KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



127 



United States on the 1st of January, 1854, was 

 15,510 miles ; being an increase of 2,194 miles 

 since the 1st of January, 1853. The traffic on those 

 lines is estimated to yield a net return equal to 7 

 per cent on the outlay. The state of the money 

 market at the commencement of I853,inducedthe 

 promoters of several new lines to proceed vigo- 

 rously with the works ; but, as the year advanced, 

 great difficulty was experienced iu finding money 

 for the construction of some of the lines now in 

 course of formation. It is considered that the 

 state of the money market has given a wholesome 

 check to the extensive progress of railway enter- 

 prise, no less than 25,000 miles of railway having 

 been sanctioned in the United States up to the 

 commencement of 1853 ; thus leaving 9,500 miles 

 to be completed, independent of those sanctioned 

 in the year 1853. The average number of miles 

 of railway completed during the past five years, 

 was at the rate of 2,000 miles per annum ; and, at 

 that rate, would require five years more to com- 

 plete those sanctioned at the beginning of last 

 year ; but it is expected that several of the less 

 productive lines will not be proceeded with at 

 present, while those which promise a large return 

 will be proceeded with and completed as soon as 

 possible. — L. R. 



The Memory of Music. — The readiness with 

 which the memory lends itself to the service of 

 music, is a standing phenomenon peculiar to her. 

 By what mysterious paradox does it come to pass, 

 that what the mind receives with the most pas- 

 sivity, it is enabled to retain with the most 

 fidelity — laying up the choicest morsels of musical 

 entertainment in its storehouses, to be ready for 

 spontaneous performance without our having so 

 much as the trouble of summoning them ? For 

 not even the exertion of our will is required ; a 

 thought — aye, less than a thought— the slightest 

 breath of a hint — is sufficient to set the exquisitely- 

 sensitive strings of musical memory vibrating. 

 Often, we know not what manner of an idea it is 

 that has just fluttered across our minds, but for 

 the melody, or fragment of a melody, it has 

 awakened in its passage. By what especial 

 favor is it, that the ear is permitted a readier 

 access to the cells of memory, and a steadier 

 lodging when there, than any of the other organs ? 

 Pictures, poetry, thoughts, hatred, love, promises, 

 are, of course, all more fleeting than tunes ! These 

 we may let be buried for years; they never 

 moulder in the grave ; they come back as fresh 

 as ever ; yet showing the depth at which they 

 have lain, bythe secret associations of joy or sorrow 

 they bring with them. There is no such a pitiless 

 invoker of the ghost of the past, as one bar of 

 melody that has been connected with them ; there 

 is no such a sigh escapes from the heart, as that 

 which follows in the train of some musical remi- 

 niscence. — Lily of the Valley. 



Anecdote of a Cricket. — One day, while sitting 

 by the side of a large fire in the kitchen of a 

 farm-house, I observed a cricket steal out of its 

 hiding-place (which is rather unusual in the day- 

 time), and begin to eat a little bit of bread which 

 had fallen by the side of the grate. Happening 

 to turn my head the other way, I saw what 

 I mistook, at first sight, to be a round piece 



of dirt, rolling along towards the spot where the 

 cricket was feeding. The cricket began, all of a 

 sudden, to chirp very loud ; when three more 

 crickets came hopping out of the nest. The 

 piece of dirt (as I thought) turned out to be 

 a large spider. Immediately the spider pounced 

 upon one of the crickets, and began to carry it 

 away at a very quick rate ; but the other three 

 hopped after it, and tormented the spider till he 

 was obliged to make good his retreat with as 

 much speed as he coukl — leaving his prey behind. 

 Two of the crickets followed him, leaving one 

 behind to watch the wounded one. The two 

 which pursued, had a struggle with the spider ; 

 and had nearly done for him (which 1 was not 

 surprised at), when the cricket which was left 

 behind with the invalid, took up his poor woun- 

 ded companion in his mouth, and hopped away 

 to his hole. I then saw another spider, which 

 the cricket had seen before I did ; knowing 

 itself to be too weak to contend, and its com- 

 panions being busy with the other one, it had 

 sought refuge for itself and helpless companion. 

 This spider had also a battle with the two 

 crickets (who had by this time overcome the first 

 intruder), and was vanquished and killed by 

 them. The two conquerors then each took 

 a spider home ; and I dare say made a good 

 repast on their enemies. I took great notice 

 of these crickets afterwards, and frequently 

 amused myself with watching their motions. — An 

 Old Observer op Nature and her Works. 



Ravages by War and Pestilence. — Some very in- 

 teresting tables have issued from the Health-office 

 comparing the loss of life by war and by pestilence. 

 It appears that in 22 years of war there were 19,796 

 killed, and 79,709 wounded ; giving an annual 

 average of 899 killed and 3,623 wounded. In 

 1848-49 there were no fewer than 72,180 persons 

 killed by cholera and diarrhoea in England and 

 Wales, and 144,360 attacked ; 34,397 of the killed 

 were able-bodied persons capable of getting their 

 own living ! Besides these deaths from the great 

 epidemic, 115,000 die annually, on an average, 

 of preventible diseases; while 11,419 die by 

 violence. Comparing the killed in nine great 

 battles, including Waterloo — 4,740 — with the 

 number killed by cholera in London in 1848-49 

 — 14,139 — we find a difference of 9,399 in favor 

 of war. In cholera visitations, 12 per cent., 

 sometimes 20 per cent., of the medical men 

 employed, died. The London missionaries die as 

 fast as those in foreign countries, and there 

 are some districts in London which make the 

 Mission Society ask themselves whether they have 

 any right to send men into them ? From the 

 returns of 12 unions, it is found that 3,567 widows 

 and orphans are chargeable to the cholera of 

 1848-9 ; entailing an expenditure of £121,000 in 

 four years only. — William P. 



Remarks on Beauty. — The ideas that most 

 people entertain about beauty are ridiculously 

 absurd. The eye is pleased ere the mind be 

 consulted. Beauty is in fact a snare, luring 

 thousands to their ruin. Connected with this 

 subject, I send you an extract or two from the 

 pen of an accurate observer of life. There 

 seems, he truly says, to be a curse upon physical 



