s alighted amidst the shouts of the inhabitants, who had come to
welcome them. A large circle was formed in the field adjoining the
Station, and Mr. Whalley introduced to those assembled Mrs. Owen, of
Glansevern, who declared the line to be opened."

It hardly required her stirring words to enlist the enthusiasm of the
company concerning the economic change which the railways were to bring
to Wales. Derelict acres were to be brought into cultivation; "the very
central town of the ancient Principality," in which that ceremony was
taking place, was to become the capital of a new prosperity, and as for
Mr. Whalley, were not that day's proceedings "a chapter more honourable
than any wreath of laurel that could be won on the battle field by
success in war?" The plaudits of the assembled confirmed the sentiment,
and "a rush was then made for the tent where the luncheon was provided.
Here again the ladies had the same proper attention paid to them; the
sterner sex was kept out until they could be accommodated with seats.
After a short delay the tent was well filled with visitors, and upwards
of 300 sat down to lunch. Grace was said by the Rector of Llanidloes,
and for a season the clatter of knives and forks was the only sound to be
heard."

Small wonder! For the afternoon was well advanced, and the time-table
had gone rather awry. But that did not in the least damp the ardour of
the company. Refreshed by their belated meal, more toasts were honoured,
more speeches made, and the future continued to assume the most roseate
hue. The district, declared one orator, was destined to become "the
abode of smiling happiness," and Newtown and Llanidloes "the haunts and
hives of social industry." It was, said another, the first link in a
chain "which must, ere long, form one of the greatest and most important
trunk lines in the kingdom." "People," exclaimed a third, "laughed at it
because it had no head or tail"; but let the scoffers wait and see! With
all these glowing anticipations, proceedings became so protracted that
the ladies had to withdraw, but the gentlemen went on drinking toasts
with undiminished energy. They drank to the Chairman; they drank to the
Secretary; they drank to the Engineer, and the Contractors, and the
Bankers who had lent them the money, and to the success of the other
railways springing up around them, including the Mid-Wales, the first sod
of which was to be cut in a few days' time, with what stra