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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



excepted, for the accommodation of the men 

 of metal. £12,000 per annum for Brighton 

 alone I And all round about the metropolis 

 there are similar places of resort of various 

 degrees of rusticity, in which the families of 

 metropolitan men of business are reared, 

 whilst they themselves daily undertake a 

 journey of from ten to a hundred miles, — with 

 as little thought of distance as if they were 

 provided with wings, or with seven-leagued 

 boots. 



The consequence is, that London is 

 rapidly surrounded with villas, especially in 

 the neighborhood of the great railway lines. 

 And as this process of transformation, on 

 the present diffused and extended system, 

 only dates from 1840 at the farthest, it can 

 scarcely be said to be of fifteen years' dura- 

 tion. Perhaps it is not even ten years since 

 the conviction first began to be generally 

 felt, of the possibility of realising the dream 

 of a business life in town and a residence in 

 the country. Even now there are thousands 

 of metropolitan citizens that either do not 

 believe it ; or are too conservative to listen 

 to the innovations of the era of railways ! 



And can it be realised after all ? Let us 

 look at one or two of its prominent features. 

 A City merchant residing in Brighton enters 

 the train in Brighton at a quarter to nine, 

 and is at London Bridge at five minutes past 

 ten. In a few minutes more he is in the 

 City. He attends to business till four o'clock, 

 or even a little longer; and is once more in 

 the train at five o'clock. He is in Brighton 

 at twenty minutes past six. In ten minutes 

 more he is u at home." He dines at seven, 

 and spends the evening with his family, or 

 in a club, or in a reading-room at Brighton, 

 inhales the sea breeze, sleeps in the fresh, 

 pure, and saline atmosphere, breakfasts with 

 a keen appetite, and is once more on the 

 wheels at a quarter to nine. 



There is no apparent hurry in any of his 

 movements. The hours of the train are 

 fixed on purpose to accommodate him. There 

 is no stoppage by the way. It is one con- 

 tinuous uninterrupted roll from the beginning 

 to the end of the journey. Even in his own 

 private carriage he could not be so comfort- 

 able ; and the only objection that can be 

 made to the arrangement is, that he runs the 

 risk for fourteen hours every week of 

 having his neck broken, or his bones frac- 

 tured or dislocated. But every sportsman 

 does the same ; and what is life without a 

 venture ? Even the expense is nothing ; it 

 is a positive saving of money. If it were a 

 hundred pounds instead of fifty, he would 

 still be a gainer in his own health and in the 

 health of his family, in the saving of his own 

 private carriage and horses, in the saving of 

 a house rent in town, or its economical 

 maintenance if he keeps one for the season 



as the merchant princes do. But without 

 the latter, his social circle is not in town at 

 all. City man though he be regarded, he is 

 not a City man ; and whenever he dines in 

 town it is at a public dinner, or privately in 

 an hotel when he has business that prolongs 

 his stay, or is too late for his own express 

 train and is waiting for another. 



These hotels for accommodating City 

 gentlemen have lost nothing by the railway 

 system. The farther men live away from 

 their places of business, the more frequently 

 they dine in hotels ; and the families in the 

 country all know that if the governor does 

 not arrive with the dinner-train he is not 

 coming to dinner. So there is no waiting 

 for him. There is -even less waiting than if 

 they were living in town, and might expect 

 him every minute. He either comes at a 

 definite period, or he is not coming to dinner 

 at all. The regularity of the system is even 

 conducive to domestic order, for the farther 

 a man lives from his place of business, the 

 more punctual he is to all his meal hours, 

 and the more regular he is in his times of 

 rising and going to bed. He becomes a 

 machine, — wound up like a clock, and going 

 like the same. 



Whether this quick mode of transit be 

 desirable or not, is a question. People seem, 

 to delight in it ; and if they think the risk of 

 broken bones, or a dislocated neck worth 

 incurring, who but themselves have any 

 right to decide the point? Railway acci- 

 dents are now so very common, — and will be 

 more so every day — that one gets " used 

 to it." 



So far as we are individually concerned, 

 none of this flighty, scampering work for us. 

 We love to see the country as we pass 

 through it, and to enjoy the beauties of Sum- 

 mer as they pass in review before us. Chacun 

 a son gout. 



A SONG FOR MAIDENS. 



BY C. J. DAVIS. 



Young Love, a little pedlar boy, 



Packed up all his stock in trade ; 

 With costly gem and glitt'ring toy 



He tried to lure each thoughtless maid ; 

 But when the nymphs from every land 



All flocked to share the welcome booty, 

 His goods were seized as contraband, 



Because the rogue had paid no duty ! 



Arraigned at Hymen's judgment seat, 



He told the court a piteous tale : 

 But, being a most notorious cheat, 



No friend had he to put in bail. 

 Now, licensed by the Marriage Act, 



Again Love sells his wares to beauty; 

 And puffs them off with fearless tact, 



Because they've paid — a heavy duty ! 



