We also went to Salem, and met a number of "Friends" who were abolitionists, and who appeared desirous to embrace every suitable opportunity of promoting the cause.
Salem is a city of about fourteen thousand inhabitants, and I was told that the number of its population who went and returned to and from Boston, a distance of fourteen miles, weekly, was about five hundred--a striking proof of the locomotive energy of the Americans. Their gratification, in this respect, has been much facilitated of late by the rapid extension of railways. These, with few exceptions, are by no means so completely constructed as in England; but, owing to the cheapness of land, timber, et cet., and by making the lines generally single, and, on the average, the speed of travelling being about one-fourth less than is common in England, they answer the purpose of rapid transit, while the outlay is about as many dollars per mile as it is sovereigns with us. On this railway, and some others in New England, the lines are double, and the construction and speed are nearly equal to ours.
I was informed, the proportion of severe accidents is not larger than in Great Britain. The carriages are generally built to hold sixty or seventy persons, who are seated two by two, one behind another, on double rows of seats, ranged across the carriage, with room to walk between, along the centre. The carriage in which we returned from Salem had twenty-two seats on each side, to contain two each, or, in the whole, eighty-eight passengers. Yet the weight of this machine would be little more than that of an English first-class carriage, to hold eighteen persons, and it cost probably less. Their carriages are well ventilated in summer, and warmed by a stove in winter. Locomotive engines approach Boston near enough to prevent the use of horses; but, on arriving at the distance of a mile or two from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, the carriages and passengers are drawn in by horses. One carriage is often specially reserved for the ladies on the principal lines, into which gentlemen do not usually intrude, unless they have ladies under their care. It is common, however, for the latter to take their seats in any of the carriages. There is no distinction of price, and none of accommodation, except that an inferior and more exposed carriage, at the same fare, is purposely provided for persons of color; but this disgraceful relic of past times cannot survive long. The principal disadvantage that I observed on the American, as compared with the English railways, was the delay on meeting other trains, and on stopping for them at places where they could pass, and also the sparks from the wood, used for fuel instead of coke. On one occasion, my coat was set on fire in this way, though I was seated in a covered carriage. Very efficient locomotive engines are made in the United States. I visited a celebrated manufactory at Philadelphia, which has sent ten to England, for the use of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. At the time of my visit, they had many orders unexecuted from several European governments. As far as my inquiries went, the cost of making them is, upon the whole, about the same as in England.