Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-03-24

We were prepared, from a some.
what intimate knowledge of what
the same city was years ago, to
witness large growth and radical
changes in its appearance. In the
former anticipation we were not
disappointed; in the latter we were.
Pittsburg grows, but much in the
,, same style as twenty-five years ago.
She gets bigger and blacker every
year and that is all. She produces
enormous wealth but makes no
architectural display of it, and with
good reason. Her atmosphere,
murky with the breath of ten thous-
and furnaces, would make a hideous
caricature of the work of a Michael
Angelo in a month. There is no
beauty without cleanliness, and
cleanliness is an obsolete express
sion in Pittsburg. 1t is said that
cleanliness is part of Goodness.
If that is true let Christians in all
parts of the country pray fervently
for their brethren in Pittsburg, for
they are assuredly removed from
Goodness. Pittsburg is intensely
practical and unitarian; she holds
as chief of. the virtues that of INDUS
try, and lives her creed. In no city
of the Union can less idle men and
women be found, according to pop
ulation, than here. She works out
her problem of wealth and power
less by intellect than by muscle.
Pittsburg is a conservative city,
but her conservatism is that OF
right, not wrong, as her steady and
decided Republican majority at
tests.
Speaking Of architecture and
change; We walked the familiar
streets of the city and noticed that
the majority of the buildings were
those that were old twenty-five
years ago, still standing, and many
of them occupied by the younger
generation of the firms which did
business in them a half a century
gone. One Of these old landmarks
brought wildly to our memory the
scenes of our youth. 1t was the an
cient church of the Scotch Presby-
terrain or Covenenter congregation,
where, when a boy, we sat in the
high-backed family pew, under the
vigilant but kindly eye of our grand
father, and listened with charmed
attention to the singing of the
Psalms, lined off and led by the
clerk beneath the high pulpit, or
travelled off into dreamland under
the drowsy monotone Of the aged
pastor. The sight of the weather.
stained and smoke-begrimed walls
Of the old church, with its church
yard, in which repose the bones of
kindred, and its memories of boy
hood days, was one of the most
agreeable incidents of our trip.
We spent the greater part Of a week
in and about the old city, brushing
up old memories and visiting Old
friends.
March Bird we stepped into the
cars of the Cleveland and Pittsburg
K. X. and at the end of a six hours
ride on the toughest road yet en-
countered, found ourselves at IL
O'Clock, p. NJ. in the metropolis of
Northern Ohio, Cleveland. Arising
betimes in the morning refreshed,
and having fortified ourselves with
breakfast, we stepped into that
finest OF all business avenues, Supe-
rior St. to begin round of explora-
ton among almost forgotten scenes
and acquaintances. The day was
fine and with the sharp contrast of
the narrow, dark streets of Pitts
burg, yet fresh in recollection, we
were fully prepared to enjoy and APP
preciate the luxury of a stroll thro'
the spacious and beautiful avenues
of the Forest City. The growth of
Cleveland in population, business,
manufactures and wealth during the
past fifteen years has almost if not
quite equalled that Of Chicago. In
1856 she was thriving city of about
10000; o-day her population is not
one less than 100000, and during
that time her manufacturing inter-
ests have grown from nothing to a
business involving millions Of CAPT
tai. Scranton's flats, south Of the
city, in the ox-bow Of the Cuyahoga,
which we remember as low-lying
pasture, has now every available
inch Of it covered with iron works,
ship yards, oil refineries or
lumber yards. With all this pro-
gress in material prosperity, Cleve-
land still retains the reputation of
being the most beautiful city in the
West. We doubt if there is in the
whole country street which will
equal Euclid Avenue, with.its broad
carriage way laid with the Nichol-
son pavement for nearly two miles,
fringed with noble elms, behind
which, in the midst of exquisitely
arranged grounds, rise the magnifi-
cent and spacious residences of the
weather. citizens, each a marvel of