therefore, illustrate one of 
HIM tli6 many ways devised to 
l_l Kir™ solve the problem, not as- 
ti _ u S erting that it is the best 
way, though it has im- 
W ^ 3 ,! pressed us favorably, but 
■|| ;l| merely remarking that it 
■a meets the commendation 
ofcompetent engineers and 
qm capitalists, and that ft bill 
to authorize and utilize the 
" ~ 1 rn" ~ project is under consider- 
- * -:—“ ation iu the tftatc Legisla- 
rrmroiimnnr lum 
■ At}Broadway is the city’s 
leading avenue, a railroad 
through or under it is much 
jj 0 UlTO strong' opposition. The 
popular thoroughfare must 
1 iiigliiL not bo aliased; the mag- 
~~~~ nifieent promenade cannot 
/XjpM tolerate horso ears. This 
L fflSijK being declared as fact, an 
Lan . underground road is pro- 
_L Mil. posed, which it is claimed 
‘—p !l'Ullil' will preserve the present 
”- t ^ Broadway intact, for ear- 
H- ) . L T - j , C riages and proiaenaders, 
while it will increase its 
beauty amt comfort, hy add- 
:\s.- ing a sub Broadway, of 
equal width, lined by stores 
adapted to any use which 
those above are adapted to, well lighted and 
ventilated, and traversed by four lines ot 
railway, two for rapid transit and two for 
way passengers. This Arcade plan was 
projected hv Hon. Meuytulf. C. Smith and 
H. C. Oauhinru, Esq., and is clearly shown 
In the engraving above, taken from a view 
near Chambers street, looking up Broadway. 
Tin route meditated is from the Battery 
to Central Park, via Broadway; thence hy 
some suitable avenues to connect with the 
I ludson River "Railroad; also wit h a branch 
from Union Square to connect with th© 
Harlem Railroad. The depth ofev whlion 
will be fifteen feet; and existing sidewalks 
and roadway are to ho replaced at their pro- 
irrational 
CONCERNING LIBRARIES, 
gestion so praiseworthy as this, would lead 
one to hope that our villages will unite in 
offering sacrifices to the Priestess of Litera¬ 
ture, and in opening their doors for the 
entrance of her messengers. Kings and 
queens of wisdom she will send to them, who 
will talk and never tire so long as they 
will listen. Taking the A iteetons 1 offer as 
a basis, the requisite sum might be raised by 
forming a Library Company, its members 
buying shares at ten dollars each. Only fifty 
shares! Who would not give ten dollars to 
have the use of six hundred dollars’ worth of 
books (including the Cyclopiedia) for them¬ 
selves and their families for a long series of 
years? Let children he turned into a good 
library, to graze upon the grain and fruit that 
flourish there, and they will have small relish 
for the weeds of vice and intemperance 
which they meet with in after years. 
An annual tax of one or two dollars upon 
the stockholders would keep up a very good 
supply of the most important, new books, if 
any county of any thriving State lias a town 
that does not contain fifty souls thus right¬ 
eous, let us hope that, it contains at. least one 
soul both able and willing to imitate the 
example, of Ezra Coun-f.i.e, and other phil¬ 
anthropists, in presenting a library as a 
foundation for future enlightenment and 
refined culture. Such an investment, will 
return more than seven per cent interest,. 
Without following this train of thought 
furt her, in view of the libraries that are, U> be, 
we compile from various sources, a short 
description of the. most important ones that. 
are and hate been. 
The oldest library known w f as that of 
Memphis, which contained many sacred 
books of the Egyptians. Over its entrance 
was inscribed “ The Healing of the Soul." 
This title shows that the ancients understood 
the use of books better than we, who look in 
compassion upon antiquity and esteem it 
dark, because mysterious. A library was 
kept in the temple in the days of Solomon, 
composed of Chronicles, books upon Law, 
Medicine, Natural History and Precious 
Metals, with works upon Magic and Invoca¬ 
tion of Spirits ascribed to Solomon himself. 
The principal Hebrew Library preserved in 
the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed at the 
time of the Roraau Conquest. 
Tint Alexandrian Library of 700,000 vol¬ 
umes was burned in 040 A. D., by the 
Mohammedan Caliph, Omar. The library 
founded by Constantine, at bis capital, was 
burned by the Iconoclasts under Luo in the 
8th century. Pisistratcs established the 
first pul die library of Greece, at Athens 550 
B. C. The first library at Rome was founded 
167 B. C,, and was afterwards made free by 
Augustus. The Imperial Library at Paris, 
founded 800 A. D., by King Joitn, is the 
largest in the world, containing one and a 
half million volumes. There is a reading- 
room connected with it; also, a gallery in 
which arc 90,000 portraits. Among its 
manuscripts are Newton’s Principia, calcu¬ 
lations of La Peace, and discoveries of 
jlublic Jjmprobcmwts 
ARCADE RAILWAY: 
A New Mode ol' Transit In New York, City 
TnE wonderful growth of New York City, 
during the last, few years, has of necessity 
been all one way—up the island. It lias 
been rapid beyond t he most, visionary dreams. 
Localities have entirely changed, relatively. 
What was once very far “ up town,”—almost 
in the country,—is now too far “ down town” 
for fashion or business; and still the upward 
movement continues. This one-sided growth 
has its inconveniences. A corresponding in¬ 
crease In trade and travel demands speedy 
transit from one end of the city to the other, 
and the demand is not met, All the thor¬ 
oughfares are, crowded. All modes of con¬ 
veyance are overburthenecl. Broadway is 
thronged with its stages, which are snail-like 
in their progress; the horse-cars running up 
and down the island traverse indirect routes, 
are often subject to blockade in the narrow 
streets, and arc a perpetual annoyance, as 
well as convenience, to those residing from 
three to five miles from their place of business. 
How to obtain relief from such inconve¬ 
niences is a question of great moment to 
New-Yorkers, and cannot be without inlcr- 
1 ost to outside people, fov all the world, 
1 sooner or later, visits the metropolis. We, 
A COUNTRY SCHOOL-HOUSE 
Our request for a plan of a country school- 
house, is responded to by a friend in Michi¬ 
gan, who gives the following data in regard 
to one under contract to be built this season: 
It is to be of brick, twenty-seven by forty 
feet outside; walls twelve inches thick, and 
fourteen feet between tioor and ceiling; 
foundation two and a half feet below grade 
and eighteen Inches above; window and 
door sills of cut stone; cornice, known as 
box cornice, to project twenty inches over 
the walls; the best pine shingles, laid four 
and a half inches to the weather, to cover 
the roof; all outside wood work painted 
white, three coats. The entrance is by a 
double door, with circular top, and glass 
over it, Into an entry eight by twenty-five 
feet, in which arc wood-boxes and shelving. 
Two inner doors, with transom lights over 
them, lead into the school-room, which is 
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES 
TnEY should take young men where the 
farm, the workshop, the common school 
leaves them—young men who have already 
received a good sound knowledge and ex¬ 
perience in the. simple, usual processes of 
Agriculture, aud ou that they should build, 
making them master farmers; thoroughly 
based in those sciences bearing on Agricul¬ 
ture; thoroughly trained in the arts bearing 
on Agriculture ; trained by studies of nature 
to use their powers of observation; trained 
by the studies of science to use their powers 
of practical reason; trained by study of both 
sciences and arts to bring these powers of 
observation and reasoning to bear on import¬ 
ant practical questions. 
en from it. The project, if 
successfully wrought out, 
will greatly increase street 
space,—will add, in short, 
an immense avenue, tm 
ersing the very heart of the 
metropolis, and affording a 
scene without parallel the 
world over. 
mmsmm 
PLAN FOR BUILDING THE ARCADE RAILWAY WITHOUT INTERRUPTION TO TRAVEL 
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