AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 9I 



thousand names, representing amongst them 

 many of the first men of the city. 



I had intended to remain in New York until 

 the opening of spring, but about this time an 

 event which spread consternation through the 

 land blighted my fair prospects. Along the wires 

 of the telegraph, flashed eastward with lightning 

 speed, came the doleful tidings that Chicago, the 

 Queen City of the West, was in flames! As 

 message after message came, telling of the pro- 

 gress of the devouring element, all hearts were 

 filled with sympathy, till the final tidings came 

 that for many square miles the once beautiful 

 city was a vast plain of smouldering ruins, and 

 that thousands of human beings, thus rendered 

 homeless and penniless, were in almost a starv- 

 ing condition. At once the hearts of the peo- 

 ple of New York were moved to compassion. 

 Business was well-nigh suspended. The single 

 topic which engaged all minds was the great dis- 

 aster which had befallen a sister city, and how to 

 devise means for relief to the destitute and suf- 

 fering. In this absorbing feeling the interest in 



