held their children aloft to +keep them from being trampled upon. Hundreds of men climbed with +difficulty on the beams running over the railroads, and dropping down +were caught by those in the carriage-way beneath. A number of women also +escaped in that manner. + +At last, after almost superhuman efforts, the crowd was pressed back +sufficiently to gather up the prostrate bodies, which were taken to the +roadway below, and ranged along the wall, waiting for ambulances to +convey them away. Twelve persons were found dead, some of them bruised, +discolored, and covered with blood, and others apparently suffocated to +death. The list of injured was very much larger--how much will probably +never be known, since many, assisted by their friends, returned to their +homes without reporting their hurts. The dead and wounded were most of +them conveyed to the City Hall Police Station, and were there claimed by +their friends; and the day which had begun so joyously ended in gloom. + +New York is one of the most wonderful products of our wonderful western +civilization. It is itself a world in epitome. Thoroughly cosmopolitan +in its character, almost every nationality is represented within its +boundaries, and almost every tongue spoken. It is the great monetary, +scientific, artistic and intellectual centre of the western world. +Containing much that is evil, it also abounds with more that is good. It +is well governed. Its sanitary arrangements are such as to make it +peculiarly free from epidemic diseases. The record of its crimes is +undoubtedly a long one; but when the number of its inhabitants is +considered, it will be found to show an average comparing favorably with +other cities. Thousands of happy homes are found throughout its length +and breadth. Hundreds of good and charitable enterprises are originated +and fostered within its limits, and grow, some of them, to gigantic +proportions, reaching out strong arms to the uttermost confines of the +country and even of the world, comforting the afflicted, lifting up the +degraded, and shedding the light of truth in dark places. It is already +a great city, a wonderful city. But what it is to-day is only the +beginning of what those who live fifty years hence will behold it. There +is still space upon Manhattan Island for twice or thrice its present +population and business; and the no distant future will undoubtedly see +this space fully occupied, while it is among the possibilities that New +York will become, in point of inhabitants and commercial interests, the +first city in the world. + + [Illustration: NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN BRIDGE.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +OMAHA. + + Arrival in Omaha.--The Missouri River.--Position and Appearance + of the City.--Public Buildings.--History.--Land Speculation.-- + Panic of 1857.--Discovery of Gold in Colorado.--"Pike's Peak + or Bust."--Sudden Revival of Business.--First Railroad.--Union + Pacific Railroad.--Population.--Commercial and Manufacturing + Interests.--Bridge over the Missouri.--Union Pacific Depot.-- + Prospects for the Future. + + +On the afternoon of October twenty-first, 1876, I sat in the saddle upon +the eastern bank of the Missouri River, opposite Omaha, Nebraska, having +that day accomplished a horseback journey of twenty-two miles, on my way +from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Paul Revere, the faithful horse who +had borne me all the way from Boston, declined entering the ferry boat, +it being his firm conviction that rivers should either be crossed by +bridges or forded. At last, being gently coerced, the horse reluctantly +consented, and the muddy current of the river was soon crossed. At three +o'clock I entered the city of Omaha, the half-way house across the +continent, it having been a little more than five months since I dashed +out of the surf, my horse's hoofs wet and dripping with the brine of the +Atlantic. + +Omaha lies on the eastern boundary of Nebraska, opposite Council Bluffs, +on the western bank of the Missouri River, a turbulent stream, which is +never satisfied with its position, but is constantly shifting and +changing, and making for itself new channels. A bottom land about three +miles wide stretches out between Omaha and Council Bluffs, and through +this the Missouri rolls, a swift, muddy stream, slowly but surely +carrying the Rocky Mountains down to the Mississippi, which, in its +turn, deposits them in the Gulf of Mexico, and helps to extend our Gulf +coast. The Missouri vibrates like a pendulum, from one side of this +bottom land to the other; now being near one city, and then near the +other. At the period of my visit its current washed the front of Omaha, +leaving Council Bluffs some distance off on the opposite side; but it +was already beginning its backward swing. Thus the boundary line between +Nebraska and Iowa is being continually shifted, and one State is +augmented in territory at the expense of the other. + +Omaha is built in part upon the low bottom lands which border the river, +and which may at any time be menaced by the swollen and angry stream, +unless precautions are taken, in the building of high and substantial +stone levees along the river front. The town lies also in part upon the +table lands beyond, and is extending to the bluffs which rise still +further away. Its business is chiefly confined to the lower portion, +where magnificent blocks attest the prosperity of the city. Streets of +substantial dwellings, and numerous most elegant private residences, +with large and handsomely ornamented grounds, are discovered as one +passes through the city. A striking edifice, of Cincinnati freestone, +four stories high, is occupied as a Post Office and Court House. Its +High School building is one of the finest in the country. When the State +Government was, in 1866, removed from Omaha to Lincoln, the Legislature +donated the Square and Capitol Building at the former place for High +School purposes. The old Capitol was demolished, and a magnificent +school building erected on its site, at a cost of $250,000, while other +fine school edifices, aggregating in cost about $150,000 more, were +erected in other sections of the city. The High School building is on +the summit of a hill, overlooking a large extent of country, and has a +spire one hundred and eighty-five feet high. The Depot of the Union +Pacific Railroad is also a noteworthy edifice. + +Omaha was first laid out in 1853, and thus named, after a now nearly +extinct tribe of Indians. The first house was built, and the first ferry +established in that year; and a year later the first brick-kiln was +burned, and the first newspaper--the Omaha Arrow--established. Where +Turner Hall now stands, in 1854 was dug the first grave, for an old +squaw of the Omaha tribe who had been left by her kindred to die. +Whittier's description of the growth of western cities seems +particularly applicable to Omaha:-- + + "Behind the squaw's light birch canoe + The steamer smokes and raves, + And city lots are staked for sale + Above old Indian graves." + +The first Legislature of Nebraska convened in Omaha in the winter of +1854-5; and in 1856 the Capital was definitely located in that city, and +the erection of the capitol building commenced. For a year or two there +was a great land-boom, and city property and "corner lots" were held at +fabulous prices. But in 1857 a crash came, and for a time the infant +town was prostrated. However, in 1859 the discovery of gold in Colorado +gave it a fresh impetus. The miners who marched in a perpetual caravan +across the plains, in white-topped wagons, marked "Pike's Peak or bust," +made Omaha their final starting-point, taking in at that place supplies +for their long journey. Two years previous all who could get away from +the apparently doomed town had gone to other sections, to begin anew the +fight for fortune. Only those remained who were too poor to go, but +these were now in luck. Fortune came to them, instead of their being +compelled to undertake an ignis fatuus chase after her. At that time the +business men of the city laid the foundations of their wealth and +prosperity. + +In 1857 the town was incorporated as a city; but up to 1867 its only +means of communication with the east was by stage-coach, across Iowa, +and by steamers on the Missouri, which latter ceased running in winter. +In 1865 the population of the town was but four thousand five hundred +persons. In 1867 the first train of cars arrived in the city, on the +Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. It was not long before other +railroads, one after another, made it their western terminus, and its +prosperity was established. Then came the Union Pacific Railroad, which +started on its long journey across the plains and mountains from this +point. The trade to the Pacific coast thus necessarily passed through +Omaha, which became a gateway on the route, while many travelers and +emigrants paused to breathe and rest before proceeding further, and to +take in large quantities of supplies. In 1875 its population had +increased to twenty thousand inhabitants, and in 1880 had run up to +thirty thousand. + +Strange as it may seem, the building of the Union Pacific Railroad has +diminished rather than increased the local trade of the city. In +overland times single houses sometimes traded as much as three million +dollars' worth in a year; but the railroad has so dispersed and +distributed business, that now none reach even half that amount. The +city, however, does an immense manufacturing business. Within its limits +is located the largest smelting works in America, employing nearly two +hundred men, and doing an annual business of probably not less than five +millions of dollars. One distillery alone, in 1875, the year previous to +my visit, paid the government a tax of $316,000; while there are +extensive breweries, linseed-oil works, steam-engine works, and +pork-packing establishments. The engine shops, car-works and foundry of +the Union Pacific Road occupy, with the round-house, about thirty acres +of land, on the bottom adjoining the table land upon which the city is +built. Over one million dollars is paid out annually in these +establishments, for manual labor alone, without including payments for +merchandise and supplies. A notable industry is the manufacture of +brick, over five millions being turned out annually from the four +brick-yards of Omaha. The city is also the headquarters of the Army of +the Platte, which annually distributes nearly a million of dollars. + +The first postmaster of Omaha used his hat for a post office, and +carried around the mail matter in that receptacle wherever he went, +delivering it by chance to its owners. Twenty years later the city +possessed the finest government building west of the Mississippi, while +the post office receipts are to-day upwards of a million dollars +annually. Hides, buffalo robes, and furs, to the value of one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars, are annually collected and shipped from +Omaha; while two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is the extent in a +single year of the sewing machine business. The Pacific Railroad ships +from Omaha vast quantities of grain to the Salt Lake Valley, and brings +back in return supplies of Utah fruit, fresh and dried. The first +shipment of fruit, made in 1871, amounted to three hundred pounds. In +four years the quantity had increased to nine hundred thousand pounds, +and is still greater to-day. The Grand Central Hotel was the finest +hotel between Chicago and San Francisco, having been erected in 1873, at +a cost of three hundred thousand dollars; but it was destroyed by fire +in 1878. + +The visitor to Omaha will probably reach that city by means of the great +bridge across the Missouri River. This bridge is two thousand seven +hundred and fifty feet long, with eleven spans, each span two hundred +and fifty feet in width, and elevated fifty feet above high water mark. +One stone masonry abutment, and eleven piers, each with two cast iron +columns, support this bridge. Its construction was commenced in +February, 1869, and completed in 1872, during most of which time not +less than five hundred men were employed upon it. Each column was sunk +in the bed of the river until a solid foundation was reached. One column +penetrated the earth eighty-two feet below low water, before it rested +on the bed-rock. The approach to the bridge from the Council Bluffs side +is by means of a gradually ascending embankment, one mile and a half in +length. This bridge was constructed at a cost of two million six hundred +and fifty thousand dollars, and brings an annual revenue of about four +hundred thousand dollars. It is now, by act of Congress, considered a +part of the Union Pacific Railroad, making the eastern terminus of that +road really at Council Bluffs. Its total length, including its necessary +approaches by embankment on the eastern shore, and by lengthy +tressel-work on the western shore is nine thousand nine hundred and +fifty feet, or nearly two miles. + +The old depot grounds of the Union Pacific Railroad were on the bank of +the river, directly under the present bridge. In order to complete the +connection between the bridge and the road, a branch line, seven +thousand feet in length, was laid down directly through the city, and a +new, spacious and most commodious depot constructed, on higher ground. +And from this depot the westward-bound traveler takes his departure for +that western empire toward the setting sun, and may, perhaps, continue +his journey until he has reached and passed the Golden Gate, and only +the solemn immensity of the ocean lies before him. + +Situated midway of the American continent, on a navigable river, which +drains the northwest, and opens communication with the east and south; a +prominent point on the great road which clasps a continent and unites +the Atlantic with the Pacific; and at the same time a terminus for +lesser roads which open up to it the trade and commerce of the interior; +and on the borders of two states rich in agricultural and mineral +wealth, and settled by a thrifty, intelligent and enterprising people; +Omaha can scarcely fail to become the greatest city west of St. Louis. +Founded but a generation ago, its business is already stupendous, though +it is really but a beginning of what it promises to be in the future. As +Iowa, Nebraska, and the States and Territories still further to the +northwest, become more thickly settled, with their resources developed, +it will form their natural commercial centre, to which they will look +for supplies, and where they will find a market or a port for their +produce and manufactures. With such an outlook, who will dare to limit +Omaha's possibilities in the future, or say that any flight of the +imagination really exceeds what the actuality may prove? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +OTTAWA. + + Ottawa, the seat of the Canadian Government.--History.-- + Population.--Geographical Position.--Scenery.--Chaudiere + Falls.--Rideau Falls.--Ottawa River.--Lumber Business.-- + Manufactures.--Steamboat and Railway Communications.--Moore's + Canadian Boat Song.--Description of the City.--Churches, + Nunneries, and Charitable Institutions.--Government Buildings.-- + Rideau Hall.--Princess Louise and Marquis of Lorne.--Ottawa's + Proud Boast. + + +Ottawa was, in 1858, selected by Queen Victoria as the seat of the +Canadian Government. When, in 1867, the British North American +Possessions were reconstructed into the Dominion of Canada, Ottawa +continued to be the Capital city. It was originally called Bytown, after +Colonel By, of the Royal Engineers, who was, in 1827, commissioned to +construct the Rideau Canal, and who laid out the town. In 1854 it was +incorporated as a city, and its name changed to Ottawa, from the river +upon which it stands. Since that time it has increased rapidly in +population and importance, and has at the present time not far from +twenty-five thousand inhabitants. It is situated on the south bank of +the Ottawa River, at the mouth of the Rideau, one hundred and twenty-six +miles above Montreal. The scenery around it is most magnificent, and is +scarcely surpassed by any in Canada. At the west end of the city the +Ottawa rushes, in a magnificent cataract, over a ragged ledge, two +hundred feet wide and forty feet high, in what is known as the Chaudiere +Falls. Chaudiere signifies caldron, and in the seething caldron of +waters at the base of the falls a sounding line three hundred feet in +length has not touched bottom. Immediately below the falls is a +suspension bridge, from which a most satisfactory view can be obtained. +At the northeast end of the city the Rideau tumbles, in two cataracts, +into the Ottawa. These cataracts are very picturesque, but are exceeded +in grandeur by the Chaudiere. The Des Chenes Rapids, having a fall of +nine feet, are found about eight miles above Ottawa. + +The Ottawa River is, next to the St. Lawrence, the largest stream in +Canada. Rising in the range of mountains which forms the watershed +between Hudson Bay and the great lakes, it runs in a southeasterly +direction for about six hundred miles before it empties into the St. +Lawrence. It has two mouths, which form the island upon which Montreal +is situated. The entire region drained by it and its tributaries +measures eighty thousand square miles. These tributaries and the Ottawa +itself form highways for, probably, the largest lumber trade in the +world. The clearing of great tracts of country by the lumbermen has +opened the way for agriculturists; and numerous thriving settlements are +found upon and near their banks, all of which look to Ottawa as their +business centre. As these settlements increase in number and size, the +prosperity of Ottawa will multiply in proportion. The navigation of the +river has been much improved by engineering, especially for the +transportation of lumber, dams and slides having been constructed for +its passage over rapids and falls. + +This immense supply of lumber is, much of it, arrested at Ottawa, where +the almost unequaled water power is utilized in saw-mills, which furnish +the city its principal employment, and from which issue yearly almost +incredible quantities of sawed lumber. There are also flour mills, and +manufactories of iron castings, mill machinery, and agricultural +implements, which give it commercial importance, and a sound basis of +prosperity. + +Ottawa is connected by steamer with Montreal, and by the Rideau Canal +with Lake Ontario at Kingston, while the Grand Trunk Railway sends a +branch line from Prescott. The Ottawa River is navigable for one hundred +and eighty-eight miles above the city, by steamers of the Union +Navigation Company, but there are numerous portages around falls and +rapids. The last stopping place of the steamer is Mattawa, a remote port +of the Hudson Bay Company. Beyond that outpost of civilization there is +nothing but unexplored and unbroken wilderness. Moore's Canadian boat +song makes mention of the Ottawa River:-- + + "Soon as the woods on shore look dim, + We'll sing, at St. Ann's, our parting hymn. + + "Ottawa's tide, this trembling moon + Shall see us afloat on thy waters soon." + +Ottawa is divided into Upper and Lower Town by the Rideau Canal, which +contains eight massive locks within the city limits, and is crossed by +two bridges, one of stone and iron, and the other of stone alone. The +streets of the city are wide and regular. Sparks street is the +fashionable promenade, containing the principal retail stores. Sussex is +also a prominent business street. The principal hotels are the Russell +House, near the Parliament Buildings; Windsor House, in the Upper Town; +and the Albion, on Court House Square. + +The most prominent church edifice in the city is the Roman Catholic +Cathedral of Notre Dame, which is of stone, with double spires two +hundred feet in height. The interior is very fine, and contains as an +altar piece Murillo's "Flight into Egypt." St. Patrick's, Roman +Catholic, and St. Andrew's, Presbyterian, are also striking churches. At +the corner of Bolton and Sussex streets is the imposing stone building +of the Grey Nunnery, while the group of buildings belonging to the Black +Nunnery is to the eastward of Cartier Square. There are, besides, in the +city, two convents, two hospitals, three orphan asylums, and a Magdalen +asylum, all under the control of the Roman Catholics. The Ottawa +University is also a Roman Catholic institution, and has a large +building in Wilbrod street. The Ladies' College, in Albert street, is a +Protestant school. + +But all these structures sink into insignificance when compared to the +Government Buildings, which constitute the most prominent feature of the +city of Ottawa. They are situated on an eminence known as Barrack Hill, +which rises one hundred and fifty feet above the river, and were erected +at a cost of about four millions of dollars. They form three sides of a +vast quadrangle, which occupies nearly four acres. The Parliament House +is on the south side or front of the quadrangle, and is four hundred and +seventy-two feet long, and the same number of feet deep, from the front +of the main tower, to the rear of the library. The Departmental +Buildings run north from this main structure, forming the east and west +sides of the quadrangle. The eastern side is five hundred and eighteen +feet long, by two hundred and fifty-three feet deep, and the western +side is two hundred and eleven feet long, by two hundred and +seventy-seven feet deep. These latter buildings contain the various +government bureaus, in the west block being also found the model room +of the Patent Office, and the Post Office. The entire structure is of +cream-colored sandstone, with arches and doors of red Potsdam sandstone, +and the external ornamental work of this sandstone. Its architecture is +in the Italian-Gothic style. Green and purple slates cover the roof, and +the pinnacles are ornamented with elaborate iron trellis work. The +columns and arches of the legislative chambers are of marble. These +chambers are capacious and richly finished, and have stained glass +windows. The Chamber of Commons is reached by an entrance to the left of +the main entrance, under the central tower, and the marble of its +columns and arches is beautiful. The Senate Hall, which is entered from +the right of the main entrance, contains the vice-regal canopy and +throne, and a portrait of Queen Victoria. There are also full-length +portraits, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of George III, and Queen Charlotte. +The Library is a circular structure, on the north front of the +Parliament House, with a dome ninety feet high, and contains about forty +thousand volumes. A massive stone wall incloses the fourth side of the +quadrangle, and the inclosure is laid out with tree-shaded walks. + +Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor General, is in New +Edinburgh, a suburban town on the opposite side of the Rideau River, +connected with Ottawa by a bridge. Rideau Hall has been for several +years past the home of the Marquis of Lorne, Governor General of the +Dominion of Canada, and the Princess Louise, fourth daughter of Queen +Victoria. The love which the Canadians bear their Queen was most loyally +manifested on the arrival of the Governor General and the Princess, his +wife. Every honor was shown the Marquis which was due his official and +hereditary rank; but the most extravagant marks of affection and +veneration were lavished upon the Princess, who was regarded as a +representative of her mother. Whenever she proceeded through the +Dominion, her progress was a triumphal procession. The people crowded to +catch but a glimpse of her face, or to hear the tones of her voice. She +is described as an extremely affable lady, the beauty of Her Majesty's +family, caring less for the traditions and observances of royalty than +her imperial mother, with great native shrewdness and marked ability as +an artist. She has traveled extensively throughout the dominion of +Canada, having reached its extreme western limit, and crossed the United +States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is said she does not greatly +admire Canada, and proposes to spend as little time at Ottawa as +possible, regarding the somewhat primitive society there as almost +semi-barbaric. But when she returns permanently to the island of her +birth she will go with greatly enlarged views, and a knowledge of the +world, and especially of the people of the new world, which ought to +constitute her an efficient counsellor in affairs of state. + +The Marquis of Lorne, Governor General of Canada, is described as an +extremely handsome gentleman of the Scotch type, with large literary +attainments, and with a desire to conciliate the people over whom he has +been sent to rule. For many generations to come it will undoubtedly be +Ottawa's highest boast that it has numbered among its citizens the son +of one of the proudest nobles of the British realm, and a princess of +the blood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +PITTSBURG. + + Pittsburg at Night.--A Pittsburg Fog.--Smoke.--Description of + the City.--The Oil Business.--Ohio River.--Public Buildings, + Educational and Charitable Institutions.--Glass Industry.-- + Iron Foundries.--Fort Pitt Works.--Casting a Monster Gun.-- + American Iron Works.--Nail Works.--A City of Workers.-- + A True Democracy.--Wages.--Character of Workmen.--Value of + Organization.--Knights of Labor.--Opposed to Strikes.--True + Relations of Capital and Labor.--Railroad Strike of 1877.-- + Allegheny City.--Population of Pittsburg.--Early History-- + Braddock's Defeat.--Old Battle Ground.--Historic Relics.-- + The Past and the Present. + + +By all means make your first approach to Pittsburg in the night time, +and you will behold a spectacle which has not a parallel on this +continent. Darkness gives the city and its surroundings a +picturesqueness which they wholly lack by daylight. It lies low down in +a hollow of encompassing hills, gleaming with a thousand points of +light, which are reflected from the rivers, whose waters glimmer, it may +be, in the faint moonlight, and catch and reflect the shadows as well. +Around the city's edge, and on the sides of the hills which encircle it +like a gloomy amphitheatre, their outlines rising dark against the sky, +through numberless apertures, fiery lights stream forth, looking angrily +and fiercely up toward the heavens, while over all these settles a heavy +pall of smoke. It is as though one had reached the outer edge of the +infernal regions, and saw before him the great furnace of Pandemonium +with all the lids lifted. The scene is so strange and weird that it +will live in the memory forever. One pictures, as he beholds it, the +tortured spirits writhing in agony, their sinewy limbs convulsed, and +the very air oppressive with pain and rage. + +But the scene is illusive. This is the domain of Vulcan, not of Pluto. +Here, in this gigantic workshop, in the midst of the materials of his +labor, the god of fire, having left his ancient home on Olympus, and +established himself in this newer world, stretches himself beside his +forge, and sleeps the peaceful sleep which is the reward of honest +industry. Right at his doorway are mountains of coal to keep a perpetual +fire upon his altar; within the reach of his outstretched grasp are +rivers of coal oil; and a little further away great stores of iron for +him to forge and weld, and shape into a thousand forms; and at his feet +is the shining river, an impetuous Mercury, ever ready to do his +bidding. Grecian mythology never conceived of an abode so fitting for +the son of Zeus as that which he has selected for himself on this +western hemisphere. And his ancient tasks were child's play compared +with the mighty ones he has undertaken to-day. + +Failing a night approach, the traveler should reach the Iron City on a +dismal day in autumn, when the air is heavy with moisture, and the very +atmosphere looks dark. All romance has disappeared. In this nineteenth +century the gods of mythology find no place in daylight. There is only a +very busy city shrouded in gloom. The buildings, whatever their original +material and color, are smoked to a uniform, dirty drab; the smoke +sinks, and mingling with the moisture in the air, becomes of a +consistency which may almost be felt as well as seen. Under a drab sky a +drab twilight hangs over the town, and the gas-lights, which are left +burning at mid-day, shine out of the murkiness with a dull, reddish +glare. Then is Pittsburg herself. Such days as these are her especial +boast, and in their frequency and dismalness, in all the world she has +no rival. + +In truth, Pittsburg is a smoky, dismal city, at her best. At her worst, +nothing darker, dingier or more dispiriting can be imagined. The city is +in the heart of the soft coal region; and the smoke from her dwellings, +stores, factories, foundries and steamboats, uniting, settles in a cloud +over the narrow valley in which she is built, until the very sun looks +coppery through the sooty haze. According to a circular of the Pittsburg +Board of Trade, about twenty per cent., or one-fifth, of all the coal +used in the factories and dwellings of the city escapes into the air in +the form of smoke, being the finer and lighter particles of carbon of +the coal, which, set free by fire, escapes unconsumed with the gases. +The consequences of several thousand bushels of coal in the air at one +and the same time may be imagined. But her inhabitants do not seem to +mind it; and the doctors hold that this smoke, from the carbon, sulphur +and iodine contained in it, is highly favorable to lung and cutaneous +diseases, and is the sure death of malaria and its attendant fevers. And +certainly, whatever the cause may be, Pittsburg is one of the healthiest +cities in the United States. Her inhabitants are all too busy to reflect +upon the inconvenience or uncomeliness of this smoke. Work is the object +of life with them. It occupies them from morning until night, from the +cradle to the grave, only on Sundays, when, for the most part, the +furnaces are idle, and the forges are silent. For Pittsburg, settled by +Irish-Scotch Presbyterians, is a great Sunday-keeping day. Save on this +day her business men do not stop for rest or recreation, nor do they +"retire" from business. They die with the harness on, and die, perhaps, +all the sooner for having worn it so continuously and so long. + +Pittsburg is not a beautiful city. That stands to reason, with the heavy +pall of smoke which constantly overhangs her. But she lacks beauty in +other respects. She is substantially and compactly built, and contains +some handsome edifices; but she lacks the architectural magnificence of +some of her sister cities; while her suburbs present all that is +unsightly and forbidding in appearance, the original beauties of nature +having been ruthlessly sacrificed to utility. + +Pittsburg is situated in western Pennsylvania, in a narrow valley at the +confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, and at the head of +the Ohio, and is surrounded by hills rising to the height of four or +five hundred feet. These hills once possessed rounded outlines, with +sufficient exceptional abruptness to lend them variety and +picturesqueness. But they have been leveled down, cut into, sliced off, +and ruthlessly marred and mutilated, until not a trace of their original +outlines remain. Great black coal cars crawl up and down their sides, +and plunge into unexpected and mysterious openings, their sudden +disappearance lending, even in daylight, an air of mystery and diablerie +to the region. Railroad tracks gridiron the ground everywhere, debris of +all sorts lies in heaps, and is scattered over the earth, and huts and +hovels are perched here and there, in every available spot. There is no +verdure--nothing but mud and coal, the one yellow the other black. And +on the edge of the city are the unpicturesque outlines of factories and +foundries, their tall chimneys belching forth columns of inky blackness, +which roll and whirl in fantastic shapes, and finally lose themselves in +the general murkiness above. + +The tranquil Monongahela comes up from the south, alive with barges and +tug boats; while the swifter current of the Allegheny bears from the oil +regions, at the north, slight-built barges with their freights of crude +petroleum. Oil is not infrequently poured upon the troubled waters, when +one of these barges sinks, and its freight, liberated from the open +tanks, refuses to sink with it, and spreads itself out on the surface of +the stream. + +The oil fever was sorely felt in Pittsburg, and it was a form of malaria +against which the smoke-laden atmosphere was no protection. During the +early years of the great oil speculation the city was in a perpetual +state of excitement. Men talked oil upon the streets, in the cars and +counting-houses, and no doubt thought of oil in church. Wells and +barrels of petroleum, and shares of oil stock were the things most often +mentioned. And though that was nearly twenty years ago, and the oil +speculation has settled into a safe and legitimate pursuit, Pittsburg is +still the greatest oil mart in the world. By the means of Oil Creek and +the Allegheny, the oil which is to supply all markets is first shipped +to Pittsburg, passes through the refineries there, and is then exported. + + [Illustration: PITTSBURGH AND ITS RIVERS.] + +The Ohio River makes its beginning here, and in all but the season of +low water the wharves of the city are lined with boats, barges and tugs, +destined for every mentionable point on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. +The Ohio River is here, as all along its course, an uncertain and +capricious stream. Sometimes, in spring, or early summer, it creeps up +its banks and looks menacingly at the city. At other times it seems to +become weary of bearing the boats, heavily laden with merchandise, to +their destined ports, and so takes a nap, as it were. The last time we +beheld this water-course its bed was lying nearly bare and dry, while a +small, sluggish creek, a few feet, or at most, a few yards wide, crept +along the bottom, small barges being towed down stream by horses, which +waded in the water. The giant was resting. + +The public buildings and churches of Pittsburg are, some of them, of +fine appearance, while the Mercantile Library is an institution to be +proud of, being both handsome and spacious, and containing a fine +library and well-supplied reading room. The city boasts of universities, +colleges, hospitals, and asylums, and the Convent of the Sisters of +Mercy is the oldest house of the order in America. There are also two +theatres, an Opera House, an Academy of Music, and several public halls. + +But it is not any of these which has made the city what she is, or to +which she will point with the greatest pride. The crowning glory of +Pittsburg is her monster iron and glass works. One-half the glass +produced in all the United States comes from Pittsburg. This important +business was first established here in 1787, by Albert Gallatin, and it +has increased since then to giant proportions. Probably, not less than +one hundred millions of bottles and vials are annually produced here, +besides large quantities of window glass. The best wine bottles in +America are made here, though they are inferior to those of French +manufacture. A great number of flint-glass works turn out the best +flint glass produced in the country. + +In addition to these glass works--which, though they employ thousands of +workmen, represent but a fraction of the city's industries--there are +rolling mills, foundries, potteries, oil refineries, and factories of +machinery. All these works are rendered possible by the coal which +abounds in measureless quantities in the immediate neighborhood of the +city. All the hills which rise from the river back of Pittsburg have a +thick stratum of bituminous coal running through them, which can be +mined without shafts, or any of the usual accessories of mining. All +that is to be done is to shovel the coal out of the hill-side, convey it +in cars or by means of an inclined plane to the factory or foundry door, +and dump it, ready for use. In fact, these hills are but immense coal +cellars, ready filled for the convenience of the Pittsburg +manufacturers. True, in shoveling the coal out of the hill-side, the +excavations finally become galleries, running one, two or three miles +directly into the earth. But there is neither ascent nor descent; no +lowering of miners or mules in great buckets down a deep and narrow +shaft, no elevating of coal through the same means. It is all like a +great cellar, divided into rooms, the ceilings supported by arches of +the coal itself. Each miner works a separate room, and when the room is +finished, and that part of the mine exhausted the arches are knocked +away, pillars of large upright logs substituted, the coal removed, and +the hill left to settle gradually down, until the logs are crushed and +flattened. + +The "Great Pittsburg Coal Seam" is from four to twelve feet thick, about +three hundred feet above the water's edge, and about one hundred feet +from the average summit of the hills. It is bituminous coal which has +been pressed solid by the great mass of earth above it. The thicker the +mass and the greater the pressure, the better the coal. It has been +estimated as covering eight and a half millions of acres, and that it +would take the entire product of the gold mines of California for one +thousand years to buy this one seam. When we remember the numerous other +coal mines, anthracite as well as bituminous, found within the limits of +the State of Pennsylvania, we are fairly stupefied in trying to +comprehend the mineral wealth of that State. + +The coal mined in the rooms in these long galleries is conveyed in a +mule-drawn car to the mouth of the gallery, and if to be used by the +foundries at the foot of the hill, is simply sent to its destination +down an inclined plane. Probably not less than ten thousand men are +employed in these coal mines in and near Pittsburg, adding a population +not far from fifty thousand to that region. Pittsburg herself consumes +one-third of the coal produced, and a large proportion of the rest is +shipped down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, some of it as far as New +Orleans. + +The monster iron works of Pittsburg consume large quantities of this +coal, and it is the abundance and convenience of the latter material +which have made the former possible. No other city begins to compare +with Pittsburg in the number and variety of her factories. Down by the +banks of the swift-flowing Allegheny most of the great foundries are to +be discovered. The Fort Pitt Works are on a gigantic scale. Here are +cast those monsters of artillery known as the twenty-inch gun. Not by +any means a gun twenty inches in length, but a gun with a bore twenty +inches in diameter, so accurate that it does not vary one-hundredth +part of an inch from the true line in its whole length. The ball for +this gun weighs one thousand and eighty pounds, and costs a hundred and +sixty-five dollars. The gun itself weighs sixty tons, and costs fifty +thousand dollars, and yet one of these giants is cast every day, and the +operation is performed with the utmost composure and absence of +confusion. The mould is an enormous structure of iron and sand, weighing +forty tons, and to adjust this properly is the most difficult and +delicate work in the foundry. When it is all ready, three streams of +molten iron, from as many furnaces, flow through curved troughs and pour +their fiery cataracts into the mould. These streams run for twenty +minutes, and then, the mould being full, the furnaces from which they +flow are closed with a piece of clay. Left to itself, the gun would be +thirty days in cooling, but this process is expedited to eighteen days, +by means of cold water constantly flowing in and out of the bore. While +it is still hot, the great gun is lifted out of the pit, swung across +the foundry to the turning shop, the end shaven off, the outside turned +smooth, and the inside hollowed out, with an almost miraculous +precision. The weight of the gun is thus reduced twenty tons. + +The American Iron Works employ two thousand five hundred hands, and +cover seventeen acres. They have a coal mine at their back door, and an +iron mine on Lake Superior, and they make any and every difficult iron +thing the country requires. Nothing is too ponderous, nothing too +delicate and exact, to be produced. The nail works of the city are well +worth seeing. In them a thousand nails a minute are manufactured, each +nail being headed by a blow on cold iron. The noise arising from this +work can only be described as deafening. In one nail factory two hundred +different kinds of nails, tacks and brads are manufactured. The +productions of these different factories and foundries amount in the +aggregate to an almost incredible number and value, and embrace +everything made of iron which can be used by man. + +George F. Thurston, writing of Pittsburg, says, it has "thirty-five +miles of factories in daily operation, twisted up into a compact tangle; +all belching forth smoke; all glowing with fire; all swarming with +workmen; all echoing with the clank of machinery. Actual measurement +shows that there are, in the limits of what is known as Pittsburg, +nearly thirty-five miles of manufactories of iron, of steel, of cotton, +and of brass alone, not mentioning manufactories of other materials. In +a distance of thirty-five and one-half miles of streets, there are four +hundred and seventy-eight manufactories of iron, steel, cotton, brass, +oil, glass, copper and wood, occupying less than four hundred feet each; +for a measurement of the ground shows that these factories are so +contiguous in their positions upon the various streets of the city, that +if placed in a continuous row, they would reach thirty-five miles, and +each factory have less than the average front stated. This is +"manufacturing Pittsburg." In four years the sale and consumption of pig +iron alone was one-fourth the whole immense production of the United +States; and through the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their +tributaries, its people control the shipment of goods, without breaking +bulk, over twelve thousand miles of water transportation, and are thus +enabled to deliver the products of their thrift in nearly four hundred +counties in the territory of fifteen States. There is no city of its +size in the country which has so large a banking capital as Pittsburg. +The Bank of Pittsburg, it is said, is the only bank in the Union that +never suspended specie payments. + +Pittsburg is a city of workers. From the proprietors of these extensive +works, down to the youngest apprentices, all are busy; and perhaps the +higher up in the scale the harder the work and the greater the worry. A +man who carries upon his shoulders the responsibility of an +establishment whose business amounts to millions of dollars in a year; +who must oversee all departments of labor; accurately adjust the buying +of the crude materials and the scale of wages on the one hand, with the +price of the manufactured article on the other, so that the profit shall +be on the right side; and who at the same time shall keep himself posted +as to all which bears any relation to his business, has no time for +leisure or social pleasures, and must even stint his hours of necessary +rest. + +Pittsburg illustrates more clearly than any other city in America the +outcome of democratic institutions. There are no classes here except the +industrious classes; and no ranks in society save those which have been +created by industry. The mammoth establishments, some of them perhaps in +the hands of the grandsons of their founders, have grown from small +beginnings, fostered in their growth by industry and thrift. The great +proprietor of to-day, it may have been, was the "boss" of yesterday, and +the journeyman of a few years ago, having ascended the ladder from the +lowest round of apprenticeship. Industry and sobriety are the main aids +to success. + +The wages paid are good, for the most part, varying according to the +quality of the employment, some of them being exceedingly liberal. The +character of the workmen is gradually improving, though it has not yet +reached the standard which it should attain. Many are intelligent, +devoting their spare time to self-improvement, and especially to a +comprehension of the relations of capital and labor, which so intimately +concern them, and which they, more than any other class of citizens, +except employers, need to understand, in order that they may not only +maintain their own rights, but may avoid encroaching on the rights of +others. + +Too many workmen, however, have no comprehension of the dignity of their +own position. They live only for present enjoyment, spend their money +foolishly, not to say wickedly, and on every holiday give themselves up +to that curse of the workingman--strong drink. While this class is such +a considerable one, the entire ranks of working men must be the +sufferers. And while ignorance as well as vice has been so prevalent +among them, it is not to be wondered at that they have been constantly +undervalued, and almost as constantly oppressed. + +The prosperity of the country depends upon the prosperity of the masses. +With all the money in the hands of a few, there are only the personal +wants of a few to be supplied. With wages high, work is more plentiful, +and everybody prospers. The gains of a large manufacturing +establishment, divided, by means of fair profit and just wages, between +employers and employed, instead of being hoarded up by one man, make one +hundred persons to eat where there would otherwise be but one; one +hundred people to buy the productions of the looms and forges of the +country, instead of only one; one hundred people, each having a little +which they spend at home, instead of one man, who hoards his wealth, or +takes it to Europe to dispose of it. It means all the difference between +good and bad times, between a prosperous country, where all are +comfortable and happy, and a country of a few millionaires and many +paupers. + +No description of Pittsburg would be complete without a reference to the +Knights of Labor, which has taken the place of the old trades unions and +guilds. While the latter were in existence, that city was often the +scene of violent and disastrous strikes. The great railroad strike of +1877, in which a number of lives were lost, and millions of dollars' +worth of property destroyed, culminated at Pittsburg, and for days the +city was stricken with panic. The cause of this strike was the decision +of the railroad corporation to reduce to one dollar a day the wages of a +certain class of its employees, which were already too low. The cause of +these strikers was just, but their methods were reprehensible. The +institution and spread of the Knights of Labor has rendered such another +strike an impossibility, as that Order, which has a large membership +among the workmen of Pittsburg, aims to settle, as far as possible, the +difficulties between employers and employees by arbitration; and its +spread will, we trust, if it does not pass under the control of +demagogues, eventually result in a better understanding between capital +and labor, and in a recognition of the fact that their real interests +are identical. + +Pittsburg has no park or public pleasure ground. Its people are too busy +to think about such things, or to use them if it had them. On Saturday +nights its theatres and variety halls are crowded, to listen to +entertainments which are not always of the best. When its people wish +to visit a public park, they must cross to Allegheny City, on the west +bank of the Allegheny River, where there is a park embracing a hundred +acres, containing a monument to Humboldt, and ornamented with small +lakes. The Soldiers' Monument, erected to the memory of four thousand +men of Allegheny County who lost their lives in the war of the +Rebellion, is also in this latter city, on a lofty hill near the river, +in the eastern part of the city. Many of the handsome residences of +Pittsburg's merchants and manufacturers are to be seen in this city, +which is also famous for its manufacturing interests, and is connected +with Pittsburg by five bridges. Birmingham is a flourishing suburb on +the opposite bank of the Monongahela River, containing important glass +and iron manufactories. + +The present population of Pittsburg is 156,381 inhabitants. The first +settlement upon the site of the city was in 1754, when a French trading +post was established and named Fort Duquesne. On July ninth, 1755, +General Braddock, in command of two thousand British troops, accompanied +by Colonel Washington with eight hundred Virginians, marched toward Fort +Duquesne with the intention of capturing it. When within a few miles of +the fort, they were surprised by a large party of French and Indians in +ambush, and Braddock, who angrily disregarded Washington's advice, saw +his troops slaughtered by an invisible enemy. The English and colonists +lost seven hundred and seventy-seven men, killed and wounded, while the +enemy's loss was scarcely fifty. Braddock himself was mortally wounded, +and died upon the battle field, and in order that his remains might not +be disturbed, Washington buried him in the road, and ordered the wagons +in their retreat to drive over his grave. Washington himself escaped +unhurt, though he had two horses shot under him, and had four bullets +sent through his clothes. An Indian who was engaged in this battle +afterwards said that he had seventeen fair fires at Washington during +the engagement, but was unable to wound him. + +In 1758, Fort Duquesne was abandoned by the French, and immediately +occupied by the English, who changed its name to Fort Pitt, in honor of +William Pitt. As a town its settlement dates from 1765. In 1804 it was +incorporated as a borough, and in 1816 chartered as a city. Its +population in 1840, was a little more than 20,000. In 1845 a great part +of the city was destroyed by fire, but was quickly rebuilt, its +prosperity remaining unchecked. + +A little less than ten miles from Pittsburg is the village called +Braddock's Field, which, in the names of its streets, perpetuates the +old historic associations. The ancient Indian trail which led to the +river is still preserved, and the two shallow ravines in which the +French and Indians lay concealed when they surprised Braddock's troops +are still there, though denuded of the dense growth of hazel bushes +which at that period served the purpose of an ambush. From an old oak in +this neighborhood many bullets have been pried out by persevering relic +hunters; while in the adjacent gardens the annual spring plowing +invariably turns up mementoes of that historic event, in the shape of +bullets, arrow heads, and even bayonets. A sword with a name engraved +upon it has also been found. + +The Pennsylvania Railroad now crosses the location of the thickest of +the fight, and at the time of its construction a considerable number of +human bones were dug up and reinterred, the place of the later interment +being surrounded by a rough fence of common rails. Children now play +where once the forces of their nation engaged in deadly warfare. The +hillside, which was then pierced by bullets, is now perforated near its +summit by large openings, through which emerge car-loads of coal. Thus +the present and the past strike hands across the century, and modern +civilization, with its implements of industry and its appliances of +commerce, supersedes and obliterates the traces of savagery, and of the +deadly enmity of man toward man. The sword is turned into the plowshare, +and peace triumphs over bloodshed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +PORTLAND. + + The Coast of Maine.--Early Settlements in Portland.--Troubles + with the Indians.--Destruction of the Town in 1690.--Destroyed + Again in 1703.--Subsequent Settlement and Growth.--During the + Revolution.--First Newspaper.--Portland Harbor.--Commercial + Facilities and Progress.--During the Rebellion.--Great Fire + of 1866.--Reconstruction.--Position of the city.--Streets.-- + Munjoy Hill.--Maine General Hospital.--Eastern and Western + Promenades.--Longfellow's House.--Birthplace of the Poet.-- + Market Square and Hall.--First Unitarian Church.--Lincoln + Park.--Eastern Cemetery.--Deering's Woods.--Commercial + Street.--Old-time Mansion.--Case's Bay and Islands.--Cushing's + Island.--Peak's Island.--Long Island.--Little Chebague Island.-- + Harpswell. + + +The hungry ocean has gnawed and ravaged the New England coast, until +along almost its entire length it is worn into ragged edges, forming +islands, capes, promontories, bold headlands, peninsulas, bays, inlets +and coves. In this coast are united the grand, the picturesque and the +beautiful. Soft masses of foliage are in close juxtaposition with rugged +rocks and dashing surf. Violet turf sweeps down to meet the sands washed +up by the sea. Bays cut deeply into the land, forming safe harbors, and +emerald islands innumerable dot their surface. + +In 1632 George Cleve and Richard Tucker landed on the beach of a +peninsula, jutting out into a broad and deep bay, and sheltered from the +ocean by a promontory at the south, now known as Cape Elizabeth, and by +a guard of islands which clasped hands around it. Here Cleve built, of +logs, the first house on the site of what is now the city of Portland. +After a time other colonists came, devoting themselves to fishing and +buying furs of the Indians. When the people of this distant colony +wanted to go to Boston, they rode horseback along the beach, which +formed the original highway. The settlement was first known as Casco, +but its name was changed to Falmouth in 1668, though a portion of it, +where Portland now stands, continued to be known as Casco Rock. In 1675 +there were but forty families in the town, and the Rock was still almost +covered by a dense forest. In that year the Indians, who had long borne +grievous wrongs at the hands of the settlers with patient endurance, +arose, under King Philip, to avenge them. The inhabitants of Falmouth +were either killed or carried into captivity, and the little town was +wiped out of existence. + +Three years later Fort Royal, the largest fortification on the coast, +was erected on a rocky eminence, near the present foot of India street, +where the round-house of the Grand Trunk Railway now stands, and +settlers began to return. A party of French Huguenots settled there, +mills were set up, roads cut into the forest, and trade established +between Falmouth and Massachusetts towns. The little settlement existed +under varying fortunes until 1690, when the French and Indians, after a +few days' siege, captured the fort, destroyed the town, and carried the +commanding officer and his garrison captives to Quebec. The war +continued until 1698, during which time the place was only known as +"deserted Casco." In 1703 the war broke out again, and what few +inhabitants had straggled back were killed, and the place remained +desolate until 1715, when the re-settlement began. Three years later +twenty families had banded themselves together for mutual defence, +clustering about the foot of India street, and eastward along the beach. +The second meeting-house of the town was erected at the corner of India +and Middle streets, where Rev. Thomas Smith, in 1727, commenced his +ministry, which extended over a period of sixty-eight years. + +The town was incorporated in 1718, and at that time the Neck above Clay +Cove was all forest and swamp. A brook flowed into the Cove, crossed by +bridges at Fore and Middle streets. The old bridge at Middle street +remained until early in the present century. The trails stretching out +into the forest gradually grew into streets, and the three principal +ones were named Fore, Middle and Back streets. The name of the latter +was, late in the century, changed to Congress street. + +After a period of sixty years of steady growth, the town had extended +only as far westward as Centre street, and the upper portion of the Neck +was still covered with woods. The Indians gave the town little trouble +after 1725, having made peace in that year, and gradually dwindled away, +and emigrated to Canada. In 1755 it was no longer a frontier post. Its +population had increased to nearly 3,000 inhabitants, commerce had been +established, and the town was a most peaceful and a prosperous one. At +the commencement of the Revolution 2,555 tons of shipping were owned in +Falmouth. + +When the colonies began to resist the encroachments of England, Falmouth +took a prominent and patriotic stand. In October, 1775, Captain Henry +Mowatt, with a fleet of five vessels, opened his batteries on the town, +and, firing the houses, laid it in ashes. Over four hundred buildings +were destroyed, leaving only one hundred standing. The place was again +deserted, the people seeking safety in the interior. + +On January first, the _Falmouth Gazette and Weekly Advertiser_, the +first newspaper of the town, was published by Benjamin Titcomb and +Thomas B. Waite. In 1786 the town was divided, the Neck receiving the +name of Portland, having at that time a population of about two +thousand. In 1793 wharves were extended into the harbor. In 1806, its +commercial business and general prosperity were unexampled in New +England. The duties collected at the Custom House reached, in that year, +$342,809, having increased from $8,109 in 1790. But in 1807, the embargo +which followed the non-intercourse policy of 1806 resulted in the +suspension of commerce and the temporary ruin of the shipping interests. +Commercial houses were prostrated, and great distress prevailed. The +harbor was empty, and grass grew upon the wharves. In the war of 1812 +privateers were fitted out here, some of which damaged the enemy, while +others were captured. After the peace of 1815 commerce revived but +slowly, and the population as slowly increased. + +In March, 1820, Maine was separated from Massachusetts, and admitted +into the Union as a State; and Portland became its capital. In 1832 the +capital was removed to Augusta. In 1828 the first steamboat anchored in +the harbor of Portland, having arrived from New York to run as a +passenger boat between Portland and Boston. The Portland Steam Packet +Company was organized in 1844, and has continued in successful operation +ever since. + +Portland has one of the deepest and best harbors in the world, with a +depth of forty feet at low tide. Its surroundings are exceptionally +favorable for a commercial city, and were it not for its geographical +location, it being so far north of the great areas of population, it +would undoubtedly have gained a prominence over most of the Atlantic +cities. But Boston and New York drew all but the provincial trade and +commerce, and with a sparsely settled country at its back, there was +little to build up Portland and give it great prosperity. In 1850 the +Cumberland and Oxford Canal, connecting the waters of Sebago Lake with +Portland Harbor, was completed. This was not a great enterprise, +certainly, as compared with modern undertakings; but the Portlanders +thought a good deal of it at the time. Between 1840 and 1846, the city +endured another season of depression. Railroads had given to Boston much +of the business that had formerly found a natural outlet through +Portland; but in the latter year a railroad was planned to Canada, +which, when completed, in 1853, brought it into connection with the +cities of the British provinces, and with the vast grain-growing regions +of the west. A winter line of steamers to Liverpool followed, and the +rapidly increasing commerce of the city soon resulted in the +construction of a wide business avenue, extending a mile in length, +along the whole water front of the city. This new street was called +Commercial, and became the locality of heavy wholesale trade. Closely +following, came the opening up of railroads to all sections of the +State, and the establishment of steamboat lines along the coast, as far +as the Lower Provinces. Trade that had hitherto gone to Boston was thus +reclaimed, new manufacturing establishments sprung up, and an era of +prosperity seemed fairly inaugurated. + +Portland manifested her patriotism during the war of the Rebellion, +contributing 5,000 men to the army, of whom four hundred and twenty-one +returned. In June, 1863, the United States Revenue cutter, Caleb +Cushing, having been captured by Rebels, and pursued by the officials of +the city, and becoming becalmed near the Green Islands, was blown up by +her captors, the latter taking to the boats, only to be captured and +sent to Fort Preble as prisoners of war. + +On the fourth of July, 1866, a fire-cracker, carelessly thrown in a boat +builder's shop, on Commercial, near the foot of High street, resulted in +a fire which laid in ruins more than half the city of Portland. The fire +commenced about five o'clock in the afternoon. The sparks soon +communicated with Brown's Sugar House, and thence, spreading out like a +fan, swept diagonally across the city, destroying everything in its +track, until a space one and one-half miles long, by one and one-fourth +miles broad, was so completely devastated that only a forest of +tottering walls and blackened chimneys remained, and it was difficult to +trace even the streets. The fire was fanned into such a fury by a gale +which was blowing at the time, that the efforts of the firemen were +without avail, and the work of destruction was only stayed when, as a +last resort, buildings in its path were blown up before the flames had +reached them. The entire business portion, embracing one-half the city, +was destroyed. Every bank and newspaper office, every lawyer's office, +many stores, churches, public buildings and private residences were +swept away. Fireproof structures, which were hastily filled with +valuables, in the belief that they would withstand the flames, crumbled +to the earth, as though melted by the intense heat. Only one building +on Middle street stood unscathed, though the flames swept around it in a +fiery sea. The fire did not burn itself out until early in the morning +of the following day, when it paused at the foot of Mountjoy Hill. When +morning came, the inhabitants looked with terror and dismay upon fifteen +hundred buildings in ashes, fifty-eight streets and courts desolated, +ten thousand people homeless, and $10,000,000 worth of property +destroyed. + +The work of succor and reconstruction immediately began. The churches +were thrown open to shelter the homeless; Mountjoy Hill was speedily +transformed into a village of tents; barracks were built; contributions +of food, clothing and money poured in from near and far; the old streets +were widened and straightened, and new ones opened; and before the year +had closed many substantial buildings and blocks had been completed, and +others were in process of erection. The new Portland has arisen from the +ruins of the old, more stately, more beautiful and more substantial than +before; and after the lapse of so many years, the evil which the fire +wrought is forgotten, and only the good is manifest. Railroads have +since been built, and travel and commerce is each year increasing. The +population of Portland in 1880 was 33,810. + +The approach to Portland is more beautiful, even, than that to New York. +The city is built upon a small peninsula rising out of Casco Bay, to a +mean central elevation of more than one hundred feet. This peninsula +projects from the main land in a northeast direction, and is about three +miles long, by an average breadth of three-fourths of a mile. An arm of +the Bay, called Fore River, divides it on the south from Cape +Elizabeth, and forms an inner harbor of more than six hundred acres in +extent, and with an average depth, at high water, of thirty feet. +Vessels of the largest size can anchor in the main harbor, in forty feet +of water at low tide. The waters of the Back Cove separate it on the +north from the shores of Deering, and form another inner basin, of large +extent and considerable depth. + +At the northeasternmost extremity of the Neck, Munjoy Hill rises to a +height of one hundred and sixty-one feet, and commands a beautiful view +of the city, bay, adjacent islands and the ocean beyond. At the +southwestern extremity is Bramhall's Hill, rising to one hundred and +seventy-five feet and commanding city, bay, forests, fields, villages +and mountains. The land sinks somewhat between these two elevations, but +its lowest point still rises fifty-seven feet above high tide. The +elevation of its site, and the beauty of its scenery and surroundings, +are fast attracting the attention of tourists, and drawing to the city +hosts of summer visitors. + +The peninsula is covered with a network of streets and lanes, containing +an aggregate length of fifty miles, while it has thirty wharves to +accommodate the commerce of the port. Congress street, the main +thoroughfare of the city, is three miles in length, and extends from +Bramhall to Munjoy. Running parallel to it for a part of its length, on +the southern slope, are Middle street, a business street, devoted +principally to the wholesale and retail trade; Fore street, the ancient +water street of the city, but now devoted to miscellaneous trade; and +Commercial street, which commands the harbor, and is principally devoted +to large wholesale business. At the west end there are other streets +between Congress and Commercial, including Spring, Danforth and York. +Cumberland, Oxford, supplemented on its western end by Portland, +Lincoln, along the shore of Back Cove, also supplemented on its western +end by Kennebec street, are on the northern slope of Congress street. +The cross streets are numerous. India street, at the eastern end, was +the early site of population and business; Franklin and Beal streets are +the only ones running straight across the peninsula, from water to +water; Exchange street, devoted to banks, brokers' offices and insurance +agencies, and High and State streets, occupied by private residences, +are the principal ones. There is partially completed around the entire +city a Marginal Way, one hundred feet in width, and nearly five miles in +length. + +Munjoy Hill is a suburb, which is almost a distinct village, being +occupied by residences of the middle class, who have their own schools, +churches, and places of business. From its summit, at early morning, one +may see the sun rising out of the ocean, in the midst of emerald +islands. On this hill, in 1690, Lieutenant Thaddeus Clark, with thirteen +men, was shot by Indians in ambush, the hill being then covered with +forest. On the same hill, in 1717, Lieutenant-Governor Dammer made a +treaty with the Indians, which secured a peace for many years; and in +1775 Colonel Thompson captured Captain Mowatt, in revenge for which the +latter subsequently burned the city. In 1808 the third and last +execution for murder took place here; and in 1866 here arose the village +of tents after the great conflagration. The Observatory, built in 1807, +is upon Munjoy, having been erected for the purpose of signaling +shipping approaching the harbor. It is eighty-two feet high, and from +it one can obtain the best view of the city and its surroundings. Casco +Bay lies to the northeast, dotted with islands. To the eastward, four +miles distant, beyond its barrier of islands, the Atlantic keeps up the +never-ending music of its waves. To the southward is the city, with the +harbor and the shipping beyond. Far away to the northeast is Mount +Washington, faintly outlined upon the horizon, prominent in the distant +range of mountains. Adjoining the Observatory is the Congress street +Methodist Episcopal Church, a beautiful edifice, its slender, graceful +spire being a most conspicuous object from the harbor and the sea, and +rising to the greatest height of any in the city. + +The western end, including Bramhall Hill, is the fashionable quarter; +and having been spared in the conflagration of 1866, many ancient +mansions remain, surrounded by newer and more elegant residences. The +houses are in the midst of well-kept lawns and gardens, and the streets +are shaded by stately elms, some of them of venerable age. The views +through these avenues of trees, through some of the streets leading down +to the water, are delightful beyond description, the overarching foliage +framing in glimpses of water, fields, distant hills and blue sky. At +evening, from Bramhall's Hill, one looks over a beautiful and varied +landscape, brightened by the glow of sunset on the western sky. The +Maine General Hospital stands on Bramhall Hill, an imposing edifice, and +one of the most prominent features of the city. + +The Western Promenade, a wide avenue planted with rows of trees, runs +along the brow of Bramhall's Hill. The hill is named after George +Bramhall, who in 1680 bought a tract of four hundred acres, and made +himself a home in the wilderness. Nine years later he was killed at the +foot of the hill, in a fight with the Indians. From the summit of the +hill may be seen the waters of Fore River on the one hand, and of Back +Cove on the other. Beyond is a wide stretch of field and forest, broken +by villages and farmhouses, with the spires of Gorham in view, and far +away, behind them, Ossipee Mountain, fifty-five miles distant, in New +Hampshire. To the east is the church of Standish, Maine, and Chocorue +Peak rising behind it; Mount Carrigain, sixty-three miles away, the line +of the Saddleback in Sebago, and far beyond, the sun-capped summits of +the White Mountains. + +The Eastern Promenade is on Munjoy's Hill, and commands views equally +beautiful. + +The Preble House is in Congress street, shaded by four magnificent elms, +which have survived from the days of the Preble Mansion. Next to it, +sitting back from the street, and also shaded by elms, is the first +brick house built in Portland. It was begun in 1785, by General Peleg +Wadsworth, and finished the following year, by his son-in-law, Stephen +Longfellow. It is known as the Longfellow House, but it is not the place +where the poet was born. He lived here in his youth, and frequently +visited the house in later days; and it is still in the possession of +his family. But Henry Wadsworth Longfellow first saw the light on +February twenty-seventh, 1807, in an old-fashioned wooden house, at the +corner of Fore and Hancock streets. The sea at that period flowed up to +the road opposite the house, which commanded a fine view of the harbor. +New-made land crowds it further away, and the trains of the Grand Trunk +Railway run where the tide once ebbed and flowed. Not far off is the +site of the first house ever built in Portland, by George Cleves, in +1632. + +Nathaniel P. Willis was also born in Portland, but a little more than a +month earlier than Longfellow. Both his father and his grandfather had +been publishers, the latter having been apprenticed in the same printing +office with Benjamin Franklin. Sarah Payson Willis, subsequently Mrs. +James Parton, still better known as Fanny Fern, a sister of the poet, +was also a native of Portland. John Neal, born in Portland August +twenty-fifth, 1793, was a man well known as a poet, novelist and +journalist. Seba Smith, author of the Jack Downing Papers, Mrs. E. Oakes +Smith, Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Allen, Nathaniel Deering, Rev. Elijah +Kellogg, Mrs. Ann S. Stephens, Mrs. Margaret J. M. Sweat, and other +well-known authors, have been either natives of or residents in +Portland. General Neal Dow, who served in the late war, and so famous as +an advocate of prohibition, finds his home in Portland, at the corner of +Congress and Dow streets. William Pitt Fessenden, late Senator and +Secretary of the Treasury, claimed Portland as his home. + +Market Square is in the heart of the city, surrounded by stores, hotels, +halls, and places of amusement. Military Hall stands almost in-the +centre of the square, and was built in 1825, as a town hall and market +place. The building contains a history in itself. Here, before the city +charter was obtained, in 1832, town meetings were held, and subsequently +it was the headquarters of the city government. Military companies had +and still have their armories here; and it has been the place of many +exciting political meetings. In it Garrison uttered his anathemas +against slavery, and Stephen A. Foster was assaulted by a brutal +pro-slavery mob. Sumner, Fessenden, and other great orators, have +poured forth their eloquence within its hall, and parties have been made +and unmade. On holidays Market Square is crowded with an animated +throng, and at night, when peddlers and mountebanks take their stands +and display their wares by the light of flaming torches, the scene is +especially picturesque. + +On Congress street, not far from Market Square, is the First Parish +(Unitarian) Church, which was rebuilt in 1825, on the site which the old +church had occupied since 1740. This church is remarkable for its long +pastorates, there having been but four pastors from 1727 to 1864, a +period of one hundred and thirty-seven years. The present pastor is the +Rev. Dr. Thomas Hill, ex-President of Harvard College. + +Lincoln Park is a public square, bounded by Congress, Franklin, Federal +and Pearl streets. It contains a little less than two and one-half +acres, in the middle of which is a fountain. This park is in the centre +of the district swept by the conflagration of 1866, and looking on every +side, not a building meets the eye which was erected previous to that +year. + +The largest and most costly church in Portland is the Cathedral of the +Immaculate Conception, fronting on Cumberland street. It is one hundred +and ninety-six feet in length, by one hundred in width, with a spire +rising in the air two hundred and thirty-six feet. It is of brick, and +is imposing only on account of its size. Its interior, however, is +finished and decorated in a style surpassed by few churches in the +country. + + [Illustration: NIGHT SCENE IN MARKET SQUARE, PORTLAND, MAINE.] + +The Eastern Cemetery, on Congress street, is the oldest graveyard in +Portland. For two hundred years it was the common burial ground of the +settlement, and here, probably, all the early colonists sleep their +last sleep, though their graves are forgotten. The oldest tombstone +which the yard seems to contain is that of Mrs. Mary Green, who died in +1717. On the opposite side of the yard, near Mountford street, are the +monuments erected to the memory of William Burroughs, of the United +States Brig Enterprise, and Samuel Blythe, of His Majesty's Brig Boxer, +who fought and died together, on September fifth, 1813, and were buried +here. Lieut. Kerwin Waters, of the Enterprise, wounded in the same +action, lies beside them. Of him Longfellow sung:-- + + "I remember the sea fight far away, + How it thundered o'er the tide! + And the dead captains, as they lay + In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay, + Where they in battle died." + +There is a white marble monument to Commodore Preble, and the death of +Lieutenant Henry Wadsworth, uncle of the poet Longfellow, who fell +before Tripoli in 1804, is also commemorated here. + +Congress Square, at the junction of Fore street, has an elevated +position, and is surrounded by churches of various denominations. From +Congress street, near its junction with Mellen street, the visitor can +look off to Deering's Woods, which rise on the borders of a creek, +running in from Back Cove. This tract of woodland has come into +possession of the city, and will be preserved as a park. Longfellow +sings of + + "The breezy dome of groves, + The shadows of Deering's Woods." + +Again:-- + + "And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair, + And with joy that is almost pain + My heart goes back to wander there, + And among the dreams of the days that were + I find my lost youth again." + +The reservoir of the Portland Water Works is at the junction of Bramhall +and Brackett streets. It has an area of 100,000 square feet, with a +capacity of 12,000,000 gallons, and is supplied with water from Lake +Sebago, seventeen miles distant. + +The extensive premises of the Grand Trunk Railway lie at the foot of +India street, where are wharves for the great freight business between +Canada and Europe, and whence the Dominion and Beaver Line of +steamships, every fortnight, from November to May, send ships to +Liverpool. The scene during the winter season is a busy one, and the +amount of freight handled and shipped is immense. Then begins Commercial +street, the modern business avenue of the city, which runs its whole +water front, with a railroad track in the middle of it. On this street +is the old family mansion of the widow of Brigadier Preble, built in +1786, on the site of his father's house, destroyed by fire in 1775. It +then occupied a beautiful and retired locality, looking out upon the +harbor, and surrounded by ample grounds. But now it is strangely out of +keeping with its neighbors. Opposite it now stands the grain elevator of +the Grand Trunk Railway, having been built in 1875, with a capacity of +200,000 bushels. All around are wholesale shipping and commission +houses, and wharves for ocean steamships extend up and down the shore. + +When Captain John Smith, famous in the early history of Virginia, and +the first tourist who ever visited Maine, made his famous summer trip +thither, in 1614, he described the place as follows:--"Westward of +Kennebec is the country of Ancocisco, in the bottom of a deep bay full +of many great isles, which divide it into many great harbors." Ancocisco +was very soon abbreviated to Casco, and the bay is still filled with +many great isles. Casco Bay, extending from Cape Elizabeth, on the +west, to Cape Small Point, on the east, a distance of about eighteen +miles, with a width of, perhaps, twelve miles, contains more islands +than any other body of water of like extent in the whole United States. +It is a popular belief that these islands number three hundred and +sixty-five--one for every day in the year; but a regard for truth +compels us to state, that of the named and unnamed islands and islets, +there are only one hundred and twenty-two, while a few insignificant +rocks and reefs would not swell the number to one hundred and forty. +These islands are divided into three ranges, the Inner, Middle and +Outer. The Inner range contains twenty islands; the Middle range, +twenty-four; and the Outer range, seventy-eight. Besides these islands, +the shore is very much broken, and extends out into the bay in +picturesque points or fringes, the creeks, inlets and tidal rivers +extending far inland. In this bay was discovered, by a mariner named +Joselyn, in 1639, a triton or merman, and the first sea serpent of the +coast. Seals breed and sport on a ledge in the inner bay, off the shore +of Falmouth, and its waters abound with edible fish and sea-fowl. + +Ferry boats convey an endless stream of pleasure-seekers to the +different islands, during the summer season. Cushing's Island lies at +the mouth of Portland Harbor, forming one shore of the ship channel. Its +southern shore presents a rocky and precipitous front, culminating in a +bold bluff nearly one hundred and fifty feet high, known as White Head. +The island looks out upon the harbor from smiling fields and low, +tree-bordered beaches. It furnishes good opportunities for fishing and +bathing, and is fast becoming a popular summer resort. It is five miles +in circumference, and commands magnificent sea views. + +Peak's Island is separated from Cushing's Island by White Head Passage, +and with the latter forms an effectual barrier to the ocean. Like it, it +presents a bold front to the sea, and smiles upon the bay. It is about a +mile and a half long, by a mile and a quarter wide, and rises gradually +to a central elevation of, perhaps, one hundred feet, commanding +extensive views of the ocean and harbor, and of the mountains, eighty +miles away. It is one of the most beautiful of all the islands of Casco +Bay, and has a resident population of three hundred and seventy persons, +who are largely descendants of the first settlers. + +Long Island lies northeast of Peak's Island, and is separated from it by +Hussey's Sound. It has an area of three hundred and twelve acres, +presenting a long, ragged line of shore to the sea. Its population was, +in 1880, two hundred and fifty-two, the men being engaged in fishing and +farming. + +Little Chebague lies inside of Long Island, and is connected with Great +Chebague by a sand bar, dry at low water. A hotel and several summer +cottages stand upon the island, and it is an attractive place. + +Harpswell is a long peninsula, about fourteen miles down the bay, and is +much resorted to by picnic parties. To the eastward lies Bailey's +Island, one of the most beautiful of the bay, and to the northward is +Orr's Island, the scene of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, "The Pearl of +Orr's Island." Rising between Bailey's Island and Small Point Harbor is +the Elm Island of Rev. Elijah Kellogg's stories. Whittier has written a +poem entitled "The Dead Ship of Harpswell," in which he describes a +spectre ship which never reaches the land, and is a sure omen of +death:-- + + "In vain o'er Harpswell's neck the star + Of evening guides her in, + In vain for her the lamps are lit + Within thy town, Seguin! + In vain the harbor boat shall hail, + In vain the pilot call; + No hand shall reef her spectral sail, + Or let her anchor fall." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +PHILADELPHIA. + + Early History.--William Penn.--The Revolution.--Declaration of + Independence.--First Railroad.--Riots--Streets and Houses.-- + Relics of the Past.--Independence Hall.--Carpenters' Hall.-- + Blue Anchor.--Letitia Court.--Christ Church.--Old Swedes' + Church.--Benjamin Franklin.--Libraries.--Old Quaker Almshouse.-- + Old Houses in Germantown.--Manufactures.--Theatres.--Churches.-- + Scientific Institutions.--Newspapers.--Medical Colleges.-- + Schools.--Public Buildings.--Penitentiary.--River Front.-- + Fairmount Park.--Zoological Gardens.--Cemeteries.--Centennial + Exhibition.--Bi-Centennial.--Past, Present and Future of the + City. + + +In the year 1610, Lord Thomas de la War, on his voyage from England to +Virginia, entered what is now Delaware Bay, and discovered the river +flowing into it, to which he also gave his name. The Dutch made a prior +claim to the discovery of the land which bordered this river, and +retained possession for a time. But there were difficulties in +maintaining their settlements, and in 1638 the Swedes sent out a colony +from Stockholm, and established a footing on the west bank of the river, +afterwards known as Pennsylvania. The Dutch at New York, however, would +not submit to this arrangement, and under Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of +Manhattan, demanded the surrender of their fort--now called Trinity +Fort--which was yielded. The Dutch authority lasted for a short time +only. In 1664 the English captured Manhattan and expelled the Dutch, and +in the same year an expedition under Sir Robert Carr came to the +Delaware, fired two broadsides into Trinity Fort, landed storming +parties, assaulted the fort, killed three Dutchmen, wounded ten, and in +triumph raised the flag of England, which was thereafter supreme on the +Delaware for nine years. + +In 1672 the Dutch tried their strength again, and summoned the English +fort at Staten Island to surrender. This summons was complied with, and +the English of New York swore allegiance to the Prince of Orange. The +people upon the banks of the Delaware soon accommodated themselves to +the change of masters, and welcomed the Dutch. But this was their last +appearance upon the Delaware. In the next year, 1673, their settlements +in America were all ceded, through the fortune of war, to Great Britain, +and this territory once more passed under the English flag. + +About this time the name of William Penn enters into American history. +The British Government being largely indebted to his father, Admiral +William Penn, the son found little difficulty in obtaining a grant for a +large tract of land in America, upon which to found a colony. This was +in 1681. He immediately sent out to his wooded possessions, which he +named Pennsylvania, his cousin, Captain William Markham, who had been a +soldier, with a commission to be Deputy Governor, and with instructions +to inform the European inhabitants already settled there of the change +in government, promising them liberal laws. Markham was also to convey a +message of peace to the Indians, in the name of their new "proprietor." +He was soon followed by three commissioners, who had power to settle the +colony, and among other things, to layout a principal city, to be the +capital of the province, which William Penn, who was a member of the +Society of Friends, directed should be called Philadelphia--a Greek +compound signifying "brotherly love." He himself arrived on the great +territory of which he was sole proprietor in 1682, and found the plans +of the city and province to his satisfaction. He at once convened an +Assembly, and the three counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester +were created, and proper laws passed for their government. + +In less than two years, however, Penn was obliged to return to England, +and shortly after, in 1692, the British Government took possession of +the colony, and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New +York. But in 1694, the government was restored to Penn, and Markham was +again made Lieutenant-Governor. Penn, himself, did not return to America +until 1699. He found his capital very considerably improved. Instead of +the wilderness he had left, fifteen years before, there were streets, +houses, elegant stores, warehouses, and shipping on the river. The +population was estimated at four thousand five hundred persons. His +visit was, however, brief. In 1701, he set sail again for England, +intending to return in a few months, but this intention was never +carried out. In 1708, his pecuniary embarrassments were so great, that +he was arrested for debt in London, and thrown into the Fleet Prison, +where he continued for nine years. In 1712 his health and mind gave way, +and during six years he lingered as an imbecile, childish and gentle in +his manners, the sad wreck of a strong mind. He died in July, 1718. + +The government of Pennsylvania was administered for a time by his widow, +and subsequently went into the hands of his children and their +descendants, as proprietors. They usually delegated the administration +to lieutenant-governors, though they sometimes exercised their +authority in person, until the American Revolution put an end to all the +colonial governments. + +The history of Philadelphia during the period of the Revolution is +largely connected with that of the whole country. At a large meeting +held in the State House in Philadelphia, in April, 1768, it was resolved +to cease all importations from the mother country, in consequence of the +exorbitant taxes levied upon them. In 1773, the British East India +Company being determined to export tea to America, a second meeting was +called at the State House, at which it was patriotically resolved that +"Parliament had no right to tax the Americans, without their consent," +and that "any one who would receive or sell the tea sent out to America +would be denounced as an enemy to his country." + +The ship Polly, Captain Ryers, was to bring the tea to Philadelphia. +Handbills, purporting to be issued by the "committee for tarring and +feathering," were printed and distributed among the citizens. They were +addressed to the Delaware pilots and to Captain Ryers himself, warning +the former of the danger they would incur if they piloted the tea ship +up the river, whilst Captain Ryers was threatened with the application +of tar and feathers if he attempted to land the tea. + +Christmas Day, 1773, the Polly arrived. A committee of citizens went on +board, told Captain Ryers the danger he was in, and requested him to +accompany them to the State House. Here the largest meeting was +assembled that had ever been held in the city. This meeting resolved +that the tea on board the Polly _should not be landed_, and that it +should be carried back to England immediately. The captain signified his +willingness to comply with the resolution, and in two hours after, the +Polly, with her freight of tea, hoisted sail and went down the river. + +In September, 1774, the first Congress, composed of delegates from +eleven Colonies, met at Carpenters' Hall, on Chestnut street, +Philadelphia, to consider the condition of the Colonies, in their +relation to the mother country. This Congress resolved that all +importations from Great Britain or her dependencies should cease. +Committees of "inspection and observation," were appointed, which +exercised absolute authority to punish all persons infringing the order +of Congress. + +On April twenty-fourth, 1775, news of the battles of Concord and +Lexington reached the city. A meeting was immediately called, by sound +of gong and bell, at the State House. Eight thousand persons assembled, +who resolved that they would "associate together, to defend with arms +their property, liberty and lives." Troops were at once raised, forts +and batteries built on the Delaware, floating batteries, gunboats and +ships-of-war constructed, with all the speed possible, and _chevaux de +frize_ sunk in the river, to prevent the passage of British ships. In +May, 1776, the English Frigate Roebuck, and Sloop-of-war Liverpool, +attempting to force their way up the river, the Americans opened fire on +them, and a regular naval action took place. The British managed to +escape, and retired to their cruising ground, at the entrance of the +bay. + + [Illustration: OLD INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA.] + +On July second, 1776, Congress, sitting at the State House, resolved in +favor of the severance of all connection between the American Colonies +and Great Britain, and independence of that power. On July third and +fourth, the form of the declaration of independence was debated, and +adopted on the latter day. July eighth, the Declaration was read to the +people in the State House yard, and received with acclamations, and +evidences of a stern determination to defend their independence with +their lives. The King's Arms were at once torn down from the court room +in the State House, and burned by the people. Bells were rung and +bonfires lighted, the old State House bell fulfilling the command +inscribed upon it, when it was cast, twenty years before: "Proclaim +Liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof." + +In September, 1777, the British army, under General Lord Howe, entered +Philadelphia. October fourth, Washington attacked it at Germantown, and +although he did not win a victory, compelled the British commander to +respect him. The English remained in possession of the city, but the +Americans held the country around. The Philadelphians having closed the +Delaware by the _chevaux de frize_, the royal army was in effect hemmed +in and cut off from communication with the British fleet, which had +entered the Delaware, but was prevented from approaching the city by the +American forts and batteries. It had brought but a moderate supply of +stores, and as these diminished, the troops suffered from scarcity of +food. + +On November twenty-sixth, British frigates and transports arrived at the +wharves of the city, to the great joy of the royal troops and of the +inhabitants, provisions having become very scarce and famine threatened. +Beef sold at five dollars a pound, and potatoes at four dollars a +bushel, hard money. The British army remained in Philadelphia until June +eighteenth, 1778, about nine months from its first occupation of the +city. During that time the officers gave themselves up to enjoyment. +They amused themselves with the theatre, with balls, parties, +cock-fights and gambling: and a grand fete was celebrated in honor of +their commander, Lord Howe. This fete, in the style of a tournament of +chivalry, took place in the lower part of the city, and while it was in +progress the Americans in considerable force made an attack upon the +lines north of the city, set fire to the abattis, and brought out the +entire body of the royal troops to repel the attack. + +Upon the evacuation of the city, in June, General Benedict Arnold was +immediately sent with a small force to occupy it. He remained in +military command for several months. It was discovered by many that he +had become largely involved in certain speculating transactions, and the +shame of the discovery stimulated the traitorous intentions which +finally carried him over to the British army. + +After the inauguration of Washington as President of the new republic, +it was determined by Congress that Philadelphia should be the seat of +the United States government for the ensuing ten years, after which it +should be removed to Washington City. The scheme of the Federal +Constitution was framed and adopted in September, 1787, by the +Convention sitting at the State House, with George Washington as +President. The final adoption of the Constitution of the United States +of America was celebrated in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July, 1788 by +a magnificent procession. + +The principal officers of Congress removed their residences to +Philadelphia in the latter part of 1790. At that period Washington lived +in Market street near Sixth, in a plain two-story brick house, which had +been the residence of Lord Howe during the British occupation of the +city. The locality is now occupied, if I mistake not, by the mammoth +clothing house of Wanamaker & Brown. John Adams, Vice-President, lived +in the Hamilton mansion at Bush Hill; and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of +State, at 174 Market street, between Fourth and Fifth, on the south +side. Congress assembled for the transaction of business on State House +Square. + +During the stay of the Federal government in Philadelphia, Washington +and Adams were inaugurated as President and Vice President (March +fourth, 1797), in the chamber of the House of Representatives. + +In 1793, 1797, and 1798, a fearful epidemic of the yellow fever, visited +Philadelphia and created great alarm, the mortality being dreadful. + +The removal of the Federal government to Washington, in 1800, deprived +Philadelphia of the prominence she had enjoyed as the Capital of the +nation. In the year 1808 steamboats began to ply regularly on the +Delaware River. During the war which commenced in 1812 between the +United States and Great Britain, Philadelphia maintained her loyalty, +and fulfilled her duty to the country. Several volunteer companies were +formed, and there was an engagement in July, 1813, between British war +vessels and the United States gunboat flotilla on the Delaware, in which +the Philadelphians proved themselves brave and patriotic. + +The first railroad, running from Philadelphia to Germantown, was built +in 1832. The Pennsylvania Railroad was projected in 1845, and chartered +in the following year. + +In 1834 a spirit of riot and disorder which passed over the United +States, reached Philadelphia, and led to disturbances between whites and +blacks. The houses of colored people were broken into, a meeting-house +torn down, and many other outrages committed. Again, in 1835 attacks +were made on the blacks, and houses burned. In 1838 all friends of the +abolition of slavery were violently attacked, and much damage done to +property in the city. + +But the most terrible riots which Philadelphia has known occurred in +1844. A meeting of the Native American party was attacked and dispersed. +The "Natives" rallied to a market house on Washington street, where they +were again attacked, and fire-arms used on both sides. Houses were +broken into and set on fire. The Roman Catholic churches of Saint +Michael and Saint Augustine, and a female Catholic seminary, were +burned, and many buildings sacked and destroyed. All the Catholic +churches were in great danger of sharing the same fate. A large number +of persons were killed on both sides. On July fourth, of the same year, +the Native Americans had a very large and showy procession through the +streets of the city. On Sunday, July seventh, the church of Saint Philip +de Neri, in Southwark, was broken into by the mob. In clearing the +streets, the soldiers and the people came into collision. The former +fired into the crowd, and several persons were killed, and others +wounded. This occurrence caused intense excitement. The soldiers were +attacked with cannon and with musketry, and they responded with +artillery and with musketry. The rioters had four pieces, which were +worked by sailors. The battle continued during the night of the seventh +and the morning of the eighth of July. Two soldiers were killed, and +several wounded. Of the citizens seven were killed, and many wounded. +This was the most sanguinary riot, and the last of any importance, which +ever occurred in Philadelphia. + +Philadelphia possesses many characteristic features which distinguish +her from her sister cities. The visitor will be at first struck by the +extreme regularity of the streets, and the look of primness which +invests them. They are laid out at right angles, the only notable +exceptions being those roads, now dignified by the name of avenues, +which usually led from the infant city into the then adjacent country. +These avenues, of which Passyunk, Germantown and Ridge are the principal +ones, are irregular in their course, but take a generally diagonal +direction; the first southwest, and the other two northwest. The houses +are mostly of brick, with white marble facings and steps, and white +wooden shutters to the first story. The streets running east and west, +from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, are, in the original city, with few +exceptions named after trees. Thus Cedar, Pine, Spruce, Locust, Walnut, +Chestnut, Filbert, Mulberry, Cherry, Sassafras and Vine. Cedar became +South street, and Sassafras and Mulberry became Race and Arch, the +latter so named because in the early days of the city Front street +spanned it by an arch. Callowhill street was originally Gallowhill +street, the word indicating its derivation. The houses on these streets +are numbered from the Delaware, beginning a new hundred with every +street. Thus all houses between Front and Second streets are numbered in +the first hundred, and at Second street a new hundred begins; the even +numbers being on the southern side, and the odd ones on the northern +side of the street. The streets running parallel to the river are +numbered from the river, beginning with Front, then Second, Third, and +so on, until the furthest western limit of the city is reached. Market +street, originally called High street, runs between Chestnut and +Filbert, dividing the city into north and south. The houses on the +streets crossing Market begin their numbers at that street, running both +north and south, each street representing an additional hundred. With +this naming of streets and numbering of houses, no stranger can ever +lose himself in Philadelphia. The name and number of street and house +will always tell him just where he is. Thus if he finds himself at 836 +North Sixth street, he knows he is eight squares north of Market street, +and six squares west of the Delaware River. + +The original city was bounded by the Delaware River on the east, and the +Schuylkill on the west, and extended north and south half a mile on +either side of Market street. Even before the present century it had +outgrown its original limits in a northerly and southerly direction, and +a number of suburbs had sprung up around it, each of which had its own +corporation. The names of these suburbs were, most of them, borrowed +from London. Southwark faced the river to the south; Moyamensing was +just west of Southwark; Spring Garden, Kensington, Northern Liberties, +Germantown, Roxborough, and Frankford were on the north, and West +Philadelphia west of the Schuylkill. In 1854 these suburbs, so long +divided from the "city" merely by geographical lines, were incorporated +with it; and the City of Philadelphia was made to embrace the entire +county of Philadelphia--a territory twenty-three miles long, with an +area of nearly one hundred and thirty square miles. It thus became in +size the largest city in the country, while it stands only second in +population. + +The old city was laid out with great economy as to space, the streets +being as narrow as though land were really scarce in the new country +when it was planned. Market street extends from the Delaware westward--a +broad, handsome avenue, occupied principally by wholesale stores. It is +indebted, both for its name and width, to the market houses, which from +an early date to as late as 1860, if not later, occupied the centre of +the street; long, low, unsightly structures, thronged early in the +morning, and especially on market days, with buyers and sellers, while +market wagons lined the sides of the street. The same kind of structures +still occupy certain localities of Second, Callowhill, Spring Garden and +Bainbridge streets. But those in Market street have disappeared, and +substantial and handsome market buildings have been erected on or near +the street, instead of in its centre. + +A century ago the business of Philadelphia was confined principally to +Front street, from Walnut to Arch. Now Second street presents the most +extended length of retail stores in the country, and business has spread +both north and south almost indefinitely, and is fast creeping westward. +Market street presents a double line of business houses, from river to +river. Chestnut, the fashionable promenade and locality of the finest +hotels and retail stores, is invaded by business beyond Broad, and Arch +street beyond Tenth; while Eighth street, even more than Chestnut the +resort of shoppers, is, for many squares, built up by large and handsome +retail stores. Broad street, lying between Thirteenth and Fifteenth, is +the handsomest avenue in Philadelphia. It is fifteen miles in length, +and one hundred and thirteen feet in width, and contains many of the +finest public buildings and private residences in the city. Ridgway +Library, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Horticultural Hall, Academy of Music, +Broad Street Theatre, Union League Club House, Masonic Temple, Academy +of Fine Arts, besides some of the most elegant religious edifices, are +located on this street. + +At the intersection of Broad and Market, where were once four little +squares left in the original plan of the city, and known as Penn Square, +are being constructed the vast Public Buildings of the city. They are of +white marble, four hundred and eighty-six and one-half feet long by four +hundred and seventy feet wide, and four stories high, covering an area +of four and one-half acres, not including a large court in the centre. +The central tower will, when completed, be four hundred and fifty feet +high, and the total cost of the buildings over ten millions of dollars. +This building presents a most imposing appearance, whether viewed from +Market or Broad streets. The Masonic Temple, just to the north, is one +of the handsomest of its kind in America. It is a solid granite +structure, in the Norman style, most elaborately ornamented, and with a +tower two hundred and thirty feet high. Its interior is finished in a +costly manner, and after the several styles of architecture. The Academy +of Music is one of the largest opera houses in America, being capable of +seating three thousand persons. + + [Illustration: MASONIC TEMPLE, PHILADELPHIA.] + +Third street is the banking and financial centre of Philadelphia; on +Walnut street are found the greatest proportion of insurance offices; +South street is the cheap retail street, and is crowded with shoppers, +especially on market days, and the Jews reign here supreme. +Bainbridge street (once Shippen) east of Broad represents the squalor +and crime of the city. "Old clo'" and second-hand stores of all +descriptions alternate with low drinking places, and occupy forlorn and +tumble-down tenements. All races and colors, and both sexes mingle here, +and the man who sighs for missionary work need go no further than this +quarter. + +Chestnut street is, next to Broad, the handsomest in the city. The +buildings are all of comparatively recent construction, and are many of +them handsome and costly. On Market street the past century still +manifests itself in quaint houses of two or three stories in height, +sometimes built of alternate black and red bricks, and occasionally with +queer dormer windows, wedged in between more stately and more modern +neighbors. It will be some time before the street becomes thoroughly +modernized, and we can scarcely wish that it may become so, for the city +would thus lose much of its quaint interest. + +One of the characteristics of Philadelphia which strikes the traveler is +that it wears an old-time air, far more so than Boston or New York. +Boston cannot straighten her originally crooked streets, but her thought +and spirit are entirely of the nineteenth century. New York is intensely +modern, the few relics of the past which still remain contrasting and +emphasizing still more strongly the life and bustle and business of +to-day. Philadelphia is a quiet city. Its people do not rush hither and +thither, as though but one day remained in which to accomplish a life +work. They take time to walk, to eat, to sleep, and to attend to their +business. In brief, they take life far more easily and slowly than +their metropolitan neighbors. They do not enter into wild speculative +schemes; they have no such Stock Exchange, where bulls and bears roar +and paw the ground, or where they may make or lose fortunes in less time +than it takes to eat one's dinner. They are a steady, plodding people, +accumulating handsome fortunes in solid, legitimate ways. There is +little of the rustle and roar of the elder city; save for the continual +ring and rattle of the street cars, which cross the city in every +direction, many of its quarters are as quiet as a country village. Its +early Quaker settlers have stamped it with the quiet and placidity which +is the leading trait of their sect; and though the Quaker garb is seen +less and less often upon the streets, the early stamp seems to have been +indelible. + +Philadelphia retains more of the old customs, old houses, and, perhaps, +old laws, than any other city in the country. The Quaker City lawyer +carries his brief in a green bag, as the benches of the Inner Temple +used to do in Penn's time. The baker cuts a tally before the door each +morning, just as the old English baker used to do three centuries ago. +After a death has occurred in it, a house is put into mourning, having +the shutters bowed and tied with black ribbon, not to be opened for at +least a year. There are laws (seldom executed, it is true, but still +upon the statute-books), against profanity and Sabbath-breaking, and +even regulating the dress of women. + +Some of the streets of Philadelphia bear strongly the marks of the past. +Those, especially, near the river, which were built up in the early +days, have not yet been entirely renovated; while some ancient buildings +of historic interest have been preserved with jealous care. First and +foremost among the latter is Independence Hall, occupying the square +upon Chestnut street between Fifth and Sixth streets--no doubt, +considered an imposing edifice at the time of its erection, but now +overshadowed by the business palaces which surround it. It was here that +the second Colonial Congress met; here that the Declaration of +Independence was adopted; and here that the United States Congress +assembled, until the seat of the General Government was removed to +Washington, in 1800. In Congress Hall, in the second story of this +building, Washington delivered his Farewell Address. The building is now +preserved with great care. The hall where the Declaration of +Independence was signed is decorated with portraits of the signers, and +contains, among other objects of interest, as before stated, the bell +which pealed out freedom to all. + +Next in historic importance is Carpenters' Hall, between Third and +Fourth streets. The first Continental Congress met here, and here the +first words pointing toward a collision with the mother country were +spoken in Philadelphia. + +When William Penn made his first visit to Philadelphia, on October +twenty-fourth, 1682, he set foot upon his new possessions at the Blue +Anchor Landing, at the mouth of Dock Creek, in the vicinity of what is +now the corner of Front and Dock streets. Here stood the Blue Anchor +Inn, the first house built within the ancient limits of the city. Then, +and long afterwards, Dock Creek was a considerable stream, running +through the heart of the town. But, in course of time, the water became +offensive, from the drainage of the city, and it was finally arched +over, and turned into a sewer. The winding of Dock street is accounted +for by the fact that it follows the former course of the creek. Sloops +once anchored and discharged their cargoes where now stands Girard Bank, +on Third street, below Chestnut. + +Between Chestnut and Market streets, Second and Front, is found Letitia +street, where long stood the first brick house built in the Province, +erected for the use of Penn himself, and named after his daughter +Letitia. He directed that it should "be pitched in the middle of the +platt of the town, facing the harbor." The bricks, wooden carvings and +other materials, were imported from England. At the time of its +construction a forest swept down to the river in front, forming a +natural park, where deer ranged at will. Letitia House became a lager +beer saloon, the front painted with foaming pots of beer. But business +interests claimed the site and the old house was removed and carefully +re-erected in Fairmount Park. + +The old Slate Roof House, long one of the ancient landmarks, on Second +street below Chestnut, the residence of William Penn on his second visit +to this country, during which visit John, his only "American" son was +born, and where other noted persons lived and died, or at least visited, +was removed in 1867, to make room for the Commercial Exchange. + +Not far off, on Second street, north of Market, is Christ's Church, +occupying the site of the first church erected by the followers of Penn. +The present edifice was begun in 1727. Washington's coach and four used +to draw up proudly before it each Sabbath, and himself and Lady +Washington, Lord Howe, Cornwallis, Benedict Arnold, Andre, Benjamin +Franklin, De Chastellux, the Madisons, the Lees, Patrick Henry and +others whose names have become incorporated in American history, have +worshiped here. In the aisles are buried various persons, great men in +their day, but forgotten now. The chime of bells in the lofty tower is +the oldest in America, and were cast in London. This chime joined the +State House bell on that memorable Fourth of July, when the latter +proclaimed liberty throughout the land. Just opposite this church is a +small street, opening into Second street, its eastern end closed by a +tall block of warehouses. This street contained Stephen Girard's stores +and houses. + +The great elm tree, at Kensington, under which Penn made his famous +treaty with the Indians, remained until 1800, when it was blown down. An +insignificant stone now marks the spot, being inclosed by a fence, and +surrounded by stone and lumber yards. An elm overshadows it--possibly, a +lineal descendant of the historic tree. + +There is an older religious edifice in Philadelphia than Christ's +Church. It is the old Swedes' Church, erected in 1697, not far from +Front and Christian streets, by early Swedish missionaries. Though +insignificant, compared with modern churches, it was regarded as a +magnificent structure by the Quakers, Swedes and Indians, who first +beheld it. The inside carvings, bell and communion service, were a gift +of the Swedish king. In the graveyard which surrounds it are found the +dead of nearly two centuries ago, some of the slate-stones over the +older graves having been imported from the mother country. Here sleeps +Sven Schute and his descendants, once, under Swedish dominion, lords of +all the land on which Philadelphia now stands. None of his name now +lives. Here lie buried, forgotten, Bengtossens, Peterssens, and Bonds. +Wilson, the ornithologist, was a frequent attendant at this church, +early in the present century, and he lies in the church yard, having +been buried there by his own request, as it was "a silent, shady place, +where the birds would be apt to come and sing over his grave." The +English sparrows have built their nests above it. + +An ancient house possessing special historic interest stands on Front +street, a few doors above Dock. It is built of glazed black bricks, with +a hipped roof, and, though it was a place of note in its day, occupied +by one generation after another of the ruling Quakers, it has now +degenerated into a workingmen's coffee-house. To it the Friends +conducted Franklin on his return from England. War was not yet declared, +but there were mutterings in the distance; all awaited Franklin's +counsels, sitting silently, as is their wont, waiting for the spirit to +move to utterance, when Franklin stood up and cried out: "To arms, my +friends, to arms!" + +Franklin has left many associations in the city of his adoption. As a +boy of seventeen he trudged up High, now Market street, munching one +roll, with another under his arm, friendless and unknown. Even his +future wife smiled in ridicule as he passed by. To-day statues are +erected to his memory, and institutions named after him. The +Philadelphia Library, the oldest and richest in the city, claims him as +one of its original founders. In 1729, the Junto, a little association +of tradesmen of which Franklin was a member, used to meet in the chamber +of a little house in Pewter-platter alley, to exchange their books. +Franklin suggested that there should be a small annual subscription, in +order to increase the stock. To-day the library contains many thousand +volumes, with many rare and valuable manuscripts and pamphlets. This +library contains Penn's desk and clock, John Penn's cabinet, and a +colossal bust of Minerva which overlooked the deliberations of the +Continental Congress. In an old graveyard at the corner of Fifth and +Arch, a section of iron railing in the stone wall which surrounds it +permits the passer to view the plain marble slab which covers the +remains of Franklin and his wife. + +Speaking of libraries, the Apprentices' Library, on the opposite corner +of Fifth and Arch, overlooks Franklin's grave. It was established by the +Quakers, and dates back to 1783. The apprentice system has died out, and +the library is almost forgotten. + +As late as 1876, stood the old Quaker Almshouse, on Willings alley, +between Third and Fourth streets, of which Longfellow gives this +description in his poem, "Evangeline:"-- + + "Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and + woodlands;-- + Now the city surrounds it; but still with its gateway and wicket, + Meek in the midst of splendor, its humble walls seem to echo + Softly the words of the Lord: 'The poor ye always have with you.'" + +Here Evangeline came when the pestilence fell on the city, when-- + + "Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of + Christ Church, + While intermingled with these, across the meadows were wafted + Sounds of psalms that were sung by the Swedes in their church at + Wicaco." + +And here Evangeline found Gabriel. The ancient building is now leveled, +and only the poem remains. + +Germantown, now incorporated in Philadelphia, is rich in historic +associations. Stenton, a country seat near Germantown, was for +generations the centre of the social life of the Quakers. It was built +in 1731, by James Logan, and was finished with secret passages and +underground ways, to be used in case of attack by Indians and others. +The Chew House at Germantown was, during the Revolution, used by Colonel +Musgrove and six companies, for a long time. The old Johnson House had +its hall door, which is still preserved, riddled by cannon. In many +private lawns and gardens of that suburb royalists and rebels sleep +peacefully side by side. A house, now quaint in its antiquity, at the +intersection of Main street and West Walnut lane, was used during the +Revolution as a hospital and amputating room. The old Wistar House, +built in 1744, played a part in the events of the last century, and +contains furniture which once belonged to Franklin and Count Zinzendorf. +There is a room filled with relics of early times. + +In 1755 the corner stone of Pennsylvania Hospital was laid. This +corner stone having been recently uncovered, in making alterations +to the building, the following inscription, of which Franklin was +the author, was discovered: "In the Year of Christ, MDCCLV, George +the Second happily reigning (for he sought the happiness of his +people)--Philadelphia flourishing (for its inhabitants were public +spirited)--This Building, By the Bounty of the Government, and of many +private persons, was piously founded For the Relief of the Sick and +Miserable. May the God of Mercies Bless the undertaking!" + +A noticeable and commendable feature of Philadelphia is its many +workingmen's homes. In New York the middle classes, whose incomes are +but moderate, are compelled to seek residences in cheap flats and +tenement houses, or else go into the country, at the daily expense of +car or ferry rides. But in Philadelphia flats are unknown, and tenement +life--several families crowded under a single roof--confined almost +entirely to the more wretched quarters of the city. There are streets +upon streets of comfortable and neat dwellings, marble-faced and +marble-stepped, with their prim white shutters, two or three stories in +height, and containing from six to nine rooms, with all the conveniences +of gas, bath-room and water, which are either rented at moderate rates +or owned outright by single families, who may possibly rent out a room +or two to lodgers. Philadelphia may have less elegant public and +business edifices than New York, but her dwelling houses stand as far +more desirable monuments to the prosperity of a people than the splendor +united with the squalor of the metropolis. + +The manufactures of Philadelphia furnish the foundation of her +prosperity. Her iron foundries produce more than one-third of the +manufactured iron of the country, and number among them some of the +largest in America. The Port Richmond Iron Works of I. P. Morris & +Company cover, with their various buildings, five acres of ground. The +Baldwin Locomotive Works, on Broad street, founded in 1831, employ a +large force of men. It takes eighteen hundred men one day to complete +and make ready for service a single locomotive; yet these works turn out +three hundred locomotives a year. Some of the largest men-of-war in the +world have also been built at the navy yards in Philadelphia and League +Island. Among them is the old Pennsylvania, of one hundred and twenty +guns. Besides her iron works there are many mills and factories. Miles +of carpet, of superior quality, are woven every day, besides immense +quantities of other woolen and cotton goods and shoes. Her retail +stores, taken as a whole, will not compare in size and elegance with +those of New York, though there are two or three exceptions to this +rule. + +The headquarters of the Pennsylvania Railroad is at Philadelphia, and +there is a grand depot on Broad street, near Market, which is palatial +in its appointments. + +Of her places of amusement, the Academy of Music ranks first in size. +There are numerous theatres, among which the Walnut Street Theatre is +the oldest, and the Arch Street Theatre the most elegantly finished and +furnished, and the best managed. With these and other places of +amusement, are associated the names of all the prominent musicians, +actors and actresses of the past and present. The Academy of Music was +not built when Jenny Lind visited this country, but it was ready for +occupancy only a few years later; and has witnessed the triumphs of many +a prima donna, now forgotten by the public, which then worshiped her. +Forrest began his theatrical career in Philadelphia; and the names of +noted tragedians and comedians who have come and gone upon her boards +are legion. + +Of churches Philadelphia has many, and beautiful ones. On three corners +of Broad and Arch streets tall and slender spires point heavenward, +rising from three of the most costly churches in the city. Surpassing +them all, however, is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Peter and +Saint Paul, on Logan Square. It is of red sandstone, in the Corinthian +style, and is surmounted by a dome two hundred and ten feet high. The +interior is cruciform and richly frescoed. The altar piece is by +Brumidi. + +Also, fronting on Logan Square, at the corner of Nineteenth and Race +streets, is the Academy of Natural Sciences, containing a library of +twenty-six thousand volumes, and most extensive, valuable and +interesting collections in zoology, ornithology, geology, mineralogy, +conchology, ethnology, archA|ology and botany. The museum contains over +two hundred and fifty thousand specimens, and Agassiz pronounced it one +of the finest natural science collections in the world. It also contains +a perfect skeleton of a whale, a complete ancient saurian, twenty-five +feet long, and the fossil remains of a second saurian so much larger +than the first that it fed upon it. + +Franklin Institute is devoted to science and the mechanical arts, and +contains a library of fifteen thousand volumes. The Mercantile Library +occupies a stately edifice, on Tenth street below Market, and contains +over fifty thousand volumes, exclusive of periodicals and papers. On an +average, five hundred books are loaned daily, from this institution. + +The newspapers of Philadelphia rank second only to those of New York. +The _Ledger_ has a magnificent building at the corner of Sixth and +Chestnut, complete in all its appointments, from engine rooms, in the +basement, to type-setting rooms in the top story. The _Times_ building, +at the corner of Eighth and Chestnut, is also very fine. The _Public +Record_ building, newly finished, on Chestnut street above Ninth, near +the new Post Office, surpasses all others. It represents the profits of +a daily penny paper, giving news in a condensed form, to meet the wants +of a working and busy public. + +Philadelphia once represented the literary centre of the country. It +took the lead in periodic literature half a century ago, and claimed, as +residents, some of the most brilliant novelists, essayists and poets of +the day. But the glory of that age has departed. The _Continent_, a +weekly magazine, sought to revive the prestige of the city, but soon +removed to New York, where it died. + +The Medical Colleges of Philadelphia have long stood in the front rank, +and have attracted students from all parts of the country. A Woman's +Medical College is in successful operation, with a fine hospital +connected with it. + +Philadelphia has an educational system embracing schools of different +grades, and a High School. But it pays its teachers less salaries than +most of the other cities, and the standard of the schools is not so high +as it should be, in consequence. Girard College should not be +overlooked, while speaking of educational institutions. Architecturally, +it is a magnificent marble building, in Grecian style. It is located +near the Schuylkill River, on Girard avenue. When Girard selected the +location for his proposed college, it was so far out in the country, +that he never thought the city would creep up to it. But to-day the +college is inclosed by it, and its high stone walls block many a street, +to the inconvenience of the people of the neighborhood. It was +established for the practical education of orphan boys, and one of the +provisions of its founder--himself a free thinker--was, that no +religious instruction should be imparted to the pupils, and no clergyman +be permitted to enter its doors; a provision which is widely +interpreted, to the effect that no sectarian bias is given in the +college. + +The United States Mint, located on Chestnut street, above Thirteenth, is +copied from a Grecian temple at Athens. It contains a very valuable +collection of coins, embracing those of almost every period of the world +and every nation. The Custom House is an imitation of the Pantheon at +Athens. The new Post Office is on Ninth street, extending from Chestnut +to Market. It is a spacious granite structure, in the Renaissance style, +four stories in height, with an iron dome, and when completed will cost +about four millions of dollars. + +On the opposite corner from the Post Office is the Continentel Hotel, a +spacious structure which, when erected, was the largest of its kind in +the country. It is now exceeded in size by several other hotels in other +cities, but it is noted for the elegance and excellence of the +entertainment it offers its guests. Girard Hotel is immediately +opposite, and ranks second only to the Continental. + +The Eastern Penitentiary is on Fairmount avenue, on what was once known +as Cherry Hill. In it is practiced the plan of solitary confinement for +prisoners. When Dickens paid his first visit to America, more than forty +years ago, he visited this prison, and was so moved to pity by the +solitude of its inmates, that he wrote a touching account of one of the +prisoners, in whom he was especially interested. But this very prisoner, +when he was set at liberty, soon committed another crime which sent him +back to his silent and solitary cell, and every subsequent release was +followed by a subsequent crime and subsequent imprisonment. Finally, +when Dickens had been in his grave for years, the old man, still hale +and hearty, but bearing the marks of age, was once more set free. +Attention was attracted to him by the newspapers, as having been the +prison hero of Dickens. The public became interested in him, and an +effort was made to place him beyond the temptation of crime, so that he +might go down to his grave a free man. But before many months had +elapsed, life in the outer world became irksome to him, and he returned, +by his well-beaten path, back to the penitentiary. He was very proud of +the notice which Dickens had bestowed upon him, and it seemed to more +than compensate for the loss of his liberty. + +When Penn visited Philadelphia, in its infant days, he wished to +preserve the bluff overlooking the Delaware, to be forever used as a +public park and promenade. But the traffic of Front street now rattles +where he would have had green trees and grass. Philadelphia has no +pleasant outlook upon the river, to correspond with the Battery of New +York. The wharves are lined with craft of every description, and the +flags of many nations are to be seen in her harbor; but commerce creeps +down to the very shores, and Delaware avenue, which faces the river, is +dirty and crowded with traffic. Seen from the river the city makes a +pleasing outline against the sky, with its many spires and domes. +Smith's Island and Windmill Island lie opposite the city, a short +distance away, and Camden is on the New Jersey shore. Ferry boats +continually ply across the Delaware, carrying to and fro the travelers +of a continent. + +Philadelphia is not without its public breathing places, where the +residents of its narrow streets may enjoy fine trees and green grass. +When the city was first planned, four squares, of about seven acres +each, were reserved in its four quarters, two each side of Market +street, and are now known as Washington, Franklin, Logan and +Rittenhouse Squares. Washington Square is at Sixth and Walnut, and was +once a Potters' Field. Many soldiers, victims of the smallpox and camp +fever, were buried there during the Revolution. Franklin Square, at +Sixth and Race was also once a burying, ground. A fountain now occupies +its centre. At Eighteenth and Race is Logan Square, where in 1864 was +held the great Sanitary Fair. The entire square was roofed over and +boarded up, the trunks of the trees standing as pillars in the aisles of +the large building. Its companion, Rittenhouse Square, at Eighteenth and +Walnut streets, is the centre of the aristocratic quarter of the city. +It is surrounded by most elegant mansions and costly churches. +Independence Square lies back of Independence Hall. + +There are a few other smaller and newer squares scattered throughout the +city, but its great pride is Fairmount Park, which is unsurpassed in its +natural advantages by any park in the world. This park contains nearly +three thousand acres, embracing eleven miles in length along the +Schuylkill and Wissahickon rivers. The nucleus of this park was the +waterworks and reservoir, the former situated on the Schuylkill, in the +northwestern part of the city, and the latter on a natural elevation +close by, from which the entire park takes its name, while a small tract +of land between the two was included in the original park. There was +added the beautiful estate of Lemon Hill, once the country seat of +Robert Morris, with the strip along the Schuylkill which led to it. In +course of time Egglesfield, Belmont, Lansdowne and George's Hill, on the +opposite side of the river, were added, either by gift or purchase, and +eventually the tract of land on the eastern bank, extending from Lemon +Hill to the Wissahickon, and along both banks of the latter as far as +Chestnut Hill. This park, besides the beautiful river and romantic +stream which it incloses, includes hills and valleys, charming ravines +and picturesque rocks. + +While the city has gained much, the true lover of nature has lost +something, by the conversion of this tract of land into a park. While it +was still private property, nature was at her loveliest. Wild flowers +blossomed in the dells, and little streams gurgled and tumbled over +stones down the ravines, while vines and foliage softened the rugged +outlines of the rocky hillsides. But the landscape gardener has been +there. The dells are converted into gentle slopes; the wild flowers and +ferns which beautified them have given place to green sward; one of the +prettiest of the brooks has been converted into a sewer and covered +over. The Wissahickon, once the most delightful of wild and wayward +streams, is now, for a considerable part of its way, imprisoned between +banks as straight and unpicturesque as those of a canal. The pretty +country lanes have been obliterated, and the trees which overshadowed +them have disappeared. Primness and stableness is now the rule. Art has +sought to improve nature, and has almost obliterated it, instead. Yet +even the landscape gardener cannot succeed in making the Schuylkill +entirely unattractive; and velvet turf and trees waving in the wind, +even though the latter be pruned into a tiresome regularity, are always +more grateful than the cobble stones and brick pavements of the city +streets, and thousands every day seek rest or recreation at Fairmount. + +Belmont Mansion is now a restaurant. Solitude, a villa built in 1785 by +John Penn, grandson of William Penn, and the cottage of Tom Moore, not +far from Belmont where he spent some months during his visit to +America, are among the attractions of the park. + + [Illustration: GIRARD AVENUE BRIDGE--FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA.] + +The Zoological Gardens are included in the park, and are situated on the +western bank of the Schuylkill, opposite Lemon Hill. Here is found the +finest collection of European and American animals in America, and the +daily concourse of visitors is very great. The several bridges which +span the Schuylkill are very picturesque. In the winter, when the river +at Fairmount, above the dam, is frozen over, the ice is covered with +skaters, and the bank is thronged with spectators. + +Laurel Hill, one of the most beautiful cemeteries of the country, +adjoins Fairmount Park, and is inclosed by it, seeming to make it a part +of the park. Mount Vernon Cemetery is nearly opposite Woodlands, in West +Philadelphia, and contains the Drexel Mausoleum, the costliest in +America. + +Fairmount was the site of the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, and +numerous and costly buildings were erected there. Of these many were +removed at once at the close of the Exhibition. The main building, a +mammoth structure, covering eleven acres, was retained for several years +for a permanent exhibition building, but was removed in 1883. Memorial +Hall, erected by the State, at a cost of $1,500,000, standing on an +elevated terrace between George's Hill and the river, and used as an art +gallery during the Exhibition, still remains, and is designed for a +permanent art and industrial collection. North of Memorial Hall stands +the Horticultural Building, a picturesque structure, in the Mooresque +style. It is a conservatory, filled with tropical and other plants, and +is surrounded by thirty-five acres devoted to horticultural purposes. + +In October, 1882, Philadelphia celebrated her Bi-centennial, and +commemorated the landing of Penn, who first stepped upon her shores two +hundred years before. This Bi-centennial lasted for three days, which +were celebrated, the first as "Landing Day," the second as "Trades' +Day," and the third as "Festival Day." On the first day, October +twenty-fourth, the State House bell rang two hundred times, and the +chimes of the churches were rung. The ship Welcome, which two hundred +years before had conveyed Penn to our shores, made a second arrival, and +a mimic Penn again visited the Blue Anchor, still standing to receive +him, held treaty with the Indians, and then paraded through the city, +followed by a large and brilliant procession, which presented the +harmless anachronism of the Proprietor of two hundred years ago +hob-nobbing with the city officials and others of the nineteenth +century. On the second day the different trades and manufacturing +interests made a great display. In the evening Pennsylvania history was +represented by ten tableaux; eleven tableaux presented the illustrious +women of history; and ten tableaux gave the principal scenes in the +Romayana, the great poem of India. The display of this night pageant was +gorgeous and beautiful beyond anything ever before seen in this country. +On the third day the morning was devoted to a parade of Knights Templar, +and the evening to a reception at the Academy of Music and Horticultural +Hall. A musical festival was held during the day; also a naval regatta +upon the Schuylkill, a bicycle meet at Fairmount, and archery contests +at Agricultural Hall. During the entire three days Philadelphia held +holiday. Her streets and pavements were crowded with throngs of people +from the country, and elevated seats along the principal streets were +constantly filled, at high prices. + +If William Penn could really, in person, have stepped upon the scene, +and beheld the city of his planning as it is to-day, he would +undoubtedly be astonished beyond expression. In magnitude it must exceed +his wildest dreams; in commercial and manufacturing enterprises its +progress reads like some fable of the east. He would look almost in vain +for his country residence upon the Delaware, once surrounded by noble +forests, and we fear he would scorn the Blue Anchor and all its present +associations. Time works wonders. Nearly a million people now find their +homes where, in 1683, one year after Penn's arrival, there were but one +hundred houses. In 1684 the population of Philadelphia was estimated at +2,500. In 1800 it had increased to 41,220. In 1850 it was 121,376. From +this period to 1860, its growth was almost marvelous, at the latter +period its inhabitants numbering 565,529. The census of 1880 gave it a +population of 846,984. + +The residents of Philadelphia include every nationality and class of +people. The Quakers are in a small minority, though they have done much +to mould the character of the city. Irish and Germans predominate among +foreigners. Italians, French, Spanish, and Chinese are not so numerous +as in New York. The society of the Quaker City bears the reputation of +great exclusiveness. While culture will admit to the charmed circle in +Boston, and money buys a ready passport to social recognition in New +York, in Philadelphia the door is closed to all pretensions except those +of family. Boston asks "How much do you know?" New York, "How much are +you worth?" but in Philadelphia the question is, "Who was your +grandfather?" + +Philadelphia ranks fourth in commerce among the cities of the Union. As +a manufacturing city it occupies the very front rank. With the +inexhaustible coal and iron fields of Pennsylvania at its back, her +manufacturing interests are certain to grow in extent and importance, +maintaining the ascendency they have already gained. Its prosperity has +a firm basis. Like all large cities, there is squalor, misery and crime +within its borders; but the proportion is smaller than in some other +cities, and the aggregate amount of domestic content, owing to its many +comfortable homes, much greater. Thus Philadelphia offers an example, in +more than one direction, which might be emulated by her sister cities. +What she will have become when her tri-centennial comes around, who +shall dare to predict? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +PROVIDENCE. + + Origin of the City.--Roger Williams.--Geographical Location and + Importance.--Topography of Providence.--The Cove.--Railroad + Connections.--Brown University.--Patriotism of Rhode Island.-- + Soldiers' Monument.--The Roger Williams Park.--Narragansett + Bay.--Suburban Villages.--Points of Interest.--Butter + Exchange.--Lamplighting on a New Plan.--Jewelry Manufactories. + + +In the year 1630, Roger Williams, a clergyman, persecuted and banished +from Massachusetts on account of his peculiar religious views, came to +Rhode Island and laid the foundation of a city, naming it Providence, in +gratitude for his deliverance from persecution. This renowned pioneer +not only laid the corner stone of a great and growing city, but +ineffaceably stamped his character upon all her institutions, public and +private. + +Providence is the second city of New England in respect to wealth and +population. It is pleasantly located at the head of Narragansett Bay, +thirty-five miles from the ocean. Its commercial advantages are +unsurpassed, and as a manufacturing town it ranks among the first in the +Atlantic States. The city is divided into two unequal portions by a +narrow arm of the Bay, which terminates near the geographical centre of +the town, in a beautiful elliptical sheet of water, about one mile in +circumference, called the cove, or basin. This basin is inclosed by a +handsome granite wall, capped by a substantial and ornamental iron +fence, and is surrounded by a green about eighty feet in width, filled +with a variety of beautiful and thrifty shade trees. + +The eastern portion of the city rises from the water, in some places +gradually, in others quite abruptly, to the height of more than two +hundred feet. This elevated land is occupied by elegant private mansions +surrounded with numerous shade trees and ornamental gardens, making one +of the most delightful and desirable places for residence to be found in +any city. + +The western portion of the city rises very gradually until it reaches an +elevation of about seventy-five feet, when it spreads out into a level +plain, extending a considerable distance to the southwest. The northern +portion, recently annexed to the city, is more sparsely populated, and +portions of it are quite rural in appearance and abounding in hills, +numerous springs and small streams of water. + +Providence is about forty-three miles from Boston, the same distance +from Worcester, ninety miles from Hartford, fifty miles from Stonington, +and twenty miles from Fall River, with each of which places it is +connected by numerous daily trains. It also has railroad connections +with New Bedford and southern Massachusetts, with Fitchburg, and thence +with Vermont and New Hampshire. There is now in process of construction +another route to Northern Connecticut, Springfield and the west. It is +also closely connected with Newport, and other places on Narragansett +Bay, by steamboats. + + [Illustration: VIEW OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, FROM PROSPECT + TERRACE.] + +Brown University is one of the distinguishing features of Providence, +and, as an institution of learning, stands in the front rank of American +colleges. Founded more than one hundred years since, this college has +come down from the past, hand in hand with Yale and Harvard. Among the +renowned graduates of Brown University may be mentioned Charles Sumner, +the great statesman, the devoted patriot, the champion of the negro, +whose fame and good works will live while freedom is the heritage of the +American people. + +President Wayland, of this institution, was the originator of the public +Library System of New England--a system whose wonderful power for good +is markedly on the increase. + +During the war no State of the whole sisterhood evinced more patriotism +than little Rhode Island, and Providence was largely represented in the +Union army. A Soldiers' Monument stands in the triangular space near the +Boston and Providence Railroad Depot, inscribed with the names of Rhode +Island soldiers who were killed in battle. The Monument is surmounted by +a statue in bronze of the Goddess of Liberty, and in niches of the +granite pillar below this figure each arm of the service is represented +by soldiers in bronze. The work is finely executed, and it is one of the +first objects which attracts the attention of the stranger. The +Artilleryman stands behind his cannon in grim silence; representatives +of the infantry, the cavalry and the marine arms of the service are his +coadjutors, and the entire group is sternly suggestive of war's sad +havoc. + +About a mile and a half from the heart of the city, along a beautiful +McAdamized road leading to Pawtuxet, is situated the Roger Williams +Park, a tract of land containing about thirteen hundred acres, which was +bequeathed to the city by a descendant of Roger Williams, in +consideration of five hundred dollars, to be raised by the Providence +people, for the erection of a monument to the city's illustrious +founder. The sum to be appropriated for that purpose was equivalent to +twenty-six hundred dollars at the present time. + +The embryo park is yet a wilderness, unreclaimed, and primeval +forest-trees fill the wide enclosure. The ground is undulating with hill +and dale, and pleasant driveways under the dark pines and hemlocks are +already laid out. + +The memory of Roger Williams is held in great veneration by the citizens +of Providence, and he is ranked with William Penn in the category of +noble pioneers. Plenty of eulogistic essays and poems have been written +concerning him, and his great love of liberty, exemplified in his life, +is a matter of history. The following fragment of verse, by Francis +Whipple, one of Rhode Island's poets, places the memory of the two +heroes side by side:-- + + "When warlike fame, as morning mist shall fly, + And blood-stained glory as a meteor die, + When all the dross is known and cast away, + And the pure gold alone allowed to stay, + Two names will stand, the pride of virtuous men, + Our Roger Williams and good William Penn." + +Many of the suburbs of Providence are of some note as places of summer +resort. The coast scenery along Narragansett Bay is full of charming +water-pictures, and numerous rocky islands may be seen, on which are +erected little white cottages, for summer occupation. The islands are +sometimes connected with the shore by foot-bridges, but often the only +means of communication with land is by boat. + +Nayatt Point, six miles distant from Providence by rail, is, as its name +implies, a jutting point of land, reaching out into the bay, where +beautiful drives along the beach and through the neighboring groves, +added to the salt sea air, are the chief summer attractions. Rocky +Point, directly opposite Nayatt, is famous for its clam bakes, and on +moonlight nights in summer, excursion parties from Nayatt, Barrington or +Warren, glide over the smooth waters of the bay to this lovely spot. The +red glow of Rocky Point Light can be seen through the night, for miles +and miles along the coast and down the bay. + +Westminster street is the principal avenue of Providence, and is +handsomely built up with substantial and elegant business blocks. A very +large hostelry, to be called the Narragansett Hotel, is in process of +erection at the corner of Dorrance and Broad streets. Just back of this +building, the new Providence Opera House, a structure of recent date, +furnished with all the modern appliances for the stage, opens its doors +to lovers of the histrionic art. The What-Cheer building, the Arcade, +and the Butler Exchange are all well known business centres. The last +named place owes its existence to a clause in a Scotchman's will. A +large inheritance was left to a gentleman in Providence, with a +stipulation that a certain amount of its yearly income should be used in +the erection of public buildings in the city. The Butler Exchange is one +of the children of this proviso. + +A recent improvement in Providence is that of lighting the city lamps by +means of electricity. Only one person is required to light the streets +of the entire city. A single turn of the screw which commands the +network of wires leading to the lamp posts, sets every gas jet, far and +near, aflame, in one instantaneous blaze. It is a marvelous advance on +the old way of doing things, and will greatly lessen the expenditures of +the city. + +Providence is justly celebrated for its manufacture of jewelry. The +largest establishments of the kind in New England are in operation here, +and the work turned out is of the most skillful pattern. A visit to the +lapidary establishments is full of interest. A shining array of precious +stones, from the white brilliance of the diamond, to the mottled moss +agate, greets the bewildered gaze, and skillful workmen are deftly +transforming them into the beautiful gems which shine in the jeweler's +window. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +QUEBEC. + + Appearance of Quebec.--Gibraltar of America.--Fortifications and + Walls.--The Walled City.--Churches, Nunneries and Hospitals.-- + Views from the Cliff.--Upper Town.--Lower Town.--Manufactures.-- + Public Buildings.--Plains of Abraham.--Falls of Montmorenci.-- + Sledding on the "Cone."--History of Quebec.--Capture of the + City by the British.--Death of Generals Wolfe and Montcalm.-- + Disaster under General Murray.--Ceding of Canada, by France, + to England.--Attack by American Forces under Montgomery and + Arnold.--Death of Montgomery.--Capital of Lower Canada and of + the Province of Quebec. + + +Of all the cities and towns on the American continent, not one wears +such an Old-World expression as Quebec. Not even St. Augustine, in +Florida, with its narrow streets, and quaint, overhanging balconies, so +takes the traveler back to a past age, as that fortified city on the +lower St. Lawrence. It is not French in any modern sense. But the city +and its inhabitants belong to a France now passed away, the France of +St. Louis, the _fleur-de-lis_, and a dominant priesthood. An offshoot +from such a France, now blotted out and forgotten in the crowding of +events during the last century, it has remained oblivious of all the +changes in the parent country, and not even British rule, and the +infusion of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic blood have been able to more than +partially obliterate its early characteristics. + +Quebec is situated at the confluence of the St. Charles River with the +St. Lawrence, on the northern side of a point of land which projects +between these two rivers. This point ends in an abrupt headland, three +hundred and thirty-three feet above the level of the river; and its +precipitous sides, crowned with an almost impregnable fortress, have won +for it the name of the "Gibraltar of America." The most elevated part of +this promontory is called Cape Diamond, since at one time numerous +quartz crystals were found there; and upon this is placed the citadel, +occupying forty acres. From the citadel a line of wall runs towards the +St. Charles River, until it reaches the brow of the bluff. Continuing +around this bluff towards the St. Lawrence, it finally completes a +circle of nearly three miles in circumference, by again connecting with +the citadel. This encircling wall originally had five gates, but four of +these were removed some time ago. They are now being replaced by more +ornamental ones. The old St. Louis Gate, opening upon the street of that +name, is being replaced by the Kent Gate, in honor of Queen Victoria's +father, who spent the summer of 1791 near Quebec. Dufferin Gate is being +erected on St. Patrick street; Palace and Hope gates are to be replaced +by castellated gates; while a light iron bridge is to occupy the site of +the Prescott Gate. + +The old city is contained within this walled inclosure, and here, in the +narrow, tortuous, mediA|val streets, are the stately churches, venerable +convents, and other edifices, many of them dating back to the period of +the French occupation of the city. The houses are tall, with narrow +windows and irregular gables, two or three stories high, and roofed, +like the public buildings, with shining tin. A very large part of the +city within the walls is, however, taken up with the buildings and +grounds of the great religious corporations. Monks, priests, and nuns, +seemingly belonging to another age and another civilization than our +own, are jostled in the street by officers whose dress and manners are +those of the nineteenth century. French is quite as frequently heard as +English; and everywhere the old and the new, the past century and the +present, seem inextricably mingled. The past has, however, set its +ineffaceable stamp upon the city and its people. There is none of the +hurry and push of most American cities, seen even, to a degree, in +Montreal. To-day seems long enough for its duties and its pleasures, and +to-morrow is left to take care of itself. Even the public buildings have +the stamp of antiquity upon them, and are, in consequence, interesting, +though few of them are architecturally beautiful. + +The churches of Quebec have none of the grandeur of those of Montreal. +Most prominent among them is the Anglican Cathedral, a plain, gray stone +edifice in St. Ann street. The Basilica of Quebec, formerly the +Cathedral, is capable of seating four thousand persons, and with a plain +exterior, contains some invaluable art treasures in the form of original +paintings by Vandyke, Caracci, Halle and others. The remains of +Champlain, the founder and first governor of Quebec, lie within the +Basilica. The Ursuline Convent is in Garden street, north of Market +Square, and is composed of a group of buildings surrounded by beautiful +grounds. It was founded in 1639, originally for the education of Indian +girls, and is now devoted to the education of girls of the white race. +The remains of Montcalm are buried within the convent grounds, in an +excavation made by the bursting of a shell, during the engagement in +which he lost his life. The Gray Nunnery, the Black Nunnery, and Hotel +Dieu with its convent and hospital, under the charge of the Sisters of +the Sacred Blood, of Dieppe, are among the Roman Catholic religious +institutions of the city. In the hospital of the Hotel Dieu ten thousand +patients are gratuitously cared for annually. + +Durham Terrace lies along the edge of the cliff overlooking the St. +Lawrence. It occupies the site of the old chateau of St. Louis, built by +Champlain in 1620, and destroyed by fire in 1834. The outlook from this +terrace is one of the finest in the world; though the view from the +Grand Battery is conceded to be even finer. Looking down from an +elevation of nearly three hundred and fifty feet, the lower town, the +majestic St. Lawrence and the smaller stream of St. Charles rolling away +in the distance, and a vast stretch of country varied by hills and +plains, woodlands and mountains, are spread out before the spectator, +making one of the most beautiful pictures of which it is possible to +conceive. + +The walled city, with the suburbs of St. Louis and St. John between the +walls to the eastward, and the Plains of Abraham to the westward, is +known as the upper town. The lower town is reached from the upper by the +Cote de la Montagne, or Mountain street, a very steep and winding +street, and lies below the cliff, principally to the northward, though +it encircles the base of the promontory. Here, in the lower town, is the +business portion of the city, with all its modern additions. The narrow +strand between the cliff and the rivers is occupied by breweries, +distilleries, manufactories, and numerous ship-yards; while the many +coves of the St. Lawrence, from Champlain street to Cape Rouge, are +filled with acres of vast lumber rafts. Quebec is one of the greatest +lumber and timber markets in America, supplying all the seaboard cities +of the United States. It also builds many ships, and produces sawed +lumber, boots and shoes, furniture, iron ware and machinery. + +The Custom House occupies the extreme point between the St. Lawrence and +St. Charles rivers. It is Doric in architecture, surmounted by a dome, +and has a columned facade reached by an imposing flight of steps. The +Marine Hospital, built in imitation of the Temple of the Muses on the +banks of the Ilissus, is situated near the St. Charles River. The Marine +and Emigrants' Hospital is not far away. The General Hospital, an +immense cluster of buildings further up the river, was founded in 1693, +and is in charge of the nuns of St. Augustine. + +The Plains of Abraham, lying back of Quebec, near the St. Lawrence, and +the scene of the famous encounter between the forces of Wolfe and +Montcalm, are fast being encroached upon by suburban residences, large +conventual establishments, and churches. The Martello towers are four +circular stone structures, erected upon the Plains to defend the +approaches of the city. On the plains, near the St. Foye road, is a +monument composed of a handsome iron column, surmounted by a bronze +statue of Bellona, presented by Prince Napoleon, and erected in 1854, to +commemorate the victory won by the Chevalier de Leris over General +Murray, in 1760. The Mount Hermon Cemetery, beautifully laid out on the +edge of the precipice which overhangs the St. Lawrence, lies about three +miles out, on the St. Louis road. + +It is imperative upon the stranger, in Quebec, to visit the Falls of +Montmorenci, eight miles distant, and among the most beautiful in +America. A volume of water fifty feet wide makes a leap of two hundred +and fifty feet, down a sheer rock face, into a boiling and turbulent +basin. During the winter the spray which is continually flying from this +cataract congeals and falls like snow, until it builds up an eminence +which is known as the Cone. This Cone, in favorable seasons, sometimes +reaches an altitude of one hundred and twenty feet. To visit the Falls +in sleighs, over the frozen river, and to ride down the Cone on +hand-sleds, or "toboggins," as they are locally called, is considered +the very climax of enjoyment by the inhabitants of Quebec. The Cone is +in the form of a sugar loaf, quite as white and almost as firm. Up its +steep sides the pleasure seekers toil with their sleds, and then glide +from the top, impelled by the steepness alone, rushing down the slope +with fearful velocity, and sometimes out on the ice of the river for +hundreds of yards, until the force is spent. The interior of the Cone is +not unfrequently hollowed out in the shape of a room, and a bar is set +up, for the benefit of thirsty pleasure seekers. + +About a mile above Montmorenci Falls are the Natural Steps, a series of +ledges cut in the limestone rock by the action of the river, each step +about a foot in height, and as regular in its formation as though it was +the work of man. + +There are points of interest nearer Quebec, among which are the Isle of +Orleans, a beautiful and romantic place, laid out with charming drives, +and reached by ferry; _Chateau Bigot_, an antique and massive ruin, +standing at the foot of the Charlesbourg mountain; and still further +away, Lorette, an ancient village of the Huron Indians. + +Quebec, the oldest city in British America, was settled in 1608, the +spot having been visited by Cartier, in 1534. Its history is an +exceedingly interesting and varied one. Twenty-one years after its +founding it was seized by the British, who did not restore it to France +until 1632. In 1690 and in 1711 the British made unsuccessful maritime +assaults upon it It continued to be the centre of French trade and +civilization, and of the Roman Catholic missions in North America, +until, in 1759, it fell into the hands of the British. The Fleur-de-lis +fluttered from the citadel of Quebec for two hundred and twenty years, +with the exception of the three years from 1629 to 1632, when Sir David +Kirke placed the fortification in the hands of England. + +In 1759, during the Seven Years' War, the English, under General Wolfe, +attacked the city and bombarded it. An attempt had been previously made +to land British troops at Montmorenci, which had been frustrated by +Montcalm, resulting in a loss of five hundred men. But on the occasion +of the present attack Wolfe had conceived the idea of landing his troops +above the town. He pushed his fleet stealthily up the river, under the +brow of the frowning precipice and beneath the very shadow of the +fortifications. Passing above the city, he effected a landing where the +acclivity was a little less steep than at other places, and the troops +dragged themselves up, and actually brought with them several pieces of +ordnance. All this was under cover of night; and when day dawned the +British army with its artillery was found in line of battle on the +Plains of Abraham. Wolfe had eight thousand men, while the French troops +numbered ten thousand. Montcalm believed he could easily drive the +British into the river or compel them to surrender, and so threw the +whole force of his attack upon the English right, which rested on the +river. But in the French army were only five battalions of French +soldiers, the balance being Indians and Canadians. The French right, +composed of these undisciplined troops, was easily routed and the French +left was ultimately broken. Five days later the British were in complete +possession of Quebec. But before this victory was fairly assured to the +English troops, both the French and English armies had lost their +commanders. + +The spot where Wolfe fell in the memorable battle of September +thirteenth, 1759, is marked by an unpretending column. A monument was +shipped from Paris, to commemorate the death of Montcalm, but it never +reached Quebec, the vessel which conveyed it having been lost at sea. A +lengthy inscription upon this monument, after giving the Marquis de +Montcalm's name and many titles, and depicting in glowing words his +character and his brilliant achievements as a soldier, says: "Having +with various artifices long baffled a great enemy, headed by an expert +and intrepid commander, and a fleet furnished with all warlike stores, +compelled at length to an engagement, he fell--in the first rank--in the +first onset, warm with those hopes of religion which he had always +cherished, to the inexpressible loss of his own army, and not without +the regret of the enemy's, September fourteenth, 1759, of his age +forty-eight. His weeping countrymen deposited the remains of their +excellent General in a grave which a fallen bomb in bursting had +excavated for him, recommending them to the generous faith of their +enemies." Whether the "generous faith" of their friends was equally to +be trusted each one must judge for himself; for in the chapel of the +Ursuline Convent of Quebec, among the curiosities exhibited to the +visitor, is the skull of the Marquis de Montcalm. + +In April, of the following year, the British very nearly lost what Wolfe +had gained for them. General Murray went out to the Plains of Abraham, +with three thousand men, to meet the French, under Chevalier de Leris, +losing no less than one thousand men, and all his guns, which numbered +twenty, and being compelled to retreat within the walls. The arrival of +a British squadron brought him timely relief, and compelled the French +to retreat, with the loss of all their artillery. The treaty of peace +made between Louis Fifteenth and England, in 1763, ceded the whole of +the French Canadian possessions to the British. In December, 1775, +during the war of the Revolution, a small American force, under General +Montgomery, made an attack upon the fortress, but was repulsed with the +loss of their commander and seven hundred men. Arnold preceded +Montgomery, making an astonishing march, and enduring untold perils, by +the Kennebec and Chaudiere. Following the course pursued by Wolfe, he +placed his troops upon the Plains of Abraham; but when Montgomery joined +him, from Montreal, it was found they had no heavy artillery, and the +only alternatives were, to retreat, or to carry the place by storm. +Deciding on the latter course, two columns, headed by Arnold and +Montgomery, rushed forward. The latter carried the intrenchment, and was +proceeding toward a second work, when he and the officers who followed +him were swept down before a gun loaded with grape. Arnold was carried +from the field, wounded, and the attempt on Quebec was a most disastrous +failure. + +Quebec remained the chief city of Canada until the western settlements +were erected into a separate Province, as Canada West, when it became +the Capital of Canada East. In 1867, the British North American +Provinces were united, in the Dominion of Canada. Canada East, or Lower +Canada, as a Province, took the name of the city, and the city of Quebec +became the Capital of the Province. The population of Quebec was, in +1871, 58,699, of whom a large proportion are descendants of the early +French settlers, though many English, Scotch and Irish, have domiciled +themselves within it, and form, really, its most enterprising and +energetic citizens. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +READING. + + Geographical Position and History of Reading.--Manufacturing + Interests.--Population, Streets, Churches and Public + Buildings.--Boating on the Schuylkill.--White Spot and the + View from its Summit.--Other Pleasure Resorts.--Decoration + Day.--Wealth Created by Industry. + + +Reading, the seat of Justice of Berks County, Pennsylvania, is +beautifully situated near the junction of the Tulpehocken with the +Schuylkill River, and is midway between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, on +the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. It was named after the ancient +borough of Reading, a prominent market town of Berkshire, England, which +it is said to resemble in some of its geographical surroundings. +Attention was first called to Reading in the fall of 1748, by the agents +of Richard and Thomas Penn, who represented it as "a new town with great +natural advantages, and destined to become a prosperous place." It was +incorporated as a borough in 1783, and as a city in 1847. The original +settlers were principally Germans, who gave character to the town, both +in language and customs. For many years the German tongue was almost +exclusively spoken, and it is still used in social intercourse and +religious worship by more than one-half the present population. + +The manufacturing interests of Reading are second to no city of like +population in the United States; while it is the third city in +Pennsylvania in its manufactures, Pittsburg and Philadelphia alone +exceeding it. Among these manufactures the working of iron holds the +first rank. Much of the ore is obtained from Penn's Mountain, on the +east of the town. Rolling mills, machine shops, car shops, furnaces, +foundries, cotton mills and hat factories, from their number and extent, +establish beyond question the claim of Reading to be considered one of +the first manufacturing towns of America. The shops of the Philadelphia +and Reading Railroad alone employ two thousand men. From an early hour +in the morning the eastern bank of the Schuylkill rings out the +discordant music of numberless factories, betokening the enterprise of +her productive industries. + +Reading has, at the present time, a population numbering not far from +fifty thousand. It is delightfully situated on an elevated and ascending +plain, which rises to the eastward into Penn's Mountain, and to the +southward into the Neversink Mountain. The city is abundantly supplied +with pure water, by streams flowing from these mountains. It is +surrounded by a rich farming country, which looks to it for supplies. +The streets cross each other at right angles, and the chief hotels and +stores are built around Penn's Square, which occupies the centre of the +city. It contains thirty-one churches, most prominent among which is +Trinity, German Lutheran, an antique building with a spire two hundred +and ten feet in height. Christ Church, Episcopal, is a handsome Gothic +edifice of more recent date, and with a spire nearly as high. The Grand +Opera House and Mishler's Academy of Music furnish amusements for the +pleasure-seekers of the city. + +The Schuylkill River is one of the most charmingly picturesque in +America. Taking its rise among the rocky heights of the Blue Ridge, +when it reaches Reading it has left all the ruggedness of the mountain +region behind, and flows between gently sloping banks, which, though +sometimes rising in the background to considerable elevations, never +lose their softness of outline and their pastoral beauty. One evening we +strolled down to this river, and took a most delightful boat ride from +the Lancaster bridge to the dam opposite the White House and Neversink. +Two boats were placed at the disposal of our party. It was a lovely May +evening, the air soft and warm, yet with all the freshness of spring. We +glided down the stream, the trees upon the banks overhanging the water, +and catching reflections of themselves in its depths. Our downward +progress was easy and pleasant. The current aided our efforts, while the +tranquil waters, rippled only by a passing boat, offered no resistance +to us in our course. When we turned and headed up stream, we found it +quite another matter. Then we had to bring all our energies and wills to +aid us in the labor of rowing. This is something that a man is apt to +discover many times in his life, that, in both material and moral +matters, it is easier to float with the current than to make headway +against it. + +A call from Mr. W. H. Zeller, of the Reading _Eagle_, paid me early one +day, before the sun was up, was an indication that that gentleman was +ready to pilot me to "White Spot," the famous resort of Reading. +Starting as soon as possible, we walked up Franklin street, crossed +Perkiomen avenue, and took a "bee line" for our destination. Up and up +and up we walked, ran and jumped, over gulches and stones, and from log +to log, halting occasionally for breath, and to discuss the city and +landscape at our feet. It was but half-past five o'clock when we reached +the goal of our walk. Taking in a view from its elevated heights, I felt +that my visit to Reading would have given me a very indefinite idea of +its natural beauties, had I not seen it from this point. White Spot is +upon Penn's Mountain, one thousand feet above the river. I would but +mislead the imagination of the reader, were I to attempt to convey a +faithful impression of the magnificent panorama which, for a while, +almost bewildered me. But let him imagine, if he can, a vast girdle of +far-off, misty, blue hills, faintly defined by the horizon; against them +to the north and west jut rows of towering but withal gently sloping +mountains, purple, black, or darkly blue, just as each drifting cloud +shadows them; within these encircling hills and mountains scatter the +loveliest landscape features of which the human mind can conceive; green +meadows, wooded hills, enchanting groves, dotted here and there with the +most charming irregularity; farmhouses and farms, in themselves a little +Arcadia; roads diverging from a common centre, and winding about until +in the distance they look like the tiny trail which a child's stick +makes in the sand; a clear, silvery river, looking in the sunshine like +liquid light, reproducing on its mirrored surface the wonderful beauty +which clothes either bank, studded with green isles that "blossom as the +rose," spanned by splendid bridges as delicate in their appearance as +lace work or filigree, yet supporting thousands of tons daily; in the +heart of all a city, whose factories, furnaces, churches, majestic +public buildings, handsome private residences, and attractive suburbs +betoken prosperity, intelligence, culture, wealth and constant +improvement; over the whole throw that peculiar _couleur de rose_ with +which the heart in its happiest moments paints all it loves, and he will +have a faint conception of the aspect of Reading and its surroundings as +seen from White Spot. + +After resting on the summit, and taking in, to the full, this +magnificent view, we returned to the city by the way of Mineral Spring, +another delightful resort, which lies surrounded by charming natural +beauties, about a mile and a half east of Reading. White House Hotel, a +mile and a half to the southeast, on the Neversink Mountain, three +hundred feet above the river, is still another favorite visiting place, +from which a fine view of the city and surrounding country may be +obtained, though not equal to that of White Spot. + +I was particularly fortunate in finding myself still in Reading on +Decoration Day, that day which has become a national holiday, and is +universally observed throughout the northern States. The occurrence of +this anniversary is hailed by the "Boys in Blue" as affording a blessed +opportunity for doing honor to their dead comrades, and renewing their +devotion to the flag which they followed through a four years' war for +the preservation of the Union. Reading manifested her patriotism by a +parade of all her civic and military organizations, and by invitation I +was permitted to participate in the decoration exercises, at the Charles +Evans Cemetery. The people of Reading are truly loyal, as industrious +and order-loving people are sure to be. The perpetuation of the Union +means to them the protection of their homes and the encouragement of +their industries. + +Although the manufacturing interests of Philadelphia and Pittsburg are +exceedingly large--those of the latter without parallel on the +continent, if, in the world--a visit to Reading is, nevertheless, +desirable, for one who would gain a comprehensive idea of the industries +of Pennsylvania. The city is not a large one, but it is almost wholly a +city of workers. With the great coal and iron regions of the State at +its back, their products brought to it by river, railroad and canal, its +manufacturing enterprises are multiplied in numbers, and are almost +Cyclopean in their proportions. Here the brawn of the country, with +giant strength united with surprising skill, hammers and fashions the +various devices of an advanced civilization, which its brain has already +imagined and planned. Here wealth is created by the sturdy strokes of +industry, and the permanent prosperity of the State secured. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +RICHMOND. + + Arrival in Richmond.--Libby Prison.--Situation of the City.-- + Historical Associations.--Early Settlement.--Attacked by + British Forces in the Revolution.--Monumental Church.--St. + John's Church.--State Capital.--Passage of the Ordinance + of Secession.--Richmond the Capital of the Confederate + States.--Military Expeditions against the City.--Evacuation + of Petersburg.--Surrender of the City.--Visit of President + Lincoln.--Historical Places.--Statues.--Rapid Recuperation + After the War.--Manufacturing and Commercial Interests.-- + Streets and Public Buildings.--Population and Future + Prospects. + + +On the morning of October twenty-third, 1863, a large company of Union +prisoners, including the author, made an entry into Richmond, which was +the reverse of triumphant, we having been, four days before, made +prisoners of war in the cavalry fight at New Baltimore, in Northern +Virginia. A brief stay in Warrenton jail, a forced march on a hot day, +for a distance of thirty miles, to Culpepper, and then a transfer by +march and rail, landed us at last at Libby Prison, Richmond. The +"chivalry" and the descendants of the F. F. V's did not impress us very +favorably, as we marched from the depot, through some of the principal +streets, to the James River. Contemptuous epithets were bestowed freely +upon us, while the female portion of the community was even more bitter +in its expressions of hatred, and a troop of boys followed in our rear, +hooting and yelling like young demoniacs. + +Libby Prison was situated at the corner of Fourteenth and Cary streets, +and was an old, dilapidated three-story brick structure, which still +bore upon its northwest corner the sign "Libby & Son, Ship Chandlers and +Grocers." The windows were small and protected by iron bars. The story +of my stay in this prison-house I have recorded in "Capture, Prison-Pen +and Escape." It was my abiding place until the seventh of the following +May, when, in a filthy, rough box-car, a number of prisoners, including +myself, were shipped to Danville. It is needless to say that my +prolonged stay in Richmond did not materially alter or improve my +impressions in regard to the city. True, our view of the city from our +prison windows was limited, but memories only of suffering, privation +and unnecessary barbarity, prompted by the cruel nature of those who had +us in charge, are associated with it. The city was at that time the +heart and centre of the then Southern Confederacy, the seat of the Rebel +government, the rendezvous of troops, and the hatching place of treason +and rebellion. + +Yet one who views Richmond at the present day, unbiased by the untoward +circumstances which threw their baleful influence over us, will see much +to admire in and about the city. It is situated on the north bank of the +James River, about one hundred miles by water from Chesapeake Bay, and +the same distance a little west of south of Washington. It is built upon +several eminences, the principal ones being Shockoe and Richmond hills, +separated by Shockoe Creek. Like so many other Southern cities, its +residences are surrounded by gardens, in which are grass plots, +shrubbery and flowers; and in the business quarter are many substantial +edifices. + +The Richmond of to-day is very different from the Richmond of war times. +The loyal city has been literally reconstructed upon the ruins of the +rebellious one. There are few cities around which so many historical +associations cluster, as around Richmond. It is on the site of a +settlement made as early as 1611, by Sir Thomas Dale, and in honor of +Prince Henry called Henrico, from which the county afterwards took its +name. An early historical account says it contained three streets of +framed houses, a church, storehouses and warehouses. It was protected by +ditches and palisades, and no less than five rude forts. Two miles below +the city a settlement had been made two years previously. In 1644-5 the +Assembly of Virginia ordered a fort to be erected at the falls of the +James River, to be called "Forte Charles." In 1676 war was declared +against the Indians, and bloody encounters took place between the +aborigines and their white neighbors. Bloody Run, near Richmond, is so +named, according to tradition, on account of a sanguinary battle which +one Bacon had there with the Indians; though it is stated on other +authority that its name originated from the battle in which Hill was +defeated and Totopotomoi slain. + +In 1677 certain privileges were granted Captain William Byrd, upon the +condition that he should settle fifty able-bodied and well armed men in +the vicinity of the Falls, to act as a protection to the frontier +against the Indians. Richmond was established by law as a town in May, +1742, in the reign of George II, on land belonging to Colonel William +Byrd, who died two years later. The present Exchange Hotel is near the +locality of a warehouse owned by that gentleman. In 1779 the capital of +the State was removed to Richmond, from Williamsburg, the latter, its +former capital, being in too assailable a position. In 1781 the traitor +Arnold invested the city with a British force. As soon as he arrived he +sent a force, under Colonel Simcoe, to destroy the cannon foundry above +the town. After burning some public and private buildings, and a large +quantity of tobacco, the British forces left Richmond, encamping for one +night at Four Mile Creek. The village at that time contained not more +than eighteen hundred inhabitants, one-half of whom were slaves. In 1789 +it contained about three hundred houses. At that period all the +principal merchants were Scotch and Scotch-Irish. Paulding describes the +inhabitants as "a race of most ancient and respectable planters, having +estates in the country, who chose it for their residence, for the sake +of social enjoyments. They formed a society now seldom to be met with in +any of our cities. A society of people not exclusively monopolized by +money-making pursuits, but of liberal education, liberal habits of +thinking and acting; and possessing both leisure and inclination to +cultivate those feelings and pursue those objects which exalt our nature +rather than increase our fortune." In 1788, a convention met in the +city, to ratify the Federal Constitution. + +At the corner of Broad and Thirteenth streets stands the Monumental +Church, in commemoration of a terrible calamity which once befell the +city. On the twenty-sixth of December, 1811, a play entitled "The +Bleeding Nun" was being performed in the little theatre of the city, and +proved such a great attraction that the house was crowded, not less than +six hundred people being present on the eventful night. Just before the +conclusion of the play the scenery caught fire, and in a few minutes the +whole building was wrapped in flames. The fire falling from the ceiling +upon the performers was the first notification the audience had of what +was transpiring. A scene of the wildest confusion ensued. There was but +one door through which the entire audience, composed of men, women and +children, could make its exit. The fire flashed from one portion of the +interior to another, catching on the garments of the frantic people. All +pressed in a wild panic toward the door. People jumped and were pushed +out of the windows. Many were rescued with their clothing literally +burned off from them, and no less than sixty-nine persons perished in +the flames, among them George W. Smith, Governor of the State, and many +other prominent men and women. A great funeral was held in the Baptist +meeting-house, and the entire population of the city attended, as +mourners. The remains of the unfortunates were interred beneath a mural +tablet which is now in the vestibule of the church that was subsequently +erected on the site of the theatre. + +St. John's Church, on Church Hill, at the corner of Broad and +Twenty-fourth streets, dates back to ante-Revolutionary times, and in it +was held, in 1775, the Virginia Convention, in which Patrick Henry made +his famous speech, containing the words "Give me liberty or give me +death!" It was subsequently the place of meeting of the Convention +which, in 1788, ratified the Federal Constitution. Among the members of +this Convention were James Madison, John Marshall, James Monroe, Patrick +Henry, George Nicholas, George Mason, Edmund Randolph, Pendleton and +Wythe. Rarely has any occasion in a single State presented such a list +of illustrious names as we find here. This church is a plain, +unpretending edifice, built in the style of a century ago, to which has +been added a modern spire. + +The State Capitol stands on the summit of Shockoe Hill, in the centre of +a park of eight acres. It is of Graeco-Composite style of architecture, +with a portico of Ionic columns, planned after that of the _Maison +cassee_ at Nismes, in France, the plan being furnished by Thomas +Jefferson. Beneath a lofty dome in the centre of the building is +Houdon's celebrated statue of Washington, of marble, life size, +representing him clad in the uniform of a revolutionary general. Near +by, in a niche in the wall, is a marble bust of Lafayette. This building +has been the scene of many noted political gatherings. In it, on January +seventh, 1861, was read Governor Letcher's message to the Legislature, +in which he declared it was "monstrous to see a government like ours +destroyed merely because men cannot agree about a domestic institution." +Nevertheless, on the seventeenth of the same month, the Capitol Building +witnessed the unanimous passage of the following resolution:-- + + "_Resolved_, That if all efforts to reconcile the unhappy + differences between sections of our country shall prove abortive, + then every consideration of honor and interest demands that + Virginia shall unite her destinies with her sister slaveholding + States." + +And on the thirteenth of February, the same edifice saw a State +Convention meet within its walls; on the sixteenth of April, Governor +Letcher refused the requisition of the Secretary of War for troops to +assist in putting down the Rebellion in South Carolina; and the next day +the Ordinance of Secession was passed, two months having been given to +an active discussion of its expediency, pro and con. The Confederate +flag, with eight stars, was raised from the dome of the Capitol, and the +Custom House, which stands on Main street, between Tenth and Eleventh, +had the gilt sign on its portico, "United States Court," removed. A +citizen writing from Richmond, on April twenty-fifth, says: "Our +beautiful city presents the appearance of an armed camp. Where all these +soldiers come from, in such a state of preparation, I cannot imagine. +Every train pours in its multitude of volunteers, but I am not as much +surprised at the number as at the apparent discipline of the country +companies. * * But the war spirit is not confined to the men nor to the +white population. The ladies are not only preparing comforts for the +soldiers, but arming and practicing themselves. Companies of boys, also, +from ten to fourteen years of age, fully armed and well drilled, are +preparing for the fray. In Petersburg, three hundred free negroes +offered their services, either to fight under white officers, or to +ditch and dig, or any kind of labor. An equal number in this city and +across the river, in Chesterfield, have volunteered in like manner." + +A resolution was passed by the Convention inviting the Southern +Confederacy to make Richmond the seat of government. The Ordinance of +Secession having been submitted to the people, the vote in the city +stood twenty-four hundred in favor and twenty-four against, being less +than half the vote polled at the Presidential election in November +previous. Richmond became a general rendezvous for troops. + +The Confederate Congress met in Richmond, in the hall of the House of +Delegates, on the twentieth of July, 1861, and the seat of government +continued there until the taking of the city marked the fall of the +Confederacy. A school-house in the vicinity of the rear of Monumental +Church, was at that time known as Brockenburg House, and was the +residence of Jefferson Davis, president of the Southern Confederacy. Two +tobacco warehouses, under their former titles of Libby & Son and Castle +Thunder, together with Belle Isle, were military prisons during the war, +and in the former of these, as already narrated, the writer was confined +for several months. + +About the middle of May, 1862, the Federal forces having passed Yorktown +and Williamsburg, began to move directly upon Richmond. Consternation +seized the city, all who could get away packed up everything and fled +southward. Even President Davis took his family and hastened to North +Carolina. It was resolved to destroy the city by conflagration as soon +as the Union troops reached it. The Federal army was, however, compelled +to abandon the Peninsula, and Richmond was safe for the time being. On +February twenty-ninth, 1864, General Kilpatrick, with his division of +cavalry, commenced his march upon the city, and came within six miles, +when he was compelled to withdraw to Mechanicsburg. The next day he made +a second attempt, advancing by the Westham or river road, but was +confronted by superior forces, and again compelled to fall back, and +shortly after he returned down the Peninsula. + +From the beginning of the war Richmond had been the objective point of a +series of formidable expeditions for its capture, under Generals +McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant. The strong +earthworks which were drawn around the city for its protection still +remain as mementoes of the great struggle. On July thirtieth, 1864, the +Union forces advanced as far as Petersburg, and after destroying one +fort, were repulsed. It was not until April second, 1865, that the Rebel +forces were obliged to surrender that outpost, and on the following day, +General Weitzel, with his troops, entered the city of Richmond. + +President Davis was attending church at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, at +the corner of Grace and Ninth streets, when a messenger brought him a +dispatch from General Lee, announcing that Petersburg was about to be +evacuated. The officers of the Southern Confederacy stood not on the +order of their going, but went at once. Jefferson Davis took his family +and left the city immediately. The Rebel authorities took with them what +stores and treasures they could convey away, burned what they had to +leave behind, and set fire to the warehouses, public buildings, and +bridges across the James River. The flames communicated to adjacent +structures, and it was thought the entire city would be destroyed. A +large portion of its business section was thus laid waste; the number of +buildings destroyed being estimated at one thousand, and the entire loss +at eight millions of dollars. + +On the fourth of April, President Lincoln reached Richmond, and entered +the house which had but two days before been occupied by Jefferson +Davis, but which was now the headquarters of General Weitzel. He came +unattended, and walked up from the river into the city, without parade, +as any ordinary citizen might have done. The news of his presence soon +spread, and the colored people flocked around him, with strong +demonstrations of joy. "God bless you, Massa Linkum!" was heard on every +hand, while the tears rolled down the cheeks of some, and others danced +for joy. And here, perhaps all unconsciously, the second father of his +country emulated the first. It is told of Washington, that, a colored +man having bowed to him, he returned the bow with stately courtesy. +Being remonstrated with for bowing to a colored person, he replied that +he did not wish to be outdone in politeness by a negro. At Richmond a +colored man bowed to Lincoln, with the salutation, "May de good Lord +bless you, President Linkum!" Lincoln returned the bow with cordiality, +evidently, like Washington, determined not to be outdone in politeness +by a negro. But that bow not only indicated the noble nature of the man +who recognized a humanity broader than a color line, and over whom +already hung the dark shadow of martyrdom; but it also was a foretoken +of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Civil Rights +act, which so quickly followed the quelling of the Rebellion. + +In the soldiers' section of the Hollywood Cemetery, in the western +limits of the city, overlooking the James River, are the graves of +hundreds of Confederate dead, from the midst of which rises a monumental +pyramid of rough stone. In the same cemetery, on a hill at its southern +extremity, a monument marks the resting-place of President Monroe. +General J. E. B. Stuart, commander of Lee's cavalry, is also buried +here. + +The Tredegar Iron Works, which are still in active operation, and whose +buildings cover thirteen acres of ground, were the great cannon +manufactory of the Confederacy. Several battle fields and national +cemeteries are within a few hours' drive of the city. The old African +Church, a long, low building in Branch street, near Monumental Church, +is famous as a place of political meetings, both before and during the +war. + +Crawford's equestrian statue of Washington, in the esplanade leading +from the Governor's house to the Capitol Square, will recall the early +days of the Republic. The statue is of bronze, representing a horse and +rider of colossal size, the horse thrown back partly upon its haunches, +on a massive granite pedestal, and around it are grouped bronze figures +of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, George Mason, Thomas +Nelson, and Andrew Lewis, all illustrious sons of Virginia. In the +Capitol Square, north of the Capitol Building, is Foley's statue of +General "Stonewall" Jackson, of heroic size, on a granite pedestal, and +near it a life-size marble statue of Henry Clay. In the State Library, +which contains forty thousand volumes, are many historical portraits. + +Richmond has rapidly recuperated since the war. Her streets have been +rebuilt, and, in common with many other Southern cities, she has, since +the abolition of slavery, and the consequent elevation of labor and +attraction of Northern enterprise and capital, developed many industrial +interests. The Gallego and Haxall flour mills are among the largest in +the world. It has a large number of cotton, and a still larger number of +tobacco factories; and contains also forges, furnaces, paper mills, and +machine shops. Its chief exports are, however, tobacco and flour. +Richmond owes its present flourishing condition to its river facilities, +and the immense water power supplied by the falls. It is alike the +manufacturing and the commercial metropolis of the State. Vessels +drawing ten feet of water can come within a mile of the centre of the +city, those drawing fifteen feet, to three miles below. A canal around +the falls gives river navigation two hundred miles further into the +interior. Steamboat lines connect it with the principal Atlantic cities, +and railroads and canals open up communication with the North, South, +and West. + +The city is regularly laid out, the streets crossing each other at right +angles. Those parallel with the river are named alphabetically, A street +being on the river. The cross streets are named numerically. The +principal thoroughfare is Main or E street, which is the centre of +business. The fashionable quarter is on Shockoe Hill, in the western +part of the city, where are also the chief public edifices. The +Penitentiary is in the western suburbs facing the river, and is a +massive structure three hundred feet long and one hundred and ten feet +deep. The Almshouse is one of the finest buildings in the city. There +are a large number of churches, thirteen colleges, and an orphan asylum. +Five bridges across the James River connect it with Spring Hill and +Manchester, the latter a pretty town containing two cotton mills. + +The population of Richmond, by the census of 1880, was 63,803, which +showed an increase of more than ten thousand persons in ten years. +Unlike Charleston, S. C., it is surrounded by a populous rural region, +whose products find a market here, and whose population look largely to +the city for their supplies. It will never attain the commercial +consequence of Savannah or of Norfolk, but as the centre of the tobacco +region, and the seat of large manufacturing interests, it will always +possess a certain importance and prosperity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +SAINT PAUL. + + Early History of Saint Paul.--Founding of the City.--Public + Buildings.--Roman Catholics.--Places of Resort.--Falls of + Minnehaha.--Carver's Cave.--Fountain Cave.--Commercial + Interests.--Present and Future Prospects. + + +The first white man who ever visited the locality where Saint Paul now +stands, was Father Hennepin, who made a voyage of discovery up the +Mississippi, above the Falls of Saint Anthony, in 1680. But for more +than a century and a half after his visit the entire section of country +remained practically in the possession of the Indians. Eighty-six years +afterwards Jonathan Carver made a treaty with the Dakotas, and in 1837 +the United States made a treaty with the Sioux, throwing the land open +to settlement. + +The first building in Saint Paul was erected in 1838, but for a number +of years afterwards it remained merely an Indian trading-post. In 1841 a +mission was established on the spot by the Jesuits, and a log chapel +dedicated to Saint Paul, from which the city afterwards took its name. + +The land upon which Saint Paul is built was purchased in 1849, at the +government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. The same +year the town was made the capital of the State, while it was yet a +hamlet of a few log huts. Four years later it had nearly four thousand +inhabitants, with handsome public buildings, good hotels, stores, mills, +factories, and other constituents of a prosperous town. In 1846 the +town had but ten inhabitants. In 1856 it had ten thousand. Steamers were +coming and going; loads of immigrants were arriving; drays and teams +were driving hither and thither; carpenters and masons were hard at +work; yet could not put up houses fast enough; shops and dwellings were +starting out of the ground, as if by magic. In 1880 the population had +increased to fifty thousand, and was steadily and rapidly multiplying. + +Saint Paul originally occupied the western bank of the Mississippi, but +has now extended to the eastern bank as well. It is divided into a lower +and upper town, the former lying on the low shore between the bluff and +the river, and containing the wholesale houses, shipping houses and +factories. The latter occupies no less than four plateaus rising one +above another, in a semicircle around the bend of the river, the first +plateau being nearly a hundred feet in height. Here are the retail +stores, public buildings, churches and private residences. The streets +in the central portions of the city cross one another at right angles, +but become irregular as they approach the boundaries. They are graded +and paved and lighted by gas. Two bridges connect the opposite shores of +the river, and horse cars traverse all sections of the city. Its general +appearance is pleasing in the extreme. Many of the houses are built of +blue limestone, which is found underlying one of the terraces in great +quantities. + +The State Capitol building is now in process of construction, and will, +when completed, be a very handsome edifice, occupying an entire square. +The United States Custom House, an opera house, a large number of +handsome churches, and several public school buildings are among the +objects worthy of note in the city. + +Although Saint Paul is settled largely by people from New England and +New York State, the Roman Catholics still hold an important place in the +city. The first to take possession of the spot, they will be the last to +relax their hold. They have a number of large and handsomely finished +church edifices, and have established an orphan asylum. There is also a +Protestant orphan asylum, and three free hospitals. + +The city boasts an Academy of Sciences, which has a very full museum, a +Historical Society and a Library Association, each of the latter having +fine libraries. + +Saint Paul is in the midst of a charming and romantic country, and the +throngs of people who seek a transient home within its borders during +the heat of summer find abundance of delightful drives and places for +picnics and excursions. White Bear Lake and Bald Eagle Lake, but a short +distance away by rail, furnish boating, fishing and bathing for pleasure +seekers, as well as most enchanting scenery for the lovers of nature. +The city park is but two miles away, on the shores of Lake Como, and is +also an attractive place. + +All lovers of the romantic should thank Longfellow that by means of his +exquisite poem of Hiawatha he has rescued the beautiful Falls of +Minnehaha, meaning in the Dakota language "laughing water," from being +known as Brown's Falls, a name which some utilitarian egotist had +bestowed upon it. From a high bank, covered with shrubbery, the clear, +silvery stream makes a sudden leap of about fifty feet into the chasm +beneath. A veil of mist rises before the falls, and the sun shining upon +it spans the cataract with a rainbow. + +On the eastern side of the city, in Dayton Bluff, near the river, is +Carver's Cave, so named after Jonathan Carver, already referred to, who, +in this cave, in May, 1767, made his treaty with the Indians, by which +he secured a large tract of land. The cave contains a lake large enough +to have a boat upon it. + +Two miles above Saint Paul, on a beautiful clear stream that flows into +the Mississippi, is Fountain Cave, a most wonderful and interesting +production of nature. It seems to have been formed by the action of the +stream which finds an outlet through it. It has an arched entrance with +a vaulted roof, the entrance being twenty feet in height by twenty-five +in width, while roof, sides and floor are of pure white sandstone. This +cave contains a number of chambers, the largest being one hundred feet +in length by twenty-five feet in width, and twenty feet in height. The +cave has been penetrated for a thousand feet or more, and still has +unexplored recesses. + +Saint Paul stands at the head of navigation of the Mississippi River, +the Falls and Rapids of Saint Anthony, a short distance above, +effectually barring the further upward progress of craft from below, +though above the falls small steamboats thread the waters of the +youthful Mississippi to the furthest outposts of civilization. At this +point the immense grain fields of the northwest find an outlet for their +annual products, and to this point comes the merchandise which must +supply the needs of an already large and constantly increasing +agricultural, mining and lumbering population. Numerous railroads +connect it, not only with the great trade centres of the east and south, +but with a hundred thriving towns and villages in Minnesota and +Wisconsin, who look to it for supplies; and when the Northern Pacific +is completed, the entire northwest will be brought into communication +with Saint Paul, and as the Mississippi will share with the lakes the +transportation of produce, manufactures and ores of an inexhaustible but +now scarcely populated region, Saint Paul will derive immense advantages +from this gigantic enterprise. + +Saint Paul is already a town of the greatest importance on the Upper +Mississippi. Her streets teem with business, and boats of all +descriptions lie at her wharves. Already a populous city, what she is +to-day is but the beginning of what the future will behold her. A +generation hence she will count her inhabitants by hundreds where now +she counts them by tens; her business will have increased in like +proportion; and in the no distant future she will be known as the great +metropolis of the Northwest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +SALT LAKE CITY. + + The Mormons.--Pilgrimage Across the Continent.--Site of Salt + Lake City.--A People of Workers.--Spread of Mormons through + other Territories.--City of the Saints.--Streets.--Fruit and + Shade Trees.--Irrigation.--The Tabernacle.--Residences of the + late Brigham Young.--Museum.--Public Buildings.--Warm and Hot + Springs.--Number and Character of Population.--Barter System + before Completion of Railroad.--Mormons and Gentiles.--Present + Advantages and Future Prospects of Salt Lake City. + + +Of all the cities which have sprung into being and grown and prospered, +since the discovery of the American continent, there is not one with +which is associated so much interest, and which attracts such universal +curiosity as Salt Lake City. From the time of the so-called discovery of +the Book of Mormon, in 1827, by Joseph Smith, through all the wanderings +of the adherents of Mormonism, beginning with the organization of the +"Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," in Manchester, New York, +including its removal to Kirtland, Ohio, and the establishment of a +branch church in Jackson County, Missouri; its transplanting to Nauvoo, +Illinois; the temporary sojourn of its adherents in Iowa; and the final +exodus, in 1847, over the then almost unknown and unexplored plains and +mountains of the great west, until they reached the Land of Promise, +lying between the Wasatch Range and the Sierra Nevadas, and there +settled themselves permanently, to build up literally a "Kingdom of +Christ upon the earth," the Mormons have been in more senses than one a +peculiar people. They have been unpleasantly peculiar in their advocacy +and practice of polygamy, and during their early sojourn at Salt Lake, +in their defiance of the United States Government. In some other +respects they have challenged the admiration of the world, and have set +patterns in industry, and in a system of government, which seems to +consider the well-being of all, both of which might be imitated to +advantage by the "Gentiles" who affect to despise them. + +After a weary pilgrimage through a wilderness far greater than that +traversed by the Israelites in days of old, the Mormons found their +Canaan in an immense valley, from four thousand to six thousand feet +above the level of the sea, and walled in by mountain ranges which +seemed to furnish natural barriers against the incroachments of an +antagonistic civilization. This valley, the geologist said, was the +bottom of a great, pre-historic sea, which by some mighty convulsion of +nature had been lifted up from its original level, and its outlet cut +off, and, like the Caspian Sea and others, was left to shrink by +evaporation. In the deepest depression of this valley still remained all +that was left of this ancient inland ocean, reduced now to seventy-five +miles in length and thirty in breadth, with an average depth of but +eight feet. Still holding in solution a large proportion of the salts of +the greater sea, its waters form one of the purest and most concentrated +brines in the world, containing twenty-two per cent of chloride of +sodium, slightly mixed with other salts. All through the valley of the +Great Salt Lake there are salt and alkaline deposits, evidencing the +former presence of water. The valley seemed barren and uninviting; yet +in it, as offering a refuge from the persecutions which they had +suffered in the east, the Mormons decided to establish their church and +build their homes. They found the soil, barren as it looked, would grow +grass, grain and fruits; and though the climate is changeable, the +winter cold, with deep snows, and the heat of summer intense, they had +faith to believe that they could endure whatever natural disadvantages +they could not overcome, and that they should in time receive the reward +of their piety and industry. + +Their chief town and ecclesiastical capital was located on the eastern +bank of the river Jordan, between Lake Utah, a beautiful body of fresh +water lying to the southward, and Great Salt Lake, lying twenty miles to +the northward. The new settlement was eleven hundred miles west of the +Mississippi, and six hundred and fifty miles east-northeast of the then +scarcely heard of city of San Francisco. Its site extended close up to +the base of the great mountains on the north, while to the southward its +view spread over more than a hundred miles of plain, with a range of +rugged mountain peaks, snow-capped and bold, lying beyond. A grander +outlook could scarcely be imagined. + +In the laying out of the city the fact was kept in view that it was for +a people of workers, each one of whom must be self-sustaining. In truth, +the great success of these people is due to the fact that no class of +drones has been recognized and provided for. All, from the highest to +the lowest, were expected to work, church officials as well as laymen; +and prosperity has attended industry, as it always does. The wilderness +and solitary place were glad for them, and the desert was made to +rejoice and blossom as the rose; and a mighty nation within a nation has +been built up in the valley of Utah, protected by its mountain +fastnesses. The Mormons have become a strong and prosperous people, and +have not only possessed themselves of Utah, but have sent out colonies +to Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona, which have +prospered and increased, until they now practically control those +Territories. + + [Illustration: MORMON TEMPLE AND TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY.] + +It is not my province to speak of the Mormons from either a religious or +political standpoint. Their material prosperity one cannot fail to see, +and a truthful historian must note it. The "City of the Saints," as Salt +Lake City is sometimes called, is doubly interesting, from its history +and from its peculiar features, so unlike those of any other city. The +streets are one hundred and twenty-eight feet wide, crossing each other +at right angles, an eighth of a mile apart, each square thus formed +containing ten acres. Each square is divided into eight lots, measuring +ten by twenty rods, and containing one-fourth of an acre. Several of the +squares in the business quarter of the town have been cut across since +the original laying out, forming cross streets. The streets are lined +with trees, while streams of running water course down each side of +every street, being brought from the neighboring mountains, ten thousand +feet high, furnishing a pure water supply, and irrigating the gardens. +Almost every lot has an orchard of pear, apple, plum, apricot, and peach +trees, and Utah furnishes large quantities of fresh and dried fruit for +the eastern markets. Apricots, which in the east are almost unknown, +sometimes grow as large as eastern peaches, from six to eight inches in +circumference. Locust, maple and box-elder are the favorite shade trees, +and these grow luxuriantly. When, however, their roots strike soil from +which the alkali has not yet been washed, their leaves turn from a dark +green to a sickly yellow. But irrigation washes out this alkali, and the +trouble from it grows less every year. + +Salt Lake City is divided into twenty wards, nearly every one of which +has a square. Every ward has its master, who superintends the public +improvements, and sees that every man does his share without shirking. +The houses are generally of adobe (sun-dried bricks), though a few of +the newer business blocks are handsome and commodious stone structures. +Most of the dwelling houses are small, and but a single story in height, +having separate entrances when there is more than one wife in the +family. The city is not an imposing one. The wide streets, large grounds +around each dwelling, and low, small houses, give it more the appearance +of an overgrown village than that of a city. Nevertheless, it cannot be +denied that the plan upon which it is built secures to its inhabitants +the maximum of comfort, health and cleanliness. There are no narrow and +stifling streets, overshadowed by tall buildings; no dirty alleys; no +immense crime and pestilence-breeding tenement houses. Each little +dwelling has its garden and orchard, securing to each family the +blessings of fresh vegetables and fruit, and making each in a measure +self-dependent. The air is pure, blowing down the valley from the +mountain heights; and no foul vapors from half protected sewers or +reeking courts poison it. + +The chief business thoroughfares are Main and Temple streets. The former +is entirely devoted to trade, while church edifices are found in the +latter. The Tabernacle is, of course, the most prominent object which +meets the eye of the traveler as he arrives in Salt Lake City, standing +out, as it does, in all its huge proportions, surrounded by the tiny +homes of the people. It is on Temple street, in the heart of the city, +and is entirely without architectural beauty, its predominant features +being its hugeness and its ugliness. It is an enormous wooden structure, +oval in form, with an immense dome-like roof, supported by forty-six +sandstone pillars. It will seat fifteen thousand persons, and is used +for the services of the church, lectures and public gatherings. It +contains one of the largest organs in America. It is inclosed within a +high wall, and a little to the east of it, within the same inclosure, +are the foundations of a new temple, estimated to cost ten millions of +dollars, but which will not probably be finished for many years to come. +An inferior adobe building, also within the walls, is the celebrated +Endowment House, where are performed those sacred and mysterious rites +of the Mormon Church which no Gentile may look upon, and where the +Saints are sealed to their polygamous wives. + +On South Temple street, east of the Tabernacle, is the group of +buildings known as Brigham Block, inclosed, like the former, by a high +stone wall, and comprising the Tithing House, the Beehive House, the +Lion House, the office of the _Deseret News_, and various other offices +and buildings. The Beehive House and the Lion House constituted the +residences of the late Brigham Young and eighteen or twenty of his +wives. A handsome structure nearly opposite, the most pretentious +structure in Salt Lake City, and known as Amelia Palace, was built by +Brigham Young, for his favorite wife, Amelia. The theatre is a large +building with a gloomy exterior, but handsomely fitted up inside. It is +a favorite resort of the Saints, who make it a source of innocent +recreation, and entertain no prejudices against it, permitting their +wives and children to appear upon its boards. One of the daughters of +Brigham Young was at one time an actress at this theatre. + +On South Temple street, opposite the Tabernacle, is the Museum, +containing interesting products of Mormon industry; specimens of ores +from the mines of Utah, and precious stones from the desert; a fair +representation of the fauna of the Territory; relics of the mound +builders; articles of Indian use and manufacture, and other curiosities, +which the visitor may behold on the payment of a small admission fee. +The City Hall, which is at the present time used by the Territorial +Government, is a handsome building, erected at a cost of sixty thousand +dollars. In its rear is the city prison. A co-operative store in +successful operation will be found occupying a handsome building on East +Temple street. The Deseret National Bank, at the corner of East Temple +and South First streets, is also a fine building. The two principal +hotels of Salt Lake City are the Walker House, on Main street, and the +Townsend House, at the corner of West Temple and South Second streets. +With all its quaintness and want of resemblance to other cities, it has +adopted the system of horse cars, which run on the principal streets, +and make all parts of the city accessible. + +About one mile distant from the city are the Warm Springs, issuing from +the limestone rock at the foot of the mountains. The water of these +springs contains lime, magnesia, iron, soda, chlorine, and sulphuric +acid, and their temperature is lukewarm. A bath in them is delightful, +and beneficial, if not prolonged. Private bathing apartments are fitted +up for the use of bathers. A mile further north are the Hot Springs, +also strongly sulphurous, and with a temperature of over 200 deg.. Eggs may +be boiled in these springs in three minutes, ready for the table. The +water from these springs forms a beautiful lake, called Hot Spring Lake, +which practically destroys all agriculture and vegetation for hundreds +of yards within the vicinity. Strange as it may seem, the hot water does +not prevent the existence of some kinds of excellent fish, among which +have been seen some very fine, large trout. + +The population of Salt Lake City is something over twenty thousand +persons, of whom about one-third are Gentiles and apostate Mormons. This +population is made up of all nationalities, apostles and missionaries +being continually sent out to nearly every part of the civilized world, +to make proselytes, and bring them to the fold. These converts to the +faith are usually from the lower classes, ignorant and superstitious; +and as a consequence the intellectual and social standards of Salt Lake +City are not high. But with their new faith these people acquire habits +of industry, if they never possessed them before; and the conditions of +the city are favorable for growth in certain directions. Their children +are educated and brought up to a higher position than that occupied by +their parents; so that whatever may be our opinion as to the advantages +or disadvantages, from a religious point of view, in their conversion to +the Mormon faith, materially, intellectually and socially they have many +of them undoubtedly made a change for the better. They are taken away +from the stationary conditions of life in the old world, and +transplanted into a new and growing country, where there is plenty of +room and incentive for progress and expansion. Though the first +generation do not always avail themselves of this room, nor even the +second, to its fullest extent, ultimately these people will come to +compare favorably with other classes of American citizens. + +The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad, although it deprived the +Mormons of that isolation which they sought, has been of vast benefit to +them in material ways. It is said that when the city was first settled +the whole community could not have raised one thousand dollars in cash. +And up to the completion of the railroad nine-tenths of the business of +the Mormon people was conducted on a system of barter. A writer thus +facetiously describes the condition of things at that period: "A farmer +wishes to purchase a pair of shoes for his wife. He consults the +shoemaker, who avers his willingness to furnish the same for one load of +wood. He has no wood, but sells a calf for a quantity of adobes, the +adobes for an order on the merchant, payable in goods, and the goods and +the order for a load of wood, and straightway the matron is shod. Seven +watermelons purchased the price of a ticket of admission to the theatre. +He paid for the tuition of his children seventy-five cabbages per +quarter. The dressmaker received for her services four squashes per day. +He settled his church dues in sorghum molasses. Two loads of pumpkins +paid his annual subscription to the newspaper. He bought a 'Treatise on +Celestial Marriage' for a load of gravel, and a bottle of soothing syrup +for the baby with a bushel of string beans." + +There are not the most harmonious relations existing between the Mormon +and Gentile people of Salt Lake City. Each regards the other with +suspicion. The former look upon the latter as hostile to their faith, +and determined to destroy it. The Gentiles regard certain practices of +the Mormons with abhorrence, and themselves as at heart rebellious to +the government to which they have been compelled to submit. The leading +papers of the two factions are very hostile, and keep alive the feeling +of antagonism. + +Lying between two prominent mountain chains, the chief city in a vast +valley which the enterprise of man has demonstrated to be fertile; +furnishing a depot of supplies, and a mart and shipping place for +produce and manufactures; Salt Lake City is destined to become an +important point in the western section of our country. Her future is +assured, even though the people who founded her, together with the faith +to which they cling, should disappear from the face of the earth, and be +forgotten, like the lost tribes of Israel, which they believe themselves +to represent. Essentially American in all her features--since no city of +the Old World, either ancient or modern, furnishes a prototype--and in +her very plan including certain sure elements of success, as our Western +States and Territories become filled up with a thriving and industrious +people, she will find herself the natural centre of a vast agricultural +and mining population, and continue to increase in importance and +prosperity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +SAN FRANCISCO. + + San Francisco.--The Golden State.--San Francisco Bay.--Golden + Gate.--Conquest of California by Fremont, 1848.--Discovery of + Gold.--Rush to the Mines, 1849.--"Forty-niners."--Great Rise + in Provisions and Wages.--Miners Homeward Bound.--Dissipation + and Vice in the City.--Vigilance Committee.--Great Influx of + Miners in 1850.--Immense Gold Yield.--Climate.--Earthquakes.-- + Productions.--Irrigation.--Streets and Buildings.--Churches.-- + Lone Mountain Cemetery.--Cliff House.--Seal Rock.--Theatres.-- + Chinese Quarter.--Chinese Theatres.--Joss Houses.--Emigration + Companies.--The Chinese Question.--Cheap Labor.--"The Chinese + Must Go."--Present Population and Commerce of San Francisco.-- + Exports.--Manufactures.--Cosmopolitan Spirit of Inhabitants. + + +San Francisco is situated on the best harbor which our Pacific Coast +affords, a little below the 38th parallel of latitude, and about a +degree further south than St. Louis, Cincinnati and Washington. It is +the western terminus of the Central Pacific Railroad, American gateway +to Asia and the far East. + +As the traveler proceeds thitherward from the Valley of the Mississippi, +on descending the western slopes of the Sierras, he finds himself fairly +within the Golden State; and in more senses than one does California +deserve that name. If it be the summer season the very air seems filled +with a golden haze. In leaving the mountains all freshness is left +behind. Trees and fields are yellow with drouth, which lasts from April +to November. Dense clouds of dust fill the air and settle upon +everything. Whole regions, by the means of extensive and destructive +mining operations, have been denuded of all verdure, and lie bare and +unsightly, waiting until the slow processes of time, or the more +expeditious hand of man, shall reclaim them. But mines have now given +place to vast grain and cattle farms or ranches; and great fields of +golden grain and the cattle on a thousand hills are on either side of +the track. If it be later or earlier in the year there is a wealth of +bloom such as is never dreamed of in the East. The ground, sometimes, as +far as the eye can reach, is brilliant with color, a golden yellow the +predominating hue. In the rainy season the Sacramento valley, the +occasional victim of prolonged drouth, is sometimes visited by a +freshet, which carries destruction with it; a mountain torrent, taking +its rise near the base of Mt. Shasta, and fed by the snows of the +Sierras, it is fitful in its demeanor. It finds its outlet through San +Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate to the Pacific. + +San Francisco is on a peninsula which extends between the bay of that +name and the ocean. Its site is nothing more than a collection of sand +hills, which, before the building of the city, were continually changing +their positions. The peninsula is thirty miles long and six wide, across +the city, which stands on the eastern or inner slope. + +San Francisco Bay is unsurpassed in the world, except by Puget Sound, in +Washington Territory, for size, depth, ease of entrance and security. +The entrance to the bay is through a passage five miles in length and +about two in width, with its shallowest depth about thirty feet at low +tide. Rocks rise almost perpendicularly on the northern side of the +entrance, to a height of three thousand feet. A lighthouse is placed on +one of these, at Point Bonita. Fort Point, a fortress built on solid +rock, commands the entrance from the south, and beyond it, until San +Francisco is reached, are a series of sand dunes, some of them white and +drifting and others showing green with the scant grass growing upon +them. The entrance to the bay is called the Golden Gate, a name applied +with singular appropriateness, since through its portals have passed +continuous streams of gold since the discovery of the latter in 1848. +Strangely enough, the name was given before the gold discovery, though +at how early a date there seems no means of knowing. As far as can be +ascertained, it first appears in Fremont's "Geographical Memoir of +California," published in 1847. Six miles eastward from its entrance the +bay turns southward for a distance of thirty miles, forming a narrow +peninsula between it and the ocean, on the northeastern extremity of +which the city is built. It also extends northward to San Puebla Bay, +which latter extending eastward, connects by means of a narrow strait +with Suisun Bay, into which the Sacramento River discharges its volume +of water. These three bays furnish ample and safe harborage for all the +merchant fleets of the world. + +San Francisco Bay is about forty miles in length, its widest point being +twelve miles. At Oakland, directly east of San Francisco, it is eight +miles in width. Alcatraz Island, in the centre of the channel, six miles +from the Golden Gate, is a solid rock rising threateningly above the +water, and bristling with heavy artillery. It is sixteen hundred feet in +length, and four hundred and fifty feet in width. Angel Island is +directly north of Alcatraz, and four miles from San Francisco, contains +eight hundred acres, and is also fortified. Midway between San +Francisco and Oakland is Yerba Buena, or Goat Island, which, too, is +held as a United States military station. Red Rock, Bird Rock, the Two +Sisters, and other small islands dot the bay. + +In 1775 the first ship passed the portals of the Golden Gate, and made +its way into the Bay of San Francisco. This ship was the _San Carlos_, +commanded by Caspar De Portala, a Franciscan monk and Spanish Governor +of Lower California, who set out on a voyage of discovery and +exploration. The same man had six years previously visited the sand +hills of the present site of San Francisco, being the first white man to +set his foot upon them. Portala named the harbor San Francisco, after +the founder of his monastic order, St. Francis. A mission was founded +there six years later, on the twenty-seventh of June, by Friars +Francisco Paloa and Bonito Cambou, under the direction of Father +Junipero Serra, who had been commissioned by Father Portala as president +of all the missions in Upper California. This was the sixth mission +established in California, and up to the year 1800 the Fathers labored +with great zeal and industry, had established eighteen missions, +converted six hundred and forty-seven savages, and acquired a vast +property in lands, cattle, horses, sheep and grain. Presidios or +military stations were established for the protection of these missions, +and the Indians readily submitted themselves to the Fathers, and +acquired the arts of civilization. + +The Franciscan friars continued complete sovereigns of the land during +the first quarter of the present century, and increased in worldly +goods. Mexico became a republic in 1824, and in 1826 considerably +curtailed their privileges. In 1845 their property was finally +confiscated and the missions broken up. The priests returned to Spain; +the Indians to their savagery; and only the crumbling walls of their +adobe houses, and their decaying orchards and vineyards, remained to +tell the tale of the past history of California. From that period until +1847 California was a bone of contention between Mexico and the United +States, her territory overrun by troops of both nations. On the +sixteenth of January, 1847, the Spanish forces capitulated to Fremont, +and peace was established. + +With the exception of the Mission Dolores, there was no settlement at +San Francisco until 1835, when a tent was erected. A small frame house +was built the following year, and on the fifteenth of April, 1838, the +first white child was born. The population of San Francisco, then known +as Yerba Buena, in 1842 was one hundred and ninety-six persons. In 1847 +it had increased to four hundred and fifty-one persons, including +whites, Indians, negroes and Sandwich Islanders. In March, 1848, the +city contained two hundred houses, and eight hundred and fifty +inhabitants. In November of the same year, the first steamer, a small +boat from Sitka, made a trial trip around the bay. In this year the +first public school and the first Protestant church were established. + +This year marked the great era in the history of San Francisco. In the +fall of 1847, Captain John A. Sutter, a Swiss by birth, who had resided +in California since 1839, began erecting a saw mill at a place called +Colorna, on the American River, a confluent of the Sacramento, about +fifty miles east of the city of that name. James W. Marshall, who had +taken the contract for erecting the mill, was at work with his men +cutting and widening the tail-race when, on January eighteenth, 1848, he +observed some particles of a yellow, glittering substance. In February +specimens of these findings were taken to San Francisco, and pronounced +to be gold. The truth being soon confirmed, the rush for the gold fields +commenced. People in all sections of California and Oregon forsook their +occupations, and set out for the mines. The news spread, increasing as +it went; until the reports grew fabulous. Many of the earliest miners +acquired fortunes quickly, and as quickly dissipated them. The journal +of Rev. Walter Colton, at that time Alcalde of Monterey, contains the +following paragraph, under date of August twelfth, 1848:-- + +"My man Bob, who is of Irish extraction, and who had been in the mines +about two months, returned to Monterey about four weeks since, bringing +with him over two thousand dollars, as the proceeds of his labor. Bob, +while in my employ, required me to pay him every Saturday night in gold, +which he put into a little leather bag and sewed into the lining of his +coat, after taking out just twelve and a half cents, his weekly +allowance for tobacco. But now he took rooms and began to branch out; he +had the best horses, the richest viands, and the choicest wines in the +place. He never drank himself but it filled him with delight to brim the +sparkling goblet for others. I met Bob to-day, and asked him how he got +on. 'Oh, very well,' he replied, 'but I am off again for the mines.' +'How is that, Bob? you brought down with you over two thousand dollars; +I hope you have not spent all that; you used to be very saving; twelve +and a half cents a week for tobacco, and the rest you sewed into the +lining of your coat.' 'Oh, yes,' replied Bob, 'and I have got _that_ +money yet. I worked hard for it, and the devil can't get it away. But +the two thousand dollars came aisily, by good luck, and has gone as +aisily as it came!'" + +Reports of the new El Dorado reached the States, and during 1849, from +Maine to Louisiana came the gold seekers. From every country in Europe, +from Australia and from China, additions were made to the throng of +pilgrims, who, by the Isthmus, around the Horn, across the seas, and by +the terrible journey overland, all rushed pell mell up the Sacramento, +stopping at San Francisco only long enough to find some means of +conveyance. We have no space to tell the story of that time. Men came +and went. Some made fortunes. Others returned poorer than they came. +Many who attempted the overland route left their bones bleaching on the +plains. Some went back to their homes, and others remained to become +permanent citizens of California. What the F. F. V.s are to Virginia, +and the Pilgrim Fathers to Massachusetts, the "Forty-niners," a large +number of whom still survive, will be, in the future, to California. + +During 1848 ten million dollars' worth of gold had been gathered on the +Yuba, American and Feather rivers. The city of San Francisco had, in +January, 1849, two thousand inhabitants, and these were in a hurry to be +off to the mines as soon as the rainy season was over. Ships began to +arrive from all quarters, and July of that year found the flags of every +nation floating in the bay. Five hundred square-rigged vessels lay in +the harbor, and everybody was scrambling for the mines. These multitudes +of people, though they thought only of gold, yet had to be fed, clothed +and housed after a fashion. There were no supplies adequate to the +demand, and provisions went up to fabulous prices. Apples sold for from +$1 to $5 apiece, and eggs at the same rates. Laborers demanded from $20 +to $30 for a day's work, and were scarcely to be had at those figures. +The miners probably averaged $25 a day at the mines, though some were +making their hundreds. But at the exorbitant prices to be paid for +everything, few were able to lay up much money. + +Late in the year of 1849 the reaction came. The steamers were filled +with downcast miners, thankful that they had enough left to take +themselves home. Others having acquired something, stopped at San +Francisco, and plunged into the worst forms of dissipation. The city +during this and the following year held a carnival of vice and crime. +Women there were few or none, save of the worst character, and gambling +dens, dance houses, and drinking hells flourished on every street. In +1850 a Vigilance Committee was organized by the better class of +citizens, which soon exercised a wholesome restraint upon the criminal +classes. In the same year California was admitted to the Union without +the preliminary of a Territorial Government, and San Francisco was +chartered as a city. Courts were established, and the lawless community +came under the dominion of law and order. + +By this time the great haste which seized everybody in his eagerness to +obtain gold and return home to enjoy it, had somewhat subsided. Men +began to realize that there were other means of making money besides +digging for it. Gardens were planted and orchards set out, and it was +discovered that the apparently barren soil of the State would yield with +a fruitfulness unparalleled in the East. San Francisco began to be more +than a canvass city. Mud flats were filled in and sand hills leveled, +houses, hotels and stores erected, and a wild speculation began in city +property. Lots which a few days before had been purchased for two or +three thousand dollars, were held at fifty thousand dollars. A canvas +tent, fifteen by twenty feet, near the plaza, rented for forty thousand +dollars per annum. The Parker House, a two-story frame building on +Kearney street, also near the plaza, brought a yearly rent of one +hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Board in a hotel or a tent was +eight dollars per day, and provisions were proportionately high. To +build a brick house cost a dollar for each brick used. Twenty-seven +thousand people arrived in San Francisco, by sea or land, during 1850. +In 1853 thirty-four thousand gold seekers returned home, the yield of +gold that year having been $65,000,000, the largest annual yield of the +State. The imports of San Francisco in the same year were over +$45,000,000. As early as this period it was the third city in tonnage +entrances in the United States, New York and New Orleans alone exceeding +it. In 1856 the bad state of public affairs again necessitated the +interference of a Vigilance Committee, but since that time the city has +been orderly. + +The site of San Francisco was fixed by chance. More desirable places +might have been selected, but the influx of miners dropped upon the +first spot convenient for them to land, from which to start post-haste +to the mines, and that spot is indicated by the present city. Owing to +its location its climate is not in all respects desirable. The general +climate of the coast is tempered, both in summer and winter, by a warm +ocean current, which, flowing northward along the coast of China and +Siberia, takes a turn to the south when it reaches Alaska, and washes +the western coast of the continent of America. It is so warm that it +produces a marked effect upon this coast, just as the Gulf Stream +tempers the climate of the British Islands. But it has been sensibly +cooled by its proximity to Arctic seas, and so sends cool breezes to fan +the land during the heat of summer. These summer sea breezes rushing +through the narrow opening of the Golden Gate become almost gales, and +bring both cold and fog with them. The air of winter is mild and +spring-like. This is the rainy season, but it does not rain +continuously. It is the season of verdure and growth, and frosts are +both slight and infrequent in the latitude of San Francisco. Not a drop +of rain falls during the summer. The mornings are warm and sometimes +almost sultry; but about ten o'clock the sea breeze springs up, growing +more violent as the day advances, and frequently bringing a chilly fog +with it, so that by evening men are glad to wrap themselves in +overcoats, and women put on their cloaks and furs. The sand, which is +still heaped in dunes to the westward of the city, and lies upon its +vacant lots, is lifted and whirled through the air, falling almost like +sleet, and stinging the faces of pedestrians. + +Thunder storms are of rare occurrence at San Francisco, but earthquakes +are exceedingly frequent. Probably not a year elapses in which slight +shocks are not felt in the State. Sometimes these shocks extend over +vast areas, and at other times are merely local. On October +twenty-first, 1868, a severe earthquake occurred at San Francisco, +swaying buildings and throwing down numbers in process of erection. The +houses of the city are mostly built with a view to these disturbances of +nature. The dwelling houses are seldom more than two and one-half +stories in height, while the blocks of the business streets do not +display the altitude of structures in the eastern cities. + +The climate is so mild and so favorable that the productions of +California embrace those of both temperate and semi-tropical latitudes. +The sand hills of San Francisco were found, with the help of irrigation +to produce plentifully of both fruits and flowers, and the suburbs of +the city display many greenhouse plants growing in the open air. Roses +bloom every month in the year, and strawberries ripen from February to +December. In San Francisco the mean temperature in January is 49 deg. and in +June 56 deg.. The average temperature of the year is 54 deg.. + +The California market, between Kearney and Montgomery streets, extending +through from Pine to California streets, displays all the fruits, +vegetables and grains of the northern States, raised in the immediate +neighborhood of the city, while oranges, lemons and pomegranates are +sent from further south. The tenderer varieties of grapes flourish in +the open air, and the State produces raisins which command a price but +little below those of Europe. The thrift of the fruit trees of +California is most remarkable. Most trees begin bearing on the second +year from the slip or graft, and produce abundantly at three or four +years of age. Their growth and the size of their productions are +unequaled on the continent. The above mentioned market is one of the +sights of the city, and should not be missed by the visitor. + +Irrigation has been found necessary to render the sand hills about San +Francisco productive, and windmills have become familiar objects in the +landscape, their long arms revolving in the ocean breeze, while little +streams of water trickling here and there vivify the earth. As a result, +though trees are scarce, what few there are being mostly stunted live +oaks, whose long roots extend down deep into the soil, there are flowers +everywhere. On one side of a fence will be a sand-bank, white with +shifting sand, on the other, flourishing in the same kind of soil, will +be an _al fresco_ conservatory, brilliant with color and luxuriant in +foliage. + +Montgomery street is the leading thoroughfare, broad and lined with +handsome buildings. Toward the north it climbs a hill so steep that +carriages cannot ascend it, and pedestrians make their way up by means +of a flight of steps. From this elevation a fine view is obtained of the +city and bay. Kearney and Market streets are also fashionable +promenades, containing many of the retail stores. The principal banks +and business offices are found on California street, and the handsomest +private residences are on Van Ness avenue, Taylor, Bush, Sutter, +Leavenworth and Folsom streets, Clay street Hill and Pine street Hill. +The city extends far beyond its original limits, having encroached upon +the bay. Solid blocks now stand where, in 1849, big ships rode at +anchor. It is laid out with regularity, most of its streets being at +right angles with one another. The business streets are generally paved +with Belgian blocks or cobble stones, and most of the residence streets +are planked. The city does not present the handsome and showy +architecture of many cities of the east, though here and there are fine +edifices. It is yet too new, and too hurriedly built, to have acquired +the substantiality and grandeur of older cities. Between fine brick or +stone structures several stories high are sandwiched insignificant +wooden houses of only two stories, the relics of a past which is yet +exceedingly near the present. The public buildings, especially those +belonging to the United States, are fine. + +The City Hall will, when finished, be surpassed by few structures in the +country. The Palace Hotel, at the corner of Market and New Montgomery +streets, is a vast building, erected and furnished at a cost of +$3,250,000. It is entered by a grand court-yard surrounded by +colonnades, and from its roof a birds-eye view of the whole city can be +obtained. Baldwin's Hotel, at the corner of Marshall and Powell streets, +is another palatial structure, costing a quarter of a million more, for +building, decorating and furnishing, than the Palace Hotel. The Grand +Hotel, Occidental, Lick House, Russ House and Cosmopolitan are all +established and popular hotels. + +The largest and finest church edifice on the Pacific Coast is that of +St. Ignatius, Roman Catholic, in McAlister street. The finest interior +is that of St. Patrick's, also Roman Catholic, in Mission street between +Third and Fourth. The First Unitarian church, in Geary street, is one of +the finest churches in the city, remarkable for the purity of its +architectural design and the elegance of its finish. The Chinese Mission +House, at the corner of Stockton and Sacramento streets, will prove +interesting to strangers. The Roman Catholics, who number among their +adherents all the Spanish citizens, make no concealment of their +intention to gain a majority of the population. But though they are a +power in the community, and have many churches, the different Protestant +sects are largely represented. Indeed, San Francisco is thoroughly +tolerant in matters of religion. Not only do Catholics and Protestants +find their own appropriate places of worship, but the Jews have two +Synagogues, and the Chinese Buddhists three Temples or Joss Houses. + +There is but one road leading out of the city, but within the city +limits there are many modes of conveyance. Cars propelled by endless +wire cables, which move along the streets without the assistance of +either horse or steam power, intersect the city in every direction. +Omnibuses run out on the Point Lobos road to the Cliff House; and he who +has not ridden or driven thither and watched the seals on Seal Rock, has +not seen all of San Francisco. This is the one excursion of the city; +its one pet dissipation. Everybody goes to the Cliff. A drive of five or +six miles, on a good road, over and through intervening sand hills, +brings the visitor to the Cliff House. This road leads by Laurel Hill, +or as it was formerly called, Lone Mountain Cemetery, two and one-half +miles west of the city, within whose inclosure a conical hill rises to a +considerable height above the surrounding level country. On its summit +is a large wooden cross, a prominent landmark, and within the cemetery +are several fine monuments, conspicuously that of Senator Broderick, and +a miniature Pantheon, marking the resting place of the Ralston family. +The Lone Mountain possesses an unrivaled outlook over city, bay, ocean +and coast range. + +The Cliff House is a large, low building, set on the edge of a cliff +rising abruptly from the ocean, and facing west; and from it you have a +grand view of the Golden Gate, while oceanward you strain your eyes to +catch some glimpse of China or Japan, which lie so far away in front of +you. But you see instead, if the day be clear, the faint but bold +outlines of the Farallon Islands, and the white sails of vessels +passing in and out of the Golden Gate. + +Late in the year of 1876 I completed my horseback journey across the +continent, dashing with my horse into the surf to the westward of the +Cliff House. A long and wearisome, but at the same time interesting and +reasonably exciting ride, was at an end, and after viewing San +Francisco, I was free to enjoy those luxuries of modern civilization, +the railway cars, on my homeward route. + + [Illustration: SEAL ROCKS, FROM THE CLIFF HOUSE, NEAR SAN FRANCISCO.] + +The Farallones de los Frayles are six islets lifting up their jagged +peaks in picturesque masses out in the ocean, twenty-three and one-half +miles westward of the Golden Gate. The largest Farallon extends for +nearly a mile east and west, and is three hundred and forty feet high. +On its highest summit the government has placed a lighthouse, and there +the light-keepers live, sometimes cut off for weeks from the shore, +surrounded by barrenness and desolation, but within sight of the busy +life which ebbs and flows through the narrow strait which leads to San +Francisco. These islands are composed of broken and water-worn rocks, +forming numerous sharp peaks, and containing many caves. One of these +caves has been utilized as a fog-trumpet, or whistle, blown by the force +of the waves. The mouth-piece of a trumpet has been fixed against the +aperture of the rock, and the waves dashing against it with force enough +to crush a ship to pieces, blows the whistle. This fog whistle ceases +entirely at low water, and its loudness at all times depends upon the +force of the waves. The Farallones are the homes of innumerable sea +birds, gulls, mures, shags and sea-parrots, the eggs of the first two +being regularly collected by eggers, who make a profitable business +of gathering them at certain seasons of the year. In 1853 one thousand +dozen of these eggs, the result of a three days' trip, were sold at a +dollar a dozen. Gathering the eggs is difficult and not unattended by +danger, as precipices must be scaled, and the birds sometimes show +themselves formidable enemies. The larger island is also populated by +immense numbers of rabbits, all descended from a few pairs brought there +many years ago. Occasionally these creatures, becoming too numerous for +the resources of the island, die by hundreds, of starvation. Though +their progenitors were white, they have reverted to the original color +of the wild race. The cliffs of these islands are alive with seals, or +sea-lions, as they are called, which congregate upon their sunny slopes, +play, bark, fight and roar. Some of them are as large as an ox and +seemingly as clumsy; but they disport themselves in the surf, which is +strong enough to dash them in pieces, with the utmost ease, allowing the +waves to send them almost against the rocks, and then by a sudden, +dextrous movement, gliding out of danger. + +The Cliff House has also its sea-lions, on Seal Rock, not far from the +hotel, and the visitors are never tired of watching them as they wriggle +over the rocks, barking so noisily as to be heard above the breakers. +Formerly numbers of them were shot by wanton sportsmen, but they are now +protected by law. "Ben. Butler" and "General Grant" are two seals of +unusual size, which appear to hold the remainder of the seal colony in +subjection. If two begin to fight and squabble about a position which +each wants, either "Ben" or the "General" quickly settles the dispute by +flopping the malcontents overboard. The higher these creatures can +wriggle up the rocks the happier they appear to be; and when a huge +beast has attained a solitary peak, by dint of much squirming, he +manifests his satisfaction by raising his small pointed head and +complacently looking about him. As soon as another spies him, and can +reach the spot, a squabble ensues, howls are heard, teeth enter into the +contest, the stronger secures the eminence, and the weaker is +ignominiously sent to the humbler and lower regions. + +An early drive to and a breakfast at the Cliff House, with a return to +the city before the sea-breeze begins, is the favorite excursion of the +San Franciscan. The road passes beyond this hotel to a broad, beautiful +beach, on which, at low tide, one can drive to the Ocean House, at its +extreme end, and then return to the city by the old Mission grounds, +which still lie in its southwestern limits. The Mission building is of +adobe, of the old Spanish style, built in 1778. Adjoining it is the +cemetery, with its fantastic monuments, and paths worn by the feet of +the Mission fathers and their dusky penitents. + +The largest and finest theatre of the city, and one of the finest in the +United States, is the Grand Opera House, at the corner of Mission and +Third streets. Four other theatres and an Academy of Music, furnish +amusements to the residents of the city. Woodward's Gardens, on Mission +street between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, contains a museum, an +art galley, and a menagerie. There are also two Chinese theatres, one at +618 Jackson street, and the other at 625-1/2 Jackson street. + +The Chinese Quarter of San Francisco, which has become famous the world +over, occupies portions of Sacramento, Commercial, Dupont, Pacific and +Jackson streets. It is a locality which no stranger should fail to see. +Here he steps at once into the Celestial Empire. Chinamen throng the +streets, dressed in their semi-American, semi-Asiatic costumes, the +pig-tail usually depending behind, though sometimes it is rolled up, out +of sight, under the hat. The harsh gutturals of the Chinese language, +nearly every word ending in ng, are heard on every hand, mingled with +the grotesque pigeon English. The signs exhibit Chinese characters, and +the stores and bazaars are filled with Chinese merchandise. + +Women are scarce in this quarter, and only of the courtezan class; but +here and there one meets you, dressed usually in Chinese gown and +trowsers, with hair arranged in the indescribable Chinese chignon, and +carrying a fan--for all the world as though she had stepped off a fan or +a saucer--and not more immodest in demeanor than the same class in our +eastern cities. There are few or no Chinese wives in San Francisco. +Chinese immigration takes the form of an immense bow, beginning at +China, stretching to the Pacific coast of America, and retiring again to +its starting point; for every Chinaman expects to return to his native +land, either alive or dead. He does not take root in American soil. He +comes here to make a little money, leaving his family behind him, and, +satisfied with a very modest competence, returns as he came. If he dies +here, his bones are carried back, that they may find a resting-place +with those of his ancestors. Therefore the women imported are for the +basest purposes. + +But to return to this Chinese Quarter. Here is the old St. Giles of +London, the old Five Points of New York magnified and intensified. Here +congregate the roughest and rudest elements, and here stand, shamelessly +revealed, crime and bestiality too vile to name. In one cellar is a +gambling-hell, for John Chinaman's besetting weakness is his love of +gambling. The mode of gambling is very simple, involving no skill, and +the stakes are small; but many a Celestial loses there, at night, his +earnings of the day. Near by is an opium cellar, fitted up with benches +or shelves, on each of which will be found a couple of Chinamen lying, +with a wooden box for a pillow. While one is preparing his opium and +smoking, the other is enjoying its full effects, in a half stupor. The +Chinese tenement houses are crowded and filthy beyond description, and +the breeding places of disease and crime. They are scattered thickly +throughout the quarter. Their theatres, of which there are two, already +referred to, have only male performers, who personate both sexes, and +give what seems to be passable acting, accompanied by the clash and +clang of cymbals, the beating of gongs, the sounding of trumpets, and +other disagreeable noises regarded by the Chinese as music. The entire +audience are smoking, either tobacco or opium. + +The Joss houses, or temples of the Chinese, are more in the nature of +club houses and employment bureaus, than of religious houses. The first +floor contains the business room, smoking or lounging room, dining room, +kitchen, and other offices, which are used by the Emigration Company to +which the building belongs. The second floor contains a moderate-sized +hall, devoted to religious rites. Its walls are decorated with moral +maxims from Confucius and other writers, in which the devotees are +exhorted to fidelity, integrity, and the other virtues. The Joss or Josh +is an image of a Chinaman, before whom the Chinese residents of San +Francisco are expected to come once a year and burn slips of paper. +Praying is also done, but as this is by means of putting printed +prayers into a machine run by clockwork, there is no great exhaustion +among the worshipers. + +The Chinese have no Sunday, and are ready to work every day of the week, +if they can get paid for it. Their only holiday is at New Year, which +occurs with them usually in February, but is a movable feast, when they +require an entire week to settle their affairs, square up their +religious and secular accounts, and make a new start in life. The +Chinese have one saving virtue. They pay their debts on every New Year's +day. If they have not enough to settle all claims against them they hand +over their assets to their creditors, old scores are wiped out, and they +commence anew. + +The six Chinese Emigration Companies, each representing a Chinese +province, manage the affairs of the immigrants with a precision, +minuteness and care which is unparalleled by any organization of western +civilization. Before the passage of the anti-Chinese law, when a ship +came into port laden with Chinamen, the agents of the different +companies boarded it, and each took the names of those belonging to his +province. They provided lodgings and food for the new comers, and as +quickly as possible secured them employment; lent them money to go to +any distant point; cared for them if they were sick and friendless, and, +finally, sent home the bones of those who died on American shores. These +companies settle all disputes between the Chinese, and when a Chinamen +wishes to return home, they examine his accounts, and oblige him to pay +his just debts before leaving. The means for doing all this are obtained +in the shape of voluntary contributions from the immigrants. These +companies do not act as employment bureaus, for these are separate and +thoroughly organized institutions. These latter farm out the work of +any number of hands, at the price agreed upon, furnishing a foreman, +with whom all negotiations are transacted, who, perhaps, is the only one +speaking English, and who is responsible for all the work. + +The English spoken by the Chinese is known as "pigeon English," "pigeon" +being the nearest approach which a Chinamen can make to saying +"business." + +Most English words are more or less distorted. L is always used by them +for r, mi for I, and the words abound in terminal ee's. + +The Chinese problem is one which is agitating the country and giving a +coloring to its politics. The Pacific States seem, by a large majority +of their population, to regard the presence of the Mongolian among them +as an unmitigated evil, to be no longer tolerated. Eastern capitalists +have hailed their coming as inaugurating the era of cheap labor and +increased fortunes for themselves. Hence the discussion and the +disturbances. A lady who had made her home in San Francisco for several +years past, says, in a letter to the writer of this article, "A person +not living in California can form no conception of the curse which the +Chinese are to this section of the world." + +Yet without them some of the great enterprises of the Pacific coast, +notably the Central Pacific Railroad, would have remained long +unfinished; and they came also to furnish manual labor at a time when it +was scarce and difficult to obtain at any price. The Chinaman is a +strange compound of virtue and vice, cleanliness and filth, frugality +and recklessness, simplicity and cunning. He is scrupulously clean as to +his person, indulging in frequent baths; yet he will live contentedly +with the most wretched surroundings, and inhale an air vitiated by an +aggregation of breaths and stenches of all kinds. He is a faithful +worker and a wonderful imitator. He cannot do the full work of a white +man, but he labors steadily and unceasingly. He takes no time for +drunken sprees, but he is an inveterate opium smoker, and sometimes +deliberately sacrifices his life in the enjoyment of the drug. He is +frugal to the last degree, but will waste his daily earnings in the +gambling hell and policy shop. Scrupulously honest, he is yet the victim +of the vilest vices which are engrafting themselves upon our western +coast. Living upon one-third of what will keep a white man, and working +for one-half the wages the latter demands, he is destroying the labor +market of that quarter of our country, reducing its working classes to +his own level, in which in the future the latter, too, will be forced to +be contented on a diet of "rice and rats," and to forego all educational +advantages for their children, becoming, like the Chinese themselves, +mere working machines; or else enter into a conflict of labor against +labor, race against race. + +The latter alternative seems inevitable, and it has already begun. +China, with her crowded population, could easily spare a hundred million +people and be the better for it. Those one hundred million Chinamen, if +welcomed to our shores, would speedily swamp our western civilization. +They might not become the controlling power--the Anglo-Saxon is always +sure to remain that--but as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as +builders of our railroads, hands upon our farms, workers in our +factories, and cooks and chambermaids in our houses, a like number of +American men and women would be displaced, and wages quickly reduced to +an Asiatic level; and such a time of distress as this country never saw +would dawn upon us. + +There seems to be no assimilation between the Caucasian and the +Mongolian on the Pacific slope. In the East an Irish girl recently +married a Chinaman; but in San Francisco, though every other race under +the sun has united in marriage, the Chinaman is avoided as a pariah. +White and yellow races may meet and fraternize in business, in pleasure, +and even in crime; but in marriage never. Chinamen rank among the most +respected merchants of San Francisco, and these receive exceptional +respect as individuals; but between the two races as races a great gulf +is fixed. The Chinese immigrant takes no interest in American affairs. +His world is on the other side of the Pacific. And the American people +return the compliment by taking no interest in him. It is undeniable +that, by a certain class of San Francisco citizens, popularly known as +Hoodlums, the treatment of the Chinese population has been shameful in +the extreme. A Chinaman has no rights which a white man is bound to +respect. Insult, contumely, abuse, cruelty and injustice he has been +forced to bear at the hands of the rougher classes, without hope of +redress. He has been kicked, and cheated, and plundered, and not a voice +has been raised in his behalf; but if he has been guilty of the +slightest peccadillo, how quickly has he been made to feel the heavy +hand of justice! + +It seems a pity that before the cry was raised with such overwhelming +force, "The Chinese must go!" some little effort had not been made to +adapt them to Western civilization. They are quick to take ideas +concerning their labor; why not in other things? We have received and +adopted the ignorant, vicious hordes from foreign lands to the east of +us, and are fast metamorphosing them into intelligent, useful citizens. +We are even trying our hand upon the negro, as a late atonement for all +the wrong we have done him. But the Indian and the Chinaman seem to be +without the pale of our mercy and our Christianity. It might not have +been possible, but still the experiment was worth the trying, of +attempting to lift them up industrially, educationally and morally, to a +level with our own better classes, instead of permitting them to drag us +down. Returning to their own country, and carrying back with them our +Western civilization, as a little leaven, they might have leavened the +whole lump. It is too late for that now, and the mandate has gone forth: +"The Chinese must go!" Considering all things as they are, rather than +as they might have been, it is undoubtedly better so, and the only +salvation of our Pacific States. + +San Francisco had, in 1880, a population of 232,956. The commerce is +very large, and must every year increase as the West is built up. The +chief articles of export are the precious metals, breadstuffs, wines and +wool. She has important manufactures, embracing watches, carriages, +boots and shoes, furniture, iron and brass works, silver ware, silk and +woolen. California seems peculiarly adapted to the silk industry, and +her silk manufactures will probably assume marked importance in the +future. The wonderful climate and unequaled productiveness are +constantly attracting immigration, and the Pacific Central, which spans +the continent, has vastly improved on the old methods of travel by +caravan across the plains and over the mountains. + +The population of San Francisco is cosmopolitan to the last degree, and +embraces natives of every clime and nearly every nation on the globe. +Yet in spite of this strange agglomeration she is intensely Yankee in +her go-ahead-ativeness, with Anglo-Saxon alertness intensified. In fact, +as San Francisco is on the utmost limits of the West, beyond which there +is nothing but a vast expanse of water until we begin again at the East, +so she represents the superlative of Anglo-Saxon enterprise and American +civilization, and looks to a future which shall far outstrip her past. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +SAVANNAH. + + First Visit to Savannah.--Camp Davidson.--The City During + the War.--An Escaped Prisoner.--Recapture and Final Escape.--A + "City of Refuge."--Savannah by Night.--Position of the City.-- + Streets and Public Squares.--Forsyth Park.--Monuments.-- + Commerce.--View from the Wharves.--Railroads.--Founding of the + City.--Revolutionary History.--Death of Pulaski.--Secession.-- + Approach of Sherman.--Investment of the City by Union Troops.-- + Recuperation After the War.--Climate.--Colored Population.-- + Bonaventure, Thunderbolt, and Other Suburban Resorts. + + +My first visit to Savannah was made on the twenty-ninth of July, 1864, +when I was brought there as a prisoner of war. I found the city with its +business enterprises in a state of stagnation, and the streets thronged +with soldiers in Confederate uniforms. About four thousand troops were +doing garrison duty in the city, which was thronged with refugees, and +the entire population was suffering from a paralysis of all industrial +enterprises, and from the interruption of its commerce by the Federal +blockade at the mouth of the river. Camp Davidson, where we were +confined, was in the eastern part of the city, near the Marine Hospital, +with Pulaski's Monument in full view, to the westward. + +The camp was surrounded by a stockade and deadline, and the principal +amusement and occupation of the prisoners was the digging of a tunnel +which was to conduct them to liberty beyond the second line of +sentinels, without the stockade. But our little camp, like Chicago, had +a cow for an evil genius. This luckless creature broke through the +tunnel, as it was nearing completion, and suddenly ended it and our +hopes together. + +The nearest Union forces were at Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah +River, and Savannah was one of the most important military posts of the +Confederate army. Our treatment at Camp Davidson was exceptionally kind +and considerate, and the ladies of the city, in giving suitable +interment to the remains of a Union officer who had died in the camp, +proved themselves to be possessed of generous hearts. Therefore it was +with regret that we received the order to leave Savannah for Charleston. + +I next visited Savannah a few months later, when the war was drawing to +a close, after General Sherman and his army had made their successful +entrance into the town. On the sixteenth of December, myself and a +companion found ourselves twenty miles from Savannah, after having been +many weeks fugitives from "Camp Sorghum," the prison-pen at Columbia, +South Carolina. We were on the Savannah River Road, over which +Kilpatrick's Cavalry and the Fourteenth Army Corps had passed only a +week before. Emboldened by our successes and hairbreadth escapes of +three weeks, when we at last felt that deliverance was close at hand, we +pursued our way, only to fall suddenly into the hands of the enemy. Hope +deferred maketh the heart sick. But who shall describe the terrible +sinking of the heart--the worse than sickness--when hope is thus +suddenly crushed and turned to certain despair? Our second captivity was +not, however, of long duration. Death was preferable to bondage under +such masters. Taking our lives in our hands, a second escape was +effected, and on December twenty-third, but two days after Sherman's +occupancy of the city, Savannah proved itself, indeed, a city of +refuge. Union troops welcomed us with open arms, and we were soon +despatched northward. + +The traveler who visits Savannah to-day will view it under very +different auspices. The white wings of peace have brooded over it for +more than half a generation, loyalty has taken the place of treason in +the hearts of her people, and prosperity is visible on her streets and +wharves. Let him, if he can, approach the city from the sea, and by +night. Fort Pulaski stands like a sentinel guarding the entrance to the +harbor, the lighthouse upon the point keeping a bright eye out to +seaward. As he glides up the river, which winds in countless lagoons +around low sea islands covered with salt marshes, at last he will see in +the distance the lights of the city set on a hill, and of the shipping +at her feet. A distant city is always beautiful at night, though it may +be hideous by daylight. Night veils all its ugliness in charitable +shadows; it reveals hitherto unseen beauties of outline, crowns it with +a tiara of sparkling gems, and enwraps the whole scene in an air of +romance and mystery which is charming to the person of poetic nature. +But whether seen by night or day, Savannah is indeed a beautiful city, +probably the most beautiful in all the Southern States. + +The Savannah River winds around Hutchinson Island, and the city is built +in the form of an elongated crescent, about three miles in length, on +its southern shore. It is on a bluff about forty feet above the stream, +this bluff being about a mile wide at its eastern end, and broadening as +it extends westward. Surrounding it are the low lands occupied by market +gardens, for Savannah is a great place for market gardeners, and helps +to supply the northern market in early spring. + +The streets of Savannah are laid out east and west, nearly parallel to +the river, with others crossing them at right angles, north and south. +They are wide, and everywhere shaded with trees, many of the latter +being live oaks, most magnificent specimens of which are found in the +city. Orange trees also abound, with their fragrant blossoms and golden +fruit, stately palmettoes, magnolias and oleander, rich in bloom, bays +and cape myrtles. + +The streets running north and south are of very nearly uniform width, +every alternate street passing on either side of a public square, which +is bounded on the north and south by narrow streets running east and +west, and intersected in the centre by a wide street taking the same +direction. These public squares, twenty-four in number, and containing +from one and a half to three acres, are a marked feature of the city. +They are placed at regular intervals, as already described, are +handsomely inclosed, laid out with walks, shaded with evergreen and +ornamental trees, and in the spring and summer months are green with +grass. In a number of these are monuments, while others contain +fountains or statuary. These squares or plazas are surrounded with fine +residences, each having its own little yard, beautiful with flowers, +vines, shrubbery and trees. In these premises roses thrive and bloom +with a luxuriance unknown in the North, and the stately Camelia +Japonica, the empress among flowers, grows here to a height of twelve or +fifteen feet, and blossoms in midwinter. Savannah, the most beautiful +city of the South, if not in the United States, is more like the wealthy +suburb of some large city, than like a city itself. It is embowered in +trees, which are green the whole year around; and shares with Cleveland, +its northern rival in beauty, the _soubriquet_ of the "Forest City." + +Forsyth Park, originally laid out in the southern suburb of the city, is +now the centre of a populous quarter, abounding in handsome edifices. +Many of the original trees, the beautiful southern pines, are left +standing in this park, and other trees and shrubbery added. Sphynxes +guard the Bull street entrance, and in the centre of the old park, which +was ten acres in extent, is a handsome fountain, modeled after that in +the Place de la Concorde, in Paris. This fountain is surrounded by a +profusion of flowers, while shelled walks furnish pathways through the +park. It has recently been increased in dimensions to thirty acres; in +the centre of the new or western portion stands a stately monument in +honor of the Confederate dead. + +Pulaski Monument stands in Monterey Square, the first plaza to the +northward of Forsyth Park. The steps of the monument are of granite, and +the shaft of fine white marble, fifty-five feet high, surmounted by a +statue of Liberty holding the national banner. This monument covers the +spot where, in 1779, Count Pulaski fell, during an attack upon the city, +while it was occupied by the British. In Johnson Square, the first +square south of the river intersected by Bull street, is a fine +Druidical pile, erected to the memory of General Greene and Count +Pulaski. The corner-stone of this obelisk was laid in 1825, by +Lafayette, during his visit to America. + +Savannah was founded in 1733, by General James Oglethorpe, whose plan +has been followed in its subsequent erection. Upon each of the +twenty-four squares were originally left four large lots, known as +"trust lots," two on the east and two on the west. We are told by Mr. +Francis Moore, who wrote in 1736, that "the use of this is, in case a +war should happen, the villages without may have places in town to bring +their cattle and families into for refuge; and for that purpose there is +a square left in every ward, big enough for the outwards to encamp in." +These lots are now occupied by handsome churches, conspicuous public +buildings, and palatial private residences, thus securing to all the +squares a uniform elegance which they might otherwise have lacked. + +Bay street is the great commercial street of the city. It is an +esplanade, two hundred feet wide, upon the brow of the cliff overlooking +the river. Its southern side is lined with handsome stores and offices. +At the corner of Bay and Bull streets is the Custom House, with the Post +Office in the basement. Its northern side is occupied by the upper +stories of warehouses, which are built at the foot of the steep cliff +fronting the river. These upper stories are connected with the bluff by +means of wooden platforms, which form a sort of sidewalk, spanning a +narrow and steep roadway, which leads at intervals, by a series of +turns, down to the wharves below. Long flights of steps accommodate +pedestrians in the same descent. The warehouses just spoken of are four +or five stories high on their river fronts, and but one or two on the +Bay. + +One should walk along the quay below the city to gain a true idea of the +extent of its commerce. Here, in close proximity to the wharves, are +located the cotton presses and rice mills. Here everything is dirty and +dismal, evidently speaking of better days. The beauty of the city is all +above. The buildings are some of them substantially built of brick, but +begin to show the ravages of time. There is an old archway, which once +had pretensions of its own, but the wall has fallen away, and it is now +an entrance to nowhere. Yet in spite of this general dilapidation, there +is all the bustle and activity of a full commercial life. The wharves +are piled with cotton bales, which have found a temporary landing here, +awaiting shipment to the North, or perhaps across the sea. For Savannah +is the second cotton port in the United States. But cotton is not its +only export. It is the great shipping depot for Southern produce bound +for Northern markets. Some sheds are filled with barrels of rosin, while +great quantities of rosin litter the ground. From others turpentine in +great quantities is shipped to various ports. The lumber trade of the +city is immense, the pine forests of Georgia furnishing an apparently +inexhaustible supply. The city is also in the centre of the rice-growing +region, and sends its rice to feed the North. Steamships from all the +Atlantic ports lie along its wharves, while those of foreign nations are +by no means scarce. Vessels of too large a draft to lie alongside the +wharves discharge and load their freight three miles below the city. + +The view from the river front is over the river itself, filled with +craft of all sorts, from the tiny ferry boat up to the immense ocean +steamer, across to Hutchinson's Island and the Carolina shore. The +island, which is two miles long by one wide, has upon it numerous lumber +yards and a large dry dock. Rice was formerly cultivated upon it, but is +now forbidden by law, because of its unhealthfulness. The river is about +seven hundred and twenty feet wide in front of the city, with a depth of +water at the wharves varying from thirteen to twenty-one feet. The +portion of South Carolina visible is low and flat, dotted here and there +with palmetto trees. There is little of the picturesque about this +river view except the busy life, which keeps in constant motion. + +Savannah has extensive railroad connection with all parts of the United +States. She has direct communication by rail with Vicksburg on the +Mississippi. She also offers an outlet, by means of railroads, for the +products of Georgia, Florida, and portions of Alabama and Tennessee. She +has unbroken railroad connection with Memphis, Mobile, Cincinnati, +Louisville, and the principal commercial cities of the West and North. +Her water communication is established with all the great Northern and +Southern seaboard cities. Her harbor is one of the best and safest on +the South Atlantic coast, and she is the natural eastern terminus of the +Southern Pacific Railroad, being almost on the same parallel of latitude +with San Diego, its western terminus. + +The corporate limits of Savannah extend backward from the river about +one and one-half miles, and embrace a total area of three and one-half +square miles, but additions are fast being made to the southward, which +will, in time, greatly extend its area, and add to the population, +which, in 1880, was 30,681. + +Savannah's history goes back to the early days of the colonies. Its site +marks the first settlement in Georgia. General Oglethorpe, with a +hundred and fourteen men, women and children, having landed at +Charleston, in January, 1733, sailed from that port with a plentiful +supply of provisions and a small body of troops for their protection, +and landed on Yamacraw Bluff, on the Savannah River, eighteen miles from +its mouth. On the bluff General Oglethorpe laid out a town and called it +Savannah, and by the ninth of February the colony commenced the erection +of buildings. The colony survived various haps and mishaps until 1776, +when, in the War of the Revolution, the British attacked the city, but +were repulsed. On December twenty-ninth, 1778, they made a second +attack, surprised the American forces, who attempted to fly, but were +mostly killed or captured. On the morning of October fourth, 1779, the +American and French troops made a direct assault upon Savannah, +attempting to take it from the British, but were obliged to retire with +heavy loss. Count Pulaski, a Polish nobleman, who had been expatriated +for participating in the carrying off of King Stanislaus from his +capital, was wounded in this battle, and soon afterwards died. Pulaski +Monument, as already stated, was erected on the spot where he fell. + +Savannah received its city charter in 1788. In 1850 it had a little more +than fifteen thousand inhabitants, and in 1860, 22,292. When Secession +cast its shadow upon the sunny South, it fell like a pall upon Savannah, +no less than upon the other Southern cities. All her business was +suspended, and grass grew in her streets. On the northeast corner of +Bull and Broughton streets stands the building known as Masonic Hall, +where, on January twenty-first, 1861, the Ordinance of Secession was +passed. On the sixteenth of March the State Convention assembled in +Savannah, adopted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, +Georgia being the second State to adopt this Constitution without +submitting it to the people. The mouth of the river was blockaded by +United States gunboats, and all commerce prevented. On April fifteenth, +1862, Fort Pulaski was captured by the Federal troops, and great +excitement prevailed in the city. Women and children left their homes, +and property and furniture were sent into the interior. + +During the following years a number of unsuccessful attempts were made +by the Union naval forces to capture the city. In December, 1864, +Sherman was making his famous march to the sea, and was steadily drawing +nearer the city, while southern chivalry fled before him, and the now +emancipated slaves gathered and rolled in his rear like a sable cloud. +On the twentieth, heavy siege guns were put in position by his forces +between Kingsbridge and the city; and General Hardee, suddenly awakened +to a sense of the danger which menaced them, set his troops hurriedly to +work to destroy the navy yard and government property; while the +ironclads, the "Savannah" and "Georgia," were making a furious fire on +the Federal left, the garrison, under cover of darkness and confusion, +were being transported on the first stage of their journey to +Charleston. Before leaving, they blew up the iron clads and the +fortifications below the city. On the twenty-first, General Sherman +received a formal surrender from the municipal authorities. On the +following day, the twenty-second, he sent a dispatch to the President, +presenting him, "as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah." On December +twenty-eighth, 1864, Masonic Hall, already historical, witnessed a +gathering of loyal citizens celebrating the triumph of the Union army. +Sherman, when he entered the city, encamped his forces on the still +vacant "trust lots." This triumphant conclusion of Sherman's march from +Atlanta broke the backbone of the Confederacy, and was the prelude to +the downfall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army. + +Prosperity eventually followed in the wake of peace. The blockade +lifted, the deserted wharves were soon filled with the shipping of all +nations. Her silent and empty streets grew noisy and populous with the +rush of business, and Savannah is now one of the most prosperous of our +Southern cities. Her architecture is not striking for either its beauty +or its grandeur; nevertheless she has many fine public and private +buildings. The City Exchange is one of the former, and it also possesses +a historical interest, General Sherman having reviewed his troops in +front of it in his investment of the city. From its tower the best view +of the city and neighborhood may be obtained. The Court House, the +United States and Police Barracks, Artillery Armory, Jail, Chatham +Academy and St. Andrews' Hall, are all conspicuous buildings. The +Georgia Historical Society has a large and beautiful hall, with a fine +library and interesting relics. St. John's and Christ's Episcopal +churches, the Independent Presbyterian Church, and the Roman Catholic +Cathedral, are all striking edifices. Trinity Church, in Johnson Square, +is near the spot where John Wesley delivered his famous sermons. Wesley +visited Savannah in its early days, having been invited thither by +Oglethorpe. At Bethesda, about ten miles from the city, where the Union +Farm School is now located, was the site of the Orphan House established +in 1740 by Whitefield, Wesley's contemporary and companion. + +The benevolent, literary and educational institutions of Savannah are +numerous and well sustained, some of them being among the oldest in the +country. The Union Society, for the support of orphan boys, and the +Female Society, for orphan girls, were founded in 1750. + +Savannah is situated just above the 32d parallel of latitude, and +possesses a mean temperature of 66 deg. Fahr. Being within the influence of +the Gulf Stream it enjoys all the mildness of the tropics in winter, +while the summers are less oppressive than at New York or Washington. It +is a favorite resort for northern invalids, being comparatively free +from malarious fevers and pulmonary diseases. + +Colored people abound in Savannah, constituting about three-eighths of +the entire population. They do most of the menial work of the city, +being laborers, waiters in the hotels and public houses, and stevedores +upon the wharves. It is astonishing to see the number of colored men it +takes to load and set afloat a steamship; and one of the last sights +which meets the eye of the traveler and lingers in his memory, as he +leaves the city by means of the river, is the long row of upturned black +faces, most of them beaming with good humor and jollity, on the wharf, +as the vessel casts off her lines and turns her head down stream. + +Savannah possesses certain famous suburban attractions, without seeing +which the traveler can scarcely say he has seen the city. In a bend of +the Warsaw River, a short distance from its junction with the Savannah, +and about four miles from the city, is the famous Bonaventure Cemetery. +A hundred years ago this was the country seat of a wealthy English +gentleman, who, upon the marriage of his daughter, made her a wedding +present of the estate. The grounds were laid out in wide avenues, and +shaded by live oaks, and the initials of the young bride and her husband +were outlined with trees. In course of time the property was converted +into a cemetery, and for many years has been devoted to that purpose. +It is filled with monuments to the dead, some of them bearing historic +names. Meantime the live oaks have grown to enormous dimensions, their +gigantic branches meeting and interlacing overhead, forming immense +arches, like those of the gothic aisles of some great cathedral, under +and through which are visible bright vistas of the river and the sea +islands lying beyond. The branches are fringed with pendants of the gray +Spanish moss, yards in length, which sway softly in the breeze, and by +their sombre color add to the solemnity of the scene. The steamers on +the Sea Island route to Fernandina, Florida, pass Bonaventure, and +afford glimpses of white monuments through the avenues of trees. +Bonaventure is a favorite drive from the city, and is also reached by +the horse cars. + +Thunderbolt, so named, tradition tells us, because a thunderbolt once +fell there, is a short distance from Bonaventure, down the Warsaw River, +and is a popular drive and summer resort. A spring of water flows from +the spot where the lightning is supposed to have entered the ground. +Jasper's Spring is two and one-half miles west of the city, and is the +scene of the exploit of Sergeant Jasper, who at the time of the +Revolution succeeded, with only one companion, in releasing a party of +American prisoners from a British guard of eight men. Another +fashionable drive is to White Bluff, ten miles distant from the city. +The latter, with Beaulieu, Montgomery and the Isle of Hope, furnish salt +water bathing and delightful sea breezes for the summer visitors. + +There is but one line of horse cars in the city, running on South Broad +street, and then out the Thunderbolt road to Thunderbolt, Bonaventure, +and the other suburban resorts. This company, we are told, has been so +reckless in regard to the limitations of its charter, that the municipal +government refuses to charter a second road. If our Northern cities were +as scrupulous, we wonder where their many horse railroads would be! + +Since the war Northern men and Northern capital have helped to build up +the various interests of Savannah. Planing mills, foundries, flouring +and grist mills, have been established, furnishing employment to a +considerable number of workingmen. Old channels of commerce have been +extended, and new ones opened; and the natural advantage of her +position, added to the public spirit which her citizens manifest in the +accomplishment of great enterprises of internal improvement, give a +guarantee of increased prosperity in the future. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +SPRINGFIELD. + + Valley of the Connecticut.--Location of Springfield.--The United + States Armory.--Springfield Library.--Origin of the Present + Library System.--The Wayland Celebration.--Settlement of + Springfield.--Indian Hostilities.--Days of Witchcraft.--Trial + of Hugh Parsons.--Hope Daggett.--Springfield "Republican." + + +A journey up the Valley of the Connecticut at this season of the year is +a positive luxury to the tourist or professional traveler. It is a +broad, beautiful road, winding through hill and dale, with grand old +forests and mountains in the background, their foliage tipped with +variegated colors by the fingers of Autumn, as an artist would put a +finishing touch to his landscape. + +A ride of twenty-five miles northward from Hartford brought us to +Springfield, the most enterprising and important town in Western +Massachusetts. The United States Armory, located here, gives to the city +a national consequence. No city in the Union did more to crush out the +Rebellion than Springfield, through her Armory. Two or three thousand +men were kept constantly employed here during the war, turning out the +various arms used in the Federal service. The force now employed is +considerably less than in war times. All hands are engaged just now upon +the Springfield rifled musket, which has recently been adopted by the +Government. The military precision with which every detail is attended +to is the admiration of all who are shown through the Armory. + +A visit to the City Library, on State street, cannot fail to interest +every person who feels a pride in the public institutions of New +England. A fine, large, brick and stone building, with plain exterior +and artistically finished interior, is the Springfield Public Library. +Over forty thousand volumes cover its shelves, and are so systematically +arranged that the librarian or his assistants can produce at once any +work named in the catalogue. The oblong reading room is furnished with +black walnut tables; and winding staircases, painted in blue and gold, +lead from the columned alcoves to the galleries above. + +The library owns some very old and valuable books of engravings. A room +on the first floor is devoted to stuffed birds, geological specimens, +preserved snakes, and a wonderful assortment of curious relics obtained +from all parts of the world. Icelandic snow shoes and Hindoo gods occupy +places on the same shelf, in peaceful proximity, and catamounts, +paralyzed in the act of springing, glare at you harmlessly behind their +glass cases. Patriotic mementoes are not wanting, as the bullet-riddled +battle-flags of Massachusetts regiments will testify. + +The free public library system is distinctively a New England +institution, and wields a mighty influence for good. It was originated +in 1847, by Rev. Francis Wayland, President of Brown University, +Providence, Rhode Island. On Commencement day of that year Mr. Wayland +expressed a wish to help the inhabitants of the town of Wayland, +Massachusetts, to a public library, and tendered a donation of five +hundred dollars to the town for that purpose, upon the condition that +another five hundred should be added by the town. The required fund was +quickly raised, by subscription, and President Wayland immediately +placed his donation in the hands of one of their prominent citizens, +Judge Mellen. This was the beginning of the movement which resulted in +the "Library Act," of May, 1851, in the State of Massachusetts. + +The people of Wayland bought their library and provided a room in the +"Town House" for its safe keeping. A librarian was chosen, whose salary +was paid by the town, and the institution made its first delivery of +books August seventh, 1850. Rev. John B. Wright was a member of the +Massachusetts Legislature, from Wayland, during the session of 1851, and +through his agency the Act "to authorize cities and towns to establish +and maintain public libraries" was passed. A "Library Celebration" took +place in Wayland, August twenty-sixth, 1851, and was a most interesting +affair. Thus it came to pass that through the practical working of this +man's idea public libraries were established, not only all over the +State of Massachusetts, but throughout New England. + +Springfield was founded in 1636 by William Pyncheon, who with seven +other men settled here, with their families, on May fourteenth of that +year. They were bound together by mutual contract, with the design of +having their colony consist of forty families. There was an especial +provision that the number should never exceed fifty. + +The early prosperity of Springfield was considerably retarded by Indian +hostilities. + +In October, 1675, the brown warriors of King Phillip made a descent upon +the place, burning twenty-nine houses and killing three citizens--one of +them a woman. The timely arrival of Major Pyncheon, Major Treat and +Captain Appleton, with their troops, prevented further destruction and +repulsed the attack of the Indians. Springfield was also the scene of +operations during the troubles of 1786-87. At that time, General +Shepperd was posted here, for the defence of the Armory. + +Thus, through much tribulation, has the thriving town attained its +present prosperity. + +In its infant days, Springfield cherished a strong belief in witchcraft, +as the following incident will testify: In the same year that Hartford +set such a bad example to her northern neighbor on the Connecticut, by +hanging Mrs. Greensmith, Springfield, not to be outdone, preferred a +charge of witchcraft against one Hugh Parsons--a very handsome and +pleasing young man, it seems, with whom all the women fell in love. Of +course, this was not to be tolerated by the male population of the +place, who hated him, as a natural consequence; and, accordingly, the +handsomest man in Springfield was indicted and tried, on the grave +accusation of being in league with the powers of evil. It is not +surprising that the jury found him guilty. But, through some influence +not explained, the judge, Mr. Pyncheon, stayed proceedings in his behalf +until the matter could be laid before the General Court, in Boston. +There the decision of the Springfield jury was reversed, and Mr. Parsons +set at liberty. Whether after this his dangerous attractions were duly +husbanded, or whether he went on, as of old, winning such wholesale +admiration, we are not informed. + +One of the sensations of the hour during my sojourn in Springfield, was +an encounter between the State Street Baptist Church and Hope Daggett, +one of its members. The disaffected sister had at sundry times and in +divers manners made herself so obnoxious to the congregation, by her +strong-minded peculiarities, that an officer was called upon the scene +and requested to eject by force, if necessary, the eccentric and +uncompromising Hope. Officer Maxwell, suiting the action to the word, +seized the unruly sister, and without stopping to consider the sudden +fame which this act would launch upon him, thrust her into the street, +amid the cheers and taunts of friends and enemies. Now it was the +peculiar misfortune of Miss Daggett to have a wooden leg, and on the day +following this tragic affair the press of Springfield was devoted to +various accounts of the engagement, in which Maxwell and the wooden leg +figured alternately. + +I cannot leave Springfield without some mention of its leading paper, +the Springfield _Republican_, which for many years has been one of the +solid papers of the Bay State, and a representative organ in politics +and literature. Its editor, Samuel Bowles, is an energetic business +manager and a stirring politician, who has fought his way up from +obscurity to a position in the front rank of American journalism. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +ST. LOUIS. + + Approach to St. Louis.--Bridge Over the Mississippi.--View of + the City.--Material Resources of Missouri.--Early History of St. + Louis.--Increase of Population.--Manufacturing and Commercial + Interests.--Locality.--Description of St. Louis in 1842.-- + Resemblance to Philadelphia.--Public Buildings.--Streets.-- + Parks.--Fair Week.--Educational and Charitable Institutions.-- + Hotels.--Mississippi River.--St. Louis During the Rebellion.-- + Peculiar Characteristics.--The Future of the City. + + +The visitor to St. Louis, if from the east, will probably make his +approach over the great bridge which spans the Mississippi. This bridge, +designed by Captain Eads, and begun in 1867, was completed in 1874, and +is one of the greatest triumphs of American engineering. It consists of +three spans, resting on four piers. The central span is 520 feet in +width, and the side ones 500 feet each. They have a rise of sixty feet, +sufficient to permit the passage of steamers under them, even at high +water. The piers are sunk through the sand to the bed-rock, a distance +of from ninety to one hundred and twenty feet, the work having been +accomplished by means of iron wrought caissons and atmospheric pressure. +Each span consists of four ribbed arches, made of cast steel. The bridge +is two stories high, the lower story containing a double car track, and +the upper one two horse-car tracks, two carriageways and two foot-ways. +Reaching the St. Louis shore, the car and road ways pass over a viaduct +of five arches, of twenty-seven feet span each, to Washington avenue, +where the railway tracks run into a tunnel 4,800 feet long, terminating +near Eleventh street. Bridge and tunnel together cost eleven millions of +dollars. + + [Illustration: THE LEVEE AND GREAT BRIDGE AT ST. LOUIS.] + +This wonderful structure, which has few if any equals upon the +continent, will impress the traveler with the commercial magnitude and +enterprise of the great western city to which it forms the eastern +portal. Looking from the car window he will see, first, the Mississippi, +which, if at the period of low water, disappoints him with its apparent +insignificance; but which, if it be at the time of its annual flood, has +crept, on the St. Louis side, nearly to the top of the steep levee, and +has filled up the broad valley miles away on the hither side, a rushing, +turbulent river, turbid with the yellow waters of the Missouri, which, +emptying into it twenty miles above, have scarcely, at this point, +perfectly mingled with the clearer Mississippi. He will see next the +river front of St. Louis--a continuous line of steamboats, towboats and +barges, without a sail or mast among them; the levee rising in a steep +acclivity twenty feet above the river's edge; and multitudinous mules, +with their colored drivers, toiling laboriously, and by the aid of much +whipping and swearing, up or down the steep bank, carrying the +merchandise which has just been landed, or is destined to be loaded in +some vessel's hold. Beyond the river rises the city, terrace above +terrace, its outlines bristling with spires, and prominent above all, +the dome of the Court House. + +St. Louis is situated in the very heart of the great Mississippi Valley, +and a large share of its rich agricultural products and mineral stores +are constantly poured into her lap. Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain, both +containing inexhaustible supplies of the useful ore, are not far +distant. The lead districts of Missouri include more than 6,000 square +miles. In fifteen counties there is copper. In short, within one hundred +miles of St. Louis, gold, iron, lead, zinc, copper, tin, silver, +platina, nickel, emery, cobalt, coal, limestone, granite, pipe-clay, +fire-clay, marble, metallic paints and salt are found, in quantities +which will repay working. In the State there are twenty millions acres +of good farming lands; five millions of acres are among the best in the +world for grapes; and eight millions are particularly suited to the +raising of hemp. There is, besides, a sufficiency of timber land. With +all these resources from which to draw, it would be surprising if St. +Louis did not become a leading city in the West. Situated, as she is, on +the Mississippi River, about midway between its source and its mouth, +the junction of the Missouri twenty miles above, and that of the Ohio +about one hundred and seventy-five miles below, and being the river +terminus of a complicated system of western railways, the towns and +cities, and even the small hamlets of the north, south and west, and to +a limited extent of the east also, all pay her tribute. As Chicago is +the gateway to the East, by means of the great chain of lakes and rivers +at whose head she sits, so St. Louis holds open the door to the South +and the East as well, through the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. + +In many respects the business rival of Chicago to-day, it has a history +reaching half a century further back. While Chicago was still a howling +wilderness, its only inhabitants the warlike Pottawatomies, who +sometimes encamped upon the shores of its lake and river, St. Louis had +a local habitation and a name. On February fifteenth, 1764, Pierre +Laclede Siguest, an enterprising Frenchman, established at this point a +depot for the furs of the vast region watered by the Mississippi and +Missouri, and gave it the name of St. Louis. This was done by permission +of the Governor General of Louisiana, which was then a French province. +In the course of the year cabins were built, a little corn planted and +the Indians placated. The Frenchmen seemed to have gotten along with the +Indians tolerably well in those days. They had no hesitation in marrying +squaws, even though they already possessed one lawful wife; they were +good tempered and merry, and attempted no conversion of the Indians with +a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other. So the two races got along +nicely together. + +The peace of 1763 gave the country east of the Mississippi to the +English, and the Frenchmen who had settled upon the Illinois made haste +to remove to St. Louis, to avoid living under the rule of their "natural +enemy." This was scarcely accomplished when the more terrible news +reached them that Louis XV had ceded his possessions west of the +Mississippi to Spain. For the next thirty years the town was a Spanish +outpost of Louisiana, in which province no one not a Catholic could own +land. + +To go to New Orleans and return was a voyage of ten months; but in that +early day, and under such surprising difficulties, St. Louis began its +commercial career. It exported furs, lead and salt, and imported the few +necessaries required by the settlers, and beads, tomahawks, and other +articles demanded by the Indians in exchange for furs. In 1799 the +inhabitants numbered 925, a falling off of 272 from the previous year. +In 1804, St. Louis passed to the United States, together with the whole +country west of the Mississippi. In 1811 the population had increased to +1400, and there were two schools in the town, one French and one +English. In 1812 the portion of the territory lying north of the +thirty-fifth degree of latitude was organized as Missouri Territory. In +1813 the first brick house was erected in St. Louis. In 1820 its +population was 4,928. In 1822 it was incorporated as a city. + +After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, the law forbidding +Protestant worship, and requiring owners of land to profess the Catholic +faith, was repealed, and men American born but of English descent began +to pour into the town. In 1808 a newspaper was established, and in 1811 +many of the old French names of the streets were changed to English +ones. In 1812 the lead mines began to be worked to better advantage, on +a larger scale, and agriculture assumed increasing importance. In 1815 +the first steamboat made its appearance. + +In 1820 St. Louis cast its vote for slavery, and settled the question +for Missouri. The population then was 4,928, which in 1830 had increased +to 5,852; 924 additional inhabitants in ten years! From 1830 to 1860 its +population trebled every ten years, the census returns of the latter +year giving it 160,773. In 1870 it had nearly doubled again, the number +being 310,864 inhabitants. According to the United States Census report +of 1880, the population was 350,522, which made St. Louis the sixth city +in the Union. Since that time it has been rapidly on the increase. + +St. Louis is among the first of our cities in the manufacture of flour, +and is a rival of Cincinnati in the pork-packing business. It has +extensive lumber mills, linseed-oil factories, provision-packing +houses, manufactures large quantities of hemp, whisky and tobacco, has +vast iron factories and machine shops, breweries, lead and paint works. +In brief, it takes a rank second only to New York and Philadelphia in +its manufactures, to which its prosperity is largely due. In 1874 the +products of that year were valued at nearly $240,000,000, while it +furnished employment to about 50,000 workmen. Great as are Chicago's +manufacturing interests, St. Louis excels her in this respect, while she +rivals the former city in her commercial interests. The natural +commercial entreport of the Mississippi Valley, the commerce of St. +Louis is immense. It receives and exports to the north, east and south, +breadstuffs, live stock, provisions, cotton, lead, hay, salt, wool, +hides and pelts, lumber and tobacco. + +St. Louis is perched high above the river, so that she is beyond the +reach of all save the highest floods of that most capricious stream. She +is built on three terraces, the first twenty, the second one hundred and +fifty, and the third two hundred feet above low-water mark. The second +terrace begins at Twenty-fifth street, and the third at Cote Brillante, +four miles west of the river. The surface here spreads out into a broad, +beautiful plain. The highest hill in the neighborhood of the city was +the lofty mound on the bank of the river, a relic of prehistoric times, +and from which St. Louis derived its name of the "Mound City." Greatly +to the regret of antiquarians a supposed necessity existed for the +removal of this mound, and now no trace of it is left. + +In 1842 Charles Dickens published his _American Notes_, in which is +found the following description of St. Louis: + +"In the old French portion of the town the thoroughfares are narrow and +crooked, and some of the houses are very quaint and picturesque, being +built of wood, with tumble-down galleries before the windows, +approachable by stairs, or rather ladders, from the street. There are +queer little barber shops and drinking houses, too, in this quarter; and +abundance of crazy old tenements, with blinking casements, such as may +be seen in Flanders. Some of these ancient habitations, with high garret +gable windows perking into the roofs, have a kind of French spring about +them; and, being lopsided with age, appear to hold their heads askew, +besides, as if they were grimacing in astonishment at the American +improvements." + +There is nothing of this now seen in St. Louis, except in the narrower +streets along the river, which remain a lasting relic of the ancient +city. Yankee enterprise has obliterated, in the appearance of the city +at least, all trace of its French and Spanish origin. The work of +renovation must have commenced soon after Dickens' visit, for Lady +Emeline Wortley, visiting St. Louis in 1849, describes it as follows:-- + +"Merrily were huge houses going up in all directions. From our hotel +windows we had a long view of gigantic and gigantically-growing-up +dwellings, that seemed every morning to be about a story higher than we +left them on the preceding night; as if they had slept, during the +night, on guano, like the small boy in the American tale, who reposed on +a field covered by it, and whose father, on seeking him the following +day, found a gawky gentleman of eight feet high, bearing a strong +resemblance to a Patagonian walking stick." + + [Illustration: SHAW'S GARDEN AT ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.] + +If Chicago is a western reproduction of New York, with its +characteristic alertness preternaturally developed, St. Louis takes +Philadelphia for her prototype. The merchants and statesmen plodding +wearily across the continent during the latter part of the last century +and early in this, found Philadelphia the chief city of the country, and +went home with their minds filled with the distinguishing features of +that city. These they reproduced, as far as was practicable, in their +own young and growing town. They laid it out with regularity, the +streets near the river, which describes a slight curve, running parallel +to it. Further back, they describe straight lines, while the streets +running from east to west are, for the most part, at right angles with +those they cross. Imitating Philadelphia, the streets are named +numerically from the river. Those crossing them have arbitrary names +given them, while many Philadelphia nomenclatures, such as Market, +Chestnut, Pine, Spruce, Poplar, Walnut and Vine, are repeated. The +houses are also numbered in Philadelphia fashion, the streets parallel +with the river being numbered north and south from Market street, and +those running east and west taking their numbers from the river. In +numbering, each street passes on to a new hundred; thus No. 318 is the +ninth house above Third street on one side of the way. + +Not only in these superficial matters is Philadelphia imitated, but the +resemblance is preserved in more substantial particulars. Many of the +buildings are large, old-fashioned, square mansions, built of brick with +white marble trimmings. There is less attempt at architectural display +than in Chicago, apparently the main thought of the builders being to +obtain substantiality. Yet there are many handsome buildings, both +public and private. One of the finest structures of its kind in the +United States is the Court House, occupying the square bounded by +Fourth, Fifth, Chestnut and Market streets. It is in the form of a Greek +cross, of Grecian architecture, built of Genevieve limestone, and is +surmounted by a lofty iron dome, from the cupola of which it is possible +to obtain an extensive view of the city and its surroundings. The +building cost $1,200,000. The fronts are adorned with beautiful +porticoes. The Four Courts, in Clark avenue, between Eleventh and +Twelfth streets, is a handsome and spacious building, constructed of +limestone, at a cost of $1,000,000. A semi-circular iron jail is in its +rear, so constructed that all its cells are under the observation of a +single watchman. A Custom House and Post Office has recently been +erected, at the corner of Olive and Eighth streets. It is of Maine +granite, with rose-colored granite trimmings, three stories in height, +with a French roof and Louvre dome, and occupies an entire square. The +cost of the structure was $5,000,000. + +The Chamber of Commerce is the great commercial mart of the city, the +heart of enormous business interests, whose arteries sometimes pulsate +with feverish heat, and whose transactions affect business affairs to +the furthest extent of the country. The edifice is the handsomest of its +kind in America. It is five stories high, wholly built of gray +limestone, and cost $800,000. The main hall of the Exchange is two +hundred feet long, one hundred wide, and seventy high. In the gallery +surrounding it strangers can at any time witness the proceedings on the +floor, and watch how fortunes are made and unmade. + +The most imposing and ornate building of the city, architecturally +speaking, is the Columbia Life Insurance building, which is of +rose-colored granite, in the Renaissance style, four stories high, with +a massive stone cornice representing mythological figures. The roof is +reached by an elevator, and affords a fine view. + +The city abounds in handsome churches. Most prominent among them all is +Christ Church (Episcopal) at the corner of Thirteenth and Locust +streets. It is in the cathedral gothic style, with stained-glass windows +and lofty nave. The Catholic Cathedral, on Walnut street, between Second +and Third streets, is an imposing structure with a front of polished +freestone faced by a Doric portico. The Church of the Messiah +(Unitarian), at the corner of Olive and Ninth streets, is a handsome +gothic structure. The Jewish Temple, at the corner of Seventeenth and +Pine streets, is one of the finest religious edifices in the city. There +are many others which will challenge the visitor's attention and +admiration as he passes through the streets of the city. + +The wholesale business of St. Louis is confined to Front, Second, Third +and Main streets. Front street is one hundred feet wide, and extends +along the levee, being lined with massive stores and warehouses. Fourth +street contains the leading retail stores, and on every pleasant day it +is filled with handsome equipages, while on its sidewalks are found the +fashion and beauty of the city. Washington avenue is one of the widest +and most elegant avenues in St. Louis, and west of Twenty-seventh street +contains many beautiful residences. Pine, Olive and Locust streets, +Chouteau avenue and Lucas Place, are also famed for their fine +residences. Lindell or Grant avenue, running north and south, on the +western boundary of the city, and slightly bending toward the river, is +its longest street, being twelve miles in length. + +The corporate limits of St. Louis extend eleven miles along the river, +and about three miles inland. The densely built portion of the city is +about six miles in length by two in width. Its public parks are one of +its striking features. They embrace an aggregate of about 2,000 acres. +The most beautiful is Lafayette Park, lying between Park and Lafayette, +Mississippi and Missouri avenues. In it are a bronze statue of Thomas H. +Benton, by Harriet Hosmer, and a bronze statue of Washington. It is for +pedestrians only, is elaborately laid out and ornamented, and is +surrounded by magnificent residences. Missouri Park is a pretty little +park at the foot of Lucas Place, containing a handsome fountain. St. +Louis Place, Hyde Park and Washington Square are all attractive places +of resort. Northern Park, on the bluffs to the north of the city, is +noted for its fine trees, and contains 180 acres. Forest Park is the +great park of the city. It lies four miles west of the Court House, and +contains 1350 acres. The Des Pares runs through it, and the native +forest trees are still standing. With great natural advantages, it +requires only time and art to number it among the handsomest parks in +the country. Tower Grove Park, in the southwest part of the city, +contains 227 acres, offers delightful drives among green lawns and +charmingly arranged shrubbery. + +Adjoining this park is Shaw's Garden, which contains 109 acres. It +possesses a peculiar interest, from the manner in which it is arranged. +It is divided into three sections, the first being the Herbaceous and +Flower Garden, embracing ten acres, and including every flower which can +be grown in the latitude of St. Louis, besides several greenhouses +containing thousands of exotic and tropical plants. The second section, +called the Fruticetum, comprises six acres devoted to fruit of all +kinds. The Arboretum, or third section, includes twenty-five acres, and +contains all kinds of ornamental and fruit trees. The Labyrinth is an +intricate, hedge-bordered pathway, leading to a summer-house in the +centre. There are also a museum and botanical library. This garden is +entirely the result of private taste and enterprise, having been planned +and executed by Henry Shaw, who has thrown it open to the public, and +intends it as a gift to the city. + +Bellefontaine Cemetery is the most beautiful in the West. It is situated +in the northern part of the city, about four and one-half miles from the +Court House, and embraces 350 acres. It contains a number of fine +monuments, while the trees and shrubbery are most tastefully arranged. +Calvary Cemetery, north and not far distant, is nearly as large and +quite as beautiful. Here, in these quiet cities of the dead, far from +the bustle of the great town, the men and women of this western +metropolis, whose lives were passed in turmoil and activity, find at +last that rest which must come to all. + +The people of St. Louis are supplied with water from the river, the +waterworks being situated at Bissell's Point, three and one-half miles +north of the court house. Two pumping engines, each with a daily +capacity of 17,000,000 gallons, furnish an ample supply for all the +needs of the great city. + +Fair week, which is usually the first week in October, is the great +holiday and gala season of St. Louis. The writer of this article was +once so fortunate as to visit the city early in this week. Every train +of cars on the many lines which centre at St. Louis, and every +steamboat which came from up or down the river, brought its living +freight of men and women, who were out for a week's holiday, and, it may +have been, paying their annual visit to the greatest city west of the +Mississippi. The country roads leading to town were black with vehicles +of all descriptions, and laden with men and merchandise. The laborers +and mules upon the levee were busier than ever, receiving and +transporting the articles to be exhibited and sold. Every hotel was +crowded, and the surplus overflowed into boarding and lodging houses, so +that their keepers undoubtedly reaped a golden harvest for that one +week, at least. The streets were thronged with an immense and motley +multitude: business men, on the alert to extend their trade and add to +their gains; working women, who found an opportunity for a brief +holiday; ladies of fashion who viewed the scene resting at their ease in +their carriages; farmers from the rural districts, looking uncomfortable +yet complaisant in their Sunday suits, and trying to take in all there +was to see and understand; their wives, old-fashioned and countrified in +their dress, and with a tired look upon their faces, which this week +given up to idleness and sight-seeing could not quite dispel; sporting +men, easily recognizable by their flashy dress and "horsey" talk; +gamblers and blacklegs by the score, whose appearance and manners were +too excessively gentlemanly to pass as quite genuine, and whose gains +during the week were probably larger and more certain than those of any +other class; western men, with their patois, borrowed apparently from +the slang of every nation on the globe; Southerners, with their long +hair, slouched hats and broad accent; river hands, whose most +noticeable accomplishments seemed to be disposing of tobacco and +inventing new oaths; negroes, whose facile natures entered heartily into +the occasion, and on whose sleek, shining countenances the spirit of +contentment was plainly visible; eastern men, with the Yankee +intonation; Germans, in great numbers, patronizingly endorsing their +adopted country, and selling lager beer with stolid content; Irishmen, +whose preference was whisky, and who were ever ready for fun or a fight; +beggars, plying their vocation with an extra whine, adopted to conceal +an unwonted tendency to cheerfulness; magnates, who looked pompous and +conscious of their own importance, but who were jostled and pushed with +the democratic disregard for rank and station which characterizes an +American crowd. + +Probably in no city in the Union would one find quite so cosmopolitan a +multitude, representing all sections and all nationalities so +impartially. In the business and populous centre of our country, here +came all classes and peoples who had been born under, or had sought the +protection of, our flag, to worship one week at the shrines of Ceres and +Pomona. + +The fair grounds of the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical +Association are three miles northwest of the Court House, and embrace +eighty-five acres handsomely laid out and containing extensive +buildings. The Amphitheatre will seat 40,000 persons. The street cars +leading to these grounds were at all times filled with people, and in +addition there was a constant procession of carriages, wagons and carts, +going and returning. Within the enclosure the dense throng surged and +swayed like a human whirlpool. The displays in the agricultural and +mechanical departments were something astonishing; for where in the +world is there such grain grown and in such quantities, as in the +Mississippi and Missouri valleys? Where are there such fat oxen, such +sleek, self-satisfied cows, with such capacity for rich milk? Horses, +hogs and sheep were all of the best, and indicated that the West is very +far advanced in scientific stock raising. The farm implements displayed +all sorts of contrivances for lightening and hastening the farmer's +toil. It needed but a glance to show that farming in this region was no +single-man, one-horse affair. + +In art the East as yet excels the West; for in the scramble after +material gain the artistic nature has not been greatly cultivated, and +its expressions are, for the most part, crude. But they give promise of +future excellence. St. Louis has no picture gallery worthy the name, but +excells in scientific and educational institutions. + +The Mercantile Library, at the corner of Fifth and Locust streets, +contains 50,000 volumes, and its hall is decorated by paintings, coins +and statuary, among which latter may be mentioned Miss Hosmer's +life-size statue of Beatrice Cenci and Oenone; a bronze copy of the +Venus de Medici, a sculptured slab from the ruins of Nineveh, and marble +busts of Thomas H. Benton and Robert Burns. The library with its reading +room is free to strangers. + +Besides the library there is a public school library of 38,000 volumes; +an Academy of Science, founded in 1856, with a large museum and a +library of 3,000 volumes; and a Historical Society, founded in 1865, +with a valuable historical collection. Washington University, organized +in 1853, embraces the whole range of university studies except theology. +With it is connected the Mary Institute, for the education of women, the +Polytechnic School, and the Law School. The public school system of St. +Louis is one of the best in the country, and its school-houses are +commendably fine. The Roman Catholic College of the Christian Brothers +has about four hundred students, and a library of 10,000 volumes. +Concordia College (German Lutheran), established in 1839, has a library +of 4,500 volumes. Besides the numerous public schools, the Roman +Catholics, who embrace a majority of the inhabitants, have about one +hundred parochial, private and conventual schools. They have also a +number of convents, charitable homes, asylums and hospitals. + +The hotels, chief amongst which are the new Southern Hotel, Lindell +House, Planters' Hotel, Laclede Hotel and Barnum's Hotel, will compare +favorably, in point of attendance, comfort and elegance, with any in the +country. Horse cars traverse the city in every direction, rendering all +points easily accessible, and carriages are in waiting at the depots and +steamboat landings. Ferries ply continually to East St. Louis, on the +Illinois shore, from the foot of Carr street, north of the bridge, and +from the foot of Spruce street, south of it, the two points of departure +being about a mile apart. + +So long as the Mississippi River washes the levee in front of the city, +the citizens of St. Louis are in little danger of long remaining dull, +for want of excitement. That river, one of the uneasiest of water +courses, constantly furnishes fresh themes of interest, and even of +anxiety. It has a singular penchant for a frequent change of channels, +and occasionally threatens to desert to Illinois and leave St. Louis an +inland town, with its high levee a sort of rampart to receive the +mocking assaults of Chicago. Then, every spring, there is the annual +freshet, which, once in ten or fifteen years, creeps up over the top of +the levee, and finds its way into cellars and first floors of stores and +warehouses. Occasionally there is a severe winter, when ice is formed +upon the river as far south even as St. Louis; and when it breaks up in +the spring, mischief is sure to ensue. A hundred steamboats are in +winter quarters along the levee, their noses in the sand, and their +hulls extending riverward, fixed in the ice. At last the great mass of +congealed water, extending up the river hundreds of miles, begins to +move down stream. The motion is at first scarcely perceptible; but, +suddenly, the ice cracks and breaks, and fragments begin to glide +swiftly with the current of the river. The various masses create +conflicting currents, and, presently, the surface of the stream is like +a whirlpool. Some boats are crushed like egg shells between the floes; +cables snap, and others are drawn out into the midst of the whirling +waters and are fortunate indeed if they are not overwhelmed or forced +upon the ice. Meantime, consternation reigns upon the levee. The +multitudes are powerless to prevent, yet make frantic and futile efforts +while they watch, the disaster. At the breaking up of the ice in 1866, +seventeen steamboats were crushed and sunk in a few minutes. Then there +are other river disasters; steamboats burned; others struck on snags and +sunk; and now and then a boiler explosion makes up the tale of horrors +and prevents the Mississippi from ever becoming monotonous or +uninteresting. + +St. Louis was most unfavorably affected by the war, and made to expiate +her political sin of 1820. On the border land between the North and the +South, the conflict was carried on in her very midst. Sectional strife +was most bitter and keen. There was no neutrality, and there could be +none. All were either for or against; families were divided in deadly +strife; and while the city suffered to a terrible degree from this +condition of affairs, in back counties whole sections were depopulated. +The population being largely southern, either by birth or descent, its +sympathies were with the South. The class truly loyal was the Germans, +who numbered about 60,000 of the population, and who were characterized +by the Secessionists as the "D---- Dutch." The blockade of the river +reduced the whole business of the city to about a third of its former +amount. Yet, when the war was ended, St. Louis was quick to recover her +prostrated energies. In 1866, and but two years after the war, the city +did more business than in any preceding year; and, relieved from the +incubus of slavery, which had retarded its progress, it aroused itself +to new life. + +With the Quaker-like simplicity of its outward appearance, its absence +of business rush, and its general tranquillity, St. Louis' resemblance +to the Quaker City ceases. It is a town of composite character, but from +its earliest existence has been under Roman Catholic domination. Even +now the Roman Catholic element predominates in its population. And its +French and Spanish founders, though their quaint buildings are torn down +and replaced by more modern ones, and their very streets re-named, have +left their impress upon the city. Its many places of amusement, compared +to its population, its general gayety, its stores closed by sunset in +winter, and before sunset in summer, its billiard rooms open on Sunday, +and its ball-playing on the same day, all give indication of its being +the home of a people whose ancestors had no New England prejudices +against worldly amusements, and in favor of sobriety, decorum, +industry, and the observance of the Sabbath. + +St. Louis presents a pleasing contrast to many other western cities. Its +prosperity is substantial--not a sham. The capital which has paid for +these costly places of business and elegant residences, and is invested +in these gigantic enterprises, has been created out of the immense +material wealth of the State--not borrowed on a factitious credit. Its +merchants do not make princely fortunes in a day, but what they acquire +they keep. With so satisfactory a past, the errors of its youth atoned +for, the future of St. Louis cannot fail to be a brilliant one. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +SYRACUSE. + + Glimpses on the Rail.--Schenectady.--Valley of the Mohawk.-- + "Lover's Leap."--Rome and its Doctor.--Oneida Stone---The Lo + Race.--Oneida Community.--The City of Salt.--The Six Nations.-- + The Onondagas.--Traditions of Red Americans.--Hiawatha.-- + Sacrifice of White Dogs.--Ceremonies.--The Lost Tribes of + Israel.--Witches and Wizards.--A Jules Verne Story.--The Salt + Wells of Salina.--Lake Onondaga.--Indian Knowledge of Salt + Wells.--"Over the Hills and Far Away."--A Castle.--Steam + Canal Boats.--Adieux.--Westward Ho! + + +The distance from Albany to Syracuse by rail, on the line of the New +York Central, is about one hundred and forty-two miles, or reckoned by +language on the dial, between six and seven hours. + +Schenectady, the first stopping point on the route outward, was once +hovered under the motherly wings of Albany--her lawful progeny. The +embryo city, however, had aspirations of her own, and set up in the +world for herself. She now rejoices in a population of about twenty-five +thousand, and has separated herself from the maternal skirt by seventeen +miles of intervening country. Union College, the _alma mater_ of many of +the sons of New York and her sister States, is located at this point. + +The route from Albany to the junction of the Watertown and Ogdensburg +Road, at Rome, takes us through the Valley of the Mohawk--one of the +loveliest valleys in the State. At Little Falls the scenery is wild and +rugged, and looking out from the car window to the opposite hillside, +where the waters break into foam over the rocks, set in a dark framework +of pines, the imaginative traveler conjectures at once that this must be +the scene of the "Lover's Leap"--a bit of romance rife in this region. +But the Mohawk rushes on, unmindful of those legendary lovers; the +heartless conductor, who cares nothing about dreams, shouts "all +aboard!" from the platform, and the screech of the engine whistle echoes +down the valley, as the train is once more in motion. + +At Utica we make a longer stop. This point is the largest place between +Albany and Syracuse, and is as handsome a city as sits on the banks of +the Mohawk. The Black River Railroad joins the main line of the New York +Central here, and it is also the location of the State Lunatic Asylum. + +Rome comes next in order, in importance and population, and is the last +place of any note on the road to Syracuse. It is a stirring little city +of about ten or eleven thousand inhabitants, and at least some of its +citizens have mastered the art of advertising, if one may judge from the +pamphlets which flood the arriving and departing trains. We are +repeatedly made aware of the fact that one of the dwellers in Rome is a +doctor, and that he doats on curing--not corns, but cancers. + +The Midland Road from Oswego, and the Watertown Road--those connecting +arterial threads from Lake Ontario and Northern New York--unite with the +main artery, the Central, here, and the flow of human freight down these +channels is continuous and unceasing. + +The second station from Rome, on the road to Syracuse, is Oneida--so +named from the tribe of red men who, less than a century ago, occupied +this particular region. A tradition once existed among the Oneidas that +they were a branch of the Onondagas, to whom they were allied by +relationship and language. Long ago they lived on the southern shore of +Oneida Lake, near the mouth of the creek, but afterwards their +habitation was made higher up the valley. The famous "Oneote or _Oneida +Stone_ became their talisman and the centre of their attractions. Many +of their tribe were distinguished as orators and statesmen. + +The Oneida "Community" live about two miles back from the station, and, +notwithstanding their peculiar religious belief and social practices, +they have achieved a reputation for quiet thrift, industry and harmony, +which their more Puritanic neighbors would do well to emulate. + +But, at last, our train enters the outskirts of Syracuse, and +penetrating the heart of the city, rumbles inside the gates of the New +York Central Station at this place. Outside, all is hurry and bustle, +and confusion, as we descend the steps and elbow our way through the +crowd, to run the gauntlet of hack drivers and baggage expressmen, with +their plated caps and deafening calls. + +Syracuse is sometimes known as the Central City, on account of its +location near the geographical centre of New York. It was first settled +in 1787, and did not pass the limits of a small village until the +completion of the Erie canal, in 1825. Two canals and three or four +lines of railway now centre here, and contribute to the growth of this +enterprising city. The region surrounding Syracuse is rife with the +romantic history of that once powerful Indian Confederacy known as the +Six Nations, now fast fading from the memory of men. The site of their +ancient Council House was on Onondaga Creek, a few miles distant from +the city, and is still held sacred to their traditions by the remnant of +the lost tribes now occupying the Indian reservation. The Onondagas +became the leading nation of the Confederacy. No business of importance, +touching the Six Nations, was transacted, except at Onondaga. They held +the key of the great Council House; they kept the sacred council fire +ever burning. From what portion of the country they emigrated before +occupying this region is unknown, but there is a very early tradition +among them that, many hundred moons ago, their forefathers came from the +North, having inhabited a territory along the northern banks of the St. +Lawrence. After a lapse of time there was an exodus of the powerful +tribe to the hills and hollows of Onondaga. + +The River God of this nation was named Hiawatha--which meant "very +wise." He always embarked in a white canoe, which was carefully guarded +in a lodge especially set apart for that purpose. Their favorite +equipments were white. White plumes, from the heron, were worn in their +head-bands when they went on the war path; white dogs were sacrificed. +The yearly sacrifice of the dogs, among the Onondagas, was a ceremony of +great importance with the tribe, and occurred at one of the five stated +festivals of the Six Nations. On the great sacrificial day it was the +habit of the people to assemble at the Council House in large numbers. +Early in the morning, immense fires were built, guns were discharged, +and loud hallooing increased the noise. Half a cord of wood, arranged in +alternate layers, was placed near the Council House, by a select +committee of managers, for the sacrificial offering. The two officiating +priests for the occasion, as well as the high priest, were dressed in +long, loose robes of white. At about nine o'clock in the morning the two +priests appear. The white dogs following them are painted with red +figures, and adorned with belts of wampum, feathers and ribbons. The +dogs are then lassooed and suffocated, amid yells and the firing of +guns. After some intervening ceremonies, the details of which are too +long for recital here, a procession is formed, led by the priests in +white, followed by the managers, bearing the dogs on their shoulders. A +chant is sung as the procession marches around the burning pile three +successive times; the dogs are then laid at the feet of the officiating +priest, a prayer is offered to the Great Spirit and the high priest, +lifting the dogs, casts them into the fire. After this, baskets of herbs +and tobacco are thrown, at intervals, into the fire, as propitiating +sacrifices. + +Their idea of these sacrifices was, that the sins of the people were, in +some mysterious manner, transferred yearly to the two priests in white, +who, in turn, conveyed them to the dogs. Thus the burnt offering +expiated the sins of the people for a year. + +These ideas and customs are so singularly similar to the ancient Jewish +religious rites as to suggest a possible origin from the same source. +The mystical council fire of the Six Nations, which was kept always +burning by the Onondagas, who had charge of it, and which, if +extinguished, was supposed to prophesy the destruction of the nation, +may have a deeper meaning than that attached to it by the chiefs +themselves. It may possibly point to a common parentage with the +ever-burning flame in the Vestal Temple at Rome, whose eclipse +endangered the safety of the city. Another point of resemblance may be +noted. Time, which is reckoned among the Red men by moons, also +suggests the Jewish year, which began with the new moon, and was +reckoned by lunar months. + +The Six Nations had a firm belief in witches and wizards, and executed +them, on the discovery of their supposed witchcraft, with a zeal and +spirit worthy of our early Christian fathers. One old Indian used to +relate a story something on the Jules Verne order. He said that, as he +stepped out of his cabin one evening, he sank down deep into an immense +and brilliantly-lighted cavern, full of flaming torches. Hundreds of +witches and wizards were there congregated, who immediately ejected him. +Early next morning he laid the matter before the assembled chiefs at the +Council House, who asked him whether he could recognize any whom he saw? +The sagacious Red man thought he could, and singled out many through the +village, male and female, who were doomed to an untimely execution, on +the evidence of this person's word. + +The Senacas, another numerous and powerful nation of the Confederacy, +were always noted for the talent and eloquence of their orators and +statesmen. Corn Planter, Red Jacket, and other celebrities, came of this +tribe. + +Syracuse is celebrated for its salt, the country over; and the most +singular thing about it is that the salt wells surround a body of fresh +water. This sheet of water bears the name of Onondaga Lake, and is six +miles long by one mile wide. It is about a mile and a half from the +heart of the city. A stratum of marl, from three to twelve feet thick, +underlaid by marly clay, separates the salt springs from the fresh +waters of the lake. The wells vary in depth, from two hundred to three +hundred feet, and the brine is forced from them, by pumps, into large +reservoirs, which supply the evaporating works. The salt is separated +from the water partly by solar evaporation and partly by boiling. The +reservoirs for the solar salt evaporation cover about seven hundred +acres of land. The brine is boiled in large iron kettles, holding about +a hundred gallons, which are placed in blocks of brick work, in one or +two long rows, the whole length of the block. It takes about +thirty-three and a fourth gallons of brine to make a bushel of salt, +which will average from fifty to fifty-six pounds in weight. + +These salt wells were known to the Indians at a very early +period--Onondaga salt being in common use among the Delawares in 1770, +by whom it was brought to Quebec for sale. + +Le Moyne, a Jesuit missionary, who had lived among the Hurons, and who +first came to Onondaga in 1653, with a party of Huron and Onondaga +chiefs, is supposed to be the first white man who personally knew about +the springs, though Father Lallemant had previously written of them. In +a letter which Colonel Comfort Tyler wrote to Dr. Jeremiah Van +Rensselaer, in 1822, the first manufacture of salt at this place by the +whites, in 1788, is described. He says: "In the month of May, 1788, the +family, wanting salt, obtained about a pound from the Indians, which +they had made from the waters of the springs upon the shore of the lake. +The Indians offered to discover the water to us. Accordingly, I went +with an Indian guide to the lake, taking along an iron kettle of fifteen +gallons capacity. This he placed in his canoe and steered out of the +mouth of Onondaga Creek, easterly, into a pass since called Mud Creek. +After passing over the marsh, then covered with about three feet of +water, and steering toward the bluff of hard land (now that part of +Syracuse known as Salina), he fastened his canoe, pointed to a hole, +apparently artificial, and said: "There is the salt!" + +Salina, or the first ward, as it is frequently spoken of, lies partly +upon the shores of this lovely lake of Onondaga, and enjoys the +advantages of a close proximity to the saline atmosphere of the wells. +The drives in the vicinity of the lake and about the neighboring +localities afford an ever-shifting panorama of beautiful views, with +glimpses of the blue Onondaga at all points. On a breezy day, in the +early part of May, 1875, when the air was soft with hints of coming +summer, and the violets along the river banks were just putting on their +hoods of blue, I took one of those long and delightful drives which so +exhilarates the blood and gives a kind of champagne sparkle to the mind. +If there are any known remedial agents which can possibly be an +improvement on pure air and sunshine, will you tell us what they are, +Dr. Dio Lewis? My companion was keen-witted and full of jollity; we had +a spirited animal, and miles upon miles of space quickly vanished behind +us, as we sped onward over the smooth roadway. The hills seemed to open +wide their portals and close again as we passed; the valleys allured us +with their romantic, winding roads, and Lake Onondaga, viewed from all +points of the compass, tossed itself into a multitude of little waves +which sparkled in the sunshine like a thousand diamonds. The sky, +changeful as April, alternated between floating fields of atmospheric +blue and pillars of gray cloud. As we rounded the last curve of the +lake, the tall chimneys and long, low buildings of the salt works at +Salina came into view, forming a more conspicuous than elegant feature +of the landscape. + +The principal street for retail business in Syracuse is named Salina, +and it always wears an air of brisk trade and enterprise. The large dry +goods houses of McCarthy and of Milton Price are located on this street. +Some of the public edifices are built of Onondaga limestone, quarried a +few miles out of the city. It makes very handsome building material, as +the Court House and other structures will testify. The ranking hotels of +Syracuse are the Vanderbilt and Globe, though the Remington, Syracuse +and Empire Hotels are well-kept and well-conducted houses. + +The Erie Canal runs through the heart of the city, and the bridges over +it are arranged with draws. The first steam canal boat I ever saw lay +moored at this place, at the corner of Water and Clinton streets. It was +gay with new paint and floating pennons, and created quite a sensation +on its first trip out. It belonged to Greenway, the great ale man, and +was named after his daughter. + +The High School, on West Genesee street, has a delightful location on +the banks of Onondaga Creek, and combines with its other advantages that +of a public library. It has a free reading room, thrown open to the city +at large, and a choice collection of many thousand volumes adorn its +shelves. Sitting at the open window and listening to the noisy waters of +the creek as it flows past, intermingled with an occasional bird carol +overhead, I could almost imagine myself out in the heart of the country, +away from the struggling masses of the crowded marts, in their mad race +after wealth--with nothing more inharmonious around me than the bird +orchestra of some imaginary June sky, the low sweep of waters and the +sound of the summer wind among the pines. + +Syracuse rates herself sixty thousand strong, and I am unable to say +whether the hard figures will bear her out in this assertion. Perhaps, +however, a small margin of egotism ought to be subtracted from our +estimate of ourselves, especially when "ourselves" means a city. + +James street is decidedly the handsomest thoroughfare in Syracuse. It is +wide, well paved, and two miles or more in length. On it are +congregated, with a few exceptions, the finest residences of the city. +These are surrounded, for the most part, by spacious grounds, and some +of them by groves of primeval forest growths. The street is an inclined +plane on one side, with a gentle declivity on the other. From its top, +quite an extensive prospect opens to the view, taking in most of the +city of salt, and its enclosing amphitheatre of hills. Looking down the +street, and over across the valley, the gray turrets of Yates' Castle +can be seen, nearly hidden by its surrounding trees. + +"A castle?" I hear my imaginary reader question. "Yes," I answer, a +castle,--the real, genuine, article--towers, turrets, gate-keeper's +lodge and all; nothing lacking but moat and drawbridge, to transport one +to the times of tournament and troubadours--of knight-errantry and fair +ladies riding to the chase with hawk and hound. + +A Latin motto, on the coat of arms adorning the arched gateway, points +to an ancestry of noble blood. But, alas for greatness! not even the +lodge-keeper's family knew the meaning of the Latin inscription. We +learned, however, that the armorial emblems were of English origin, and +belonged, possibly, to the times of the royal Georges. The grounds about +the castle are quite in keeping with the building itself. Winding roads, +rustic bridges, statuary, summer-houses and fountains, fitly environ +this antique pile. + +Just opposite this place, on the hill-top, stands the Syracuse +University--its white walls outlined in bold relief against the sky. It +is a Methodist institution, and its chief office is to prepare young men +for the ministry, and teach the youthful idea how to shoot, in +accordance with modern theology. The location is breezy enough, and high +enough, to satisfy almost any one's aspirations, and, if height has +anything to do with ideas, the thoughts of these young students ought to +be well-nigh heavenly. + +But, at last, we are compelled to say good-bye to Syracuse, and all its +pleasant associations, to say nothing of its salt. Westward the star of +Empire takes its way, and we have engaged a seat on the same train. It +is with real regret that we part company with these cities of our +beloved New York--Syracuse not the least among them. But the arrival of +the midnight "Lightning Express" for Rochester cuts short our musings, +and we are soon whirling away in the darkness, leaving the country of +the Onondagas far behind us, slumbering in the arms of night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +TORONTO. + + Situation of Toronto.--The Bay.--History.--Rebellion of 1837.-- + Fenian Invasion of 1866.--Population.--General Appearance.-- + Sleighing.--Streets.--Railways.--Commerce.--Manufactures.-- + Schools and Colleges.--Queen's Park.--Churches.--Benevolent + Institutions.--Halls and Other Public Buildings.--Hotels.-- + Newspapers.--General Characteristics and Progress. + + +Toronto, the capital of the Province of Ontario, is situated on the +northern shore of Lake Ontario, on a beautiful and nearly circular bay, +about five miles in length, formed by a long, narrow, curved tongue of +land, extending out into the lake in a southwest direction. This harbor +is capable of receiving the largest vessels upon the lake, and is +defended at its entrance by a fort upon the extreme end of the +peninsula, which is called Gibraltar Point. This fort was thoroughly +repaired in 1864, and mounted with the most efficient modern ordnance. + +Toronto was founded in 1794, by Governor Simcoe, who gave it the name of +York. In 1813, it was twice captured by the Americans, who burned the +public buildings and destroyed the fortifications. It was incorporated +as a city in 1834, when its name was changed to Toronto, an Indian word, +signifying "The place of meeting." It was the headquarters of the +Rebellion in 1837, when Sir Francis Head, then Governor of Upper Canada, +dissolved the House, for having stopped the supplies, as a retaliatory +measure upon his refusal to grant an elective legislative council. Sir +Francis had sent away from Upper Canada the whole of the Queen's army, +but putting himself at the head of the militia, he succeeded in +suppressing the insurrection. The city also suffered severely from the +fire of 1849. It has no manufactures of any importance, but, like most +of Western Canada, is chiefly dependent upon agriculture. + +The growth of Toronto has been more rapid than that of any other city in +Canada. Though of such recent origin compared with many Canadian towns, +it is now second only to Montreal in size and population, the former +having increased from twelve hundred in 1837 to upwards of eighty +thousand at the present time. The site of the city is low, the +surrounding country being level, but free from swamp and perfectly dry. +The ground rises gently from the shores of the lake. The scenery in the +vicinity is tame and comparatively monotonous, though not unpleasing. +The city lies along the shores of the lake for something over two miles, +and extends inward about a mile and a half. + +As one approaches Toronto its outlines appear picturesque, being varied +and broken by an unusual number of handsome spires. The traveler will be +pleasantly surprised, as he enters the city, at the extent and +excellence of its public edifices, the number of its churches, and its +general handsome and well-to-do aspect. Many of the houses and business +structures are built of light-colored brick, having a soft and cheerful +appearance. The streets are laid out regularly, crossing each other at +right angles, and, as a general thing, are well paved. In the winter +time they are filled with sleighs, and the air is alive with the music +of sleigh-bells. These sleighs are, some of them, most elegant in form +and finish, and provided with most costly furs. Every boy has his +hand-sled or "toboggan." At the same season of the year skating upon the +bay is a favorite amusement. King and Yonge streets are the leading +thoroughfares and fashionable promenades, being lined with handsome +retail stores which would do credit to any city in America. Other +important business streets are Front, Queen, York, Wellington and Bay. + +Five railways centre at Toronto, connecting it with every section of +Canada, the West and the South. The principal of these are the Grand +Trunk and Great Western railways, which connect the city by through +lines with the East and West. While navigation is open magnificent +steamers connect it with all points on the lake, and carry on an +extensive commerce. It imports large quantities of lumber, both +manufactured and unmanufactured; wheat and other grain, soap, salt and +glue; while foundries, distilleries, breweries, tanneries, rope-walks, +paper and flour mills, furnish products which reach markets throughout +the Provinces and States. + +Toronto is the centre of the Canadian school system, and its educational +institutions are numerous and of the highest order. It has Normal and +Model schools, in the first of which teachers exclusively are trained. +These schools, with the Educational Museum, built in the plain Italian +style, are picturesquely grouped in park-like grounds, on Church street. +The Museum contains a collection of curiosities, and a number of good +paintings and casts. The University of Toronto exhibits the finest +buildings in the city, and the finest of their kind in America. They +stand in a large park, approached by College avenue, half a mile in +length, and shaded by double rows of trees. The buildings, which are +of Norman architecture, of gray rubble stone, trimmed with Ohio and Caen +stone, form the sides of a large quadrangle. It was founded in 1843; +possesses a library of twenty thousand volumes, and a fine museum of +natural history, and has attached to it an observatory. Knox College, +Presbyterian, is situated a short distance north of the University, and +is a large building, in the Collegiate-Gothic style. Trinity College, in +Queen street west, overlooks the bay, and is an extensive and +picturesque structure, turreted and gabled, and surrounded by extensive +grounds. Upper Canada College is found in King street near John. + + [Illustration: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, CANADA.] + +Adjoining the University grounds is Queen's Park, embracing the most +elevated quarter of the city, and including fifty acres, handsomely laid +out. In this park a brownstone shaft, surmounted by a colossal statue of +Britannia, perpetuates the memory of the Canadians who fell in repelling +the Fenian invasion in 1866. This park is from one hundred to two +hundred feet above the level of the lake, and is surrounded by handsome +public buildings and private residences. + +The Episcopal Cathedral of St. James, at the corner of King and Church +streets, is a spacious edifice, in the early English style, with lofty +tower and spire, and elaborate open roof. It was built in 1852, and is +surrounded by well shaded grounds. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. +Michael, fronting on Bond street, is a large, decorated Gothic +structure, with stained windows, and a spire two hundred and fifty feet +high. The Wesleyan Methodist Church, in McGill street, is the finest +church of that denomination in America. Its massive tower is surmounted +by graceful pinnacles, and its interior is tastefully and richly +decorated. Knox's Church has a beautiful spire. One of the finest +church edifices in the Dominion is the Jarvis street Baptist Church, in +the decorated Gothic style. St. Andrews Presbyterian is a massive stone +structure, which dates back to the Norman style of architecture. + +Toronto contains many benevolent institutions, hospitals and asylums. +Prominent among them is the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, a large and +handsome building, situated west of the city, and surrounded by two +hundred acres of handsomely ornamented grounds. The General Hospital is +a fine structure, east of the city, in Don street, near Sumach. + +The Normal School Building, with its beautifully laid out grounds, is +one of the most attractive spots in the city, and the building is said +to be the largest of the kind in America. There is very little fine +scenery in the environs. + +One of the most strikingly beautiful buildings of Toronto is Osgood +Hall, in Queen street, an imposing structure, of elegant Ionic +architecture, the seat of the Superior Law Courts of Upper Canada, and +containing an extensive law library. St. Lawrence Hall, in King street, +is a stately structure, in the Italian style, surmounted by a dome, +containing a public hall and reading-room. Masonic Hall, an attractive +stone building, is in Toronto street. The city contains two Opera +Houses: the Grand, capable of seating two thousand persons, and the +Royal, with accommodations for about fifteen hundred persons. The Post +Office, a handsome stone building, stands near the head of Toronto +street. The Custom House is of cut stone, of imposing proportions, +extending from Front street to the Esplanade. The City Hall stands in +Front street near the Lake Shore, in the midst of an open square, and +is an unpretentious structure, in the Italian style. Near by is the +extensive Lawrence Market. The Court House is in Church street. + +Of the hotels, the Rossin House, corner of King and York streets; +Queen's Hotel, in Front street; the American House, in Yonge street; and +the Revere House, in King street, are the most noteworthy. + +Toronto takes a front rank in literature, a large number of newspapers +and periodicals, daily, weekly, and monthly, being issued from its +presses. It is unlike, in many respects, its sister cities of Lower +Canada. It has more of a nineteenth century air, and more of American +and less of European characteristics, than Montreal and Quebec. The +French Canadians form a smaller proportion of its inhabitants. The +people in the streets are well dressed and comfortable looking, stout +and sturdy, though not so tall, on an average, as the people of New +York. An educated population is growing up, and Toronto already ranks +well, in general intelligence and public enterprise, with other cities +of like magnitude in the States while it outranks all others on Canadian +soil. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +WASHINGTON. + + Situation of the National Capital.--Site Selected by + Washington.--Statues of General Andrew Jackson, Scott, + McPherson, Rawlins.--Lincoln Emancipation Group.--Navy Yard + Bridge.--Capitol Building.--The White House.--Department of + State, War and Navy.--The Treasury Department.--Patent Office.-- + Post Office Department.--Agricultural Building.--Army Medical + Museum.--Government Printing Office.--United States Barracks.-- + Smithsonian Institute.--National Museum.--The Washington + Monument.--Corcoran Art Gallery.--National Medical College.-- + Deaf and Dumb Asylum.--Increase of Population.--Washington's + Future Greatness. + + +Washington, the Capital of the United States of America, is situated in +the District of Columbia, on the left bank of the Potomac, between the +Anacostia or eastern branch of that river, and about one hundred and +eighty-five miles from the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. At an early period, +indeed, before the clamor of war had fairly ceased, or the proud +standard of England had been driven from its shores, the necessity of a +territory which should be under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress +had engaged the attention of the founders of the new Republic. The +possession of such a territory formed an important feature in the +debates upon the framing of the Constitution, and it was only +forty-eight days after the last act of ratification that the Capital +City was, by solemn enactment of Congress, located on the eastern shore +of the beautiful Potomac. + +The site of the Capital was selected by General Washington, the beloved +first President of the Republic, and covers an undulating tract on the +east bank of the river. From the rugged elevations on the borders of +Rock Creek, a crescent-shaped ridge crosses the northern portion of the +city, which is abruptly sundered, as it were, to admit the passage of a +small stream called the Tiber. From this point the ridge ascends, +gradually expanding into the extensive plateau of Capitol Hill, +overlooking the Anacostia on the east. Within this encircling ridge the +surface declines, in gentle slopes and terraces, down to the banks of +the Potomac. From the lower falls of the river at Georgetown, beyond the +outlying spurs of the Blue Ridge, a chain of low wooded hills extend +across the north, which, continuing along the opposite shores of the +Anacostia and Potomac, emerge again in the hills on the Virginia side of +that river, presenting the appearance of a vast amphitheatre, in the +centre of which stands the Capitol. + +The mean altitude of the city is about forty feet above the ordinary low +tide of the Potomac; the soil on which it is built is generally a +yellowish-clay intermixed with gravel. In making excavations for wells +and cisterns, near New Jersey avenue, trees were found, in a good state +of preservation, at a depth of from six to forty-eight feet below the +surface. + +The Tiber, a little stream, with its tributaries, passes through the +city. Tradition affirms that this stream received its name more than a +century before Washington city was founded, in the belief and with the +prediction that there would arise on its banks, in the future, a Capital +destined to rival in magnificent grandeur that which crowned the banks +of its great historic namesake. The streams forming this river have +their source among the hills to the east, and enter the city in several +directions, the principal branch winding off to the southwest, around +the base of Capitol Hill, across Pennsylvania avenue, to the Botanical +Gardens. Originally its course continued along the Mall and emptied into +the Potomac immediately west of the Washington Monument, but +subsequently it was diverted into the canal, the filling up of which +caused still other changes. The Tiber and its tributaries were utilized +by diverting them into the sewerage system of the central and southern +portions of the city; consequently, although the stream traverses one of +the most populous sections, its course is not visible, the current +flowing beneath heavy brick arches upon which buildings have been +erected, and avenues, streets and parks laid out. In primitive days the +banks of the Tiber were covered with heavy forests, while shad, herring +and other fish, in their season, were taken from its waters, under the +very shadow of the hill upon which the Capitol now stands. + +There is no city in the Union which presents to the thoughtful and truly +patriotic American so many objects of interest as does the city of +Washington. First of all, this feeling is intensified by the fact of its +having been located and founded by the great, immortal _Pater PatriA|_ +whose illustrious name it has the honor of bearing. A plan of the city +was prepared in 1791, by Peter L'Enfant, a French engineer of fine +education and decided genius, who had served in the Continental army +with such distinction as to attract the attention of General Washington. +He was assisted in the work by the advice and suggestions of Thomas +Jefferson, who, while diplomatic representative of the United States, +had studied the plans of the principal cities visited in Europe, with a +view to the future wants of his country, and was prepared, by the aid of +his personal knowledge of their details, to contribute valuable +information and suggestions. + +It is evident that the predominating object in designing a plan for the +city, was first to secure the most eligible situations for the different +public buildings, and to arrange the squares and areas so that the most +extended views might be obtained from every direction. The amplest +arrangements were also made by the founders of Washington for its rapid +growth and expansion, while they evidently designed and anticipated its +being magnificently built up and embellished. The indifference of the +Government and people has permitted these suggestions to remain too long +unheeded; yet it is consoling to those possessing an intelligent +patriotism and proud love of country, to know that the neglected +condition of the Capital of the United States for nearly three-fourths +of a century was not the result of any defect in the design originated +by its noble founders. + +Any one who has visited the royal residence of the kings of France, will +immediately recognize the resemblance between the plans of Le Notre for +Versailles, and L'Enfant for Washington City. The grand avenues, de +Sceaux and St. Cloud, diverging from the _Cour Royal_, are reproduced in +Pennsylvania and Maryland avenues, radiating from the east front of the +Capitol. Its broad thoroughfares are among the principal attractions of +Washington, and are the finest possessed by any city in the world. The +avenues, twenty-one in number, radiate from principal centres and +connect different parts of the city; the original number was thirteen, +named for the States constituting the Union at the time the Capital was +laid out. The first in importance is Pennsylvania avenue; its width +varies from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty feet; its +length is four and one-half miles, traversing the finest business +portion of the city, as well as being the most popular and fashionable +thoroughfare for driving. The War and Treasury departments, Washington +Circle, and the President's House, are each located on this superb +street, which, winding up and around Capitol Hill, finds its terminus on +the banks of the Anacostia. + +The spaces at the intersection of the more important avenues form what +are called _Circles_. Washington Circle, at the intersection of +Pennsylvania and New Hampshire avenues, contains the equestrian statue +of General Washington, which was ordered by Congress, and cannon donated +for the purpose, in 1853. The great hero is represented at the crisis of +the battle of Princeton; the horse seems shrinking from the storm of +shot and shell and the fiery conflict confronting him; his rider +exhibits that calm equanimity of bearing so eminently his +characteristic. This statue was executed by Clark Mills, at a cost of +fifty thousand dollars. + +At the western base of Capitol Hill stands the naval monument, termed in +the resolutions of Congress, the "_Monument of Peace_." It was designed +by Admiral Porter, and erected by subscriptions started by him among the +officers, midshipmen and men of his fleet, immediately after the fall of +Fort Fisher. The height of this monument is forty-four feet; it is built +of Carrara marble and cost $44,000. The surmounting figures represent +History recording the woes narrated by America, who holds a tablet in +her hand on which is inscribed: _They died that their country might +live._ This monument is exceedingly well executed, and was considered, +in Rome, one of the finest ever sent to America. + +Lafayette Square, comprising seven acres lying north of the President's +House, is beautifully laid out with rustic seats, graveled walks, and +adorned with a rare variety of trees and shrubbery. In the centre of +this square stands an equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson, by +Clark Mills, originally contracted for by the friends and admirers of +the General composing the Jackson Monument Association, who subscribed +twelve thousand dollars towards its erection. Congress afterward granted +them the brass guns and mortars captured by General Jackson at +Pensacola. In 1850 an additional donation of guns was made; in 1852 +another appropriation sufficient to complete the work was granted, and +Congress assumed possession of the monument. The figure of the horse is +weighted and poised without the aid of rods, as in the celebrated +statues of Peter the Great, at St. Petersburg, and Charles I., at +London. This was the first application of the principle, and resulted in +the production of one of the most graceful and astonishingly beautiful +works of its kind in existence. The statue is of colossal size, weighing +fifteen tons, and was erected at a cost of $50,000. + +_Scott Square_, lying north of the White House, contains a bronze statue +of General Winfield Scott, made of cannon captured by the General during +his Mexican campaign, and donated by Congress in 1867. The work was +executed by Brown, of New York; with the pedestal, it is twenty-nine +feet high, and cost $20,000. The General is represented in full uniform, +mounted on his war-horse, surveying the field of battle. + +The _Circle of Victory_, at the intersection of Massachusetts and +Vermont avenues, contains a bronze equestrian statue of General George +H. Thomas, of the Army of the Cumberland. The statue confronts the +South, in the direction of the General's native hills of Virginia. On +the site of this monument a salute of eight hundred guns was fired in +commemoration of the capture of Petersburg and Richmond on the third of +April, 1865; and, a few days later, five hundred guns were fired from +the same spot in honor of General Lee's surrender and the fall of the +Southern Confederacy. + +On East Capitol street, at a distance of about one mile from the +Capitol, is a square comprising six and a half acres, beautifully laid +out and adorned with trees, shrubbery and walks. In this enclosure a +bronze group called _Emancipation_ has been erected; Abraham Lincoln is +represented holding in his right hand the proclamation which gave +freedom to the negroes of the South. A slave kneels at his feet, with +manacles broken, and in the act of rising as they fall from his hands. +This monument is said to have been built exclusively of funds +contributed by the negroes liberated by Lincoln's proclamation of +January first, 1863. The first contribution of five hundred dollars was +made, it is stated, by Charlotte Scott, formerly a slave in Virginia, +out of her first earnings as a freed-woman, and consecrated by her, on +hearing of President Lincoln's death, to aid in building a monument to +his memory. The interesting memorial was unveiled with appropriate +ceremonies, on the anniversary of his assassination, April fourteenth, +1876, the President and his Cabinet, foreign ministers, and a vast +concourse of white and colored citizens being present. Including the +pedestal of Virginia granite, the structure is twenty-two feet in +height, and cost $20,000. It was in this square, now called _Lincoln +Square_, that, according to the founder's original plan of +embellishment, a grand _Historic Column_ was to have been erected, to +serve as an itinerary column, from which all geographical distances +within the boundaries of the United States should be calculated. + +_McPherson Square_, on Vermont avenue, contains a bronze equestrian +statue of General James Birdseye McPherson, who was killed near Atlanta, +at the head of the Army of the Tennessee, in 1864. He is represented in +full uniform, with field-glasses in hand, surveying the battle-ground. A +vault was constructed beneath the statue, for the purpose of receiving +his body, but the devoted opposition of the people prevented its removal +from his native place. + +Farragut and Rawlins squares contain respectively colossal, but not +equestrian statues of Admiral Farragut and General Rawlins. + +Mount Vernon Place, at the intersection of New York and Massachusetts +avenues, is handsomely laid out and planted with trees; in the centre, +occupying an elevated circular space, is a superb fountain of bronze. + +There are numerous smaller spaces at the intersection of various streets +and avenues, called triangular reservations, all of which are highly +adorned with trees, shrubs and beautiful small fountains. + +The Government Propagating Gardens cover an area of eighty acres on the +banks of the Potomac, south of Washington's Monument. The Botanical +Garden, an instructive place of public resort, lies at the foot of +Capitol Hill, between Pennsylvania and Maryland avenues. North of the +Conservatory is found the Bartholdi Fountain, which is supplied with +water from the aqueduct, its highest stream reaching an altitude of +sixty-five feet. This fountain is the work of Frederic Augustus +Bartholdi, a French sculptor and pupil of Scheffer. It will be +remembered by all who visited the National Centennial Exposition at +Philadelphia, where it was exhibited, and afterward purchased by +Congress for the inadequate sum of six thousand dollars. The lower basin +is twenty-six feet in diameter, and from its centre rises a pedestal +bearing aquatic monsters and fishes spouting water; three female +caryatides, eleven feet high, support a basin thirteen feet in diameter; +a smaller basin above this is upheld by three infant Tritons, the whole +being surmounted by a mural crown. Twelve lamps, arranged around the +lower basin, and lighted by electricity, give the most beautiful effects +of light and water. On the plaza in front of the Treasury Department, is +another fine fountain, in the form of an immense granite urn, the +_tassa_ of which measures sixteen feet in diameter. + +Immediately in front of Washington city the Potomac expands into a +broad, lake-like body of water, a mile and a quarter wide and at least +eighteen feet deep. The Anacostia River, at its mouth, is almost the +same width and fully as deep. Improving the navigation of the Potomac +and the construction of a canal to the head waters of the Ohio River, +were enterprises that began with the founding of the National Capital. + +In 1872, Congress appointed a board of officers with a view to the +improvement of the channel of the river and water fronts of Washington +and Georgetown, for commercial purposes, as well as the reclamation of +the malaria-infected marshes opposite the city. These improvements will +necessitate the rebuilding of Long Bridge for railroad and ordinary +traveling purposes, and reclaim more than a thousand acres of valuable +land. It is proposed to remove the National Observatory and use the +earth for filling up the marshes. + +The _Navy Yard Bridge_ crosses the Anacostia River, at the foot of +Eleventh street, having supplanted the wooden structure built in 1819, +over which Booth made his escape after the assassination of Lincoln. + +The various buildings occupied by the Executive and Legislative branches +of the Government are worthy of especial notice. The _Capitol_ is +considered one of the largest and finest edifices of the kind in the +world, and in point of durability of structure and costliness of +material, it certainly has no superior. It stands on the west side of +Capitol Hill, very near the centre of the city, and one mile distant +from the Potomac River. The main or central building is three hundred +and fifty two feet in length, with two wings or extensions, each having +a front of one hundred and forty-three feet on the east and west, and a +depth of two hundred and thirty-nine feet along the north and south +_facades_, exclusive of the porticoes. The entire length of this great +edifice is seven hundred and fifty feet; its greatest depth three +hundred and twenty-four feet; the ground plan covering three and a half +acres. + +The central and original Capitol building is of freestone, taken from +the Government quarries at Aquia Creek, forty miles below the city, +which were purchased for that purpose, by the Commissioners, in 1791. +This building is now painted white, to correspond with the extensions, +columns and porticoes of white marble. From the centre rises the great +dome, designed by Walter, to replace the original one removed in 1856, +after the additions to the building had rendered it out of proportion. +The apex is surmounted by a lantern fifty feet high, surrounded by a +peristyle, and crowned by the bronze statue of Freedom executed by +Crawford in 1865. The height from the base line to the crest of this +statue is three hundred and eight feet, making the dome of the Capitol +rank fifth in height with the greatest structures of the kind in Europe. + +The great dome is visible from every elevated point in the District for +miles around, and from its windows, as far as the eye can reach, is +extended a panorama of wooded hills, beautiful valleys, with the +majestic cloud-capped spurs of the Blue Ridge raising their lofty heads +in the distance. The eastern facade of the building looks out upon the +extended plain of Capitol Hill, with its background of green hills +reaching far beyond the Anacostia. On the north a broad valley extends, +until it unites with the encircling hills of the city; on the south the +majestic Potomac and Anacostia rivers are seen to meet and mingle their +placid waters; while from the west are beheld the lawns and groves of +the Botanic Garden, the Mall, and handsome grounds of the President's +house, with Georgetown Heights and the glittering domes of the +Observatory in the distance. + +The main entrance, from the grand portico into the rotunda is filled by +the celebrated bronze door modeled by Rogers, in Rome, 1858, and cast in +bronze at Munich, by Miller, in 1860. On the panels of this door are +portrayed, in _alto relievo_, the principal events in the life of +Christopher Columbus, and the discovery of America. The key of the arch +is adorned with a fine head of the great navigator; in the four corners +of the casing are statuettes, representing Asia, Africa, Europe and +America, with a border in relief of ancient armor, banners and heraldic +designs emblematic of navigation and conquest. Bordering each leaf on +the door are statuettes, sixteen in number, of his patrons and +contemporaries; the nine panels bear _alto relievo_ illustrations of the +principal events in his life; while between the panels are a series of +heads, representing the historians of the great discoverer and his +followers. Altogether, this justly celebrated bronze door, besides being +wonderful as a work of art, constitutes in itself a small volume of the +most interesting and important events belonging to the history of our +country. + + [Illustration: EAST FRONT OF CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.] + +The rotunda into which the door leads is embellished with eight large +historical paintings, by different artists. Four of these were executed +by Trumbell, who served as aid-de-camp to Washington in 1775, and +reproduced in his figures the likenesses of the actors in the scenes +portrayed. In arranging the characters for the "Declaration of +Independence," in which the Congress of 1776 is represented in the act +of signing that great instrument of American liberty, the artist +conferred with Jefferson, the Author of the Declaration, and John Adams, +both of whom were present and signers. The individual costumes, the +furniture, and the hall itself, are represented with scrupulous +fidelity, all of which tends to increase the interest inspired by this +painting. + +The _National Library_ was founded by act of Congress in 1800, and the +following year, after the report of John Randolph, of Roanoke, had been +submitted, setting forth the necessity for further legislation on the +subject, a second act was passed, which placed it on a permanent basis. +The number of volumes first contained in the library was three thousand, +but appropriations were annually made by Congress to increase the +number. In 1814 the Capitol was burned by the British, and the library +destroyed; a few months later, Thomas Jefferson offered the Government +his private collection of 6,700 volumes, among which were many rare and +valuable works obtained in Europe, and these were purchased for the sum +of $23,950. In 1866 the Smithsonian Library, containing forty thousand +volumes, was added, and a year later, the _Peter Force_ collection was +purchased by Congress, for $100,000; constant additions have increased +the number, until the library now contains nearly four hundred thousand +bound volumes, and one hundred thousand pamphlets. It is enriched also +by journals, manuscripts, and maps relating to the history and +topography of the country; in respect to the latter, being only +approached by the library in the British Museum. The Library halls +occupy the principal floor of the entire west projection of the Capitol. + +In the _Vice President's Room_ hangs the original painting of +Washington, taken from life by Rembrandt Peale, and purchased by the +Government in 1832, for the sum of two thousand dollars. + +The _Senate Reception Room_ is a beautiful and brilliant apartment, +about sixty feet in length, with its vaulted and arched ceiling, divided +into four sections, adorned with allegorical frescoes of _Prudence_, +_Justice_, _Temperance_ and _Strength_, executed by Brumidi, in 1856. +The ceiling is heavily gilded throughout; the walls finished in stucco +and gilt, with a base of Scagliola, imitating the marbles of Potomac and +Tennessee. A finely executed fresco, in oil, by Brumidi, adorns the +south wall, representing Washington in consultation with Jefferson and +Hamilton, his Secretaries of State and Treasury. + +The _President's Boom_ is an equally magnificent apartment, with groined +arches embellished with numerous allegorical figures in fresco, the +decoration, by Brumidi, being, in general design, the same as in the +private audience chamber of the Vatican at Rome. The work throughout is +very fine, being richly decorated with arabesques on a groundwork of +gilt; the luxurious furniture of the apartment is entirely in keeping +with this high order of artistic finish. + +The old _Hall of the House of Representatives_ is a magnificent +apartment, designed and planned after the theatre at Athens, with +fourteen Corinthian columns of variegated marble, forming a circular +colonnade on the north. The bases of these columns are of freestone, the +capitals of Carrara marble, designed and executed in Italy, after those +in the temple of Jupiter Stator, at Rome; the paneled dome overhead is +similar to that of the Pantheon. This venerable apartment was occupied +by the House of Representatives for thirty-two years; its atmosphere +must, in consequence, ever continue redolent with historic associations. +On its walls, in the old days, hung the full-length portraits of +Washington and Lafayette, presented by the latter on his last visit to +this country; and the exact spot is pointed out where stood the desk of +the venerable Ex-President, John Quincy Adams, when that aged patriot +and senator was stricken by death. When, on the completion of the new, +the old Hall was abandoned, in 1857, it was set apart, by Congress, as a +_National Statuary Gallery_, and the President authorized to invite the +different States to contribute statues, in bronze or marble, of such +among their distinguished citizens as they might especially desire to +honor, the number being limited to two from each State. These +contributions have been coming in slowly from year to year, besides +which, many valuable statues and paintings have been purchased and +added, by the Government. + +The new _Hall of Representatives_ is said to be the finest in the world; +its length being one hundred and thirty-nine feet, width ninety-three, +and height thirty-six feet, while the galleries will seat twenty-five +hundred persons. The ceiling is of cast-iron, with panels gilded and +filled with stained-glass centres, on which are represented the +coat-of-arms of each of the different States. The walls are adorned with +valuable historical paintings and frescoes. + +The _Supreme Court Room_, formerly the old United States Senate Chamber, +is a semicircular apartment, seventy-five feet in diameter; its height +and greatest width being forty-five feet. The ceiling is formed by a +flattened dome, ornamented with square caissons in stucco, with +apertures for the admission of light. Supporting a gallery back of the +Judges' seats extends a row of Ionic columns of Potomac marble, with +capitals of white Italian marble, modeled after those in the Temple of +Minerva. Along the western wall are marble brackets, each supporting the +bust of a deceased Chief Justice. + +When occupied by the Senate, the Hall contained desks for sixty-four +Senators. It was in this chamber that the Nation's purest and most +profound statesmen assembled, and the great "Immortal Trio," Clay, +Webster and Calhoun, made those wonderful forensic efforts which gave +their names forever to fame and the admiration of posterity. + +The _New Senate Chamber_, first occupied in 1859, is a magnificent +apartment, belonging to the new extension of the Capitol, one hundred +and thirteen feet in length by eighty feet in width, and thirty-six feet +high. The Senators' desks are constructed of mahogany, and arranged in +concentric semicircles around the apartment. The galleries rise and +recede in tiers to the corridors of the second floor, and are capable of +seating twelve thousand people. + +Immense iron girders and transverse pieces compose the ceiling, forming +deep panels, each glazed with a symbolic centre piece; the walls are +richly painted, the doors elaborately finished with bronze ornaments. +From the lobby we pass into the _Senate Retiring Room_, handsomely +furnished, and said to be the finest apartment of the kind in the world. +The ceiling is composed of massive blocks of polished white marble, +which form deep panels, resting upon four Corinthian columns, also of +white Italian marble. Highly polished Tennessee marble lines the entire +walls, in the panels of which are placed immense plate glass mirrors, +enhancing the brilliancy and already striking effect of the whole. + +The limits of this chapter will not admit of further description of the +numerous apartments gorgeously furnished; the palatial corridors +beautifully designed; magnificent vestibules with fluted columns of +marble; richly gilt paneled ceilings and tinted walls; grand stairways +of marble and bronze, with the statues, busts, paintings and bronzes, +which enrich the Capitol, many of them being masterpieces of art, and +none devoid of merit. A detailed account of all would fill a small +volume; we are compelled, therefore, to reluctantly leave the subject, +and proceed to the description of the Public Buildings. + +The _President's House_ is situated in the western part of the city, +distant one and a half miles from the Capitol. A premium of five hundred +dollars was awarded James Hoban, architect, of South Carolina, for the +plan, and the corner stone laid, with Masonic honors, October +thirteenth, 1792. John Adams was the first presidential occupant; he +took possession during the month of November, 1800, after the Government +offices had been removed to Washington. This building was burned by the +British in 1814; the following year Congress authorized its restoration, +committing the work to the original architect, Hoban, by whom it was +completed in 1826, in all its details. It is built of freestone, one +hundred and seventy feet in length, eighty-six in width, with grand +porticoes on the north and south fronts, supported by Ionic columns. The +main entrance is on the north, by a spacious vestibule handsomely +frescoed. The _Blue Room_, in which the President receives, on both +public and private occasions, is an oval-shaped apartment, finished in +blue and gilt, with draperies and furniture of blue damask. +Communicating with this is a second parlor called the _Green Room_, from +the prevailing color of the furniture and hangings. In this apartment +are found the portraits of Presidents Madison, Monroe, Harrison and +Taylor. _The East Room_, which closes the suite, is a truly royal +apartment, magnificently decorated in a style purely Grecian, the +ceiling frescoed in oil, mantles of exquisite wood carving, immense +mirrors in magnificent frames, with the richest furniture, and window +drapery of the costliest lace and damask. A full length portrait of +Washington adorns this apartment, purchased by Congress in 1803. When +the Capitol was burned, in 1814, this painting was rescued from +destruction by Mrs. Madison, who had it removed from the frame and +carried to a place of safety. A portrait of Martha, the wife of +Washington, also hangs in this room, painted by Andrews in 1878. + +The numerous other apartments in the President's House exhibit the same +lavish style of adorning, the furniture being constantly changed and +renewed; but the vandal spirit of _change_ has not, as yet, dared to lay +its sacrilegious hand upon or to alter the construction of the house, +which remains the same as when, almost a century ago, it was first +occupied by the elder President Adams. It is not difficult, therefore, +to evoke the spirit of the past while standing among these ancient +apartments, halls and corridors, and behold in fancy the long line of +true statesmen, incorruptible patriots and noble men, who have +successively lived and moved among them, in the early days of the +Republic. And it is to be devoutly hoped that the vanity and caprice of +the rulers who, in these later years, are being cast into high places, +will not prevail in the effort to have this venerable home of the +Presidents, hallowed by the memories of the nation's past, cast aside, +and another building, modern and meaningless, substituted in its stead. + +Immediately west of the President's House stands the _Department of +State, War and Navy_, a vast and imposing structure in the Doric style, +combining the massive proportions of the ancient with the elegance of +modern architecture. The Diplomatic Reception Room is a magnificent +apartment, decorated and furnished in the most sumptuous manner, with +ebonized woods and gold brocade, after the Germanized Egyptian style. +The portraits of Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton, by Healy (purchased +by Congress from the widow of Fletcher Webster, 1879), adorn the walls, +and over the mantels are busts, in bronze, of Washington and Lafayette. +In the Diplomatic Ante-room is seen a full-length portrait of the Bey of +Tunis, sent by special envoy in 1865, with a letter of condolence to the +Government, on the death of Lincoln. Above this apartment is the +library, containing a valuable collection of works on diplomacy, and +many objects of interest, including the original draft of the +Declaration of Independence, with the desk on which it was written, +presented to the Government by the heirs of James Coolidge, of +Massachusetts, to whom it was presented by Thomas Jefferson. The +original document, _signed_, is also here, together with the sword of +Washington, purchased by Congress in 1880, and his commission as +Commander-in-Chief; the staff of Franklin; original drafts of the laws +of the United States, the Federal Constitution, and other valuable and +interesting historic documents, from the foundation of the Government. +The entire building contains one hundred and fifty apartments, and cost +five million dollars. + +The _Treasury Department_ is situated east of the President's House; it +presents a most classic appearance, with its three stories in the pure +Ionic style of architecture, upon a basement of rustic work, surmounted +by an attic and balustrade. It has four fronts and principal entrances; +the western front, consisting of a colonnade, after the style of the +temple of Minerva, at Athens, is three hundred and thirty-six feet long, +with thirty Ionic columns, and recessed porticoes on either end. This +building contains the vaults in which the current funds and National +Bank bonds of the Government are kept. The Secretary's office is a +beautiful apartment, on the second floor. The walls being formed of +various kinds of highly polished marble. This building contains two +hundred apartments, exclusive of the basement and attic, and cost six +million dollars. + + [Illustration: STATE, WAR AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS, WASHINGTON, D. C.] + +The _Bureau of Engraving and Printing_, a branch of the Treasury +Department, occupies a separate building, recently erected, at a cost of +three hundred thousand dollars. It is a handsome structure, of pressed +brick, in the Romanesque style, is entirely fireproof, and situated +between the Agricultural Department and the Washington Monument. + +The _Patent Office_, an immense building covering two squares, or two +and three-fourths acres of ground (which in the original plan of the +city had been set apart for the erection of a National Mausoleum, or +church), is in the Doric style of architecture, after the Parthenon at +Athens, and impresses all who behold it with the grandeur of its +proportions. The Museum of Models, a collection of inventions, both +native and foreign, patented by the Government, occupies the four +immense halls on the second floor, and contains upwards of one hundred +and fifty-five thousand models, which have accumulated since the fire of +1836. In December, of that year, the old building was destroyed, +containing four thousand models, the accumulation of half a century. But +for this calamity, the progress of mechanical arts in the United States +could be traced back to the foundation of the Government. The south Hall +of the Museum is a magnificent apartment, two hundred and forty-two feet +long, sixty-three feet wide, and thirty feet high, decorated in the +Pompeiian style, the entire structure of the room being in solid +masonry. Among the historical relics contained here, are the uniform of +Washington, worn at the time he resigned his commission, and his sword, +secretary, compass, and sleeping tent, with camp utensils for cooking, +etc. The number and variety of models contained in these four large +halls are almost bewildering, and afford material for hours of study. +The cost of this immense structure was two million, seven hundred +thousand, but the entire sum has been principally liquidated by the +surplus funds received, which annually amount to at least two hundred +thousand dollars. + +The _General Post Office_ building is immediately opposite the Patent +Office; it is a most imposing edifice, constructed of white marble, from +the quarries of New York, and was built--the portion fronting on E +street--in 1839. The northern half of the square was afterward purchased +by the Government, and the extension begun in 1855; the building, as now +completed, being three hundred feet in length, by two hundred and four +in depth, with a large courtyard in the centre, entered on the west +front by a carriage way, where the mails are received and sent out. +Above the basement, on every side of this noble structure, arise +monolithic columns and pilasters, surmounted by handsomely wrought +capitals, upon which rests a paneled cornice. The main entrance is +adorned with Doric columns, and the ceiling, walls and floor finished +with white marble. In the office of the Postmaster-General is a fine +collection of photographs and crayons of those who have filled this +position since the appointment of Samuel Osgood, by Washington, in 1789. +The cost of this building was one million seven hundred thousand +dollars. + +The _Agricultural Building_ is a large and handsome structure, built of +pressed brick, in the _renaissance_ style of architecture, with +trimmings of brown stone. Immediately in front of the house is a flower +garden, beautifully laid out, and planted with an almost countless +variety of flowers; the remaining grounds adjacent to the building have +been laid out as an _arboreture_, with walks and drives winding through +forests of trees and shrubs, all of which have been planted according to +the strictest botanical rules. The experimental grounds, occupying ten +acres in the rear of the house, contain artificial lakes, rivers and +swamps, for the cultivation of water and marsh plants. The building is +handsomely finished and the various apartments and offices elegantly +furnished, including a handsome library, thoroughly equipped laboratory, +and an _Agricultural Museum_, which occupies the main building, and is +replete with objects of interest and beauty too numerous to admit of +description. The _Plant Houses_ are immense conservatories, in which the +fruits and flowers of every clime and country may be found _growing_. +The main structure is three hundred and twenty feet long, by thirty +wide, with a projecting wing giving one hundred and fifty feet +additional. On the north bank of the Potomac is the _Naval Observatory_, +one of the principal astronomical establishments in the world. The +Observatory was founded in 1842, the location being selected by +President Tyler. The site had been called "University Square," from the +fact that it had been the cherished intention of Washington, from the +foundation of the city, to urge the erection upon this spot of a +_National University_. The central building of the Observatory was +completed in 1844--a two-story building, with wings, and surmounted by a +dome. The great telescope, purchased in 1873, cost forty-seven thousand +dollars, and is the most powerful instrument in the world, the +refracting glass being twenty-six inches; the focal length thirty-two +and a half feet. The library contains six thousand volumes, a number of +them very rare, dating back to 1482. + +The _Army Medical Museum_ was formerly Ford's Theatre, in which +President Lincoln was assassinated on the fourteenth of April, 1865. The +building was purchased a year later, by Congress, remodeled and +converted to its present use. No trace has been left to indicate the +exact location of the murder. The Chemical Laboratory, on the first +floor, was the restaurant in which Booth took his last drink; among the +relics and curiosities is a portion of the vertebrae taken from the neck +of the assassin. The first floor is occupied by the record and pension +division of the Surgeon General's office, and upon the registers are +inscribed the names of three hundred thousand of the _dead_. The Museum +is on the third floor, and contains about sixteen thousand medical, +surgical, and anatomical specimens. + +The _Government Printing Office_ is a large four-story building, in +which the printing of the two Houses of Congress and other Departments +is done. In 1794 an appropriation of ten thousand dollars was made, and +sufficed, for "firewood, stationery and printing; the amount required at +the present time to meet the expenses of this department is two million +five hundred thousand dollars per annum, showing the rapid advance of +the country, in extent, population, and the prodigality of its +representatives as well. + +The _United States Barracks_, formerly the _Arsenal_, is situated at the +extreme southern point of the city. A Government Penitentiary was +erected on the grounds in 1826; in one of the lower cells was buried +the body of Booth, and afterward those of the other conspirators. The +Penitentiary was taken down in 1869, at which time the family of Booth +was permitted to remove his body to Baltimore, where it was interred in +the family burial lot at Druid Hill, the grave remaining unmarked. In +front of the old buildings, the grounds, since the war, have been +beautifully laid out, and contain a number of cannon captured by the +Government forces in different conflicts. There is a brass gun with a +ball shot into its muzzle at the battle of Gettysburg, and two captured +Blakely guns, one of which bears the inscription: "Presented to the +Sovereign State of South Carolina, by one of her citizens residing +abroad, in commemoration of the twentieth of December, 1860." There are +also British, French, and Mexican cannon, captured from those nations, +some of them dated as far back as 1756. + +On the Anacostia, three-fourths of a mile from the Capitol, is the _Navy +Yard_, formally established by act of Congress in 1804, and in those +early days standing unrivaled, as it sent out such famous vessels as the +Wasp, Argus, and Viper; and frigates, carrying 44 guns each, were built +in its shops. But the gradual filling up of the channel in which ships +of the line formerly anchored, and the increased facilities of other +later established stations, have deprived the old yard of its importance +as a naval constructing port, although it is still one of the most +important for the manufacture of supplies. The _Marine Barracks_, +organized in 1798, are but a short distance from the Navy Yard gate; the +building is seven hundred feet in length, with accommodations for two +hundred men. The Barracks were burned by the British in 1814, but were +at once rebuilt. + +The _Smithsonian Institute_, by name, is generally familiar, while +comparatively few are acquainted with its origin, the design of its +founder, his antecedents or history, all of which are peculiarly +interesting, and deserving of a more extended notice than our sketch +will permit. James Smithson was an Englishman, the son of the first Duke +of Northumberland, and a grand nephew, on his mother's side, of Charles, +the proud Duke of Somerset. Whether or not any secret romance was +connected with his life, we are not informed; all that is known is, that +he devoted himself to literature and science, was never married, and +died at Genoa, Italy, in 1828, bequeathing his fortune to his nephew, +Henry James Hungerford, during life; at his death to become the property +of the United States; in the language of the will, "To found, at +Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institute, an +establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." +The Government accepted the bequest, which was at its disposal as early +as 1836, and the original fund, of upwards of five hundred and fifteen +thousand dollars, was deposited in the Treasury. A little more than ten +years later the Smithsonian Institute was organized, a board of Regents +appointed, and the corner-stone laid, with masonic ceremonies, May the +first, 1847. The building was completed in 1856, the accrued interest +being mere than sufficient to cover all the expenses of its erection, +and leaving a permanent fund of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars +in the Treasury for its future maintenance. In less than a year after +the close of the war the main building was partially destroyed by fire, +together with the papers and reports of the Institute, and the personal +effects of its founder. It was immediately restored, however; but the +Library, comprising a large collection of valuable scientific works, was +removed to the Capitol. It would seem that this immense building, so +generously endowed, could, and should, be made to advance "the increase +and diffusion of knowledge among men," in a more direct and individual +manner, by being devoted to educational purposes. But further than its +use in conducting exchanges between the Government and scientific bodies +at home and abroad, and the care of the National Museum, the Smithsonian +Institute has contributed nothing toward "the advancement of knowledge +among men," and those, generally, of the country whom it was especially +intended to benefit. + +The _National Museum_, completed in 1879, is situated a very short +distance east of the Institute, and covers nearly two and a half acres +of ground. It is a handsome structure, of the modernized Romanesque +style of architecture; having four entrances and eight lofty towers; the +principal entrance being approached by granite steps, thirty-seven feet +wide, to a richly tiled platform. Above the inscription plate on the +globe of the nave, is an allegorical group representing Columbia as the +patroness of Science and Industry. The whole is surmounted by a dome; +the windows filled with double glass imported from Belgium; in fine, the +entire building is externally and internally complete, being finished +and furnished in the most costly and elegant manner. The large +collections of the Museum in the Smithsonian Institute, are to be +divided; objects of purely natural history being alone kept in the +Institute, the second floor of which will be devoted to archA|ology, +including the antiquities of the "Stone Age." + +South of the President's House, and but a short distance from the stone +which marks the centre of the District stands the National Monument to +the Father of his Country, designed by Mills. It was completed on +Saturday, December sixth, 1884, by the setting of its marble cap-stone. +The idea of this National Monument took definite shape in 1833, when the +_Washington National Monument Association_ was organized, composed of +some of the most distinguished men of the country. The design was to +build it by means of popular subscriptions, of individual sums, not to +exceed one dollar each. In 1847 the collections amounted to $87,000, and +with this sum it was determined to begin the work. On the Fourth of +July, 1848 the corner stone of the monument was laid; in 1854, the funds +of the _National Monument Association_ were exhausted. The structure had +then reached a height of one hundred and seventy feet, and during the +succeeding twenty-four years only four feet were added to its altitude. +August twenty-second, 1876, Congress passed an Act, creating a +commission for its completion, and made the necessary appropriation, +which was to be continued annually. Before resuming work on the +monument, it was deemed best to strengthen the foundation by placing +under the shaft an additional mass of concrete, one hundred and +twenty-three feet, three inches beyond the old foundation. The weight of +the mass then worked under was 32,176 tons. The total pressure on the +foundation as it now stands is 80,378 tons. + +The monument is a marble obelisk, the marble having been brought from +the quarries of the Beaver Dam Marble Company, Baltimore County, +Maryland. The shaft, from the floor, is 555 feet, 4 inches high, being +thirty feet, five inches higher than the spires of the great cathedral +of Cologne. The present foundation is thirty-six feet, eight inches +deep, making an aggregate height, from the bed of the foundation, of 592 +feet, the loftiest work of ancient or modern times. The walls of the +obelisk, at its base, are over fifteen feet thick, and at the 500 feet +mark, where the pyramidal top begins, eighteen inches thick. The total +cost of the monument has been $1,130,000. Within the obelisk is an +elevator and a stairway. On the latter there are nine hundred steps, and +about twenty minutes are required to make the descent. + +The _Corcoran Art Gallery_ is one of the most interesting and valued +institutions belonging to the National Capitol, and the last that our +limits will permit being described at length. The building stands on the +corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Seventeenth street, and is constructed +of brick, in the Renaissance style of architecture, finished with +freestone ornaments and a variety of beautiful carving. On the avenue +front are four statues, in Carrara marble, executed by Ezekiel, in Rome, +of _Phidias_, _Raphael_, _Michael Angelo_, and _Albert Durer_, +representing respectively, sculpture, painting, architecture and +engraving. In the vestibules and corridors are casts of ancient _bas +reliefs_, with numerous antique busts and statues in marble. The _Hall +of Bronzes_ contains a very large and interesting collection of bronzes, +armor, ceramic ware, etc. The Hall of _Antique Sculpture_, almost one +hundred feet in length, contains casts of the most celebrated specimens +of ancient sculpture. The _Main Picture Gallery_ is also nearly one +hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with a collection of paintings +ranking among the first of this country, and more than one hundred and +fifteen in number. The _Octagon Chamber_ contains the original Greek +Slave, by Powers. In the _East Gallery_ is displayed a valuable +collection of portraits of distinguished Americans, painted by the best +native artists; in the _West Gallery_, is a large number of paintings, +historical, landscape and other subjects. + +The _Corcoran Art Gallery_ was presented to the city and country by W. +W. Corcoran, Esq., in 1869. This magnificent gift, including the donor's +private collection of paintings and statuary, cost three hundred and +fifty thousand dollars, to which he added an endowment fund of nine +hundred thousand dollars more. Mr. Corcoran has also erected and +elegantly furnished, a large and beautiful building, called the _Louise +Home_, at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, with an endowment fund +of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. _The Home_, the only +institution of its kind in the entire country, is an asylum for ladies +of education and refinement who have been reduced in fortune. The house +is furnished in a style of subdued elegance, with every luxury and +convenience to be found in the best appointed private residence; while +the ladies are waited upon and treated with the same attention and +respect as if they were each paying an extravagant rate of board. There +are ample accommodations for fifty-five ladies, who must have reached +the age of fifty-years, as a general rule, and who make their +application for admission in writing. There is _no charge_ for +admission, nor expense of any kind, nor _limit_ to the time of remaining +at the _Louise Home_. This beautiful institution, in which charity is +bestowed in so refined and delicate, yet magnificent a manner, has been +erected and endowed by the Founder _in memoriam_ of a beloved wife and +only daughter and child. It is but due to this great philanthropist, to +mention here, that in addition to his gifts named above, the _National +Medical College, of Columbian University_, was his gift, in 1864, and +cost forty thousand dollars. The original grounds of _Oak Hill +Cemetery_, comprising ten acres, were also donated by him, together with +an endowment fund of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars; the +grounds were incorporated by Congress in 1840. It were fortunate for +mankind if the number of such benefactors were greater, and the wisdom +displayed by Mr. Corcoran oftener imitated by the rich, who, if they +_give_, permit their good deeds only "_to live after them_," instead of +planning, and directing with their own hands, the schemes of benevolence +they desire to inaugurate for the benefit of their unfortunate fellow +beings. + +There are many places of historical interest that might be described, as +well as numerous Halls, Colleges, Hospitals, etc., but the limits of +this paper will not permit. We shall only refer to the _Government +Hospital for the Insane_, situated at the junction of the Potomac and +Anacostia rivers, and one of the finest and largest institutions of the +kind in the world. It is seven hundred and fifty feet in length by two +hundred deep, containing five hundred single rooms, and accommodations +for more than nine hundred patients. The _Deaf and Dumb Asylum and +College_ are also conspicuous among the Public Institutions, built in +the pointed Gothic style, and costing the Government $350,000. + +During the late war Washington was converted into a vast fortress, and +made the base of operations for the entire forces of the Union. The +hills surrounding it were covered with the camps of soldiers, while its +vast streets and avenues hourly echoed the tread of moving troops, and +the heavy crushing roll of artillery. At the close of the contest the +city was found to have risen high upon the wave of revolution; a new +element had been infused into its population, and the march of +improvement had begun. In ten years the number of inhabitants had +increased fifty thousand. With the continuance of peace, and the spirit +of improvement and progress remaining unchecked, it may reasonably be +predicted and confidently anticipated, that the close of the Nineteenth +Century will find the Capital City of this great Republic approaching in +splendor and importance the realization of the proudest hope and dream +of magnificence ever cherished in the hearts of its worthy founders, and +in _itself_ a monument worthy of the immortal name of WASHINGTON. + + + + +_TESTIMONIALS._ + +COMMENDATIONS + +OF + +Peculiarities of American Cities. + + +_Buffalo Sunday Times._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" is the title of the latest work of +Captain Willard Glazier, whose numerous books show great versatility and +vivacity. The work before us contains sketches of thirty-nine of the +principal cities of the United States and Canada. It is replete with +interest. The pages are not filled with a mass of dry statistics or mere +description, but record the personal observations of the author, +detailed in an easy, familiar style. + + +_Hamilton (Canada) Tribune._ + +The "Peculiarities of American Cities" contains a chatty description of +the leading American and Canadian cities. A bright, descriptive style +gives piquancy to the work, which is a gazetteer without seeming to be +so. The Canadian cities described are Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec, and +the accounts given of them are accurate. This being so of our own land, +the probability is strong that the accounts given of the American cities +are so too. + + +_Rock Island Union._ + +Captain Willard Glazier, whose war stories have proved so attractive, +has turned his attention to another field, and proved that he can write +entertainingly while imparting information to his readers of permanent +reference value. His new book is entitled "Peculiarities of American +Cities," and embodies the results of his personal observations and +studies in the leading towns of the country. There are thirty-nine +chapters, and each one is devoted to a different city, and may be said +to be complete in itself. The classification is alphabetical, beginning +with Albany and ending with Washington. The descriptive work has been +well and faithfully done, and the prominent features of each city have +received especial attention. This is the special point of the work--to +show the distinct peculiarities and characteristics of our cities--and +the charm lies in the fact that every city is treated in accordance with +its local color, instead of in a stereotyped manner, as is usually the +case. The book is a valuable one, and should be perused and studied by +old and young. + + +_Detroit Journal._ + +Under the title of "Peculiarities of American Cities," Captain Willard +Glazier, the author of half a dozen successful volumes, has lately +produced a very attractive book of nearly six hundred pages. It is +written in a graceful style, as one would describe a trip through the +country from East to West, including visits to the chief cities, and +touching upon their most notable characteristics. The author gives his +readers the salient and significant points, as they strike an observing +man and a skilled writer, and in this he has been very successful. + + +_Madison State Journal._ + +Captain Glazier is a noted American traveler. His canoe trip down the +Mississippi and his extended horseback tour through the States made him +quite famous at the time. The volume before us presents the peculiar +features, favorite resorts, and distinguishing characteristics of the +leading cities of America, including Canada. The author launches into +his subject with directness, treating them with perspicuity and in an +easy, flowing, graphic style, presenting a series of most admirable pen +pictures. The book is practically invaluable in households where there +are children and youth. + + +_Chicago Tribune._ + +In this work Captain Glazier has entered upon a new field in literature, +and his researches are at once unique and interesting. The first chapter +opens with a visit to Albany, the quaint old Dutch city of the Hudson, +and here at the outset the author discovers "peculiarities" without +limit. Boston is next taken up, and then follow in succession +thirty-seven of the leading cities of the United States and Canada. The +book is a compendium of historical facts concerning the cities referred +to which are not given in any other work with which we are acquainted, +making this volume a valuable addition to any library. + + +_Saginaw Courier._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" is a handsome and attractive volume, +descriptive of the characteristics of many of the cities of North +America, by one who seems to be thoroughly familiar with the subject, +and who has developed an aptness in grasping the peculiarities of modern +city life, as well as the power to graphically portray them. To those +who may never be able to visit the places described, as well as to those +who have seen them, the pen pictures will be both interesting and +entertaining. The author gives his readers the salient and significant +points as they strike an observant critic and a fascinating writer. + + +_Racine Daily Times._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" is a work that will give to the +person who has only money to stay at home an intelligent idea of how the +great cities of the country look, and what their people do to gain a +livelihood, and what objects of interest there are to be seen. Through +the medium of this work one can wander through the streets of far-off +places; he can watch the rush of the multitude and hear the roar of the +industries that help to make our country the great land that it is. He +can gaze upon the palaces of the rich or hurry through scenes where +poverty is most pitiful and vice most hideous. It is a work that ought +to be in every house. + + +_Alton Democrat._ + +One of the most entertaining books is "Peculiarities of American Cities" +by Captain Willard Glazier, whose pen has enraptured thousands by +descriptions of battle scenes and heroic adventures. The book is almost +a necessity, as it familiarizes one with scenes in travel and history. +The author has the faculty of making his readers see what he has seen +and feel the impressions which he has felt in the view. The style is +easy and flowing, not complicated and wearisome, The great cities are +described in a way which makes the reader familiar with them--their +history, society, manners, customs, and everything relating to their +past, present, and future. The book will be a companion of many a +leisure hour. + + +_Buffalo Courier._ + +The books written by Captain Willard Glazier have had a very wide, +almost a phenomenal circulation; in myriads of volumes they have been +distributed throughout the country. From the time when a very young man, +and just after the war, in which he served, Captain Glazier published +his first book, they have, until the one just out, been all founded on +and descriptive of events and scenes of the Revolution and the +Rebellion. Now, however, he has turned from the beaten path and taken an +altogether different topic, as is clearly explained in the title of his +new work, "Peculiarities of American Cities." There are thirty-nine +chapters, in which as many different cities have their noteworthy +characteristics set forth in a pleasing and very interesting style, with +handsome illustrations. + + +_Hamilton (Canada) Spectator._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" is a work by Captain Willard Glazier, +who has earned some fame as a writer of books describing the incidents +of the War of the Rebellion. The present work is a compilation of facts +concerning thirty-nine of the principal cities of the continent, +including Toronto, Quebec, and Montreal, and the information the work +contains is brought down to recent date. The history, growth in +commerce, progress in art and science, and architectural and physical +characteristics of each city are treated of in a very interesting way. +Few people who have traveled at all but have visited one or more of +these cities, and will read the work with pleasure. Others will find it +intensely interesting because it gives them in detail much they have +often wanted to know of the cities of America. + + +_New York Herald._ + +The author talks of cities as he has seen them; describing their +appearance, their public resorts, and the peculiarities which +characterize them and their people. He leads the reader through the +streets, into the public parks, museums, libraries, art galleries, +churches, theatres, etc.; tells him of great business schemes, marts, +and manufactories; sails to suburban pleasure resorts; describes the +many avocations and ways of picking up a living which are peculiar to +large cities and the phases of character in men and women which are to +be found where men most do congregate. The book will prove to be an +interesting and instructive one to those who have not seen the cities it +describes, and interesting to those who have traveled as a review and +comparison of views from an experienced traveler and chronicler. + + +_Detroit Christian Herald._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" contains brief studies of the +history, general features, and leading enterprises of thirty-nine cities +of the United States and Canada. The author states in the preface that +he has been a resident of one hundred cities, and feels qualified to +write largely from personal observation and comparison. It is not a dry +compendium of facts, but is enlivened by picturesque legends, striking +incidents, and racy anecdotes. Though the author has attempted no +exhaustive description of these prominent centres of interest, he has +shown taste and judgment in selecting the things one would most like to +know, and skill in weaving the facts into an entertaining form. + + +_Davenport Democrat._ + +This is the fifth of a readable series of popular books by the +soldier-author, Captain Willard Glazier. Many readers have become +familiar with "Soldiers of the Saddle," "Capture, Prison-pen, and +Escape," "Battles for the Union," and "Heroes of Three Wars," and they +will welcome the volume under notice as one of the most attractive of +the list. Captain Glazier does not compile--he writes what he has seen. +He has a trained eye, a facile pen, and a power of graphic description. +"American Cities" is a work devoted to a pen-portraiture of thirty-nine +cities, and those who have not or cannot visit these cities have in this +book an easy and most fascinating way of acquainting themselves with +their distinguishing characteristics. All readers ought to know +something of our American cities, each of which has features peculiar to +itself. + + +_Syracuse Herald._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" is the title of a new book by Captain +Willard Glazier, author of "Soldiers of the Saddle," "Battles for the +Union," and several other popular works. In its pages the favorite +resorts, peculiar features, and distinguishing characteristics of the +leading cities of America are described. Dry statistics are avoided, the +facts which the general reader most desires being given in the style of +graphic description for which the author is noted. The book not only +contains a great deal of information in regard to America's principal +cities as they exist to-day, but many important events in local history +are cleverly worked in. The _Herald_ feels safe in commending this book +as both instructive and entertaining. It will be read with interest by +those who have "been there," and seen for themselves, as well as by +those who can at most see only in imagination the places treated. + + +_Indianapolis Educational Weekly._ + +This book occupies a niche in the literature of the country peculiar to +itself. It describes thirty-nine cities of America, including all the +largest cities and some others which, though not quite so large, are +rapidly growing, and seem destined to occupy positions of importance. +Still other sketches possess peculiar interest for their historical +associations. Of the latter class are the stories of Savannah, +Charleston, and Richmond. It is said that Americans too often rush off +to Europe without knowing that America possesses a Niagara Palls, +Yosemite Valley, and Yellowstone National Park. The same may be said of +our reading. Many books descriptive of European cities and places of +interest are widely circulated and read. And if they are reliable they +should be read. But America might, with profit, be studied more. This +book offers a splendid opportunity to learn something of our American +cities. + + +_Altoona Times._ + +The reader will find a great abundance of useful information contained +in a small compass and very pleasantly imparted in Captain Glazier's +"Peculiarities of American Cities." Those who have little time to gather +their information from more extended sources will find this a valuable +work that will supply a vacant place in their library. It is certainly a +book very much in advance of the volumes of like import that from time +to time our people have been solicited to buy. + + +_Boston Transcript._ + +Captain Glazier's style is particularly attractive, and the discursive, +anecdotal way in which the author carries his readers over the +continent, from one city to another, is charmingly interesting. He lands +his reader, by the easiest method, in a city; and when he has got him +there, strives to interest and make him happy by causing him to glean +amusement and instruction from all he sees. Every page of the book is +teeming with interest and information. Persons are made conversant with +the chief characteristics and history of cities they may never hope to +visit. The book has apparently been written principally for the purpose +of presenting the truth about the various chief centres of trade in the +country, and the writer has adopted a pleasant conversational style, +more likely to leave the impression desired than all the histories and +arid guide-books ever published. It is a delightful book, full of happy +things. + + +_Pittsburgh Sunday Globe._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities," by Willard Glazier, will be found +disappointing to those who look for an ordinary re-hash of musty data +about leading cities, as, aside from the numerous illustrations, which +are far above the average book illustrations in accuracy, the work will +be found to contain pleasantly written chapters on the industrial and +social features of New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, Montreal, Portland, +Savannah, Boston, Albany, Quebec, Omaha, Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis, +Hartford, Cleveland, Richmond, Providence, Baltimore, New Orleans, San +Francisco, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, etc. The chapter on Pittsburgh +embraces a summing up of its features as an iron, glass, and oil centre, +while the descriptions of our people and the labor organizations, +banking, and business interests are well-timed and as comprehensive as +the limits of the work will permit. It will make a valuable addition to +any library. + + +_Fort Wayne Gazette._ + +The author gives his views concerning the history, character, or +"peculiarities" of some forty prominent American cities. The subject is +an interesting one, familiarizing the reader with what belongs +particularly to his own country. Persons may visit a place frequently, +yet know nothing in regard to its history or the events connected with +it which make the same memorable. Such matters have been carefully +collected by the author and properly arranged into a systematic +narrative. The chapters are exceedingly entertaining aside from the +information they convey. The author has the ability to present what he +wishes to communicate in an admirable way, and is tedious in nothing he +has written. We know of no work on this subject from which so much that +is valuable can be obtained in so concise a form. It is a book that will +never weary or lose in interest, and can be placed in the library among +the valuable works. + + +_Milwaukee Sentinel._ + +"Peculiarities of American Cities" is a book rather unique in character, +and may be said to occupy a place somewhere between the regular +guide-book and the volume of travels. As people who stay at home are not +generally given to reading guide-books, and as volumes of travel +embracing the same route as that gone over by our author are not common, +"Peculiarities of American Cities" fills a niche that has hitherto been +vacant, and meets a want not before satisfied. The writer takes up the +most important cities of the United States and Canada in alphabetical +order, beginning with Albany and ending with Washington, and gives a +more or less extended description of each, commencing usually with a +slight historical outline, particularly where it would be of general +interest, as in the case of Boston, but devoting the greater part of his +space to the treatment of their present condition. The natural +advantages of each place are considered, its commerce and manufactures +discussed, its public parks and buildings described, and illustrations +of a number of the latter given. + + +_New York World._ + +To become well acquainted with the principal cities of the Union is not +a matter of secondary importance, but should be one of the first duties +of an American citizen. It is at once a source of pleasure and profit to +know the points of interest in the various places; to be able to give an +account of the commercial transactions, the people and customs; and, in +fact, to know about other communities what you find it necessary to +learn of your own. To the great majority of Americans the opportunity is +not given of personally becoming acquainted with the various cities of +import, and the only way we have of knowing the peculiarities of our +sister cities is by the few scraps we read now and then in the +newspapers. The want of some method by which to instruct the people in +this matter has long been manifest, but what to do has often been asked +and remained unanswered. Educators recommend the compilation of +statistics of the various places, and many plans were suggested by which +a knowledge of the subject could be diffused among the masses. It has +finally been solved by Captain Willard Glazier, of whom the country has +heard in civil and military life on many former occasions. Captain +Glazier has traveled over the entire continent since the late war, and +has become well acquainted with the principal cities, and the thought +struck him to write a book on the points of interest he has visited in +the various places. For a number of years he has been at the work, and +finally gives to the public his latest literary effort, which he has +appropriately entitled "Peculiarities of American Cities." The book is +just what is needed in every public and private library in the country, +and will awaken a deep interest in the citizens of each city on which +the work treats. The public cannot fail to be interested in the work, +for it treats on a live subject, and, furthermore, the author's style is +far too pleasing to permit of any lack of interest. Captain Glazier is +the author of a number of books, all of which have become popular, and +we predict for this, his latest effort, the success which it merits. + + + * * * * * + + + + + POPULAR WORKS + OF + Captain Willard Glazier, + THE SOLDIER-AUTHOR. + + I. Soldiers of the Saddle. + II. Capture, Prison-Pen and Escape. + III. Battles for the Union. + IV. Heroes of Three Wars. + V. Peculiarities of American Cities. + VI. Down the Great River. + + * * * * * + + Captain Glazier's works are growing more and more popular every + day. Their delineations of _social_, military _and frontier_ life, + constantly varying scenes, and deeply interesting stories, combine + to place their writer in the front rank of American authors. + + * * * * * + + SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION. + + PERSONS DESIRING AGENCIES FOR ANY OF CAPTAIN GLAZIER'S + BOOKS SHOULD ADDRESS + + THE PUBLISHERS. + + + * * * * * + + + + +TRANSCRIBERaEuro(TM)S NOTES: + + +1. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest +paragraph break. + +2. Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected. + +3. The words "Phoenix" and "Oenone" uses an oe ligature in the original. + +4. The following typographical errors have been corrected: + + "Bath-on-the Hudson" corrected to "Bath-on-the-Hudson" (page 28) + "facades" corrected to "facades" (page 30) + "scarely" corrected to "scarcely" (page 168) + "Real" corrected to "Real" (page 236) + "Situate" corrected to "Situated" (page 248) + "condemed" corrected to "condemned" (page 261) + "transferrred" corrected to "transferred" (page 261) + "pedestrains" corrected to "pedestrians" (page 312) + "possesesion" corrected to "possession" (page 358) + "establisment" corrected to "establishment" (page 438) + "granduer" corrected to "grandeur" (page 459) + "ignominously" corrected to "ignominiously" (page 464) + "excelence" corrected to "excellence" (page 523) + +4. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Peculiarities of American Cities, by +Willard Glazier + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PECULIARITIES OF AMERICAN CITIES *** + +***** This file should be named 35575.txt or 35575.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/7/35575/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Louise Hope and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |