twenty tons at the rate of ten miles an hour,
with a pressure of fifty pounds to the square inch in the boiler, and
should not cost more than 500 pounds.

The Iron Horse was now at last about to assume its right position. It
was no longer an infant, but a powerful stripling--though still far from
its full growth; as far as six tons is from sixty!

Four iron steeds were entered to compete for the prize. It was in
October 1829 that this celebrated trial came off, and great was the
interest manifested on the occasion, for not only did the public
entertain doubts as to the capabilities of locomotives, but very few
even of the engineers of the country would admit the possibility of a
locomotive engine attaining a speed greater than ten miles an hour!
First came the "Novelty" of Braithwaite and Ericson; then the "Sans
pareil" of Hawkworth; the "Perseverance" of Burstall; and, lastly, the
"Rocket" of Stephenson. Of the first three we shall merely say that the
"Novelty," being weak in the wheels, broke down; the "Sans pareil" burst
one of her cylinders; and the "Perseverance" turned out to be too heavy
to comply with the conditions of the trial.

The "Rocket" advanced, and was harnessed to a train of waggons weighing
thirteen tons; the fire was lighted, and the steam got up. The valves
lifted at the stipulated fifty pounds pressure, and away it went with
its load at an average speed of fifteen, and a maximum speed of
twenty-nine miles an hour! Thus triumphantly the "Rocket" won the prize
of 500 pounds, and the Iron Horse was fairly and finally married to the
Iron Road. One of the important elements of Stephenson's success lay in
the introduction of numerous tubes into his boiler, through which the
fire, and heat passed, and thus presented a vast amount of heating
surface to the water. Another point was his allowing the waste steam to
pass through the chimney, thus increasing the draught and intensifying
the combustion; for heat is the life of the locomotive, and without much
of this, high rates of speed could not be attained.

The difference between the first locomotive and those now in use is very
great--as may be seen any day in London, by any one who chooses to visit
one of our great railway stations, and go thence to the Kensington
Museum, where the "Rocket" is now enshrined--a memorial of Stephenson's
wisdom, and of the beginning of our magnificent railway system. Yet
though the difference be great it is wonderf