Word-Picture of the Locomotive, "Strutting
Forth from His Smoky Stable,"
and the "Man in the Saddle."
A considerable figure in his time, Elihu Burritt has left no very definite
impress on American life or letters. Born in New Britain, Connecticut,
December 8, 1810, the son of a shoemaker, he became a blacksmith, but his
desire for learning was so insatiable that in the intervals of his trade
he mastered many branches of study, and especially languages, for which he
possessed great aptitude.
His strongest claim to remembrance lies in his work in the interest of
peace. The first international congress of Friends of Peace, held in
Brussels in 1848, was organized by him. He died in New Britain, March 9,
1879.
Mr. Burritt, the "Learned Blacksmith," made frequent lecture tours. His
descriptive power is seen in the following word picture of the steam
locomotive:
I love to see one of those huge creatures, with sinews of
brass and muscles of iron, strut forth from his smoky
stable, and, saluting the long train of cars with a dozen
sonorous puffs from his iron nostrils, fall gently back into
his harness.
There he stands, champing and foaming upon the iron track;
his great heart a furnace of glowing coals; his lymphatic
blood is boiling in his veins; the strength of a thousand
horses is nerving his sinews--he pants to be gone.
He would "snake" St. Peter's across the desert of Sahara if
he could be fairly hitched to it, but there is a little
sober-eyed, tobacco-chewing man in the saddle, who holds him
in with one finger, and can take away his breath in a
moment should he grow restive and vicious.
I am always deeply interested in this man; for, begrimed as
he may be with coal, diluted in oil and steam, I regard him
as the genius of the whole machinery, as the physical mind
of that huge steam horse.