Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Race, Human Development

    Begins by noting the recent 'opening of two railways into wild and savage Northern districts'—the Sutherland Railway in Scotland and the St John's Wood Railway Company extension to the Metropolitan Railway. Describes Mr Punch's experience of the latter, which terminates in a 'swarthy moor' and which uses 'new and luxurious' carriages and agreeable porters. Proceeds to describe the inhabitants of St John's Wood as if they were an exotic civilisation: for example, the author stresses that they are 'not ill-conditioned', that their language 'has affinity with that of the Pembridge districts, and Bayswater', that they indulge in 'dreary' amusements 'usual among savage tribes', and that they sustain worship of a 'Great Spirit called the Pine-Apple Ghost'.