St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-09-21
was travelling in India seventeen years


Now we can step into comfortable
railway carriage at Calcutta, and chang
ing cars once on the way, arrive here
in tiftyfOur hours from the time of
starting. Every part OF India is now
connected with Calcutta, Bombay and
Madras by lines of railway. In the
good old times it cost at least fifty rupees
from Lucknow to this city, and now
the lower class fare by rail is two and
one-fourth rupees. The middle class,
which we usually patronize, is about
three and onehalf rupees, saving of
forty-six and a-half rupees out of fifty
and saving of eighty-four hours out
of ninety-six.
AS the masses of people in India are
poor, the fares for the lower class are
very low. On this road the lower class
fare is about one-half cent per mile,-
middle class three-fOurths of cent,
and upper class two and One-fourth
cents. Formerly the masses of the peo-
pie always walked, but now no one can
afford to walk, for the fifteen cents that
a person pays for thirty miles ride
would little more than supply him with
food on the way if he walked, to say
nothing of the loss of time. At these
low rates multitudes of people travel.
From three to four hundred tickets are
sold daily at the station in this small
city /; and an average of almost two
thousand persons pass the junction
thirty miles from here each day. The
mail train from here to Lucknow never
runs less than fourteen passenger and
luggage cars, while the average is over
twenty. Each car seats sixty persons.
Two trains are run daily, both of which
are mixed trains-though the mail takes
much less freight than does the other
Government controls all the railways
in India, and the managing officers are
all Europeans. Every large city has
also a European station master, and the
engine-drivers and guards Conductors,
are all Europeans, while the smaller
town station-masters, the clerks, tele.
graph operators and ticket agents, are
all English speaking natives, knowr
every where rs "Babu."
Time is not as valuable in India as il
America, and hence there is less o
hurry at stations and on the road
When the road to this city was frs
opened, the trains only made tifteeI
miles per hour, and Englishmen natur
ally grnmbled at the lawfully SLOW
running" and the natives very soOI
learned the complaint. When the trains
had been running few months native
of the "Young India" stamp entered
the same car with me thirty miles from
here, and commenced at once to com
plain of the slow train-"Only thirt!
miles in two hourS.r | found that thi
young merchant had been accustOme,
city thirty miles away, and that he hao
usually travelled with his own bullock
in light cart, taking him two days t.
make the journey, being at the expens
of stopping at an inn over night. Thi
he and his fellow tradesmen had dom
for years, and never thought to com
plain. But now he takes his seat in
comfortable car and is carried to hi
destination in two hours at less eX
pense than it would cost to feed hi
oxen one night at the inn, and he com
plains of slow travelling! This is bu
an illustration of how these changes il
the country are changing young In
dia' to fast young man.
All classes of people are glad of thes
changes in modes of travel and in facil
tiles of securing information, but non
more so than missionaries. We can d
our work much easier, and it is NOR
like a civilized land now. Nor is thi
} all, for this activity caused by the rail
, ways, and by the extra business whic
they naturally bring with them ha
caused general shaking up of the pee
pie, throwing them out of their oil
ruts, making them look around them
selves, and see new sights, think ne'
thoughts and work in new spheres
, Every such moving among the peopl
} is help to us in our work, as the min
l is more active and attentive to ne
thoughts. We may write another tim
: more of the changes among the people
5 E. w. PARKER.
Moradabad, India, Aug. 3, 1877.