CHAP. XXXVII.] PITTSBURG FIRE. 225 



which I can only explain by reference to the theory before ad 

 vanced ;* namely, by supposing the amount of subsidence, as well 

 as of the subsequent upward movement, to have been greater 

 inland, or farther north, than in the south, or nearer the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



April 16. There had been so hard a frost in the night, that 

 the roof of our steamer s cabin was glazed with a thin sheet of 

 ice as we approached Pittsburg, and we heard fears expressed 

 that the fruit trees would be injured. Four years had elapsed 

 since we were last at Pittsburg, and, in the interval, a consider 

 able part of the city, covering sixty acres, had been burnt to the 

 ground, the great roofed bridge over the Monongahela, all built 

 of wood, having shared the same fate. A light suspension bridge 

 has already replaced that structure of ponderous aspect, and al 

 though the conflagration only happened in April of last year, new 

 streets have sprung up every where from the ashes of the old, and 

 the town has very far from a ruined or desolate look. Com 

 manding the navigation of three great rivers, and an inexhausti 

 ble supply of coal, it has every advantage save that of an atmo 

 sphere free from coal smoke. 



I learnt that there had recently been a strike of the factory 

 girls here for ten instead of twelve hours of daily labor. Their 

 employers argue that they are competing with rivals who work 

 their girls twelve or more hours per day, and the strike has fail 

 ed ; yet many are of opinion, that even without legislative inter 

 ference, a ten-hour rule will be eventually established. 



Most of our companions in the steamer were agents of com 

 mercial houses going to look out for orders at Pittsburg. On the 

 whole they were very intelligent, and conversed well on a variety 

 of subjects, while most of them were too gentlemanlike to feel 

 ashamed of &quot; the shop.&quot; But we had now been living so many 

 weeks in public with strangers, and without opportunities of 

 choosing our society, that great was our delight to be able to hire 

 at Pittsburg a private carriage, and set out alone on an expedi 

 tion to Greensburg, 3 2 miles distant, where I had a point of geo 

 logical interest to investigate. As we were leaving the hotel, a 

 * See ante, p. 195, 



