The Columbus Journal

George Francis Train as He Looks To-day.

I suppose that the figure of the George Francis Train of years ago lives in mature Boston memories. It has grown to be a feature of my morning walk to my office to look at him, ensconced at the window in the corner of the reading-room of a hostelry which I pass daily. His feet are generally as high as his head; he has a bouquet always in his button-hole. And he is usually absorbed in the perusal of something, either printed matter or manuscript. He has certainly had an exceptionally curious career in this country, Australia, China and Europe. I am not sure that passengers on the overland route do not still talk with bated breath, as they did some years ago, of the homeward voyage of "that extraordinary American, you know," and the man who established horse railways in London told me that the ghost of George Francis Train rose before him in every street. His achievements in this country are matters of contemporaneous history. Now he lives on $10 per week, sits in Madison square when the weather permits, and feeds the little birds.--Ex.