the train through the tunnels or arches are very
electrifying. The deafening peal of thunder, the sudden immersion in
gloom, and the clash of reverberated sounds in confined space combine to
produce a momentary shudder or idea of destruction--a thrill of
annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on emerging into the cheerful
light.

"The meetings or crossings of the steam trains flying in opposite
directions are scarcely less agitating to the nerves than their transits
through the tunnels. The velocity of their course, the propinquity or
apparent identity of the iron orbits along which these meteors move, call
forth the involuntary but fearful thought of a possible collision, with
all its horrible consequences. The period of suspense, however, though
exquisitely painful, is but momentary; and in a few seconds the object of
terror is far out of sight behind.

"Nor is the rapid passage across Chat Moss unworthy of notice. The
ingenuity with which two narrow rods of iron are made to bear whole
trains of wagons, laden with many hundred tons of commerce, and bounding
across a wide, semi-fluid morass, previously impassable by man or beast,
is beyond all praise and deserving of eternal record. Only conceive a
slender bridge of two minute iron rails, several miles in length, level
as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firm as adamant! Along this
splendid triumph of human genius--this veritable _via triumphalis_--the
train of carriages bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer; the
vibrations of the resilient moss causing the ponderous engine and its
enormous suite to glide along the surface of an extensive quagmire as
safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of a frozen lake.

"The first class or train is the most fashionable, but the second or
third are the most amusing. I travelled one day from Liverpool to
Manchester in the lumber train. Many of the carriages were occupied by
the swinish multitude, and others by a multitude of swine. These last
were naturally vociferous if not eloquent. It is evident that the other
passengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of this
last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an officer
somewhat analogous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but whose designation
on the railroad I found to be 'Comptroller of the Gammon.' No sooner did
one of the long-faced gentlemen raise his note too high, or wag his jaw
too long, than the 'Comptroller