shows the liberality of the age; this proves, if anything can,
that all musty prejudices are in a fair way to be obliterated.
And how will Christian rejoice to hear of this happy
transformation of his old antagonist! I promise myself great
pleasure in informing him of it when we reach the Celestial
City."

The passengers being all comfortably seated, we now rattled away
merrily, accomplishing a greater distance in ten minutes than
Christian probably trudged over in a day. It was laughable, while
we glanced along, as it were, at the tail of a thunderbolt, to
observe two dusty foot travellers in the old pilgrim guise, with
cockle shell and staff, their mystic rolls of parchment in their
hands and their intolerable burdens on their backs. The
preposterous obstinacy of these honest people in persisting to
groan and stumble along the difficult pathway rather than take
advantage of modern improvements, excited great mirth among our
wiser brotherhood. We greeted the two pilgrims with many pleasant
gibes and a roar of laughter; whereupon they gazed at us with
such woful and absurdly compassionate visages that our merriment
grew tenfold more obstreperous. Apollyon also entered heartily
into the fun, and contrived to flirt the smoke and flame of the
engine, or of his own breath, into their faces, and envelop them
in an atmosphere of scalding steam. These little practical jokes
amused us mightily, and doubtless afforded the pilgrims the
gratification of considering themselves martyrs.

At some distance from the railroad Mr. Smooth-it-away pointed to
a large, antique edifice, which, he observed, was a tavern of
long standing, and had formerly been a noted stopping-place for