The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-01-04
On, fatvArE INTEREST rs. fuBLlc SAFETY AND coNvhA
NIENCE

NiENcE.
M. Editor: In the days of oyal-bodied post
coaches, stuck upon upright jacks thick enough
and stubborn enough to support dozen pile
drivers; when the huge mass. stuck all over with
mechanics tool chests, caissons filled with mill
stones, gun carriages, patentees' iron bridge mo-
dels, ploughs, and steam-battery sectional speci-
MEMS used to plunge up and down roads that
resembled here and there the smooth and decep-
tive decliyity surrounding mud maelstrom, and
in all other places, the broken irregularities OF
an iron-bound coast, where crabs and Holsters
could hold left-handed intercourse from under
the Lodges without danger Of being struck by the
passing, crashing, and laundering mountain-in
those days, Mr. Editor. competition made active,
ylgant, skilful navigators: we had a thousand
dangers and difficulties, but we had glorious
managers; we had men that could steer, men
that could drive ahead, men that might be over
taken by calamity or checked by disaster !;
but they were men Injured to masculine exertion
and powerful effort; men, whom forethougM
made prorident, and consciousness of ability and
efficient skill made courageous; men whom con-
fiding humanity made gentle, considerate, and
hunane-they had no exclusive control over the
locomotion Of the business world, and they there
fore Were not to be arrogant, pragmatical, petu-
liant, and superclious.
We have now royal chartered roads, splendid
gliding cars-mighty establishments, that growl
and puff and spit most scurrilous contempt on all
possible forms Of competition that squeal def
ance all along the road, and tell you, with Just
the same sort Of mounting magni 'oquence that
Gollah assumed when striding over the ground
accompanied by his sword-bearer, am | a dog,
that thou CONTEST against me with staff? You
may tell them of their faults. of their shameless
impositions, Of their ridiculous imbecilities and
their laundering oversights and neglects-you
have sheer, and a vindctive insult-you are
told to help yourself and there you end
Now, Mr.. Editor, listen to an instance: The
Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad Company
leave Philadelphia at 4, p m. they charge $4,
probably the dearest route in America, except
the Washington and Baltimore,) and you sup
pose, very reasonably, that as the charge is high
the management will be capital. 1t very often
IS far perhaps It might be worse in
llmbuctoo, or between Suez and Ispahan, on
the road between Tefflis and Mecca, or Adrian
op'e and the Balkan; but it could not easily be
worse in any half-civiized country, without
prosecutions innumerable for damages for deten-
tion, &C., &c. About sixty passengers left Phi
ladelph;a the Saturday before Christmas, at a,
p m We were stopped twice, on our snail's
pace to the bridge over the Schuylkll, by alleged
accidents in getting off the track by cars which
we met-we reached the locomotive five min
utes before 5 Il think the distance is three miles)
y, IL,
(say about twelve miles per hour y with sundrv
interruptions in the whole way, too abominably
tlresome to be enumerated, and enough to tor
ture the patient endurance out of locust log,
and give fit Of the choic to swamp toad.
We managed, by sundry jerking, swinging, rum
bling, and humping intimations that there was
some sort Of machinery somewhere at work, to
reach the depot at Elkton little before o'clock
that same night, sir! Think Of that! Some
m 90 IN no hour sroh 10 -
stopped TO snuff up the warm gas of fine bar
room to liQuidae, to goat, to scramble for shriv-
eiled apples, to jingle fps and levys, to gable
philosophy and hear jockey disputes, &C., &c.
Alter scrabbling guzzle, and hurry-scurrying
Stopping and munching twaddle, off we are hur.
RED, to resume our glorious progress. The
CHAINS rattle, the wheels creak, the engine splits
and snortss, we creep and bump and slip and fl
nally get into moderate motion We begin to
settle into our nests, in sober hope cf coming
energy, when crash, slam, thump, comes the
whole preclpltate mountain-bulk against the OBJ
stlnately fast-anchored locomotive! We are off
the track, and there we must stick !! Now comes
the tug, or at least the apparent tug, of despera-
ton! But mark the curious prelininaries the
first speech is. Well, here we are, fast, sure
enough-unbolt the cars, and lend us hand to
shove them back to the depot p
Not three seconds elapse before the cars as if
~S-N"SiNNtS
the hundred yards Intervening betsceea the soitcA
and The RUM HOLE No surprise-no ejacua-
ton of chagrin or disappointment is heard at all
all is as still, as orderly, regular and as swiftly
in manGuyre, as II the orders were laid down in
drill book And what do we find at the bar
A line OF decanters, about twenty in number, la
belled, and f led to the shoppers, a row of new
signs OF mineral water. aud ginger pop in dupli-
cate multitudes of candy jars filled to the mouth
drums of figs, boxes Of raisins, almonds, nuts OF
all sorts in rolling profusion apples, oranges,
cakes &C., &C., &C., with boilers Of hot water.
and every conceivable preparation for swelling
celebration Of glorious Chris mas at lone house.
dreary distance from little town in the inte-
rior of midland State! Sixty strangers likely
to pass ia Little piece of iron can be turned
slyly in one minute, without being discovered,
and all these folks may be wheedled into be. |
lief that such an accident as the slipping aside
of little piece of iron is not at all to be won
deIed at, and that no human being can reason |
ably be reproached with any neglect, and then
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