NEW 



FERRY-BOATS. 



197 



concussion. "I may here add/' notes an intelligent writer,* "that during my whole 

 travels in the States, I found nothing more perfect in construction and arrangement than 

 the ferries and their boats, the charges for which are most moderate, varying according to 

 distances, and ranging from one halfpenny upwards." 



The sailor ashore in New York and how many, many thousands visit it every year ! 

 will find much to note. The public buildings of the great city are not remarkable ; but 

 the one great street, Broadway, which is about eight miles long, and almost straight, is 



FEUKY-liOAT, NEW YORK. HAKBOUlt. 



a very special feature. Unceasing throngs of busy men and women, loungers and idlers, 

 vehicles of all kinds, street cars, omnibuses, and carriages there are no cabs hardly in 

 New York pass and re-pass from early morn to dewy eve, while the shops, always 

 called " stores/' rival those of the Boulevards or Regent Street. Some of the older streets 

 were, no doubt, as Washington Irving tells us, laid out after the old cow-paths, as they 

 are as narrow and tortuous as those of any European city. The crowded state of Broadway 

 at certain points rivals Cheapside. The writer saw in 1867 a light bridge, which spanned 

 the street, and was intended for the use of ladies and timid pedestrians. When, in 1869, 

 he re-passed through the city it had disappeared, and on inquiry he learnt the reason. 

 Unprincipled roughs had stationed themselves at either end, and levied black-mail toll on 

 old ladies and unsophisticated country-people. 



* ' ' Lauds of the Slave and the Free," by the Hon. Henry A. Murray. 



