a mine with an unpronounceable name in South
America; there were hardly any roads that
horse-vehicles could traverse from the mines to
the nearest navigation; and so one of these
traction-engines came to the rescue, undertaking
to drag ore down from the mines to the river,
and to drag stores up from the river to the
mines, either upon earthen trucks or corduroy
roads, whichever might offer. There appears to
be real usefulness in such application of steam-
carriages as traction-engines, in countries having
ill-formed roads; the broad wheels do not sink
so deeply as the narrow wheels of ordinary
vehicles or as horses' hoofs; some of them,
indeed, have the wheels so peculiarly furnished
with movable boards, that they would hardly
sink even in a quagmire. In heavy farming
operations, when the state of the fields renders
it difficult for horses to pass over them, traction-
engines are pointed out as being just the thing;
but then it remains a problem to be solved,
whether the same construction will suit soft
fields and hard roads.

Four years ago the probable appearance of
locomotives on turnpike-roads was so great
that an act of parliament was passed to regulate
them. They were to pay toll like other road
vehicles; the toll to depend upon the width of
the wheel, the weight resting on it, and the
existence or non-existence of springs on the
axle. They were not to be of greater width
than seven feet, or greater weight than twelve
tons, unless specially and exceptionally engaged
in carrying one single monster block of stone,
log of timber, cable of rope, vessel of iron, or
mass of metal. They were to consume their
own smoke, and to have lights in front at night.
They were to have each its commander-in-chief,
in the shape of a driver, together with a stoker
and a guard. They were not to be used on
suspension-bridges without the special consent
of the owners, and not on any bridges or roads
which the Secretary of State might deem
unsuitable. They were never to exceed a speed
of ten miles an hour on any public highway, or
five miles in towns or villages.

One would have thought these restrictions
severe enough. Ministers, however, were
besieged in parliament with queries and
complaints about these dreadful monsters which
sometimes frightened Belgravia and all its horses
and all its men; and hence, after much
battling, a further legislative settlement of the
matter.

How, and where, and when, and under what
regulations, we may now work locomotives in
the streets and on the roads is all laid down in
the act of parliament. We must have three
persons to attend to each monster, to
command and stoke and steer; to ease her and
stop her and put her astern; if there be any
waggons or carriages drawn by the machine,
there must be one person additional to attend
to them. "We must have one man, either
inclusive or exclusive of those here denoted, to
act the part of a running-footman; he must
walk or run in front of the locomotive, at least
sixty yards in advance of it; he shall carry a red
flag constantly displayed, shall warn riders and
drivers of the approach of the monster, and shall
assist them if the horses become troubled by
the apparition and its snorting. We must not
use any steam-whistle, or blow off steam in such
a way as to make much noise. We must stop
the monster whenever the running-footman gives
a signal for so doing. We must have two lights
at night, one on each side. We must not travel
on turnpike-roads more rapidly than four miles
an hour, or in the streets of towns more than
two miles an hour. We may weigh as much
as fourteen tons, and may be nine feet wide, if
used on a turnpike-road in country districts;
but- the municipal or corporate authorities in
any town may determine at what hours the
locomotives may run through the streets of that
town, and under what detailed conditions.

Of course steam-omnibuses are out of the
question now. Two miles an hour will not do
even for the slowest of slow-going people. And
these land-steamers must have a healthy
constitution if they survive certain other conditions
imposed upon them in this statute. It may be
that the legislature is a little too restrictive.
We shall see.

              "INCONSOLABILE."

         I AM waiting on the margin
            Of the dark cold rushing tide;
         All I love have pass'd before me,
            And have reach'd the other side:
         Only unto me a passage
            Through the waters is denied.

         Mist and gloom o'erhang the river,
            Gloom and mist the landscape veil;
         Straining for the shores of promise,
            Sight and hope and feeling fail;
         Not a sigh, a breath, a motion,
            Answers to my feeble wail.

         Surely they have all forgot me
            'Mid the wonders they have found
         In the far enchanted mansions;
            Out of heart, and sight, and sound,
         Here I sit, like Judah's daughters,
            Desolate upon the ground.

          Strangers' feet the stream are stemming
            Stranger faces pass me by,
          Willing some, and some reluctant,
            All have leave to cross but I—
          I, the hopeless, all bereaved,
            Loathing life, that long to die!

          Be the river ne'er so turbid,
            Chill and angry, deep and drear,
          All my loved ones are gone over,
            Daunted not by doubt or fear;
          And my spirit reaches after,
            While I sit lamenting here.

          Happy waters that embraced them,
            Happier regions hid from sight,
          Where my keen, far-stretching vision,
            Dazed and baffled, lost them quite.
          Dread, immeasurable distance
            'Twixt the darkness and the light!