CHRISTMAS.—Some twenty years ago Christmas morn was ushered in with the singing of carols by “wakeful Waits,” thus joyfully celebrating the opening of this truly-festive anniversary, and this custom is still partially observed. The singers of the Parish Church also greeted the inhabitants at their several dwellings with sounds of grateful melody. No longer is this latter custom maintained, but CHRISTMAS DAY is marked as a sacred and solemn festival; “the rich and the poor meet together;” on that day the conventionalities of rank and dignity are thrown aside; hospitality prevails in every house in the land, from the palace to the cottage; families are collected together to partake of that day’s joyful festivity; and the nation at large presents the delightful picture of one happy family. The rich administer kindly to the poor, and all hearts are touched with benevolence or gratitude. Long may our merry Christmas-tides thus be observed; for such customs are based on true religion, which teaches men “to love one another.” Railway Communication. We need not enter into detail, now-a-days, to show how railway communication was rendered necessary a quarter of a century ago by the great increase of travelling throughout the land, and the insufficiency as well as inefficiency of stagecoach conveyance to satisfy the public wants. When railway travelling was first suggested stage-coaches had been “whipped-up” by “coming events” into improvement; the people were no longer compelled to “drag their slow length along,” for full five wearisome days, from Chester to London. The “Gee-hos,” and “Highflyers,” at four miles an hour; “The Birmingham and Shrewsbury Long Coach, with six able horses, in four days;” even the “Flying Machine,” from Shrewsbury to London in two days, had all passed the _stage_ of their creeping existence; and the liege subjects of the realm were now beginning to be whirled along, at ten and twelve miles an hour, in “Quicksilvers,” “Tantivys,” “Erin-go-braghs,” “Tallyhos,” “Wonders,” and other well-horsed and well-appointed vehicles bearing equally excitable names. The Coach called “The Wonder” made the journey from Shrewsbury to London in a day. An intelligent contributor writes,—“The late old Justice Smith, in a conversation I had with him some 25 years ago, said, ‘I remember going to London 70 years ago by a coach called The Fly; we were 7 nights and 8 days on the road, and now they go in a day—what a man lives to see!’” But even this increased “pace” did not meet the requirements of the community. James Watts’ steam-engine had begun to revolutionize all classes and occupations. In manufactures, hand-looms, spinning-jennies, shuttles, treddles, and the rest of early inventions were superseded by steam-power, moving machinery for spinning and weaving; in packet and marine conveyance generally Watts’ steam-power wrought as great a change; and in the manufacture of metal and porcelain