Chicago, Mich. [sic] USA. Thursday Oct 13/98.

I didn’t go out during the Tuesday forenoon at La Fayette, but after dinner, Sarah, Herbert & I went for a drive, crossed the Wabash river by the fine steel-built bridge, & drove by the river road a short distance. At a trough where a flow of fine spring water runs, both man & beast can quench their thirst, & after all being satisfied, Sarah & I were photo’d by Herbert, we sitting in the buggy behind “Bill”, the horse. It will come out right, I think, as the light was good. Rachael went to the dress makers before we left the house, & we called for her & took her into the city, where she had some shopping to do. We called for her on return, but as she had not finished, we had to hurry on to the “shops” as Matt wanted me to be introduced to some of the managers of other depts. which I had not seen, & we got there before they finished & I was accordingly escorted round the different shops, & saw much that was interesting, chiefly the application of compressed air to machinery, such as applied to jacks for lifting cars.[1] They applied 2 jacks, placing them [7:74] beneath a passenger car weighing 70 tons, attached the air hose to the coupling of the jack & instrument, & silently up went the car & as gently let down again, then they applied the air hose to a forge hammer & shewed me how simply it worked, & another interesting sight was painting freight cars by the use of compressed air, the hose attached to a tin bottle which has a spout & there flows a spray of paint, which is moved as required by the painter holding it in his hands, & the force is so strong that it penetrates the wood & one coat is equal to 2 put on by hand, & the man can paint a great car in 15 minutes complete. They measure 34 feet by 8.10 high by 8.8 wide. A flat car for carrying wood or stone can be painted in 4 min., & a coal waggon, 34 feet by 8.8, & 53 inch sides, can be painted in 10 minutes. It was marvellous to see how the work was done. They showed me a fine mail car, 60 feet, inside beautifully fitted up, & they are fitting up a car in which is every particular, comprising the working of air brakes &c., for teaching the brakesmen. It is to travel on the system. Teachers will live in it & at stations, lessons will be given & examinations passed before men are entrusted with a train. The machinery was very complicated but beautiful to look at. On a truck which has a crane & worked by air stood Matt, Mr. Coller, & Mr. Narey, & I photo’d them. These were the gentlemen who so kindly shewed me all I’ve described & much more. This compressed air, Matt shewed me the engine which compressed it, is carried to every spot where any lifting or power is required, & pipes are a net work under ground. It beats hydraulic & is simplicity in both making & using. I tried several snaps in the smiths’ shop, but I fear the shade was too dark. I should have given a time exposure. We’ll see what the result. Minor & Herbert are to develop the 2 new spools, [7:75] print some pictures & then forward the spools & copy of each on to me at Simcoe, they keeping copies. They developed the Niagara spool well & have it also, but wanted a few more copies, so all comes on after me. We did not get away from the works till well on to 6 & we soon had tea. Sarah we dropped down at Mr ___[2] the friends who came & took her to chapel. She wanted to wish them goodbye, so we called for her on our way home.

After getting into house, we met Mr. Struble, a great friend of Matt’s & the family. He is chief clerk over the shops. He wished to have a short chat & bid good bye. They wanted him to stay for supper, but he had promised to go home as his sister had returned from Louisville during the afternoon. Matt & I called on her while there. She keeps house for 3 brothers in La Fayette, all working at the railway shops, young men. The shops were once at Louisville but the company removed all the principal plant to La Fayette, so all employe[e]s, Matt included, had to remove to La Fayette. Then after supper, about 7:30, Miss Struble & her sister came along to visit the Forsters, & we had a pleasant 2 hours. They are very warm friends with our cousins. I had one film only left & as soon as we were left by ourselves we had a flash light photo taken again, but I fancy it will be spoiled as I opened, by mistake, the shutter after the light was turned up. The “flash taken” the night before at Morrisons’ came out splendid & I’ve got copies. Then, before retiring, several souvenirs were given me for you all by every member of the family. So very kind of them & I am sure the genuine hospitality & abounding kindnesses they extended to me was by far more than enough to ever forget my happy visit to La Fayette. [7:76] The mutual regret was that the visit had drawn to a close. We retired rather late as we all had so much to say anent the past, present & future that we could have sat up the night through, but having to rise at 4:30 the next morning, we resolved to retire.

On Wednesday morning we were all “afoot” by 4:20, breakfasted soon after 5, & left in the buggy amid partings, regretful, for Columbia St. Depot, Herbert driving us, & we left La Fayette at 6 o’clock for Chicago, w[h]ere we arrived at 10:45. It was a lovely morning for travelling. Matt met, at the station, Mr. Watkey, their master mechanic, going to the shops, so he travelled with us to “Klondike”, the depot at the works. He chatted away merrily about his ancestry far, far back to William the Conqueror, & has the genealogy up to date, a great historian & enthusiastic over his family’s history. We passed, soon after, the famous battle ground where the Indians, Tecumseh’s warriors, were killed in battle by the early whites. Our train was the “milk” train & stopped at nearly every station. We had fine views of the country, a real farmer’s paradise all the way to within about 30 or 40 miles from Chicago, cattle, sheep, hogs, all black in great herds. The country is prairie-like, few hills, here & there small plantations. Cedar Lake is a fine sheet of water & a great picnic resort for the Chicago people. Hammond, 20 miles from Chicago, ends Indiana, & Illinois state begins, & a board on the rail side intimates the fact, & Chicago really begins here as street cars run right to here. We passed this at 9:50 a.m. Pul[l]man, a town where the Pul[l]man cars are built, we saw, & Burnside, where the great shops of the Illinois railway are. Matt is always interested in railway shops. Here we saw hundreds of freight cars & lots bearing [7:77] Armour’s & other packers’ names. They all have their own refrigerating & ice cars. These are to be seen on every railway system & each their own firm’s advertisements on sides. We soon come into the great city suburbs, tho’ we had been in the city limits sometime & going through town & streets all the while. As I told you, the trains just run through & cross streets like horse & cart traffic, the great engines with their cow catchers & huge cars looking to Englishmen most dangerous. Did I tell you the brakemen come through the cars & call out the name of the next station, the conductor takes tickets only. A baggage man travels with every train & looks after it only, never see a porter dressed as ours are & only very rarely do you see one at all. Well, we duly arrived 10:40 or 45 & found ourselves in the great city of the West. Matt had a crack with the engine driver & introduced Sarah & I, & got me to book both engine’s number & driver’s name: Mr. Bane & No. 110, “Monon Route”. Sarah was to go on to Detroit, & Matt & I to do Chicago he to return Thursday night. So after getting settled, we set out to view so that Sarah might see something of Chicago, & we with Mr. Bane as our guide for an hour, all he could spare, & that was kind & valuable. He took us through several huge stores, the Whitley Style & then directing us to the Masonic Temple. All the while we had been on State St. (and the station we had arrived at was Dearborn stn.) & after thanking him, we went on & soon was at the building, 20 stories high, 25 c. each to ascend the lift, of which there are 4, & it’s a sight looking up through the grating of the lift as it ascends. Soon we were up to the 19th floor, the highest the elevator goes, & we walk up other [7:78] 4 flights, not very big ones, & arrive on top, a splendid flat roof all railed around, & a fine dome in the center, & here such a grand panorama opens out as you view the great city, looking down from such a height, & across the great Lake Michigan, with its craft floating on its surface, & the wharves & canal busy with freight. It’s a fine sight, I assure you, & an impressive one, & we counted ourselves lucky in getting such a fine clear day for such an unique occasion. This Masonic Temple building is 38 feet higher than any other commercial building in the world. I understood it was 24 stories high, & probably it is. On the top floor proper is a magnificent theatre beautifully fitted up & then you ascend to the roof. These flights may be called stories. Then the basements may be reckoned in, 10, 12, & 14 stories are very common. The Great Northern Hotel has 18 stories. Then huge stores, 6 & 8 floors. One is an enormous place, Siegel & Coopers universal providers, & the Fair, another such like. After coming down from the Masonic Temple, we dined in a most beautiful American restaurant, marble stairs, floors, & sides & roof mirrored glass. Looking up, every body & thing shows upside down, electric lights all day. This is on a basement entered from the main pathway on State Street, over which stands the great store of Siegel & Cooper, & they have a restaurant in the basement under a section of their store. Band plays during dining hours, & it is crowded. Sarah was to leave by the 3:15 train for Detroit as she did not care to stay in Chicago, so we saw her away. Then Matt & I viewed about & went out to Lincoln Park, one of the many beautiful parks which Chicago boasts of, much statuary in it, [7:79] lovely vegetation & flowers, ornamental water, botanical gardens, a good zoo & of immense acreage. We left this till the last to view & it was nearing 6 o’clock, so we took a car for the city, none of the parks are enclosed & no restrictions as to time, open to public day & night. Matt & I went to an entertainment & saw a fine representation by cinematograph of the late American-Spanish war & naval engagements, which pleased the Yankees much. We were tired & soon went to rest. On Thursday morning we were up betimes & breakfasted early. We stayed at a railway club for railway men to which Matt had access. We set out for Armour’s great industry, a long ride on electric car which took us about 40 minutes. The streets en route were very dirty, ill kept, & no credit to a city like Chicago. It seems too big for the authorities to keep in order, & I question the sanitary arrangements as the appearance is very unwholesome & repulsive to the senses. We duly arrived at the great Armour’s & in our progress through the great stock yards, where the packers get their supplies, & there are factories all around these stock yards with its net work of railways & over head wood roads where the cattle are driven from the pens as purchased to the several slaughtering depots. You see cattle & hogs being driven along, a continuous stream. You would think it was a cattle shew procession, & all these are walking to their doom, their last tramp. Cattle buyers ride about on horses, dozens of them, trotting & cantering here & there into this & that way, opening into pens, & in amongst the animals, judging their value. Sheep are in roofed sheds & there were thousands upon thousands, good & poor quality. We got into the office at 9:15 & everybody seemed full of business & all in full swing. We were received by a [7:80] coloured young man, who shewed us to a seat, no introduction needed. It is a regular “show” place & there were other 2 men waiting. We were told a guide would be at our service in a few minutes (they are pleased when people call & anxious to show all through). Soon a youth came & presenting each with an advertisement card, requested us to follow him. I, with note book open, eager to take all down, kept close on the heels of the youth, who was very explanatory & eager to give all & every information. I suppose he thought I was a reporter, as the other 2 men, provision merchants, I expect, asked me during progress, & seeing me noting all down & making close observation, & asking, where I saw information was worth the knowing, if I was reporting for some paper. I replied, “Well, I was taking a few notes”. We first were taken to see the hogs enter the pens from these over-head wood roads I’ve already referred to. 8 or 10 are put into pens, one on either side of a great wheel upright & revolving slowly, chains with a hook at end is attached to a wheel edge, maybe 6 or 8 chains on each side, & 2 men in each pen do nothing else but hook the hogs by one hind leg & as the wheel rotates, up goes the hog & away squealing one after the other, & as soon as clear of the wheel, they from both sides slide off onto a rod which declines gradually, & here a man stands with a knife & sticks the throat, & onwards piggy goes, blood spouting out of the throat & it squealing terribly. This man can’t afford to loose [sic] ½ minute of time as all & every movement is by machinery. In less than 5 seconds, piggy slips off the rod into a huge vat of boiling water. Raked through by men during this quick process the hair is partly removed, then a rotator with gripe like prongs is at the end of the troughs & catches piggy & up with him, & throws him over & out to a bench where his head is cut off.[3] He is checked again & run along a rod, being cleaned in process by a stream of boiling water [7:81] like a miniature “fall” & on he goes, being further cleaned by men as he passes by & then cut open, entrails & offall [sic] taken out, feet cut off, cut into halves, & passed into cooling chamber, there to remain 24 hours. Now all this process from cleeking[4] piggy onto wheel to cool chamber does not take 5 minutes. This goes on 6 days every week, year in & out from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m. & 7,000 hogs daily go through the process. Then we saw the cutting up rooms where scores of men were busy, each with their own portion of the sides, cutting up into various parts, & the “trimmings” are all sent by elevators to their separate departments, some for lard, sausage, loins, jowls, feet, &c. &c. Then hams are cut, shoulders, middle, bellies, spare ribs &c. &c., all & each are done seperately [sic]. Blood has its department, so has the ears. Beautiful pork loins, boned, are packed in cloth, 4 in box, for export, first being chilled in the boxes & for immediate use into white parchment & in boxes of 4. Every place is machinery & the men must keep pace, as one depends on the other, & the[y] work like machines. Next we were taken to see the bullocks manipulated. 8 are driven into boxes, 2 in each, tight fit, so that they can’t move about, doors shut as each box fills, then 4 men – each fells 2 bullocks – stand and little higher than the boxes & with big hammer fells the bullocks & instantly touches a lever, the bottom drops & out tumble the stunned animals on to the floor. The boxes are instantly fixed & in flows another 8 for same process. As soon as they are rolled on to the floor, men cleek them by the hind legs above the hough joint, & on they go by machinery along a rod, head down, & a man stands not 4 yards from where they are cleeked & cuts the throat. A tin is hooked into the cut & ke[e]ps the blood, the beast being drawn along all the while, heads are cut out of skin during this process, left on & pass to next man, who cuts head off, leaving the loose face skin [7:82] hanging, which goes with the hide. Next the animal is lowered to the floor on its back, prop[p]ed by a rod, cut open, disembowelled, partly skinned, cleeked up again, tail skinned & cut out, leaving tail skin on, next skinned entirely, man washes flesh, & next cleaved in two. First the rump bone is sawn then cleaved with axe. Next each side is weighed, labeled, marked, & run along rod into cool chamber. The process from felling to cool chamber occupying 6 minutes. Now it’s not by any means a refining or pleasant portion of my diary, a gory subject in fact, but we eat meat & it has to be prepared for us, & conscious as we are that the process, even by butchers, is a gory one. Armour’s such multiplied thousands fold. They kill daily on average 3,000 bullocks, & has capacity for 5,000 sheep daily in addition, but they were not killing sheep that day, & they never have surplus stock of any product they prepare. Butchers buy the dead meat throughout the country, & to see on the rail, Armour’s, Fairbank’s, Swift’s, Lipton’s, & other beautiful refrigerator cars, each bearing names of owners & their special advertisements neatly & showily lettered, you need not wonder where all the dead meat goes to. Armour’s works are enormous in capacity. They have machinery every where, elevated railways on which their own little tank locomotives draw, small trucks here & there, & taking from one department to another & to storages &c. No canning going on just now, plenty out let for the meat in bulk. I forgot to add, two men do nothing but cleave the skull & two men take out the brain intact & lay these reeking hot on trays in neat order while men run the blood into small shallow trays, & it under goes a process I forgot to ask about. Horns & hoofs too are the care of other men & so on.

[7:83]

We left Armour’s soon after 10 & again returned through the stock yards, where all seemed as busy as before, men on horseback rushing too [sic] & fro. We got through at 10:35 & made for a car, which we soon got, for the city (a Wallace & Canter car for State Street). The car system is cable, electric & horse, & a very fine rapid service. They have in Chicago also suburban trains on level & overhead erected in center of streets. This (like Liverpool) is fine to travel on as you get such a splendid view looking down into the streets. Sometimes we saw & travelled in a service with 4 cars & always well filled. Cars like all others (except England) stop only at certain places, & passengers must be there. They don’t wait. In fact, in Chicago they scarcely do stop. It’s a rush in & out. For my Comely‘s special information, tell him I saw in Lincoln Park, buffalos, lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, wolves, hyenas, pumas, wapiti deer, antelopes, foxes, prairie dogs, eagles, & all kinds of birds, & such lots of other animals, & was wishing I had him with me.[5]

The herd of buffalo were very, very poor animals & not so good by far as they at Haggerstone. A great wheel like the one at Earl’s Court is erected near Lincoln Park. It was removed from the World’s Fair. Beautiful cycling paths in Lincoln Park, & carriage drives. The park borders on the lake & I imagined myself on Seaton Sands. The water came rolling gently in & sounded sea-like, lots of ships & craft you could see outside. During our journey to & fro, the cars went under the canal, a fine tunnel lighted by electricity. The day was cold & dull, a great change from the preceding one (so clear, warm & fine).

We also viewed Michigan Avenue, on which is a very pretty park & a grand equestrian statue of General Logan[6]. Also a very fine building, [7:84] art gallery, which we entered & viewed. Some very grand buildings face the park & over looks the lake. Clubs, hotels & such like, comprise many of the choicest architecture. One we entered, the athletic club, & got permission to view, one of the attendants sent with us, lift to 9th floor, racquet court, tennis court; 8th, dining room, Matt had once dined here with a member friend; 7th, suit[e]s of rooms, 28 to 54; 6th, ditto 1 to 27; 5th exercising track, walking & running, a great oval, & a boxing room, walls hung around with gloves; 4th, gymnasium, a very large hall, every kind of appliance for exercise on floor & suspended from ceiling, & a floor polished like glass; 3rd, library, baths, barber’s shop, magnificently fitted up, members’ lockers &c. &c. The baths are splendid every description, & all marble; 2nd, is lounging room & café, papers, & has also billiard room, 19 tables ,& a café here also, all marble; 1st, swimming tank 40×50, 4 to 9 feet deep, also baths here, lavatories, offices, writing rooms &c., & adjoining. Then on basement is a skittle alley, shuffle board & other sporting arrangements. This is apparently a very popular club & full of members. Ladies have their days, members’ wives & families only. It’s a very magnificent interior & all seemed A1 in style.

We went to Jackson Park.[7] This is where the World’s Fair[8] was held. We went by the Illinois & Suburban railway along the lake side all the way, & got off at Stoney Island & Avenue Stn., & only a few yards from the park, which has been beautified, & still they are remoddeling [sic] the grounds, having demolished all the buildings except a few. The grounds are laid out very lovely, & plenty ornamental water, canals, islands, bridges, trees, & miniature plantations. In fact, [7:85] beyond description are the many & various designs & landscape transformations every where to be seen. I expect any who visited the world’s fair would not know the grounds. Matt visited it & described the great change, but there are acres upon acres yet to remodel. The original arts building still stands & is open to the public, a grand museum full of the usual exhibits, all more or less interesting. As it was raining, we spent 2 hours inside. I[t] said, “open to the public”, but charge for admission 55 cents for the 2 of us, & fancy the 5 cents would be for taking care of umbrellas. We saw the Spanish models of the vessels which Columbus crossed the Atlantic in & discovered America. The area of the grounds are so large that a day would be required to move smartly about & what is completed is so very charming. One stops every here & there to view. The wooded island is a very delightful part & the trees lend shelter, so necessary in these climates during summer. By the way, while in the mechanical section of the museum amongst models of engineering &c. (& there are many old locomotives illustrating development) I glance at a large photo of a Sheerlegs[9] & was attracted by the buildings in the rear & the dock wall, & I am very much mistaken if it be not the “Central Marine”. It hung higher than my eye could clearly define, however, I took a sketch & will compare when at home. The Sheerlegs were by Cowans & Sheldon, Carlisle, & lifting 90 tons. Near & adjoining the Margin of this park are yet standing several large buildings which were erected for hotels during the fair & some monsters there are, Chicago Beech Hotel, Hotel Windemere & others, great heights. We returned by the over head railway, electric, from park at Stoney Island Avenue station – note correction: going we got off the Illinois & Suburban Ry for park at 57th Street. See 7th line [7:86] from bottom, page 84. We had a fine view all the way to city. Most of the houses outside are erected in “flats”, some large & some only double roofs flat. Maybe this is in view of building other stories on some day if need be. Streets run at right angles & one way are numbered 57th & so on, & the other way are named, so 57th Street would be, were you enquiring, off, say, Jackson Street . We next visited the Public Library, a very grand building rich in architecture but the interior, one of magnificience [sic] the like I’ve not seen yet in any public building: marble staircase & beautiful flats, walls & roofs vaulted, inlaid with porcelain scrolls, floors mosaic, & it is difficult to imagine its beauty, much less to try & describe it. I have it photo’d in my mind as I & Matt sat down on the library flat & viewed intently. 4 lifts keep going, 5 floors in the building. The library is on the 3rd & the reading room on the 5th. This was crowded, & an immense chamber it is, a fine sight, I assure you. The library was well patronized, lots waiting turn & all lady attendants, policeman present, electric lights, tables & chairs & seats for the use of borrowers or visitors. This sight of such splendour quite charmed me & I should not have know[n] how much of value to my mind I would have missed had I passed it by. It began to get over cast by now & threatened rain, & after some further sight seeing, buildings, street scenes &c. &c., we made for our quarters & had tea. We made attempt to go out about 7 to view by electric light, but the rain was falling & it was getting stormy, so we did not persist. Matt had to leave at 8:30 for La Fayette, so we spent the time chatting & gathering up dropped fragments of home land news &c. &c. Chicago was being decorated for the peace jubilee to be celebrated on the 18th inst. & the streets were festooned from side to side & along the front of the buildings with electric lights. You can imagine these, in place of little lights as we’ve seen them, and every where are strings of flags & banners & designs, “stars & stripes”, & business fronts have designs & electric jets forming figures & mottos. It will be very pretty & a grand sight. I have [7:87] no doubt our illustrated will have a plate or more in some recent issue. Matt & I parted at 8:30, I seeing him away. We had a very pleasant time, & venture to say, we will long cherish the memory of a happy time together at La Fayette &c.

On Friday morning I got up early, had my bath & breakfast, & went out to view. Took Kodak but the morning, tho’ dry, was dull & hazy, so I did not get a snap in Chicago. I’ve however got souvenirs of views. The morning soon passed & I made arrangements for taking my journey & left at 12:02 p.m. for Detroit from Union Station, Dearborn St. I might just note that while out viewing before leaving, I was amused at some walking advertisements, two for one firm, a dwarf in full police rig, most amusing & attractive, & a paper band around his hat advertising. Then a monster man fully 7 feet & with his high silk hat fully 8 feet (Willie will remember the 2 men as walking advertisements at the agricultural hall). This man also had a paper band around his hat advertising. I should have liked a snap but no success.

Leaving Detroit[10] [sic] on Friday at noon, it was cold & dull. For miles we passed railway sidings & yards, cars of all descriptions standing & being shunted, cattle trucks & poultry ditto, long cars these are, & wire sides. We passed Fairbanks great factorys. These people are great meat packers. Our passenger cars had large stoves in each & heats the inside pleasantly, & at night hot water or steam pipes are used for heating. Cars are very comfortably fitted up, neatly upholstered & comfortable to ride in, but I prefer our system of compartments for privacy. The country all along is very rich in agriculture, maize the chief grain, & these fields are strewn with pumpkins, as I’ve already described. Much fall wheat was inches above ground & looked like our spring time. Much wooded country & some prairie-like, plenty water, many beautiful model homesteads, all wood buildings, contrasts on the tidyness of farms. Some just my ideal of neatness, others very untidy, weeds & thistles growing [7:88] & signs that order did not prevail on such farms. As we journeyed on, not very fast travelling, & stopping at nearly every station, & there were many ere we got out side the city limits, “brakesman” comes along & calls out the next station we stop at. The weather improved & we got gradually away from the lake, & the further we got away, the finer the weather became. At station sidings I saw cars again, Lipton’s, Armour’s, Swift’s, Fairbank’s, Nelson’s &c. Ice cars & fresh provision cars &c. &c., & every here & there on farms were lots of cattle, sheep & hogs. What a business “raising” hogs is in the States, & it’s surprising where the great supply all comes from. The long journey was wearisome & the scenery monotonous, however, time glided on till dinner was announced, 6:15. It was now dark, a beautiful new dinning [sic] car, coloured waiters all in white, collars like stocks, & very smart the men were, & a good dinner was served, 1 dollar, a beautiful menu, “shaped like a plate & Willow pattern”. These are souvenirs & each diner is presented with one as he leaves the table. It’s the prettiest thing I’ve seen.

I arrived at Detroit at 8:30. I had written Sarah the night before, however, it had evidently not reached her (postage not so efficient as in England), however, I soon found my route by enquiring of a policeman at station outlet, & he set me right for cars. I took car at 3rd & transferred to Grand River Avenue. Well, on getting into the transfer car, who should be in it but Sarah & Mrs. Fetterley, & imagine mutual surprise. They did not expect me till either Saturday or Sunday. They had been out for the day visiting Mrs. Nolan (Father Matthew’s sister). This was rather remarkable & that I should have struck the very car, & they had intended being home long before in the evening. “Been to be, as you will say”. We were soon at 18th Street, where Mrs. Fetterley lives, & a very happy home I soon found & was warmly welcomed by all. After lots of chatting & refreshment, we retired & I had a very good night’s rest.

[7:89]

[1] Inserted on facing page: “La Fayette. Beautiful flowers & vegetation & fruits in October. Grapes plentiful & Matt has a nice arbour just behind the house, where some grapes are yet hanging, & I go at will & help myself, tho’ as he says, they have hung too long & are not so nice. I’ve never yet seen any grapes like our home “hot house” yet. Lettuce & vegetables are to be seen in gardens. Fruit was dear in Louisville, 2 ½ d. for a large apple.”

[2] Blank space in manuscript. Name not given.

[3] Inserted on facing page: “Thrown over on to a bench where his head is cut off & is cleeked again, & runs along a rod under a stream of boiling water, cleaning the skin, & men scrapes [sic] them as they pass along”.

[4] In Scots dialect, a “cleek” is a large hook.

[5] Inserted on facing page: “Lincoln Park, North Chicago”.

[6] Civil War General

[7] Inserted on facing page: “Got off at 57th street for Jackson Park”.

[8] World’s Columbian Exhibition (1893) in honor of 400 years since the arrival of Christopher Columbus.

[9] Sheerlegs (also written shearlegs) is a hoisting apparatus with two wooden legs.

[10] Probably should be “leaving for Detroit” or “leaving Chicago”.