Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1892 — A Wonderful Railroad [ARTICLE]

A Wonderful Railroad

When the railroad between Moscow* and St. Petersburg was opened it inspired great terror in the breasts of the superstitious peasantry, who thought there must be some witchcraft in ac invention which could make a train of heavy cars run along without horses at the rate of twenty miles an hour. Some of them, would not go within sight of a. train. Others took timid peeps at the Smoke-breathing creature, which they believed to be alive and ready to devour whatever came in its way. When the whistle sounded they said: “The monster is hungry; he’s screaming for some body to eat!” By degrees, however, their terror wore away, and following the example of the village priests, the peasants began to try the “smoke-wagons,” though with fear and trembling. The superstition had gone, but the mystery still remained. One day an old man who had never been away from his own village determined to take a look at“ Mother Moscow,” which is regarded by all the Russian peasantry as the most wonderful city in the world. The down express and the up express met at Bo'.ogoe— half way between St. Petersburg and Moscow—and the passengers ot both trains were allowed half an hour for supper. Among the people who alighted from the other train the old peasant recognized a friend whom he had not seen for a long time. They had a delightful chat together over their tea in the restaurant and thtn, without any thought of what he was doing, the old peasant boarded his friend’s train instead of his own. The talk was very merry for some time, but at last the old man became grave and silent and appeared to be puzzling deeply over something. At last he broke oiqt: “Ah, Ivan, what a wonderful thing are these railroads! Here we sit in tae same car, I going to Moscow and you to St. Petersburg!”—[Youth’s Companion.