THE LITERARY INTERESTS OF CHICAGO. Ill AND
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HERBERT E. FLEMING University of Chicago
III. LITERARY PERIODICALS FOLLOWING THE CHICAGO FIRE
" I found Chicago wood and clay," a mighty Kaiser said, Then flung upon the sleeping mart his royal robes of red.
And so the swift evangels ran by telegraphic time, And brought the cheer of Christendom from every earthly clime ; Celestial fire flashed round the globe, from Norway to Japan, Proclaimed the MANHOOD of the race, the BROTHERHOOD of man!
They all were angels in disguise, from hamlet, field and mart, CHICAGO,S fire had warmed the World that had her woe by heart. " Who is my neighbor ? " One and all : " We see her signal light, And she is our only neighbor now, this wild October night ! "
Benj. F. Taylor, in the Lakeside Monthly, October, 1873.
The whole nation and the whole world centered attention upon Chicago on October 8 and 9, 1871. On these days flames, starting on the West Side, swept through the heart of the busi- ness district to the very shore of the lake, like prairie fire through stubble; then leaped over the Chicago river, traversed the North side, died away there; and left the lusty, young giant city of marvelous growth burned and prostrate. A stream of sympathy from the people of the New World and the Old World poured in upon the citizens of Chicago. The effect is shown in the pages of the literary periodicals which survived the catastrophe, and in those of the many new ones started in the years of the seventies following the fire. From them it may be seen that the fire melted some of the barriers of western sectionalism. The world-wide sympathy caused the Chicago literary men to feel after a world-wide point of view, more
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