Excerpt from A Tour of St. Louis: Or, the Inside Life of a Great City The work which we now have the honor to offer to the public is one which has cost us no little anxiety, labor and expense. We flatter ourselves that our exertions have resulted in the production of a volume which reflects no dishonor on the city from which it emanates, and concerning which it treats. No similar literary undertaking has before been attempted for the proud metropolis of the Mississippi Valley. We have taken special pains to describe only the distinctively representative commercial institutions of the city, those which reflect the wealth and business of St. Louis, making the description historical in order to subserve the double purpose of preserving the record of our individual interests, and to illustrate the sagacity and indomitable will which characterizes the West. In carrying out our design, we have met with many difficulties, and have been compelled to suffer discouragements of no ordinary character. There are features of social life found here which do not exist elsewhere, and which well deserve special examination and delineation. This we have endeavored to do, with what success the public must ultimately be the tribunal of last resort, and to that public opinion we now respectfully appeal. The inside life of a great metropolis is not easy to describe. There are social developments here as well as elsewhere, a description of which is not always pleasant, and yet such an omission would leave the work incomplete as an account of the actual condition of the people at the present time. But these sombre pictures have been drawn with great care and delicacy, and while the subjects are not all of an engaging character, still the manner of treatment may well commend the work to all classes of the people. It was the purpose of the publishers to present true pictures of the phases of metropolitan life encountered in our times. We believe we have succeeded. In subsequent editions it is the design of the publishers to make such additions and improvements as the changed conditions of the social life of the people of St. Louis may demand. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.