The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories (Signet classics)
Allegorical short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1843 and included in his short-story collectionMosses from an Old Manse(1846).  Following the path of Christian in John Bunyan'sThe Pilgrim's Progress, the narrator travels from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City--not on foot as had the original pilgrim but as a passenger on the Celestial Railroad. Mr. Smooth-it-away, a friendly fellow traveler, comments contemptuously about the arduous trip the old-fashioned pilgrims had to undergo. At the journey's end, Mr. Smooth-it-away leaves the other passengers and divulges his true identity by breathing fire and brimstone. The narrator awakens and realizes, with great relief, that it has all been a dream.   --The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature