Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1853-12-09
"No, | thank you, not any" and continue

TIE FREAKS OF DISTANCE.-" Did you ever
creep gingcrly up to the deck Of railway
car, when the train was moving, say twenty
five or thirty miles an hour And dld YOU
look away ON beyond the train, where the
iron bars-that noblcst in the great epic of
the timc-were welded lovingly together
without hammer, or furnace, or fire, but
Just beneath the wonderful, invisible fingers
Of Distance, till they lay there, IL huge Y up
on the bosom of the prairie And how mar
vcllously. as the train moved ON, those stub
born bars sWayed round t. II parallel, as
lightly and noiscleSSy AS IL brace of sun
beams, fang from a mirror swinging in the
wanton wind, sweep around in the blue air |!
and did YOU " mind hot spike wrenchcd
from its good hold not tie unticd ; not Il
timber sllintercd There must be IL charm
in those fingers, indeed
"Thcre now. a brood Of little hay-cocks,
escaped from their native meadow, have c!us-
tered down the track, right before the engine.
Needless little things But age will bring
wisdom, and one Of these days they Il be dis
erect hay-stacks, and not 80 goSsipping
upon railroad tracks, VW be! Why, they
are g0ting to be stacks already. How they
expand and ''get up in the world" as we near
them And they hear the tram; for see,
they are wheeling in IL sort of knickcrbockcr
waltz to the right and left, over the fence, and
back to the barn, and beyond the orchard
and there they are, digniiied and impcrturba
bic as hay stacks ought to be-
/ And those little Bushcs---a capital B, il
they are bushcA--c4actly in the way, Wills
pering and all of II tlutter, dodging up here,
and nesting down there, like truants in the
entry during school-hours. On thundcr>
the train, and up jump the Bushes.
l.,.. Il.
trees of IL century; columns in Gods iirst
temples. The trees are ON the track grow
ing ON the track On the track, ell ! BY the
holy rood, they are rods away, just where
I they were before railways We're dreamed Of
. And the worker of all this diabIcric .
You can see the lluttcring Of her blue robe
Just there in the horizon. She has gone on
to coniurc again. 1t is Distance
"'Stop the train Let uS off Conduc-
tor, Captain, some body, amy body : There >,
Il r3Hagc on the track born christened, and
grown since last night There's meeting
house, and grave yard and block of stores
IN the way On we plunge-dispcllcd at the
first whistle, The church moves graycly
away. as churches ShouH. The grave yard
with its sleeping tenantry, Is whiSkcd out OF
sight like IL trundlc-bcd II martin-boX of IL
cottage scuds round the corner Of the meet
mg-house; the row OF BRICK stores, very much
flushed, steps six PAGES to the rear; the cars
jar ON, and Distance and Motion are in the
secret.
Look behind you, and they are adjusting
the machinery for the next train. Back goes
the village that had been frightened away by
the whistle, and the stacks and the trees
grow beautifully less :; and SO it is every
day and all day, and every where, when Dis
. lance and Motion are lartnprS.-Ilprp'S. n
something ON the track again It's Il fly
it's II irog-it'S chid-it' 5 II man--SiX feet
/ high-a T.. Man NJ. C.-On we go. We
have passed him. We have left him. Five
feet high-iour feet high-a child-a frog
il bug-a noihiHg! What pranks Distance
can play with man and his dignitics, as the
cars drive rattling ON Your d, ID. is dwin-
died down; your T.. NJ. is past minding your
NJ. c, is microscopic curiosity