grand sum total of nearly four thousand. A book
much like this would have been made had the Crown published the Giant
Petition trundled into Parliament on a wheelbarrow in the times of
George the Third, when Lord George Gordon was the hero of the day. About
as valuable, about as readable, about as bulky, about as good for
kindling fires!

But let the perpetrator plead his cause in his own words--and it must be
conceded he does it well. "The plan of the History of the city of
Milwaukee, which is herewith presented to the public," he says in his
preface, "possesses the merit of originality. It is based upon the fact
that in all older regions, a serious deficiency exists even in the most
exhaustive histories which it is possible now to compile through the
absence of personal and detailed records of pioneer men and deeds. The
primary design of this work is to preserve for future historians as
complete an encyclopaedia of early events in Milwaukee, and the actors
therein, as patient labor and unstinted financial expenditure can
procure."

We thank the Western Historical Company, or Mr. Andreas, for this
benevolent and philanthropic spirit, but really he must not expect us to
believe that pecuniary profit is only a _secondary_ design of this work.
But supposing for a moment that the primary design was as philanthropic
and unselfish as Mr. Andreas would have us think, let us consider its
worth; for, if we grant this premise, we must admit the truth of the
conclusion reached, and then must give unstinted praise to the fruits of
such a conclusion, a volume like the one before us. But the premise is
specious and false. The deficiency that exists through the absence of
personal and detailed records of _pioneer_ men and deeds is not serious:
on the contrary, in most cases, we should be devoutly thankful that it
exists. Of the generations after that of the pioneers we would know
much; of that of the pioneers themselves, something. But who is there,
or will there be, that cares a picayune whether the third cobbler in
Milwaukee (this history would call him the third manufacturer of shoes)
was born in April or June, 1806, or whether he came from Tipperary or
Heidelberg, or whether his wife died of the pneumonia or the
whooping-cough? To be sure we would be glad to know whether the early
settlers of Milwaukee were mainly young or mainly old when they came
here, whether they were mainly German or Irish, and what where the
prevalent di