snow,
In New Orleans we had caught an occasional withering breath from over a
crater, apparently; here in St. Paul we caught a frequent benumbing one
from over a glacier, apparently.

But I wander from my theme. St. Paul is a wonderful town. It is put
together in solid blocks of honest brick and stone, and has the air of
intending to stay. Its post-office was established thirty-six years ago;
and by and by, when the postmaster received a letter, he carried it to
Washington, horseback, to inquire what was to be done with it. Such is
the legend. Two frame houses were built that year, and several persons
were added to the population. A recent number of the leading St. Paul
paper, the 'Pioneer Press,' gives some statistics which furnish a vivid
contrast to that old state of things, to wit: Population, autumn of the
present year (1882), 71,000; number of letters handled, first half of
the year, 1,209,387; number of houses built during three-quarters of
the year, 989; their cost, $3,186,000. The increase of letters over the
corresponding six months of last year was fifty per cent. Last year
the new buildings added to the city cost above $4,500,000. St.
Paul's strength lies in her commerce--I mean his commerce. He is a
manufacturing city, of course--all the cities of that region are--but
he is peculiarly strong in the matter of commerce. Last year his jobbing
trade amounted to upwards of $52,000,000.

He has a custom-house, and is building a costly capitol to replace the
one recently burned--for he is the capital of the State. He has churches
without end; and not the cheap poor kind, but the kind that the rich
Protestant puts up, the kind that the poor Irish 'hired-girl' delights
to erect. What a passion for building majestic churches the Irish
hired-girl has. It is a fine thing for our architecture but too often we
enjoy her stately fanes without giving her a grateful thought. In
fact, instead of reflecting that 'every brick and every stone in this
beautiful edifice represents an ache or a pain, and a handful of sweat,
and hours of heavy fatigue, contributed by the back and forehead and
bones of poverty,' it is our habit to forget these things entirely,
and merely glorify the mighty temple itself, without vouchsafing one
praiseful thought to its humble builder, whose rich heart and withered
purse it symbolizes.

This is a land of libraries and schools. St. Paul has three public
libraries, and they contain, in the aggrega