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The clipping on the left is from the Chicago Tribune of October 9, 1872, a year after the
fire. On the right is the lead headline from the same newspaper on October 9, 1881, a
decade following the disaster. The headline on the right was immediately followed by Edmund S.
Holbrook's eleven-stanza poem, "Chicago," which discussed the fire in relation to several
other major topics of current and continuing concern, including the assassination of
President Garfield and the eternal greatness of America, not to mention Justice, Humanity,
Truth, and Right. The sixth stanza, which deals with the rebuilding, reads:
Anon the wrecks are hurled away--a work for Hercules--
As mists of night are driven amain before the morning breeze.
The massive stones are laid below, the walls arise above.
In strength that neither flame, nor storm, nor time itself shall move.
Nor Use alone, but Beauty comes, and with deft hand adorns:
See parks, and boulevards, and groves--see lakelets, flowers, and lawns.
The Garden City, twice herself, sits as a Queen again--
Not by Amphion with his lyre, but Man, stout-hearted MAN.
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Resurrexit! 