been my own practice) to the affairs of some sober little city, like
this of Salem. Here we sit on the steps of the new City Hall, which
has been completed under my administration; and it would make you
laugh to see how the game of politics, of which the Capitol at
Washington is the great chess-board, is here played in miniature.
Burning Ambition finds its fuel here; here Patriotism speaks boldly in
the people's behalf, and virtuous Economy demands retrenchment in the
emoluments of a lamplighter; here the Aldermen range their senatorial
dignity around the Mayor's chair of state, and the Common Council feel
that they have liberty in charge. In short, human weakness and
strength, passion and policy, Man's tendencies, his aims and modes of
pursuing them, his individual character, and his character in the
mass, may be studied almost as well here as on the theatre of nations;
and with this great advantage, that, be the lesson ever so disastrous,
its Liliputian scope still makes the beholder smile."

"Have you done much for the improvement of the City?" asked the New
Year. "Judging from what little I have seen, it appears to be ancient
and timeworn."

"I have opened the Railroad," said the elder Year, "and half a dozen
times a day, you will hear the bell (which once summoned the Monks of
a Spanish Convent to their devotions) announcing the arrival or
departure of the cars. Old Salem now wears a much livelier expression
than when I first beheld her. Strangers rumble down from Boston by
hundreds at a time. New faces throng in Essex Street. Railroad-hacks
and omnibuses rattle over the pavements. There is a perceptible
increase of oyster-shops, and other establishments for the
accommodation of a transitory diurnal multitude. But a more important
change awaits the venerable town. An immense accumulation of musty