Ten years after Nelson's death a great battle was fought between the French and English at Waterloo. The English were commanded by the Duke of Wellington, and the French by their Emperor, Napoleon Buonaparte. When the battle had lasted for seven hours the French fled from the field. They were pursued by the Prussians, who had come to help the English. Napoleon gave himself up as a prisoner to the English, and was sent to a small island called St. Helena, where he died. This battle put an end to the war, which had lasted twenty years.

XXXV.-THE "ROCKET" STEAM
ENGINE.

1. In one of the great museums in London there is a very strange-looking engine called the Rocket. It is kept there as a curiosity, because it was used on the first railway on which passengers travelled. It was made by a very ingenious man named George Stephenson.

2. The railway on which the Rocket ran was between Liverpool and Manchester, and was opened in the first year of the reign of William the Fourth.

3. The fastest trains on the new line travelled at the rate of only 24 miles an hour. Our express trains travel at the rate of a mile a minute, but the speed of the little Rocket was considered very wonderful in those days.

4. In former times persons who wished to ride from one town to another had either to go on horseback, in a coach, or in one of the waggons used for conveying goods from place to place. These waggons of course travelled very slowly.

5. The first coach seen in England was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Every one was amazed

at its appearance. Some said that it was a great crab-shell from China, and others declared that it was a heathen temple.

6. For very many years, however, travellers preferred making a journey on horseback rather than by coach, on account of the bad state of the roads, which greatly increased the dangers and difficulties of travelling.

7. Even when, in after years, the roads were

made smooth and

66
THE ROCKET.

hard, and kept in good repair, a journey by coach took up much more time than it would now do by train, and cost a great deal more money.

8. The journey to Liverpool from London occupied the whole of a day and night, and cost five pounds. We can now go the same journey in five hours for

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87

less than seventeen shillings. A hundred years ago the mail coach was ten days in going from London to Edinburgh, while the train can run between these two cities in about nine hours.

9. In those olden times, too, there was always the danger of the coach being attacked by highwaymen, and for that reason the guard sat by the side of the coachman with a gun on his knee ready to meet the robbers.

The first railway on which passengers travelled was opened in the first year of the reign of William the Fourth. It was between Manchester and Liverpool. The first engine used on the line was called the Rocket. It was made by George Stephenson. The fastest trains went at the rate of only 24 miles an hour. In former times people had to travel on horseback, or in coaches, or waggons. The first coach that was seen in England was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The roads were formerly very bad, and travelling was slow and costly.

XXXVI.-THE POST OFFICE.

1. One day, just about the time when Queen Victoria began to reign, a gentleman of the name of Rowland Hill chanced to be talking to a poor woman when the postman brought her a letter.

2. As the postage had not been paid, the man of course asked for the money. The woman took the letter in her hand, looked at it, and then gave it back to the postman, saying that she could not afford to pay anything.

3. Rowland Hill felt sorry for the poor woman, and paid the required sum. When the postman went away, the woman told the gentleman that the letter was from her husband, and that he had placed certain marks on the outside by which she knew that he was quite well.

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89

4. In those days a letter could not be sent from one part of the British Isles to another for a penny, but cost much more than poor people could afford.

5. When Rowland Hill left the woman he thought a great deal about what she had told him, and tried to find out some means by which letters could be sent cheaply from one person to another, no matter how far apart they might be.

6. After a great deal of trouble he persuaded the government to charge only a penny for every letter below a certain weight. This great change was made in the year 1840, and at the same time postage stamps first came into use.

7. Before the days of the penny postage the few letters that were posted were generally taken from town to town by boys on horseback. The postboy carried a horn which he was required to blow whenever he passed anyone on the road.

8. Some of the postboys were called "expresses," and were supposed to travel more quickly than the others; but they did not always go as quickly as they could have done.

9. Once a gentleman saw a horse standing by the roadside with the letter bag on his back, while the postboy was joining in a merry game with some other lads. The gentleman told him that he ought not to keep the post waiting in that manner. 'Oh!" said the boy, "I am not the post; I am the express."

Ex-press', that which goes quickly. | Genʼer-al-ly, usually.

Queen Victoria began to reign,
Penny Postage, .

A.D. 1837.

1840.