Page:Path of Vision; pocket essays of East and West.djvu/56

 stages of the Journey that, the fire of the Engine having been exhausted, a few of the passengers, who had the temerity to comment upon one of the untoward incidents of burning, were themselves utilized as fuel.

These whispers spread, slowly acquired a cumulative force, and became in the course of time a voice, a cry, an echoing and re-echoing protest. For the monks of the Middle Ages were human. They abused their monopoly of power. And some of the passengers themselves, the more enterprising who did not embark upon the Journey solely for pleasure, had already surveyed certain lands, mapped out a road of their own, and became in time experienced and reliable Tourist-Agents. The novelty of a personally conducted Tour had its appeal. It became the vogue. The monks, therefore, soon lost the monopoly. And the Luther and Calvin Lines, the Bruno and Galileo Systems, the Erasmuses', the Schoolmen's, the