10 5 As yet the locomotive was a rude machine. It could not go faster than fifteen miles an hour, nor climb a steep hill. Where such an obstacle was met with, either the road went around it, or the locomotive was taken off and the cars were let down or pulled up the hill on an inclined plane by means of a rope and stationary engine. When Pennsylvania began her railroad over the Alleghany Mountains, therefore, she used the inclined-plane system on a great scale, so that in its time the Portage. 10 Railroad, as it was called, was the most remarkable piece of railroading in the world. The Pennsylvania line to the West consisted of a horse railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia on the Susquehanna River; of a canal out the Juniata valley to Holli15 daysburg on the eastern slope of the Alleghany Mountains, where the Portage Railroad began, and the cars were raised to the summit of the mountains by a series of inclined planes and levels, and then by the same means let down the western slope to Johnstown; and then of an20 other canal from Johnstown to Pittsburg. As originally planned, the state was to build the railroad and canal, just as it built turnpikes. No cars, no motive power of any sort, except at the inclined planes, were to be supplied. Anybody could use it who paid two 25 cents a mile for each passenger, and $4.92 for each car sent over the rails. At first, therefore, firms and corporations engaged in the transportation business owned their own cars, their own horses, employed their own drivers, and charged such rates as the state tolls and sharp compe-. 30 tition would allow. The result was dire confusion. The road was a single-track affair, with turnouts to enable cars coming in opposite directions to pass each other. But the drivers were an unruly set, paid no attention to turnouts, and would meet face to face on the track, just as if no turnouts existed. A fight or a block was sure to follow, 5 and somebody was forced to go back. To avoid this, the road was double-tracked in 1834, when, for the first time, two locomotives dragging long trains of cars ran over the line from Lancaster to Philadelphia. As the engine went faster than the horses, it soon became apparent that both 10 could not use the road at the same time; and after 1836 steam became the sole motive power, and the locomotive was furnished by the state, which now charged for hauling the cars. The puffing little locomotive bore little resemblance to 15 its beautiful and powerful successors. No cab sheltered the engineer, no brake checked the speed, wood was the only fuel, and the tall smokestack belched forth smoke and red-hot cinders. But this was nothing to what happened when the train 20 came to a bridge. Such structures were then protected by roofing them and boarding the sides almost to the eaves. But the roof was always too low to allow the smokestack to go under. The stack, therefore, was jointed, and when passing through a bridge the upper half was dropped down and the whole train in consequence was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and burning cinders, while the passengers covered their eyes, mouths, and noses. In 1835 there were twenty-two railroads in operation in the United States. Two were west of the Alleghanies, and not one was 140 miles long. For a while the cars ran 10 on "strap rails" made of wooden beams or stringers laid on stone blocks and protected on the top surface, where the car wheel rested, by long strips or straps of iron spiked on. The spikes would often work loose, and, as the car passed over, the strap would curl up and come through the 15 bottom of the car, making what was called a snake head. It was some time before the all-iron rail came into use, and even then it was a small affair compared with the immense rails that are used at present. Yet another characteristic of the period was the great 20 change which came over the cities and towns. The devel opment of canal and railroad transportation had thrown many of the old highways into disuse, had made old towns. and villages decline in population, and had caused new towns to spring up and flourish. Everybody now wanted 25 to live near a railroad or a canal. The rise of so many new kinds of business of so many corporations, mills, and factories caused a rush of people to the cities, which now began to grow rapidly in size. - From "School History of the United States," by John Bach McMaster. 1 ALEXANDER'S FEAST; OR, THE POWER John Dryden. OF MUSIC. AN ODE FOR ST. CECILIA'S DAY. I. 'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won, By Philip's warlike son: The godlike hero sate On his imperial throne : His valiant peers were placed around, Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound: (So should desert in arms be crowned) The lovely Thaïs, by his side, Sate like a blooming Eastern bride In flower of youth and beauty's pride. Happy, happy, happy pair! None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair. II. Timotheus, placed on high Amid the tuneful quire, With flying fingers touched the lyre: The trembling notes ascend the sky, The song began from Jove, Who left his blissful seats above, (Such is the pow'r of mighty love!) A dragon's fiery form belied the god : Sublime on radiant spires he rode, When he to fair Olympia pressed, And stamped an image of himself, a sovereign of the world. The listening crowd admire the lofty sound; A present deity! they shout around : A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound: With ravished ears The monarch hears, Assumes the god, Affects to nod, And seems to shake the spheres. III. The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung, He shows his honest face. Now give the hautboys breath. He comes, he comes! Bacchus, ever fair and young, Drinking joys did first ordain : Bacchus' blessings are a treasure, |