There Were
Smiling Fields With Verdant Hedgerows Between Them, Unlike The Untidy
Snake-Fences Of The Colonies, And Meadows Like
Parks, dotted over with
trees, and woods filled with sumach and scarlet maple, and rapid streams
hurrying over white pebbles,
And villages of green-jalousied houses, with
churches and spires, for here all places of worship have spires; and the
mellow light of a declining sun streamed over this varied scene of
happiness, prosperity, and comfort; and for a moment I thought - O
traitorous thought! - that the New England was fairer than the Old.
Nor were the more material evidences of prosperity wanting, for we passed
through several large towns near the coast - Newbury Port, Salem, and
Portsmouth - with populations varying from 30,000 to 50,000 souls. They
seemed bustling, thriving places, with handsome stores, which we had an
opportunity of observing, as in the States the cars run right into the
streets along the carriage-way, traffic being merely diverted from the
track while the cars are upon it.
Most of the railways in the States have only one track or line of rails,
with occasional sidings at the stations for the cars to pass each other. A
fence is by no means a matter of necessity, and two or three animals are
destroyed every day from straying on the line. The engines, which are
nearly twice the size of ours, with a covered enclosure for the engineer
and stoker, carry large fenders or guards in front, to lift incumbrances
from the track.
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