THE PENNY POST BOX. In an instant the haughty husband comprehended the situation; the next he was on his knees, exclaiming: "Dear wife, you are nothing less than an angel born." Not a great while after that he died. His will was opened; his wife was executor; he left her all he had-nearly £400,000. The Penny Post Box. THE WORK OF THE LEAF. 66 WHAT does it do? It pumps water from the ground, through the thousands of tubes in the stem of the tree, and sends it into the atmosphere in the form of unseen mist, to be condensed and fall in showers-the very water that, were it not for the leaf, would sink into the earth, and find its way perchance through subterranean channels to the sea. And thus it is that we see it works to give us the early and the latter rain." It works to send the rills and streams, like lines of silver, down the mountain and across the plain. It works to pour down the larger brooks which turn the wheels that energize machinery which gives employment to millions-commerce stimulated-wealth accumulated-and intelligence disseminated through the agency of this wealth. The leaf does it all. It has been demonstrated that every square inch of leaf lifts 3-500 of an ounce every 24 hours. Now, a large forest tree has about five acres of foliage, or 6,272,640 square inches. This being multiplied by 3-500 (the amount pumped by every inch), gives as the result-2,352 ounces, or 1,176 quarts, or 294 gallons, or 8 barrels. The trees on an acre give 800 barrels in 24 hours. An acre of grass, or clover, or grain, would yield about the same result. The leaf is a worker in another field of labour, where we seldom look-where it works for the good of man in a most wonderful manner. It carries immense quantities of electricity from the earth to the clouds, and from the clouds to the earth. Rather a dangerous business transporting lightning; but it is particularly fitted for this work. Did you ever see a leaf entire as to its edges? It is always pointed, and these points, whether they be large or small, are just fitted to handle this dangerous agent. These tiny fingers seize upon and carry it away with ease and wonderful despatch. There must be no delay; it is time freight." True, sometimes it gathers up more than the trunk can carry, and in the attempt to crowd and pack the baggage, the trunk gets terribly shattered, and we say that lightning struck the tree. But it had been struck a thousand times before. This time it was overworked. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. THE TURKISH NATION.-Gohlert, the best and latest authority, says the population of European Turkey is 15,242,000. Of these, only 700,000 are Turks, of whom only 200,000 are in Constantinople; and the entire race is constantly decreasing, from their abominable and unmentionable social crimes. On the score of nationality, then, the claims of the Turks to rule disappear at once. Gohlert distributes the remainder as follows: Bulgarians, 4,000,000; Wallachs, 4,450,000; Greeks, 1,200,000; Albanians, 1,500,000; Bosnians and Croats, 1,100,000; Servians, 1,500,000; Montenegrins, 92,000; Gipsies, Jews, Circassians, &c., compose the remainder. Greece itself has 1,330,000. Add Greeks and Albanians together (for Hahn and Canarda have proved them to be of the same origin, and they coalesce,) and we have 4,030,000; so that, on the score of race, the sovereignty would still fall to the Wallachs. But add the Greeks of the Archipelago (2,500,000), and those along the shore of Asia Minor, who ardently desire to be united to Greece (2,000,000) and the Greeks would then have a right to the empire, for they would number 8,620,000. A Greek empire could be formed in the shape of a crescent along the two shores of the Ægean, with all the thousand island stars included within its horns, and Stamboul for its capital, which would contain twice as many Greeks as people of any other nationality, and more Greeks than of all others together. Hints. If you wish to be miserable, you must think about yourself; about what you want, and what you like, what respect people ought to pay you, Good works are not the cause, but the fruit of justification. The tree abhorrence on any sin, if its dashing Gems. For a poisoned heart there is nothing in the world so poisonous as men. The truest self-respect is not to think of self. To all is God's loaf, A cunning man over-reaches no one half so much as himself. That which makes men rich is not what they take up, but what they give up. The best way of teaching truth is to show what it has done for you. Poetic Selections. THE DIVINE MERCY. I REMEMBER once standing by the surging billows, all one weary day, and watching for hours a father struggling beyond in the breakers for the life of his son. They came slowly toward the breakers on a piece of wreck, and as they came the waves turned over the piece of float, and they were lost to view. Presently we saw the father come to the surface and clamber alone to the wreck, and then saw him plunge off into the waves, and thought he was gone; but in a moment he came back again, holding his boy. Presently they struck another wave, and over they went; and again they repeated the process. Again they went over, and again the father rescued his son. By-and-by, as they swung nearer the shore, they caught on a snag just out beyond where we could reach them, and for a little time the waves went over them there till we saw the boy in the father's arms, hanging down in helplessness, and knew they must be saved soon or be lost. I shall never forget the gaze of that father. As we drew him from the devouring waves, still clinging to his son, he said, "That's my boy! that's my boy!" and half frantic, as we dragged them up the bank, he cried all the time, "That's my boy! that's my boy!" And so I have thought, in hours of darkness, when the billows roll over me, the great Father is reaching down to me, and taking hold of me, crying. "That's my boy!" and I know I am safe. THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL. TILL the beginning of the present century the passage of the Alps was a feat confined to pedestrians, who, if we except the celebrated march of Hannibal in ancient, and that of the first Napoleon in modern times, were not particularly numerous. In 1803, a road suitable for vehicle traffic was commenced, which was completed in 1810, at a cost of £300,000, and has further cost a considerable sum yearly to keep it in due repair. This normal route by diligence, from St. Michel on the French side, up the series of zig-zags on which the road is formed, to the hamlet of Lanslebourg, and thence over the summit to Susa, on the Italian side, is well known to Continental tourists. In 1867 this was supplemented by a mountain railroad, the design of Mr. Fell, an American engineer, which, although a wonderful specimen of mechanical ingenuity, is both expensive, uncertain, and, during some parts of the journey, not altogether agreeable. A good deal of the traffic, therefore, is still carried on by the old diligences. It is against the creed of modern locomotion to traverse fifty miles, if the distance between two points can be got over in five; hence, as far back as the year 1841, the idea of a tunnel suggested itself to Signor Medail, a native of Bardoneche, on the Italian side, and was duly set forth in a pamphlet published by him. Charles Albert, then King of Sardinia, favoured the project, and the scientific opinions of M. Maus, the chief engineer of the Turin railway, and of Professor Sismonda, the eminent geologist, were also given in its favour. Financial and political considerations held the scheme in abeyance for some years, and not the least hindrance to the undertaking was the length of time such a gigantic work would involve by the ordinary means of operation. Mechanical science, however, was equal to the occasion, and M. Maus contrived a machine which, actuated by compressed air instead of steam, has perforated the hard rock of Mont Cenis with a strength and speed twelve times greater than manual labour. On either side of the mountain there is a waterfall of considerable power, which has been utilized to condense air in enormous reservoirs; the expansive power thus stored up has been conveyed by iron pipes along the tunnel to the cylinders of the boring machines, to the pistons of which the hard steel chisels were affixed, and with a pressure of about one hundred pounds on the square inch, has battered deep holes in the CURIOSITIES OF LANGUAGE. hardest rock. These holes have been charged with explosive material in the usual way, and by working from the two sides of the mountain range towards the centre, at the average rate latterly of 500 feet per month, the total distance of 40,000 yards has been excavated in something over eleven years. The perfecting of the machinery, with its preparation and erection, was necessarily a matter of some time, and it was not till the year 1859 that the first chip was made on the Italian side of Mont Cenis. Since then the work has steadily progressed without intermission or accident, and on Tuesday, Dec. 20, agreeable intelligence was telegraphed to all the capitals of Europe, that the working parties burrowing at the base of the mountain, 9,000 feet below its summit, had met, and had broken down the thin partition of rock which separated their workings, leaving an uninterrupted communication between France and Italy. The Italian engineers-for the design, the machinery, and the execution have been exclusively Italian-may well be proud of their work; and Englishmen, who can point to many a masterpiece of engineering, will not envy them their success, but, in the brotherhood of science, heartily share those feelings of satisfaction they now entertain. Railway enterprise had its birth in England, and we can point to our network of railways, the bridges that span our rivers, the viaducts stretched across valleys, and even the tunnels which thread their way beneath the hills of loose soil, with justifiable pride, but especial credit is due to Italy for the novelty, the magnitude, and the means of this undertaking. CURIOSITIES OF LANGUAGE. LANGUAGE shares in all the vicissitudes of man. It reflects all the changes in the character, taste, customs, and opinions of a people, and shows how they advance or recede in culture and morality. Often the meaning of a word changes imperceptibly, until it becomes just the opposite of what it once was. To let, in the common version of the Bible, means to oppose; to-day, it means to permit. Anecdote means a short, amusing story; etymologically, it denotes something as yet unpublished. The instant an anecdote is published, it belies its title; it is no longer an anecdote. To prevent, which now means to hinder or obstruct, signified, in its Latin etymology, to anticipate, to get the start of, and |