known as the "Cream City," from the light straw or creamy tint of the
brick, which forms so large a part in the architecture of that city, and
gives an air of charming cleanliness to the buildings. This shade is said
by chemists to be the result of the want of the usual element of iron in
the clay of which it is made, and so curious is it to strangers that it
has become a familiar saying that few people leave Milwaukee without
carrying away "a brick in their hats," this being doubtless in part a
jesting allusion to the apparently all-pervading spirit of the gay
Gambrinus apparent there and the numberless manufactories of the foaming
lager. Yet methinks this is no longer a more striking characteristic there
than elsewhere, in spite of the predominant German element.

The word "Milwaukee" signifies rich land, and the truthful significance of
the appellation is amply testified by the rare flowers, green gardens,
fertile fields and towering forests in and around it, all of which are the
outgrowth of its soil of rich alluvial loam.

Milwaukee is a city whose animus is in striking contrast to the daring,
dashing spirit of Chicago, but its substantial wealth, cash basis, and
slow, careful, steady progress, have led it on to sure success, so well
attested by the quiet and substantial elegance of its business buildings,
the palatial proportions and exquisite finish of its private dwellings,
with their appropriate appointments of cultivated conservatories, gorgeous
gardens and rare works of art. The well stored libraries evince an
advanced degree of cultivation, and the literary coteries a prevailing
element of the dilletante spirit, while the plain, rich habiliments, and
the elegant turnouts with liveried attendants, indicate a degree of
fashion and style unknown in many larger cities; and their manufactories
and business houses suggest great mercantile advancement, their elevators
and shipping a high order of commercial greatness.