[Footnote: Already other roads across the continent are constructing. The Northern Pacific has its eastern terminus on Lake Superior, and its western will be on Puget Sound. Though far to the north, yet in Oregon there is no winter weather, but only a rainy season, as in California. In portions of Dakota, Idaho, and Montana, cattle range the natural-grass pastures during the whole winter; while, in Washington Territory, roses blossom the year around. For the construction of this road public lands have been given by Congress, to the amount of over 80,000,000 acres, which is considerably in excess of the total area of the six New England States. The length of this road will be 1,800 miles, with a branch of 200 miles to Portland, Oregon. The Southern Pacific is to extend from Shreveport, La., to San Diego, Cal., a distance of 1,514 miles. This will run through a country so mild as to avoid the necessity of the "snow-sheds" which form so singular a feature of the Central Pacific.] [Illustration: ULYSSES S GRANT] _The Fifteenth Amendment_, which guarantees to all the right of suffrage, irrespective of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," having been ratified by the requisite number of States, was formally announced as a part of the Constitution, by Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, March 30, 1870. _Prosperity of the Country._--The nation rapidly recovered from the effects of war. The price of gold fell to 110, and the national debt was reduced $204,000,000 during the first two years of this administration. A general amnesty to all connected with the Civil War was proclaimed, and the bitter feelings engendered by fraternal strife fast melted away. The South, devastated and scourged by the march of contending armies, accustomed herself to the novel conditions of free labor, rebuilt her railroads, cultivated her fields, and repaired the ravages of war. The census of 1870 showed that the population of the United States was over thirty-eight millions, an increase of about seven millions, while the manufacturing establishments of the country had nearly, if not quite, doubled in number and value during the preceding decade. _Fires_.--l. A great fire broke out in Chicago, Sunday night, October 8, 1871. For two days it raged with tremendous violence, devastating 3,000 acres. 25,000 buildings were burned, $200,000,000 worth of property was destroyed, and 100,000 persons were rendered homeless. Contributions for the sufferers were taken in nearly all parts of the world, and over $7,500,000 were raised. 2. During the same fall, wide-spread conflagrations raged in the forests of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. Entire villages were consumed. 1,500 people perished in Wisconsin alone. 3. An extensive fire occurred in Boston November 9, 1872. It swept over sixty acres in the center of the wholesale trade of that city, and destroyed $70, 000,000 worth of property.