Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-12-12
Chicago,
lrRon OUR BOSTON CORRESPONDENT.

every respect but one, and that is the lowness
of the backs of the seats. Even in the best
drawing-room cars the chair-backs are not high
enough to support the head, which soon be-
comes weary with the motion Of the car; and
after few hours passengers twist themselves
into all sorts of uncomfortable positions, trying
10 rest the head, and escape the headache al
most sure to come if rest is not found. High
hacked chairs would add greatly to the comfort
OF travellers, and would save many a day of
sickness.
In mid winter there is little of interest to be
seen between Boston and Chicago. The coun-
try seems dead. Rivers and canals are frozen,
the lazy canal boats are put away, the little
farmhouses are "banked up" and the only sign
Of life is the smoke rising from the low chin
neys or from the stove funnel projecting
through the roof Almost the only break in the
dull monotony came early one raw, gray morn
inc as we passed through a mile or two Of woods
10 Ohio. The engine poured out great wreaths
and clouds of steam, which the wind blew
amongst the bare trees, and which chung TO the
cold trunks, and cured themselves up in the
branches, and fitted through the openings, and
erept into hiding places, and crouched on the
fallen leaves, and were still driven on, till they
were lost in the forest or vanished in the most
weird and phantom-lile manner, as companies
and battaions crowded upon each other like the
host of spectres that once "beleaguered the
walls of Prague Never were witches in Faust
or in Macbeth more Wild more fantastic, or half
so impressive, as these gray and white half-hu-
man shapes troopng silently through the bleak
wood.
AT Cleveland Janauschek's jewels were on ex-
hibtion, and they seemed to me hardly worth
the talk made about them. The malachte or
uaments were handsome, the emeralds were
beautiful and the diamonds like other dia-
monds, large ones set singly in earrings, and
smaller ones in crosses and bracelets. They
made very little show amongst the large stock
of the jeweller in whose show case they were.
1t was dark when we reached Chicago; there
was no depot; we landed in the snow, and rode
for a mile through black heaps Of rufus to the
new Sherman house. Everywhere is still the
smell Of smoke and fire; and no words can
begin to describe the desolation OF the burnt
district. All the eloquent letters written about
it, all the pathetic descriptions given, had not
prepared me in the least for the awful reality.
Yesterday was bitterly cold, one of the coolest
days ever known in Chicago; all outdoor work
had stopped; all windows were coated with ice;
and the little shanties put up here and there in
the midst Of the ruins for Offices reatng-hOuseS,
only added TO the look of desolatiou. The sky
was a handsome and brilliant blue, against
which III clear, sharp lines stood what is left Of
the great stone ornamental buildings Of which
Chicago was so proud two months ago. Here was
a tower, there lofty facade pierced with arches,
some broken, some left unframed; here a wall
snll held upright by iron columns which the fire
had scarcely bent, and then again great space
covered with broken bricks and stones, whereit-
orally not one was LETT standing on another.
The gray arches and the blue sky were pic
turesque no dou6t, but could not appreciate
their beauty. The whole scene was depressing,
heart-breaking, horrible. There is no poetry
in these Tough, fresh ruins, where every stone
tells Of human suffering, and on which neither
time nor nature has YET laid tender hand;
and away on all sides from this vast central
wreck and chaos stretch the unbumt streets of
the great Struggling city; streets on which, as
on q shore, the sea OF fire drove its victims, and
every house was open to receive aud every heart
to help them. In the burnt district all land
marks are obliterated; you cannot find even the
streets, excepting a few Of the principal ones,
where horse cars are again running. The direc-
tory is, ofcourse, useless, and only by luck or in
SEPARATION can stranger find anybody or any
thing he wants. The Sherman house, in its new
quarters, is comfortable, but still unfinished
carpenters are steadily at work in it, and in
all the entries stand piles Of furniture waiting
for the rooms in which they belong to be finish
cd. Bat the house was thoroughly warm, and
everything possible was done to make guests
comfortable. Travellers give a good report of
The other hotels.
We went TO the headquarters Of the relief
agency, land the work they have done and are
doing filled us with admiration. Mr. Writ Dex-
ter, who is at the head of the association, is one
Of the leading lawyers Of Chicago. His office,
books and papers, were destroyed by the fire.
His house escaped-he filed it at once with
friends who were burnt out, ami ever since the
fire has devoted his whole time TO the relief of
the sufferers. He and nine other gentlemen
make all the plans for the expenditure of
money, and the distribution Of supplies, and
receive nothing for their labors. The largenum-
Der OF persons, necessarily employed in tue
actual distribution are paid, as it is right they
should be. OF the 100000 persons whom the
Ore made homeless, about 10000 were able to
take care Of themselves, or had friends who
helped them; 10000 Of the very poorest and
most shiltless, who lived from hand to mouth
and had no permanent abiding place, are now
in barracks; $4,000 or 10000 more ale scattered
about the city, and 10000 have already been
moved back to their old homes on what is called
the north side. They are industrious people;
many of them owned a small house and little
land; and many more hired land on which they
built. This whole section was laid waste. The
relief committee have built 5000 houses, Just
where the old ones stood, and 5000 families have
gone back to their own bit Of land. The houses
are 16 feet by 20; divided into two
rooms, one 10 by p feet the other
16 by s; and an attic Each house
is furnished with beds and bedding,
chair, table, cooking stoYe and small amount
of crockery; house and outfit cost 1925. To
those who are destitute, the house is free Gift:
while those who have tri6e left, or who earn
large wages, prefer to pay, and so give anote
for the exact value Of the house, payable in one
year. Ifthey prosper and are able to pay, the
money will 90 to the relief society TO be used
again; if not, Of course they will not be pressed
for payment. The men established in these
houses, who get steady work, are at once cut
off from rations, and left to support their own
families, as before the fire, unless sickness or
some other sufficient cause, as the severe wealth
er Of the last few days brings them to want In
this strange six weeks old city of 5000 little
wooden houses, all alike, live many widows,
who are the first cared for in the distribution Of
coal and food; and 10 prevent loss of time in
finding their houses, au ingenious and simple
| plan of marking was devised. Instead of chin
neys, the stove pipes with proper pro-
| lection, passed through the roof in the
| widows houses, are made Of galvanized
iron, in the other houses of common iron; so
the distributors 20 first to the white chin
neys. About $4,000 persons now receive
| help in some form. The number varies and