hurry to get to the devil before their time that they had devised these
steamboats to carry them. And seeing that it was neither wisdom nor
prudence for honest people to travel on such craft, they would also not
send their vegetables to market on them.

This resolution was kept good for a number of years, the honest people
who made it firmly believing that all good and prudent persons would
follow their example, and in that way drive the steamboats from the
river. Alarming as these things were, there were others which fairly
frightened these honest people out of all their courage. The gossips had
gathered in force at Titus Bright's inn one night, to enjoy a pipe and a
mug of his new ale. There was the school-master, and Doctor Critchel,
and Hanz Toodleburg, and other choice spirits, who knew all about the
affairs of the nation. When they had discussed all manner of subjects,
Titus drew from his pocket a newspaper and read, to the astonishment and
evident alarm of his guests, that a man in England had invented a
machine to do away with horses. The doctor set down his ale and adjusted
his spectacles, and gazed at the speaker with an air of surprise and
astonishment, while Hanz and the school-master suddenly ceased smoking.

"Now don't get alarmed, my friends," said Titus, watching with evident
delight the increasing alarm of his guests. "It is all here, and true.
He has invented a steam-horse, with an iron stomach and wheels; and the
animal can, with good management, be made to run over a road at the rate
of twenty miles an hour. Yes," added Titus, with a look of great
seriousness, "people are already risking their lives by riding in this
way."

The doctor heaved a sigh, and, half raising his pipe, gave it as his
opinion that a man who would invent such dangerous machines must be in