to Albany, and four-tracked from there to Buffalo.

Turning to continental Europe it is found that France alone
indulges in really fast trains, and possibly she is ahead
even of England in the number of trains running regularly
above fifty miles an hour. The greatest travel route on the
Continent is from Paris south to Lyons, Marseilles, and the
Mediterranean, and here are found fine and fast trains.

The run from Paris to Marseilles, 585 miles, is made in 750
minutes, with only six stops. Many of the shorter runs, such
as from Paris to Calais, to the Belgian frontier, etc., are
at the rate of from fifty-eight to sixty-two miles an hour
for the regular schedule.

Europe's Fast Averages.

According to a German authority, the average speed of the
fastest trains in Europe is as follows: French, fifty-eight
miles an hour; English, fifty-five miles an hour, and
German, fifty-one. As a matter of experience, fast trains
are hard to find in Germany, and the service in this respect
does not compare with France.

It takes the fastest train 227 minutes to go from Berlin to
Hamburg, 178 miles, which is 471/2 miles an hour, and the
"luxe" train, the one fast goer between Muenich and Vienna,
runs at only 45.60 miles an hour; but there are as a rule
frequent trains throughout Germany and the service is good.

For all the rest of Europe the speed drops to about 30 miles
an hour for express trains. Italy is surprisingly slow. It
takes the express 965 minutes to go from Turin to Rome, 413
miles, or only 26 miles an hour, though the Milan-Rome
express makes nearly 40 miles an hour.

Between Rome and Naples, 155 miles, there are only four or
five trains daily, the fastest at 34 miles an hour, while it
takes 920 minutes to go 439 miles on the best train from
Rome to Brindisi, a rate of less than 30 miles an hour.

The express between Stockholm and Gothenburg, the two large
cities of Sweden, barely makes 30 miles an hour. In the
remaining continental countries the trains are even slower.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THINGS.

Sealing-wax in the present form was first noted in London in the middle of
the sixteenth century. A sort of earth was used by the ancient Egyptians
in sealing papers and documents. The Egyptians placed such earth on the
horns of cattle, and upon it was stamped the seal o