THE LOVER AT CLARK STREET BRIDGE. CHAP. I. A young gentleman on the south side loved a young lady on the north side, and was engaged to be married to her at ten o'clock. CHAP. II. He had a rival living on the west side, whom the young lady, being naturally very amiable, had also engaged to marry at the same time. CHAP. III. Having, through extreme agitation, cut himself badly in shaving, the south-side lover did not leave home until 9.45, rail-road time. The Clarkstreet bridge was open. Heavens ! what could be done. He looked up stream: Wells street bridge was open, too. But-did his eyes deceive him? no-the Fates were still propitious there stood his rival at the Wells street bridge, having come over from the west side to cross that way. Fool! muttered South-side between his teeth; why didn't he cross North Branch? I'll beat him yet. But suppose Wells street bridge should shut !! His heart died within him at the thought great drops of perspiration stood on his livid brow. He looked down stream to the Lake-house ferry; but the rope was down. He beat his clenched hands with despair. CHAP. IV. The plot thickens. Something must be done. He makes a stern resolve. One steam-tug, the Fairy Belle, is coming up stream, another, the Zekel Barnes, is going down. He seizes the auspicious moment; he leaps for his life. He only knows that he leaps for a wife. With one bound he is on the Fairy Belle, with another on the bridge now swinging in the middle of the stream; again he leaps, and, scarce touching the Zekel Barnes, a fourth bound lands him on the north side. With a shout of defiance to his despairing rival, he rushes forward, while boatmen and bridge-tenders suspend their labors, and stand transfixed with breathless astonishment at the surpassing feat. CHAP. V. He won his bride. Her With material for building Chicago is well supplied. The ground on which the city stands, yields, at the depth of a few feet, a fair quality of clay. The dirt that a man digs out of his cellar he can bake into brick to build his house. The lake shore supplies him with sand. The native brick is of a dirty yellow or pale red, and not handsome, nor of the best quality; but at a reasonable price can be obtained the drab-colored Milwaukie brick, which, in beauty and durability, yields to no others. Already, notwithstanding the expense of transportation, they have been introduced into our eastern cities. The block on Broadway, New York, known as “Trinity Building," is of this material. The Court-house, in Chicago, a very creditable building, of the Doric order, though without columns, and standing in the centre of a handsome square, inclosed by a substantial iron paling, on a marble foot, is built of blue lime-stone, brought from Lockport, in the state of New York. But a much more elegant material has since been discovered in great abundance, about twenty miles from the city, on the line of the Illinois Canal. It is a compact lime-stone of a pale yellow shade, somewhat lighter than the Caen stone now so fashionable in New York. The grain is so fine that the fracture, or cut surface, resembles that of chalk in texture. It is durable, is easily wrought, and the color is peculiarly pleasing and grateful to the eye. There is another stone of similar texture, of the color of freshly-fractured slate, or of the mark made on a slate by a pencil; but it is not so beautiful as the kind before mentioned. It soils readily, and has at a short distance the effect of a dirty white. There are also other architectural stones in considerable abundance and variety; but none of great beauty or importance have come under my observation. The Presbyterian Church on Wabash avenue is built of a blue, bituminous lime-stone, the pitchy matter of which has exuded and run down the sides, giving the building the appearance of having a partial coat of tar. The general impression it produces is that of great antiquity; and if this idea could be preserved and harmonized by the early-pointed Gothic, and a good growth of ivy, the effect would be very fine. Michigan avenue, the favorite street for private dwellings, on the south side, runs directly on the lake shore on a sort of bluff formed by the action of the winds and waves. It is something more than a mile in length, and has an elevation of twelve or fourteen feet above the water. The houses are built only on the west side, leaving the view of the lake entirely unobstructed. There are many fine private residences on this street, and one, belonging to the Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese, might, both in size and style, be fairly ranked as a palace. On the north side, which, toward the lake shore, is rather more quiet and retired, are many fine cottages of the best suburban styles, adorned with conservatories and gardens, and embowered in groves of locust, ash, and oak. THE STREETS. Both carriage-way and sidewalks are planked-stone being as yet too expensive a material, and too slowly laid for this new and fast metropolis. In the spring of the year, the ground asserts its original character of swamp. The planks actually float, and, as the heavy wagons pass along, ornamental jets of muddy water play on every side. The sidewalks of Chicago are as remarkable, in their way, as the bridges. With almost every block of buildings there is a change of grade, sometimes of one foot, sometimes of three feet, sometimes of five. These ascents or descents are made by steps, or by short, steep, inclined planes of boards, with or without cleats or cross-pieces, to pre vent slipping, according to the fancy of the adjoining proprietor who erects them. The profile of a Chicago sidewalk would resemble the profile of the Erie Canal where the locks are most plenty. It is one continual succession of ups and downs. The reason of this diversity is, that it was found necessary, at an early period in the history of the place, to raise the grade of the streets. It was afterward found necessary to raise the grade still higher, and again still higher-as each building is erected, its foundation and the sidewalk adjoining have been made to correspond to the grade then last established, and so it will not happen until the city is entirely rebuilt, that the proper grade will be uniformly attained. In the mean time, the present state of things will repress undue curiosity in the streets, and keep fire-engines off the sidewalks, which is a great point gained. STREET COSTUMES. In the winter season, the dress of the people, as well as the mercury in the thermometer, indicates a severe climate. Across the prairie and the lake, the wind sweeps with unbroken violence. People drive in from the country with large hoods, made from the cape of the cloak, drawn over their heads. Fur overcoats are much worn; the legs are wrapped in woolen leggins; fur tippets stand up high around the face, and the feet are covered with large shoes made of buffalo hide. with the hair turned in. The fashionable head-gear of the young gentlemen is a cap without a visor, looking like a lady's muff cut in two in the middle, and stuck on the head of her beau. To my eye they are not elegant. There is an abundance of omnibuses, public carriages, and hacks. The wheeled vehicles seen in the streets, are mostly of eastern style and manufacture; but the sleighs are, to a great extent, domestic. The sleighing, until the last two years, has been slight, and not much provision was made for it. Now everybody sleighs, but it is mostly on sawed board runners with the box of a wagon or buggy placed upon them; and if a coat of blue paint is added to the runners, the establishment is quite complete. In the principal streets, the motion of teams, carriages, and foot-passengers, is equal to that in the great ave nues of New York, Broadway excepted. Water street, parallel with the river, on the south side, is the street for heavy trade. Lake street, next south, is the principal dry goods and retail shopping mart. But business is by no means confined to a narrow locality. Over a space of from one to two miles in each direction, every avenue is alive with the stir and bustle of an active, enterprising population. At intervals, along the river, rising above surrounding objects, are large, irregular structures, five or six stories in height, surmounted by square turretlike attics, rising twenty or thirty feet more. These are the grain warehouses and elevators for unloading, cleaning, storing, weighing, and reshipping the wheat which comes in by the cars and is to go out in the vessels. The grain is raised from the cars by buckets on an endless belt, like those in an ordinary mill, only containing about a peck each. It is thus carried up into the turrets, being fanned and screened by the way, where it falls into a hopper, is weighed and runs through a trough down into the hold of a vessel lying along-side to receive it. From the top of these elevators, though by no means a clean and comfortable place to reach, one can get a fine view of-all that he can see. Chicago stands, as everything else does in Illinois, on a prairie, which may be described as a country having a face but no features. On the east lies the lake, with its ever-rolling surface of bluish green; on all other sides, the prairie, unbroken in its level, save by the structures of man. A low line of trees in the west, however, some seven miles distant from the city, marks the course of the river Desplaines, one of the main feeders of the Illinois. For sunrises and sunsets this country ought to be unsurpassed. THE OLD FORT. In a back yard on one of the narrow streets, near the great dépôt of the Illinois central road, stands a small log building, not more than sixteen feet square, and about the same height, with a projection at the top; the whole structure resembling a good sized Virginia smoke-house. This is the fortification which figures in our history as Fort Dearborn; nor have I, in the least, exaggerated its insignificance. It is what is called a block-house, and the projection at the top has a slit, some six feet long and three inches wide, for musketry, and a large square hole for a small piece of artillery. Near by are the Barracks, two long two-story buildings, built of logs and brick, with projecting eaves and stairs, and galleries on the outside-looking like the farmhouse to which the smoke-house belonged. I would like to know how many thousand dollars were appropriated by Congress to build that fort. The United States still own the fort and ground, and have erected near by a commodious and elegant marine hospital, built of Milwaukie brick. I regret to hear that the fort and barracks are to be torn away during the coming summer; they ought to have been preserved, with sufficient ground to form a public park. On the opposite side of the street from the fort, in another yard and still further from the lake, surrounded by buildings higher than itself, stands a substantial stone light-house. It once did duty nearer the lake shore; but, having long been a faithful public servant, it has retired in a green old age to spend the remainder of its years in an unostentatious privacy; not that it has itself moved, but, like those venerable men in knee-breeches, it has stood still while the lake shore and the rest of the world have pushed far out beyond it, and its duty is now performed by a young upstart of a light-house, standing on the pier at the mouth of the river. "Hic in obscuritate lucet, is supplied to the city, pumped up from the lake into a reservoir, and distributed by pipes. A small portion of the lake is fenced off by a pier of piles and earth; a pipe is laid from the pond thus formed to a tank or well a few rods distant; over the tank is placed the enginehouse and pumps, and the thing is done. No further filtration is deemed necessary; the water is abundant and good. The ice obtained here, I have never seen equaled. It would do Dr. Kane good to see it. Huge blocks of it, eight feet high and two feet square, have been standing about on the sidewalks this winter as samples, and through the thickest of these I have read with ease the smallest type of the New York daily papers. HOTELS. On this topic, so interesting to the traveler, I ought to be full and satisfactory; but I can only say that at the Briggs House, where I spent some weeks, I did not enter my name with any title, either civil, military, or medical, I did not report myself as a member of the press, a public lecturer, or an actor, nor did I intimate that I expected to publish an article on Chicago, nevertheless, I was civilly treated, provided with a comfortable room, and plenty to eat, and paid my bill of $2.50 per day at the end of the time, satisfied that the same comfort was not to be had for less money, anywhere in Chicago. Higher praise for a hotel, I think, cannot well be imagined. To hotel-keepers in Chicago there is no rest, and but a limited supply to lodgers. All night long, some of the one hundred trains, that daily arrive and depart, is either arriving or departing. It is either "3 o'clock, sir," or 4 o'clock, sir," or "5 o'clock, sir," as you are constantly informed during the night, by somebody pounding at your neighbor's door or your own. breakfast lasts until 10 o'clock, and when everybody has got up, then there are a few quiet hours during which the rest can sleep, and they are generally well improved. THE BILL OF FARE. 66 But Lind. The first mode of spelling is more phonographic, Websterian, and independent. The white fish and trout of the upper lakes, I heard so highly commended, that I had made up my palate for a delicacy, which proved to be figuratively, as well as literally, a scaly one. They are, both of them, a rank, coarse fish, entirely inferior to our cod, bass, fresh mackerel, or blue fish, and not to be spoken of in connection with Connecticut river shad. I have tried them at divers places, and cooked in various ways, still my experience is the same. Perhaps the white fish is equal in flavor to the halibut, certainly not supe rior. A gentleman, who was not fond of fish, told me that he thought I might get better at Mackinaw; but as these came fresh from Green Bay, I saw no reason to think so. The pickerel I preferred to the trout and white fish. I have, on one occasion only, eaten the fish called muskalonge, boiled; this was at Cleveland, and I then considered it very fine but whether it was owing to the quality of the fish or my appetite, I cannot now say. Prairie chickens and venison are so common in the eastern markets, that they hardly deserve notice. The prairie chicken is about the size of the domestic bantams, and in color and flavor resembles the pigeon. The wild goose I forgot to taste. The advertisement for North's Circus, and Mr. Neafie's appearance in Jack Cade, are at the bottom of the bill. Chicago already requires a directory of two hundred and fifty pages, solid matter, without the advertisements; and from this work I learn that there are nine omnibus routes, thirteen rail-road lines, converging here, sixteen newspapers, of which six are published daily, sixty clergymen, and two hundred and twenty lawyers. I occasionally spent an hour in some of the courts; but as the bar is composed mainly of men not very long from the East, there is little to strike an eastern man as peculiar. There is rather more freedom in illustration, and more frequent use of phrases which, of themselves, mean little or nothing, but as delivered with a tone and manner implying great import. There is also a much more frequent reference to general principles, and to organic laws, than in those states where precedents are more abundant. This feature, when able counsel are employed, frequently gives to the argument a breadth and scope which render the proceedings more attractive to a casual spectator than the dry citation of authorities, usually heard in our eastern courts. I was quite interested, on one occasion, by hearing a lawyer, who was himself an old settler residing in one of the country towns, and was trying to make good his client's pre-emption title, against a more recent claimant, under a tax sale, or some other hocus-pocus procedure, describe with no little eloquence how his client and his neighbors had fought and suffered in defense of that land in the days of the Black Hawk war. But the law was on the other side; the jury were proof against prejudice, though the point was ingeniously presented, and the fighter of Indians lost his case. Perhaps poetical justice to the Indians was thus preserved, and perhaps not. I have not a very high respect for Indians, and prefer plain white to any other color, both for men and women. The judges, jury, and lawyers patronize the apple-boys rather more freely than would be considered proper in some places; and one occasion, when a military company passed in the street, lawyers, sheriff, jury, and spectators, in fact, everybody, except the judge, made a general stampede to the windows to see them go by. I went with the rest. THE FEDERAL CURRENCY is assuming the ascendant throughout the West, and dimes and half dimes are driving sixpences and shillings to the wall. As a natural consequence, one pays in most cases ten cents for what used to cost six. A tribute to patriotism. I noticed at the bar, however, that drinks are but a dime. I suppose, in this case, the other party can afford to pay the tribute. SUNDAY IN CHICAGO, though not observed as it is in New England, is, I think, more respected than in any town of 20,000 inhabitants, or upwards, south of Philadelphia. Some few stores are seen open, but not of a prominent class. The movement of the people is generally churchward, and the churches are well filled. The streets are quiet; and, though I have no doubt that, in a place of such varying population, where people of all grades of character are congregated, without the restraints of home to the well-disposed, and of an efficient police to the vicious, crime and immorality exist to an alarming extent; yet the Puritan element so far predominates in the population of the place, that wickedness is neither popular nor respectable. Speculation, too great eagerness to get rich on the part of men who have nothing to lose, and a lack of those healthful restraints which exist in an older community, have, undoubtedly, combined to weaken and lower the moral sense of the people, in regard to business transactions. There is a leniency exhibited towards sharp bargains, overreaching, undue coloring, and actual misrepresentation (doubtless, more apparent to a stranger than to a resident, and for that reason just so much the more dangerous), which, if allowed to go unchecked, will, by degrees, destroy that vital morality which is indispensable to the prosperity of a commercial state. This is not a peculiar fault of Chicago, but of the whole West; and as men grow more independent in their resources, and temptations for speculation decrease, the evil may abate; but it deserves notice, and demands vigilance. In one of the most conspicuous corners in Chicago is a large six-story building, which deserves a passing notice. It was built (so I was told) by a clerk in the city, with funds purloined from his employer. When detection qecame unavoidable, he left town, and sent back an agent to negotiate. The matter was finally arranged by the employer taking the building, and paying the thief ten thousand dollars; and it was remarked, so great had been the rise in the value of the property, that even then the employer had altogether the best of the bargain. I ought to add, that I do not think that this was regarded as a legitimate business transaction. Such was Chicago, as I saw it, looking at the outside of things, in the fall and winter of 1855-6. What it will be next year at this time-ten years hence -fifty years hence- those who live shall see. If any one wishes to guess, an opportunity is now offered. |