was not considered a live town i decided to travel eastward and t a ticket to in ai t of the tumbling waves of lake i was taken back in thought to my d rs in and all those who had already dropped out of my life forever what a queer thing this living was i where should be tomorrow what doing � the next year � the year after i ever have any money any standing any friends f so i tortured myself arriving in at the close of a smoky gray afternoon i left my bag at the station and sought a room then walked ont to see what i should see i knew no one not a friend anywhere within five hundred miles my sole resource my little skill as a newspaper buying the afternoon and morning papers i examined them with care down their room then me to a small for food u v i the next morning i was up to see as much as i could to visit the offices of the afternoon papers before noon then to look in upon the city of the two or three morning papers the latter proved not very friendly and there appeared to be no opening anywhere but i to remain here for a few days studying the city as a city and visiting the same each day or as often as they would s s a book about myself endure me if nothing came of it within a week and no came from my friend h in me i proposed to move on to which city i had not as yet made up my mind the thing that interested me most then vas that it was so raw dark dirty smoky and yet possessed of one thing force semi intelligent force america was then so new in the furnace stage of its existence everything waa in the making fortunes art social and commercial life the most impressive things were its rich men their homes office buildings and of commerce and pleasure generally and this waa as of as of any other city in america indeed the thing which held my attention after i had been in a day or two and had established myself in a room in a neighborhood once occupied by the very rich were those great and new in avenue with wide and iron or stone statues of and dogs and deer which were occupied by such rich men as john d tom johnson and henry m only a year or two before had given millions to the almost university of then a small college and was accordingly being hailed as one of the richest men of america he and his and were already casting a over they were all living here in avenue and i was to look up their homes them their wealth of course and wishing that i were famous or a member of a wealthy family and that i might some day meet one of the beautiful girls i thought must be here and have her fall in love with and make me rich physically or or materially there was nothing to see but business a few large hotels like those of every american city and these few great houses add a few and commonplace churches all american cities and all the inhabitants were busy with but one thing commerce they ate drank and slept trade in my wanderings i found a huge steel works and a world of low smoky pathetic little � bout it although i was not as yet given to about a book about myself the profound of equality under this evidence of the brain toiling for the big one me with great force and produced a good deal of thought later on the paper with which i waa eventually connected was the leader which represented all tiiat was in the local life wandering into its office on the second or third day of my stay i was met at the desk of the city by a small looking person of a like countenance who wanted to know what i waa after i told him and be said there was nothing but on hearing of the papers with which i had been connected and the nature of the work i had done he suggested that possibly i might be able to do something for the sunday edition the sunday editor proved to be a tall melancholy man with sad eyes a sallow face sunken cheeks narrow shoulders and a general air of weariness and depression what is it now you he asked slowly looking up from his your city editor suggested that possibly yon might have some sunday work for me to do i ve had experience in this line in and st louis yes he said not asking me to sit down now what do you think you could write about this was a being new to the city i had not thought of any particular thing and could not at this moment i told him this there s one thing you might write if you could did you ever hear of a new style grain boat they are patting on the lakes called back t i interrupted back went on the editor indifferently well there s one here now in the harbor it s the first one to come here do you think you could get up something on that i m sure i could i d like to try do you use pictures you might get a or two we could have drawings made from them a book about i started for the door eager to be about this when he said we don t pay very much three dollars a that was bat i filled with the joy of doing something on my way ont i stopped at the and ht a copy of the last sunday proved to be a 