and he grew
calm enough to write. Nothing pleased him more than to be
taken for an Englishman.

The World's Fastest Trains.

Great Britain Leads in Speed, with France a Good Second, and the United
States Only a Slow Third.--Some Passenger Statistics.

Speed is the magician that makes the world smaller. Compare the hourly
runs of the old stage-coaches with the hourly runs of the modern railroad
train, and we can figure without difficulty just how much the world has
shrunk in seventy-five years--though, as always happens in magic, the
shrinkage is apparent, not real. Motor cars now are made so powerful that
the fastest can go more than two miles in a minute--a speed which is not
yet considered practicable for ordinary travel. Railroad trains have made
phenomenal time over short distances, and there is one train which
regularly travels one hundred and eighteen and one-half miles at about
sixty miles an hour.

It is something of a surprise to learn that American trains are not the
fastest. England is first, with France second. The following article from
the New York _Sun_ gives the speed figures of the fastest trains of all
countries where good speed is made:

The fastest regular long-distance run without stop in the
world is on the Great Western, from London to Bristol, 1181/2
miles in 120 minutes, or practically sixty miles an hour. In
order to leave passengers at Bath a car is dropped from the
train without stop, a time-saving device in operation on a
number of European roads, though still unknown here.

The longest run without stop made in any country is from
London to Liverpool on the London and Northwestern, 201
miles, made at the rate of fifty-four miles an hour. The
next longest is on the Midland, from London to Leeds, 196
miles, at the rate of fifty-two miles an hour.

The Empire State Express.

The train in this country coming nearest to these long runs
without stop is the Empire State Express on the New York
Central, from New York to Albany, 143 miles, at the rate of
53 64-100 miles an hour; and the time of the same train to
Buffalo, 440 miles in 500 minutes, is just a trifle faster
than that of the Midland express from London to Glasgow,
447 miles in 510 minutes. Each makes four regular stops. The
Northwestern runs a train from London to Glasgow, 4011/2
miles, in eight hours, making two stops.