The preposterous obstinacy of
these honest people, in persisting to groan and stumble along the
difficult pathway, rather than take advantage of modern
improvements, excited great mirth among our wiser brotherhood. We
greeted the two pilgrims with many pleasant gibes and a roar of
laughter; whereupon, they gazed at us with such woful and absurdly
compassionate visages, that our merriment grew tenfold more
obstreperous. Apollyon, also, entered heartily into the fun, and
contrived to flirt the smoke and flame of the engine, or of his own
breath, into their faces, and envelope them in an atmosphere of
scalding steam. These little practical jokes amused us mightily, and
doubtless afforded the pilgrims the gratification of considering
themselves martyrs.
At some distance from the railroad, Mr. Smooth-it-away pointed to a
large, antique edifice, which, he observed, was a tavern of long
standing, and had formerly been a noted stopping-place for pilgrims.
In Bunyan's road-book it is mentioned as the Interpreter's House.
"I have long had a curiosity to visit that old mansion," remarked
I.
"It is not one of our stations, as you perceive," said my
companion. "The keeper was violently opposed to the railroad; and well
he might be, as the track left his house of entertainment on one side,
and thus was pretty certain to deprive him of all his reputable
customers.
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