XI. Steam, Soot, and the Tall Hat MenaceURL copied

Then somebody trapped steam in a machine and humanity immediately lost the ability to behave normally.

Factories sprouted like iron mushrooms.

Cities inhaled coal until the sky looked like a stovepipe had swallowed the sun.

Engineers grew unbearably smug and began saying things like efficiency at dinner.

Trains turned distance into inconvenience and transformed cows into unwilling witnesses to modernity.

Mill owners made fortunes.

Children made eye contact with gears and learned why workplace safety signs would become necessary later.

The rich decorated parlors with velvet and clocks.

The poor decorated lungs with soot.

Still, every locomotive charging across a bridge looked like the future had kicked down the door and yelled MOVE.