V. NEW YORK-FIFTH AVENUE PAGE 7 XVII. THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY-HARTFORD XVIII. THE CONNECTICUT INTERVALES-MASSACHUSETTS XIX. MOUNT HOLYOKE-THE HOOSACS PAGE XXIV. FROM NARRAGANSETT TO THE SEA. XXVI. THE MODERN ATHENS-BOSTON XXVII. A RAMBLE THROUGH BOSTON XXVIII. BOSTON CHARACTERISTICS-HARVARD XXIX. THE MASSACHUSETTS NORTH SHORE XXX. THE GRANITE BUTTRESS OF CAPE ANN XXXI. GOING DOWN EAST-NEW HAMPSHIRE 173 179 XXXIII. ENTERING THE PINE-TREE STATE-PORTLAND XXXV. THE GREAT PENOBSCOT BAY-ISLESBORO' AN EASTERN TOUR. I. THE BOUND BROOK ROUTE. DURING several years past the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad has had in successful operation its new line between Ninth and Green streets, Philadelphia, and New York, popularly known as the "Bound Brook Route." It passes out through the northern suburbs, and, skirting Germantown, crosses the lowlands beyond Wayne Junction, bisecting diagonally Mr. Clayton French's magnificent • avenue of overarching trees leading up to his residence, and then goes on to the picturesque scenery of the North Pennsylvania road. Its rails are laid in a lovely section, the train now darting into rock-cuttings and over purling brooks and beside pretty sheets of water, and then out upon the open, rolling ground dotted with beautiful villas, gliding by charming little stations and across field and meadow, moving swiftly and smoothly as the car-windows display in dissolving views the gorgeously variegated panorama of Philadelphia's fascinating scenic environment upon a balmy summer morning. Past Ashbourne and Ogontz and Chelten Hills, with a brief halt at Jenkintown, the train leaves the North Penn road and rushes across country, seeking the Delaware River above Trenton. There are broad farms and many villas, sloping lawns and bits of woodland on the hillsides, the delicious green of grass and foliage varied by brown fields and waving grain. Many cattle graze and the farmers are out at work. The villages are all growing settlements, their new cottages placed on pleasant sites. Somerton is passed and the Neshaminy crossed, its little waterfall just above the railway-bridge being the momentary centre of an attractive landscape, the narrow lake above having on either hand a sloping grove where picnic-parties gather under the shade of the trees. Langhorne is darted by, its newest cottages having huge overhanging red roofs, and the village getting ready to become a town of pretension and summer fashion. Beyond, the surface flattens as the Delaware is approached, but it is good land and superbly cultivated, the level fields appearing, were it not for the trees and patches of woodland, much like a far Western prairie. Soon the river is reached at Yardley, the railway crossing upon a long trestle and bridge. Here, as the Delaware flows in almost straight course through the flat valley, is displayed a quiet rural view of forest, meadow, and stream. Each bank has a canal or two, and long stretches of river are visible far up and down. A short distance above is another bridge, while below a narrow island is set in the scene, with the Trenton steeples and pottery-smokes making a distant background. CROSSING NEW JERSEY. The train runs into New Jersey, and, moving over the dark-red soils beyond the river, the low, outcropping spurs of the Highlands come gradually into sight to the northward. Then higher hills are seen, at first dimly blue in the long view over the intervening surface, but, approached nearer, rising more boldly as the route skirts the level land stretching to their bases. Forests cover their sides, and occasionally they go far away from us. Little houses may be seen among the trees, and some peep out on their summits. Thus moving, we cross the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which comes out from among these hills, and the Raritan CROSSING NEW JERSEY. 9 River that drains them, and soon stop at the little winding Bound Brook that feeds the latter. This stream has named the village which has grown up at the junction of the Reading and Jersey Central roads, and the place nestles under the shadow of a great ridge, with the Raritan washing its southern edge. The Lehigh Valley Railroad, coming over from Easton on its way to Amboy, now keeps us company for a brief space as the train starts up again on the Jersey Central tracks and moves through the valley south of the long, high, forest-clad ridge bounding its northern verge as far as eye can see. This railway traverses a section that seems almost like one continuous town, it is so thickly settled, and heavy traffic moves upon the line in coal and other freight. Past Dunellen and a dozen other settlements, and still skirting the base of the dark-green ridge, we rush through Plainfield and many villages beyond. The route has turned eastward, and at length gradually leaves the hills behind as distance fades them into hazy blue. The Lehigh Valley line also goes off on the right hand toward Amboy. We pass many suburban settlements peopled by the overflow from New York, and, having moved far away from the hills and out on the flat land, the train enters the city of Elizabeth, its broad and shady streets being laid upon the dark-red, level soils that border the little Elizabeth River. In the heart of the town we diagonally cross the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad, also bound to New York. Elizabeth rapidly dissolves into Elizabethport as we run along the meadows and to the northward see Newark spread broadly across the view. As the terminals on the kills and the sounds are approached, the railway-tracks multiply, and the long lines of coal-cars show the trade that is conducted. We glide past the extensive works of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Over the broad expanse of Newark Bay the train trundles upon a long trestle bridge, with the boats of the fishermen and oyster-dredgers dotted upon the |