Fortunately Mr. Tolman was of a sufficiently2 sympathetic nature to remember how he had felt when a boy, and with generous appreciation3 for the lad's impatience4 he scrambled5 up and made himself ready for a breakfast that was earlier, perhaps, than he would have preferred.
"Well, son," said he, as they took their places in the large dining room, "what is the prospect6 for to-day? Are you feeling fit for more adventures?"
"I'm primed for whatever comes," smiled the boy.
"That's the proper spirit! Indians, bandits and cowboys did not haunt your pillow then."
"I didn't stay awake to see."
"You are a model traveler! Now we must plan
something pleasant for you to do to-day. I am not sure that we can keep up the pace yesterday set us, for it was a pretty thrilling one. Robberies and arrests do not come every day, to say nothing of flotillas of ships and Wild West shows. However, we will do the best we can not to let the day go stale by contrast. But first I must dictate7 a few letters and glance over the morning paper. This won't take me long and while I am doing it I would suggest that you go into the writing room and send a letter to your mother. I will join you there in half an hour and we will do whatever you like before I go to my meeting. How is that?"
"Righto!"
Accordingly, after breakfast was finished, Steve wandered off by himself in search of paper and ink, and so sumptuous8 did he find the writing appointments that he not only dashed off a letter to his mother recounting some of the happenings of the previous day, but on discovering a rack of post cards he mailed to Jack9 Curtis, Tim Barclay, Bud Taylor and some of the other boys patronizing messages informing them that New York was "great" and he was sorry they were not there. In fact, it seemed at the moment that all those unfortunate persons who could not visit this magic city were to be profoundly pitied.
In the purchase of stamps for these egoistic missives the remainder of the time passed, and before he realized the half-hour was gone, he saw his father standing10 in the doorway11.
"I am going up to the room now to hunt up some cigars, Steve," announced the elder man. "Do you want to come along or stay here?"
"I'll come with you, Dad," was the quick reply.
The elevator shot them to the ninth floor in no time and soon they were in their room looking down on the turmoil12 in the street below.
"Some city, isn't it?" commented Mr. Tolman, turning away from the busy scene to rummage13 through his suit case.
"It's a corker!"
"I thought you would like to go out to the Zoo this morning while I am busy. What do you say?"
"That would be bully14."
"It is a simple trip which you can easily make alone. If you like, you can start along now," Mr. Tolman suggested.
"But you said last night that if I would hurry to bed, to-day you would tell me about the Western railroads," objected Stephen.
He saw his father's eyes twinkle.
"You have a remarkable15 memory," replied he. "I recall now that I did say something of the sort. But surely you do not mean that you would prefer to remain here and talk railroads than to go to the Zoo."
"I can go to the Zoo after you have gone out," maintained Steve, standing his ground valiantly16.
"You are a merciless young beggar," grinned his father. "I plainly see that like Shylock you are
determined17 to have your pound of flesh. Well, sit down. We will talk while I smoke."
As the boy settled contentedly18 into one of the comfortable chintz-covered chairs, Mr. Tolman blew a series of delicate rings of smoke toward the ceiling and wrinkled his brow thoughtfully.
"You got a pretty good idea at the theater last night what America was before we had trans-continental railroads," began he slowly. "You know enough of geography too, I hope, to imagine to some extent what it must have meant to hew19 a path across such an immense country as ours; lay a roadbed with its wooden ties; and transport all this material as well as the heavy rails necessary for the project. We all think we can picture to ourselves the enormity of the undertaking20; but actually we have almost no conception of the difficulties such a mammoth21 work represented."
He paused, half closing his eyes amid the cloud of smoke.
"To begin with, the promoters of the enterprise received scant22 encouragement to attack the problem, for few persons of that day had much faith in the undertaking. In place of help, ridicule23 cropped up from many sources. It was absurd, the public said, to expect such a wild-cat scheme to succeed. Why, over six hundred miles of the area to be covered did not contain a tree and in consequence there would be nothing from which to make cross-ties. And where was the workmen's food to come from if they were plunged24 into a wilderness25
beyond the reach of civilization? The thing couldn't be done. It was impossible. Of course it was a wonderful idea. But it never could be carried out. Where were the men to be found who would be willing to take their lives in their hands and set forth26 to work where Indians or wild beasts were liable to devour27 them at any moment? Moreover, to build a railroad of such length would take a lifetime and where was the money coming from? For you must remember that the men of that period had no such vast fortunes as many of them have now, and it was no easy task to finance a scheme where the outlay28 was so tremendous and the probability of success so shadowy. Even as late as 1856 the whole notion was considered visionary by the greater part of the populace."
"But the fun of doing it, Dad!" ejaculated Stephen, with sparkling eyes.
"The fun of it!" repeated his father with a shrug29. "Yes, there was fun in the adventure, there is no denying that; and fortunately for the dreamers who saw the vision, men were found who felt precisely30 as you do. Youth always puts romance above danger, and had there not been these romance lovers it would have gone hard with the trans-continental railroads. We might never have had them. As it was, even the men who ventured to cast in their lot with the promoters had the caution to demand their pay in advance. They had no mind to be deluded31 into working for a precarious32 wage. At length enough toilers from the east
and from the west were found who were willing to take a chance with their physical safety, and the enterprise was begun."
Stephen straightened up in his chair.
"Had the only obstacle confronting them been the reach of uncharted country ahead that would have been discouraging enough. Fancy pushing your way through eight hundred miles of territory that had never been touched by civilization! And while you are imagining that, do not forget that the slender ribbon of track left behind was your only link with home; and your only hope of getting food, materials, and sometimes water. Ah, you would have had excitement enough to satisfy you had you been one of that company of workmen! On improvised33 trucks they put up bunks34 and here they took turns in sleeping while some of their party stood guard to warn them of night raids from Indians and wild beasts. Even in the daytime outposts had to be stationed; and more than once, in spite of every precaution, savages35 descended36 on the little groups of builders, overpowered them, and slaughtered37 many of the number or carried away their provisions and left them to starve. Sometimes marauders tore up the tracks, thereby38 breaking the connection with the camps in the rear from which aid could be summoned; and in early railroad literature we find many a tale of heroic engineers who ran their locomotives back through almost certain destruction in order to procure39 help for their comrades. Supply trains
were held up and swept clean of their stores; paymasters were robbed, and sometimes murdered, so no money reached the employees; every sort of calamity40 befell the men. Hundreds of the ten thousand Chinese imported to work at a microscopic41 wage died of sickness or exposure to the extreme heat or cold."
"Gee42!" gasped43 Stephen, "I'd no idea it was so bad as all that!"
"Most persons have but a faint conception of the price paid for our railways—paid not alone in money but in human life," answered Mr. Tolman. "The route of the western railroads, you see, did not lie solely44 through flat, thickly wooded country. Our great land, you must remember, is made up of a variety of natural formations, and in crossing from the Atlantic coast to that of the Pacific we get them one after another. In contrast to the forests of mighty45 trees, with their tangled46 undergrowth, there were stretches of prairie where no hills broke the level ground; another region contained miles and miles of alkali desert, dry and scorching47, where the sun blazed so fiercely down on the steel rails that they became too hot to touch. Here men died of sunstroke and of fever; and some died for want of water. Then directly in the railroad's path arose the towering peaks of the Sierras and Rockies whose snowy crests48 must be crossed, and whose cold, storms and gales49 must be endured. Battling with these hardships the workmen were forced to drill holes in the
rocky summits and bolt their rough huts down to the earth to prevent them from being blown away."
"I don't see how the thing could have been done!" Steve exclaimed, with growing wonder.
"And you must not forget to add to the chapter of tribulations50 the rivers that barred the way; the ravines that must either be filled in or bridged; the rocks that had to be blasted out; and the mountains that must be climbed or tunneled."
"I don't see how they ever turned the trick!" the boy repeated.
"It is the same old tale of progress," mused51 his father. "Over and over again, since time began, men have given their lives that the world might move forward and you and I enjoy the benefits of civilization. Remember it and be grateful to the past and to that vast army of toilers who offered up their all that you might, without effort, profit by the things it took their blood to procure. There is scarcely a comfort you have about you that has not cost myriad52 men labor53, weariness, and perhaps life itself. Therefore value highly your heritage and treat the fruits of all hard work with respect; and whenever you can fit your own small stone into the structure, or advance any good thing that shall smooth the path of those who are to follow you, do it as your sacred duty to those who have so unselfishly builded for you."
There was a moment of silence and the rumble54 of the busy street rose to their ears.
"I never shall build anything that will help the
men of the future," observed Stephen, in a low tone.
"Every human being is building all the time," replied his father. "He is building a strong body that shall mean a better race; a clean mind that shall mean a purer race; a loyalty55 to country that will result in finer citizenship56; and a life of service to his fellows that will bring in time a broader Christianity. Will not the world be the better for all these things? It lies with us to carry forward the good and lessen57 the evil of the universe, or tear down the splendid ideals for which our fathers struggled and retard58 the upward march of the universe. If everybody put his shoulder to the wheel and helped the forward spin of our old world, how quickly it would become a better place!"
As he concluded his remarks Mr. Tolman took out his watch.
"Well, well!" said he. "I had no idea it was so late. I must hurry or I shall not finish my story."
"As I told you the men from the east and those from the west worked toward each other from opposite ends of the country. As soon as short lengths of track were finished they were joined together. Near the great Salt Lake of Utah a tie of polished laurel wood banded with silver marked the successful crossing of Utah's territory. Five years later Nevada contributed some large silver spikes59 to join her length of track to the rest. California sent spikes of solid gold, symbolic61 both of her cooperation and her mineral wealth; Arizona
one of gold, one of silver, and one of iron. Many other States offered significant tributes of similar nature. And when at last the great day came when all the short lines were connected in one whole, what a celebration there was from sea to sea! Wires had been laid so that the hammer that drove the last spike60 sent the news to cities all over the land. Bells rang, whistles blew, fire alarms sounded. The cost of the union Pacific was about thirty-nine million dollars and that of the Central Pacific about one hundred and forty million dollars. The construction of the Southern Pacific presented a different set of problems from those of the Northern, but many of the difficulties encountered were the same. Bands of robbers and Indians beset62 the workmen and either cut the ties and spread the rails, or tore the track up altogether for long distances. Forest fires often overtook the men before they could escape, although trains sometimes contrived63 to get through the burning areas by drenching64 their roofs and were able to bring succor65 to those in peril66. Then there were washouts and snowstorms quite as severe as any experienced in the northern country."
"I'm afraid I should have given the whole thing up!" interrupted Steve.
"Many another was of your mind," returned Mr. Tolman. "The frightful67 heat encountered when crossing the deserts was, as I have said, the greatest handicap. Frequently the work was at a standstill for months because all the metal—rails and
tools—became too hot to handle. The difficulty of getting water to the men in order to keep them alive in this arid68 waste was in itself colossal69. Tank cars were sent forward constantly on all the railroads, northern as well as southern, and the suffering experienced when such cars were for various reasons stalled was tremendous. The sand storms along the Southern Pacific route were yet another menace. So you see an eagerness for adventure had to be balanced by a corresponding measure of bravery. Those early days of railroad building were not all romance and picturesqueness70."
Stephen nodded as his father rose and took up his hat and coat.
"I'd like to hear Mr. Ackerman tell of the early steamboating," remarked the lad. "I'll bet the story couldn't match the one you have just told."
"Perhaps not," his father replied. "Nevertheless the steamships71 had their full share of exciting history and you must not be positive in your opinion until you have heard both tales. Now come along, son, if you are going with me, for I must be off."
Obediently Stephen slipped into his ulster and tagged at his father's heels along the corridor.
What a magic country he lived in! And how had it happened that it had been his luck to be born now rather than in the pioneer days when there were not only no railroads but no great hotels like this one, and no elevators?
"I suppose," observed Mr. Tolman, as they went along, "we can hardly estimate what the coming of these railroads meant to the country. All the isolated72 sections were now blended into one vast territory which brought the dwellers73 of each into a common brotherhood74. It was no small matter to make a unit of a great republic like ours. The seafarer and the woodsman; easterner, westerner, northerner, and southerner exchanged visits and became more intelligently sympathetic. Rural districts were opened up and made possible for habitation. The products of the seacoast and the interior were interchanged. Crops could now be transported; material for clothing distributed; and coal, steel, and iron—on which our industries were dependent—carried wherever they were needed. Commerce took a leap forward and with it national prosperity. From now on we were no longer hampered75 in our inventions or industries and forced to send to England for machinery76. We could make our own engines, manufacture our own rails, coal our own boilers77. Distance was diminished until it was no longer a barrier. Letters that it previously78 took days and even weeks to get came in hours, and the cost and time for freight transportation was revolutionized. In 1804, for example, it took four days to get a letter from New York to Boston; and even as late as 1817 it cost a hundred dollars to move a ton of freight from Buffalo79 to New York and took twenty days to do it. In every direction the railroads made for national
advancement80 and a more solid United States. No soldiers, no statesmen of our land deserve greater honor as useful citizens than do these men who braved every danger to build across the country our trans-continental railways."
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1
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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4
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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5
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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7
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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8
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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13
rummage
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| v./n.翻寻，仔细检查 | |
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14
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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15
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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hew
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| v.砍；伐；削 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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26
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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28
outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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29
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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34
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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35
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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36
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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37
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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40
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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microscopic
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| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
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42
gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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43
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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49
gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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tribulations
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| n.苦难( tribulation的名词复数 )；艰难；苦难的缘由；痛苦 | |
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51
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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52
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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53
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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54
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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55
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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56
citizenship
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| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
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57
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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58
retard
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| n.阻止，延迟；vt.妨碍，延迟，使减速 | |
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59
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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60
spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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61
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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62
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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63
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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64
drenching
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| n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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65
succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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66
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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67
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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68
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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69
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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70
picturesqueness
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71
steamships
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| n.汽船，大轮船( steamship的名词复数 ) | |
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72
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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73
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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74
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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75
hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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77
boilers
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| 锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 ) | |
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78
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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79
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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80
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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