and elms, amongst whose branches the vessels seem to glide. But
beautiful as the scene is, it is a bad place for a railroad, for when
the great river rushes down swollen by some freshet, and is met by the
incoming tide, the water sets back over the marshes and threatens to
sweep away the track or put out the fires of the locomotives; and to
cross streams and tideways many draw-bridges, with their attendant
dangers, must be maintained. To avoid all these difficulties, Mr.
Hinckley planned the change which is known as the Darby Improvement,
carrying the road from Gray's Ferry to Chester over and through the
high lands of Darby and Ridley. We shall no longer hear the brakeman
shout out "Gibson's," "Lazaretto,", "Tinicum" (called by the Indians
_Tenecunck_), "Crum Creek." We shall no longer wonder that the train
should be stopped for so few passengers to get on or off, for in
future our car will take us over a road-bed so perfectly laid with
steel rails that a full glass of water will not spill as the train
hurries on through a thickly settled country. Look quickly from the
window at the country you are traversing: see the beautiful station
at Bonnaffon, and the magnificent oak tree, worth a hundred stations,
that stands in a field just beyond. We cannot enumerate all the
beauties and objects of interest that line the road: every valley
opens a pleasant view, every hill is covered with handsome houses,
comfortable farmeries or superb trees. Before the road was made, these
lands, lying on a ridge high above the river, perfectly healthy and
offering the most desirable homes for city people, were inaccessible,
but now they can be reached, and have been already appreciated. Most
of the land has grown too valuable for farming, and has been bought up
and laid out with different degrees of care for suburban residences.

[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF LANDSCAPE, SHOWING MILITARY INSTITUTE
AT CHESTER.]