e
was: Starting at Jersey City, New Jersey, we were to cross the State,
and keep as near directly West as the trolley-wire would take us, taking
in Chicago (now the first city in population in the United States) and
other important Western cities, with Denver our turning-point.

Joe kissed his mother, gave his father's hand a hard shake, jumped up
behind me, and we were off. Look back once more, my boy; a mother's
tearful eyes no longer see you, but your image is always in her heart!

We had been sadly mixed without our good map of all the trolley-roads.
They cross and recross, and seem to shoot out in every direction in the
eastern part of New Jersey.

[Illustration: AT THIRTY MILES AN HOUR.]

On a good straight road at last, with a clean run of thirty miles before
us! How we do spin! The motor hums not unlike a swarm of angry bees. For
a bright June morning the weather seems a trifle cool. A light overcoat
in summer? Well, just face a mild westerly wind, early in the morning,
sitting quietly on an electrically propelled bike at, say, thirty miles
an hour, and you will find an overcoat is not to be sneezed at, or,
rather, some sneezing will result if you try to do without it.

Space will not permit to give you many details of our trip, which caused
two weeks to pass so quickly. Mishaps we had, repairs to make, but the
same machine was bringing us nearer home each minute. Two o'clock now;
by six we are due in New York.

A Chicago chap--we met him--seemed rather smart and all that, had a
contrivance for working an air-ship by trolley-wire. His scheme was to
sail along near enough the ground to drop a trailer on the street wire,
and so obtain a current to run his aerial machine.

"My son," said I, "how do you expect to make a complete circuit with but
one wire?"

"That is part of my invention," said he.

Whether he made a success of it or not I have no means of knowing, but I
liked the idea.

We crossed the Pavonia bridge from Jersey City to New York on time, had
just reached the terminus when the Express Air-ship _Maxim_ rose from
the depot at Union Square and headed for Albany, looking very much like
an immense shooting-star.

The railroads have had a severe setback since Maxim has perfected his
aerial engines and light machinery. Freight they still carry, but
railway passenger traffic has fallen off to a marked extent, even with
trains running at one hundred miles per hour.

Who would care nowadays to sp