I was much struck with the immense development of electricity. Steamers,
railway carriages, tramcars, hotels, shops, towns, villages, and railway
stations, even those in remote places, with scarcely a building near to
them, were all well lighted by electricity.
Railways run on scaffoldings down the centre of the streets, and horses
with their vehicles run underneath them. The railway trains are well
heated throughout by hot water pipes (every class), and reflect a grave
reproach on our country, where, in the severest weather, it is difficult
to get a foot warmer, except by certain main line trains, and, even
then, one is expected to "tip" the attendant. Poor persons travelling in
thin garments and poorly fed, in severe weather, scarcely ever dare to
ask for a foot warmer unless they are prepared to fee someone, and,
whether rich or poor, no one can get a foot warmer at any of our country
stations. When we consider that railways originated in this country, and
that some of the parts of America I passed through were, some 50, some
40, and some even 30 years ago, only known to the trapper and the
Indian, it shows the increase of enterprise exhibited by our cousins
over the Atlantic.
Tramcars are worked by electricity, by steam, by horses and mules, and
by revolving endless cables.
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