Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1882-05-16
CHICAGO LETTER.

CHICAGO, April 80. lce--
To the Editor Of the oxford Democrat:
In my last letter, written nearly four
months ago l think, promised lin the
near future 20 write something OF Chica-
20. ! fully intended 20 have done 80 be-
fore this. but have been unable % get al
IL tin now. As told YOU in that letter.
arrived here the lst OF Aug, -. and my
family Joined me on the 18th. since which
time We have been Keeping house. We
experienced the same difficulties az the be-
ginning that all others do who come here
from the East, and like nearly all others
We commenced At the " bottom round.
Looking in the morning paper We saw
this advertisement a pleasant front
room elegantly furnished 10 rent 20 gen
tleman and wife, would do for ligh' house
Keeping Well, | rather think Smilt
siCkly smile when | read that. What the
deuce was light house keeping |
wished 10 know all about ii before en-
gagged myself 10 the business, for had
been running on the Colorado plan for
more than year and could never get used
10 IT, The G. p. was very simple aud
would have been quite chesp anywhere
East. but in Colorado il was not very
cheap. II you have forgotten about the
Colorado plan you can refer 10 one OF
my first letters from Leadville. will
save YOU that trouble aud state II here. IL
was this a sheet-iron stove, one length
OF stOye-pipe, tin dish, knife and fork,
and YOU were well fixed. That, thought
was little the lishtest house keeping
had ever seen, and did not care for more
Of il. On inquiry | found that it meant in
20 1fNsn IN
Sometimes two small rooms are used, but
there are thousands Ia this town who live
IN one room, get perhaps two meals day at
home and 20 20 saloon for the other one.
We tried the one room month and did not
ike. Then we got two rooms aud put on
STYLE But that would never do; we got
Disguised with this eight" business any
way, and so we hired house all alone by
ourselves, and We are now running it on
the New England plan-baked beans and
brown bread every Sunday morning, and
we don't feel Obliged 10 eat fish Friday,
either. IL Is now nearly nine months since
coming here 20 live, and we are getting TO
like very well. Things are so very differ |
ent here from what they are in puritanic |
New England, that it will take some time !
10 get used 10 the Chicago lice, however, !
we got quite handy in Colorado, and we
think we can make it here If We should |
happen 10 remain long enough.
Chicago is 4 lively little village Of prob |
ably six hundred thousand inhabitants and |
in a few years 1t will have million souls |
within its borders. IL is the centre OF Is |
great railroad lines, and its shipping on I
the Lakes is simply immense. The Chi /
cago River is lined with grain elevators, /
and there is probably larger grain trade |
in this town than in any other on the con- |
tinent The deals" made on the Board |
OF Trade are not included ia this, for they /
are "snide." l have never heard of q |
shovel fun OF wheat ever changing hands /
in Board OF Trade deal. The business |
men Of this town are full of push,-always /
pushing ahead for the filthy lucre, aud |
they are not so particular hoe they get the /
shekels II they only get them.
There are in Chicago 200, 600 Germans, !
100, 900 Irishmen, 1000 Swedes, Norweg |
iaus and Danes, and more Jews than there
are in any other city on the earth OF the |
same population. The foreign population
here is different from that in New England /
only the best emisrantS stop in the East
and those who want to make dollar in
t,c0 minutes and steal tlrO dollars in one
minute come West. | have told you that
the Germans outnumber the Irish two to
one, and If you were not acquainted with
the two parties you would naturally think
that in the arrests made in Chicago in
1851 the Germans would have figured, to
say the least, quite as prominent as the
Irish. Well, as matter of fact they did
not, for there were over four thousand
Irishmen arrested for crime and only about
three thousand Germans during the year
1881. When you come to crime the ''muck-
er'' takes the cake every time, and il the
battery is not anchored he captures that