Industrialism and Fanny Kemble

Fanny Kemble’s “Record of a Girlhood” includes a description of her first ride on a steam engine. She was the first woman to ride on this new contraption (490). Her writing reflects not only the optimism of the Victorian age but also the sheer newness of the experience. The novelty of traveling by steam engine is difficult for her to describe. Part of this difficulty may have been that language had yet to catch up with technology. Language evolves as it is needed, and the purpose of language is to convey meaning. However, at the time of Kemble’s writing there were no adequate words with the same meanings to describe either the steam engine or her feeling on the actual journey. The ideas and sensations were hitherto inconceivable. There were no precise, standardized terms with which to describe the ride, because traveling by steam engine was by no means routine yet. Kemble hints at this inability to properly describe the experience somewhat explicitly. She states, “You can’t imagine how strange it seemed to be journeying on thus…” and later, “You cannot conceive what the sensation of cutting the air was…” (491). Indeed, the whole experience is “strange beyond description” (491). It is such a new experience that it does not yet seem real or concrete, as Kemble explains,“…I felt as if no fairy tale was ever half so wonderful as what I saw” (491). The steam engine is truly a “magical machine” (491).

Kemble could not adequately describe her ride on the steam engine except by comparison. Throughout the work, the steam engine is anthropomorphized as a horse, or compared to a horse and given its qualities. The steam engine is the new horse. She notes,“…they make these curious little fire-horses all mares” (490). The steam engine’s barrel contains enough water to “prevent her being thirsty for fifteen miles” (490). Indeed, the locomotive is a living “creature” that “wants water” (491). Like any animal, it needs not only water but food as well; the coals are the oats (491). To describe the composition and operation of the steam engine, Kemble expands the horse analogy. The wheels are the feet, the pistons the legs, and the “reins, bit and bridle of this wonderful beast” are a “small steel handle” (490-491). The train is further described as a “snorting little animal, which I felt quite inclined to pat” (491).

If the steam engine is the new horse, man has finally in some way succeeded in improving upon nature. Mankind has not only matched nature but also exceeded both it and popular expectation. Just the construction of the railroad tunnels is an example of man mastering nature. Creating tunnels involves moving massive pieces of stone, quite an undertaking as bits of formerly impassible but majestic mountains are now under human control. Kemble reflects, “…these great masses of stone had been cut asunder to allow our passage thus far below the surface of the earth” (491). The steam engine not only improves upon the horse, but the bird as well. Kemble describes the top speed of thirty-five miles an hour as “swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment with a snipe)” (491). The locomotive literally seems to fly, smoothly “cutting the air” (491). Kemble notes, “…this sensation of flying was quite delightful” (491).

This new technology is beyond exciting. Indeed, it evokes emotions perhaps even more intense than common adoration. As Kemble begins her letter, “A common sheet of paper is enough for love, but a foolscap extra can alone contain a railroad and my ecstasies” (490). Yet despite the novelty, Kemble “…had a perfect sense of security, and not the slightest fear…” on her train ride (491). Kemble’s security in the steam engine speaks to that era’s sense of security in human progress. Kemble is extremely optimistic, and her attitude reflects a major segment of the Victorian population.