THE STANDARD: A Collection of Sacred and Secular Music for Choirs, Conventions, Singing Schools, etc. By L. O. Emerson and H. R. Palmer. Boston Oliver Ditson & Co. (Lyon & Healy, Chicago.)

CHRISTINA NORTH. A Novel. By E. M. Archer. (Appleton's Library of Choice Novels.) New York: D. Appleton & Company. (Cobb, Andrews & Co., Chicago.)

REPORT AND COLBECTIONS of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, for the years 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872. Volume VI.

Atwood & Culver.

Madison, Wis. :

A WAITING RACE. A Novel. By Edmund Yates. (Appleton's Library of Choice Novels.) New York: D. Appleton & Company. (Cobb, Andrews & Co., Chicago.)

THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST. By the author of "The Heir of Redcliffe." New York: D. Appleton & Company. (Cobb, Andrews & Co., Chicago.)

VICK'S ILLUSTRATED FLORAL GUIDE for 1873. Rochester, New York: James Vick.

The month ending with the putting of these last sheets of THE LAKESIDE to press has been, in many respects, a month of disappointments to Chicago. If we may be allowed to imitate that most popular of poets, Mother Goose, we may remark that if the weather had been milder and the horses had been stronger, our Record of Progress had surely been longer.

The Presidential election and the strike of bricklayers, mentioned in our Novem ber number, were not fairly out of the way when another drawback, much more serious than any of the rest, befell the builders of the New Chicago. On the 23d day of October the Canadian Horse Disease, which had been raging for several weeks at the East, manifested itself unmistakably in Chicago. By the Ist day of November it had become so prevalent among the animals of the omnibus and street-car companies that the most of those conveyances were withdrawn on the following day; and on Monday, the 4th, and the five following days, it was next to impossible to obtain any sort of conveyance, whether coach or cart, which depended upon the horse kind for its propulsion. The suspension of business resulting from this cause lasted a full week; and though, in the rebuilding of Chicago, every week counts, this particular week of industrial

interregnum proved especially disastrous. For everybody was at work

with a desperate desire And a resolute endeavor,"

to get everybody's building "closed in before the incursions of Jack Frost should force a suspension of out-door work. With the roof on and the windows glazed in some fashion, the remainder of the work could be done without difficulty, no matter how fiercely Boreas might rage without. Hence there was much hurrying to and fro of men and teams in the nervous anxiety to "close in" before the severe weather should approach. The first two weeks in November would, but for this epizootic misfortune, have been the busiest and the richest in results of any fortnight since the city had its existence. Instead of that, it became the most futile and barren week of the season. No horses to haul, therefore no brick and stone to lay. No brick and stone, no work done, let workmen be ever so willing. And so, by the time the horses had got their heads clear and their limbs lithe again, the best of the fine fall weather had passed away, and the hopes of many a builder to get his edifice ready for tenants by New Year's, and to save waiting until next first of May for rents, were rudely nipped, as by an untimely frost. Besides the loss of

rentals and the inconvenience to merchants resulting from this cause, the city has suffered by the delay in centralizing and permanently locating her wholesale trafficthings essential to the thrift of the town.

The merchants, by the way, were considerably troubled for want of means to haul their wares to and from the wharves and railway stations, and it was chiefly to their enterprise that the citizens owed the novel spectacle of ox teams and man teams, plodding and struggling through our streets, in lieu of the lusty, well-fed steeds which usually ply there at a reckless rate of speed unknown in almost any other city. Fortunately, however, the jobbers had got off the bulk of their fall sales before the epizootic came on; and on this account their business was not seriously crippled.

On the 30th of October there was a solemn ceremonial at Central Park (called Central because it is about two miles from the city, and so far away from any thoroughfare that not one person in a thousand of the city's inhabitants has ever found time to visit it!). This was the laying of the corner-stone of the Fire Monument

a structure described in the October number of this magazine. The Mayor and other city officials, the Masonic fraternity, and various magnates of moderate rank, took part in the ceremony, and the morning papers of the succeeding day gave such a minute description of the event that the whereabouts of the Monument can doubtless be ascertained at any future day, by reference to these accounts, should curiosi ty prompt any person to make the search.

.... A far more noteworthy monument was dedicated on the 14th; a monument of the city's enterprise, if not of her misfortune. We refer to the new pumping engine of the Water Works s-a splendid machine of 1200 horse power, built at a cost of $300,000, and capable of raising daily to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, 36,000,000 gallons, or about double the average amount consumed in the city each day at the time the engine went to work. The stroke of its pistons is 10 feet, and its fly-wheel, 25 feet in diameter, weighs 36 The operation of starting this piece of machinery was deemed of sufficient im

tons.

portance to warrant the gathering of a distinguished assembly, among whom was Lieut. Gen. Philip Sheridan. The new tunnel to connect the Crib in the lake with pumping works two miles away in the West Division, is the next improvement in order, and is already under contract. The city has not done anything as yet in response to the demand of the press shortly after the great Chicago fire, and of the Mayor, just after the Boston conflagration, for supplies of water from the river or from some source independent of the gen eral works, for use in case of such emergencies as that of Oct. 9th, 1871.

Allied to the topic last treated, is the gas supply of the city, which has been, during the month, the subject of much talk in the City Council and the press. As a matter of course, Chicago has, like most other cities, suffered much from the extortion of monopolies which the needs of earlier days had tempted her, or which the venality of early legislators had forced her, to accept. The two gas companies now existing (but which do not compete with each other) have been threatened for some time with competition, and have bought off once or twice the projectors of other corporations, in and out of the Board of Aldermen. At length, tired of this business, and made comfortable in their individual estates by the fatness of many years' bountiful receipts, the managers of the existing corporations have made a very plausible offer to the city authorities, to sell out to the city, without present cash payment, their property, at a valuation to be assessed by referees; or they will agree to run their works for the city for a profit of ten per cent. per annum on such valuation. They insist, as the only condition of this offer, that citizens shall be supplied at actual cost, and that the city, in case of taking the property, shall not farm it out to other corporations. The monopolists argue in their proposition, with an earnestness of public spirit quite astonishing in people who deal that the way proposed is the true method of light supply in cities; and they express a tender solicitude, which their prices hitherto have not indicated, in behalf of those unfortunate citizens who are now

in gas,

compelled by the high price of gas to "imperil their lives by the use of oils as dangerous as gunpowder."

From gas to pine lumber the transition should be easy, if there is any virtue in the dicta of the chemists. Recent computations have shown that the receipts of lumber in Chicago, both for consumption and for re-shipment, have been but slightly above the average of the last three or four years, viz., 1,200,000,000 feet, besides shingles, lath, etc., which, reduced to ordinary lumber, would swell the aggregate to 1,500,000,000 feet. The total value of this is about $15,000,000. Chicago sends lumber, particularly the common varieties, to all points of the country, east and west. Even Albany and Boston can and do profitably buy manufactured lumber from Chicago.

Of course, during the year just past, a much greater proportion of the lumber received at our docks has been consumed in Chicago than in other years, lessening the shipments by rail correspondingly. Nevertheless it is a fact, interesting to the curious, perhaps, that the trains loaded with this commodity and sent out from Chicago the past twelve months, would stretch six hundred miles across the prairie, if they could be made up in one continuous train; while the vessels that have come in laden with this product would, if placed bow to stern, stretch two hundred and thirty miles, or nearly the entire length of one of the great lakes.

though a part of the discrepancy in this respect is unquestionably due to the fact that the Americanized European adopts more quickly than his fellow in Fatherland this new-fangled method of transmitting funds. In the statement of letters collected and delivered (by carriers),local letters, amounting to some 300,000 or 400,000 per month, are not included.

The news of the great fire in Buston reached Chicago on Sunday the 10th of November. The people of Chicago lost no time in coming to the conclusion that so great a calamity could not fail to involve many cases of individual suffering from destitution; and before forty-eight hours had elapsed, the people, acting through the Board of Trade, had appropriated $150,ooo to the relief of such suffering. Of this amount, $100,000 was from the funds of the Relief and Aid Society, in pursuance of the action of the Executive Committee; and a deputation from that body was very promptly on the ground at Boston, ready to aid with money, or with the benefit of their experience in similar emergencies, which was not unmodestly deemed worth proffering, in view of the circumstances. There were many in Chicago who prophesied misfortune to this city as a result of the Boston calamity, since Chicago had been drawing, and was expecting still to draw, from Boston for capital with which to rebuild and refill our shops and warehouses, and since this relation of the two cities would have to be suspended by reason of the late unfortunate event. These apprehensions are, however, not now generally entertained.

The land owners of Chicago are not yet able to see their titles clear to their several lots of real estate. The apparently herculean labor of adjusting the possession of the "abstract books" containing chains of title has, however, been advanced one stage during the month by the decision of the county's representatives in the matter, not to pay the abstract men the price ($750,ooo) demanded for their property. Offers of a less sum are now in order; but nothing definite in this line has been agreed upon at the present writing.

Railroad progress during the month has been encouraging. The Milwaukee and St. Paul company has completed the laying of its track into Chicago, and nothing now remains in the way of the locomotive but the want of certain yard and depot accommodations and of ballasting along a portion of the line. Before the 1st of January trains will be running from Chicago to St. Paul by this line; and by that time, also, the Northwestern company will be competing between the same points, over their newly extended line through Western Wisconsin.

Two railways-the Chicago and Canada Southern and the Chicago and Illinois River - have been granted right of way into the city during the month.

----

The construction of the Chicago and Pacific railway is progressing so favorably that the projectors are confident of their ability to run trains into Elgin, forty miles out, on the 1st of January.

The enforced suspension of street railway traffic, resulting from the horse disease, has given rise to very earnest inquiries after some motive power for street cars other than the muscles of animals. Steam is the only motor now practicable, and a majority of the community are doubtless in favor of its use would, indeed, vote for its introduction to-morrow. Some experiments with trains propelled by dummy engines, introduced under a special and limited permit from the Common Council, were entirely successful. No accidents, no additional inconveniences, resulted from letting loose the king of motors upon the streets; and had the companies been supplied with a complement of engines, the public would have been far better served during the period of the epizootic than ever before. The introduction of steam or compressed air upon the street railways of Chicago, in lieu of horses, is only a question of time.

The Chicago public has had oppor· tunity, during the month, to listen to a doz en or more lectures from ladies and gentlemen whose celebrity warranted the mana

gers in expecting good houses as a result of their engagement. It is sufficient to say that such expectations were generally realized, and the enterprise of the managers rewarded. It will not do to add that the public was always edified by the lectures; but as it was not edification, but the gratification of curiosity, which constituted the attracting force, there is no cause for complaint on anybody's part, unless it is on the part of the "judicious few" whose wants cannot, as times go, be catered to by managers, with pecuniary profit to the latter.

In the realm of Art, the most important event of November was the exhibition of Mario, the celebrated tenor, in two con certs, supported by Mlle. Carlotta Patti, Miss Annie Louise Cary, and others of less repute in America. The "exhibition" of Mario, we say, for it was an exhibition of his person and little else. Not by any means the vox et præterea nihil of classical quotation, for the voice was precisely the part missing. Mario was great

he is great no more, except as embalmed in fame. Time was that when the brains were out, the man would die." Perhaps, also, the time was that when the voice was out, the tenor singer would withdraw from the stage; but if there ever was such a time, it was so far back into antiquity that the memory of to-day's critics runneth not to that effect. It is rarely, however, that a great singer of any class appears before the public with so slight a vestige of his former power as Signor Mario displays. As a coincidence, perhaps, he is accompanied on the present tour by Mlle. Patti, who is all voice, while Mario is all "method." The combination inevitably suggests to the listener (if he be not too reverent of ancient reputations) the rather amusing parlor game of “dumb orator," wherein one person does all the vocal part, while another, concealed behind him, does all the gesticulating. If Mlle. Patti could furnish the vocalization, while Signor Mario did the "masterly phrasing" and all that, perhaps the arrangement would prove an artistic success. A financial success it was not, in Chicago; though this was perhaps due to the horse catarrh, rather than to any head or throat troubles of the principal "star."

SOME

OME idea has been conveyed in the foregoing paragraphs concerning the general progress of the rebuilding of Chicago. What has already been said, howev

er,

refers more especially to the obstacles which have arisen in the path of the re builders. In spite of those obstacles, the finishing touches are now being placed upon hundreds of magnificent stores — too magnificent, the croakers say, for business to be done in them remuneratively. The three most conspicuous of the new build. ings — the Rock Island Railway depot, the Grand Pacific Hotel, and the Sherman House-have lately reared their stately domes above all surrounding structures, and their architecture is the object of general admiration. They all have roofs of the Mansard pattern, but in each case the outside material is fire-proof.

Two new railroad edifices of immense area are announced as about to be commenced. These are the passenger stations of the Chicago and Northwestern railway, to occupy the large square bounded by Clark, LaSalle, Kinzie, and North Water streets, on the North Side, and of the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne and Chicago and St. Louis railways, on the present grounds of those companies, extending from Madison to Adams streets and from Canal street to the river. Both of these are to be elegant and permanent structures; and it is worthy of note that they replace inferior buildings.

Chicago is also to have a Crystal Palace, if plans now perfectly matured do not miscarry. The palace at Sydenham covers an area of nine acres. The Chicago enter

prise cannot quite be reckoned on as a rival to that, for its dimensions are to be only 600 feet in length by 250 feet in breadth. This latter dimension is in fact the length of a transept, the wings being only 100 feet in breadth. The whole is to cost a quarter of a million dollars, and to be completed by the second anniversary of the great fire. The architect's plans are already completed. The building is to be located on the fair grounds adjoining the Union Stock Yards, and is one of two enterprises pro jected for the purpose of establishing in Chicago a permanent Exposition building such as Cincinnati and St. Louis have so successfully maintained for the past two or three years.

Of the churches which were burnt down or converted into "houses of merchandise" by the fire, nearly all will be very soon replaced. Several of those on Michigan and Indiana avenues have already assumed an imposing aspect. The edifice of the First Presbyterian Church (consolidated with Calvary), now externally completed, is of red brick and Lake Superior sandstone, and is architecturally a success. Its cost when finished will be $135,000. Of St. Paul's church (Universalist), the walls, of a dark limestone with coursings of white, have already attained a considerable height. It promises to present a very bold and pleasing appearance, especially when surmounted by its tower and spire, stretching up to the height of 250 feet. This edifice will not be completed much within a year. The other church edifices under construction or projected are too numerous to mention in detail.