AMERICAN STEAM-BOATS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 54, 4 November 1863, Page 5

AMERICAN STEAM-BOATS.

Going aboard at a late hour in the evening, the scene which presented itself was novel in the highest degree. Painted a pure white, as nearly all American river steam-boats are (for the anthracite coal burned under their boilers makes no smoke whatever), the enormous mas of the vessel rose like a giant iceberg above the water. Hurrying over the broad gangway, we found ourselves in a crowd of nearly 700 passengers, more than one third of whom were ladies. We were upon the main deck, although under a lofty ceiling, over which was a grand saloon of palatial proportions and magnificence. Looking aft, a broad entrance, flanked with gilded columns and luxurious drapery, opened to the ladies' saloon —a,sanctum sanctorum not to be profaned by the footsteps of a bachelor, although steam-bout etiquette was not so strict, nor steam-boat regulations so inflexible as to forbid the momentary presence there of gentlemen accompanying their wives or other fair charges to bo entrusted

to the care of tlve stewardess. On fcither side of this entrance were broad staircnßes descending to an immense lower cabin, along the sides of which were more than 400 berths. The suppertables were then set out with a degree cf splendour for which an English traveller would be altogether unprepared. Nearly amidships, on the main deck, a grand staircase sweeping both to the right and left, conducted to the great saloon, or state-room hall, nearly 300fr. in length) several yards in width,and having an upper gallery, with a second storey of state rooms—a lofty arched ceiling, glazed with ground and colored glass, and supported by richly-carved columns, covering the whole. In its construction this steam-ooat (the New World) is totally unlike anything ever seen in British waters. It is of enormous size. Originally 376 feet long, it was afterwards lengthened to 468 feet over alh With a breadth of beam of 50ft., the main deck is extende d by moans of platforms, or "gUards,'* projecting over the water to the full width across the paddle-boxes, 85ft., being thus wider than the main deck of the Great Eastern. Yet the vessel, which is flat-bottomed, with bilges nearly or quite square, draws only s£ft. 0 f water, the whole displacement being about 2,500 tons, and the immersed mid-section 275 square feet. All American boats have wooden hulls, and how to stiffen such a vast and shallow craft, flat-bot-tomed as Noah's Ark 1 There are no tubular cells, no " double skins," nor is there a hundredweight of boiler plate, excepting in the boilers themselves, in the whole structure. As if to increase the strain, the boilers—weighing, with water, 75 tons each—are placed upon the u guards'' outside the hull, and of course several feet above the load line. To make the whole ar rigid as a tubular girder, two enormous arched trusses, placed one over each side of the hull, extend over nearly 350 ft. ot the length of the boat. These great bows, like the arches of a bow-string bridge, are connected to king posts and queen posts, and strapped and fastened, so tnat the whole is as stiff as a man-of-war. Then there are four or five large king posts, or masts, stepped upon the keel, and carrying tho weight of tiie projecting " guards" by Jong diagonal tension rods. These masts carry no spurs, booms, or rigging of any kind, all of which would be so much top hamper wor.-e than at a speed of 20 miles an hour. These posts, like nearly all the rest of the wood-work, are painted a dazzling white, and surmounted by gilded balls. The lines of the hull are very sharp, and at 22 strtute miles an hour, a speed not unfrequently attained, there is only a thin spurt of water breaking into spray, to mark tho keen entrance of the cut-water.—The Engineer>

THE HUSBAND TO HIS LATCH-KEY. Have I lost thee, my latch-key, or was I so green As to leave thee this morning behind; No, thou hast but conceal'd thee my waistcoat between, And the texture by which it is lined. Thou hast rubb'd a great hole in my pocket, I see^ I have worn thee so long near my heart; And that must bo look'd to to-morrow, my Or else we are likely to part. I believe we left home at a quarter to noon, And here we're again at our door; I don't know what the time is exactly, blit soon 1 expect we shall hear it strike four. I cannot conceive what on earth I should do, My Latch-key, if 'twefe not for thee; For I never get home of a night before two, And not very often till three. And here, till I woke all the street with the row, In vain I might hammer and ring ; At one time my wife would sit up for me; now, Oh, catch her at any such thing! B u t Thou art no changed one, my Latch-key, and so, Since I find it's beginning to rain, By thy leave, gentle Keyhole—Eh! What? Here's ago! That woman has put up the chain !

Mr. Snipe's Litany.—From doctor's pills, and western chills, and lengthy bills, and other ills, deliver us. From want of gold, and wives that scold, and maidens old, deliver us. From stinging flics, and greenish eyes, and babies' cries, a man that lies, and cloudy skies, and love that dies, fickle tics, and gaudy dyes, deliver us. From bearded females, strong-minded women (this don't jingle), female lecturers, and all other masculine ladies, deliver us. from creaking doors, a wife that snores, confounded bores, deliver us. From cholic gripe, and Mrs. Snipe, deliver us. From pretty girls, with waving curls, and teeth of pearls—Have mercy on us. " My son," said a philosophical old gentleman, 11 when draymen take the temperance pledge and the police refuse bribes, when a coach halfempty goes the same pace as a full one, when the laws of private property extend to umbrellas, and when a bachelor in lodgings finds a shirt without a button off—then thou mayest chance to find a wife who will not object to travel without eight-and-twenty packages, and who will show herself possessed of such angelic selfdenial as even to refuse thine offer of a dress simply because she thinks she does'nt need it." Perseverance. —A provincial judge, a great bore in his way, called upon Bautru, wishing to see him. A valet announced him. "Tell him I am in bed." " Sir, he says he will wait until you are risen." " Tell him lam very ill." "He says he will prescribe some remedy." " Toil him lam at the last extemity." "He says he wishes to say adieu to y u." '• Tell him lam dead." " lie says lie will sprinkle you with holy water." " Confound him, 1"t him in." A Parting Gift.—" \Vhat can I give you for a keepsake, my dearest John ?"' cobbed out a sentimental girl t.> her scapegrace lover about to join his ship. " (live, my angel" cried Jack, m some confusion, " Hem—why—why, you've not got such a thing as five-pound note, i suppose about vou." —American Paper.