valuer himself, that the approach of the railroad which he had come there to oppose, would be exceedingly beneficial to the property in its immediate vicinity then for sale!

Chancellor Livingston, who was a man of distinction and thought, and who was even associated with his brother-in-law, Robert Fulton, in the endeavor to apply steam as a motive power to navigation by sea, was an unbeliever in the possibility of using it for travel by land. He believed that the railway could never compete with the canal. His letter on this subject may not be amiss in exhibiting how completely the last half century has revolutionized former ideas and opinions, and opened up the progress of improvement and civilization. It is quite refreshing in view of the present:

"ALBANY, March 11, 1811. "Dear Sir: I did not till yesterday receive yours of the 25th of February; where it has loitered on the road, I am at a loss to say. I had before read of your very ingenious proposition as to the railway communication. I fear, however, on mature reflection, that they will be liable to serious objections, and ultimately more expensive than a canal. They must be doubly so to prevent the danger of two such heavy bodies meeting. The walls on which they are placed must be at least four feet below the surface, and three above, and must be clamped with iron, and even then would hardly sustain so heavy a weight as you propose moving at the rate of four miles an hour on wheels. As to wood, it would not last a week. They must be covered with iron, and that, too, very thick

and strong. The means of stopping these heavy carriages without a great shock, and of preventing them from running upon each other-for there would be many running upon the road at once-would be very difficult. In cases of accidental stops or necessary stops to take wood and water, etc., many accidents would happen. The carriage of condensing water would be very troublesome. Upon the whole, I fear the expense would be much greater than that of canals, without being so convenient. R. R. LIVINGSTON."

USING RAILROADS ON SUNDAYS.-The opposition to the use of railroads on Sundays began with the first introduction of the railroad system, and it still prevails, notwithstanding the progress towards enlightenment which the world has made. One gentleman in England, mistakenly called Rev., speaks of all railroad travel on Sunday, as "trips to hell at 7s. 6d. per head." Awful denunciations were uttered on the sin of enjoy. ing the Sabbath. Handbills, of which the following is a copy, were sent about the streets of London, and thrust into travellers hands: "Solemn Warning to Sabbath Breakers! God coming in Judgment! as revealed by the sudden destruction of nearly one hundred immortal beings on the Paris and Versailles Railroad, on Sabbath the 8th instant; and also in the destruction, by fire, of the Sabbath-breaking town of Hamburg!"

It is a great error to confound the Jewish with the Christian Sabbath. They who lived nearest to the time of Christ, made no such mistake. The apostles did not enjoin their followers to refrain from labor on

Sunday. Jesus himself showed his contempt for the Jewish Sabbath by openly violating the Jewish law of the Sabbath, and by commanding his disciples to "do well" on the Sabbath day. When the self-righteous Pharisees rebuked him for his open violation of the Jewish law of the Sabbath, he demonstrated the absurdity of that law, defended his own conduct on the ground of reason and common sense, and told them plainly, with all the authority of the Son of God, that the Sabbath had been instituted for the use and enjoyment of man. (See Mark, Chap. ii. 23-28. Matthew, Chap. xii. 1-13.) Peter no doubt worked at his tents. on Sundays. During the first three centuries it was not regarded as a Sabbath: and the initiative step was only taken in the fourth century, by the half pagan Constantine closing the courts of law on that day. The most learned researches have shown that previous to this era there was no law binding to its strict observance. Eight hundred and twenty-nine years after Christ, it was determined by a council solemnly convened for the purpose, that the keeping of the Lord's day had no other ground but mere custom.

The benefits of railroads on Sundays are incalculable. In the cities, they carry thousands of persons comfortably to church, on wet and rainy days, and convey them safely to their homes, again, without injury to their health, nine-tenths of whom would otherwise have been compelled to remain at home. And even on fine days it enables thousands of persons to go to church, who live too far off to walk. They take the workman from his hot, close, loathsome neighborhood; carry him and his family, in an hour, to the purest

haunts of nature; and for that one day thus passed in the pure air with those he loves, with the cool, refreshing breezes making music in the trees above his head, and with all the charms of nature spread out before him, he is a better man and a better citizen.

Wherever Sunday cars have been introduced, they have had to encounter the opposition of those persons in the community who pride themselves on their rigid Sabbath observances, and who cannot believe that any views of the observance of the Sabbath, different from their own, can be founded upon Christian principles. But these prejudices have always worn away: and the great mass of every community, where the cars run on Sunday, regard them as promoters of health and morality, and by no means antagonistic to religion.

CHAPTER IV.

PROGRESS OF RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES.

IN the year 1850, there were only eight thousand six hundred (8,600) miles of railroad finished and in operation in the United States, which had cost less than three hundred millions of dollars, namely, $296,260,128. In 1860, there were thirty thousand six hundred (30,600) miles of railroad finished and in operation, which had cost over a thousand millions of dollars, namely, $1,134,452,909.

Before the year 1850, there was only one line of railroad completed and in operation between tide water navigation and the great interior producing regions of the country. This line was formed of several links, which, now consolidated, form the New York Central Railroad, extending, with its water communications, from New York and Albany to Buffalo and the western shores of Lake Erie. There was another line opened soon afterwards, however, extending from Boston to Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence River. This was completed in 1851. A large business at once sprang up along this line, by which Boston was greatly benefited. The New York and Erie Railroad, of which full mention will be made hereafter, was also opened in May, 1851. This great road extended from New York to Dunkirk on Lake Erie, and the great