My only resource was to open a window, which the moment I attempted, a hulking fellow, swaddled up in coats and comforters, and bursting with health, begged it might be closed as "It was so cold:" the thermometer, I am sure, was ranging, within the car, from ninety to a hundred degrees.

He then tried to hector and bully, and finding that of no use, he appealed to the guard.

I claimed my right, and further pleaded the necessity of fresh air, not merely for comfort, but for very life.

As my friend expressed the same sentiments, the cantankerous Hector was left to sulk; and I must own to a malicious satisfaction, when, soon after, two ladies came in, and seating themselves on the bench abreast of mine, opened their window, and placed Hector in a thorough draught, which, while gall and wormwood to him, was balm of Gilead to me.

As I freely criticise American habits, &c., during my travels, it is but just I should state, that Hector was the only one of his countrymen I ever met who was wilfully offensive and seemed to wish to insult.
The engineering on this road was so contrived, that we had to go through an operation, which to me was quite novel--viz., being dragged by wire ropes up one of the Alleghany hills, and eased down the other side.