principal banks, the leading hotels, many extensive factories, all the offices of insurance men, lawyers, produce brokers, etc., the custom-house, court-house, chamber of commerce, all the prominent public halls and places of amusement, many coal yards, the monster Central railroad depot, with its various buildings for the transaction of business of the Illinois Central, Michigan Central, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroads, &c., &c. There were

nearly thirty-seven hundred buildings destroyed in this division, including sixteen hundred stores, twenty-eight hotels, sixty manufacturing establishments, and the homes of about twenty-two thousand people.

In the North Division, the flames swept nearly fifteen hundred acres, destroying thirteen thousand three hundred buildings, the homes of nearly seventy-five thousand people. These structures included more than six hundred stores and one hundred manufacturing establishments, including McCormick's reaper factory, a sugar refinery, box mills, etc. The lake shore, from Chicago avenue north, was lined with breweries. The river banks were piled high with lumber and coal, three grain elevators stood near the fork of the river, and near them the Galena depot. Many hotels, and private storehouses for produce and other property, also existed in this neighborhood, and the wholesale meat markets on Kinzie street were a busy cen... ter of trade. North Clark, Wells, and North and Chicago avenues, were principally occupied by retail stores.

The total area burned over was two thousand one hundred and twenty-four acres, or almost three and one-third square miles. This area contained about seventythree miles of streets, and seventeen thousand four hundred and fifty buildings, the homes of nearly one hundred thousand people. All this transpired in the brief. space of thirty hours, and the aggregate loss was not far from $200,000,000. But saddest of all was the great loss of life, the precise extent of which will probably never be known.

For a city thus suddenly and tragically overwhelmed in ruin, the sympathies of the whole civilized world were spontaneously poured forth, and, in response to the cry for help that went up from her borders, instant and abundant relief was sent from every part of the Union. The national government, at the instance of Lieut. Gen. Sheridan,-whose activity in endeavoring to stay the progress of the conflagration, and, subsequently, in preserving order, was so conspicuous,-sent thousands of tents and army rations; societies and private citizens sent money, clothing, and provisions; railroad companies dispatched special trains laden with these gifts; and in every city and town, public meetings were held, and money raised to aid the homeless and suffering. From Canada and Europe, too, came assurances of sympathy and proffers of assistance. The total value of the charities thus bestowed, in provisions, clothing, and money, amounted to millions of dollars, all of which was distributed with such promptness and wisdom that despair was forestalled, epidemic disease prevented, and hope kindled in the hearts of all.

To narrate more than a few of the many instances of heroism, affection, tragedy and crime, incident to a disaster so widespread and awful, would be simply impossible. Gangs of armed ruffians were everywhere patrolling about, hunting for plunder, and breaking into safes with impunity,— remonstrance was met with a deadly blow, and few had the temerity to interfere. Heated with whiskey and excitement, they caused a complete reign of terror, and, though the mayor had issued a proclamation directing the closing of the saloons, no attention was paid to it, and the disorderly element had its own sway.

In Wabash and Michigan avenues, and, indeed, in all the places where the richer classes lived, the scenes enacted were unparalleled. Women who had never known what a care was, and consequently were, as would be supposed, utterly incapable of bearing with courage such a calamity as the destruction of their homes, displayed

instances of heroism and love worthy to be written of in story and song. Thus, a prominent lady of Wabash avenue had been deserted by her servants as soon as it became certain that the house was doomed; they went off, taking with them whatever they could lay their hands on. She, her daughter, and her invalid husband, were alone in the house, and the flames were rapidly approaching. There was not a moment to spare, and the two women carried away in their arms the sick man, and brought him in safety beyond the reach of the fire.

The most pitiable sights were the sick children, half dead, lying crouched on the sidewalks, in many cases with barely any covering on them. A pathetic scene was noticed on the corner of La Salle and Randolph streets, where two little. girls were lying, terror-stricken, by the side of their dead sister, whose remains presented a harrowing spectacle. She had been too late to escape from under a falling building on Clark street, and had then been extricated and borne away to the corner by her almost perishing sisters.

The preservation of Mr. Ogden's residence, solitary and alone, in the very heart of the fire, was one of the most memorable incidents in the history of this great disaster. The happy result in this case was accounted for by the fact that the house, a large and comfortable frame structure, was in the middle of a block, all the other lots of which formed its elegant garden. On the streets upon its four sides were not many large buildings; while just as the fire approached it from the south-west there was a slight lull in the fury of the

wind. This allowed the flames to shoot straighter into the air, and, before the fiery tempest had again bent them forward in search of further fuel, the structures upon which they were immediately feeding had been reduced to ashes, and a break made in the terrible wall of fire. The exertions of Mr. Ogden and his family, in covering the roof and walls of the house with carpets, quilts, and blankets, which were kept constantly wet with water from a cistern which happened to be in his place, also aided materially in the saving of their home, which was the only unharmed building for miles!

One of the most notable events was the fate of the Tribune building, erected at great cost, and, as it was supposed, with undoubted fire-proof qualities. A wide space had been burned around it, and its safety was thought to be assured. A patrol of men swept off live coals and put out fires in the side walls, and another patrol watched the roofs. Up to four o'clock in the morning, the reporters had sent in detailed accounts of the fire. At five o'clock the forms were sent down. In ten minutes the two eight-cylinders in the press-room would have been throwing off the morning paper. Then the front basement was discovered to be on fire. The plug on the corner was tapped, but there was no water. The pressmen were driven from their presses. The attachés of the establishment said good-bye to the finest newspaper office in the western country, and withdrew to a place of safety. In a very short time the building was enveloped in fire, and by ten o'clock the whole magnificent structure was a mass of blackened ruins.

namely:

tection.

In this view, they were joined, on consultation, by others, and a circular was drawn up, embracing the various points it was deemed desirable to embody, in presenting the plan of the Grange to the country. On the 4th of December, 1867, in Washington, D. C., the first Grange was organized, being officered as follows: William Saunders, master; J. R. Thompson, lecturer; Rev. A. B. Grosh, chaplain; O. H. Kelley, secretary. This became the National Grange. Soon after, a subordinate grange was established in that city, as a school of instruction, and to test the efficiency of the ritual. This grange numbered about sixty members. In April, 1868, Mr. Kelley was appointed to the position of traveling agent. The first dispensation was issued for a grange at Harrisburg, Pa.; the second at Fredonia, N. Y.; the third at Columbus, O.; the next at Chicago, Ill. In Minnesota, six granges were organized. Thus, the whole number during the first year was but ten: in 1869, thirty-nine dispensations were granted; in 1870, thirty-eight; in 1871, one hundred and twenty-five; and during the next year, more than eight hundred dispensations for subordinate granges were issued from the headquarters at Washington, and the total increase during 1872 was rising eleven hundred.

The declaration of principles put forth, authoritatively, by the national grange, leaves no room for doubt as to the character and purposes avowed by this now powerful order. Starting with the proclamation of union by the strong and faithful tie of Agriculture, with a mutual resolve to labor for the good of the order, the country, and mankind, and indorsing the motto, 'In essentials, unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity,' the following specific objects are set forth as those characterizing the order and

To develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood among those constituting the order; to enhance the comforts and attractions of home, and strengthen the attachment to their pursuits; to foster mutual understanding and co-operation; to maintain inviolate the laws, and emulate each other in hastening the good time coming; to reduce expenses, both individual and co-operate; to buy less and produce more, in order to make their farms self-sustaining; to diversify crops, and crop no more than can be cultivated; to condense the weight of exports, selling less in the bushel and more on hoof and in fleece; to systematize work, and calculate intelligently on probabilities; to discontinue the credit system, the mortgage system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to prodigality and bankruptcy; to meet together, talk together, work together, buy and sell together, and in general act together for mutual protection and advancement, as association may require; to avoid litigation as much as possible, by arbitration in the grange; to constantly strive to secure entire harmony, good will, and vital brotherhood, and to make the Order perpetual; to endeavor to suppress personal, local, sectional and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry, and all selfish ambition.

In regard to the principles and aims of this organization in respect to business,concerning which much public discussion has taken place, the statement is made by the order, authoritatively and explicitly, that it aims to bring producers and consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into the most direct and friendly relation possible, and, in order to fulfill this, it is necessary that a surplus of middlemen be dispensed with,-not in any spirit of unfriendliness to them, but because such a class is not needed, their surplus and exactions diminishing the raiser's profits.

Emphatically disavowing any intention to wage aggressive warfare against other interests, the grangers assert that all their