2S6 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



twelve in number and the charge to the regulation 

 sixpence. Then the good ^voman begged for an enve- 

 loi3e in which to enclose her telegram, so that its 

 contents might be shut out from prying eyes during 

 transmission over the wire. 



More to the point still, however, is the case of a 

 w^orking woman, who recently came on a visit to a 

 Lancashire town, and found that she had brought 

 away the house-key, instead of leaving it behind for 

 her husband's use. She promptl}^ repaired to the 

 Bolton post-office, and desired that the key might be 

 sent home by a sixpenny telegram. The inability of 

 the counter clerk to comply with her request drove 

 the applicant aw^ay in high dudgeon. For what, 

 then, was the use of the telegraph, she would like 

 to know. 



There are those who, on the subtle question of 

 electricity and its phenomena, know more than the 

 expert. A colleague once travelled in the company 

 of a gentleman w'ho deplored the prevailing ignor- 

 ance of the principle of the telegraph. ' What so 

 simple ?' said he. ' Get a magnet, and file it to a 

 point at both ends, and swing it on the centre. Get 

 another, and do the same. Put one in London and 

 the other in New Zealand, with a wire between, and 

 just as you move one, so will the other move.' 



But the plan described, although somewhat start- 

 ling, is not original, and, if similar to that set forth 

 by Addison and Steele in the Spectator, is not by far 

 so simple as theirs. Addison made two friends agree 



