Records Of A Girlhood Volume 1 (1 Of 2) - Frances Ann Kemble (sad books to read TXT) 📗
- Author: Frances Ann Kemble
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Iron Pathway With Us, Passed The First Reading Of The "Arabian Nights,"
The Incidents Of Which It Almost Seemed To Recall. He Was Wonderfully
Condescending And Kind In Answering All The Questions Of My Eager
Ignorance, And I Listened To Him With Eyes Brimful Of Warm Tears Of
Sympathy And Enthusiasm, As He Told Me Of All His Alternations Of Hope
And Fear, Of His Many Trials And Disappointments, Related With Fine
Scorn How The "Parliament Men" Had Badgered And Baffled Him With Their
Book-Knowledge, And How, When At Last They Thought They Had Smothered
The Irrepressible Prophecy Of His Genius In The Quaking Depths Of
Chatmoss, He Had Exclaimed, "Did Ye Ever See A Boat Float On Water? I
Will Make My Road Float Upon Chatmoss!" The Well-Read Parliament Men
(Some Of Whom, Perhaps, Wished For No Railways Near Their Parks And
Pleasure-Grounds) Could Not Believe The Miracle, But The Shrewd
Liverpool Merchants, Helped To Their Faith By A Great Vision Of Immense
Gain, Did; And So The Railroad Was Made, And I Took This Memorable Ride
By The Side Of Its Maker, And Would Not Have Exchanged The Honor And
Pleasure Of It For One Of The Shares In The Speculation.
LIVERPOOL, August 26th.
Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 76MY DEAR H----,
A Common Sheet Of Paper Is Enough For Love, But A Foolscap Extra
Can Alone Contain A Railroad And My Ecstasies. There Was Once A
Man, Who Was Born At Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Who Was A Common
Coal-Digger; This Man Had An Immense Constructiveness, Which
Displayed Itself In Pulling His Watch To Pieces And Putting It
Together Again; In Making A Pair Of Shoes When He Happened To Be
Some Days Without Occupation; Finally--Here There Is A Great Gap In
My Story--It Brought Him In The Capacity Of An Engineer Before A
Committee Of The House Of Commons, With His Head Full Of Plans For
Constructing A Railroad From Liverpool To Manchester. It So
Happened That To The Quickest And Most Powerful Perceptions And
Conceptions, To The Most Indefatigable Industry And Perseverance,
And The Most Accurate Knowledge Of The Phenomena Of Nature As They
Affect His Peculiar Labors, This Man Joined An Utter Want Of The
"Gift Of The Gab;" He Could No More Explain To Others What He Meant
To Do And How He Meant To Do It, Than He Could Fly; And Therefore
The Members Of The House Of Commons, After Saying, "There Is Rock
To Be Excavated To A Depth Of More Than Sixty Feet, There Are
Embankments To Be Made Nearly To The Same Height, There Is A Swamp
Of Five Miles In Length To Be Traversed, In Which If You Drop An
Iron Rod It Sinks And Disappears: How Will You Do All This?" And
Receiving No Answer But A Broad Northumbrian "I Can't Tell You How
I'll Do It, But I Can Tell You I _Will_ Do It," Dismissed
Stephenson As A Visionary. Having Prevailed Upon A Company Of
Liverpool Gentlemen To Be Less Incredulous, And Having Raised Funds
For His Great Undertaking, In December Of 1826 The First Spade Was
Struck Into The Ground. And Now I Will Give You An Account Of My
Yesterday's Excursion. A Party Of Sixteen Persons Was Ushered, Into
A Large Court-Yard, Where, Under Cover, Stood Several Carriages Of
A Peculiar Construction, One Of Which Was Prepared For Our
Reception. It Was A Long-Bodied Vehicle With Seats Placed Across
It, Back To Back; The One We Were In Had Six Of These Benches, And
Was A Sort Of Uncovered _Char À Banc_. The Wheels Were Placed Upon
Two Iron Bands, Which Formed The Road, And To Which They Are
Fitted, Being So Constructed As To Slide Along Without Any Danger
Of Hitching Or Becoming Displaced, On The Same Principle As A Thing
Sliding On A Concave Groove. The Carriage Was Set In Motion By A
Mere Push, And, Having Received, This Impetus, Rolled With Us Down
An Inclined Plane Into A Tunnel, Which Forms The Entrance To The
Railroad. This Tunnel Is Four Hundred Yards Long (I Believe), And
Will Be Lighted By Gas. At The End Of It We Emerged From Darkness,
And, The Ground Becoming Level, We Stopped. There Is Another Tunnel
Parallel With This, Only Much Wider And Longer, For It Extends From
The Place Which We Had Now Reached, And Where The Steam-Carriages
Start, And Which Is Quite Out Of Liverpool, The Whole Way Under The
Town, To The Docks. This Tunnel Is For Wagons And Other Heavy
Carriages; And As The Engines Which Are To Draw The Trains Along
The Railroad Do Not Enter These Tunnels, There Is A Large Building
At This Entrance Which Is To Be Inhabited By Steam-Engines Of A
Stationary Turn Of Mind, And Different Constitution From The
Traveling Ones, Which Are To Propel The Trains Through The Tunnels
To The Terminus In The Town, Without Going Out Of Their Houses
Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 77Themselves. The Length Of The Tunnel Parallel To The One We Passed
Through Is (I Believe) Two Thousand Two Hundred Yards. I Wonder If
You Are Understanding One Word I Am Saying All This While! We Were
Introduced To The Little Engine Which Was To Drag Us Along The
Rails. She (For They Make These Curious Little Fire-Horses All
Mares) Consisted Of A Boiler, A Stove, A Small Platform, A Bench,
And Behind The Bench A Barrel Containing Enough Water To Prevent
Her Being Thirsty For Fifteen Miles,--The Whole Machine Not Bigger
Than A Common Fire-Engine. She Goes Upon Two Wheels, Which Are Her
Feet, And Are Moved By Bright Steel Legs Called Pistons; These Are
Propelled By Steam, And In Proportion As More Steam Is Applied To
The Upper Extremities (The Hip-Joints, I Suppose) Of These Pistons,
The Faster They Move The Wheels; And When It Is Desirable To
Diminish The Speed, The Steam, Which Unless Suffered To Escape
Would Burst The Boiler, Evaporates Through A Safety-Valve Into The
Air. The Reins, Bit, And Bridle Of This Wonderful Beast Is A Small
Steel Handle, Which Applies Or Withdraws The Steam From Its Legs Or
Pistons, So That A Child Might Manage It. The Coals, Which Are Its
Oats, Were Under The Bench, And There Was A Small Glass Tube
Affixed To The Boiler, With Water In It, Which Indicates By Its
Fullness Or Emptiness When The Creature Wants Water, Which Is
Immediately Conveyed To It From Its Reservoirs. There Is A Chimney
To The Stove, But As They Burn Coke There Is None Of The Dreadful
Black Smoke Which Accompanies The Progress Of A Steam Vessel. This
Snorting Little Animal, Which I Felt Rather Inclined To Pat, Was
Then Harnessed To Our Carriage, And, Mr. Stephenson Having Taken Me
On The Bench Of The Engine With Him, We Started At About Ten Miles
An Hour. The Steam-Horse Being Ill Adapted For Going Up And Down
Hill, The Road Was Kept At A Certain Level, And Appeared Sometimes
To Sink Below The Surface Of The Earth, And Sometimes To Rise Above
It. Almost At Starting It Was Cut Through The Solid Rock, Which
Formed A Wall On Either Side Of It, About Sixty Feet High. You
Can't Imagine How Strange It Seemed To Be Journeying On Thus,
Without Any Visible Cause Of Progress Other Than The Magical
Machine, With Its Flying White Breath And Rhythmical, Unvarying
Pace, Between These Rocky Walls, Which Are Already Clothed With
Moss And Ferns And Grasses; And When I Reflected That These Great
Masses Of Stone Had Been Cut Asunder To Allow Our Passage Thus Far
Below The Surface Of The Earth, I Felt As If No Fairy Tale Was Ever
Half So Wonderful As What I Saw. Bridges Were Thrown From Side To
Side Across The Top Of These Cliffs, And The People Looking Down
Upon Us From Them Seemed Like Pigmies Standing In The Sky. I Must
Be More Concise, Though, Or I Shall Want Room. We Were To Go Only
Fifteen Miles, That Distance Being Sufficient To Show The Speed Of
The Engine, And To Take Us On To The Most Beautiful And Wonderful
Object On The Road. After Proceeding Through This Rocky Defile, We
Presently Found Ourselves Raised Upon Embankments Ten Or Twelve
Feet High; We Then Came To A Moss, Or Swamp, Of Considerable
Extent, On Which No Human Foot Could Tread Without Sinking, And Yet
It Bore The Road Which Bore Us. This Had Been The Great
Stumbling-Block In The Minds Of The Committee Of The House Of
Commons; But Mr. Stephenson Has Succeeded In Overcoming It. A
Foundation Of Hurdles, Or, As He Called It, Basket-Work, Was Thrown
Over The Morass, And The Interstices Were Filled With Moss And
Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 78Other Elastic Matter. Upon This The Clay And Soil Were Laid Down,
And The Road Does Float, For We Passed Over It At The Rate Of Five
And Twenty Miles An Hour, And Saw The Stagnant Swamp Water
Trembling On The Surface Of The Soil On Either Side Of Us. I Hope
You Understand Me. The Embankment Had Gradually Been Rising Higher
And Higher, And In One Place, Where The Soil Was Not Settled Enough
To Form Banks, Stephenson Had Constructed Artificial Ones Of
Wood-Work, Over Which The Mounds Of Earth Were Heaped, For He Said
That Though The Wood-Work Would Rot, Before It Did So The Banks Of
Earth Which Covered It Would Have Been Sufficiently Consolidated To
Support The Road.
We Had Now Come Fifteen Miles, And Stopped Where The Road Traversed
A Wide And Deep Valley. Stephenson Made Me Alight And Led Me Down
To The Bottom Of This Ravine, Over Which, In Order To Keep His Road
Level, He Has Thrown A Magnificent Viaduct
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