the
picturesque in their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us
to expect that the historian would carefully avoid them, or else write
only of their earliest days, when Dame Fortune was yet coquetting on the
boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer. Again we are not mistaken, for we
find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up,
leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid
adventurer. How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young
men, and at last, at the end of the second act, has her attention led
by Captain Location to the hero of the piece as a suitable mate for her
wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,--all this is usually written up from
hearsay. For the third act, wherein the twin brothers Steamboat
Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit,
the imagination often suffices. The grand finale, however, brings back
some of the old set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who
describe in glowing language the setting of the act, the costumes, the
music, etc., and tell minutely how young Miss Prosperity blushingly yet
boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant hero, now known under
his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis. Ac-cording to the critic, this
grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always
perfect,--the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been
equaled, never excelled. And this is the way the public hears about
every "greatest drama ever produced on any stage."

Do you think the critic too harshly criticized? Look for yourself. Take
Cleveland, if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations
among the histories of Western cities. Here is one of the loveliest
places in all the basin of the Great Lakes--rich, prosperous, beautiful.
It was the one city which alt the travelers through the West in the
second quarter of this century united in declaring to be attractive. For
instance, J.S. Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago,
complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and
Western States of America: "The buildings of Cleveland are all
remarkably clean and neat, many of them in excellent architectural
style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and other towns of
Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order
and adornment than in most of the States of the Union." Mrs. Pulzky, who
accompanied Kossut