es of
every one and give the driver a ticket for each, that is, receive ten
cents and give the driver the equivalent of eight and one-third cents,
thereby making ten cents on every six passengers. "You see," said the
driver, "what a blessin' those sort of fellers is. Here I don't have no
trouble whatsomever; he makes all the change for me, and 'spose my box
should blow over, nothen's lost." From time to time as the tickets were
handed up he would cheer the toiler inside with such expressions as "Go
it boots," "How's the cash?" "How does the old thing work?" always loud
enough to attract the attention of the "insides."

This strange individual interested me so much that I made some inquiries
about him, at first supposing him to be crazy or otherwise terribly
afflicted; but he is considered sound, is the third in a well-to-do firm,
and is far beyond the need of having recourse to any such means for
increasing his capital.

III. STEAM RAILWAYS.

The great necessity of New York is some sure means of rapid transit
between the upper and lower parts of the island. The average New Yorker
spends about an hour or an hour and a half each day in going to and from
his business, and an immense amount of valuable time is thus lost, which
loss is often increased by delays. For the past few years the citizens
of the metropolis have been seeking to procure the construction of a road
from the Battery to Harlem to be operated by steam, and it seems probable
now that a few years more will witness the completion of such a road.
Public opinion is divided between two plans, and it is probable that both
will be tried, and that the city will soon contain a steam railway
elevated above the street and a similar road under the ground.

The elevated railway has already been tried to a limited extent, but is
not regarded with much favor by the citizens. This line extends along
Greenwich street and Ninth avenue, from the Battery to Thirtieth street.
The track of this road is laid on iron posts, at an elevation of about
sixteen feet above the street. The cars are so constructed that it would
be impossible for one of them to fall from the track. Dummy engines
furnish the motive power. The running time from the present southern
terminus at Courtlandt street to Thirtieth street, a distance of about
three miles, is fifteen minutes. The road is pronounced perfectly safe
by competent engineers, but the structure appears so light to the