im as he sailed up New York Bay,
and processions, parades, addresses, feastings, and every possible
attention were given to him throughout his year's visit, during which he
was emphatically the "nation's guest." Nor did the country confine
itself to mere honors. He had been treated badly in France and was poor.
Congress made him a present of $200,000 in money, and sent him home in
the frigate _Brandywine_, named in his honor, for it was at the battle
of the Brandywine that Lafayette was severely wounded.

An important invention introduced into this country from England in 1822
was lighting by gas, which soon became universal, to be succeeded in
later years by electricity. Steamboat navigation was common and travel
by that means easy. On land we were still confined to horseback and
stages, but there was great improvement in the roads, through the aid of
Congress and the different States.

COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL.

The Erie Canal, connecting Buffalo and Albany, was begun on the 4th of
July, 1817, its most persistent advocate being Governor De Witt Clinton.
It was costly, and the majority believed it would never pay expenses.
They dubbed it "De Witt Clinton's Ditch," and ridiculed the possibility
that it would prove of public benefit. In October, 1825, it was opened
for public traffic. It is 363 miles long, having the greatest extent of
any canal in the world. It passes through a wonderfully fertile region,
which at that time was little more than a wilderness. Immediately towns
and villages sprang into existence along its banks. Merchandise could
now be carried cheaply from the teeming West, through the Great Lakes,
the Erie Canal, and the Hudson River, to New York City and the Atlantic.
Its original cost was $7,600,000, and its earnings were so enormous that
in many single years they amounted to half that sum. It is now operated
by the State without charge to those using it.

No combination of statesmen are wise enough to prevent the occasional
recurrence of "hard times." Nearly everyone has a cure for the blight,
and the intervals between them are irregular, but they still descend
upon us, when most unexpected and when it seems we are least prepared to
bear them. No one needs a long memory to recall one or two afflictions
of that nature.

THE FIRST "HARD TIMES."

The first financial stringency visited the country in 1819. The
establishment in 1817 of the Bank of the United States had so improved
credit an