Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1871-10-18

ment houses which sheltered the labor
ing poor are now clean and white in
their ashes, aud their chimneys form a
shapeless monument. There is equality
at least between hOvel and palace in
their shrouds of desolation. What most
limpresses one in the aspect Of the burnt
district is its utter lOneliless. The debris
which numbered the streets the day af-
ter the fire has, in 4 great measure, been
cleared away. The sidewalks.are some
what Uttered stiit Iy tie F,liEs but eircu-
lation is perfectly free throughout the
burnt quarter. In the center of the city
I there is a certain numberfOf curious
spectators IOunging aud cha ding among
/ the ragged and totterlng alls. There
are many OF the buildings in this quar-
( ter which were 81 strongly and sOlidly
built that their shells still stand Stub
bornly defiant after all the fury Of the
cOnfagration. The Tribune Office, the
CustoIn-house and the f'Nlrthouse are
still imposing in tlIeir ruins, which took
I twenty years to build and twenty min
! utes to burn. The great Pacific Hotel
and the Lyon Block attract most atten-
ton from the aesthetic tourists and idlers.
I They are certainly very picturesque,
and one may say very beautiful, with
their cold, gray walls, blotched here and
there with an angry stain OF smoke
like a patch Of lichens, and showing the
pale blue Of the -n0ttled- SKY through
their riffs anI wide whsaOssss8 But
when you get way from the center Of
the town. Sand cross over to the North
J Division, it is most striking to see hew
sudden a silence and solitude has fallen
upon this great and ppees beautiful sub
urb. You can dive TOT an Hour over
the smooth, firm Nicholson pavement,
very little damaged by the fire. and see
scarcely living thing in ali the lashen
waste. l saw an old man up to his
knees in the ashes Of an extensive brew
cry fishing out some pots and kettles.
He looked up and dropped his rusty
looking ltin-wsre as u he had been
caught rObbing a grave.
A few clever fellows have already in
vented an apparatus for lifting safes out
Of the fire, and you may occasionally
meet them moving about in search ofa
Job, hut throughout these miles Of wide
streets there is less life, less uiOFement,
than on a country road, and the people
who meet uneonseiousIy salute each
other as in desolate forest. The houses
in this region being, in great measure
dwellings and workshops were H0t-so
strongly buIltas in the central part of
the city, and so few of the walls have
resisted the fury Of the flames, They
have fallen fiat and scarcely more than
fill the cellers, so that as you drive over
the streets, they seem like causeways,
raised to traverse the abyss Of fire and
ashes on either hand. The chief land
marks are the skeleton churches, whose
walls still stand open to the sunlight
and the breeze, haunting the scene like
the ghosts Of temples, which have suf-
fered maTtyrdom The slim and grace
ful. tower of the -,WateFfwOFks also sTe-
mains ,domineering the stricken, plain
and guarding the entrance of that enor-
nous tunnel, which is the glory Of
} Chicago; but you cross The river once
more, and 60 into the. West Side; into
T the portion Of the city which
|, survives, you can understand why
: there is such solitude among the ruins
there. Energetic and practical people
3 have no time to waste among the tOnabs.
Z AS soon. as THE fate of their houses and
! places.of business was decided they hrF-
ried over to the quarter which still stood
and began all over again their battle
with fortune. Every available ground
floor and garret in Jefferson, Court and
Clinton streets, and all that neighbOr-
hood, has been seized upon by the dis
|, possessed establishments. The 7ri6tpc
and the Journal are there established
. side by side. The P0st, and Rej5,t5fcCtl,,
aifd Times, have an found temporary
; .rO0stsg whence their chant tOfrepeHeand
defiance is as loud and cheering as ever
in their most prosperous days. The
hotels have migrated also, carrying their
! names and their tradition With them.
The great business houses are crOwding
the relics Of their stock into shops that
. burst with richness and far down Mich
? igan avenue, in that safe stretch OF the
lake side that lies beyond Michigan Ter
/, race, the last and Ioveliest Sacrifice to
, the flames, you see the names OF banks
! aud insurance companies hastily scrawl-
T ed upon tin shingles and hung at the
! doors OF decOrOus private houses. On
: the low sand beach that lies beyond
Michigan avenue they projected line
of temporary business houses, and the
first Of them went up all at once, as Il
q house Of cards, uhdef my widow this
evening. a dozen viii probably be
built tomorrow. There seems to be no
( bravaiO, no OstentatiOus pluck and au-
! dacity, but resOlute, manly intention
! to make the best Of 8 bad situation.
4 These superb merchants and business
, men do not seem tn think that there is
: any thing fine in their attitude, but the
: world will not certainly deny them its
= hearty admiration. The city is orderly
and tralquhE The hungty' aIsSfed, and
1 naked are clothed; the churches and
/. public buildings Of the West Side give
i shelter fb the homeless; this railways
convey to their friends all who desire to
/ go; the best people devoutly trust that
S the time ofseyerest stress uid panic is
: oNots ' EGIEzf 3 sEft 5ks
d Windsor, Canada, has been half de-
: sirnvpd bV fire.