Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-10-15
GLlMPSES OF CHICAGO.
NOTES BY A NEW YORKER AFTER
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS THERE.

He Says the Streets Are the Shabbiest
and tilthiest lie Ever Saw, but Gives
Much Praise to the Cable Cars, Parks,
and Drives.
The New York Sun prints a report of a
New York mans first experience of Chicago.
The New Yorker had q German friend
for company The following parts of The
sun S article are interesting:
Chlcago's streets are the shabbiest and
filthiest the New Yorker ever saw, and he
is toleraby well acquainted and at home in
every American and Canadian city east Of
the Queen of the West Clark street Ran
dolph street, Adams and Van Buren, streets
Wabash avenue, and in fact, all the
streets they saw, or walked on, except
State street, were full of ruts and holes; and
State street needed cleaning to a degree
that would have made Capt Williams cry
and the heart of Mr.. Coleman ache. Acct
IDENTIFY the reporter learned the reason for
this
Chicago builds each year more than she
can afterwards maintain" man said.
She builds new miles of streets, and has to
let the old miles fall out of repair She has
appropriated nothing for street cleaning
this year, and whatever is done in that line
is done by days work"
During the day tho visitor rode several
miles in all directions in the cable cars
They are admirable. They will leave New
ork behind the age as long she is with
out them One does not see them at their
best in Philadelphia it is necessary to 90 to
Chicago. where they form tho main means
of intercommunication, to understand and
enjoy them The cars ride easily, move
swiftly, stop quickly and gently, start
without inconvenencing the passengers
and are better in most respects than New
Gork's elevated roads. There seems to be
no radical defect i'll the cable system. The
cables cross one another, turn corners cross
beneath horse car tracks, and surmount
every obstacle that crowded city presents
The people children and ALL seem accus
TONED to them and give them a wide birth
in crossng the streets but for emergencies
alarm bells are provided, and each car has a
little pilot, or "cow catcher of boards un
der each platform.
TIE PARKS OF CHICAGO.
Vhe parks OF Chicago should be her pride,
as they evidently are hrr Joy. In spite Of
the flatness of the marsh and prairie land
out OF which they are constructed, they are
more beautiful than ours at home, or, if not
In all respects more beautiful, they are so
well and so proudly maintained that they
maze us blush for our Central park, and for
Fairmount in Philadelphia, and even for
Baltimores great pleasure ground Wash
ington park, it is called on the maps or
the purely park portion of the South park
territory, through which the New Yorker
drove Sunday is exceedingly beautiful 1t
Is larger than Central park, and deserves a
visit from our park comm ssioners in order
hat tl,.,,r L.,
how TO maintain Il park in manner credit
able to themselves, and how to make park
of value to the people whose property it is,
and of whom they are the hired and we'll
paid servants This park is divided into
three parts sward road and lake. There
are no paths to SPEAK OF and they are not
needed The settees for the people are scat
tered upon the sward, and the people move
them about to keep in the slow circling
shade of the trees The grass constantly
watered, and moved every five days. is a
dense, soft, smooth carpet; and the broad,
curving roads Of clay and gravel are as
level as the sur face of u mill pond With
the earth eScavated to construct the great
and pretty lake small hillocks have been
made to diversity the surface and to a low
for landscape effects, which have been de-
lightfully achieved By the way, whoever
hires boat on this lake may fish for the
bass that swarm in the water Think of it,
ye tyrants of our neglected, shabby parks
the pubic lolling and romping on the regal
laws and fishing in the lake!
The gardener i'll the park is interesting,
though us untrammeled in his ingenuity as
the tiny gophers that sit upon their
launches in the grass over which lie pre-
sides. He startes hicago with his floral
nbpliS
of little ice plants, sets out great calendar
of pretty flowers, chang cling it for every day
in the summer, presents to the de lighted
Chicagoan view huge floral sun-dial that
actually marks the time of day, and in the
matter of elephants, hearts, anchors, crosses
and the like, literally growing in the ground,
his ingenuity knows no let or hindrance.
\ NOBLE PLEASURE GROUND
Lincoln park swarmed with happy visi-
tors Sunday. 1t is the central park of Chi
cago, lies on Lake Michigan, and is best
reached by way of Dearborn avenue, which,
though Chicago does not appre late it, il
the handsomest most aristocratc and i'm
pressive street in Chicago. 1t is more elo-
quent Of true praise of the solid, wholesome,
dignited qualities that must be considerable
than all the Prairie and Michigan and the
like avenues the place possesses 1t CON
avenue or boulevard. But Lincoln park is
a noble pleasure ground. The trees are
older than in the other parks, and the drive
along Lake Michigan, as well as the views
that the lake affords, are godsends to the
city, which, by the way, is said to be almost
always cool by reason OF its waterside stu
alton
Not only in respect Of its parks does Chi
cago excel the metropolis Her drives are
even more excellent than her parks In
Chicago one may take his own or ono Of the
cheap and good hacks of the public livery
men and ride over forty miles of roads that
are simply Perfect, and that intersect very
beautiful districts, both rural and suburban
He will constantly meet the hideous but
welcome watering carts that account for
the general absence of dust; and ii, while he
is on the south side, he will follow one of
these carts into its stable he will see one of
the prettiest sights in Chicago-a wooden
rotunda, open dixie IA circus in the middle
and framed with two rows If stalls occu-
pied by beautifully groomed and stalwart
fat his of