CARRIAGES. 23 



improvements in carriage-buildingsomething more con- 

 venient and serviceable than these dragging poles, that is to say 

 were within the bounds of possibility. If the poles could 

 be raised to the horizontal it would be something. Articles 

 would not fall off; a man might sit comfortably and rest 

 himself when he was tired of walking by the horse's side. 

 Then some mighty genius in a flash of vivid imagination 

 devised the wheel. His name, even his country, has been lost 

 in the mist of ages, though it should rank on a level with the 



discoveries of gunpowder and 

 of the electric telegraph. We 

 can only speculate upon his 

 proceedings when the splendid 

 conception struck him, 

 but it seems very likely 

 that he cut down a tree, 



1889.' 



chopped two slices or circles of wood from the trunk, and 

 probably sat down overwhelmed by the evident fact that there 

 was still a vast deal to be done ; for how were his round 

 pieces of wood to be so fastened that they would turn ? If 

 the reader cares to amuse himself by following out these 

 fancies, he may speculate as to whether the early inventor 

 strove to work out the problem for himself, or whether he 



