ts and coachmen,
dairymen and dyers, braziers, bankers, beer sellers and butlers, domestic
servants, footmen and mail guards, and almost every calling under the
sun.

And these, it must be remembered, were subscribers for 2,000 pounds and
upwards; those who put down their names for less were supposed to be
holders of 21,386 pounds 6s. 4d. in Stock.

Of course, _Punch_ could not overlook this mania for speculation, and we
find the following in the number for 31 May:

"The night was stormy and dark. The town was shut up in sleep; Only
those were abroad who were out on a lark, Or those, who'd no beds to
keep.

[Picture: "How many hundred shares have you wrote for?" Railroad
Speculators]

"I pass'd through the lonely street, The wind did sing and blow; I
could hear the policeman's feet Clapping to and fro.

"There stood a potato-man In the midst of all the wet; He stood with
his 'tato can In the lonely Haymarket.

"Two gents of dismal mien, And dank and greasy rags. Came out of a
shop for gin, Swaggering over the flags:

"Swaggering over the stones, Those shabby bucks did walk; And I
went and followed those needy ones, And listened to their talk.

"Was I sober, or awake? Could I believe my ears? Those dismal
beggars spake Of nothing but railroad shares.

"I wondered more and more; Says one, 'Good friend of mine, How many
shares have you wrote for In the Diddlesex Junction Line?'

"'I wrote for twenty,' says Jim, 'But they wouldn't give me one';
His comrade straight rebuked him For the folly he had done:

"'Oh, Jim, you are unawares Of the ways of this bad town; _I_
always write for five hundred shares, And _then_, they put me down.'

"'And yet you got no shares,' says Jim, 'for all your boast'; 'I
_would_ have wrote,' says Jack, 'but where Was the penny to pay the
post?'

"'I lost, for I couldn't pay That first instalment up; But, here's
taters smoking hot, I say Let's stop, my boy, and sup.'

"And at this simple feast, The while they did regale, I drew each
ragged capitalist Down on my left thumb nail.

"Their talk did me perplex, All night I tumbled and tossed, And I
thought of railroad specs, And how money was won and lost.

"'Bless railroads everywhere,' I said, 'and the world's advance;
Bless every railroad