er example of what man can do if he must. By means of a
series of covered galleries it makes its way through the mountains that
stretch like a wall between Italy and Austria. In the early days this
territory with its many ravines and almost impassable heights would have
been considered too difficult to cross. The railroad over the Brenner
Pass between Innsbruck and Botzen penetrates the mountains of the Tyrol
by means of twenty-three tunnels."

"I learned about the St. Gothard tunnel in school," Steve interrupted
eagerly.

"Yes, that is yet another of the celebrated ones," his father
rejoined. "In fact, there are now so many of these miracles of skilful
railroading that we have almost ceased to wonder at them. Railroads
thread their way up Mt. Washington, Mt. Rigi, and many another dizzy
altitude; to say nothing of the cable-cars and funicular roads that take
our breath away when they whirl us to the top of some mountain, either
in Europe or in our own land. Man has left scarce a corner of our planet
inaccessible, until now, not content with scaling the highest peaks by
train, he has progressed still another stage and is flying over them.
Thus do the marvels of one age become the commonplace happenings of the
next. Our ancestors doubtless thought, when they had accomplished the
miracles of their generation, that nothing could surpass them. In the
same spirit we regard our aeroplanes and submarines with triumphant
pride. But probably the time will come when those who follow us will
look back on what we have done and laugh at our attempts just as you
laughed when I told you of the first railroad."

Stephen was thoughtful for a moment.

"It's a great game--living--isn't it, Dad?"

"It is a great game if you make yourself one of the team and pull on the
side of the world's betterment," nodded his father. "Think what such a
thing as the railroad has meant to millions and millions of people. Not
only has it opened up a country which might have been shut away from
civilization for centuries; but it has brought men all over the world
closer together and made it possible for those of one land to visit
those of another and come into sympathy with them. Japan, China, and
India, to say nothing of the peoples of Europe, are almost our neighbors
in these days of ships and railroads."

"I suppose we should not have known much about those places, should we,"
reflected the boy.

"Certainly not so much as we do now," was his fath