condescending to
comply with the request.

A CHASE AFTER A RUNAWAY ENGINE.

Mr. Walker, the superintendent of the telegraphs of the South-Eastern
Railway Company, remarks:--"On New Year's Day, 1850, a collision had
occurred to an empty train at Gravesend, and the driver having leaped
from his engine, the latter darted alone at full speed for London.
Notice was immediately given by telegraph to London and other stations;
and, while the line was kept clear, an engine and other arrangements were
prepared as a buttress to receive the runaway, while all connected with
the station awaited in awful suspense the expected shock. The
superintendent of the railway also started down the line on an engine,
and on passing the runaway he reversed his engine and had it transferred
at the next crossing to the up-line, so as to be in the rear of the
fugitive; he then started in chase, and on overtaking the other he ran
into it at speed, and the driver of the engine took possession of the
fugitive, and all danger was at an end. Twelve stations were passed in
safety; it passed Woolwich at fifteen miles an hour; it was within a
couple of miles of London when it was arrested. Had its approach been
unknown, the money value of the damage it would have caused might have
equalled the cost of the whole line of telegraph."

STEAM DEFINED.

At a railway station, an old lady said to a very pompous looking
gentleman, who was talking about steam communication. "Pray, sir, what
is steam?" "Steam, ma'am, is ah!--steam, is ah! ah! steam is--steam!"
"I knew that chap couldn't tell ye," said a rough-looking fellow standing
by; "but steam is a bucket of water in a tremendous perspiration."

IN A RAILWAY TUNNEL.

Mr. Osborne in the _Sunday at Home_, says, "I have heard from a friend a
strange story of a tunnel, which I will try to tell you as it was told to
me. A well-known engineer was walking one day through a tunnel, a narrow
one, and as he was going along, supposing himself safe, he thought his
ear caught the far-off rumble of a train _in the tunnel_. After stopping
and listening for a moment, he became sure it was so, and that he was
caught, and could not possibly get out in time. What was he to do?
Should he draw himself up close to the side wall, making himself as small
as possible, that the train might not touch him. Or should he lie down
flat between the rails and let the train pass over him. Being an
engine