Already her skirmishers, in a line of little houses, were pushed beyond the canal, and were obliterating the cow-paths.

The honest old Dutch settlers shrugged their shoulders, and said it was not a good sign to see people get rich so fast.

Indeed, they declared that these fast and extravagant New Yorkers, who were building great houses and sending big ships to all parts of the world, would bring ruin on the country.
A ship of five hundred tons had been added to the old London line, and her great size was an object of curiosity.

But the man who projected her was regarded by careful merchants as very reckless, and not a safe man to trust.
That which troubled the minds of these peaceable old settlers most was Mr.Fulton and his steamboat.

Steam they declared to be a very dangerous thing.