Since the Civil War the history of Little Rock has been one of continuous development. Even the period of Reconstruction, that strange saturnalia that constitutes one of the darkest spots in the annals of the Anglo-Saxon race, did not retard its growth. It is now a city of some forty thousand inhabitants, and its future has never been so bright. The mildness of its climate and the profusion of its flowers have won for it the name of “The City of Roses.” The charm of its society, where Southern hospitality is so happily blended with Northern thrift and neatness, have made it a favorite place for visitors from every State. Its inhabitants are fond of art and of foreign travel, and few cities of its size send to Europe a larger or more regular contingent, or can show to the visitor more statues and pictures brought home from abroad. A breadth of view unique in the South, which has led it to welcome immigration from the North, has saved it from stagnation, and in all departments of business there are almost as many men from the North as from the South. The Indian Territory, which for years has stood as a Chinese wall upon the State’s western border, cutting it off from all participation in the great movement of transcontinental traffic, and retarding its progress to an extent that is almost inconceivable, is now opening, and railroads are penetrating the new field. Commerce is flourishing, factories springing up, and everywhere the schoolmaster is abroad in the land. The decrees of the future are inscrutable, but, so far as mortal eye can discern, the twentieth century will be for Little Rock one of constant growth and advancement, material and intellectual, and the wisdom of the men who planted the State’s capital upon this rock when it stood alone in the pathless wilderness will be more than justified. [Illustration: LITTLE ROCK UNIVERSITY.] [Illustration] [Illustration] ST. AUGUSTINE THE OLDEST TOWN IN THE UNITED STATES BY GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS Far down on the Atlantic coast lies the old city of St. Augustine. Unlike most of our early towns, which have either been abandoned, like Jamestown, or rebuilt and modernized until their ancient form and fashion are no longer recognizable, St. Augustine has preserved its antiquity. Its newness is placed alongside, but does not overlie and hide, its ancient character. Its old self is still there, always to be felt and seen, and ever about the old city there cling historic associations which throw around it a charm that few can fail to feel.