too late in the season to use an open car, anyway,"
rejoined his father. "I have delayed putting the car up because I have
been hoping we might have a little more warm weather; but I guess the
warm days have gone and the winter has come to stay now."

"But there is no snow yet, Dad."

"No. Still it is too chilly to drive with any comfort. The Taylors
shipped their car off last week and when I get home I shall do the
same."

Stephen looked disappointed.

"I don't mind the cold when I'm wrapped up," he ventured.

"You are not at the wheel, son," was his father's quick retort. "The man
who is has his fingers nipped roundly, I can assure you. It is a pity we
have become so soft and shrink so from discomfort. Think what our
forbears endured when they went on journeys!"

"Neither the English stagecoaches nor Stephenson's railroad could have
been very comfortable, to judge from your descriptions of them," laughed
Steve.

"Oh, don't heap all the blame on the English," his father replied. "Our
own modes of travel in the early days were quite as bad as were those on
the other side of the water."

"I wish you would tell me about the first American railroads," said the
boy. "I was wondering about them the other night."

Mr. Tolman settled back in his seat thoughtfully.

"America," he answered presently, "went through a pioneer period of
railroading not unlike England's. Many strange steam inventions were
tried in different parts of the country, and many fantastic scientific
notions put before the public. Even previous to Watt's steam engine
Oliver Evans had astonished the quiet old city of Philadelphia by
driving through its peaceful streets in a queer steam vehicle, half
carriage and half boat, which he had mounted on wheels. Evans was an
ingenious fellow, a born inventor if ever there was one, who worked out
quite a few steam devices, some of which Watt later improved and
adopted. Then in 1812 John Stevens of New York got interested in the
steam idea and urged the commissioners of his state to build a railroad
between Lake Erie and Albany, suggesting that a steam engine not unlike
the one that propelled the Hudson River ferryboats could be used as
power for the trains. He was enthusiastic over the scheme but the New
York officials had no faith in the proposition, insisting that a steam
locomotive could never be produced that would grip the rails with
sufficient tension to keep cars on the track or draw a heavy load."