se.

Salem is a city of about fourteen thousand inhabitants, and I was told
that the number of its population who went and returned to and from
Boston, a distance of fourteen miles, weekly, was about five hundred--a
striking proof of the locomotive energy of the Americans. Their
gratification, in this respect, has been much facilitated of late by the
rapid extension of railways. These, with few exceptions, are by no means
so completely constructed as in England; but, owing to the cheapness of
land, timber, et cet., and by making the lines generally single, and, on
the average, the speed of travelling being about one-fourth less than is
common in England, they answer the purpose of rapid transit, while the
outlay is about as many dollars per mile as it is sovereigns with us. On
this railway, and some others in New England, the lines are double, and
the construction and speed are nearly equal to ours.

I was informed, the proportion of severe accidents is not larger than in
Great Britain. The carriages are generally built to hold sixty or
seventy persons, who are seated two by two, one behind another, on
double rows of seats, ranged across the carriage, with room to walk
between, along the centre. The carriage in which we returned from Salem
had twenty-two seats on each side, to contain two each, or, in the
whole, eighty-eight passengers. Yet the weight of this machine would be
little more than that of an English first-class carriage, to hold
eighteen persons, and it cost probably less. Their carriages are well
ventilated in summer, and warmed by a stove in winter. Locomotive
engines approach Boston near enough to prevent the use of horses; but,
on arriving at the distance of a mile or two from New York,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, the carriages and passengers are drawn in
by horses. One carriage is often specially reserved for the ladies on
the principal lines, into which gentlemen do not usually intrude, unless
they have ladies under their care. It is common, however, for the latter
to take their seats in any of the carriages. There is no distinction of
price, and none of accommodation, except that an inferior and more
exposed carriage, at the same fare, is purposely provided for persons of
color; but this disgraceful relic of past times cannot survive long. The
principal disadvantage that I observed on the American, as compared with
the English railways, was the delay on meeting other trains, and on
stopping for them