speak. He is not
the only American that won't speak. Every man in America who is
attending to some duty of other, has his mouth closed. I have tried the
railroad conductor, and found him mute. I have had a shot at the porter
in the Pullman car, and found him mute. I have endeavored to draw out
the janitors of the halls where I was to speak in the evening, and I
have failed. Even the negroes won't speak. You would imagine that
speaking was prohibited by the statute-book. When my lecture was over, I
returned to the hotel, and like a culprit crept to bed.

[Illustration: THE SLEEPING CAR.]

[Illustration: THE JANITOR.]

How I do love New York! It is not that it possesses a single building
that I really care for; it is because it contains scores and scores of
delightful people, brilliant, affable, hospitable, warm-hearted friends,
who were kind enough to welcome me when I returned from a tour, and in
whose company I could break up the cobwebs that had had time to form in
the corners of my mouth.

* * * * *

The history of Chicago can be written in a few lines. So can the history
of the whole of America.

In about 1830 a man called Benjamin Harris, with his family, moved to
Chicago, or Fort Dearborn, as it was then called. Not more than half a
dozen whites, all of whom were Indian traders, had preceded them. In
1832 they had a child, the first white female born in Chicago--now
married, called Mrs. S. A. Holmes, and the mother of fourteen children.
In 1871 Chicago had over 100,000 inhabitants, and was burned to the
ground. To-day Chicago has over 1,200,000 inhabitants, and in ten years'
time will have two millions.

The activity in Chicago is perfectly amazing. And I don't mean
commercial activity only. Compare the following statistics: In the great
reading rooms of the British Museum, there was an average of 620 readers
daily during the year 1888. In the reading-room of the Chicago Public
Library, there was an average of 1569 each day in the same year.
Considering that the population of London is nearly five times that of
Chicago, it shows that the reading public is ten times more numerous in
Chicago than in London.

* * * * *

It is a never failing source of amusement to watch the ways of public
servants in this country.

I went to pay a visit to a public museum this afternoon.

In Europe, the keepers, that is to say, the servants of the public, hav