Genre:

Essay, Travelogue

Subjects:

Prehistory, Steam-power, Electricity, Railways, Progress, Feeling

    Reflects that a 'civilized people that still grinds grain by hand between two stones' is lucky enough to eat 'bread of the primeval flavor', while 'We are so full of steam and electricity that a deal of fizz and flash blinds us to the charms of simple things'. Wonders whether being 'sped along on the Intercolonial Railway from Quebec' makes it impossible to 'really enjoy a patriarchal sincerity in life' and have true feelings of 'honesty and sympathy'. (607)