would afford time enough to get the children ready.

"O, it takes no time," said Mr. George, "to get people ready to go to
Europe. Put into a trunk plenty of plain common clothing for the voyage,
and the work is done. As for the rest, people can generally find pretty
much every thing they want on the other side."

Mr. George went to New York to engage the passage for the children. And
inasmuch as many of the readers of this book who reside in the country
may never have had the opportunity of witnessing the arrangements
connected with Atlantic steamers, they may perhaps like to know how
this was done. In the first place, it was necessary to get a _permit_ to
go on board the ship. The crowds of people in New York, who are always
going to and fro, are so great, and the interest felt in these great
steamships is so strong, that if every body were allowed free access and
egress to them, the decks and cabins of the vessels would be always in
confusion. So they build a barricade across the great pier at which the
ships lie, with ponderous gates, one large one for carts and carriages,
and another smaller one for people on foot, opening through it, and no
one is admitted without a ticket. Mr. George went to the office in Wall
Street and procured such a ticket, which one of the clerks in attendance
there gave him, on his saying that he wished to go on board to select a
state room for some passengers.

Provided with this ticket, Mr. George took an omnibus at Wall Street and
rode up to Canal Street. At Canal Street he took another omnibus, which
carried him nearly to the East River. There he left the omnibus, and
proceeded the rest of the way on foot. The crowd of people on the
sidewalks going and coming, and of carts, drays, wagons, and coaches in
the street, was immense. There was one crossing where, for some time,
Mr. George could not get over, so innumerable and closely wedged
together were the vehicles of all descriptions that occupied the way.
There were many people that were stopped with him on the sidewalk. Among
them was a servant girl, with a little boy under her charge, whom she
was leading by the hand. The girl looked very anxious, not knowing how
to get across the street.

"Let me carry the child across for you," said Mr. George.

So saying he took the child up gently, but quickly, in his arms, and
watching a momentary opening in the stream of carriages, he pressed
through, the servant girl following him. He set t