New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-07-20
FROM BOSTON.



Handssme Women.
Correspondence Chicago Evening Post.]
BosToS, July II, 1870
Having never been in Boston before, !
give it up! candidly confess that am
the most utterly lost sinner that ever sighed
for heaven or Chicago. l do not know for
certain whether / am dead OF alive. 1t is
now nine o'clock p. NJ, and, though l
started out at the same hour this forenoon,
in search of a hotel, to meet q friend, anu
have been travelling lively ever since, that
hotel is still in the undiscovered country.
/ have seen Bunker Hill, 'Fanueil Hall, the
Concord and the Lexington cars. ] suspect
/ have been in sight Of Plymouth Rock. 1t
seems to me, in short, as though l had
streetcarred it all over New England, and
have been lost every minute.
A great many people out West have never
had the pleasure Of visiting Boston: To
them it may be well to saw that the town
was originally laid out on the COW path
houses along the paths made in the woods
by the cows seeking pasturage. And
hence there is no city in America--except
q small portion of original New York
which is such q bewi1dering labyrinth,
such a complicated puzzle of crooked, zig
gag, serpentine, semi-circular, triangular,
rectilinear, go-everywhere, gonowhere
i
saw house to-day that had three streets
on its front, three on the rear and three on
each flank; total, twelve streets. The sign
in front is on three streets, like this:
Geo
rye c. Rand 4 Av as
cry. Printers.
The part on the first line being on a
street meeting that on which is the part on
the second line (head of Washington street.
think, at an obtuse angle, that on the last
line being on a street coming up at an OBJ
fuse angle the other way; And 90 they go
every way for Sunday. dom think there
is anything that can not be likened to some
one or other of these Boston streets. /
"run one down." as the lawyers say, to-
day. and 1t was shaped just like an old
fashioned fsh-hook, barb and all. 1t was
bulged out at the head, run along in a
gentle bend, then sharp curve, ending in
two sharp points, as aforesaid. ] am told
there is street here which resembles very
much the diagram for the demonstration Of
Euclid's famous forty proposition,
to-wit: The square described in the by
pothenuse Of right-angled triangle is
equivalent to the sum Of the squares de-
scribed in the other two sides, or words to
that effect. And / believe it. Not only
that, but there are streets that are cork
screw fashion, others in worm-fence style,
others that meander like stream, and
some particular streets that embrace all
these varieties of cOw-path engineering in
their different parts. And hence a stranger
who can not afford guide, and is too
bashfnl to ask questions, must inevitably
get lost. If he persists for two days, he
will surely get congestion Of brain, bowels,
bones and boots.
This fully accounts for the fact that Bos-
ton is the hub Ut the universe" The cow
path theory will account for much of this
miscellaneous mixture Of streets, but not for
all Of it. Such tremendous scatteration
could only have taken place on the primeval
and centripetal forces had their famous con-
fict, and things are as they are. That
original conflict could have occurred no.
where else than right here. The justice of
Bostons claim will be ACKNOWLEDGED by
every one who comes to Boston. Moreover,
the puzzlihg construction Of the city fully
accounts for another important fact-the
acknowledged intellectual superiority Of the
Boston people. Aman who can understand
Boston can understand anything Sauaring
the circle or calculating an eclipse is moth.
ing to it.
There Is this to be said about Boston.
when one speaks of its mere physical quail
ties, that the new parts of the city are regu-
larry, as well as beautifully built. And,
indeed, the old town contains many great
and imposing buildings, and rows Of build
ings, the chief criticism, aside from the
irregularities, being that most of the streets
are marrow, and sidewalks being generally
about six feet wide only, frequently less.
But it is grand old town, the cradle of
the revolution, the centre, thus far, of the
noblest American thought and finest cul-
ture, and though these noble mansions
should crumble, and these busy streets
again become cow-paths: the memory of
Boston patriotism and the good influence
of Boston ideas would never be lost to man
kind.
OF matters connected with the intellect
nal part of the city it will be proper to
speak in another epistle. Let it suffice here
to say that there are more handsome women
in Boston than in any other American city,
Chicago alone excepted. Herein it beats
Baltimore.
! should have remarked. as matter of
personal intelligence of interest to many OF
your readers, that DIR. Hague. of University
Place Church, Chicago, preached an excel
lent discourse in his old church here yes
terday, and that had the pleasure of meet
ing Professor Mathews, of the University,
and wife, ut breakfast at the United
States this morning. They are on their
way 10 Portland. L. d. l.