Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1865-05-20
A Mile a Minnie or So.
BY D. e. TAYLOR.

srf.c s1c-rsa ---- iuJH eH
Go ahead is American. 1t is written on
every thing, from plow to a telegram. =
We -areono. always sure we are right, bat
nevertheless we CO. A little farther, 1T
tie stronger, little longer, but all wfapt
10 the word go. ls o.. tjgas Ga
'a swallows are an Americans edmiration,
and SO "are the pigeons and lightning and
steam engines. OF all the heather gods.e
he delights most in Mercury-not Mercury
the lawyer aud liar, but he who was the
hrst express messenger, and had wings to
bis heels and wings 10 his cap. From the
boys cedar arrow to the mans last polished
lever it is ell God. so 't4
a We have passed years of life within the
sound OF the clanking engine; we have
dwelt 10 the midst of city, where from ey
cry quarter focked locomotives, like doves
to the windows; tugs scream like crazy sea.
birds up and downst the river ;]stately steam
ers come In breasted with white foam; the
news OF the world is caught in web of
wire. And yet we must get away from it
oil to be Impressed with the wonderful age
we live in; get away into the woods where.
we are row writing, aud think and listen.
Around)ns in the world as it might have
been two centuries ago, grain grows under
The sun and rain as it did in Pharaoh's
time; horses 60 upon legs still; the milky
mothers ofthe herdp come lowing home as
when Homer sang, and. the old dog is uu-
changed since it rwhined Ulysses welcome
home need s7s rs .a,tH diEom d!r
10 But something is new and strange even
here; something that used to find place iD,he
of the Thousand Nights"
and the fairy storiesi of childhood. From
heart OF the billowy woods comes roar
lost as itSplunges into deep gorge-loud-
or and nearer as ait strikes out into the op-
en- spaces Then there is shrek, them
ciauk sof wheels. and we know that it is the
Michigan Southern train rushing through
its irono orbits, from Toledo to Chicago,
from Chicago to Toledo, like the swinging
otia nendulum, like the flight of shuttle
.d Nights the ytime TO hear it, The myr.
lad sounds that make up ihe din of the
day are hushed;i for noises undiscernable,
the tread of distant feet ); the fall offar off
ahapWeEsI u he hntter of unseen wings; the
audible, tplk of men and women; the laugh
and cry of children. all &C 10 make that
something which Is hardly a sound, yet not
silence, all feel it, though no one can des
Icribe it. And the birds that fly then have
mufflsd wings. the FIRE goes out in the roar.
ing forge, the ivory gates of dreams stand
sjar. The damp air brings to Us the champ
of The hungry wheels as they devour the
miles; we can hear, as we write. the kissing
plunge Of the shaft. though far away over
the woods and falds. The sound rises and
and falls like a Jbillow; We see no "head
light, no fash, of glttering Windows, each
with a stranger looking ont into the moon
lii night catching glimpses Of these shorn
and yellow fields, these swelling woods,
these ricks OF corn they neyerh shall see
again. s5a,s-las !as3sa 5s,l 5!I 5s1 eli
And they are all in hurry ;those going
home, to,reschit; hope is before them,
hope and fortune: grief is behind others.
grief and ruin. And with them, asleep in
Illinous, they dream they dream through
Indiana, they matter of the night in Mchi-
gan, they shake themselves awake in Ohio,
aud yet they ask in all the tones of i'm patti
euce AID complaint when the engine stops
to make what Casa cried for @when he was
fin Spain'-..a litte drink, as epgines always
willA"why don't they go ahead r'
f"Oh, that l had the wings Of dove that
l might fly away" is wish SO intensely
American that We are almost surprised to
find it 10 the Bible The "aud be at rest"
that ends the little prayer, just saves some
Yankee from sharing the fate of him who
shall add into the words Of "the book Of this
For ''fest"is no part Of his plan;
isie ridtor-stop. travels written now here
but en- tombstoues, bot eyeryshere those
other words, go ahead. y ~ '.1 "1
. Motion.. rapid motion, elates us; up
ID a certin'ra,e we are timid but beyond
that we feel strong, feel as il we had wings
somewhere; the mind thinks Quick and
clear; we, sympathize with birds ofsw eep.
ing; wings We are less fthe earth, ca rrhy;
for the time we are better men, The other
night the Chicago bound train on the Mich
gan Southern road, lacked as many minutes
of being ION timep as the diving Queen said
she would give herkrown and al her realms
ferLan hour or so-apd that, night
We were a passenger. And didn't we fyt
Conductor Whiting went quickly to and
fro. asif we were not moving, and yet The
regular elank OF The wheels bad guickened
to a'hpm ;the jolting motion ofthe twenty
miles al hour grew easy; the train shot
through as an arrow along the rails, the
polished arm graspihg the engines wheels
flashing faster and faster ID the setting
suo ;.drowsy passebgers sat upright, timid
passengers Hooking spxiously about to
read what was ID othen neighbors faces Il
sxsrfons ara triad ~ coo ~ INA trAes