Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-04-19
a Wilt \ MINUTE OR so.

Go ahead is American; IL Is written on eve
rything from pillow TO q telegram. We are not
always "surs we're right" but nevertheless We
60 A little further, little stronger, little
longer. but all wrapped in the word go"
Swallows are an Americans admiration, and
20 are pigeons. and lightning. aud steam engines;
of all the heather gods, he most delights 10 Mer-
cury; Mercury, the lawyer and liar; but then he
vas the first express messenger, and had wings
to his heels and wings TO his cap. From the
boys first cedar arrow 10 the mans last polished
lever. it is all go"
We have have passed years of life within the
sound OF the clsnking engine We have dwelt in
the midst OF a city whittier from every quarter
flock locomotives like doves to the windows;
tugs" scream like crazy ea-birds up and down
the river; stately steamers come in breasted with
white foam; the news of the world is caught in q
web Of wire. And vet we must get away from
il all TO be impressed with the wonderful age we
live in; get away into the woods, where we are
now writing, and think aud listen. Around us is
the world as il might have been two centuries
ago: grain grows under the sun ard rain "a il did
in Pharoah's time: horses 60 upon four legs still
the milky mothers of the herd" still come low
Ing home as when Homer sang; and the old dog
is unchanged since il whned ULYSSES welcome
home.
here; something that used 70 find place in the
Entertainment of the Thousand and one Nights,
and the fairy stories OF childhood. From the
heart OF the biliowy woods comes a dull roar
lost as il punges into deep gorge; louder and
nearer as il strikes out into the open spaces
Then there il a shrek, and then the clank OF
wheels, and we know IL Is the Michigan Southern
train rushing through its iron orbit-from Tole
do to Chicsgo-from Chicago to Toledo-lke
the swing OF pendulum; like the flight Of q
shuttle.
Night il the time To hear il. The myriad
sounds that make up the din of the day are hush
ed: for noises undiscernable, the tread Of distant
feet, the fall Of far of hammers, the flutter oil
unseen wings, the insudible talk Of men and NO
men the laugh and cry of children, all go to
make that something which is hardly a sound
yet not silence; all feel il, though no one car
describe IL. And it is in the night we miss il
the birds that Nv then have mufled wings, she
IRE goes on, in the roaring forge. the ivory gates
of dreams stand sisr. The damp air brings to US
the champ of the hungry wheels as they devour
he miles; We can hear write. the Kissing
plunge of the shaft. though far away over the
wood and field. The sound rises and falls like q
billow: We see head light" no Aash of gilt
teripg windows; each with q stranger face look
ing out into the moonlight night, catching
glimpses of these shorn and yellow fields. these
swelling woods, these racks of corn they never
shall see again " Beauty and the Beast sweep
ing by in that train: all mars or makes world OF
love and hope and energy, q little of each. q
parti -colored thread Of the great web of human
life.
And they are all in hurry: those going home
60 reach il; hope is before some; hope and for
tune; grief is behind others; grief and ruin. And
with them all. "go ahead" is the word. They
fall asleep in Illinois. they dream through Ind-
ana. they mutter "of the night" in Michigan.
they shake themselves awake in Ohio, and yet
they ask in all the tones of impotence and COM
plant when the engine stops 20 take what Ca
sar cried for when he was in Spain" little
drink. as engines will do, why don't they 80
sheads'
"Oh. that had the wings of dove. that |
might fly away" is wish so intensely Ameri-
can that We are almost surprised TO find il IN the
bible: the and be az rest" that ends the little
prayer. Just saves some ankee from sharing the
fate of him Who shall add unto "the words of
the book of this prophecy" For rest" is no
part of bis plan: "istC riGfOr!' stop travels
written nowhere but on tombstones. bur every
where those other words. "gO ahead.
Motion, rapid motion, elsles US up 10 Ger
tain rate We are timid. beyond that feel strong,
feel as if We bad wings somewhere: the mind
thinks quick and clear; We sympsthre with birds
of sweeping wing: we are less of the earth.
earthly" for the time We are better men. The
other night the Chicago bound train on the
Michigan Southern road lacked az many min
utes of being on time" the dying queen said
she would give her crown and all her fair
realms for an hour or sO-and that night we
were . passenger. And didn't We fly?
Conductor Whiting went quickly to and fro. as
IL We were not moving. and vet the regular
clsnk Of the wheels had quckened to q bum; the
Iolting motion OF twenty miles an hour grew
steady: the train shot true a. an arrow along
the rails; the polished sTm grasping the engine
wheel flashed faster and faster IN the setting sun:
drowsy passengers sat upright. timid passengers
looked snxiously about 10 read what was in their
neighbors' faces; curious passengers tried to
count the trees. sat with stop watches and count
ed the fight; one poor lady with nerves. prayed
a little Audibly and shut her eyes a child look
Ell out and clspped its hands and laughed-dear
atom Of an American. eIulting in its FIRST lesson
of Ego ahead
As We swept along the curve through the
woods from LsPoFte, 10 was twenty miles. tsen-
" Eve miles, thirty miles As We shot out upon
the straight track by the broad meadows no man
has ever moved, IL WAS thirty 1--WE miles, forty
Eve mile. ffty miles Sn hour. True ss .
die ran the train. the trees bordering he
road were wrought into walls Of green;
ihe stacks Of hay and grain that bad been slowly
Waiting with each other dashed away together,
the rails before Us opened ike pair OF diyIders
~ s~iit fingers; houses that we're gossipng Oh
the track got out Of the way little squattipg
bushes Jumped up and lodged houses darted into
little groves a. We passed; little groves were on
their way 10 la Porte. little lake along the vsy
winked At rs; old Michigan alone of all things
lay At our right for miles and stared bravelv 81
US the moon Of all things went our way. and
few Just above US, - If the rolling together Of
ths scroll Of Heaven had just began small pines
sa- Us coming and stood up stately trees; mar
tin boxes turned into human homes. and people
70 Oil them were hstched out Of dots ard specks
that family speckled the distance; bird, come
sort Of . hawk. We think-nos backed like