 THE BREATH OF LIFE by John Burroughs THE PREPHESS RECORDING by Alan Davis Drake This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. As life nears its end with me, I find myself meditating more and more upon the mystery of its nature and origin, yet without the least hope that I can find out the ways of the Eternal in this or in any other world. In these studies I fancy I am about as far from mastering the mystery as the ant which I saw this morning industriously exploring a small section of the garden walk is from getting a clear idea of the geography of the North American continent, and she must have learned something about the small fraction of that part of the Earth's surface. I have passed many pleasant summer days in my hay barn study, or under the apple tree, exploring these questions, and though I have not solved them I am satisfied with the clear review I have given myself of the mystery that envelops them. I have set down in these pages all the thoughts that have come to me on this subject. I have not aimed so much at consistency as at clearness and definiteness of statement, letting my mind drift as upon a shoreless sea. Indeed, what are such questions, and all other ultimate questions, but shoreless seas whereupon the chief reward of the navigator is the joy of the adventure? Sir Thomas Brown said over two hundred years ago that in philosophy truth seems double faced, by which I fancy he meant that there was always more than one point of view of all great problems, often contradictory points of view, from which truth is revealed. In the following pages I am aware that two ideas or principles struggle in my mind for mastery. One is the idea of the super-mechanical and the super-chemical character of living things. The other is the idea of the supremacy and universality of what we call natural law. The first probably springs from my inborn idealism and literary habit of mind. The second from my love of nature and my scientific bent. It is hard for me to reduce the life impulse to a level with common material forces that shape and control the world of inert matter. And it is equally hard for me to reconcile my reason to the introduction of a new principle, or to see anything in natural processes that savers of the ab extra. It is the working of these two different ideas in my mind that seems to give rise to the obvious contradictions that crop out here and there throughout this volume. An explanation of life phenomena that savers of the laboratory and chemism repels me. And an explanation that savers of the theological point of view is equally distasteful to me. I crave and seek a natural explanation of all phenomena upon this earth. But the word natural to me implies more than mere chemistry and physics. The birth of a baby and the blooming of a flower are natural events. But the laboratory methods forever fail to give us the key to the secret of either. I am forced to conclude that my passion for nature and for all open air life, though tinged and stimulated by science, is not a passion for pure science, but for literature and philosophy. My imagination and ingrained in humanism are appealed to by the facts and methods of natural history. I find something akin to poetry and religion, using the latter word in its non-mythological sense, as indicating the sum of mystery and reverence we feel in the presence of the great facts of life and death, in the shows of day and night, and in my excursions to fields and woods. The love of nature is a different thing from the love of science, though the two may come together. The words worthy in sense in nature of, quote, something far more deeply interfused, unquote, than the principles of exact science is probably the source of nearly if not quite all that this volume holds. To the rigid man of science this is frank mysticism. But without a sense of the unknown and unknowable life is flat and barren. Without the emotion of the beautiful, the sublime, the mysterious, there is no art, no religion, no literature. How to get from the clawed underfoot to the brain and consciousness of man without invoking something outside of and superior to natural laws is the question. From my own part I content myself with the thought of some unknown and doubtless unknowable tendency or power in the elements themselves, a kind of universal mind pervading living matter and the reason of its living, through which the whole drama of evolution is brought about. This is getting very near the old teleological conception, as it is also near to that of Henri Berkson and Sir Oliver Lodge. Our minds easily slide into the groove of supernaturalism and spiritualism, because they have long moved therein. We have the words and they mold our thoughts. But science is fast teaching us that the universe is complete in itself, that whatever takes place in matter is by virtue of the force of matter, that it does not defer to or borrow from some other universe, that there is deep beneath deep in it, that gross matter has its interior in the molecule, and the molecule has its interior in the atom, and the atom has its interior in the electron, and that the electron is matter in its fourth or non-material state, the point where it touches the super-material. The transformation of physical energy into vital and of vital into mental doubtless takes place in this invisible inner world of atoms and electrons. The electric constitution of matter is a deduction of physics. It seems in some degree to bridge over the chasm between what we call the material and the spiritual. If we are not with inhaling the sins of life and mind, we seem assuredly on the road thither. The mystery of the transformation of the ethereal, imponderable forces into the vital, and the mental seems quite beyond the power of the mind to solve. The explanation of it in the ball terms of chemistry and physics can never satisfy a mind with a trace of idealism in it. The greater number of the chapters of this volume are variations upon a single theme, what Tyndall calls, quote, the mystery and the miracle of vitality, unquote. And I can only hope that the variations are of sufficient interest to justify the inevitable repetitions which occur. I am no more inclined than Tyndall was to believe in miracles, unless we name everything a miracle, while at the same time I am deeply impressed with the inadequacy of all known material forces to account for the phenomena of living things. That word of evil repute, materialism, is no longer the black sheep in the flock that it was before the advent of modern transcendental physics. The spiritualized materialism of men like Huxley and Tyndall need not trouble us. It springs from the new conception of matter. It stands on the threshold of idealism or mysticism with the door ajar. After Tyndall had cast out the term vital force and reduced all visible phenomena of life to mechanical attraction and repulsion, after he had exhausted physics and reached its very rim, a mighty mystery still hovered beyond him. He recognized that he had made no step towards its solution, and was forced to confess with the philosophers of all ages that, we are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with the sleep. End of Preface. Recorded by Alan Davis Drake in Long Branch, New Jersey, July 3, 2006 The Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation. Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States. Containing, among other things, the following. To it. That on the first day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people aware of shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward and forever free. And the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons. And will do no act or acts to repress such persons or any of them in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. That the executive will on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States. And the fact that any state or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen there too at elections, wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such states shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong, countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, due on this first day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the states and parts of states wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to it, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terribon, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, except the 48 counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Acomic, Morthampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk, and Portsmouth, and which accepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves, within said designated states and parts of states are and henceforward shall be free, and that the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all violence, and less than necessary self-defense, and I recommend to them that, in all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. Upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God, into the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, read by Chuck Sage. The Flapper, A New Type, by Alfredo Panzini from Vanity Fair, September 1921. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Flapper, A New Type, always on the watch, eager, unafraid, insatiable, and ready to spring by Alfredo Panzini. Where are they all going? That is the question a fellow is tempted to ask when he sees so many girls, so many flappers going around these days. Where are they going? Why they are going around. Why aren't they at home? Home, excuse me, that word is out of date. Now we say apartment, boarding house, moving picture theater, or hotel. However, everywhere you look you see flappers going around. That is not the worst of it. You hear them talking around, facing the most profound problems of life, with an imperturbability that reminds you of Columbus on the quarter-deck of the Santa Maria, of Magellan breaking into unknown seas, of Asco to Gama doubling the Cape of Good Hope. Our moralists have applied their wits to the question of our flappers, and they blame our novels, our movies, the Russian ballet, the shimmy, the newspaper, the war, the tea room, the what not. Our young men, for their part, our young intellectuals, who look out unafraid upon the rising flood or proletarian civilization, seem surprised, I might even say worried, at sight of our present day flapper. When she has left them, they really think down in their hearts, she is braver, pluckier than we are. So allowed, they content themselves with saying, our young girls are rotten. I have used the word flapper deliberately as meaning something more than a girl. Flapper is the limitless, a widely-embrasive term, to such a point that serious men have observed, from superficial phenomena only, of course, that all women between the ages of fourteen and fifty, make it sixty if you wish, may be called girls, doubtless the short skirt that matrons wear, and the new manner of deportment they have adopted, tend to facilitate such purely visual impressions. At any rate, people consider it witty to remark nowadays that it is hard to distinguish a mother from her daughter. Apportant In this year of our lord, nineteen twenty-one, a very singular happening occurred in a cathedral not far from my home. A venerable image, a Madonna, was lost in a fire. The official explanation, given for the catastrophe, was that a thief, with little respect for religion, one of those lost souls whom Dante represents as tormented in hell by serpents, started the blaze to cover his theft for the sacred gold and jewels. That explanation I do not, as a pagan, accept. I adhere to the ancient myth which said that, the city will stand so long as the Palladium remains unraveished. My mind centers on the fact that our times, precisely, have seen the disappearance of that woman who is a symbol of grace and a redemption from evil, virgin and mother in one. Why not? In our civilization no place is left for her. The home is no more. Neither is maternity, for four walls do not make a home, nor does the bearing of children constitute motherhood. Our flappers all seem to wear masks, masks of one general make, but varying in workmanship from the vulgar mask of the factory girl to the sophisticated mask of the society lady. In this mask the two elements or places, as Dante says, where the soul most potently worketh are strangely disfigured. The lips have a dash of red, and the eyes a cold mischievous brightness, not because the soul, but because the pencil or the drug, worketh. Combined with a filmy, vaporous costume, this facial mask makes the flapper look like a ship cleared for action. At the critical moment will come the deadly salvo or the destroying torpedo, thunder, flame and storm. The flapper expectant. I remember one flapper who was not just of this style, but who seemed to me typical. The flapper I have in mind was in a portrait at the academy, and she was dressed and in a long skirt, if you please. Her picture might have worn this mysterious and alluring title, flapper in a veil. She has been much in my thoughts of late. I have called her for myself, the flapper on watch for you, or the flapper that is going to get you. She is standing in the picture. She is expectant. There is nothing particularly striking in her appearance. She is well dressed, that is all, and as I said in a long skirt, she is a strong woman. Excuse me, strength is not the word I am after. Women, pretty women at least, are never strong. I need a word that expresses energy, the quality that makes a man who speaks of frail eve, referring to the female sex, look like a fool. Her neck is arched and tense. Tense also her features, her whole carriage indeed. Her demeanor is that of a duelist awaiting the attack. Attack from whom? From you, sir, and from me. From man in general. There is no sword in her hand to be sure, but her arms. They are strange, enticing arms. Her face has no trace of reverie, of illusion, nor even of artificial adornment. It is a plain face, rather than not. There is a cast of dryness, bitterness about her lips. The eyes are defiant. The nose is slightly curved. The nostrils are a tremble. The old ascetics had a word for what you feel dominant in the background of her character, insatiabilis. The lady is on the watch. That firm pose, that firm poise, tells you she is about to spring. At what? Toward what? Toward the joy of living, a boundless, limitless joy. There is no shame, no expiation in this flapper of mine. What does she care for home or husband? Old iron, as we say, rubbish. Chips from the boneyard, and her eyes such things are. She is the strong, the self-reliant girl of our time. She is the fighter, the flapper in short, raising her proud, expectant face in the eyes of the world and demanding her place in the sun. But our flapper, otherwise so entirely self-sufficient, nevertheless lacks one thing. She cannot provide from her own resources. She needs love. A man, to be sure, also needs love, and more insistently than a woman. As an ancient poet said, I have two crosses to bear, poverty and love. Poverty I can endure in peace, but the flames of Venus are beyond my strength. A man, however, needs many other things. He needs law and order, for instance, legislatures to wrangle in, courts to quarrel in, academies to flatter his vanity and cover his coat front with metals. When he is at home, he needs a pair of warm, soft slippers. Peace and quiet are as essential to a man as love. Now a flapper can pretend she needs all these things, too. She may take part in politics. She can enter the professions. She can even preside over a Congress of Feminists or a convention of school teachers. But unless she be very ugly, she cannot take such things seriously. For the simple reason that the only serious thing in her world is herself, plus the man she needs to be herself. The Implacable Aphrodite The flapper will soon be a woman. She will be waiting for you at home. On her lips will hang a bitter reproach. What have you been doing today? You've been at the office. You've made a million. You've discovered a comet. You've solved the problem of poverty. You've settled the class struggle. Very well, but you've been leaving me here at home alone all day, and I won't stand it. For a woman is astronomy, sociology, finance, revolution, everything, all in one, woe unto the man unwise who forgets her. The song she sings is ever the ancient song. O orb of day, thou risest and thy splendor, even as I rise and shine. Which of us is the more divine? With thy light thou fetus the flowers and the tender grasses, but with my beauty I appease the spirits of youthful heroes. In ancient times, men in self-defense made cruel laws against women. She was absurdly veiled. She was imprisoned in the harem, in the convent, in the home. She was condemned to a life of chastity at the spinning wheel. She was burned alive on her husband's funeral pyre. All this especially if she was pretty. These laws have all been repealed. The male has recognized the equality of the sexes. The woman will go on working, of course. She will go to school. She will talk philosophy, physiology, and art with you. She will be a stenographer, a school teacher, a movie actress. But she will not cook for you. She will not do your washing. She will not knit her own stockings. Don't expect us, she says to you, disconsolate male. Don't expect us to be like the old fashioned girls who went to church and did the laundry and looked up to their husbands as to their god. You men are always quoting your values on exchange. Allow us to do the same with one of our values, our single priceless possession, our beauty. End of The Flapper, A New Type by Alfredo Panzini Read by Leanne Howlett Fox and Hound taken from Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, and Other Papers by John Burroughs. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Fox and Hound I stood on a high hill or ridge one autumn day, and saw a hound run a fox through the fields far beneath me. But odors that fox must have shaken out of himself, I thought, to be traced thus easily, and how great their specific gravity not to have been blown away like smoke by the breeze. The fox ran a long distance down the hill, keeping within a few feet of a stone wall, and turned a right angle and led off for the mountain, across a plowed field and a succession of pasture lands. In about fifteen minutes the hound came in full blast with her nose in the air, and never once did she put it to the ground while in my sight. When she came to the stone wall, she took the other side from that taken by the fox, and kept about the same distance from it, being thus separated several yards from his track with the fence between her and it. At the point where the fox turned sharply to the left, the hound overshot a few yards, and wheeled and feeling the air a moment with her nose, took up descent again, and was off on his trail, as unerringly as fate. It seemed as if the fox must have sewed himself, broadcast, as he went along, and that his scent was so rank and heavy that it smelled in the hollows and clung tenaciously to the bushes and crevices in the fence. I thought I ought to have caught a remnant of it as I passed that way some minutes later, but I did not. But I suppose it was not that the light-footed fox so impressed himself upon the ground he ran over, but that the sense of the hound was so keen. To her sensitive nose these tracks steamed like hot cakes, and they would not have cooled off so as to be undistinguishable for several hours. For the time being she had but one sense, her whole soul was concentrated in her nose. It is amusing when the hunter starts out of a winter morning to see his hound probe the old tracks to determine how recent they are. He sinks his nose down deep into the snow so as to exclude the air from above, then draws a long full breath, giving sometimes an audible snort. If there remains the least effluvium of the fox the hound will detect it. If it be very slight it only sets his tail wagging. If it be strong it unloosens his tongue. Such things remind one of the waste, the friction that is going on all about us, even when the wheels of life run the most smoothly. A fox cannot trip along the top of a stone wall so lightly but that he will leave enough of himself to betray his course to the hound for hours afterward. When the boys play, quote, hair and hounds, the hair scatters bits of paper to give a clue to the pursuers, but he scatters himself much more freely if only our sight and scent were sharp enough to detect the fragments. Even the fish leave a trail in the water, and it is said the otter will pursue them by it. The birds make a track in the air, only the enemies hunt by sight rather than by scent. The fox baffles the hound most upon a hard crust of frozen snow. The scent will not hold to the smooth bead-like granules. Drenched by the eye alone the fox is the lightest and most buoyant creature that runs. His soft wrapping of fur conceals the muscular play and effort that is so obvious in the hound that pursues him. And he comes bounding along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. His massive tail is carried as if it floated upon the air by its own lightness. The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but how he will hang, often running late into the night and sometimes till morning, from ridge to ridge, from peak to peak. Now on the mountain, now crossing the valley, now playing about a large slope of uplying pasture fields. At times the fox has a pretty well-defined orbit, and the hunter knows where to intercept him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite beyond the system of hills and ridges upon which he was started. And his return is entirely a matter of conjecture. But if the day be not more than half spent, the chances are that the fox will be back before night, though the sportsman's patience seldom holds out that long. The hound is a most interesting dog, how solemn and long-visaged he is, how peaceful and well disposed. He is the Quaker among dogs. All the viciousness and courageness seem to have been weeded out of him. He seldom quarrels or fights or plays like other dogs. Two strange hounds, meeting for the first time, behave as civilly toward each other as if two men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrinkled, human, faraway look that reminds one of the bust of Homer, among the Elgin marbles. He looks like the mountains towards which his heart yearns so much. The hound is a great puzzle to the farm dog. The latter, attracted by his baying, comes barking and snarling up through the fields, bent on picking a quarrel. He intercepts the hound, snubs and insults, and annoys him in every way possible. But the hound heeds him not. If the dog attacks him, he gets away as best he can, and goes on with the trail. The cur bristles and barks and struts about for a while, then goes back to the house, evidently thinking the hound a lunatic, which he is, for the time being, a monomaniac. The slave and victim of one idea. I saw the master of a hound one day arrest him in full course, to give one of the hunters time to get to a certain runaway. The dog cried and struggled to free himself, and would listen neither to threats nor caresses. Thinking he must be hungry, I offered him my lunch, but he would not touch it. I put it in his mouth, but he threw it contemptuously from him. We coaxed and petted and reassured him, but he was under a spell. He was bereft of all thought or desire, but the one passion to pursue that trail. of Fox and Hound, Recording by Robert Scott, MojoMove411.com, M-O-J-O-M-O-V-E-411.com, September the 22nd, 2007, Hague strikes near Eras, New York Times, April 10th, 1917. This is a LibriVox Recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hague strikes near Eras, New York Times, April 10th, 1917. Hague strikes near Eras. English and Canadians break through lines on twelve-mile front. Seas famous Vimy Ridge. Tanks and fortified points captured to depth of two to three miles. Tanks lead the advance. British also push forward towards Cambria and north of St. Quentin. London, April 9th. The British troops launched a terrific offensive today on a twelve-mile front north and south of Eras, penetrating the German positions to a depth of from two to three miles. Many important fortified points were captured, including the famous Vimy Ridge. Nearly six thousand prisoners, mostly Bavarians, Wurtenburgers and Humburgers, have been taken so far, and they continue to pour into the receiving stations. Large numbers of guns, trench mortars, and other war-material have been captured. The advance continues, the British having blasted their way clear through the German front and rearward positions. The line of advance extends from Givenchy and Gull, south-west of Lens, to the village of Lennon, on the Ojol River, south-east of Eras. The attack began at five-thirty this morning, after a terrible night of artillery fire. For the last week the British guns have been bombarding the German lines in this sector without cessation. But last night's bombardment outdid even the terrific bombardments that preceded the Somme offensive last year. The honour of capturing Vimy Ridge, where the French lost thousands of men last year, in an attempt to hold this dominating height, fell to the Canadians. This ridge protects the French coal fields lying to the eastward. Once before the British gained the crest of this ridge, but under a tremendous concentration of German guns, they were compelled to give it up. All winter long Canadians have held a footing on the ridge, with the German lines looking down on them. All the fighting to-day was against dominating positions on high ground, some of which have been held by the Germans for two years, and were lavishly hammed with wide belts of some of the toughest and longest pronged barbed wire which has been seen in the war. Along the greater part of the front says Ruder's correspondent at the front, the advance of the infantry was strenuously opposed. Near Erass the Germans offered determined resistance, and a large pocket of the Germans was reported to be still holding out at mid-day, although entirely surrounded. The famous redo, named the Harp, only a little less formidable than the noted Labyrinth, was captured with virtually the whole battalion defending it. Several tanks were seen climbing Telegraph Hill, which commands the Harp, and probably had much to do with the surrender of this position. Here three German battalion commanders were captured. Along the railway running through to the valley of the Skarp the British made good progress, while upon the lens branch of the line they captured mason-blanch wood. Battle begins at Daybreak. The early British report, which is timed 11.25 a.m., is as follows. We attacked at 5.30 o'clock this morning, on a wide front, south of Erass, to the south of Lens, our troops have everywhere penetrated the enemy's lines, and are making satisfactory progress at all points. In the direction of Canberra we stormed the village of Hermes and Brussels, and have penetrated into having-court wood. In the direction of St. Quentin we captured Fresnois-La Petit, and advanced our line south-west of Le Vigier. No estimate of the prisoners taken can yet be given, but considerable numbers are reported captured. The text of the statement issued this evening reads, �The operations continue to be carried out successfully, in accordance with the plan. Our troops have everywhere stormed the enemy defenses, from Henning-sur-Cajoul, to the southern outskirts of Javanse-Angoul. To a depth of from two to three miles, and our advance continues. The enemy's forward defenses on this front, including Vimy Ridge, which was carried by the Canadian troops, were captured early in the morning. These defenses comprise a network of trenches and fortified localities, Nouvelle, Valtese, Telegraph Hill, Toulouille-les-Moufflain, Observation Ridge, Saint-Laureth-Blanc-Jay, Le Tuas, and La Foye-Farm. Subsequently our troops move forward and capture the enemy's rearward defenses, including in addition to other powerful trench systems, the fortified localities of Futche, Chapelle-de-Futche, Heisser-Baud, Rideau, Atheys, and Thales. Up to 2 p.m. 5,816 prisoners, including 119 officers, passed through the stations, and many more remained to be counted. Of these a large number belong to the Bavarian divisions, who have suffered heavy casualties in today's fighting. The captured war material includes guns and a number of trench mortars, and machine guns, which have not yet been counted. In the direction of Cambrai further progress has been made in the neighborhood of Heavincourt Wood. We have captured the village of Demicore. In the direction of St. Quentin, we captured the villages of Pondtrou and L'Avergé. The aerial activity of the past few days has continued with great energy. Several successful bombing raids were carried out by us, our machines cooperating with our artillery, with excellent results. Two hostile machines were destroyed and fifteen others were driven down and probably crashed. Two German Kite balloons were brought down in flames. Ten of our airplanes are missing. An associated press correspondent at the front says, After a beautiful and warm Easter Sunday the weather changed last night, and today's attack was carried on in a pelting rain driven before a gale in which was the sting of January cold. The airplanes which have accomplished wonderful work since Thursday's clearing the air of German machines were robbed of the opportunity to participate in the beginning of the offensive. Several intrepid British airmen ascended, but on account of the rain and low-lying clouds they could do little or nothing, and after being tossed about severely they descended. Today's attack also hit the northern hinge of the recent German retreat from Arras to Assin. The Germans evidently had expected a renewal of the offensive in the valley of Assam, for in making the retreat in that sector they announced that they had completely disarranged the British offensive plans. Today's blow was Britain's answer. The British also gained considerable ground at other points on the line. On the road to Cambrai they captured by storm the Bruceses, Demicor and Hermes. The Bruceses is seven-and-a-half miles south-west of Cambrai. The British also made progress in the having-court wood, south of the Bopem Cambrai Railway. Further to the south in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin, General Hague's troops captured the villages of Fresnoi, Pont Tru, and Laverne, thus pushing forward their lines to within two miles of the St. Quentin canal. End of Hague strikes near Arras by the New York Times, April 10, 1917. Principle Doctrines by Robert Drew Hicks 1. A happy and eternal being has no trouble himself, and brings no trouble upon any other being. Hence he is exempt from movements of anger and partiality, for every such movement implies weakness. 2. Death is nothing to us, for the body when it has been resolved into its elements has no feeling, and that which has no feeling is nothing to us. 3. The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together. 4. Continuous pain does not last long in the body. On the contrary, pain, if extreme, is present to short time, and even that degree of pain which barely outweighs pleasure in the body, does not last for many days together. Illnesses of long duration even permit of an excess of pleasure over pain in the body. 5. It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly. Whenever any of these is lacking, when, for instance, the person is not able to live wisely, though he lives well and justly, it is impossible for him to live a pleasant life. 6. In order to obtain security from other people, any means whatever of procuring this was a natural good. 7. Some people have sought to become famous and renowned, thinking that thus they would make themselves secure against their fellow humans. If then the life of such persons really was secure, they attained natural good. If however it was insecure, they have not attained the inn by which nature's own prompting they originally sought. 8. No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves. 9. If all pleasure had been capable of accumulation, if this had gone on not only been recurrences in time, but all over the frame or at any rate over the principal parts of human nature, there would never have been any difference between one pleasure and another, as in fact there is. 10. If the objects which are productive of pleasures to profligate persons really freed them from fears of the mind, the fears I mean inspired by celestial and atmospheric phenomena, the fear of death, the fear of pain, if further they taught them to limit their desires, we should never have any fault to find with such persons, for they would then be filled with pleasures to overflowing on all sides, and would be exempt from all pain, whether of body or of mind, that is, from all evil. 11. If we had never been molested by alarms at celestial and atmospheric phenomena, nor by the misgiving that death somehow affects us, nor by neglect of the proper limits of pains and desire, we should have had no need to study natural science. 12. It would be impossible to banish fear on matters of the highest importance, if a person did not know the nature of the whole universe, but lived in dread of what the legends tell us. Hence without the study of nature there was no enjoyment of unmixed pleasures. 13. There would be no advantage in providing security against our fellow humans, so long as we were alarmed by occurrences over our head, or beneath the earth, or in general by whatever happens in the boundless universe. 14. When tolerable security against our fellow humans is attained, then on a basis of power sufficient to afford supports and of material prosperity arises in most genuine form the security of a quiet, private life withdrawn from the multitude. 15. His wealth at once has its bounds and is easy to procure, but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance. 16. Fortune but seldom interferes with the wise person, whose greatest and highest interests have been, are, and will be directed by reason throughout the course of his life. 17. The just person enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquietude. 18. Pleasure in the body admits no increase when once the pain of want has been removed, after that it only admits a variation. The limit of pleasure in the mind, however, is reached when we reflect on the things themselves and their congeners which cause the mind the greatest alarms. 19. Unlimited time and limited time afford an equal amount of pleasure, if we measure the limits of that pleasure by reason. 20. The body receives as unlimited the limits of pleasure, and to provide it requires unlimited time. But the mind grasping in thought what the end and limit of the body is, and banishing the terrors of futurity, procures a complete and perfect life, and has no longer any need of unlimited time. Nevertheless, it does not shun pleasure, and even in the hour of death, when ushered out of existence by circumstances, the mind does not lack enjoyment of the best life. 21. He who understands the limits of life knows how easy it is to procure enough to remove the pain of want, and make the whole of life complete and perfect, hence he has no longer any need of things which are not to be one saved by labor and conflict. 22. We must take into account as the end all that really exists, and all clear evidence of sense to which we refer our opinions, for otherwise everything will be full of uncertainty and confusion. 23. If you fight against all your sensations, you will have no standard to which to refer, and thus no means of judging even those judgments which you pronounce false. 24. If you reject absolutely any single sensation, without stopping to discriminate with respect to that which awaits confirmation between matter of opinion and that which is already present, whether in sensation or in feelings or in any immediate perception of the mind, you will throw into confusion even the rest of your sensations by your groundless belief, and so you will be rejecting the standard of truth altogether. 25. If, in your ideas based upon opinion, you hastily affirm as true all that awaits confirmation as well as that which does not, you will not escape error, as you will be maintaining complete ambiguity whenever it is a case of judging between right and wrong opinion. 25. If you do not on every separate occasion refer each of your actions to the end prescribed by nature, but instead of this in the act of choice or avoidance swerve aside to some other end, your acts will not be consistent with your theories. 26. All such desires as lead to no pain when they remain ungratified are unnecessary, and the longing is easily got rid of when the thing desired is difficult to procure or when the desires seem likely to produce harm. 27. Of all the means which are procured by wisdom to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends. 28. The same conviction which inspires confidence that nothing we have to fear is eternal or even of long duration also enables us to see that, even in our limited conditions of life, nothing enhances our security so much as friendship. 29. Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but not necessary, others again are neither natural nor necessary but are due to some illusory opinion. 30. Those natural desires which entail no pain when not gratified, though their objects are vehemently pursued, are also due to illusory opinion, and when they are not got rid of it is not because of their own nature but because of the person's illusory opinion. 31. Mutual justice is a symbol or expression of usefulness, to prevent one person from harming or being harmed by another. 32. Those animals which are incapable of making covenants with one another, to the end that they may neither inflict nor suffer harm, are without either justice or injustice, and those tribes which either could not or would not form mutual covenants to the same end, are in like case. 33. There never was an absolute justice, but only an agreement made in reciprocal association in whatever localities now and again from time to time, providing against the infliction or suffering of harm. 34. Injustice is not in itself an evil, but only in its consequence. Videlis said, the terror which is excited by apprehension, that those appointed to punish such offenses will discover the injustice. 35. It is impossible for the person who secretly violates any article of the social compact to feel confident that he will remain undiscovered, even if he has already escaped ten thousand times. For right on to the end of his life he is never sure he will not be detected. 36. Taken generally justice is the same for all, to which something found useful in mutual association, but in its application to particular cases of locality or conditions of whatever kind it varies under different circumstances. 37. Among the things accounted just by conventional law, whatever in the needs of mutual association is attested to be useful is thereby stamped as just, whether or not it be the same for all, and in case any law is made and does not prove suitable to the usefulness of mutual association, then this is no longer just. And should the usefulness which is expressed by the law vary, and only for a time correspond with the prior conception, nevertheless for the time being it was just, so long as we do not trouble ourselves about empty words, but look simply at the facts. 38. Where without any change in circumstances the conventional laws when judged by their consequences were seen not to correspond with the notion of justice such laws were not really just, but wherever the laws have ceased to be useful in consequence of a change in circumstances in that case the laws were for the time being just, when they were useful for the mutual association of the citizens, and subsequently cease to be just when they cease to be useful. 39. He who best knew how to meet fear of external foes made into one family all the creatures he could, and those he could not, he at any rate did not treat as aliens, and where he found even this impossible he avoided all association, and so far as was useful kept them at a distance. 40. Those who were best able to provide themselves with the means of security against their neighbors, being thus in possession of the surest guarantee, passed the most agreeable life in each other society, and their enjoyment of the fullest intimacy was such that, if one of them died before his time, the survivors did not mourn his death as if it called for sympathy. End of Principle Doctrines by Epicurus Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For further information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade on the London, Worcester and Wolverhampton and on the Birmingham and Shrewsbury districts, presented to Parliament by Her Majesty's Command, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 28th February, 1845. Railway Department, Board of Trade, Whitehall, 28th February, 1845. The Board, constituted by minute of the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, for the Transaction of Railway Business, having had, under consideration, the different schemes deposited with the Railway Department, for extending railway communication between London, Worcester and Wolverhampton, and in the district intermediate between the London and Birmingham and the Great Western Railways, and also, in connection with the above, the schemes for extending railway communication between Birmingham and Shrewsbury, have determined on submitting the following report thereon for the consideration of Parliament. The object of the first class of schemes in question is to supply railway communication to the Great Mining District of Staffordshire, lying south of Wolverhampton, to the towns of Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Stourport, Worcester, etc., and to the district north of Oxford, intermediate between the Great Western and London and Birmingham Railways. For this purpose, two competing schemes are proposed. One, which is promoted by the London and Birmingham Company, comprises a line from Rugby to Oxford, and another from Wolverhampton, through Worcester and Banbury, to join the London and Birmingham Line at Tring. The other scheme consists of a line from Oxford to Rugby, which is proposed to be made by the Great Western Company, and of another line from Oxford to Worcester and Wolverhampton, which is undertaken by an independent company, but in connection with the Great Western Company, and which must be considered as forming with the Oxford and Rugby Line one scheme, competing with the former. For the sake of brevity, we shall distinguish these as the London and Birmingham or Tring scheme, and the Great Western or Oxford scheme. Their general direction will be easily understood. In their general features and objects, the two schemes are so nearly identical that the two manifestly cannot stand together. A further scheme for the accommodation of the country between Worcester and Wolverhampton was proposed by the Birmingham and Gloucester Company, but it is understood that arrangements have been made by which this scheme is withdrawn in favour of the London and Birmingham scheme, to which it was moreover inferior in several important respects, so that we may consider the question as reduced to one of competition between the schemes of the two great companies. The first point is whether a sufficient public case can be established to justify the construction of any railway at all throughout the districts in question. As regards the South Staffordshire District, this point has been disputed by various canal interests, who urge that the district is already sufficiently well supplied by water communication, and that the introduction of railways, by destroying the resources and crippling the efficiency of such water communications, will be productive of injury rather than of benefit to the public. Various special reasons have been urged in support of this view, more especially with reference to the mineral district of which Dudley may be considered as the centre. It is said that the Birmingham Canal Company have, at great expense, created a very complete and efficient system of water communication throughout this district, that a right is reserved of making branch canals to all mines and works within certain limits, which right would be, to a certain extent, defeated by running a railway parallel to the existing canal, to the injury both of the canal company and of the owners of the mines and works so cut off, that the management and charges of the canal company have always been of the most liberal description, and finally, that owing to the peculiar nature of the district in which great excavations have been made for mining purposes, railways cannot be carried through it without danger. It will be readily conceded that the importance of the district in question is such as to entitle it to require the best means of communication, whether by canal or railway. Between Wolverhampton and Starbridge there are at present about 100 blast furnaces in work, producing about 468,000 tons of pig iron annually. In order to produce this quantity, nearly 4 million tons of coals, lime, ironstone, and other raw materials are consumed, which are raised from the mines of the district, and transported to the various furnaces, forges, and foundries. The export of iron from the district is about 240,000 tons annually, in addition to large quantities of heavy hardware, tin plates, glass, and other goods. The export of coal is also very large, and might be greatly augmented by increased facilities of communication. The population, depending for support on the ironworks, mines, and manufacturers of the district, is estimated at not less than 230,000, and the total population of the respective towns and places between Wolverhampton and Wooster, which would be benefited by the proposed railway communication, is believed to exceed 300,000. Among these towns may be mentioned Kidhaminster, a place of considerable manufacturing importance, and great intercourse with different parts of the kingdom. Droitwich, with its extensive saltworks, Starbridge, Starport, and Wooster. The construction of a railway in this direction will also lead, in all probability, to extensions into the fertile agricultural district on the west of the seven, towards Lemster and Ludlow. The claim of the district, therefore, to the most improved mode of communication, can hardly be disputed, and whatever claims canal companies may have from benefits previously conferred, or from past liberality of management, such claims cannot be considered by us in any other light than those of other private interests, unless, in so far as they may be based upon public considerations. Our report will not, in any way, prejudice or affect the right of those canal companies to have their vested interests, if any, carefully considered by the legislature. Upon public grounds, therefore, we have merely had to consider the allegation that the interests of the district will not be promoted by the introduction of railways, and that railways cannot be constructed through it without danger. Upon the first point, it seems sufficient to refer to the unanimous opinion of the parties principally interested, and who have the best opportunities of judging of the effects likely to follow from the introduction of railways. The only difference of opinion has arisen from the anxiety of the parties to obtain a railway of some description or other, which has led them to support different competing schemes, but all parties have united in the strongest representations of the vital importance of the district of obtaining a good railway communication, in addition to those afforded by the canals. A memorial signed by the representatives of 46 ironworks, 57 furnaces, and 98 collieries in the Staffordshire Mineral District, including the trustees of Lord Ward, from whose estate alone, upwards of one million tons of coal and iron are raised annually in favour of the London and Birmingham scheme, and another memorial, representing 37 ironworks and nine collieries in favour of the Great Western scheme, were presented to us. The memorialists in each case, urging in the strongest manner the advantages of railway communication to the district, it is stated that without such communication they have to compete at a great disadvantage with the iron districts of South Wales and Scotland, which from their reddier access to the sea can convey their products to market at a cheaper rate. The canals are stated to be not only more tedious and expensive, but subject to serious interruptions, often for weeks together, from frost in winter and drought in summer. In short, it is urged that the apprehensions of the canal companies are the best test of the further advantage of a railway, since unless the latter obtained a large proportion of the heavy traffic, which it could only do by affording the public a better and cheaper means of transport, the interests of the canals could not be prejudiced. With so strongly expressed a wish on the part of such an important district for railway communication, and with two great companies competing with one another to afford it, we do not think that, upon public grounds, we should be justified in reporting that it ought to be withheld on account of any apprehended interference with existing water communications. In the case of one canal company, special reasons existed which might have weighed more strongly than those derived solely from private considerations, viz that a guarantee had been given to assist the seven navigation commissioners to raise money for the purpose of carrying out a great public improvement authorised by Parliament. From this difficulty, however, as well as from the apprehension of that great improvement being impeded by the introduction of railways into the district, we are relieved by the offer made by the railway company to whose scheme we recommend that a preference should be given to take upon themselves the burden of the guarantee to the extent of any loss sustained in consequence of the construction of the railway, subject to any reasonable conditions and arrangements. With regard to the remaining point, that of safety, it is admitted that portions of the soil being undermined, substances occasionally take place, but there appears no reason to apprehend any particular degree of danger to a railway from this source beyond what equally affects the canals, roads, tram roads, foundries, mills, and other buildings of the district, and which has never been considered an impediment to the introduction of railways in other mining districts. Some of the most eminent engineers of the day, among whom may be mentioned Sir J. Rennie, Mr. Brunel, and Mr. R. Stevenson, have proposed the lines which pass through the district in question, and are clearly of the opinion that they may be worked without any unusual degree of danger. We are of the opinion, therefore, that some one line of railway is required, and may be properly sanctioned for the accommodation of the district in question between Wolverhampton and Worcester. This being conceded, the sanction of a line in connection with it to connect Worcester more directly with London, and to give communication to the large intermediate district appears to follow almost as a matter of course. The supply of coals to this district, where a great reduction of price will be affected, is alone an important object, and on the other hand an outlet will be afforded for agricultural produce. A population of about 128,000 between Worcester and Tring would be accommodated by the line in that direction, and on the whole, taken in connection with the Worcester and Wolverhampton junction, the traffic seems sufficient to justify a fair expectation of return on the capital to be invested, as also on the rugby and Oxford portion of the line, which will complete a chain of direct railway communication from the northern and midland to the southern and southwestern counties, and will afford to those counties a valuable supply of coal from the Derbyshire Collieries. We proceed, therefore, to investigate the subject on the assumption that one or other of the competing schemes promoted by the London and Birmingham and great western companies will be sanctioned, and that the question is reduced to one of preference between them. In regard to distance, the two schemes are as nearly as possible equal, the distance from Worcester to London being 122 miles by the Tring line, and 119 by the Oxford line, the former, however, terminating at the Euston Square station, and the latter at Paddington. The number of miles of new railway to be constructed in either case is also nearly the same, nor does there appear to be anything in respect of gradients or engineering character calculated to give one scheme a decided preference over the other. The course of the Tring line accommodates a larger population between Worcester and London than the Oxford line, but the importance of the districts traversed by either line, and left out by its competitor, is hardly sufficient to give a decided superiority on a question of such magnitude. The far more important feature of comparison is derived from a consideration of the question of gauge. The Great Western scheme is proposed to be constructed on the wide gauge of seven feet, used upon the different railways of the Great Western system, while the scheme of the London and Birmingham Company is proposed to be constructed on the narrow gauge of four feet eight and a half inches, common to all the other railways of the kingdom. In order to estimate fully the importance of this question it must be borne in mind that the Bristol and Gloucester railway is on the wide, while the Birmingham and Gloucester is on the narrow gauge, and that the inconvenience resulting from the break of the two gauges at Gloucester has been so great as to lead to an amalgamation of the two companies with a view to obviate it by introducing uniformity of gauge throughout between Bristol and Birmingham. From the arrangements which have been made with this view it is perfectly evident that upon the question of the Worcester lines depends whether this uniformity will be proposed to be attained by the Birmingham and Gloucester railway adopting the wide gauge, or the Bristol and Gloucester adopting the narrow. The question therefore upon which we have had to form an opinion is whether it is better for public interests that the wide gauge should come up to Birmingham and Rugby, or that the narrow gauge should go down to Bristol and Oxford. It would be difficult to overrate the importance of this question in the national and commercial point of view. If there is one point more fully established than another in the practice of railways, it is that the inconvenience occasioned by a break upon a line of through traffic, occasioned by want of uniformity of gauge, is of such a serious description as to detract most materially from the advantages of the railway communication. The following description of what has actually occurred at Gloucester during the last few months, furnished to us by a gentleman who has been practically engaged in the management of the traffic, will give some idea of the working of the system. We experience the greatest possible inconvenience from the change, both as regards passengers and goods, coal we have not attempted to transship. In the first place, as regards passengers and passenger trains, the passengers and their luggage have to be hurried across from one train to another, when there is a chance of the luggage being misplaced. Gentlemen's carriages and horses have to be changed, a process uniting time and risk. Valuable parcels have to be handed out in the confusion and handed in. The result is a delay, with the mail trains for instance of half an hour sometimes, just sufficient if the coming-in train is after time to miss the Manchester or other train from Birmingham or the extra or bath train from Bristol, annoyance to the passengers, who are anxious about their parcels and luggage, risk and expense, as a large body of porters have to be maintained, who are not fully employed, in order that no more time than is necessary should be lost in the change of trains. With regard to goods, the inconvenience attending the change is far more serious. Up to this day a great number of wagons loaded with goods of all descriptions have been lying at Gloucester, which we have been unable to remove in spite of every exertion. We keep an establishment of clerks and porters to superintend and effect the transshipment, but in the hurry of business mistakes occur. Goods destined for Hull are perhaps put into the Manchester truck. Boxes are bruised, packing torn, furniture and brittle articles damaged. There is the chance of mistake in the re-invoicing of goods. The other day, for instance, a bale for Bristol was laid hold of by a carrier at Gloucester and taken to Brecken, a claim for some thirty pounds being instantly made upon us. In short, all the inconvenience, delay and expense attending and unloading and reloading of goods have to be encountered, and there is nothing that senders of goods so much dread as this. The expense involved is very considerable, there is the expense of porterage, which varies from three pens to six pens per ton. The expense of clerks employed in inspecting and invoicing the goods. The expense of shunting the wagons, the waste of premises, the additional carrying-stock, it obliges the companies on each gauge to maintain, and above all the loss of trade, which is sure to result from the delay and risk attending the change, and the advantage, which uninterrupted communications, whether by water or railway, are sure to have overview in competition. Much of this expense and delay, it may be said, can be obviated by better arrangements and more care, by ample station accommodation, by abundant carrying-stock. No doubt some of it may be prevented, but this is only another name for expense. The care, too, which is required, must not be confined to the railways immediately affected, but must commence on a railway a long way off. The goods from Leeds for Bristol, for instance, must be duly placed together at Leeds, packed in such a manner as will enable you at Gloucester to get at them in the best manner. They must be forwarded from Leeds, and again from Birmingham, in such quantities as will be convenient at Gloucester. The arrangements, in short, by which our interests at Gloucester will be best consulted, will have to be made by another company, often not interested in the matter, and whose convenience may suggest another course. You cannot, therefore, look forward to remedying many of the difficulties attending on Change of Gauge, which are of this nature. To the above summary of the practical inconveniences mentioned, we have only to add that the numerous representations addressed to us by the principal carrying and commercial interests, which have been concerned in the traffic affected by the Change of Gauge at Gloucester, have fully borne out the statement of the evils experienced, more especially with reference to the cross, delay, and misdirection of goods. The principal railway companies north of Birmingham have also made strong representations as to the obstacle thrown in the way of proper development of traffic by the break of Gauge, an obstacle which, as regards coal, iron, salt, corn, and every description of heavy goods, they consider as amounting to a virtual prohibition. The question may be raised. How far is it possible to obviate the inconvenience of two different gauges by mechanical arrangements? These arrangements may consist either, one, of contrivances for transferring the bodies of wagons from the wheels and axles adapted for one gauge to those adapted for the other, or, two, the laying down of additional rails so as to permit trains of either gauge to run on without interruption. With regard to the first, it is stated that the experiment has been repeatedly tried on the Liverpool and Manchester, the Newcastle and Darlington, the Leicester and Swonnington, and other railways, where crossed by local coal railways of a narrow gauge, and has never succeeded. The practical difficulties also are obvious, of securing with wagons constructed with movable bodies the rigidity and solidity requisite for safety, and to prevent excessive wear and tear and damage to the articles conveyed. Even if we were to suppose, however, all mechanical difficulties overcome, the serious objection would still remain, that in addition to the expense of transfer, a large additional stock would require to be kept by all railway companies, owners of mines and other parties, who had occasion to send traffic sometimes in the direction where the gauge was uninterrupted, and sometimes in the direction where wagons of a special construction were required. This consideration is the more important as, under the system of the Clearinghouse, the whole stock of the narrow gauge railways of the country may be considered as becoming more and more common property, available wherever there may be a press of business, and for as greater distance as may be required, in order to avoid the inconvenience of unloading. The second arrangement of laying down additional rails may be practicable under certain circumstances and to a limited extent, but it is open to great objections. It is very doubtful how far the addition of a single rail only would be consistent with safety, as in this case the centre of gravity of the carriages of different gauge in the same train would not be in the same straight line. If a complete double set of rails were laid down, the expense would be very considerable. The complication of switches and crossings that would be necessary would involve considerable additional risk and great expense. The difficulty and expense of maintaining the permanent way, and of keeping the double set of rails in proper adjustment, would be greatly increased, and on the whole the expense, inconvenience, and risk would probably be so great as to prevent the experiment from being tried to any extent. We cannot therefore consider the plan of laying down additional rails as applicable, unless perhaps to a limited extent and under special circumstances, such as enabling, for instance, mineral wagons constructed for the narrow gauge to pass for a short distance and at a slow speed over a wide gauge railway, with which view alone it is proposed to lay down extra rails upon the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton line for a few miles south of Wolverhampton. On the whole, therefore, we cannot consider any of the mechanical arrangements which have been proposed for obviating the inconvenience of a meeting of different gauges, even if we could assume their practicability, which, in the present state of experience, we should not be warranted in doing, as anything better than partial and imperfect palliatives of a great evil. Assuming this to be the case, and assuming also, as we are compelled to do, that an interruption of gauge must exist somewhere, the question is reduced to this, to ascertain at what points such interruption should be fixed in order to occasion the least inconvenience to the traffic and commerce of the country. From the fact that nearly 2,000 miles of railway are already made or sanctioned on the narrow gauge, while not more than 300 are sanctioned on the wide gauge, a disproportion which will be still more largely increased by the new railways now in contemplation, an inference might be drawn in favour of confining the gauge which is in such a decided minority within the narrowest possible limits, and this inference might be strengthened by referring to the obvious fact that the wide gauge has not realised those decided advantages over the narrow gauge which were at one time anticipated. The actual speed of trains upon the Great Western Railway, as shown by the published timetables and by official returns, is not so high as upon some narrow gauge railways, and notwithstanding the excellence of its gradients, very slightly higher than the average speed of other great railways on the narrow gauge. In respect of safety, it is manifest that both gauges are alike unobjectionable, with due precaution and proper management, and in respect of convenience and of economy, including the cost both of construction and working, the opinion of a great majority of the most eminent authorities is unfavourable to the wide gauge. Without wishing to express any positive opinion ourselves upon the point, it is enough for us to say that we think there is nothing in the relative merits of the two gauges in themselves materially to affect the question between them, which turns upon commercial considerations. In this point of view, the question is, as we have already observed, whether the points of junction between the wide and narrow gauge, should be at Rugby, Birmingham and Wolverhampton, or at Oxford and Bristol. In support of the first view, it is contended that the principle which should regulate the choice of the points of junction ought to be to fix them at great foci of traffic, and centres of converging railways, where delay must take place and large establishments to be maintained at any rate, while on the other hand it is contended that such points are the worst possible to select, and that the opposite principle should be adopted of confining an inevitable inconvenience within the narrowest possible limits by fixing the points of junction where there is least through traffic. The correctness of the latter proposition seems perfectly obvious upon general considerations, but the question is one of such great commercial importance that we have thought it right to inquire fully and in detail into the practical effects that would result to the principle interest's concern from an interruption of gauge, on the one hand at Birmingham and Rugby, and on the other at Bristol and Oxford. By either combination the traffic of places intermediate between Birmingham and Bristol, with each other, and with London, would not be affected. Uniformity of gauge being secured equally in the one case by the wide, in the other by the narrow gauge. By either combination the traffic between places north and east of the line of the London and Birmingham Railway, and places south of the line of the Great Western Railway, would not be affected. Interruption of gauge having equally to be encountered in the one case at Bristol and Oxford, in the other at Birmingham and Rugby. By the former or wide gauge combination, the traffic between Devonshire, Cornwall, and all places south of the line of the Great Western Railway and Birmingham, and all places between Birmingham and Bristol would gain, i.e. would escape an interruption of gauge. Also, such of the traffic of south Wales to Birmingham and places short of Birmingham, as in the event of the south Wales railway being sanctioned, would take the circuitous route by that railway to the north of Gloucester. On the other hand, by the narrow gauge combination, a break is avoided in the whole of the traffic between Manchester, Liverpool, Hull, and the northeastern and midland portions of the kingdom, and Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, and the whole district intermediate between the London and Birmingham, and Great Western Railways. The paramount importance of this consideration has been strongly urged upon us by parties practically acquainted with the traffic, and by the principal interests affected by the question. In the memorial already referred to, signed by the representatives of 46 ironworks, 57 furnaces, and 98 collures in the Staffordshire Mineral District, in favour of the London and Birmingham line and narrow gauge system, it is stated that, of the total export of the district, only 8% is sent in the direction of Bristol, of which by far the greater quantity is shipped from that port, and would therefore be unaffected by a break of gauge there, while 37% is sent to Liverpool and the north and northwest of the kingdom, and 13% to Hull and the east, all of which would consequently suffer by a break at Birmingham. The wool trade between Bristol, where wool fairs are held annually, and Leicester and the west riding of Yorkshire is very considerable, all of which would escape a break of gauge by the narrow gauge combination. The export of salt from Droitwich, both to Gloucester and Bristol, and to Hull and other parts of the kingdom is already large, and likely to receive very great increase if an unbroken railway communication is afforded, which can only be done by the narrow gauge combination. The same combination affords the important advantage of an unbroken communication to the traffic of Manchester and Liverpool with Bristol, and indeed with the whole of the west of England, as a very inconsiderable portion of the goods actually dispatched, required to be carried in transit through Bristol. The same remark applies to the trade of the Potteries, with the west of England, of Bristol and Gloucester with the Midland Counties, where the imports of these ports now meet those of Hull and Liverpool, of Worcester, Kidderminster, etc., with Liverpool, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and of various other branches of traffic that might be specified. As a proof of the importance of some of the branches of traffic that would thus be inconvenienced by a change of gauge of Birmingham, it may be mentioned that single carriers already ascend as much as 20,000 tonnes a year in transit through Birmingham by the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, and that the total quantity thus sent is estimated as from 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes per annum, and is considered to be capable of great increase. The line of communication, having been only very recently completed by the opening of the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, and the development of the traffic, having since been greatly impeded by the interruption of the gauge at Gloucester and other circumstances. With the low rates which is now proposed to establish on coals, salt, agricultural produce, and other heavy goods, the amount of traffic that may be expected to pass from the west in transit through Birmingham and vice versa, if the advantage of an unbroken communication can be secured, will be exceedingly great. It has been represented to us that Droitwich alone would send upwards of 250,000 tonnes of salt annually. The same observation applies as to the coal traffic from the Midland Counties through Rugby to Oxford. The whole of the extensive district between Rugby and Oxford, where coal is now usually at a very high price, may be cheekily surprised by the railway, an object of great importance, which could be only partially attained if the impediment to an interruption of gauge were allowed to exist at Rugby. Another important consideration, which seems to point to Bristol rather than Birmingham as a proper point for the interruption of the gauge, and which has been strongly urged upon us by carriers, merchants, and practical men, acquainted with the course of the traffic, is that Bristol, like London, is a great emporium and shipping port, through which a comparatively small portion of the goods which enter by railway require to be forwarded in transit without repacking and assortment. The facilities for water communication with Bristol also give the public a better alternative than they would enjoy elsewhere of avoiding the inconvenience of the change of gauge, and thus afford the best possible security that if the interruption be fixed there, the railway companies interested will use every possible effort to reduce the inconvenience to a minimum. For all these considerations we can have no hesitation in expressing our preference on public grounds to the alternative that proposes to fix the break of gauges at Bristol and Oxford rather than at Birmingham and Rugby. Another important advantage offered by the London and Birmingham scheme, and intimately connected with the question of the gauge, is the arrangement by which it is proposed to lay down an additional double line of rails throughout the mineral district to be devoted entirely to the accommodation of the mineral traffic. We have already seen that the production of iron from the district requires a continued interchange of coals, lime, ironstone, and other raw materials among the different mines and works, to the extent of about four million tonnes annually. It is only by obtaining ready access to the railway, by means of short branches or tram roads from these mines and works, that the benefits contemplated from the introduction of railway communication can be fully realised. But if this is to be the case, and if any considerable portion of this immense local traffic is to pass by railway, it is manifest that the rails so used could not be rendered available without extreme danger and inconvenience for the general traffic. Even the export trade alone in coals and iron could not be conducted with convenience upon the same line of rails as the passenger traffic, and would require a separate line of rails in order to allow the wagons passing and repassing from the different works within the district to reach without interruption some principal station at its extremity, where trains of the proper size could be formed and dispatched to distant points. This object would be very imperfectly fulfilled by the plan proposed by the wide gauge railway of the rail, and laying down an extra rail or pair of rails on the narrow gauge inside the principal rails, which would in fact obviate none of the objections to the accumulation of slow mineral trains upon the main passenger line, and would allow of no access by lateral tram roads without cutting up the main line by crossings. It is represented also that the wagons of the wide gauge are, from their greater weight and size, adapted for the purposes of the mineral traffic. The arrangement in question of an additional double line of rails is equally proposed by the line from Birmingham to Shrewsbury by Dudley and Wolverhampton, which traverses the same mineral district, and must be considered as, to a great extent, identified with the Tring or London and Birmingham scheme. The case of the Shrewsbury line, as compared with the competing scheme of the Grand Junction Company, which stops at Wolverhampton, depends very much on the same arguments of the importance of opening up the Staffordshire mineral field by railway communication, which have already been reduced in favour of the Tring line, and the objections to it on the part of the canal and other interests are of the same description. The arrangements proposed for supplying the local wants of the district are also of the same nature, and the plans and sections of the two lines correspond, so that the portion between Dudley and Wolverhampton is common to the two, the understanding being that if both are sanctioned by Parliament, this portion is to be made by the Shrewsbury Company and used on equitable conditions by the other company. The Great Western Scheme, on the other hand, introduces a different gauge and different arrangements, and adopts a different line between Dudley and Wolverhampton, so that its existence is hardly compatible with that of the Shrewsbury Scheme. For the reasons stated, we are therefore of opinion that for the purpose of accommodating the Great Mineral District of Staffordshire, the combined scheme of the Tring and Shrewsbury lines is preferable to any other that has been proposed. The Tring Scheme is equally superior for the local accommodation of Kiddo-Inster, Starbridge and Starport, to which it gives better stations by pursuing a lower level along the bottom of the valleys, and it admits of more easy extension towards Lemster, Ludlow and the West. Between Worcester and London it accommodates, as we have already seen, a larger population, and therefore, on the whole, both in these respects and in the important particular of the gauge, it seems to be, in itself, decidedly preferable to the competing Great Western Scheme. It remains to be seen whether there are any other considerations which might modify this conclusion. It is urged that the concession of this line, to a company promoted by the London and Birmingham Company, will constitute a great monopoly, extending over a vast extent of country, while, by giving it to the Great Western Company, a competition would be introduced, from which the public might derive benefit. On the other hand, it may be said that to allow the Great Western Company to embrace by their influence, not only the whole Western communications of the island, but also the whole of South Wales, and the whole district up to Worcester and Birmingham, would be to establish a monopoly much more gigantic than that of the London and Birmingham. This latter monopoly would also be more obviously objectionable, in as much as an interest adverse to the public would at once be established if the line from London to Worcester and Wolverhampton, and that from Bristol to Birmingham were to be in the same hands, and upon the same wide gauge, as the line now proposed through South Wales. The accommodation of Heriferture, Worcestershire, South Wales, and the important districts lying to the west of the present lines of railway, will evidently, at no distant period, require not only a wide gauge railway along the southern coast, to place them in communication with London, but also a narrow gauge railway, to place them in direct and unbroken communication through Birmingham, with the manufacturing districts and the great railway system of the rest of the kingdom. The extension of such a railway would be greatly facilitated by the establishment of the narrow gauge, and of an interest independent of the great western in the Worcester district, and on the other hand, would be greatly impeded if that district were assigned to the great western interest and to the wide gauge. In respect, therefore, of the general question of monopoly, it appears to us that nothing would be gained by substituting that of the great western for that of London and Birmingham, which is the only alternative. At the same time, if the latter company had shown no disposition to meet the fair demands of the public by a reduction of rates, and to obviate the objections of monopoly by the offer of reasonable guarantees, it might, perhaps, have become necessary notwithstanding the disadvantage of the great western scheme in respect of the gauge and other points to adopt this alternative. This is, however, by no means the case, but on the contrary the London and Birmingham company have come forward voluntarily to offer guarantees and conditions of a very advantageous character. They offer, on condition of their Worcester scheme being sanctioned, at once to meet the objection of monopoly by inserting in their act the following provisions. One. The whole of the railways under their control, including the existing London and Birmingham railway, to become subject to the options of revision and purchase contained in the act of last year. The option of revision, however, at 10% to accrue at an earlier period than that of 20 years specified in the act. Two. A revised tariff to be framed on the whole of the said railways, including the London and Birmingham railway, upon the principle of fixing maximum rates for passengers and goods lower than those at present charged, and at as lower level as those charged upon any of the principle northern railways. Three. One article of such tariff to be that coals and iron are to be carried at rates not exceeding one penny per tonne per mile, including toll and locomotive power. Four. All differences with other railway companies, by which the public safety or convenience are affected, to be referred to the Board of Trade or other competent authority for that purpose established by Parliament. Six. The London and Birmingham company, to pledge the whole revenue of their existing line for the completion of the proposed undertaking within a reasonable time. It appears to us that these guarantees hold out for the public a prospect of permanent and certain advantage greatly beyond anything that could be expected from the competition of two great companies who will be urged by every motive of interest to combine. We attach the greatest importance to the security obtained for the cheap transit of coals and minerals. Not only will a great benefit be thereby, as we believe, secured for the important mineral districts of Staffordshire and the Midland Counties, but also a still more important benefit for the poorer and industrious classes, and for the consumers of coals generally throughout the southern and western counties and in the metropolis. The charge for conveyance of coals by the railway from South Staffordshire or Derbyshire to London will not exceed eleven shillings or twelve shillings per tonne. And it has been stated to us that after payment of all charges, good house-coals could be sold here with a profit at prices not exceeding twenty shillings per tonne. During the recent frost and easterly winds, the price of coals in London has been as high as forty shillings per tonne, and during the winter the price frequently exceeds thirty shillings for coals of ordinary quality. When we consider how materially the comfort of all classes, more especially of those in humble circumstances, depends on a regular supply of cheap coal, and also how much of the employment of industry is affected by the same circumstances. And when we bear in mind that a saving of every shilling per tonne on the average consumption of the metropolis is equivalent to an annual saving to its inhabitants of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, it is impossible not to appreciate the importance of ensuring low rates of charge upon the principal railways, which are in connection with the great inland coal fields. In other respects also we think that the introduction of a system of moderate charges upon the London and Birmingham and its tributary railways will be calculated to afford great advantage to important commercial interests and to the community at large, while we see every reason to hope that it will be not unproductive of benefit to the company itself. We must remember however that the latter point is to a certain extent experimental and that it is highly important to obtain voluntarily from the company guarantees of a permanent character. It must not be forgotten that without some arrangement of this sort the company, if so disposed, has a perfect legal right to resort to charges so high as greatly to inconvenience the public, and that under an altered state of things with a depressed money market and all fear of immediate competition removed, it is by no means certain that it might not find it for its interests to do so. We have also the authority of the Select Committee of last session for attaching great importance to the prospective guarantee for the future in the shape of options of revision or purchase, which are now voluntarily offered by one of the first railway companies in the kingdom, whose line could not be otherwise than by their own consent subjected to the operation of any conditions not contained in their original act. On the whole, therefore, when we consider on the one hand the superior advantages afforded by the London and Birmingham scheme in itself, and by the adoption of the narrow gauge, and on the other the great advantages offered by the London and Birmingham Company in connection with it over their whole system, and the ample guarantee is given against any possible abuses of monopoly. We can arrive at no other conclusion than that the scheme promoted by that company is preferable on public grounds to the competing scheme, which is inferior in itself, and which holds out no such collateral advantages. Having already referred to the Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Birmingham scheme, as connected in a great measure with those between Worcester and Wolverhampton, it will be convenient to include this scheme in the present report. We have stated that the general question involved in the comparison of this scheme with the competing line proposed by the Grand Junction Company is that the latter joins the Grand Junction Line at Wolverhampton, and thus affords no accommodation to the mineral district between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. If the views which we have stated in regard to the importance of opening up this district by railway communication are correct, this consideration alone is sufficient to give a decided preference to the more extended scheme. It also appears to us that to entrust the branch to Shrewsbury to the Grand Junction Company would be open to the objection which we have stated in our previous report upon the South Eastern schemes, when discussing the general policy of giving a preference to lines proposed by existing companies for the accommodation of adjoining districts, is that there may be danger in giving such preference where the scheme proposed by the existing company, although insufficient for the complete accommodation of the district to be provided for, may yet be sufficient to throw impediments in the way of other parties coming forward with more extensive schemes. A line to Shrewsbury, in the hands of the Grand Junction Company, would manifestly be not unlikely to be used for the purposes of protection against competition, rather than of encouragement to extensions beyond Shrewsbury and to the legitimate development of the traffic. It appears to us therefore that under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the fact of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham line being promoted by a substantial and independent local party is a legitimate ground of preference, in addition to that already pointed out of the superior advantages afforded by the independent line to the Populus Mining District between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. As regards the line between Shrewsbury and Stafford, of which plans and sections have likewise been deposited by the Grand Junction Company, it appears sufficient to say that although as a mere line for the town of Shrewsbury it might afford considerable advantages, it accomplishes none of the more important advantages for the district at large, which are held out by the line to Birmingham. We are of opinion therefore that the latter line is preferable to all the competing schemes proposed upon general grounds of public policy, and we are aware of no public reasons why it should not receive the sanction of Parliament. At the same time there are points of detail connected with it, more especially as regards the mode of passing through the town of Birmingham, and of effecting a junction with the London and Birmingham Railway, to which we think that the attention of Parliament should be especially directed. With regard to the first point it depends to a great extent upon considerations of private property which we are precluded from entertaining, but with regard to the second point it appears to us of the greatest importance that provision should be made for an uninterrupted and convenient junction in Birmingham between the projected line and that of the London and Birmingham Railway. In conclusion we beg to draw attention to the passage of the fifth report of the Select Committee of last year, in which it is stated in recommending that reports should be made to Parliament by this department upon railway schemes, that no such report should be held to prejudice the claims of private persons, the examination of which should be altogether reserved to the houses of the legislature. In submitting to Parliament in conformity with the recommendations of that committee the results at which we have arrived with a view to the information and assistance of Parliament in forming a judgment upon the schemes in question, insofar as our report may be available for that purpose we are anxious that it should be distinctly understood that we have arrived at these results solely upon public grounds and to the exclusion of all considerations how far such results might require to be modified by a due regard for private rights and interests. Dalhousie, C. W. Paisley, G. R. Porter, D. O'Brien, S. Lang. LibriVox.org The Rhythm of Life by Alice Maynall If life is not always poetical it is at least metrical. Periodicity rules over the mental experience of man according to the path of the orbit of his thoughts. Distances are not gauged, ellipses not measured, velocities not ascertained, times not known. Nevertheless the recurrence is sure. What the mind suffered last week or last year it does not suffer now but it will suffer again next week or next year. Happiness is not a matter of events it depends upon the tides of the mind. Disease is metrical closing in at shorter and shorter periods towards death sweeping abroad at longer and longer intervals towards recovery. Sorrow for one cause was intolerable yesterday and will be intolerable tomorrow. Today it is easy to bear but the cause has not passed. Even the burden of a spiritual distress unsolved is bound to leave the heart to a temporary peace and remorse itself does not remain it returns. Gaiety takes us by a dear surprise. If we had made a course of notes of its visits we might have been on the watch and would have had an expectation instead of a discovery. No one makes such observations in all the diaries of students of the interior world there have never come to light the records of the Kepler of such cycles but Tomas A. Kempi knew of the recurrences if he did not measure them. In his cell alone with the elements what would sell more than these for out of these were all things made he learnt the stay to be found in the depth of the hour of bitterness and the remembrance that restrains the soul at the coming of the moment of delight giving it a more conscious welcome but presaging for it an inexorable flight. And rarely rarely come as thou side Shelley not to delight merely but to the spirit of delight. Delight can be compelled beforehand called and constrained to our service Arielle can be bound to a daily task but such artificial violence throws life out of meter and it is not the spirit that is thus compelled that flits upon an orbit elliptically or parabolically or hyperbolically curved keeping no man knows what trists with time. It seems fit that Shelley and the author of the imitation should both have been keen and simple enough to perceive these flights and to guess at the order of this periodicity. Both souls were in close touch with the spirits of their several worlds and no deliberate human rules no infractions of the liberty and law of the universal movement kept them from the knowledge of recurrences. They knew that presence does not exist without absence. They knew that what is just upon its flight of farewell is already on its long path of return. They knew that what is approaching to the very touch is hastening towards departure. A wind cried Shelley in autumn. A wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind? They knew that the flux is equal to the reflux that to interrupt with unlawful recurrences out of time is to weaken the impulse of onset and retreat. The sweep and impetus of movement. To live in constant efforts after an equal life whether the equality be sought in mental production or in spiritual sweetness or in the joy of the senses is to live without either rest or full activity. The souls of certain of the saints being singularly simple and single have been in the most complete subjection to the law of periodicity. Ecstasy and desolation visited them by seasons. They endured during spaces of vacant time the interior loss of all for which they had sacrificed the world. They rejoiced in the uncovenanted beatitude of sweetness alighting in their hearts. Like them are the poets whom three times or ten times in the course of a long life the muse has approached, touched, and forsaken. And yet hardly like them not always so docile nor so wholly prepared for the departure, the brevity of the golden and irrevocable hour. Few poets have fully recognized the metrical absence of their muse. For full recognition is expressed in one only way, silence. It has been found that several tribes in Africa and in America worship the moon and not the sun. A great number worship both, but no tribes are known to adore the sun and not the moon. For the periodicity of the sun is still in part a secret, but that of the moon is modestly apparent, perpetually influential. On her depend the tides, and she is Selene, mother of Hersey, bringer of the dues that recurrently irrigate lands where rain is rare. More than any other companion of earth is she the measurer. Early Indo-Germanic languages knew her by that name. Her metrical phases are the symbol of the order of recurrence. Constancy in approach and in departure is the reason of her inconstancies. Juliet will not receive a vow spoken in invocation of the moon. But Juliet did not live to know that love itself has tidal times. Lapses and ebbs which are due to the metrical rule of the interior heart, but which the lover vainly and unkindly attributes to some outward alteration in the beloved. For man, except those elect already named, is hardly aware of periodicity. The individual man either never learns it fully or learns it late, and he learns it so late because it is a matter of cumulative experience upon which cumulative evidence is lacking. It is in the afterpart of each life that the law is learnt so definitely as to do away with the hope or fear of continuance. That young sorrow come so near to despair is a result of this young ignorance. So is the early hope of great achievement. Life seems so long and its capacity so great to one who knows nothing of all the intervals it needs must hold. Intervals between aspirations, between actions, pauses as inevitable as the pauses of sleep. And life looks impossible to the young unfortunate, unaware of the inevitable and unfailing refreshment. It would be for their peace to learn that there is a tide in the affairs of men, in a sense more subtle if it is not too audacious to add a meaning to Shakespeare than the phrase was meant to contain. Their joy is flying away from them on its way home, their life will wax and wane and if they would be wise they must wake and rest in its phases, knowing that they are ruled by the law that commands all things, a son's revolutions and the rhythmic pangs of maternity. End of The Rhythm of Life