[Illustration: WILHELMINE VON HILLERN, Author of "Only a Girl," "By
His Own Might," etc. (See Our Monthly Gossip.)]




IRON BRIDGES, AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION.

[Illustration: "ASSEMBLING" BRIDGE UNDER SHED.]


In a graveyard in Watertown, a village near Boston, Massachusetts, there
is a tombstone commemorating the claims of the departed worthy who lies
below to the eternal gratitude of posterity. The inscription is dated in
the early part of this century (about 1810), but the name of him who was
thus immortalized has faded like the date of his death from my memory,
while the deed for which he was distinguished, and which was recorded
upon his tombstone, remains clear. "He built the famous bridge over the
Charles River in this town," says the record. The Charles River is here
a small stream, about twenty to thirty feet wide, and the bridge was a
simple wooden structure.

[Illustration: THE LYMAN VIADUCT.]

Doubtless in its day this structure was considered an engineering feat
worthy of such posthumous immortality as is gained by an epitaph, and
afforded such convenience for transportation as was needed by the
commercial activity of that era. From that time, however, to this, the
changes which have occurred in our commercial and industrial methods are
so fully indicated by the changes of our manner and method of