selecting good men." But once more rushes a whole passel of flies into the ointment, for immediately follows "sinuosity," "insincerity," "mediocrity," "volubility" and "imbecility." Such is life in the pages of the "Blue Back." But what of life out of it? Have its currents been beneficently directed or hurtfully hindered through the influences of that ancient finger and guidepost? Happily the evidence is all in its favor. From the speller came books, and these, too, have pointed the way even more effectually. The increase of knowledge has built for good, and destroyed nothing that should stand. Construction and not destruction was the aim. The sinister Dom Claude of Hugo's "Notre Dame," poring over the earliest products of the Gutenberg press, pronounced his verdict, "The book will kill the edifice!" signifying thereby that the might of the cathedral must fall before the power of the printed page. But both have survived, and each is the better for the other. And when you go on to the "readers." isn't the moral the same? When the late Colonel Nelson of the Kansas City Star was braving contempt of court in one of his innumerable fights for civic righteousness, didn't Marse Henry Watterson of the Courier-Journal tell him to stand by his guns, and that if he-Colonel Nelson-was sent to jail, he-Colonel Watterson-would sit outside and read Felicia Hemans' poems to him through the bars? And where did either learn of Felicia save through the old Fifth Reader? And if Greece tugs at the strings today, what inspires her more than Byron's song of "Burning Sappho❞ or the ever to be remembered "Marco Bozzaris?" Nor can there be added to the soporific spell of time any mandragora or any drowsysirups of the East sufficient to drown that earlier school-reader picture from Campbell's "Hohenlinden," as realistic in present time and place -the more's the pity-as it was so long before its singsong words were droned in the little bleak schoolhouse in the last days: And redder yet those fires shall glow, CINCINNATI Inquirer. TOM CORWIN'S SPEECH The correct form of the expression is "we will greet you with bloody hands and welcome you to hospitable graves" and is to be found in the following passage in a speech which Thomas Corwin of Ohio delivered in the United States Senate on Feb. 11, 1847, against the Mexican War: "If I were a Mexican I would tell you: 'Have you not room in your own country to bury your dead men? If you come into mine we will greet you with bloody hands and welcome you to hospitable graves.' That speech of Corwin's against the Mexican War is thus spoken of on page 49 of the "Life and Speeches of Thomas Corwin, Orator and Statesman. Edited by Josiah Morrow" (Cincinnati, 1896): "The philippic against the Mexican War has taken its place among the halfdozen speeches delivered in Congress which stand out singly as the most distinguished for consummate ability and parliamentary eloquence. No speech in the English language contains a greater number of passages of lofty eloquence. Its concluding portions have often been quoted as among the finest specimens of American oratory. No speech delivered in the United States Senate was ever more widely read, more generally talked about, more frequently quoted, more warmly admired, more bitterly denounced. The orator himself afterwards said, with some rhetorical exaggeration, that it had caused him to be burned in effigy in every village from Maine to Texas that had sent a soldier to fight against Mexico. His political opponents seized upon some strong and emphatic passages and pronounced them. treasonable. The expressions which became most familiar were 'bloody hands' and 'hospitable graves." " .. CARROLL Thomas Corwin of Ohio, familiarly known as Tom Corwin, was a representative in Congress when the Mexican War was under discussion during the administration of President Polk, a Democrat, who with his party desired the war, while the Whig party, in which Corwin was a leader, opposed it. While making a speech against the war, a member asked if he were a Mexican how he would greet the invading American soldiers, which brought out Mr. Corwin's reply. Abraham Lincoln was a Whig representative from Illinois, and voted with his party against the war, which was unpopular in the North especially in Massachusetts, which raised one regiment for the campaign commanded by Colonel Caleb Cushing, an eminent Democrat of Southern proclivities. When the regiment marched through the streets of Boston it was hissed and jeered at by hundreds of citizens. Cushing was not a trained soldier, and was a martinet in his treatment of his men, which is said to have been such that the rank and file hated him. When the regiment returned home and was given a reception in Faneuil Hall, Cushing (who had been made a brigadier general and was succeeded in command of the regiment by Colonel Isaac Hull Wright) attempted to address them, but they refused to hear him, hissing and jeering at him. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he offered his services to Governor Andrew, who declined to accept them as he shared in the general distrust of Cushing. Mr. Corwin was successively Secretary of the Treasury, I think in Harrison's cabinet, governor of Ohio, and United States senator. He had quite a reputation as a witty speaker, and late in life advised a rising young man not to get a reputation of that kind, for it might prevent his being taken seriously when he wanted to be. He was of a swarthy complexion and his friends used to joke him about his resemblance to a negro. OUR EARLY RAILROADS The latest verification of chronological research concerning industrial development in the United States is embodied in Merriam's "Reference History" incorporated with the latest Webster's International. Therein it is stated that the first experimental railroad in America was built in Delaware County, Penn., by John Thomson, in 1809. It is further stated that the first railroad operated for passenger traffic was the Baltimore & Ohio, construction of which was begun July 4, 1828, and it is added that the first locomotive used in America was imported from England in 1829, for use on the Carbondale & Honesdale railroad in Pennsylvania. This pioneer locomotive, it has been well established, was the socalled "Stourbridge Lion." The Delaware & Hudson Company, which claims to be the oldest continuous transportation company in the United States because it developed from one of the first canals, has long exploited the "Stourbridge Lion" as the "first locomotive engine that ever turned a wheel on any railroad on this continent." The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, initial step in the present Delaware & Hudson Company, was chartered by the New York Legislature in 1823. Two years later ground was broken for a canal. which was completed from Rondout on the Hudson to Honesdale, Penn. 108 miles, in 1828, at a cost of $6,300,000. The canal was designed almost solely for carrying coal, which was first mined by the Delaware & Hudson promoters in the present limits of Carbondale. The coal was carried over a gravity railroad, begun in 1827 and completed in 1829, to the canal at Honesdale. It was on this railroad that the "Stourbridge Lion" first was used. The locomotive was carried by canal boat from New York to Carbondale, Penn., and the first trip under its own steam was made Aug. 8, 1929, from Honesdale to Seeleyville and return. Although the railroad was steadily developed, the canal was in active operation until its abandonment Jan. 1, 1899. Also laying claim to pioneer achievement in American railroading is the so-called "Switchback" gravity railroad at Mauch Chunk, Penn., where coal mining was done as early as 1806. This "Switchback" railroad has been in continuous operation ever since, and carries passengers. Thus it will be seen that the finding of anthracite in Pennsylvania was the first incentive to the development of railroads in America. Coal had been found in Virginia as early as 1701, and is known to have been mined there in 1750. A blacksmith in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania is reputed to have first used Pennsylvania anthracite from a nearby field in 1775. But it was not until 1792 that Charles Cist, a printer, journeying overland to Philadelphia, was nearly mobbed in that city for trying to introduce the "black stones" as fuel. A shrewd Quaker City merchant, William Wurts, with his brother, quietly investigated the printer's "black stone" territory, and after prospecting the Lackawanna and Lackawaxen valleys the Wurts brothers bought up coal lands at fifty cents to three dollars an acre. Their holdings became the nucleus of the Delaware & Hudson Company. W. I. C. The first railroad operated was built by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company (the Carbondale Railroad) to carry coal from their mines to Honesdale, Pa., sixteen miles, built in 1828-29. The locomotive used was built in England. The Charleston and Augusta Rail road, 135 miles, was chartered January 1828. A small portion only of the stock was taken, yet the company was organized. A few miles were built and put into operation; the stock was increased to $600,000 in 1830. On Jan. 15, 1831, the first regular train was run, drawn by the first American built loconotive. With a train of five cars it could make a speed of fifteen or twenty miles. These two roads are mentioned in the New Encyclopædia Americana. About the same time many roads were incorporated in the United States and began running cars during the next four or five years. From two books, "Travellers' Guide Through the Middle and Northern States" and "Bowen's Picture of Boston," both published in 1833, I find mention of many railroads which were commenced between 1830 and 1833. The Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad was commenced in 1830, Twelve and one-half miles were finished for use in 1831. The Camden and Amboy Railroad was incorporated in 1830, began to run trains between Bordentown and Amboy, twenty-seven miles, in 1832. The Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, twenty-one miles, was commenced in August, 1831; cars were running July 12, 1832. The Harlem Railroad from White street, New York, to Harlem River, about ten miles, ran passenger cars on a part of the road in 1832. The Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad, fifteen miles, was in operation in 1833. The Columbia and Philadephia Railroad, eighty miles, was in operation in 1833. Both these roads were built and were the property of the State. The Boston and Lowell Railroad, twenty-five miles, was incorporated Jan. 5, 1830, and nearly finished in 1833. The Boston and Worcester Railroad was incorporated in January, 1831; work was commenced in August, 1832. It was estimated that the road would convey 50,000 passengers annually. It was thought the work would be completed and opened by 1835. The Boston and Providence Railroad, forty miles, was incorporated Jan. 22, 1831. Its charter gave it until 1836 for filing the location, and until 1837 for its completion. BOSTON Transcript. S. G. W. |