om his soft
embrace at 6-1/2 A.M. the following morning; but railways will not wait
for Morpheus or any other deity of fancy or fiction; so, making the best
use I could of a tub of water and a beefsteak, and calming my temper
with a fragrant weed, I was soon ensconced in one of their cars, a
passenger to New York.

On reaching Albany, we crossed the river and threw ourselves into the
cars of the Hudson River Railway, which, running close to the margin
nearly all the way, gives you an ever-varying view of the charming
scenery of this magnificent stream. Yankee industry was most
disagreeably prominent at several of the stations, in the shape of a
bevy of unwashed urchins parading the cars with baskets of the eternal
pea-nut and various varieties of lollipop, lemonade, &c., all crying out
their wares, and finding as ready a sale for them as they would at any
school in England. The baiting-place was not very tempting; we all
huddled into one room, where everything was hurry and confusion: besides
which, the appetite was not strengthened by the sight of hands--whose
owners seemed to have "registered a vow in heaven," to forego the use of
soap--turning over the sandwiches, one after another, until they had
made their selection. However, the majority approve of the system; and
as no thought is given to the minority, "if you don't like it, you may
lump it."

But the more permanent inconvenience of this railroad is one for which
the majority cannot be held responsible, i.e., it runs three-fourths
of the way over a bed of granite, and often between cuts in the solid
granite rock, the noise therefore is perfectly stunning; and when to
this you add the echoing nature of their long wooden cars, destitute of
anything to check the vibrations of sound, except the human cargo and
the cushions they sit upon, and when you add further the eternal
slamming of the doors at each end by the superintending conductor and
the inquisitive portion of the passengers, you may well conceive that
this combination is enough to rouse the slumbers of the dead, and rack
the brains of the living. At the same time, I must allow that this line
runs the best pace and keeps the best time of any in the Union.

On reaching the outskirts of New York, I asked, "Is this the proper
place for me to get out at?" And being answered in the affirmative, I
alighted, and found myself in a broad open street. Scarce had I set my
foot on the ground, when I saw the train goi