force the House of Lords into an agreement by the threat of creating new peers. This power of the Lower House, therefore, proves that the commonalty of the kingdom really run the government. Each House of Congress is independent of the other. Neither can be coerced. The Lower House is chosen directly by the people, the upper indirectly through the local legislatures of the people. Neither represents a class; they both together represent the people of the republic, who, in fact as well as in theory, run the government. The power of Parliament is said to be "omnipotent." "Unlike the legislatures of many other countries, it is bound by no fundamental charter or constitution; but has itself the sole constitutional right of establishing or altering the laws and is thus declared: "The legislative authority of Parliament extends over the entire kingdom, and all its colonies and foreign possessions; and there are no other limits to its power than the willingness of the people to obey, or their power to resist." To adopt the language of Sir Edward Coke, its power "is so transcendent and absolute, that it can not be confined, either for causes or persons, within any bounds!" In short, "Parliament can do everything which is not impossible!" The power of Congress is limited by the Constitution. Beyond the written provisions of that instrument it can not go. It has no judicial power to declare the extent of its legislative power. The judiciary reads the laws made by Congress in the light of the Constitution, and declares to be void There are other privileges enjoyed by the Royal Family, the clergy, and the nobility of England, but we need not refer to them. Whatever may be the official and social distinction between a peer and a commoner, they are both equal in the eye of the law when they appeal to that law for redress, or are brought before it to answer for transgression of it. And day by day the privileges of the upper classes in England are being cut down; day by day the political rights of the commoners are being enlarged. In the United States we have no privileged classes; all are "equal before the law." There are no privileges to cut down; we have few rights that need to be enlarged. The English Constitution, with all its changes and additions, is not expressed in formal compacts; it is seen in the traditions, the customs, the unwritten securities of the people. Our Constitution was expressed in a solemn covenant among ourselves, and can be altered only as provided in that instrument itself.† The Constitution of England is not the creation of a day or year. It is the growth of centuries, and has been likened to an old and many-towered castle, not constructed all at once after a regular plan, but reared in different stages of the art and altered from time to time as suited its successive owners. The Constitution of the United States is comparatively the work of an hour. With the achievements of England and the experience of the world before their eyes, our forefathers adopted the plans most suited to their purposes, and reared the structure of our government in colossal and symmetrical proportions. Both Constitutions are the work of heroism and of genius; and we may add the testimony of that illustrious statesman, the late Premier of Great Britain, the Right Honorable William E. Gladstone: "As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at any given time by the brain and purpose of man." As the people of Great Britain are the mightiest nation of the Old World, so are we the mightiest of the New. Originally an isle, and with no protection but the valor of her sons and her "crystal bulwarks of defense," the expansion of England's territory and power abroad was like the growth of her Constitution at home. Her possessions now stretch from Canada to India, and from India to Australia, enabling her to boast that upon the sphere of her dominions the sun never ceases to shine. Starting upon our course, with an ocean to the east and a wilderness on our west, we rapidly pushed our way across a continent. Our flag now floats from ocean to ocean, from the southern gulf to the Arctic sea; and as the last rays of the departing day gild for a moment the top of one of our Alaskan peaks, the light of the coming morn flashes upon the rocks of Maine! While politically separate and distinct, the people of both nations, in sympathy and in destiny, are one. Descended from the same grand heroes of the past, in the glory of those common ancestors we are all entitled equally to share. United by the ties of consanguinity and language, of hallowed memories and thought, in the achievements and endeavors of the future — in England, in America, wherever the restless spirit of English adventure has fixed the standard of authority, or shall hereafter go to spread the civilization of our race — may we all be able to take an equal and an honorable pride! (To be concluded.) ANSWERED RIDDLE JINGLES. pretty glass towers Twill burn for three hours and then it will BY GEORGE J. MANSON. SUPPOSE that most of the readers of ST. NICHOLAS have seen an electric light. If there are any that have not seen the light itself, they must have seen pictures of night scenes in which the light was represented. Well, this particular method of illumination is comparatively new; it came into general use in the year 1878,-just about eight years ago,― and is therefore as old as the younger readers of this magazine. When it came into use it gave employment to a new class of workers; it created a new and, all things considered, a very good profession, one which it is well worth the while of our boys and young men to consider before they choose a vocation in life,-I mean, the profession of electrical engineering. I said that the profession was a new one. This is true, but the possible uses of electricity have formed the subject of wide discussion by scientific men during the last ten years. Already we see wonderful results from their discoveries, and there is no telling what these investigations, which they are still patiently pursuing, may yet bring forth. An electrical engineer is a man who has a thorough knowledge of the powers of electricity, so far as these are known, and the uses to which it has hitherto been put. He makes it his business to manufacture electric machines and lamps, to put them in place for such parties as desire them, and to "run" them, or see that they "go" rightly after they are put up. In England, where the light is, of course, as much in use as it is in America, there are quite a large number of electrical engineers. They each take contracts individually for setting up electric-lighting "stations" in factories or large buildings, or in such public thoroughfares as private property-owners or town corporations may decide to have illuminated by electricity. These engineers purchase the mechanical appliances needed in one place or another, as they see fit. They buy a steam-engine from one firm, a dynamo-machine from another, the wire of another establishment, and, after fitting up the apparatus, they teach some employee of the establishment how to use it; and going to some other customer who has decided to have the light put on his premises, they go through the same routine with him. In our own country the business is carried on differently. Here, there are three or four large companies, each having its own peculiar style of electric light, each taking contracts on its own account to furnish all the machinery and appliances needed, and each employing its own engineers to do the work. It may be said, therefore, that almost all the electrical engineers in this country are in the employ of one or another of these companies. nology, at Hoboken, New Jersey; the University of Pennsylvania; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There are other schools, but these are the best known. If a young man has gone through the theoretical and partially practical training to be had in either of these institutions, he does not require a great deal of actual experience in doing the work itself to fit him for undertaking almost any task pertaining to the calling. But some boys may not be able to spare the time or pay the money for this collegiate part of the training. In that case, they endeavor to find employment in one of the factories of the great The duties of an electrical engineer are after companies I have mentioned. To obtain admisthis order: If you have ever been in any of the large manufactories in our cities, you may have noticed that while the machinery may have been perfect, and the workers cheerful and industrious, the methods of lighting the establishment were generally very inadequate. It is in just such places that the electric light is found to be most useful. Let us suppose, therefore, that our young electrical engineer goes to such an establishment, the proprietors of which have decided to substitute the electric light for the common gas. The first thing the engineer does when he goes to the factory is to "locate," or determine, the number of lamps that will be required. Then he estimates the amount and proper size of the wire that will be required to supply the lamps with the current; the size of the dynamo that will be required, the amount of steam-power required to run it, in short, he makes an estimate of every thing that will be needed. He tells the proprietors of the factory the sum for which the company will contract to do the work. If the estimate is satisfactory, the contract is given, and our young engineer takes full charge of the work until the light is in complete working order. The engineer has, of course, obtained all his materials from the company with which he is connected, has employed its skilled workmen, and, after the light is in good working order, he teaches some one, selected by the proprietors of the factory, how to "run" it, and that is the end of that transaction. There are two roads to take if you wish to become an electrical engineer, and at the beginning of each one of them I think I see a little signboard, on which, in good, plain letters, is inscribed, "Hard work!"-while far ahead the roads meet, and there, faintly outlined on another board, I see the word, "Success!" Although this occupation of electrical engineering is so new, there are three colleges in our country where the theoretical part of the profession is taught, namely: The Stevens Institute of Tech sion, however, they must be bright, they must give good promise in the taste they have for mechanical pursuits, as well as in their habits, that they are suited for the profession they seek to enter. Having obtained an entrance, they begin as ordinary employees, doing the simplest kind of work or even drudgery; then they are transferred from one department to another, learning a little at each step they take; until, finally, they have a good knowledge of the manufacturing branch of the profession. From there they should go to the laboratory, where they obtain the scientific knowledge of the business. To know how the different parts are put together is not of itself sufficient; they must be able to tell why they are put together in that particular way; it is just that knowledge which makes them electrical engineers. Then they are sent out as assistants to the various electric-lighting stations or are temporarily placed in charge of plants which have just been established, and which some amateur engineer is learning how to run. Finally they may be put in charge of a lighting station,- that is, a building from which the lighting power is furnished for the lamps in the immediate neighborhood; and lastly, they may become members of the engineering corps, and put up the electric lights for people in the manner I have described. Let me enlarge a little in regard to the apprenticeship a boy has to serve in this business. First of all, keep in mind that it is a new occupation, and in its present state, at least, it is a constantly advancing business. Discoveries are made in it yearly,-one might almost say monthly,— and it is being developed in so many different directions that those who are engaged in it must have very active intellects in order to keep pace with what is going on. To use the words of a very competent authority, "you will have to work hard all day and study all night." It is not like an oldestablished business, in which what is to be learned is known beforehand, but an occupation where your neighbor, who is a harder student than you are, |