came to an end as the result of what to him was the greatest
possible tragedy. He was visiting New York City in 1819, when
news came to him of the destruction by an incendiary of his
beloved shops in Philadelphia. The shock was greater than he
could bear. A stroke of apoplexy followed, from which he died.

The following prophecy, written by Oliver Evans and published in
1812, seventeen years before the practical use of the locomotive
began, tells us something of the vision of this early American
inventor:

"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by
steam engines from one city to another almost as fast as birds
fly--fifteen to twenty miles an hour. Passing through the air
with such velocity--changing the scenes in such rapid
succession--will be the most exhilarating, delightful exercise. A
carriage will set out from Washington in the morning, and the
passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine in Philadelphia, and
sup at New York the same day.

"To accomplish this, two sets of railways will be laid so nearly
level as not in any place to deviate more than two degrees from a
horizontal line, made of wood or iron, on smooth paths of broken
stone or gravel, with a rail to guide the carriages so that they
may pass each other in different directions and travel by night
as well as by day; and the passengers will sleep in these stages
as comfortably as they do now in steam stage-boats."*

*Cited by Coleman Sellers, Ibid., p. 13.