XXI-WEALTHY EMINENCE AS ATTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES.

PERHAPS in no other quarter of the world, is the fact so observable, as in America, that men have risen from the masses, to that of wealthy attainment; and ye who condemn our transatlantic cousins, as too fast with the go-a-head mania, will here see, that many of them find sufficient time to create ideas, to trade advantageously, and to build up large fortunes from very humble beginnings. Almost every city in the Union can boast of its self-made, wealthy, commercial men. BOSTON is well-known to count many, that has sprung to eminence by patient toil and unflinching energy-in fact, the whole of the State of Massachusetts is rife with those that have elbowed their way to opulence. PHILADELPHIA is noted for its men that have battled their way to fortune; STEPHEN GIRARD, the once friendless and penniless French boy, that landed on American soil, has proved by his accumulation of millions of dollars the remarkable fact, how great a man can become in worldly possessions by his individual and independent exertions in early life. I could quote many other States of the Union, that contain men of the same stamp-but suffice it to say, that I have from good authority the names of several gentlemen of NEW YORK, the great fortunes of whom bears the striking illustration that prompt action of go-a-head, sometimes leads to success.

WM. D. ASTOR is considered the richest man in New York! he inherited his wealth. STEPHEN WITNEY,

5,000,000 dollars, owes his fortune to speculations in cotton, and the rise in real estate. W. H. ASPINWALL, 4,000,000 dollars, came of a rich family, and gained vast increase of wealth in the shipping business. JAMEs LenNOX, 3,000,000 dollars, which he inherited. The late PETER HARMONY, 2,000,000 dollars, came to this city as a cabin boy, and grew rich by commerce. The LORILLARDS came from France poor, and made their huge fortunes in the tobacco and snuff business. The late ANSON G. PHELPS, 2,000,000 dollars, learned the trade of a tinner, and made a large fortune in iron and copper. ALEXANDER T. STEWART, 2,000,000 dollars, now of the dry goods' palace; began business in a little fancy store. Of those who are put down for 1,500,000 dollars:-GEORGE LAW began life as a farm labourer; CORNELIUS VANDERBILT as a boatman; JOHN LAFARGE as steward to Joseph Bonaparte. Of the millionaires:JAMES CHESTERMAN began life as a journeyman tailor, and PETER COOPER as a glue maker. GEORGE BANCROFT, PROFESSOR ANTHON, THOMAS M'URATH, and DR. FRANCIS, are each stated to possess 100,000 dollars. EDWIN FOREST is rated at 250,000 dollars; so is SYDNEY E. MORSE, of the New York Observer ; Mr. Bennett is said to be worth 150,000 dollars. But perhaps the most remarkable of all is, that Mrs. Okill has made 250,000 dollars by keeping school! And among the most generous hearted of the

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present day of America, ranks MR. PEABODY-who, by his munificent donation to the City of Baltimore for the foundation of three excellent institutions, has earned the title of a benefactor to his country, and enrolled his name in the records of his nation's everlasting history.

XXII.-NEW ENGLAND GLASS WORKS AT EAST CAMBRIDGE.

In the course of my residence near Boston, I received an invitation to inspect the above establishment, situated at East Cambridge, one of the suburbs of Boston. The first room we entered was the GLASSGRINDING department, a very large, long building, in which all kinds of articles, as lamp-shades and glasses, tumblers, wines and cruet glasses, dessert-dishes, &c., &c., were undergoing the process of finishing, which is effected by means of lathes, turned by steam-power, with a skill and rapidity that perfectly astonished me. In the same department I saw the process of engraving on glass, which is brought to such perfection, that leaves, flowers, and even landscapes, are most accurately executed, and so much of this work is already done by machinery, that at no distant day, perhaps, living workmen will have ceased to be employed altogether.

We next passed to the GLASS-BLOWING SHOP, where

thirty furnaces were at work, all flaring with white-hot coal and metal; and what with the number of men and boys besmeared with rosin and smoke, the noise of the glass popping, and the confused sounds of orders and answers, I was reminded of the incantation scene of Der Freischutz, or some demon-drama of the Victoria. The process of glass-blowing is very interesting: a long iron tube is brought by a boy from the furnace, with a lump of red-hot metal at its extremity, which the artizan, by blowing from the other end, and fashioning at the same time by rolling on a table or some other process, forms into the size and shape of the article required,—which done, the boy seizes it with a pair of tongs, and carries it off to be annealed and finished. Some articles, however, such as fruit-stands, glass-dishes, &c., are cast by pouring liquid glass into steel moulds, which are pressed by a machine, and the handles or feet are subsequently fastened on by a workman, who shapes them while red-hot. The artizan in this case has what is termed a chair,-a sort of short form, with a rail on either side, so that the article at the end of the tube rolls with the tube itself; and it is astonishing to see the dexterity and rapidity with which a handle or a foot can be attached to any thing without either rivet or solder,-the only tools used being small tongs and shears. By way of experiment, I blew down a tube myself;-but I must, I suppose, have blown too hard, for it expanded to so thin a texture, that it rapidly fell to pieces. The workmen and boys

were divided into gangs, to work alternately day and night, this being rendered necessary by the requirement of a constantly even temperature in all the several furnaces. The labour and exhaustion, from being constantly exposed to such intense heat, causes the wages for good mechanics to be very high in this department.

Our next visit was to the MOULD-MAKERS' ROOM, where the melting pots are cast; and this is a very spacious chamber, as the pots placed here to dry are of very large dimensions. The clay, from which these crucibles are made, costs great labour in its preparation, as no other means have been devised at all equal to that of treading it into an equable consistency by the human feet; for should the clay prove faulty during the melting process, great losses would be sustained. We were shown some two or three tons of clay, which had been danced upon by bare feet for two months without a day's intermission, in order to prepare it for the mould-maker. The work is done in a sort of vault or stable, each man in a separate wooden partition; and here, for about a dollar a day, these poor fellows-chiefly Irish-tread, tread from early morn till dewy eve. I verily think some machinery might be contrived to do such meer routine labour, which is not only degrading to man's character, but very injurious to the health, and perhaps tends to shorten life.

THE MACHINISTS' ROOM is the department in which the steel dies and patterns are made to assist the glass blower. Some of the designs that I saw were most