ountry and ruin the shooting. Other opposers contended that the smoke
from the engines would not only kill the birds but in time kill the
patrons of the railroads as well. Still others protested that the
sparks from the funnels might set fire to the fields of grain or to the
forests. A swarm of added opponents dwelt on the fact that the
passengers would be made ill by the lurching of the trains; that the
rapid inrush of air would prevent their breathing; and that every sort
of people would be herded together without regard to class,--the latter
a very terrible calamity in a land where democracy was unknown. Even
such intelligent men as the poet Wordsworth and the famous writer Ruskin
came out hotly against the innovation, seeing in it nothing but evil."

"Didn't the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railroad convince
the kickers they were wrong?" asked Steve.

"Unfortunately not," was Mr. Tolman's reply. "You see several unlucky
incidents marred the complete success of the occasion. As the trains
trimmed with bunting and flowers started out the scene seemed gay
enough. On one car was a band of music; on another the directors of the
road; and on still another rode the Duke of Wellington, who at that time
was Prime Minister of England and had come down from London with various
other dignitaries to honor the enterprise. Church bells rang, cannon
boomed, and horns and whistles raised a din of rejoicing. But everywhere
among the throng moved a large group of unemployed laborers who had
returned from the Napoleonic wars in a discontented frame of mind and
resented the use of steam machinery. They were on edge for trouble and
if there were none they were ready to make it. So strong was the
resentment of this element against the government that it seemed
tempting Providence for the Prime Minister to venture into the
manufacturing district of Manchester. At first it was decided that he
would better omit the trip altogether; but on second thought it seemed
wiser for him not to add fuel to the flames by disappointing the mill
workers. The audience was in too ugly a mood to be angered. Therefore
Wellington bravely resolved to carry out the program and ride in one of
the open cars."

"I hope nothing happened to him, Dad!" gasped Doris breathlessly.

"Nothing beyond a good many minor insults and indignities," responded
her father. "He was, however, in constant peril, and to those who bore
the responsibility of the function h