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but the gratitude of the people of Canada, preserving as it does, all that is tenderest, truest, and most characteristic of the old life which time and modern innovations will sweep away. As the Midland Review, of Louisville, Kentucky, said: "It is not too much to say that Dr. Drummond has written himself immortally into "Le Vieux Temps." For truth, sincerity, simplicity and idealization no such poem as this

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genius outside the Dominion is most gratifying; in December, 1898, he was

elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature of England; in the same year he was entertained by the Canadian Society of New York, and recently he has created a literary sensation in Chicago by his reading of his poems, and been the guest of that city's celebrated Twentieth Century Club. As a lad Dr. Drummond's favourite authors were William Drummond, of Hawthornden. and Captain Cook; to-day, to use his own words, "Kip

has ever been written in America." The appreciation of Dr. Drummond's

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new

mond, in his study, reads a ly wrought poem-one with a ripple of life and salt breeze of the Gulf; to look up at shrewd, kindly old Phil-o-rum smiling from the wall; to smile at some beaming celebrity on the mantelpiece; and to glance regretfully from an exquisite photograph of tree-hung river

of running water to the bare branches and driving sleet without, one feels that this man has not only attained much, but has the material and, above all, the soul with which to do more, to the glory of our dear land and the ennobling of her sons.

E. Q. V.

TRAVEL

RAVEL makes a full man," said Lord Bacon. I am not sure that I have the quotation right; perhaps it is "reading" that makes a full man, or probably drinking; anyhow, a man picks up a good deal of information while travelling which he would not acquire had he remained at home. Nearly everything I know I have picked up on the road from one tramp or another, and although I have met scientists who sneer at my acquirements, I put their contempt down to jealousy, because the learning they possess has been gathered slowly and painfully from much reading of books, while I arrive at my knowledge through a few minutes' pleasant conversation with an utter stranger. Scientists naturally do not like another man to take a short cut across the fields of knowledge, they stick to the broad roundabout beaten highway of education; a dry and dusty road; while I take a pleasant path across the fields and arrive ahead of them.

For instance, I was returning from Switzerland a while ago, and in the same railway compartment with me were three cyclists who had been enjoying themselves among the mountains. They were quite evidently bashful countrymen, while I, being from the city, and knowing most things, spoke condescendingly to them, just as if they were my equals, so as to put them at their ease with me, which is my invariable custom when

meeting non-citified strangers. They were naturally very much gratified at this, and proceeded to tell me all they knew.

"Yes," said John W. Simpson, leaning towards me with thankfulness for my geniality beaming from his eyes, "I've had a very nice time in Switzerland, thank you, a very successful time; although I didn't go so much for the cycling, as to try my new avalanche wheel."

"Your avalanche wheel!" I cried in amazement, "I never heard of such a thing."

"It is a little invention of my own. Nothing has been published about it yet, and I tell you this in strict confidence. Some people have studied avalanches, and some have not. haps you have made avalanches specialty!"

་་

Per

a

"No," I replied with some reluctance, hating to admit my ignorance, "I can't say that I have investigated avalanches to any great extent, my sole care being to get out of their way as quickly as possible."

66

Quite so," retorted John W. Simpson, "that is the usual attitude of mankind towards an avalanche. Of course people can't study the habits and customs of avalanches while running away from them. Now I have estimated that 20,000,000 horse-power goes to waste every year through the avalanches. Heretofore nobody has made any effort to use this tremendous power, and

Of

avalanches are allowed to slide down in utter idleness all over the place. course, when people grow wiser this wasted force will all be utilized, and at present I am doing a little in my humble way to show how useful an avalanche can be to a cyclist. It takes a man, roped to a couple of guides, ten hours to descend from the top of the Jungfrau to the level ground below. The distance is, with the zigzagging they must do, something under eleven miles, now I have done it in two minutes and sixteen seconds on my avalanche bike. Look what a saving of time that is, not to mention the comfort."

"Comfort!" I cried. "Good gracious, do you mean to tell me you have cycled down an avalanche?"

"I have cycled down forty-seven of them this season, and never had an accident, except once I punctured the tire on the front wheel."

"But how do you know when an avalanche is going to start? As I understand you, you must travel with it from the begin

ball as it goes along. I start from the top of a peak in any direction, and the first thing I know I am in the midst of a tremendous avalanche. On the front of the machine are a couple of fins, if I may call them so, which spread out automatically, and they keep the cycle steady. The great point is, of course, to remain upright in your saddle and

ning. There are no avalanche timetables in Switzerland that I ever heard of."

"No, I don't wait for avalanches, I inake my own. You see, at the top of a mountain, if a man starts a snowball down hill, it becomes an avalanche on very short notice. My cycle is so constructed that it throws up a bit of snow

keep your machine

on the surface of the avalanche.

There is lots of room on top, as the philosopher says, and that applies to avalanches. as to everything else. There are three dangers to a man coming down without a machine on an avalanche ; first, he may be smothered in the debris; second, he may be smashed against a rock; third, he may get ahead of the avalanche and the wind which it causes

will kill him. More people are killed every year in Switzerland by the wind of an avalanche than by the avalanches themselves. Now, you see, going with the avalanche you are out of the wind, then the fins on my machine keep you from sink

ing in the snow, and if you strike a rock the wheels revolve and send you up into the air, where, after a most delightful flight, steadied by the patent fins I have spoken of, you join the avalanche lower down. I know of nothing more exhilarating than going eleven miles in two minutes and sixteen seconds. When the avalanche quits business at

"I suppose you have been avalanching with your friend also?"

"No," said Davis with a sigh; "I'm afraid I am rather a reckless person, and tame, plain ordinary avalanche cycling, such as my friend Simpson delights in, has few attractions for me. have been practising with my aquatic bicycle, which has quite justified all the expectations I had of it." "Dear me," said I, "an what is an aquatic bicycle ?"

I

"Well, perhaps you have been over

"Yes, it is a little apt to do that until you get accustomed to it. Of course you turn the wheel toward the direction you are falling and by and by you go along on the surface of the water as if you were on a smooth road. Of course I don't advise anyone to practice in an ordinary suit, but even then there is little danger, because the two wheels form life preservers when the machine goes over. At first I intended to take off these huge covers when I was cycling along the road, but after I found they made the machine very easy riding I didn't trouble to remove them, but ran along the road until I came to a canal or a river and then took to the water, coming out on the road again when I got tired of aquatic travelling."

in Havre and have seen the new rollersteamer, the Ernest Basin, invented and built by an engineer of that name. As doubtless you know, it goes on six wheels, which are simply exaggerated pneumatic tires made of steel. There are three on each side, and Sir Edward Reed says that he believes this wheeled boat will mark an era in steam navigation. It struck me that a bicycle on

might be easily remedied by sort of finshaped paddles, like my friend has on his avalanche bike; still, it was not for smooth water I wanted it. You see, there are a great many cataracts in Switzerland, of which, owing to their situation, it is impossible to get a complete view. My pleasure consisted in going over the cataracts."

"Good gracious!" I ejaculated.

"It is well to have a good waterproof on if you are particular about. getting wet. After practising on the lakes of Switzerland until I had full control over my machine, I took the train up the Goschenen, and from there went to Andermatt and started down the Reuss, which as you know is a very turbulent stream. I found a good deal of difficulty in keeping upright, especially in such turns as when we dashed under the Devil's bridge, but it is safe enough if you keep your head and don't get excited. You bounced up into the air a good deal when you strike the rocks, as my friend does when coming down an avalanche, but on the whole it forms a very pleasurable trip to start with. Then I tackled my first fall, the Handeck on the Grimsell pass. It is hardly possible, except from the top to obtain a good view of this fall, but as you go over it on the bike you get an excellent idea of the cataract by simply turning your head as you go down, taking care, however, to strike fair at the bottom. After that I went over the Gries pass and did the Tosa river. The Tosa falls are 470 feet high and 85 feet wide; that is a trip worth doing, but you ought to look over your machine very closely before you start it; be sure there are no punctures in the big cover, and tighten up the screws a bit. I have no patience with cyclists who are careless about their machines when taking a trip like this."

"Then you got safely over the Tosa?" I ventured.

"O, certainly, several times. The last time I went over backward so as to get a better view of the falls as I went down, but this is a very dangerous experiment, and I do not recommend it to any one but experts. Still, you do

get a much better knowledge of the falls, and it is preferable to craning your neck round as you have to do when you descend face forward. But it has its drawbacks, because when you get down to the turmoil at the bottom and have to circle round and turn your bike, the situation presents many difficulties which I would not advise an amateur to encounter. I intend to do Niagara when I reach home, but won't try it backward at first."

Again there was deep silence in the railway compartment, and it was some moments before I could command my voice sufficiently to make myself intelligible. I looked at the third man, George Washington Verity, he said his name was. He said:

"Of course, if I had not seen my two comrades do what they say they have done, I might have some difficulty in believing their narrative."

I

"O, no," I said; "truth is stranger than fiction, especially in bicycling, as your two comrades bear witness. have no difficulty in believing every word they say, but that perhaps is because I have been living in Switzerland, and feel particularly robust. In my ordinary state of health I don't know that I could have swallowed the avalanche, even when washed down by the Tosa falls. But have you had no adventures on your cycle, Mr. Verity?"

"No," he replied, "not one; that is, not one worth speaking of. I kept to the ordinary roads, and did the plain everyday cycling. I did have a little excitement coming down the Stelvio pass. Perhaps you know that road, the highest pass in Europe. It runs between Italy and the Tyrol."

"Yes, I have been over it.”

"Then you know on the Tyrol side how the road zigzags down, and how frightfully steep it is. frightfully steep it is. At the spot where the man threw his wife over you are doubtless aware there is a sheer cliff a mile deep. I resolved to cycle down the Stelvio pass, and in order that this might be done in safety I bought a tree from a wood cutter up at the top and tied it with a rope to the back part of my bicycle, so that