THE FIRST RAILWAY. PART II. man-u-fac'-tured ri-di'-cu-lous pas'-sen-ger dis-tin'-guished ne'-ces-sa-ry en-gin-eers' ac'-tu-al-ly dis-be-lief' STEPHENSON had been called a lunatic when he asserted that his locomotive could run twelve miles an hour. One very distinguished officer of the English Government, whose duty it was to see that the mails were carried as rapidly as possible, laughed at the idea, and said that if ever a locomotive ran ten miles an hour with a mail-bag behind it, he would eat a stewed engine-wheel for his breakfast. There was some little excuse for this disbelief, for the first locomotive was a very clumsy affair. Stephenson and his son Robert were the only ones who believed that it would go at all; and some of the learned 1 members of Parliament declared that it could not run against a strong wind. The first improvement on it was "The Rocket." This steam engine was even more ridiculous in appearance, but it was found to be faster and stronger. Before it was accepted by the railroad company, it was put into competition with three engines, manufactured by other engineers. "The Rocket" received the prize, because it exceeded the others in speed and strength: it actually drew thirteen tons at a rate of twenty-nine miles an hour! The first railway-carriage was simply a box on wheels, with seats running along the sides, a door at the back, and a seat in front for the driver. It was called by Stephenson the "Experiment," because it was not generally believed that people would travel on the railway. In 1825, about the time the first line was finished, one of the principal papers of England said that nothing could be more ridiculous than the prospect of locomotives travelling twice as fast as stage coaches!" And it added that people would as soon "suffer themselves to be fired off upon one of 5 Congreve's rockets as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machiue going at such a rate." Stephenson, however, firm in his belief that passengers could travel by rail, declared that the time would come, and he hoped to live to see it, when it would be cheaper for a poor man to ride than to walk! It was not long after the Stockton and Darlington road was opened, that more railway-carriages were needed. The first improvement on the "Experiment was a double carriage made out of two "mourning-coaches." This carriage was lighted by a single candle. Of course the owners and drivers of the stagecoaches and road-waggons bitterly opposed the building of the railway. They claimed that stagecoaches were not only safer, but swifter than travelling by rail, and often tried to prove it by racing. The last race on record, between an old stage-coach and Stephenson's locomotive drawing a passenger-train, was one of twelve miles. It resulted in the defeat of the stage-coach by about one hundred yards. It is scarcely necessary to add that stage-coaches soon ceased to run. The owners sold them to the railway company, who turned them into railway-carriages. It is only about fifty years since this first locomotive puffed along the first railway, dragging this first clumsy passenger train. During each of these fifty years more than two thousand miles of rail have been laid in England, and in the United States every day of those fifty years has seen the completion of one locomotive and two passenger carriages. 1Members of Parliament. These are men chosen by the people to represent their opinions in the House of Commons. England is governed by the laws made by these members assembled in Parliament. 2" The Rocket." This locomotive is in South Kensington Museum, London. ridiculous, fitted to excite ridicule; ludicrous; laughable; droll. engineers, one of these was Ericsson, the famous engineer, still living. Ericsson is a native of Sweden, but has passed more than half his life in America. His engine was said to be much more elegant than Stephenson's, but was rejected because it could not draw so great a weight as "The Rocket." Congreve's rockets. A rocket is a firework capable of taking effect at a long range. Sir William Congreve converted the rocket into a terrible weapon of war, with ranges which no cannon at that day could attain. 5 1 BINGEN ON THE RHINE. A SOLDIER of the Legion lay dying in 2 Algiers. There was 3 lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth of woman's tears; 5 But a comrade stood beside him, while his life-blood ebbed away, And bent, with pitying glances, to hear what he might say. The dying soldier 7 faltered, as he took that comrade's hand, And he said, "I never more shall see my own, my native land : Take a message, and a token, to some distant friends of mine, For I was born at Bingen-at Bingen on the Rhine. "Tell my brothers and companions, when they meet and crowd around To hear my mournful story in the pleasant vineyard ground, 11 decline; And one had come from Bingen-fair Bingen on the Rhine! "Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort her old age, And I was aye a 12 truant bird, that thought his home a cage : For my father was a soldier, and even as a child My heart 13 leaped forth to hear him tell of struggles fierce and wild : 14 And when he died and left us to divide his scanty hoard, I let them take whate'er they would, but kept my father's sword, And with boyish love I hung it where the bright light used to shine, On the cottage-wall at Bingen-calm Bingen on the Rhine!" His voice grew faint and hoarser,-his grasp was childish weak,— 15 Mrs. Norton. 'Bingen, a town on the Rhine, about twenty miles west of Mayence. (See App.) 2 Algiers, a country in North Africa. This soldier had probably joined a German legion or division attached to the French army. lack, want ; need; there were no women to nurse the wounded. dearth, this word is generally used to express scarcity of food; famine. It here signifies that there were no 10 women to shed tears over the wounded and dying. 5 comrade, a companion; associate; mate. ebbed, flowed away, like the retiring tide. faltered, trembled; hesitated. corse, corpse, dead body. 9gallant, noble, brave, because of the deeds of daring they had achieved. 1o life's morn, the days of youth, and early days of manhood." decline, draw towards a close; sink; decay. 12 truant, wandering from business; loitering; idle and shirking duty. 13 leaped forth, was excited; was filled with enthusiasm. 1scanty hoard, small savings. 15 Mrs. Norton. The authoress of the above poem was grand-daughter of the great dramatist, Richard Sheridan. She wrote many works in prose; and these, as well as her poetry, are written with considerable cleverness and vigour, and manifest some degree of that brilliancy for which the Sheridans have been famous. 1 DEEP down in the waters of the ocean is a myste rious world vaster and richer than that of earth or air. The creatures which creep and swim in it are far more numerous than those which walk upon the land or fly in the air. It is not level, as one would suppose, judging only from the smooth sandy beach glistening in the sun it has its broad plains, deep ravines, and high mountains covered in many parts by great reeds, and twining plants of various colours, forming beautiful submarine gardens. "There are places," says Lieutenant Brook, who sounded the sea along the route of the first Atlantic cable, "where Mont Blanc (the White Mountain of the Alps, |