Forests which one could
hardly imagine as weltering in the dewy placidity of evening sank to the
rear as if the gods had bade them. The dark loom of a house quickly
dissolved before the eyes. A station with its lamps became a broad
yellow band that, to a deficient sense, was only a few yards in length.
Below, in a deep valley, a silver glare on the waters of a river made
equal time with the train. Signals appeared, grew, and vanished. In the
wind and the mystery of the night, it was like sailing in an enchanted
gloom. The vague profiles of hills ran like snakes across the somber
sky. A strange shape boldly and formidably confronted the train, and
then melted to a long dash of track as clean as sword-blades.
The vicinity of Glasgow is unmistakable. The flames of pauseless
industries are here and there marked on the distance. Vast factories
stand close to the track, and reaching chimneys emit roseate flames. At
last one may see upon a wall the strong reflection from furnaces, and
against it the impish and inky figures of workingmen. A long, prison-
like row of tenements, not at all resembling London, but in one way
resembling New York, appeared to the left, and then sank out of sight
like a phantom.
At last the driver stopped the brave effort of his engine The 400 miles
were come to the edge. The average speed of forty-nine and one-third
miles each hour had been made, and it remained only to glide with the
hauteur of a great express through the yard and into the station at
Glasgow.
Pages:
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216