NOTES OF AN AMERICAN TOUR. 
149 
walking through the- whole length of the train with baskets 
of fruit of various kinds, also varieties of sweetmeats of 
which the Americans take a good deal, and supplies of rail¬ 
way bookstall literature. The ease of travelling the very 
long distances that are required on American railways is 
greatly added to by the comfort and convenience of the 
American Pullman cars, in which you can walk about 
from one carriage to another, and enjoy fresh air on the 
open platforms between the carriages. This gives a comfort 
and ease in travelling that we have no idea of in this 
country, and it has been found a necessary provision 
for the very long journeys and continuous day and night 
travelling that are necessary in getting about the vast 
continent of America, where, from New York to New Orleans, 
1,870 miles, is a two days and nights’journey ; and from 
New York to San Francisco, 8,270 miles, is a six days and 
nights’ journey. 'The comfort and convenience of the 
carriages is so great that you do not feel any more fatigue 
from a couple of days and nights’ travelling than from a few 
hours’ travelling in our carriages ; on three occasions I 
travelled two days and nights continuously, and got out of 
the carriage at the end of the journey as fresh and ready for 
sight-seeing as if just stepping out of an hotel. The carriages 
are indeed really travelling hotels, for in parts of the thinly 
populated West, where refreshment stations are not to be 
met with, the meals are served and cooked in the train, and 
are thoroughly well managed. 
Entering Philadelphia, the first bridge over the railway is 
seen; a long bridge, carrying a public road across many lines 
of railway. As a rule, there are not any bridges over the 
American railways, and they cross all roads and streets on 
the level, but the use of bridges is now getting introduced 
for the safety and convenience of thronged road traffic, and 
Philadelphia has taken a lead in this matter. Another 
novelty at Philadelphia Station was hansom cabs at reduced 
fares; the regular American four-wheel cabs are, in most 
cities, at the exorbitant fare of four shillings per mile (a 
dollar per mile). 
Philadelphia is the next largest city to New York, having 
more than 800,000 population, and it contains one of the 
finest buildings in America, the new City Hall, a very large 
building of white marble, with four fronts of fine design, 
standing in the middle of a square in the centre of the city. 
Also, Fairmount Park, which is celebrated as the largest city 
park in the world, extending more than a dozen miles along 
both sides of the river. 
