Page:Path of Vision; pocket essays of East and West.djvu/57

 Limited, the Swedenborg Rapid Transit of the Universe, even the Abu'l-Ala Caravans in the Near East,—all enjoyed a prosperity that made their dividends attractive for a season. But these privately-owned Lines, these personally conducted Tours, continued to increase till it was no longer safe to travel on any of them, because each one went in a different direction and had no connection at all with the others. The transfer system was not known in those days. And the result was that, if you wanted to make a tour of the world, you would be left high and dry in some wilderness, or stranded in some port, if you did not come back to your starting point as often as you had to make a change. Hence the disappointment and dissatisfaction of the public, who soon began to realize and appreciate again the advantages of the monks' Central and CircumabientCircumambient [sic] System. But we are progressing—we can not go back to the monks, it was urged by some; the commuting habit, its virtues and attractions, were insisted upon by