ness with 600 stations than Switzerland with 1200; while the Netherlands do nearly as much as either with only 350 stations. Switzerland has necessarily to multiply her stations very much, because her numerous summer visitors require to be able to telegraph from almost every solitary hotel and lonely mountain inn. 12. Norway has the largest mileage of line and wire in proportion to the number of messages sent. She possesses 5000 miles of line and 10,000 miles of wire, but sends only 1,000,000 messages every year. In fact, the enterprise of Norway in this regard is one of the wonders of the world. By lonely lake, on stormy mountain pass, on the edge of precipices nearly a mile high, on the tops of the highest mountains, amid the dreariest solitude, among boulders that have stood and glaciers that have flowed for thousands of years, by fjeld, fiord, and waterfalleverywhere may be seen the unyielding form of the telegraph pole, and everywhere heard the sighing of the wind through the vibrating wires. 13. It is in the New World, however, that the employment of the telegraph reaches its highest point. In the United States, an American is as accustomed to use the telegraph-to 'wire,' as he calls it—as we are to employ the penny-post. Accordingly, the United States possess 120,000 miles of line and 250,000 miles of wire. They have 10,000 telegraphic stations, and they send 25,000,000 messages every year. This is not so much by 1,000,000 as those sent in Great Britain; but we must not forget that by far the larger proportion of Americans live in the country, and therefore do not require to telegraph. But, comparing town-people in the United States with town-people in Great Britain, it will be found that they telegraph six times more messages than we are in the habit of doing. 14. In proportion to its size and wealth, Brazil comes at the foot of the whole list. She has only 5000 miles of line, and only 110 offices. British India possesses 20,000 miles of line, 50,000 of wire, and 250 stations; but she sends only 2,000,000 messages every year. Many of these messages, moreover, are official. 15. If, now, we attempt to draw a few general conclusions, we shall find that Sweden, though she has twice the amount of wire that Holland has, sends only half the number of messages. Great Britain, though a much smaller country, has more mileage than France, and sends nearly three times the number of messages. Belgium has twice as many telegraph offices as Denmark, and nearly three times as much wire. Portugal, though a rich country, gets through only one-quarter of the telegraph business that Holland does; while the large and wealthy but lazy country of Spain can send only half the number of messages sent every year by little thrifty hard-working Belgium. 16. But, while we survey the enormous mileage of telegraphic wire upon land, we must not forget that there are many thousand miles laid along the bed of the sea and the great oceans, which we never see. These lines, or cables as they are termed, are 'paid out' by ships specially constructed for that purpose. England is connected with America by several cables. The bed of the Mediterranean is crossed in many parts by numerous cables. A submarine cable runs the whole length of the Red Sea, round the great peninsula of India, and up even into China. 17. There are seven cables which cross the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to America five from Ireland, and one from France, to the United States; and one from Lisbon to Pernambuco in South America. The longest straight telegraph line in the world, when finished, will run from San Francisco, on the east coast of the Pacific, to Vladivostock, on the west coast of the Pacific. The line will cross two continents and one ocean. Starting from San Francisco, it will go, by way of Newfoundland, to Ireland; it will then cross the continent of Europe to St Petersburg; and then sweep through the rest of Europe and into Asia, and touching Tobolsk, Irkutsk, and Nertchinsk, find its terminus in Vladivostock. When the line from Vladivostock to San Francisco is completed, there will then be a complete 'girdle round about the world.' 18. The system of telegraphic lines throughout the world -a system which is growing larger and larger every day -may be compared to the wonderful nervous system in the body of man. The nerves convey information from any and every part of the body to the brain, while the brain can send its commands to every part of the human body. Now, if we think of Great Britain as the brain of this planet, we shall find that we can telegraph from London to nearly all the most distant points of the land-to Hammerfest in the far north, to Hobart-Town in the most distant south, to San Francisco in the west of North America, and to Vladivostock in the east of Asia. And it will soon be that no part of the world will be outside the possible knowledge of any other part, but that communication between all will make it every day plainer and plainer that men have great common interests, that war between men is a blunder, and that all should join in the work of subduing nature, and making this planet a fit place for the habitation of man. EXERCISES.-1. Write a SUMMARY of sections 4 to 11 inclusive. 2. Write a short paper on 'Telegraphic Lines,' from your own summary. 3. Explain the following sentences and phrases, and give synonyms for the single words: (1) Confer. (2) The produce of different climates. (3) Telegraphs bear witness to the mental activity of a nation. (4) The length of the telegraphic mileage forms a proof of the enterprise of a nation. (5) Turkey occupies the foot of the scale. (6) Transmits. (7) The contrast is again instructive. (8) Dreariest solitude. (9) Vibrating wires. (10) Many of these messages are official. (11) Thrifty. (12) While we survey the enormous mileage of telegraphic wire upon land. (13) Submarine cable. (14) Make this planet a fit place for the habitation of man. 4. Parse the words in the following sentence: 'Great Britain, small as she is, does more than four times the amount of business that Russia gets through.' 5. Analyse the following sentence: Since gone is my delight and only pleasure, That cleared my life's dark day, Nature's sweet treasure, What resteth now, but that upon this mountain I weep, till Heaven transform me to a fountain? 6. Give all the words you know connected with the following English words: May1; go2; bear3; find; long; make; four ; five; all; high. 7. Give all the derivatives you know from the following Greek and Latin words: Gr. grapho, I write, compound with phōs (phot-os), light, with tele; with lexicon, a dictionary; gē, the earth; orthos, right: Lat. impero, I command (root imper, stem imperāt); traho, I draw (root trah, stem tract), compound with con, ex, and sub; veho, I carry (root veh, stem vect), compound with con, in, sur. 8. Make sentences containing the following words: Compare and contrast; attack and inveigh; industrious and active. 9. Make sentences containing the following phrases: Bear witness to; is a proof of; to draw a conclusion; to possess a development. 1 Main, might, etc. 2 Ago; gait, gate; gang; forgo, etc. 4 Almost, also, alone, etc. AFTER A TEMPEST. Zenith, the point in the heavens | Swaths, lines of grass cut down directly above our head. From an Arabic word. (The Pent, confined. From pyndan, to shut up. O. E. Cog nates: Bin, pin; pinfold. by the scythe. From O. E. swathë, a path-a cognate of way. Fell, height or high land. From the Norwegian fjeld, the name given to the elevated mountain plains in Norway -such as Dovrë-fjeld, Hardanger-fjeld, etc. They are really plateaux. 1. The day had been a day of wind and storm; Where the vast plain lay girt by mountains vast, 2. The rain-drops glistened on the trees around, Whose shadows on the tall grass were not stirred, Save when a shower of diamonds to the ground Was shaken by the flight of startled bird : For birds were warbling round, and bees were heard About the flowers; the cheerful rivulet sung And gossiped, as he hastened oceanward; To the gray oak the squirrel, chiding, clung; And, chirping, from the ground the grasshopper upsprung. |