Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/74

Rh quickly. And here he may obtain these if he will. In Europe the greater number of workpeople cannot obtain them do what they will.

At this moment an explosion thunders from the other side of the Hudson, and I see huge blocks of stone hurled into the air, and then fall into the water, which foams and boils in consequence: it is a rock, which is being blasted with gunpowder on a line of railway now in progress along the banks of the river, and where the power of steam on land will compete with the power of steam on water. To hurl mountains out of the way; to bore through them; to form tunnels; to throw mountains into the water as a foundation for roads in places where it is necessary for it to go over the water; all this these Americans regard as nothing. They have a faith to remove mountains.

Now come the steam-boats thundering like tempest in the mountains. Two or three chase each other like immense meteors; one amongst them comes along heavily, labouring and puffing, dragging along a large fleet of larger and smaller craft. New York receives butter, and cheese, and cattle, and many other good things from the country; and the country, with its towns and rural abodes, receives coffee and tea, and wine, and wearing-apparel, and many other things from New York, and through New York, from Europe. The little town of Newburgh maintains alone by its trade from the country and back two or three steam-boats. When one sees the number, and the magnificence of the steam-boats on the Hudson, one can scarcely believe the fact, that it is not more than thirty years since Fulton made here his first experiment with steam-power on the river, and that amid general distrust of the undertaking. He says himself, when speaking on this subject:— “When I was about to build my first steam-boat, the public of New York in part regarded it with indifference,