Why We Use Gold And Silver As Money

Gold and silver are worth, in exchange íor labor or any kind of property, tiie labor it costs to eet them out of the rocks uil sands whicn originally contained them. Men discovered this, and used them as a measure of the exchi able values of all other kind erty, and as the best means of accomplishing Buch in exchai any nation had established a mint or passed a law or emitted di i respect to money. Another thing, yold and silver measure civilization itself as well the exchangeablc value of the producta of civilization. The degree of civilization, the degree of the prosperity and comfort of any people, and consequently their rank in literature and the arts, is measured by the degree in which they possess gold and silver in general circulation. it may be said, and it is said, tliat a cord of woud, a side of leather, a load of hay, a bale of cotton, a bar of iron, represent t lie labor which it costs to get or créate them, too. So they do, but they are not so convejiiently carried in the vest pocket as gold and silver, or as paper representing gold and silver. Xeither are they indestructible, or capable of passing througb lire without loss, or of lying at the bottom of the sea a thousand years without corruption or corrosión; nor are they odorless, nor so universally distributed over the face of the earth - in the rocks and sands, we mean; nor so curiously litnited in quantity without being too much limited, or po BCarqe. It is byvirtueof these qnalitii's, which the articlea mentioned have nol . or any other articles other than ir11''' and silver' vel knnwn to man, that gold and silver are money, are the royaJ metils i icclusively, admitting none other- metal oijjvegetable or animal - to share tlieir royal ranks; thatthey ahvays have been since man emerged Eromsavageism, and that they ahvays will be until, perchance, he returns to Bavageism. lt is by reason of their lack of these ualities that no other substancea persist from age to age, and accumurate as th mand increases troia generation to generation. In relation to cycling a writer in the Youths' Companion saya : "The bicycle has come to stay. Il ia not a craze, one of the mapythat sweep through the land like the latest fashiou. It has estahlished itself amone; the permanent Utilities. Ofcourse.ii is nol equally apapted to e very country, nor to every portion of every country ; but wherever the roads are ood and not too steep it will more and more come into practical use. With Buch a machine the pastor easily makes rails in the most distant pari of hia parish. Thecouatry doctor finds itstill better suited to his needs, ready at the most sudden and urgent cali, and able towait at the patient's door with no risk from cold however long the visit. With its aid, too, the traveler explores the country on roads lar removed from railwaya aiid in its most picturesque parte. The bicycle must have a great future in the level west. The relation of good roads to its use is seen at Washington, where many thousand bicycles noiselesslv roll over the smoothly cemented streets. But the utility of the bicycle is not confined to the more practical euds of locomotion, It furnishes a new means of valuableexercise. This exereise is exhilarating. It is in the open air, and the rider is not forced to it for his health but drawn to it by anticipations of pleasure. The various niodifications of the bicycle adapt it to both sexes, and in many cases invalids might be pleasantly helped by it to health again. Pure air and a cheery stat( are often more effective than exer(ise or the most potent drujrs. As compared with bicycling walking is better for some persons and not so good for others. Walking is farleas violentexercise, but the movement in either case brings into active use the muscles of the anus, chest and back. Most people who eau have the use of a bicycle find walking too slow and tiresome, and the mental state is au important factor in all physioal exerc;se.