. Platform echoes: or, Living truths for head and heart . in fact, there is no end to PREJUDICE. IGNORANCE, AND ARTIFICE. 293 the miracles he insists could be performed with its aid, — oh,he is very mad ! And so he was left to die. But men per-severed, and thought, toiled, experimented, lost their property,ruined their health, and died neglected ; yet they lived notin vain, nor la-bored and spenttheir strengthfor their dis-appointmentsinspired emula-tion, and theirfailures taughtothers the wayto a glorioussuccess. It is humili-ating to recordthe prejudice,ignorance, andartifice by
. Platform echoes: or, Living truths for head and heart . in fact, there is no end to PREJUDICE. IGNORANCE, AND ARTIFICE. 293 the miracles he insists could be performed with its aid, — oh,he is very mad ! And so he was left to die. But men per-severed, and thought, toiled, experimented, lost their property,ruined their health, and died neglected ; yet they lived notin vain, nor la-bored and spenttheir strengthfor their dis-appointmentsinspired emula-tion, and theirfailures taughtothers the wayto a glorioussuccess. It is humili-ating to recordthe prejudice,ignorance, andartifice by whichmany of themost valuableinventions wereopposed, and bywhich they wereso often and so long thwarted. Take the history of theearly railroads. One might have supposed there wouldhave been a general desire on the part of the communityto receive with open arms, and hail with gratitude, aninvention which would enable them, at about half price,to travel at five times the speed their utmost efforts hadpreviously been aide to attain. Not only that, but to. I AM NOT MAD! 294 OPPOSITION THAT DID NOT PAY. afford similar facilities to millions of tons of yet, in tracing the lines for our great railways, the engi-neers were often looked upon as magicians and unclean spirits,whose unearthly object was to frighten the land from its pro-prietors. In many instances where it was proposed to givevigor and animation to a town by tapping it with a railway,the inhabitants fancied their interests would expire underthe operation. Take, for instance, the opposition to Stephensons endeavors to locate the route of theLondon and Northwestern Railway, when the people of North-ampton, urged and excited by men of influence and education,opposed the scheme with such barbarous force that they suc-ceeded in distorting the line from that healthy and handsometown to a point five miles distant. But for that oppositionthe town would at once have attained to a position of com-mercial
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecttempera, bookyear1890
