He regarded Jonesville as he would a fly in dog days.  He went right by it.

“As I was saying, we say nothing about Chicago but what we can prove.  Look on the map and you will see for yourself that Chicago is right in the centre of the habitable portion of North America.  Put your thumb down on Chicago, and then sweep round it in an even circle with your middle finger, and you will see that it takes in with that sweep all the settled portion of North America.”

“Yes,” sez Josiah, with a air as if he had proved it with his thumb and finger, time and agin, but he hadn’t no such thing.

Sez Mr. Bolster, “We say nothing about our City that we can’t prove.  As Chicago is in the very centre of productive North America, so it is the centre of population of the United States.

“It is the centre of the raw materials for manufactures, cotton, wool, metals, coal, gas, oil fields, all sorts of food.  And as it is the centre of supply, so it is of distribution—­60 railroads and branches bring freight and carry out manufactured products to every part of the country—­to say nothing of the great number of lines of water transportations—­connecting with all parts of the world.  Why, last year Chicago had 50 per cent more arrivals and clearances than New York.  It is the greatest shipping place in America.  And,” sez Mr. Bolster, “not only can we prove that Chicago is the centre of the world for manufactures, but it is the healthiest place to live in.”

And then agin I spoke out, and, sez I, “I always hearn that it was built on low, swampy ground.”

“Yes,” sez Mr. Bolster cheerfully, “that is the reason why it is healthy.  The ground was originally low and wet, and so it was elevated, filled in.  Why, just before the great fire we lifted up all the houses, in the best part of the city, on jack-screws for eight feet, and filled the ground under them.  The idea of lifting up a whole city eight feet and making new ground under it!  There never was such an undertaking before since the world began.

“And then the fire come, and the city was rebuilt just as we wanted it.  Why, the death-rate of Chicago is lower than almost any city of the world except London—­it is just about the same as that.  Then,” sez he, “our climate is perfect; it is so temperate and even that folks don’t have to spend all their energies in keeping warm, as they do in colder climates, nor is it so warm that they have to spend their vital energies in fanning themselves.”

Sez Josiah, “I had ruther mow a beaver medder in dog days than to fan myself—­it wouldn’t tire me so much.”

Sez Mr. Bolster, “The climate is just right to call forth the prudent saving qualities to provide for the winter; and warm enough to keep them happy and cheerful looking forward to bounteous harvests.”

“Wall,” sez I, “it got burnt up, anyway.”

It fairly provoked me to see him look down so on all the rest of the world.