A rare translation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's (1843) 'The Celestial Railroad' (in later editions 'A Visit to the Celestial Railroad') . Hawthorne's short story is a brief parody or "update" of Bunyan's 'The Pilgrim's Progress, ' in a modern - for Hawthorne - setting. In 'The Celestial Railroad' the protagonist is a modern traveler taking advantage of the new and easy way - just get on the train pulled by the marvelous steam locomotive and ride off - of passing from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Bunyan's characters and places are still there, but changed - Evangelist is now manager of the ticket office; Apollyon has become the engine driver; the castle of the Giant Despair is just a stopping point for travelers; the Slough of Despond has been bridged. As the traveler and his companions enjoy their easy ride they pass two walking, and weary, pilgrims whom they jeer and mock. At the end of the train ride those who took the "easy" way look across a river to see the two old-fashioned pilgrims being welcomed by a shining host to the heavenly city. The riders must still cross this river - as the narrator and his fellow-travelers board the steamboat ferry, he realizes, to his horror, where he is and what must be the outcome. He then conveniently awakes from his dream. "Dank' dem Himmel, es war nur ein Traum!" Salomon Neitz, the translator, was active in the German-speaking Evangelical Association then based in central Pennsylvania. In a brief introduction he suggests that his book can profitably be used in Sunday Schools; children at an early stage of their religious instruction can be shown the two ways of passage to the Celestial City and will observe that the easy and "neumodische" way has not a happy ending. The full-page illustrations may be intended to attract the attention of young readers; two show the train, the passenger cars full of people, pulled by a showy steam engine being stoked by a horned figure which carries a pitchfork; the third shows an equally showy paddle-wheel steamboat about to cast off from the dock. ; 24mo; 60 pp

Nathaniel Hawthorne 19th Century John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress Allegory Sunday School German Language