Perhaps, since I departed, much has changed to the advantage of Germans living in Philadelphia and New York. Nothing else could be expected after the incredible immigration and pullulation those cities have experienced. Â But I gather, from what I see in the news, that conditions are not attractive enough to lure me from here. . . . So I prefer life in the wild. . . . Accordingly, I live in Indiana, which has a new . . . constitution that guarantees freedom to Indiana's people. Today, foreigners also have that right if, before the election, they have been in the United States for a year, and in Indiana for six months; and if they have sworn their intent to become citizens.
–German immigrant,
September 1852
How does this German immigrant describe city life in this letter to his friend?

as exciting and fast-paced

as attractive and busy

as filthy and miserable

as crowded and polluted