boys saw a large long deal box, directed Mrs. J. Stacey, and on a card attached, "This is to certify Mr. J. Stacey did not die of any infectious complaint." So he was waiting there to be sent on to her by next train, and we hope she got him safely. _Thursday, Two o'clock p.m._, we reached Chicago. Minnieappolis, which we passed through, is likely to be a fine city. We went to the Grand Pacific Hotel and were separated by long corridors and staircases, and spent our time chiefly in trying to find one another amidst its vast solitudes. Of course one never sees a chambermaid, or any one, and the quantity of little dishes and fine sounding names which one is served with at meals does not make up for the other discomforts. _Friday, 3rd._--John had a letter to the pork-killing man, Mr. Armour, and he kindly sent two carriages for us, with an assistant, who was to lionize us about. We drove first to the Bank and got some money, and then through the best parts of the town, along the Michigan Boulevards, through which we had glimpses of the Lake, but everything here is sacrificed to the almighty _dollar_, and the railway engines poke themselves in everywhere, down the best streets, and destroying the prettiest landscapes, and making unearthly noises close to your bedroom, or puffing their steam out under your nose as you walk. Chicago looks a more bustling, and a newer and a more railroad- dominated place than Glasgow, but like it in smoke and business aspect. As to the Boulevards, the houses are most of them new, and some in startling styles of architecture. Some in red, which are very good. One was nearly finished of white marble, quite a palace, with more ground than usual round it; but alas, for human hopes, the man who owns it and _millions_ of dollars, has lately been pronounced _mad_, is in the care of a wife whom he lately married, and who does not care for him, and he will die before his marble palace is finished. There are no _prettinesses_, flowers, &c., about these fine houses, perhaps accounted for by the forty or fifty degrees below zero which they sometimes enjoy at Chicago. After six miles driving we got to the Piggery, &c., and the least said about that the better; it is certainly wonderful, but disgusting--the most interesting parts were the enormous yards containing _cattle_, all arranged comfortably, with hay and water, &c., and the tin-making business for the preserved meats (the tin all comes from England). Travelling for the last three or four weeks we have seen little hills of tin boxes perpetually along the line, as the people in the trains and stations, &c., seem to live almost entirely on tinned goods. After this we had a hasty luncheon, and I decided to accompany John and E--- here, and not wait for Dick who wanted to stay longer. We could not find our maids to tell them, and I had to pack a great deal myself, meaning to leave Gibson to follow with the rest, but