has already reached a limit which it cannot be safely allowed to pass.

W. STANLEY JEVONS, in the Contemporary Review.

POSTSCRIPT: Since the above was in type, it has been stated that the government will propose to amend the bill by restricting the currency of the Postal Notes to one month. This will mar the beauty and success of the scheme. It will be indispensable in a subsequent session of Parliament to enlarge the interval of currency to three months, if not the twelve months originally proposed by the department. Several homely proverbs occur to one: "Give an inch, take an ell"-"Get the thin end of the wedge in first." In regard to the Post-Office Savings Bank deposits, the wedge is just now being driven home a little. The promoter of the Postal Telegraph Department disclaimed all idea of a statutory monopoly of telegraphic business, saying, "I never should wish for that protection." There is now an action pending in the law courts by which the department will bring the telephone companies well under control. Ministries come and ministries go; the department remains. 19th June, 1880.

A FABLE,

IN THE MANNER OF MR. GAY.

How much would end in mode abrupt,
If listeners might but interrupt !
-Once, in a corner of the lawn,
Ere folks were stirring with the dawn,
A TORTOISE of didactic habits

Addressed some half a dozen Rabbits.
-It was a Tortoise who, 'tis said,
Contrived to break a wise man's head;
Since then the sect, report avers,
Have set up for philosophers.

-No harm in this one could be found;
He weighed so much; was so much round;
Not slower than his kin, or quicker,

(Although his shell was somewhat thicker ;)
And wearing just that look of thought

Which means profundity-or naught.

Next, if my limits space afford
I shall take Promptitude the Word;
Lastly, to make the meaning better,
I shall consider every letter.

And first, my friends, however viewed,
How beautiful is Promptitude!

How are we quickened, roused, renewed,
By dwelling upon Promptitude!
In short, how much may we discover
By simply saying the word over!
-How much, too, in this vale below,
To this one quality we owe !
'Twas Promptitude the battles won
Of CESAR and NAPOLEON ;
By Promptitude to-day we boast
The blessings of the Penny Post;
By Promptitude (I dare affirm)
The early bird secures the worm
-The Rabbits are a docile race,
And patient under commonplace;
But here, one rather puzzle-pated
In Gallic style." interpellated:"
"If Promptitude so much can do,
Why don't you try the practice, too?""
-This was, as HAMLET says, a hit;"
Clergy was posed by Mother- Wit.
The Tortoise the horizon scanned;
He had no repartee at hand;
So, finding inspiration fail,

He drew his head in, then his tail.

His audience scampered off in glee;
Risu solvuntur tabulæ.

GIRLHOOD.

AUSTIN DOBSON,

AN exquisite incompleteness, blossom foreshadowing fruit ;
A sketch faint in its beauty, with promise of future worth ;
A plant with some leaves unfolded, and the rest asleep at its root,
To deck with their future sweetness the fairest thing on the

earth.

Womanhood, wifehood, motherhood-each a possible thing,

Dimly seen through the silence that lies between then and now; Something of each and all has woven a magic ring,

Linking the three together in glory on girlhood's brow.

AILEEN,