ble road in the United States,
and is owned by the great railroad king of California, Leland
Stanford.

I have a little railroad track seven and a half feet long, with
fifteen feet of string, which I call a cable. The invention of the
gripping attachment is my own.

R.H. BASFORD.

* * * * *

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Will you please, for a few moments, imagine
yourself blind, deaf and dumb, so that you may have a fair idea of
the boy about whom I want to tell you?

His name is James Caton. He is fifteen years old and lives in the
Deaf Mute Institution, on the Hudson River, near New York. He was
born deaf and dumb, and two years ago a severe sickness left him
blind. Before this he had learned to read and write, and talk with
his fingers. He uses a pencil and his fingers to ask for what he
wants, and tell you how he feels. People can talk to him by
spelling words with their fingers against the palm of his hand, and
he is so bright and quick that they cannot spell too fast for him.
He is fond of his lessons, but sometimes, in adding a long column
of figures, he makes mistakes that vex him sadly. Only think how
hard it must be to add twenty or thirty large numbers that you
cannot see! But when James finds his temper rising he puts it right
down, calls back his patience, and goes to work more strenuously
than ever. One day, his teacher, a lady, told him the Bible story
of Cain, who killed his brother and became a wanderer. Some time
after, she asked him "Who was Cain?" and he answered, "Cain was a
tramp!" She takes pains to tell him about the great events of the
day, such as the dreadful war between Russia and Turkey, and he
understands this so well that he can describe it with wonderful
effect. He stands out on the floor like an orator, and with the
most graceful, animated and expressive signs and gestures, gives
the positions of the armies, their meeting, the beating of the
drums, the waving of the flags, and the firing of the cannon.
Watching him, one can see the battle-field and all its pomp and
horror.

James was in the country during the summer, and there he lay on the
soft grass, smelled the sweet flowers, and tried to remember their
forms and colors. He leaned against the strong tree trunks and
measured them with his arms, and the s