THE BOMB FERRY.
"There is another picture representing the ferry of the future. It consists of an enormous mortar, from which a couple of bombs have been fired; they are connected by a chain, and each bomb is large enough to contain several persons. The passengers are supposed to be quite comfortable, and to be whizzed through the air at the speed of a cannon-shot."
"But, of course, such a thing is impossible," said Fred; "nobody could stand it to be shot through a tube at that rate."
"But something very much like it has been proposed in all seriousness; a few years ago an inventor in New York had a scheme for a line of tube four or five feet in diameter, and extending to the principal cities of the land. His cars were to consist of hollow globes or spheres, and they were to be propelled at a very rapid rate by exhausting the air in front of them. His plan was regarded as quite visionary, but it is not at all impossible that it may yet come into use. Small pneumatic tubes are in successful operation for the transmission of letters and little parcels; and in London there is a tube four feet in diameter from the General Post-office to a railway station more than two miles away. The mail-bags are transported through this tube, and on several occasions men have taken their places in the carriages and enjoyed the sensation of this novel mode of travel."
MOONLIGHT AT SEA IN THE TROPICS.