Interesting additional points about "A Municipal Report"

The narrator referenced Charles Dickens twice. Sydney Carton from "A Tale of Two Cities" and Jefferson Brick from "Martin Chuzzlewit." Jefferson Brick also has a double meaning, as it in the Jefferson Brick Company, based in Chicago manufactured brick and tile.

The books in Azalea Adair's bookcase the narrator looked over: "held half-calf backs of Lamb, Chaucer, Hazlitt, Marcus Aurelius, Montaigne and Hood." Charles Lamb was an English essayist.
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.
William Hazlitt was an English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism. Marcus Aurelius was the last of the Roman "Five Good Emperors" and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. Michel de Montaigne one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism. Thomas Hood was a British humorist and poet.

So, what were the books?
Maybe they were these:

Lamb - Essays of Elia
Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales
Hazlitt - Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
Montaigne - Essais (translated literally as "Attempts")
Hood - Odes and Addresses

As the narrator said "She had been educated at home, and her knowledge of the world was derived from inference and by inspiration. Of such is the precious, small group of essayists made." It was an interesting group of books she had to gain inspiration from.

Finally, the L&N Train. The cities and a interesting reference was made when you look at the fact that train lines often "named" their passenger train lines to reference where they were based at or going to. The "Azalean" ran from New York to New Orleans, so perhaps Azalea Adair's first name is referenced here without the reader knowing - unless they rode the L&N that is.

The L&N had trains that were also references to Dixie as in the names of 3 trains: Dixie Flagler - Dixie Flyer - Dixieland, referencing the one time reference to "Dixie" in the poem.
And today, the old Union Station in Nashville is now a Wyndham "Historic Hotel."

Michael