New Style — The Mail Train from The Illustrated London News. (6 January 1849): 9. Scanned image, and text by Philip V. Allingham. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link to this URL or include it in a print document.]
The Arriving Train.
(From "Legends of the Isles and other Poems," by Charles Mackay.)
BEHOLD, smoke-panoplied, the won'drous car,
Strong and impetuous, but obedient still;
Behold it comes, loud panting, from afar,
As if it lived, and of its own fierce will
Ran a free race with wild winds blowing shrill!
Fire-bowell'd, iron-ribb'd, of giant length,
Snake-like it comes exulting in its strength,
The pride of art — the paragon of skill,
Triumph of mind! what hand thy bound shall mark?
Lo! through the curtain of the coming time,
Seen looming palpably 'mid cloud and dark,
Yet other triumphs, more than this sublime,
Rise numerous on the far-seeing ken,
Of those who watch, and hope the good of men.
C. M.
Related Material
- Old Style — The Mail Coach — from a Picture by Henderson
- The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing
- Dickens: Stagecoach vs. Railway Train
References
“New Style — The Mail Train n” from The Illustrated London News. (6 January 1849): 9.
Last modified 6 July 2010