As the cities in the heart of the continent have very little of the picturesque in their history, the same line of reasoning would lead us to expect that the historian would carefully avoid them, or else write only of their earliest days, when Dame Fortune was yet coquetting on the boards with Mr. Yankee Adventurer.  Again we are not mistaken, for we find that what few critics are present when the curtain is rung up, leave the house when the first act ends with the death of the aforesaid adventurer.  How the fickle dame flirts with all the neighboring young men, and at last, at the end of the second act, has her attention led by Captain Location to the hero of the piece as a suitable mate for her wayward daughter, Miss Prosperity,—­all this is usually written up from hearsay.  For the third act, wherein the twin brothers Steamboat Navigation and Railroad Communication help the hero to press his suit, the imagination often suffices.  The grand finale, however, brings back some of the old set of critics, together with a host of new ones, who describe in glowing language the setting of the act, the costumes, the music, etc., and tell minutely how young Miss Prosperity blushingly yet boldly promises to be forever true to the gallant hero, now known under his rightful name of Mr. Metropolis.  Ac-cording to the critic, this grand drama always ends happily for all concerned; the acting is always perfect,—­the best ever seen on the stage; the scenery has seldom been equaled, never excelled.  And this is the way the public hears about every “greatest drama ever produced on any stage.”

Do you think the critic too harshly criticized?  Look for yourself.  Take Cleveland, if you want a good city with which to begin your explorations among the histories of Western cities.  Here is one of the loveliest places in all the basin of the Great Lakes—­rich, prosperous, beautiful.  It was the one city which alt the travelers through the West in the second quarter of this century united in declaring to be attractive.  For instance, J.S.  Buckingham, who visited America forty-three years ago, complimented Cleveland as follows, in a book called The Eastern and Western States of America:  “The buildings of Cleveland are all remarkably clean and neat, many of them in excellent architectural style, and, like the dwellings we saw at Cincinnati and other towns of Ohio, all evincing more taste, love of flowers, and attention to order and adornment than in most of the States of the Union.”  Mrs. Pulzky, who accompanied Kossuth in his journey through America, in 1852, wrote in her diary:  “Cleveland is a neat, clean, and agreeable city, on Lake Erie.  Americans call it the ‘Forest City,’ though the original forests have disappeared.  Cleveland has a most lovely aspect; with the exception of the business streets, every house is surrounded by a garden.  It was for the first time that I found love of nature in an American population.  On the journey, until here, I had always missed pleasure-grounds and trees around the cottages.”