The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-06-03
THE ATIoNAL ERA: WASHINGTON, D. c. JUNE 3, 1853

was thrown into the sea by a charge of three
thousand pounds of gunpowder, and thirty thou
sand tons Of material were thus instaLtaneously
removed from the line of the works.-Lond0n
Quarterly Reriep.
A snob is that man or woman who are always
pretending before the world to be something bet
ter-especially richer or more fashionable
than they are. 1t is one Who thinks his own pc
stion in life contemptible, aud is always yearn'
ing and striving to force himself into one above,
without the education or characteristics which
belong to it one who looks down upon, de-
spises, and overrides his interiors, or even
equals of his own standing, and is ever ready TO
worship, fswn upon, and fatter, richer or
titled man, not because he is q good man, wise
man, or Christian man, but because he has
the luck to be rich or consequential 7hdck.
cray.
Mr.. Charles Dickens, having given many pub
lie readings of some of his Christmas books, for
the benefit of the public, he is now going to ap-
ply the old proverb, and read for himself.
VICTORIA BRIDGE AT MONTREAL. Imagine
bridge seven times and half longer than
Waterloo Bridge. or not great deal less (I76
ieetl than two miles; imagine the span between
the central piers to be $50 feet wide, and the
other spans-twenty four OF them-242 feet !;
imagine this bridge to be q tube, like the one
over the Menai Strait; and you will have a general
idea of q werk now actually in progress-the
Victoria Bridge at Montreal. But the idea will
be very vague one and to bring it more into
shape, you must imagine that the river spanned
| by the monster tube runs frequently at the rate
| of ten miles an hour, and that it brings down
the ice of 1900 miles Of lakes and upper rivers
| with numerous tributaries, and piles it at Mon.
| treal to the height of thirty-forty-6 feet.
| You will now obtain q notion of the necessary
thickr ess and solidity of the work, and be able
| to suppose piers, or supports, containing some
5000 and some 5000 tons of masonry. The
whole weight of masonry in the bridge, when
completed, will be about 100000 tons, and the
| bulk three million cubic feet. The faces of the
piers looking towards the current terminate in
| sharp-pointed edge, while the sides present
to the avalanches of ice only smooth, bevelled.
off surfaces. The stone is dense blue lime
stone "scarcely block of which," says the
| Canadian Neacs, from which we obtain these
particulars, is less than seven tons WEIGHT
and many of those exposed to the force of the
breaking up ice weigh fully ten tons. The
blocks are bound together, not only by the use
of the best water cement, but each stone ia
clamped to its neighbors in several places by
massive iron rivets, bored several inches into
each block, and the interstices between the
rivet and the block are made one solid mass
by means of molten lead" The tubes will be
from nineteen feet high to twenty-five and a
half feet in the centre, and their uniform width
will be sixteen feet, the railtrack being Eve
feet six inches, the national railway gauge of
Canada. The total weight of iron in the tube
will be l0,40O tons. The bridge, it is calcu.
lated, will cost altogether about EI $50, 900. Mr..
Robert Stephenson and Mr.. M. A. Ross are the
architects of this great work, and Messrs Peto,
Brassey, and Bette, the contractors. "There
can be no doubt" says the Canadian Neacs,
that without the Victoria Bridge, the large
and comprehensive trafic-system involved in
the construction Of the Grand Trunk Railway
could only be partially and, by comparison, in
effectually carried out at very great cost
Montreal is the terminal point of ocean naviga-
ton, and is connected with the Lower St.
Lawrence aud the ocean on one side, and with
the great Canadian and American lakes-ex.
tending 1000 miles into the heart of the con-
tinent-on the other. 1t is also the centre from
which lines of railway now radiate to Portland,
Boston, and New York, and to which lines will
though as yet only partially developed, districts
of Canada" .. ...
The late Mr.. Quintin Dick once entertained
large party to dinner, when sailor Knocked
violently at the door, and insisted on immedi.
ate admission to Mr.. Quintin Dick. The SER
want sHpposing he had some message from Mr..
DIS relations in India, introduced him into
the dining room. Mr. D. arose, and the sailor,
reaching out his hand, said, /" Is your name
Qointin Dick? 2" at is, at your service"
"By Jupiter I'm glad of it. Give Us your
hand, old boy My name is Dick Qaintin
and, by the powers, we'll have drop of grog
togetbeil" The effect on the company may
be easily imagined Mr.. Dick took it in good
humor, gave the man hslfa-crown, and told
the servant to take him into the kitchen, and
give him plenty to eat and drink.