. George. "It would have been a great deal cheaper and
better to have made a bridge; but a bridge would have interfered with
the shipping, and so they made a tunnel underneath."

"I never knew before," said Rollo, "why they made the Tunnel."

"Yes," said Mr. George, "that is the reason. It was a very difficult and
expensive work; but I believe it proved a failure. Very few people use
it for crossing the river, though a great many go to see it. It is a
curious place to see. But now let us go across the bridge and see what
is on the other side."

Mr. George and Rollo had to stand several minutes on the curbstone of
the sidewalk before they could find openings, in the trains of vehicles
which were moving to and fro over the bridge, wide enough to allow them,
to pass through to the other side. At length, however, they succeeded in
getting across; and, after walking along on the upper side of the bridge
for some distance farther, until they had nearly reached the London end
of it, they stopped and looked over the parapet down to the water.

Of course their faces were now turned _up_ the river, and the view which
presented itself was entirely different from that which had been seen
below. Immediately beneath where they were standing, and close in to the
shore of the river, they witnessed a most extraordinary spectacle, which
was formed by a group of small and smoky-looking steamers, that were
hovering in apparent confusion about a platform landing there. The decks
of the steamers were all crowded with passengers. Some of the boats were
just coming to the land, some just leaving it, and others were moored to
the platform, and streams of passengers were embarking or disembarking
from them. The landing consisted of a floating platform, that was built
over great flat-bottomed boats, that were moored at a little distance
from the bank, so as to rise and fall with the tide. There was a strong
railing along the outer edge of the platform, with openings here and
there through it for passage ways to the boats. Behind, the platforms
were connected with the shore by long bridges, having a little toll
house at the outer end of each of them, with the words, "PAY HERE,"
inscribed on a sign over the window. The passengers, as they came down
from the shore, stopped at these toll houses to pay the fare for the
places to which they wished to go. The decks of the steamers, the
platforms, and all the bridges were thronged with people, going an