--four hundred and fifty-six miles southeast of the former,
and a much nearer port for the purposes of this route. The project of a
mountain line from Denver to Salt Lake City, connecting at that point
with the Central Railroad, is also said to be entertained by the Kansas
company.

[D] Up to the present time, the Nebraska line has expended about
twenty-five millions; the Central Railroad, twenty-two millions. On two
hundred and fifty-nine miles of the Kansas Road there were also
expended, in cost and equipment, eleven millions. All this has been
obtained from the sale of bonds, paid-in stock, and the net earnings of
the roads. The bonds have been made a popular loan, sold by New York
agents, and chiefly taken in New England, New York State, and Eastern
Pennsylvania. The purchasing clasp, though largely composed of heavy
capitalists, consists also of those who have small sums of money to
invest, and who seek this means as especially secure.

The stockholders of the Union Pacific number from one to two hundred,
but most of the shares are in a few hands; the Credit Mobilier, Durant,
and the Ameses being the principal owners. The Central Railroad also
exhibits the same phenomenon of few shareholders; all of them, of
course, large capitalists. This gives great power in pushing the work
on, and illustrates the tendency of the day toward consolidation.
Hereafter, when the Central and Nebraska lines shall have combined, this
commanding influence of a comparatively few men will make itself
signally felt in our politics.

GRANDMOTHER'S STORY: THE GREAT SNOW.

It had been snowing all day, and when father came in at dark he said
that the wind was rising, and the storm gathering power every moment,
and that before morning all the roads would be fast locked.

Grandmother is a gentle, sweet old lady, whom I remember always with the
same serene face, bearing all earthly troubles with such holy patience
as lifts this common life to heaven; she waits for hours in unbroken
silence, while her face wears the rapt, mystical look of one who talks
with angels, and then we move softly about her, and not one of us would
by words of our own call her down from the mount of vision. Within a
year or two she has grown quite deaf, and since this her life seems yet
more isolated; sometimes, however, like most deaf persons, she hears
words spoken in low tones that are not meant for her, perhaps because at
times the spirit is vividly awake,