time: the refreshing river 



affects his fellows, there comes at one time or another in his life a 

 symbolic event, and some sixty-five years later Spencer described it 

 in language which insists upon quotation.^ 



"Harris and I were sent down one day early in August to 

 make a survey of Wolverton station, and we completed it before 

 evening set in. Wolverton, being then the temporary terminus, 

 between which and Rugby the traffic was carried on by coaches, 

 was the place whence the trains to London started. The last of 

 them was the mail, leaving somewhere about 8. If I remember 

 rightly there were at that time only five trains in the day and 

 none at night. A difficulty arose. The mail did not stop between 

 Watford and London, but I wished to stop at the intermediate 

 station, Harrov/, that being the nearest point to Wembley. It 

 turned out that there was at Wolverton no vehicle having a 

 brake to it — nothing available but a coach-truck. Being without 

 alternative, I directed the station-master to attach this to the 

 train. After travelling with my companion in the usual way till 

 we reached Watford, I bade him goodnight, and got into the 

 coach-truck. Away the train went into the gloom of the evening, 

 and for some six or seven miles I travelled unconcernedly, 

 knowing the objects along the line well, and continually identi- 

 fying my whereabouts. Presently we reached a bridge about a 

 mile and a half to the north of Harrow station. Being quite 

 aware that the line at this point, and for a long distance in 

 advance, falls towards London at the rate of i in 330, I expected 

 that the coach-truck, having no brake, would take a long time 

 to stop. A mile and a half would, it seemed, be sufficient allowance, 

 and on coming to the said bridge, I uncoupled the truck and sat 

 down. In a few seconds I got up again to see whether all the 

 couplings were unhooked, for, to my surprise, the truck seemed 

 to be going on with the train. There was no coupling left un- 

 hooked, however, and it became clear that I had allowed an 

 insufficient distance for the gradual arrest. Though the incline 

 is quite invisible to the eye, being less than an inch in nine yards, 

 yet its effect was very decided; and the axles being, no doubt, 

 well-greased, the truck maintained its velocity. Far from having 

 stopped when Harrow was reached, I was less than a dozen 

 yards behind the train! My dismay as we rushed through the 



* A, I. 134. 

 270 



