pleasant in the eyes of the old school of conservative financiers, is
yet unique and valuable as having accomplished the task of absolutely
equalizing the popular currency of so large a country as the Union.
That gap of twelve or thirteen per cent. between greenbacks and gold
is no doubt an _hiatus valde deflendus_--a gulf which has swallowed up
many an ardent and confident Curtius, and will swallow more before it
disappears; but the difference is uniform everywhere, and discounts
itself. Whatever the faults of our paper-money, it claims a prominent
place among the illustrations of the close of the century, for it is
the only currency save copper and Mr. Memminger's designs in blue
that a majority of American youth have ever seen. Should these young
inquirers wish to unearth the money of their fathers, they can find
the eagles among other medals of antiquity in the Mint department of
the United States Government Building.

[Illustration: SWEDISH SCHOOL-HOUSE.]

His fiscal affairs brought into comfortable shape, the tourist from
abroad may be desirous of seeing more of the United States than is
included in the view from the great Observatory. The landscape visible
from that point, as he will find after being wound to the top
by steam, is not flecked with buffaloes or even the smoke of the
infrequent wigwam, as the incautious reader of some Transatlantic
books of travel might expect. For the due exploration of at least a
portion of the broad territory that lies inside of the buffalo range
he needs a railway-ticket and information. These are at his command in
the "World's Ticket and Inquiry Office," the abundantly comprehensive
name of a building near the north-east corner of Machinery Hall. In a
central area sixty feet in diameter tickets to every known point are
offered to him by polyglot clerks. Here, too, a wholesome interchange