South-Eastern. North-Eastern. Great Western.. 1 in 289,000 1 in 676,000 The general conclusion from these converging data seems to be in favor of the relative safety of the broad gauge. in fatal accidents, and may therefore be taken as a set-off against the increased amount of compensation-money paid for injuries during the past year. For it must be remembered that many of the accidents and collisions which caused the injuries that were paid for in 1863 must have taken place in 1862. The comparison, however, does not amount to much. Meanwhile, it is a matter of some little curiosity to com- On the whole, it can scarcely be conpare the relative safety of some of the cluded that railway accidents are diminleading lines within the same period. We ishing in severity, whatever their number shall only trouble ourselves with what the during a single year may happen to be, at Companies return as casualties beyond the least if we measure their severity by the passengers' own control-which is the rail- amount of compensation awarded under way euphemism for injuries caused by rail- Lord Campbell's Act. Capt. Galton, two way management. The North-Western years ago, in a paper read before the In"system, ," with 1174 miles of line, and 17 stitute of Engineers, calculated that the millions of miles traversed by 19 million Companies paid annually from £100,000 to passengers, injured 69 passengers. The £120,000 in compensation; whereas we Great Western, with 1148 miles of line, have it now proved, from their own returns, and 12 millions of miles traversed by 17 that in 1862 they paid £158,000, and last millions of passengers, injured 37 passen- year as much as nearly £180,000. Some gers. On neither of these great lines of the more fatal collisions have been tre-pa was there last year a single fatal accident mendously expensive to the Companies. to a passenger. The Great Eastern killed For the Atherstone "accident," in 1860, 7; this was the Hunstanton, or great cow, the North-Western paid nearly £18,000; accident. The Great Northern killed the King's Cross accident cost the Great The Brighton killed three; this was Northern £10,000; while the Lewisham the Streatham and Balham casualty. The collision, in 1857, cost the South-Eastern South-Western killed one; and two were £27,000, besides the injury to rollingkilled on Scotch lines. There is another stock. The ugly conclusion at which test of the relative security of the various Captain Galton, addressing the Civil Engreat lines, which has its interest, though gineers, arrives, after an elaborate investiof course it requires checking by the ele- gation of the accidents returned to the ments of length of line, miles traveled, and Board of Trade on an average of seven number of passengers; and, as it only ap- years, is, "that out of 319 collisions only plies to a single year, it would hardly jus- 16 could be attributed to purely accidental tify any sweeping conclusion. The Great causes; and of the 303 remaining only 183 Eastern, with 695 miles open, paid £8824 were due to the negligence of inferior serfor compensation for personal injuries in vants, while the remaining 120 were en1863; the Great Northern, with 433 miles, tirely attributable to the manner in which must have paid (but the returns are mud- the traffic was conducted, and therefore dled) more than £20,000; the Great West- ought not to have occurred." We are ern, with nearly 1200 miles, paid only obliged to Mr. Brunlees, the engineer, who £2176; the North-Western, with about read a paper at the same meeting, for the the same mileage, paid £20,000; the South-information that, in the same seven years, Western, with 513 miles, paid less than £1000; the Brighton, with 243 miles, paid £19,000; the South-Eastern, with 286 miles, paid £1844; the Midland, with 658 miles, paid £17,794. On an average of seven years, Captain Galton classes the chief railways as follows, as to the proportion of killed or injured to the number of passengers conveyed: one. Eastern Counties......... 1 in 212,000 1041 accidents of different kinds were due in various degrees to mismanagement on the part of the Companies. This mismanagement he classes under the several heads of Defective Permanent Way, Neglected Rolling Stock, and "Management," which accounts for 76 per cent. of the total number of accidents. And by "Management" he means all that belongs to the trafficnamely, speed of trains; irregularity in starting and running them; an inefficient system of telegraph and other signals; ab sence of communication between guard | tors and the great body of civil engineers. and driver; deficient brake power; and The conclusion of the whole matter is this, negligence of servants, owing to excessive that the vast majority of railway acciwork, insufficient pay, and inadequate num- dents are preventable; and that they are bers. There is nothing new in all this; it not prevented is owing to mismanagehas been said over and over again. But ment-that is; to parsimony, and to the it is something to get a conspectus of the starving system adopted by the Compawhole case. It is something to argue it, nies. Confront this fact with the other not upon single casualties, but upon full fact that the working expenses of railways returns spread over a series of years, and have been diminished, are annually diminembracing the whole railway system of ishing, and that it is the avowed policy of the United Kingdom. And it is something all directors to diminish them still more. to have all these facts produced in an au- And now, pondering over these two great thoritative shape, and to have the usual facts, let us enjoy our railway trips this arguments expressed, not in mere news autumn with such appetite and confidence paper articles, but by government inspec- as we may. THE DEATH-DAY OF EURYDICE. THE sad gray day foredoomed by Death rolled on, And o'er the corn-land, in a tender round Of bluest air, the eager skylark sang, Along the watery reaches smooth and gray, And margined sands, the lily faint and white, But as noon waned, from out the woods, a strain And southward loomed the low hills, gray with Then suddenly when all was dark and rest, Flaming amid the lonely forest wells, Pale as the dead flowers round her, lies Eurydice. OVER HER TOMB. The morn is breaking faint and cold Along the world with sullen glare; Amid the shadowed stretch of lawn, Thy heart is cold, and mine is breaking. The sea-birds wheel through misty beams, And lapse in sorrow gray and still, TASSO AT FERRARA. “VEGGIO, quando tal vista Amor m'impetra." POET child of poet father, What thy theme for princely ears— Thou, about whose temples gather Laurels riper than thy years? Dost recall the proud memento Of thy birthplace by the sea, Where, in heaven-blest Sorrento, Life is immortality? Exile son of sire in exile, Sundered from a mother's love; In thy years most soft and flexile, Sentenced through the world to rove; Dost thou in Ferrara's palace Dream of having gained a home, All encharmed with joys too pleasant, And too boldly, grandly dare? Dost thou with Rinaldo's story Yet should illustrate thy name! Would that Fate, in mercy slighting On the wall behind the duke! Shall in chains exhaust his prime. "Shall long years in durance languish, Half his life shall vex for nought; Though his will rebuke his anguish In the hell of baffled thought. Freedom gained shall see but little TO MY WIFE. BY GEORGE W. BETHUNE, D.D. AWAY from thee! the morning breaks, But morning brings no joy to me; Alas! my spirit only wakes To know that I am far from thee. In dreams I saw thy blessed face, And thou wert nestled on my breast; In dreams I felt thy fond embrace, And to mine own thy heart was pressed. Afar from thee! 'tis solitude Though smiling crowds around me beThe kind, the beautiful, the good For I can only think of thee; And wholly blest with thee alone. Afar from thee! the words of praise Is in thy moistened eye to see, Together in his loved embrace, No distance can our hearts divide: I kneel thy kneeling form beside. WE TWO. BY CLARENCE BUTLER. We own no houses, no lots, no lands, And yet we live in a grander state, No bank-books show our balance to draw, Yet we carry a safe-key that unlocks More treasure than Croesus ever saw. We wear no velvet nor satin fine, We dress in a very homely way, But ah! what luminous lusters shine About Sunbeam's gowns and my hodden gray! When we walk together (we do not ride, We are far too poor) it is very rare We are bowed unto from the other side Of the street-but for this we do not care; We are not lonely, we pass along, Sunbeam and I, and you can not see, We can, what tall and beautiful throngs Of angels we have for company. No harp, no dulcimer, no guitar, Breaks into music at Sunbeam's touch, But do not think that our evenings are Without their music; there is none such In the concert halls, where the palpitant air In musical billows floats and swims; Our lives are as psalms, and our foreheads wear A calm, like the peal of beautiful hymns. When cloudy weather obscures our skies, And some days darken with drops of rain, Never grow old, but we live in peace, And the days pass on with their thoughtful tread, Sunbeam's hair will be streaked with gray, With nothing to hurt us or upbraid, FERNS. In the cool and quiet nooks, With the branches overhead, Nestling at the old trees' feet, Choose we there our mossy bed. On tall cliffs that woo the breeze, Where no human footstep presses, And no eye our beauty sees, There we wave our maiden tresses. In the mouths of mountain caves, In the clefts of crumbling walls, With a new and verdant glory. Where the shady banks are steepest, In the pleasant woodland glades, There our mimic groves displaying. Then the treacherous marsh's bosom, Though we boast no lovely bloom, WITHOUT THE CHILDREN. Оn, the weary, solemn silence Where the children come no more! Peeping through the opening door- Strange it is to wake at midnight Some of thy stern, unyielding might, The changeful April sky of chance, Some of thy pensiveness serene, Put in this scrip of mine That griefs may fall like snow-flakes light, O sweetly-mournful pine! A little of thy merriment, 1 Ye have been very kind and good But good-by, kind friends, every one, And so my journey's scarce begun. Heaven help me! how could I forget Some of thy modesty, The merchant rain, which carries on Suggestive warnings crowd the earth; O man, the gem and crown of all, LONDON. -F. E. Wilson. BY JOHN D. SHERWOOD, ESQ. "On the Thames a city stands, Wealth with Poverty there meets, "Neath the Abbey's towering spire Rest the honored Dead: By that vast expiring fire, Famine gaunt, "In St. James-gold and lace! BRIEF LITERARY NOTICES. We propose to note each month the chief books James Russell Lowell. of interest which appear on the other side of the "BLESSED TO GIVE.” THE kingly sun gives forth his rays; Asks no return; demands no praise; water. LA SOCIÉTÉ FRANÇAISE ET LA SOCIÉTÉ ANGLAISE AU XVIII. SIÈCLE. Par M. CORNÉLIS DE WITT. Paris: Lévy. THE Histoire Anecdotique du Théâtre en France, |