because he is one of the ancestors of the
Penn-Gaskells of England, who for many years have been valuable and
much-respected clients of mine, and in numerous transactions I have
noticed in them that beautiful trait of strict honour which gave William
Penn a world-wide character, and has descended from him to them.

Passing by many farm homesteads, villages, and towns, all having a
prosperous kind of appearance, and described as "one of the richest
agricultural districts in America," we ran into Harrisburg, which is the
capital of Pennsylvania, and situate on the east bank of the Susquehanna
River. About five miles above Harrisburg we crossed the Susquehanna
River on a bridge 3,670 feet long, from the centre of which I am told
there is a fine view, but I lost it, as a snowstorm was raging while I
was crossing.

We stopped at Altoona, a large city lying at the foot of the
Alleghanies, and in ascending the Alleghanies fine scenery and great
engineering feats are discernible. From this we ran on to Pittsburg,
which claims to be the best lighted city in America, the streets being
brilliantly illuminated by arc and incandescent electric lights. Nine
bridges cross the Allegheny, and five the Monongahela rivers. Pittsburg
has been called the "iron city," and "smoky city"; it has immense glass,
steel and iron manufactures, and in these three interests alone employs
over 50,000 persons.

Then we proceed till, presently, we catch sight of Lake Michigan, and
know that Chicago is not far off. We skirt the shore of this busy water,
with its wharves, etc. On arrival (December 2nd) we drive through the
city from the Pennsylvania to the North-Western terminus.

Chicago is 912 miles from New York: it is the greatest city in Illinois,
and during the past 50 years has grown from a small Indian trading
station into a metropolis. Chicago extends some 20 miles along the
shores of Lake Michigan, and goes back from the lake to a depth of about
four miles, thus embracing about 80 square miles; beyond these confines
of the city proper the suburbs extend to some 6 to 10 miles in every
direction. It will be remembered that in 1871 Chicago had a great fire,
which burned an area of 3-1/8 square miles, destroyed 17,450 buildings,
made 98,500 persons homeless, and killed outright about 200 more. The
loss of property was estimated at 190,000,000 dollars, of which only
30,000,000 dollars were recovered from insurances, and this bankrupted
some of th