The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-11-10

PROGRESS OF MODERN TRAvELLING--Our ia
theirs were-and that within the memory of men
-cOntented to convey their goods from town to
town on pack-horses. Narrow roads, which bare.
y admitted string of these beasts, burthened
with the needs OF many towns, ran on over hill
and dale, and often were found worn deep be-,
tween steep banks by the perseverng traffic of
ages, and overhung by trees, which had sponta-
neously sprung and grown over them, rendering
them cool and pleasant. But the affairs of our
worthy ancestors became sensibly on the iu-
crease. The strings of the pack-horses slowly
progressing over the woods and through forests
were found not equal to the demands of COM
mercial exchange and speed; and they set their
wits TO work, and 10, Pickford's and PeItfor's
wagons, and others, their contemporaries, appear
ed, piled up in ponderous stateness, and drawn
by horses in bulk next TO elephants. For their
convenience, the old roads were deserted as too
narrow, or filled up as too slumberously profound.
New roads, of an airy width, were laid down;
and Mr.. Madam showed himself, with his ne
cromantic hammer and pebble-guag in his hand,
and coaches came galloping after him at ten
miles speed per hour, loaded with eager and still
impatient negoclants; roads OF granite or Of lime
stone, however smooth, or however wide, or
however covered with wagons, coaches, mails,
horsemen, and infinite variety of carriages Of
pleasure, travel, and parade, which now appear
ed on them, were found too few; and canals
were cut; locks-wonderful things in those days
were invented and heavy boats and light
barges fastened to convey their freghts of liv-
ing things, and things for the lvng-inarket
goods and market people--to the places where
they were wanted or where they wanted 10 be-
Wei done, Englishmen! Things were come to
pretty good pass, twas thought. People said,
wondering, to one another-If our grandfathers
could but rise from their graves and see all this
how they would stare But il was soon found
that the population and the needs of the country
had outgrown even these accommodations
There was cry for more conveyance and more
speed. Some talked Of balloons, some Of veloci-
pedes, and some Of perpetual motion The old
and the orthodox said, "Let well be- Things
move fast enough. There is no rest, no repose,
no seadiness in this generation--all is hurry,
hurry, hurry. II is perfectly distractingr' They
even looked back to the old hollow roads and
string OF pack horses with affectionate yearn-
ings. Nevertheless, a set Of big headed fellows
were busy with their brains, and began to utter
strange speeches about the powers Of steam. II
was thing which was TO work our mines and
mills impel our ships, and convey us, with the
velocity OF comet, from one place 10 another
Old men, and wise men too, laughed at such
Quixotic vaporngs; yet, spite of their laughter,
there were heard great hammenngs, and filings,
and fzzings, in the workshops of Watt and Boil
ton and presently that mighty mohster-steam-
engine-was seen pulling up buckets Of water
and heaps of ore out of the earth and turning a
thousand spindes in our factories. II has be-
come locomotive, has mounted the roads and the
ships prepared for it, and is now flying from
town to town. and country TO country, with us
and our concerns, in manner so wonderful that
we shall soon find ourselves past wondering at
any thing. Do we not ride at the rate of thirty
miles an hour, and grumble at such a snail's pace
step over TO America in ten days, and think il
about five too long-and hear news from the
East midas in little more than a month"; We'll
done, Englishmen! as our fathers SAID, so say
we-that is pretty well for another fit William
HoaciH