Thou wilt lengthen out leviathan [the locomotive] with a hook [automatic coupler] or with a snare [couplingpin] which thou wilt cause his tongue [coupling-link] to drop down. Wilt thou not place a ring [piston] in his nostrils [cylinders] or pierce through his cheeks [piston-ends] with a staff [piston-rod]? Will be make repeated supplication unto thee [to get off the track]? Or will he utter soft tones unto thee [when he screeches with the whistle]? Will he make a covenant with thee, that thou mayest take him for a servant forever [without repairs]? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird [make him whistle at will]? Or wilt thou bind [enslave] him for thy maidens [so that you can take them to a picnic or convention]? Companies [of stockholders] will feast upon him [his earnings]; they will share him among speculators. [Psa. 74:14.] Thou wilt fill his skin with pointed irons [bolts], and his head with a cabin of fishermen [a cab similar to the cabins on fishing vessels]. Place thy hand upon him, be mindful of the conflict [raging within the boiler] and thou wilt add no further questions. Behold, his confidence [boiler] being deceived [not properly supplied with water], shall not at once his mighty form be spread asunder [by an explosion]? There is none so bold that he will stir him up [to run at his very highest possible speed], and none who will then place himself before him [to be run over]. Who will compete with this one and endure [pass him on the track]? Under the whole heaven, none, unless [one like] himself. "I will not pass in silence his members, nor the cause of his mighty forces, nor the beauty of his equipment. Who can strip off the facings of his jacket? Who can penetrate between the double lap of his shield [the overlapping sections of the boiler plates]? Who can force open the doors of his shield [the boiler ends]? The circuits of his teeth [rows or rivets] are formidable. His strength depends on courses of shields [sections of plates] closed up tightly with a seal [caulked]. They shall join one upon another so that a hiss of air [steam] shall not escape from between them. One to the other shall adhere. They will be welded together that they cannot be sundered. In his sneezing [when he puffs from the cylinders] light will shine, a flood of light prevading the mass of vapors: and his eyes [headlights] will be as the eyelashes of the morning [as rays of light from the rising sun]. Out of his mouth [fire-door] will leap forth flaming torches, and [from the smoke stack] glowing sparks will slip themselves away. From his nostrils [cylinders] will issue forth vapor as from a boiling pot or caldron. His inhaling [forced draft] will vivify burning coals, and a flame will leap forth from his mouth. Within his neck abideth strength, and a desolation will dance with joy [become a prosperous community] at his presence. The separable parts of his body are connected together; all will be made fast upon him; nothing will be shaky. His heart will be indurated similar to a stone, and will be firm as a piece of the lower [rocks]. When at his full speed the most courageous will fear [lest]. from accidents. they lose themselves. When dryness exalteth him [or renders him furious], he will not have power to withhold; the curved vault [fire box] being caused to tear away, and also the armor. He will esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotted wood. The archer cannot make him flee; missiles [of war] will be turned unto him as chaff. The [strokes of a] hammer will be esteemed as chaff; he will rejoice at the poking of the fireman. Hewed [or notched] timbers of the craftsman [ties] are under him; he will spread an embankment [or trench] upon the mire. He will [as a marine engine] cause deep [places] to become as a boiling pot [about his propellers]; he will make the sea to appear like boiling ointment. He will make a path to shine after him; one will think the deep to be growing gray. [Psa. 104:26; Isa. 27:1.] Upon the earth there is not his like— he that is [so] constructed that he can fear nothing. He can oversee [control by his work] all that which is great; he is indeed king over all conceptions of power.
(The Finished Mystery, 1917, pp. 85-86)
