which
there was only one seat vacant, a middle one. A corner seat was occupied
by a German, who evidently had placed his portmanteau on the opposite
one--at least the traveller suspected that this was the case. The latter
asked, "Is this seat engaged?" "Yes," was the reply. When the time for
the departure of the train had almost arrived, the Englishman said, "Your
friend is going to miss the train, if he is not quick." "Oh, that is all
right. I'll keep it for him." Soon the signal came and the train
started, when the passenger seized the portmanteau, and threw it out of
the window, exclaiming, "He's missed his train but he mustn't lose his
baggage!" That portmanteau was the German's.

GROWTH OF STATION BOOKSHOPS.

The gradual rise of the railway book-trade is a singular feature of our
marvellous railway era. In the first instance, when the scope and
capabilities of the rail had yet to be ascertained, the privilege of
selling books, newspapers, etc., at the several stations was freely
granted to any who might think proper to claim it. Vendors came and
went, when and how they chose, their trade was of the humblest, and their
profits were as varying as their punctuality. By degrees the business
assumed shape, the newspaper man found it his interest to maintain a
_locus standi_ in the establishment, and the establishment, in its turn,
discerned a substantial means of helping the poor or the deserving among
its servants. A cripple maimed in the company's service, or a married
servant of a director or secretary, superseded the first batch of
stragglers and assumed responsibility by express appointment. The
responsibility, in truth, was not very great at starting. Railway
travelling, at the time referred to, occupied but a very small portion of
a man's time. The longest line reached only thirty miles, and no
traveller required anything more solid than his newspaper for his hour's
steaming. But as the iron lengthened, and as cities remote from each
other were brought closer, the time spent in the railway carriage
extended, travellers multiplied, and the newspaper ceased to be
sufficient for the journey. At this period reading matter for the rail
sensibly increased; the tide of cheap literature set in. French novels,
unfortunately, of questionable character were introduced by the newsman,
simply because he could buy them at one-third less than any other
publication selling at the same price. The publi