Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-12-01

Oceanic I0+ feet long! The ocean
wheel turns swifter and swlfter, ming
M the distance between the hemls-
uheres and Fastening the time spoken
of In the book Of Revelation "hen
there shall be no more sea.
While this has been doing on the
water James Watts wheel has done
as much on the land. How well re-
member SandersOn's stagecoach' run
ming from New Brunswick to Easton'
MS he drove through Someryille. \. d.
turning up to the postofice and drop
ping the mail bags with ten letters
and two or three newspapers. Sander-
son himself on the box, feet inches
and well proportioned. long lash whip
In his hand. the reins Of six horses ID
the other, the headers" lathered along
the line of the traces, foam dripping
from the bitsl
II was the event OF the day when
the stage came 1t was our highesi
ambition TO become a stage driver.
Some Of the boys climbed on the great
leathern boot OF the stage. and those
Of us who could not get on shouted
"Cut behindw / saw the old stage
driver not long ago. and | expressed TO
him my surprise that one around
whose head | had seen a halo OF glory
In my boyhood time was only man
like the rest Of US. Between Sander
sons stagecoach and Chicago express
train what a difference. all the great
cities Of the nation strung on an iron
thread of railways!
Doncaster, England. | saw George
Stephenson's first locomotive. II 10
good repair. it could run yet. but be-
cause of its make and size II would be
the burlesoue Of all railroaders. Be
tween that rude machine, crawling
down the iron track. followed by a
clumsy and bouncing train, and one OF
orr Rocky mountain locomotives, with
a village Of palace cars Decomlns
drawing rooms by day and princeiy
dormitories by night, what oewitching
progress.
Modern Wonders.
See the train move out OF one ~ our
great depots for thousand mile 1oF-
new All aboard. Tickets clipped and
baggage checked and porters attentive
I'D every want. under tunnels dripping
with dampness that never saw the
llght; along ledges where an incn Oh
the track would be the difference be-
tween a hundred men living and q
hundred dead. full head Of steam and
two mon In the locomotive charged
with all the responsibility Of whistle
and Westinghouse brake. ClanK.
clank, 20 the wheels. Clank. clanK.
echo the rocks. Small villages only
lcar the thunder and see the whirl-
wind as the train shoots past. city
on the wing. Thrilling. startling,
sublime. magnificent spectacle-a ran
train in lightning procession.
When years ago the railroad men
struck for wages. our country was
threatened with annihllation, and we
realized what the railroad wheel nad
done for this cOuntry-Over one hun
drod and eirhty thousand miles OF rail-
road in tie United States; In one year
over a billion dollars received from
passengers and freight: White noun
1alns. Alleghany mountains, ROCKY
mountains. Sierra Nevadas. bowling TO
the iron yoke: all the rolling stock OF
New York Central. Erie. Pennsylvania
Michigan Central. Georgia. Great
Southern. Union Pacific and all the
other wheels Of the tens Of thousands
Of freight cars. wrecking cars ca
booses. drawing room cars, sleeping
cars. passenger cars. of all the accom-
modatlon. express and special trains
started by the wheel Of the grotesque
loccnot that saw at Doncaster.
For what t .laS done for all Christen-
dom ! eiaculata in the language OF the
text. 80 Wheel
While the world has been rolling on
the eight wheels Of the rail car or the
four wheels Of the carriage or the two
wheels Of the gig It was not until 1876
at the Centennial exposition at Phlla-
dolphla. that the miracle OF the nine
teenth century rolled in-the bicycle.
The world could not believe its own
eyes, and not until quite far on In the
eighties were the continents enchanted
with the whirllng. flashing. dominat-
ing spectacle of a machine that was to
do so much for the pleasure, the busi-
ness. the health and the profit OF ma
tlons. The world had needed It for
6OO0 years. Mans slowness OF loco
motion was mystery. Was II OF more
importance that the reindeer or the
eagle rapidly exchanged jungles or
crags than that man should get swift
ly from place 10 place? Was the busi-
ness Of the bird or the roebuck more
urgent than that OF the incarnated I'M
mortal? No. At last we have the
obllteration of distances by pneumatic
tire. At last we have wings. And
what has this invention done for wo-
man? The cynics and constitutional
GROWERS would deny her this eman-
cipation and say. "What better exer-
else can she have than a broom or a
duster or a churn or rocking a cradle
or running up and down stairs or
walk 20 church with a prayer book un-
der her armT And they rather re-
1oice TO find her disabled with broken
pedal or punctured tire half way out
TO Chevy Chase or COney Island. But
all sensible people who know the tonic
of fresh air and the health In deep
respiration and the awakening OF dis
used muscles and the exhllaration OF
velocity will rejoice that wife ana
mother and daughter may have this
new recreation. Indeed life to so many
is SO hard a grind that | am glad at
the arrival of any new mode Of health
full recreation. We need have no anx-
iety about this invasion Of the worlds
stupidity by the vivacious and laugh
ing and jubilant wheel. except that we
always want it to roll in the right d.
rectlon. toward place of business, to-
ward good recreation. toward philan-
,hropy. toward usefulness, toward
places Of divine worship, and never to-
ward immortality or Sabbath desecra-
ton. My friend VIII Carleton. the
noet said what | like when he wrote: