"There goes another electric car, Grandma!" said Harriet who was looking out the window. "It goes a good deal faster than a horse car, doesn't it?"
"I should think it did," answered Grandma, "In contrast with travel on horse cars, going as fast as that must seem like flying. How can it be possible to get power enough to drive a big car like that!"
"It comes right along that overhead wire," answered Harriet's father.
"Oh, yes, I know that from what I have read," continued Grandma. "And it is conducted to the car along that long iron rod which runs from the overhead wire to the car. What is it you call that?"
"Then what really happens after the electricity has reached the car?"
"This current of electricity runs to those cylinders in front of the motorman. Then it is where it can be controlled. By the turning of a crank the motorman can turn on the power to start the motor and drive the car ahead, or he can shut it off and make the car stand still. Just as steam power turns the wheels of the locomotive, so electric power turns the wheels of these cars."
"It is very mysterious after all," said Grandma.
"It certainly is," assented her son. "Oliver Wendell Holmes says it is like witchcraft. Have you read his poem which says:
'Since then on many a car you'll see A broomstick, plain as plain can be; On every stick there's a witch astride-- The string, you see, to her leg is tied!'"
"How fast are these cars going?" asked Grandma.
"About ten miles an hour including the stops. Probably the rate without stops is about fifteen miles," answered Mr. Lewis.
"There never could be power enough in electricity to drive the car much faster than that, I suppose?" said Grandma.
"Yes, they have already gone considerably faster," replied her son. "I was reading only last night that back in 1880 when Thomas Edison first began his experiments with electricity as a motive power on his own private track at Menlo Park, he drove his little electric train more than twice as fast. In June 1880, Grosvenor Lowry wrote, 'Have spent part of a day at Menlo, and all is glorious. I have ridden at forty miles an hour on Mr. Edison's electric railway--and we ran off the track.'"
"It is dangerous after all, isn't it?" commented Grandma.