In 1830, One Pious American Railed Against Trains and Their Breakneck 20-MPH Speeds

Maybe you can’t stop progress, but by golly you can try:

[I]t is a pestilential, topsy-turvy, harum-scarum whirligig. Give me the old, solemn, straightforward, regular Dutch canal — three miles an hour for expresses, and two for jog-and-tyrot journeys — with a yoke of oxen for a heavy load! I go for beasts of burthen; it is more primitive and scriptural, and suits a moral and religious people better. None of your hop-skip-and-jump whimsies for me.

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(This is another installment of “That Old Time Religion,” an infrequent Friendly Atheist series that looks at history’s God-besotted wackjobs, zealots, and mountebanks. If you have a topic you’d like me to cover, please leave your suggestion in the comments, preceded by #TOTR.)

(via Mental Floss)