CHAP. XXXVIII. J RAILWAY MEETING. 323 



months, we Vere as much pleased as ever with the 

 air of refinement of the principal streets, and the 

 well-dressed people walking on the neat pavements, 

 under the shade of a double row of green trees, or 

 gazing, in a bright, clear atmosphere, at the tastefully 

 arranged shop windows ; nor could we agree with 

 those critics who complain of the prim and quakerish 

 air, and the monotonous sameness, of so regularly 

 built a city. 



During our stay, a large meeting was held to pro 

 mote a scheme for a new railway to Pittsburg, 

 through Harrisburg, the interest of the money to be 

 raised chiefly by city rates. Some of my friends 

 here are opposed to the measure, declaring that such 

 public works are never executed with economy, nor 

 thriftily managed. The taxation always falls on 

 some districts, which derive no profit from the enter 

 prise, and they demand other grants of public money 

 as a compensation, and these are laid out with equal 

 extravagance. The good sense of the New England- 

 ers, say they, has almost invariably checked them 

 from entering upon such undertakings, and in one of 

 the few instances in which they have deviated from 

 sound policy, they have repented. For when, in 

 opposition to the richer inhabitants, a branch railway 

 was made to connect Bridgeport, in Connecticut, 

 with the main line of road, the bonds of that small 

 inland town were pledged as security for the money 

 borrowed. The traffic proved insufficient to meet 

 their liabilities, and a majority of the citizens then 

 determined to repudiate. The rich alleged that they 

 had opposed the project, and the poor, who had voted 



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