the strata of these mountains, their consumption in the city for the boundless manufacture of iron, and other things, together with blazing furnaces and their incessant blastings, for ever here at work, render "darkness" the chief thing really "visible."

At a distance from this funereal scene of action, in a retired rural spot, we passed some happy hours with a valued friend and his family, there resident, from which locality may be seen as much verdant beauty as was ever offered up at the shrine of May. And it is indeed a singular sight to gaze upon hills clothed in all the gaudy attire of nature, even up to their very summits, at the moment such masses of bitumen are, day by day, extracted from their interiors. We should have seen all this wonderment sooner, and have staid to look at it longer-in our May—that period of life, when fancy is ever as bright as the fields, and reality little thought about; for, as a delightful poet,* resident in this city, has beautifully sung,

* MR. SHIRAS.-It is not often the case that a manufacturing town can boast of great literary pretension; but, without for

We have, hereafter, said a few words on the construction and accommodation of the stupendous steamers which lie at their ease (until their turn of departure arrives) along the banks of the Monongahela river, and nothing can be added to that account; but having a little call to make in the neighbourhood-at Cleveland, in the State of Ohio, only 100 miles off-we got up early one fine morning, dashed the "blacks" from our eyes, and the soot from our visage, which the dark city never failed to leave there, and departed from one of the best hotels in the Union (Monongahela House), conducted by the most obliging of proprietors (Mr. Crossman), having fully made up our minds to sleep upon the waters of Lake Erie, on the margin of which the forest city of Cleveland abuts; and having done what we intended to do, we shall by-and-bye inflict upon your patience some account of what we did do.

getting our own renowned bard of Sheffield, and the famous Corn Law Rhymer, the genius of Mr. Shiras, of Pittsburg, is one that any city, in any country, may be proud of.

CHAPTER IX.

THE GROWTH OF CITIES-THEIR ROMANTIC TITLES-LOG CABINS

-DANIEL WEBSTER AND GENERAL HARRISON -TRADE OF

THE FAR WEST-THE MANCHESTER OF OLD ENGLAND, AND THE MANCHESTER OF NEW ENGLAND-WONDROUS STATISTICS

-A MODEL FACTORY GIRL-BALTIMORE AND ITS MONUMENTS

-DUCK SHOOTING AND ITS DELIGHTS-POACHING EXTRAORDINARY-STREET SHOOTING-ORIGIN AND ANECDOTE OF A BOWIE-KNIFE-PRETTY GOOD SPECIMENS OF PERSONALITY

ITS CONSEQUENCES-SCENE IN A LAW COURT-COCKTAILS

AND COFFINS-MOVING A HOUSE, AS WELL AS ITS FURNITURE -WORKING DOUBLE TIDES.

THE growth of cities, towns, villages-places coming under any denomination you please forms one of the most remarkable features in the history of America. Some of the great cities (or the principal ones, amongst which we have already

farther a-field,

and so on. If we were to take you into the States of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, we could submit to you a statistic account with which we were favoured; wherein it will be found, as a fact admitting of no question, that half a century since there were not in them all 50,000 inhabitants, and the logcabins of the enterprising pioneer and frontier

* When General Harrison was candidate for the office of President, and some imputations were cast upon him from his having been born in "a log-cabin," the late Daniel Webster thus retorted upon those worthless sarcasms:

"Gentlemen,

"It is only shallow-minded pretenders who either make dis

settlers, in this wondrous stretch of territory, stood at very respectable distances. There were in those,

tinguished origin matter of personal merit, or obscure origin matter of personal reproach. Taunt and scoffing at the humble condition of early life affect nobody in this country but those who are foolish enough to indulge in them, and they are generally sufficiently punished by public rebuke. A man who is not ashamed of himself, need not be ashamed of his early condition.

"Gentlemen,

"It did not happen to me to be born in a log-cabin, but my eldest brothers and sisters were born in one, raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early, as that when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney, and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if ever I fail in affectionate veneration for him who raised it and defended it against savage violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and through the fire and blood of a seven years' revolutionary war, shrank from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his country, and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, may my name, and the name of my posterity, be blotted for ever from the memory of mankind !"