Fair play., 1880-04-10
A NICE LITTLE RIDE,

n ANVIL La
was formerly a great admirer o
steam engines, and especially of loco
motives, but l have got bravcly over it
carried this admiration to excess-i
became almost monomania with me tC
be around the depot and to watch the
trains coming in and going out. Not
that | am of mec chanical turn of mind
at ALTAR from it. l could never MAKE
any thing in my life, not even o. boot.
jack, although worked on one for three
days, broke two saws and gimlet, cut
my left hand half off, and had to give
it up after all! - 40 ~
The steam engine was always o mys.
terry to mel would as soon try 10 com.
prehend the principle of the s3rescope
and never knew the name Of any Ot
its parts, except the piston rod Cyl.
inder, and governor; yet tfl0veIt 70 sit
and watch the thing AZ work, wheezine
and clanking with IT'S sl0W; even, ste4dy
motion-ah, it was a great fascination to
me! But the greatest pleasure that l
knew was to have a good swift ride on a
locomotive. From my almost constant
presence at the depOts, l knew all the
engineers of the line of the SIing-wheel
Firepan Railroad-an unbrOkcn track
Of 200 odd miles, over level country,
which had often Travelled in the ears,
in the tender, or perched giddily upon
that trembling snorting, shaky ma
chine, the iron horse.
My gay season was the close of the
Presidential campaign, when the cleo
ton returns had to be carried through
by lightning express-usually an engin-
Ger and myself on a locomotive. Other
people were interested in the election
and excited about its results-I was only
interested in my ride, and excited about
my rate of speed. Once, remember,
carried the dispatches and made splen-
did time. left Slingwheel at 8 O'Clock
in the evening, and at 1918 arrived at
Waterbutt, way-station, Just 1856
miles from Slingwheel. A large party
had assembled to hear the news; but 1
forgot it all, and as the engineer Stacked
up little, only screamed out, in an
swer to their questions:
"a mile minute, clear through! Go
ahead, Jake!"
And off we went again, leaving the
inhabitants of Waterbutt in total dark
ness as to whether they were enjoying
the reign Of Republican or Demo-
crat!
But my great ride and my last was
about q year ago. 1t was a pretty tall
experience of its kind, and has, 1 am
pleased to say, entirely cured me of my
predictions for "making big time"
When compelled to travel nowadays 1
always go in quiet little wagon of my
own, with q pair of steady nags, and
never emulate any thing faster than
eight or ten miles an hour. There was
q young machinist who lived at Sling
wheel, and who had quite an inventive
genius. :He had for several years been
engaged on q model of a great engine
which was to supersede all others and
and create q perfect revolution in the
world of locomotion. 1t was steam
carriage. but on an entirely new plan
and principle, and he was very sanSuine
of its success if he could only get money
to complete it. Having occasion to get
small job of gunsmlthing done, l
called on this young man and found him
at work on his engine. We fell into
conversation on the subject, and he rep
resented his condition and his expecta-
tions so vividly to me that my heart was
warmed toward the. enterprise. The
idea of taking trip on that curious
looking skeleton trunk took possession
of me at once, and learning that he
wanted about 81 900, agreed to furnish
the money if he would allow me to ac-
company him on the trial trip, need
not say that he gladly promised, and
that l lived.in state of extraordinary
excitement from that day forth until the
machine was completed.
1t was a strange affair to look at, re-
sembling reaping machine, a trotting
sulky and a patent coffee mill about
equally. The young machiniSt explained
to me that his model was merely test
of the principle, and that a large one,
built more carefully, would 60 much
faster.
81 do not expect this one to get more
than 1000 revolutions minute for its
balance Wheel" he said, "and that
would give speed of Us miles per
hour on good road"
had an idea that this would do for
ordinary travelling, and inwardly prayed
for the night Of the trial to come. 1t
came-one Wednesday night, when, for
some reason or another, there would be
no trains through either way, and /
fastened to stop where the model stood
in perfect readiness for the track. With
little trouble we rolled it down to the
rails and placed its wheels upon them,
fop it weighed but few pounds more
than q common hackney coach. We
then took our places on q sort of buggy
seat, with strong handles in front to hold
on blythe nfachinist pulled string,
and off we dashed. beginning with
jump of some twenty feet, and slide
of ten more, before the wheels got into
revolving. The lights of the village
gradually heightened ont into long rib
bons of flames, as we flew through the
suburbs, and by the time / could catch
my breath, some similar ones appeared
gliding swiftly past.
What lights are those?" asked
Tarbucket Station" replied my
companion
.'But Tarbucket is. FIVE miles from
Slingwheel''
s"Yes, and we have been nearly three
minutes Oh the road"
Pretty good speed?"
'.Yes. but am going to try it little
faster
This conversation was held at the very
top Of our voices, for 10 ordinary SQUAD
could be heard 1T the rate st which We
were going. The wind seemed Glowing
a gale, although | had remarked, before
We started, how very unusually still the
wind was. My companion now turned
a small crank, with ratchet upon it,
that WAS attacked to the machine just in