The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-13

the Indictment Life Of the Satanic
Place.
From enc New Norl, Tribune.
The author of the impressions Of Chi
cago" which appear below is NJ. Octave
Unuue. o writer much honored ia his ma
tive France as man Of delicate seusi-
biities. and respected for his general ac-
curacy Of Judgment He has during his
life been engaged upon many important
literary works besides editing severll
periodicals His powers Of observation
and his gifts in the difficult art Of descrip-
tion led to his being chosen as the special
worlds fair correspondent of the Paris
illustrated journal ILLUSTRATION, TO
which paper he has since the opening Of
the fair regularly addressed mis- impress
sions As "a rule these articles have been
appreciative Now, however. he speaks
in a different tone. through different
medium. al witness the following letter,
the first of a series projected under the
title of impressions Of America ad-
dressed TO the Paris Figaro under a
Boston date line:
After soiourn of three weeks at
Chicago, In the midst of thick clouds Of
SCOT which in less than an hour corrOde
the skin, dry or even tar the hear, ami
hilate hewhitcncss of the best Numbered
linen the moment Of departure is not at
tended by hedrtbreaking emotions. The
daily round at the exposition, with its
killing promenades. devoid of agreeable
stopping places for one who wishes to
lounge or 10 rest; the sharp winds,
which at every moment pounce down up
on you from the north with unexpected
impetuosity, are not offset by the deli
cious cocktails which toward evening one
delights 10 discuss with his friends across
the daily banqueIs, with their accOmpani-
ment of music, which no more disguises
their emptiness than it browns the brutal
noises made by those who are drunk
neither the songs sung in the queer quar-
ters of the place nor the theatres, those
resorts at once 50 strange and 50 comfort
able, could cast a burden of sincere and
feeling regret upon the light spirits
which seize the traveller at the moment
he is leaving Chicago.
Nothing is so fatiguing as excess, and in
this city, which a bitter irony has dubbed
the Queen of the Prairies,' everything is
found to be in excess to profusion and
abundance Of the repasts, the splendor of
the luxury, the height of the houses, the
y
corruption, the diabOlical extension of
industries, the depth of the mud in the
streets and the shabbiness of the rickety
wooden structures which rise above
enormous granite facades. EVERYTHING is
extreme, from the easy way the natives
spend their greenbacks TO the Incidence
of the servants. who think themselves
seigneurs of too grand type TO deign to
clean the travellers shoes. who whOmus
frar
son 10 a special black-room to the negro
bOOtblacks. one cannot dream of city of
more bewildering contrasts that this
Pearl Of the West, whose name, Chicago,
by the way, signifies in the old Indian
dialect, skunk town Everything is
subservient to the word of command,
make money The impulse toward the
conquest Of the dollar is so overpowering
that those who have secured fortune
Immediately after dixie gluttons who
make parade of the size of their bellies
after eatingl make haste tosignaii2e the
event in enormous demonstrations in
granite, erecting barbaric palaces, open
ing streets, establishing railways without
regard for the landscape or perspective
From this there results a lack Of balance
and harmony which stupeties the traveller
IN this superhuman city, where to be fat
seems to be part of the law of life.
II was therefore with a feeling of relief
that l quilted Chicago toward a certain
evening by the Erie railway, which was
TO conduct me to the green and peaceful
horisOn of Indiana and Ohio.
"On the shores Of Lake Michigan did
not feel that enveloping sweetness of liv-
ing which belongs to our Italian and
Scotch lakes, but l felt myself overpow-
cred by those impOrtunate visions so ad-
mlrably described by the genial Bostonian
(sic) poet in 'Gorgon Pym,' for Chicago
illustrates ana inJerprets Edgar Poe 1t
eXemplitics his greatness and the total
want of feeling among its simple, print
tive, often generous and kindly Western
rustiCs throws valuable light on his
genius. Not until was leaving this for
midable city, drowned in the smoke of its
factories, was ! particularly struck with
the nightmare of its grandeur and by it's
diaDOncal power. At that twilight hour
as the train rolled slowly along, | was
able to Judge of the immeusiUy Of its
suburbs, which in extravaganza are
twice those of London; 70 form an idea of
the superb, phenomenal barbarity, to APP
preciate the distracting beauty of the
dark panorama which unfolded itself,
further than eye could see, along the
railway.
Under a sky Of sulphurous and angry
greenness, on which the rays of the set
ting sun still trembled through q deafen-
ing clang of engine bells, of screaming
locomotives. and grOaning grain elevators,
while express train crossing express train
on the earth, below the earth, and in the
air, accompanied by the suspense of cross
ing shaking bridges, | looked for more
THAN an hour out upon an unknown and
frlghttul Chicago silhouetting itself
against q background of black, white.
gray, yellow and blue smoke In a set
ting so grand that poet like Hugo with
his superb and cathedral-like. epithets
could alone express the power of the
scene, the electric tights from impossible
heights cast their watery lunar rays
upon the torpid surface of long and i'm
mense stretches of canals Tanneries
mills, toundries, steam slaughter-houses,
smelling works. oil refncries came sue
cesslvely into view, with she green and
red signal lights. The high chimneys OF
the fOundrieS famed in the air like
torches, bridges turned between the puffs
oil smoke slender cranes revealed them
selves at work, and vessels Of considerable
size, with white double stacks and light
masts, glided by on the invisible water
lending TO this moving phantasmagoria OF
twilight note Of still greater strange
ness and unreality. This panorama, which
swept by the immense window of the can
IN which | was, brought before me al
every instant something more extraor
binary and disturbing. Now il was quar-
Uers traversed by immense avenues
where the bars. with their red windows
ffrIf L.