The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-22
A Half Century of Railroads

1
in the world was opened. Then for the
first time it was proved that steam en-
| gine could draw a heavy load over a
| smooth track at a speed of ten or twelve
miles an hour, at the town of Darlington,
| in the north of England, where the Stock
| ton and Darlington railroad was then
| opened amid public rejOicings. Last Mon
| day this event, really one of the greatest
eras in the history of civilization, was to
| be ecommemOrateda at Darlington under the
| auspices of the Northeastern railway COM
| pany, which now owns the Stockton and
| Darlington road. At that time a statue
of Joseph Pease, perhaps the most effect
| i've promoter of this earliest of railroads,
| the first treasurer of the Stockton and
| Darlington company, was to be unveiled
a portrait of the same gentleman pre-
sented to the Council Chamber of the
town, an exhibition of locomotives and
| other railroad appliances made, a grand
banquet given to more than a thousand
invited guests, and excursions made to
places whose industries have been largely
created by this pioneer of England's and
the worlds railroad system.
Men who had fairly begun their life's
work then still live around us, and have
not all retired from active business, so
that the entire railroad system of the
world as it exists to-day has had its growth
from its birth up not only within a single
lifetime, but within the adult period of a
single lifetime. Men since arriving at
full maturity have witnessed its entire
development and been able to bear fresh
in memory every step in its progress.
What that progress has been, counted
in miles of track, is hard to say, there are
now something more than 100000 miles
of railroad in the world. But what it has
been, counted in the growth of traffic, the
development of industries, the opening tG
settlement of districts hitherto counted
inaccessible, the increase and Cheapening
of those commodities, which, at our grade
of civilization, men most desire, cannot
be accurately measured, can be estimated
only after a profound study of the reSour-
ces of the world now and before the rail-
road era though it evidently is enormous.
Probably in most paTtsOf the world the
period of very rapid construction of rail
rOadsOf the type now prevailing is passed.
Civilized countries are now pretty well
supplied with great traffic routes. There
seems good reason to think, however, that
very light and cheap railroads may take
the place of ordinary highways to a great
extent. If made so that the freight cars
of the. heavy roads can pass over them Gas
they have been sometimes, and always
can be-, and limited to the very low
speed at which alone Il very thin
traffic can be economically conducted,
they might very well within moderate
period, rival in extent the principal
lines; but of heavy railroads, intended for
fast trains, the world has probably built
many more within the past fifty years
than it will in the coming fifty years.
This Is a great advantage. A large pro-
portion of the accumulated capital of the
world has of late been invested in this
costly machine for facilitating exchanges
So far as it is now supplied with railroads,
the accumulating capital is left free for
other useful purposes. And the energy
and talent heretofore largely expended in
their construction, may expect hereafter
to be directed to largely improving them
and working them more effectually and
economically. Special applications of rail
roads, such as their Use for city and sub
urban traffic, may receive more atten-
tion, and it is reasonable to suppose that
we will be able TO reap greaterand greater
advantages from this comparative new in
strument.
FINGER NAILs.-The nails of the hu-
man hand have language of their own,
and the manner of keeping them is elOs
quent. Some keep them long and point
ed, like the "reminiscences of claws 9th
ers bite theirs close to the quick; some.
pare and trim and sCrape and polish up
to the highest point of artificial beauty
and Others, carrying out the doctrine of
nature to the outside limit, let them
grow wild, with Jagged edges, broken
tracts, and agnails, or I" black friend " as
the agonizing consequences. Sometimes
you see the most beautiful nails, pink,
transparent, tilbert-shaped, with the del
icate, tilmy little" half-mOOns" indicated
at the base-all the conditional of beauty
carried to perfection, but all rendered of
no avail by dirt and slovenliness, while
Others, thick, white-ribbed, square, with
no half moon, spotted like so many cir
Gus horses with "gitts" and I" friends" "
and the hke-that is, without blemisheS
are vet pleasant to look at for the care
bestowed on them, their dainty perfec-
tlon of cleanliness being a charm in it
self Nothing is more disgusting than
dirty hands and neglected nails, as moth
ing gives one such sense of freshness
and care as the same we'll kept.
DIvERTING CHILDREN.-When child
is hurt, never hush its cries. 1t is mex
cusable barbarity; it is repressing its
instincts; and for this reason, if phvs-
ical punishment is inflicted upOn a child
it is perfect, brutality A thousand
times better is it to sOothe by kindly
words and acts, divert the mind bv tel
ling stories, by explaining pictures, or by
providing it with new toys. We have
many time, says a famous doctor, in
our professional experience as to sick
children, found more benefit to be de-
rived from a beautiful or interesting toy
than from dose of physic The great
est humanity a mother can exhibit in
respect to her sick child is to divert it,
divert 1t, divert it, in all pleasing ways
possible. We ourselves, who are larger |
children, feel sometimes really SICK.
when a cheerful face and much-loved
friend has come in, and before we know
Il we have forgotten what was the mat
ter with Us. ]