is pockets everywhere, and although the entire evil
consequence, had the ticket not turned up, could not possibly have been
more than the payment a second time of four or five shillings, he got
into a nervous tremor painful to see. He shook from head to foot; his
hand trembled so that he could not prosecute his search rightly, and
finally he found the missing ticket in a pocket which he had already
searched half-a-dozen times. Now contrast the condition of this
highly-civilized man, thrown into a painful flurry and confusion at the
demand of a railway ticket, with the impassive coolness of a savage, who
would not move a muscle if you hacked him in pieces.

--_Fraser's Magazine_.

A PROFITABLE RAILWAY.

The shortest and most profitable railway in the world is probably to be
seen at Coney Island, the famous suburban summer resort of New York.
This is the "Marine Railway," which connects the Manhattan Beach Hotel
and the Brighton Beach Hotel. It is 2,000 feet in length, is laid with
steel rails, and has a handsome little station at each end. Its
equipment consists of two locomotives and four cars, open at the sides,
and having reversible seats; and a train of two cars is run each way
every five minutes. The cost of this miniature road, including stations
and equipment, was 27,000 dols., and it paid for itself in a few weeks
after it was opened for business. The operating expenses are 30 dols. a
day, and the average receipts are 450 dols. a day the entire season, 900
dols. being sometime taken in. The fare charged is five cents. The
property paid a profit last year of 500 dols. per cent on its cost.

THE POLITE BRAHMIN.

Owing to the various dialects in the South of India, as a matter of
convenience the English language is much used for personal communication
by the natives of different parts of the Presidency of Madras. Mr.
Edward Lear, who has travelled much in that part of the country, gives
the following interesting account of a journey:--"I was in a second-class
railway carriage going from Madras to Bangalore. There was only one
other passenger beside myself and servant, and he was a Brahmin, dressed
all in white, with the string worn over the shoulder, by which you may
always recognise a Brahmin. He had a great many boxes and small
articles, which took up a great deal of room in the compartment, and when
at the next station the door was