3 20 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



become regular institutions, while they were formerly indulged only 

 in cases of sickness ; and the excursions of school vacations, the pleas- 

 ure-trains and the extra trains on holidays, long wedding tours, 

 excursion parties to foreign lands, or around the world, are evidences 

 of the taste for traveling that modern men feel, and of the ease 

 with which it is gratified. Then there are the journeys to meet- 

 ings of men of a common calling, to scientific congresses or social 

 unions. There is hardly a condition or a professional society that 

 does not feel the need of bringing its members together, and of hold- 

 ing at different but always agreeable places social unions. To these 

 we may add exhibitions, in which fisheries and agriculture, the indus- 

 tries and the fine arts display and compare their efforts, with their cul- 

 mination in periodical world's fairs. Without railroads this mobility 

 and this releasing of men from their soil, which answer a deep longing 

 f our nature, would be possible only within the narrowest limits. 



It can not be denied that with all this are connected a great enrich- 

 ment, with new views and feelings, a considerable enlargement of 

 mental scope, and a strong stimulus to mental activity, even where no 

 intention of the kind is entertained. Errors are cleared up and preju- 

 dices are overcome. Deficiencies at home are revealed by comparison 

 with what is seen abroad, and all that is recognized as better is imi- 

 tated and improved upon. Habits are also disciplined. Railroads 

 demand an exact account of time, and require all who use them to 

 conform to their regulations. They train people in the most efficient 

 manner to punctuality, to quick decision, and to the omission of for- 

 malities. 



The forms of intercourse and family relations are also not slightly 

 affected. It can hardly be said that the influence in the former case 

 is always beneficial. Politeness and regard for fellow-travelers, if 

 they happen to interfere with one's own comfort, are not exactly cul- 

 tivated with zest by railroad-passengers. But we frequently meet 

 polite and interesting traveling-companions, whose intercourse gives 

 us pleasure. Moreover, railroad-traveling brings persons of different 

 degrees of cultivation together, and is fitted to smooth the forms of 

 intercourse, and to have, on the whole, a refining influence, provided 

 cultivated persons set good examples. 



I am uncertain whether heart-connections leading to marriage are 

 often formed on railway-journeys. If we may trust the novelists and 

 playwrights, this is the case. At any rate, railway-traveling has an 

 influence on relations of this kind to the extent that it favors the form- 

 ing of acquaintances between persons living at a distance from one 

 another, out of which family relations may grow. Marriages certainly 

 are negotiated over a much wider scope than formerly, both within the 

 country of residence and as reaching into foreign countries. Distance 

 offers no obstacle to the father's informing himself concerning the cir- 

 cumstances of his daughter's suitor ; and the careful mother can con- 



