526

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

girl' delights to erect. What a passion for building majestic dmrefeea
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 gratefbl
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 vouch-
safing one praiseful thought to ite
humble builder, whose rich heart
and withered purse it symbolises.
This is a land of libraries
and schools. St. Paul has
three public libraries, aaid
they contain, in the aggre-
gate, some forty tkra-
sand books. He bag
one hundred and six-
teen school-houses,
and pays out more
than seventy thou-
sand dollars a
yearinteacbesf
salaries.

There is m
unusually fine
railway station^
so large is 8^,.,
in fact, thai H;:

seemed somewhat overdone, in the matter of size, at first; but at tito-
end of a few months it was perceived that the mistake was distin^: ^
the other way. The error is to be corrected. \'$

The town stands on high ground; it is about seven hundred fee&l
above the sea level. It is so high that a wide view of river and toibjj
}and is offered from its streets.

It is a veiy wonderful town indeed, and is not finished yet.

EAELY POSTMASTER.