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The Miraculous Locomotive
3 Excerpt from a Letter About Early Railway TravelWhat was it like to ride in a train pulled by one of the first steam locomotives? A Britishpolitician named Thomas Creevey found the experience very different from riding on a horse or in a horse-drawn carriage. Read this excerpt from a letter Creevey wrote to a friend, then answer the questions that follow. [November 14, 1829]
Lady Wilton sent over yesterday from Knowsley to say that the Loco Motive machine was to be upon the railway at such a place at 12 o'clock for the Knowsley -party. to ride in if they liked, and inviting this house to be of the party. . . . I had the satisfaction,for I can't call it pleasure, of taking a trip of five miles in it, which we did in just a quarter of an hour-that is, 20 miles an hour. . . . But thequickest motion is to me frightful: it is really flying, and it is impossible to divest yourself of the notion of instant death to all upon the least accident happening. It gave me a .headache which has not left me yet. . . . Altogether I am extremely gladindeed to have seen this miracle, and to have traveled in it . . . but, havingdone so, I am quite satisfied with my first achievement being my last. Source: Herbert Maxwell, ed., The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence andDiaries of the Late Thomas Creevey, M.P.vol. 2 (London: Murray, 1904), pp. 203-204.1 Knowsley: an estate m westernEngland, near Liverpool.2 divest yourself of: free yourself from,get nd of
1. drawing conclusions: Why do you think Creevey was shocked by traveling at a rate of 20 miles an hour? 2. distinguishing fact from fiction: What facts about the trip does Creevey Provide? What words and phrases does he use to show his opinion of it? 3. synthesizing: How might a change from horses and carriages to trains pulled by locomotives alter a society? |
