It is a strange sensation to actually witness and listen to these men of whom we read so much, who occupy so large a place in our eastward vision. From tradition, from the force of habit, and with the very best reason, our gaze that way centres more upon the English House of Commons than upon any debating club in Europe. There is a peculiar naturalness about it all, as each man in turn takes the floor and makes some utterance precisely in the rôle which all our newspaper reading assigns to him. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, known to us as a famous temperance advocate, rises and asks the government, or gives notice that he shall ask the government, whether the daily allowance of a certain amount of grog is held out as an inducement to recruits in the military or naval service. Mr. Parnell rises and expresses his objection to some phase, appropriate to the particular point under debate, of the measure which the government forcible and earnest, and it is distinctly apparent that there is a mind of tremendous grasp behind the unassumingly uttered and apparently unstudied words which the reporters in the galleries are hurriedly taking down; but there is nothing dramatic, no exuberance of gesture, no highly colored language, nothing theatrical, nothing spectacular, about it. Perhaps with a great man whom we read of a great deal without seeing, it is somewhat the same as it is with the throne, as I was just saying. The advance idea is too extravagant; the reality must necessarily pale a little before it. In deportment the legislative body which is supposed to be the model of our House of Representatives may still continue to be the model. It is not probable that the after-type will come up to it at any time in the near future. There may be times when The House of Lords. has under way to alter the condition of affairs in Ireland. Mr. Gladstone speaks also upon the Irish question. He spoke indeed twice on the occasion which I have in mind, in a manner which justified his reputation, and yet which leaves one saying, "He is but a man, after all." So great a character finds his greatness more in the life history of his accomplishment than in any one personal exhibition of legislative skill or debating capacity. His manner is a visitor would look upon our House of Representatives and go away with the impression that it was an orderly body. But continuous observation for any length of time destroys that impression. The stentorian voices of the reading-clerks at Washington would create amazement at Westminster. In the little hall, and before a body comparatively so quiet, there would be little need for such a display of lung power. Applause, however, is not unfre quent, though the untrained American ear fails at first to apprehend that these gruff murmurs which come to him are the words of encouragement which are printed in the newspapers as "Hear, hear." They are little more than aspirated explosions of breath, uttered very rapidly in pairs, with a strong emphasis on the first one, not by any means a shout or a call. It is an oddity to see the hats on, though all the members do not wear their hats. It was strange, too, to see what one might call the brains of the House condensed on the two front benches upon either side of the speaker, the "Government" upon his right, the Opposition upon his left. The Commons have no desks. If they wish to write, they must go to the library, or some of the minor apartments. It is the same in the House of Lords; and upon going one day to see the House of Lords sitting as a court, I was curious to discover in what way this awkwardness would be obviated, for members of a judicial tribunal need some space for papers and conveniences for making occasional memoranda. The House of Lords sitting as a court is a different thing from the House of Lords sitting as a deliberative body. Theoretically this branch of the British Parliament is the court of last resort in certain cases. We have at present no close parallel to it in this country. In England volumes of decided cases are periodically published, which purport to be decisions of the House of Lords. On the occasion when I looked upon their deliberations in this capacity, the Lord Chancellor sat upon the woolsack, which was moved forward to the middle of the House. Sitting upon the front benches upon either side were three or four men with small tables before them, brought in for their convenience. These were the "lords " who for this particular purpose constituted the House. They were highly intelligent looking men, but wore no coronets. If they had, they would have assorted ill with their cutaway coats. None were gowned except the Lord Chancellor, who wore both gown and wig. The counsel should be also excepted, for English barristers still follow this ancient in the matter of costume. The bar of the House where they stood addressing the law lords, and where their papers were spread out, was an incommodious place; but, like the gowns, it may be in conformity with ancient precedent. It is well known that all the principal courts of the kingdom used to be at Westminster, in the parliamentary group of buildings, clustering close upon Westminster Hall. This hall, which Macaulay in his Warren Hastings essay calls "the great hall of William Rufus," still stands and still forms a part of the legislative group. It is not a reproduction of the ancient building, but the veritable monument itself, into which at coronation festivities so late as the time of George IV. a champion in armor upon horseback was wont to ride, offering to do battle with any one who would gainsay the right of the king to his throne. It was part of the plan in erecting the present same line there is a great window filled with tracery, or wigged at the bar practice The Victoria Tower. steps at the end of the hall to communicate with St. Stephen's, because St. Stephen's with the benches and the statues of statesmen is a second level or second story. Beneath it, upon a level or nearly upon a level with the floor of Westminster Hall, is a heavily vaulted crypt, not destroyed in the burning of the rest, for it is as imperishable as a bank vault. With the reconstruction of St. Stephen's above, came new ornamentation of this room, which is at present decorated in very high colors and is arranged as a chapel with an altar at the end. The portal of Westminster Hall opposite the stairs leads one out into the enclosure called New Palace Yard, which is dominated by the clock tower. In views of the parliamentary group from this end or from Westminster Bridge, the clock tower is a more conspicuous object than the Victoria Tower at the other corner, and seems higher. A glance at the top stories and then at the ground stories, shows one how large the dial must be and what ponderous machinery must be required to move the hands around. Α chime of four bells, the first three notes of the major scale with a deep fourth bell tuned to the dominant, ring out the quarter hours by adding up four phrases, each built upon these four notes. That is, the quarter-hour begins with one phrase, the half-hour has the first phrase and the second, the third quarter these two and one more, and the even hour all the four phrases. This combination of notes is often used for a chime. It came to my ears afterward from the minster towers at York with a powerful suggestion of night stillnesses in London. Miles away from Westminster and its Parliament house, if one is not immediately upon a rattling thoroughfare, the stranger and the dweller in the English capital hears the night hours marked off by these four musical phrases endlessly adding themselves up. Τ 66 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. HE study of agriculture in some sort Happy the man, who, studying Nature's laws, Through known effects can trace the secret cause," was written almost two thousand years ago. But not until comparatively recent times was begun the painstaking study of the laws of nature as they pertain to the action of plant life. During the intervening centuries, men have eaten the fruits of the earth, and their senses have been gladdened by its flowers; the seasons have come and gone, working ever anew the miracle of the sprouting seed and fruiting tree; men have seen how, with the slightest assistance from their hand, Nature has untiringly renewed the means of sustenance; and because she does this, they have seemed to rest content with the simple accomplishment of the fact. This is only the more strange when we consider that while agriculture was sleeping, the most abstruse sciences were being eagerly followed, the fine arts were reaching their highest development, commerce was flourishing, and new worlds were discovered. It was toward the close of the seventeenth century that a light began to break, which was eventually to give new meaning and dignity to agriculture. Parliamentary agitation in Great Britain regarding the control of corn products, frequent widespread distress throughout the agricultural communities, and the generally unsatisfactory condition of the agriculturist, combined to make men consider what causes might tend toward an amelioration be incited toward the same methods. of existing evils. A natural conclusion This impelled the investigation of causes was that the best remedy lay in increasing the product of the soil; the necessity for which conclusion is apparent when we consider that English farmers were then content if their harvest returned the seed increased three or four fold. In considering methods by which the desired end might be attained, it became necessary to ascertain something of the habits of plant growth and the causes that would conduce to strength and vigorous production. This opened up an immense field for research, involving a knowledge of the elements of plant food, where contained and how conveyed into the growing plant, the texture and composition of soils, effects of fertilizing and cultivation, and eventually all the questions which agricultural science has since discussed. The awakening was not in any sense general, but for a long time was confined within narrow limits. Converts to the new theories were obtained even more slowly than has customarily been the case with the development of advanced thought. The first organized effort toward improving the condition of agriculture by building upon the solid foundation of knowledge cannot be traced farther back than 1723, when a number of land-holders in Scotland established the "Society of Improvers in Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland." This association was largely composed of "Gentlemen Farmers," - in other words, of the landed aristocracy,—and naturally gave attention mainly to questions affecting their peculiar interests. Matters touching the welfare of the tenantry or pertinent to the small farmer were hardly within its scope, and the society consequently did not attract to itself any large following. The "Bath and West of England Society," established in 1777, was the first that systematically undertook to disseminate agricultural information; and this movement did not assume any large proportion until the formation of the "National Board of Agriculture" in 1793. The principal work first undertaken by these and similar institutions was to collect facts and statistics by means of which comparisons could be drawn between the results of diverse practices in different districts, to the end that when an exceptionally good result was ascertained, others might an effort to determine why one practice was preferable to another. This stage of development was well illustrated by the adoption of the motto, "Practice with Science," as the keynote to the work and motives of the Royal Agricultural Society. Various spasmodic efforts were made to attract attention to the benefits to be derived from the practical application of chemical science to the purposes of agriculture, but no definite steps were taken in that direction until Liebig awoke the popular interest by the publication of his famous treatise, in 1840. As a direct result of his teachings, the first "agricultural chemical association' was organized in Mid-Lothian within two years thereafter. From that time the development of scientific agriculture has been steadily progressive. Both in Europe and America agricultural schools have been opened and liberally endowed. Experiment stations under government auspices and experiment farms owned and managed by individuals have done much toward diffusing a more general knowledge regarding the higher levels of agricultural work, as well as to teach the means by which they may be gained. While farther on we shall speak of the practical results accomplished, it may be doubted if any single end attained is more noteworthy than the changed impression of the popular mind regarding the occupation of agriculture. It is this spirit that the agricultural schools are fostering. Every graduate becomes a leavening influence toward the elevation of the mass. How important a factor this leaven is becoming may be judged from the last report of the United States Commissioner of Education, which states the total number of students in the agricultural schools of this country to be 10,085. It is true that not all of these intend devoting themselves to agricultural pursuits, or are even following the strictly agricultural courses of the schools. But educated under and in direct companionship with the spirit and influences of these places, it is impossible that they should not in some measure catch the afflatus. This is illustrated by the recent report of one eminent institution, which states that many young men who come there to pursue studies in other branches |