have been plate-layers; as a matter of
course, the majority have had but little
education, and some cannot even write
two lines of a letter correctly. The
superintendents of the middle and larger class of
stations are generally recruited from among
the more intelligent clerks, and those masters
of smaller stations whose business talents
have attracted attention at head quarters.
The largest stations have generally two
superintendents, one for coaching, and one
for goods, independent of each other. Many
of these superintendents on the P. and B.
line have fifteen or twenty clerks under them,
and thirty or more porters, drivers, and other
inferior servants; their receipts, for goods
and minerals only, will amount to fifty or
sixty thousand pounds a year for each station,
while their own salaries range from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds a
year only. Printed instructions of various
kinds are issued from head quarters for the
guidance of station-masters; and for the rest,
they have their goods manager to refer to
whenever they please; while the superintendents
of the principal stations meet periodically
at their manager's office for the discussion
and ventilation of general questions.

We come now to the first great body of
workers, namely, the clerks. Changes and
transformations are going on continually
among the vast body of railway clerks;
some being elevated by talents or good
fortune out of the common herd; some
being dismissed; some dying; others leaving
railways for more lucrative situations in
private firms. Still the permanent clerks,
those who have been years in the service, and
are now at the head of the treethat is to
say, who are getting their ninety or a
hundred pounds a year, and who cannot hope
for more, unless something unexpected
turn up in their favour—are now become
such a numerous body that the chances
of advancement for the junior clerks are
becoming fewer every year. Take the large
audit office on the P. and B. railway as an
example. Out of the thirty clerks who work
eight hours a day in that stifling den, there
are about a dozen receiving eighty or ninety
pounds a-year each, who cannot hope to be
advanced further; firstly, because the work
they perform, as things go, is not worth a
larger salary; and secondly, because their
abilities are of such a mediocre character
that there is little or no prospect of any of
them being picked out to fill any chance
vacancies that may arise, where the possession
of something more than mediocre business
talents is requisite. We know no body
of men among whom the maxim that like
draws to like is more fully exemplified
than among railway officials. Those who
spend their evenings in public-houses, drinking
and smoking, have their regular houses of
call, from which they seldom wander; others
are bound together by a tie of a religious
character; others, again, by a similarity of
intellectual tastes, and the desire of
self-improvement. As a body, they are probably
neither better nor worse than other middle-
class workers such as assistants in drapers'
and grocers' shops. After a young fellow
has been shut up in a close office for eight
or ten hours he feels the need of a little
wholesome relaxation and social enjoyment,
and it is too rarely that he can find
it. He is seldom inclined to sit down to the
study of any work that requires much
mental exertion. Here and there we meet
with a hopeful sign. We have now before us
the fourth number of a monthly periodical,
published in Manchester, called the Railway
Employés' Magazine, the articles in which
are all written by individuals in railway
employ. Not long ago we read of the gentlemen
employed in the audit office at King's
Cross, performing Hamlet before a large
audience; and we have heard of a railway
clerk superintending, with some success, a
singing class.

All clerks on the P. and B. line who receive
cash on account of the company are obliged
to find security for their honesty, paying for
the same out of their salaries. Private
security is not accepted, but that alone which
is afforded by some of the London guarantee
societies. In case, therefore, of any
embezzlement or fraud on the part of any of their
servants—by no means a rare occurrence—
the company notify the fact to the guarantee
society, who send one of their officers to the
place to take up the case for the prosecution;
the amount deficient is paid over on
proof of loss, unless the amount embezzled be
larger than the sum for which the party was
guaranteed.

From cleaner to stoker, from stoker to
driver, is the scale which must be ascended
by those who aspire to the dignity of driving
a locomotive. A practical acquaintance with
their duties is thus ensured in those to whose
care and vigilance thousands of lives are
hourly entrusted. There is no dirtier
situation than that of cleaner. The cleaner has
to clear out the engines, light the fires, and
get everything ready for the drivers, who
have nothing to do after they arrive but to
look over their engines, see that everything
is taut and trim, and then drive out of the
shed, and hook on the train. What with the
steam, the oil, and the dampness of the
atmosphere, it is a difficult matter to keep a
locomotive thoroughly bright and clean,
especially if there be much brass work about
it. Drivers, when on the road, may often be
seen to take advantage of a spare moment,
either to give the brass a rub, or to bring
out an oil-can with a long nib, and lubricate
the interior of the iron monster under their
command.

It is a pleasant change for our cleaner
when he is made stoker, and has to perform
daily or nightly journeys as second in command