1895 



TlfK A.UI /,•/('. \y lil:l-l\l 1:1' U 



263 



TO CAPHlCii. 



No nioro, a b ,'.a;;ix ;it your door, 

 I w:.it ;;>.' (}(/;■.■ of your disdain. 



I covii-t j'our tj.i-Jy criii- '> no mors. 

 But take the open rouJ again. 



No more, a lackey in your train, 

 Your lickk^ pleasure I pursue. 



I spur to draw a jiiisjling rein 

 In bold ambition s retinue. 



No more, a slave of your caprice, 



I labor on in .sim and rain. 

 The longest servitude mv. it cease 



At snapping of the ru.sty chain. 



Yet golden chances sometimes fall 

 At beggars'. feet, and lackeys pose 



As lor^-.s anon, and slaves in thrall 

 Nurse hopes no freeman ever knows. 



LONDON'S PNEUMATIC SYSTEM. 



Messages Transmitted Through Gigantic 

 Pea Shooters In the English Metropolis. 



Telegraplniig over short di.stauces — as 

 within towns, for iiistauce — is a very cost- 

 ly operation. It requires the same number 

 of operators — one at each end — and the 

 same number of instruments as for the 

 longest distances. But comijressed air will 

 blow a telegraph form through a metal 

 tube as far as two or three iniles in as 

 many minutes, and steam engines are 

 used to compress the air by means of 

 which the pneumatic tubes are worked. 

 The engine room at the central office re- 

 sembles nothing so much as the engine 

 room of a great steamship, except that the 

 engines are on the "beam" principle, as 

 being best suited to the peculiar work in 

 which they are engaged. They are mag- 

 nificent specimens of 'the engineer's craft, 

 and have a stately ajipearance, due in large 

 measure to their leisarely stroke as com- 

 pared with the hurried action of the ma- 

 rine or electric light engine. Night and 

 day these engines are employed in pump- 

 ing air into, or exhausting it out of, huge 

 "containers," whicii are connected with 

 the tul)eroo;ii overhead. 



There are no fewer than 36 pneumatic 

 tubes radiating througliout the metropolis, 

 buried under the pavement among the gas 

 and water pipes and every now and then 

 crossing the path df the telegraph wire, 

 •whose handmaid tJiey are. It is desired, 

 say, to send a messjiae from St. Martin's- 

 le-Grand to Gharii;;; Cross. Here is a 

 tubelike f(dt covered box which will con- 

 tain one or a dozen message forms at 

 pleasure. Place the form inside; secure 

 the openiid end of tlse box, or "carrier," as 

 it is called, l)y means of an elastic band. 

 Insert the box in tie mouth of the tube, 

 admit the compre-sed air, and away it 

 goes across Newgate street, along Pater- 

 noster row, down Ludgate hill, up Fleet 



street and ai'^ng ine »-itrana, wnere, at 44s, 

 it pro.)cH-ts i -elf under the nose of the at- 

 tendant with a thud and a rebound, in al- 

 most shorter time than it takes to describe 

 the operatio!! 



All tlie air is stored at the central office, 

 so that if it lie de. ivcul to reverse the oper- 

 ation — that is, to send a message from the 

 west end to the city — it is onlj' necessary 

 to traiisniit an electi-ic signal, when 

 vacuum is turned on and the "carrier" is 

 sucked in which a minute before had been 

 blown out. The tuljes are, in fact, gigan- , 

 tic pea shooters. What may be called the 

 working gear of tlie tubes is in itself a 

 most interesting sight. It has been mostly 

 designed by officials of the telegraph de- 

 partment, and is unique of its kind. In- 

 deed the whole puenmatic system of the 

 central ofaee is an "exhibit" of the most 

 interesting kind and an object of just 

 pride with those who have it in charge. — 

 Gentleman's Llagazine. 



The Care of Shrubbery. 



The praciiceof shearing bushes in the 

 winter time has been repeatedly shown to 

 be as destructive to the object aimed at as 

 it is objectionable to good taste. The prop- 

 er time to J. rune shrubbery is after the 

 flowering is over: t]: n all weak and ptmy 

 branches should be cut out to the ground. 

 In cases where the bushes are low, with 

 such plants as spiraea, for instance, nearly 

 all those which flower in the spring should 

 be removed and a new set of strong shoots 

 suffered to come out near the ground. The 

 result is a well formed natural specimen, 

 which vrill bloom profusely the following 

 year and yet be kept within the limited 

 bounds desired, or if the plant is not I'e- 

 quired to be kept down to small dimen- 

 sions, but a large, vigorous bush is de- 

 sired, still the sunmier pruning should be 

 the rule, for if the whole branch be not 

 cut out of the grovmd the vigorous shoots 

 should be checked by having the very 

 strongest ones pinched back. 



No amount of theoretical advice, how- 

 ever, will enable one to do just the right 

 thing. Grand success must come from 

 experience and observation. If we keep in 

 mind that very strong shoots rob and 

 weaken those not as strong as themselves, 

 and that tliis vigorous growth is to be 

 checked as it is going on, we get the chief 

 element in success. All the rest mu.st 

 come from exjierience, and the rule can be 

 applied to eacli i)articular class, according 

 to the object aimed at. — Median's Month- 

 ly. 



Lake Chaiiiidain was named in honor 

 of its discov( .er. The Indians called it 

 Canaderi-Gua.uute, "the door of the coun- 

 try." 



