Section 112. ON TRAVELLING (S. 3, N. 2).
Reading edition
Section 112. ON TRAVELLING (S. 3, N. 2).
I[1] wish folks[2] in general would keep their eyes a little more open when they travel by rail[3]. When I see young people rolling along in a luxurious[4] carriage, absorbed (S. 102, N. 3) in a trashy[5] shilling novel[6], and[7] never lifting up their eyes to look out of the window, unconscious[8] of all that[9] they are passing;—of[10] the reverend antiquities, the admirable[11] agriculture, the rich and peaceful scenery[12], the[13] like of which no other country upon earth can show (App. § 18); unconscious[14], too, of how much they might[15] learn of botany and geology, by[16] simply watching the flowers along the railway banks, and the sections[17] in the cuttings[18];—then it grieves me to see what[19] little use people make of the eyes and the understanding which God has given them. They complain of[20] a dull[21] journey: but[22] it is not the journey which is dull; it[23] is they who are dull. Eyes[24] have they, and see not; ears have they, and hear not; mere[25] dolls in smart clothes, too many of them, like the idols of the heathen.—Charles Kingsley, Town Geology.