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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. VI, June,
+1862, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. VI, June, 1862
+       Devoted To Literature and National Policy
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2005 [EBook #16151]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY, VOL. I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Norma
+Elliott and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+_THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:_
+
+DEVOTED TO
+
+LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY.
+
+VOL. I.--JUNE, 1862.--No. VI.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_THE CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY._
+
+There are two sections of the United States, the Free States and the
+Slave States, who hold views widely different upon the subject of
+Slavery and the true interpretation of the Constitution in relation to
+it. The Southern view, for the most part, is:
+
+1. The Constitution recognizes slaves as strictly property, to her
+bought and sold as merchandise.
+
+2. The Constitution recognizes all the territories as open to slavery as
+much as to freedom, except in those cases where it has been expressly
+interdicted by the Federal Government; and it secures the legal right to
+carry slaves into the territories, and any act of Congress, restricting
+this right to hold slaves in the territories, is unconstitutional and
+void.
+
+3. Slavery is a natural institution, and not to be considered as local
+and municipal.
+
+4. The Constitution is simply a compact or league between sovereign
+States, and when either party breaks, in the estimation of the other,
+this contract, it is no longer binding upon the whole, and the party
+that thinks itself wronged has a right, acting according to its own
+judgment, to leave the Union.
+
+5. This contract between sovereign States has been broken to such an
+extent, by long and repeated aggressions upon the South by the North,
+that the slave States who have seceded from the Union, or who may
+secede, are not only right in thus doing, but are justified in taking up
+arms, to prevent the collection of revenue by the Federal Government.
+
+These ideas are universally repudiated in the free States. It is not my
+purpose to discuss the social or moral relations of slavery, but simply
+to consider under what circumstances the Constitution originated, and
+what was the clear intent of those who adopted it as the organic or
+fundamental law of the country. The last assumption taken by the
+seceding States grows out of the first four, and therefore it becomes a
+question of vital interest, what did the framers of the Constitution
+mean? We must remember that while names remain the same, the things
+which they represent in time go through a radical change. Slavery is not
+the same that it was when the Constitution was formed, nor are the
+original slave States the same. If freedom at the North has made great
+strides, so also has slavery South. Our country now witnesses a mighty
+difference in free and slave institutions from what originally was seen.
+The stand-point of slavery and freedom has altogether changed, not from
+local legislation, but from natural causes, inherent in these two
+diverse states of society. New interests, new relations, new views of
+commerce, agriculture, and manufactures now characterize our country. It
+will not do then to infer, from the existing state of things, what was
+originally the respective condition of the slaveholding and the free
+States, or what was in fact the import of that agreement, called the
+Constitution, which brought about the Federal Union. The framers of the
+Constitution did not reason so much as to what they should do for
+posterity as for the generation then living. As fallible men, much as
+they would wish to legislate wisely for the future, yet their very
+imperfection of knowledge precluded them from knowing fully what fifty
+or a hundred years hence would be the development of slavery or freedom.
+Their actions must have reference to present wants, and consult
+especially existing conditions of society. While they intended that the
+Constitution should be the supreme law of the land, yet they wisely put
+into the hands of the people the power of amending it at any such time
+as circumstances might make it necessary. The question then at issue
+between the North and the South is not what the Constitution should
+read, not what it ought to be, to come up to the supposed interests of
+the country; but what it does read. How is the Constitution truly to be
+interpreted? All parties should acquiesce in seeking only to find out
+the literal import of the Constitution as originally framed, or
+subsequently amended, and abide by it, irrespective altogether of
+present interests or relations. The reason is, in no other way can the
+common welfare of the country be promoted. If the necessities of the
+people demand a change in the Constitution, they can, in a legal way,
+exercise the right, always remembering that no republic, no free
+institutions, no democratic state of society can exist that denies the
+great principle of the rule of the majority. It becomes us, then, in
+order that we may come to a right decision respecting the duties that
+grow out of our Federal Union, to consider what language the
+Constitution makes use of, in relation to slavery, and how was this
+instrument interpreted by the framers. The great question is, was
+slavery regarded as a political and moral evil, to be restricted and
+circumscribed within the States existing under the Constitution, or was
+it looked upon as a blessing, a social relation of society, proper to be
+diffused over the territories? It can be clearly shown that there was no
+such state of feeling, respecting slavery, as to lead the originators of
+our Constitution to look upon it as a thing in itself of natural right,
+useful in its operation, and worthy of enlargement and perpetuation.
+Rather, the universal sentiment respecting slavery, North and South,
+was, that as a great moral, social, and political evil, it should be
+condemned, and the widely prevalent impression was, that through the
+peaceful operation of causes that evinced the immeasurable superiority
+of free institutions, slavery would itself die out, and the whole
+country be consecrated to free labor. Never did it enter the minds of
+the framers of the Constitution, that slavery was a thing in itself
+right and desirable, or that it should be encouraged in the territories.
+It was looked upon as exclusively local in its character, the creature
+of State law, a relation of society that was to be regulated like any
+other municipal institution. It is not to be presumed that the authors
+of our government would, in the Declaration of Independence, assert the
+natural rights of all men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
+happiness, and then contradict this cardinal principle of the revolution
+in the Constitution. They found slavery existing in the Southern States;
+they simply left it as it was before the Revolution, with the idea that
+in time the local action of the State legislature would do away with the
+system. But so far as the extension of slavery was concerned, the
+predominant feeling, North and South, was hostile to it. The security
+of the country demanded the union of the States under one common
+Constitution. The dangers of foreign war, the exhausted finances of the
+different States, the evils of a great public debt, contracted during
+the Revolution, made it advisable, as soon as the consent of the States
+could be got, to have a Constitution that should command security at
+home and credit and respect abroad. It was regarded as indispensable for
+union, that slavery should be left as it was found in the States. The
+thirteen States that first formed our Union under the Constitution, with
+the great evils that grew out of war and debt, agreed, for their own
+mutual protection, that slavery should be permitted to exist in those
+States where it was sanctioned by the local government, as an evil to be
+tolerated, not as a thing good in itself, to be fostered, perpetuated,
+and enlarged. Seeing that union could not be had without slavery, it was
+recognized as an institution not to be interfered with by the free
+States; but not acknowledged, in the sense that it was right, a blessing
+that, like free labor, should be the normal condition of the whole
+people. There was no such indifference to slavery as a civil
+institution, as has been asserted. The reason is two-fold: first, the
+States could not be indifferent to slavery, if they wished; and
+secondly, they could not repudiate, in the Constitution, the Declaration
+of Independence. Thus the word 'slave' is not found in the Constitution.
+In the rendition of slaves, they simply spoke of persons held to
+service, and as union was impossible, if the free States were open to
+their escape, without the right being recognized of being returned, this
+provision was accordingly made; and yet by the provision that no person
+should be deprived of liberty or life, without due process of law, and
+that the free citizens of one State, irrespective of color, should have
+the same rights, while resident in any other State, as the citizens of
+that State, the framers of our Constitution declared, in language most
+explicit, the natural rights of all men. The question is not as to the
+consistency of their profession and practice, or how they could fight
+for their own independence, and yet deny freedom, for the sake of the
+Union, to the slaves; but the question is simply whether, in preparing
+the Constitution, they intended to engraft upon it the idea of the
+natural right of slavery, and recognize it as a blessing, to be
+perpetuated and enlarged. The question is simply, whether the
+Constitution was designed to be pro-slavery, or whether, like the
+instrument of the Declaration of Independence, it was intended to be the
+great charter of civil and religious freedom, although compelled, for
+the sake of union, not to interfere with slavery where it already
+existed? Great stress is put upon that clause enjoining the rendition of
+slaves escaping from their masters; but union was impossible without
+this provision. The necessity of union was thought indispensable for
+protection, revenue, and securing the dearly-bought blessings of
+independence. The question with them was not, ought slavery to be
+recognized as a natural right, and slaves a species of property like
+other merchandise? but simply, shall we tolerate this evil, for the sake
+of Union? Thus, as the indispensable condition of union, the provision
+was made for the rendition of persons held to labor in the slave States.
+Why is the language of the Constitution so guarded as not to have even
+the word 'slave' in it, and yet of such a character as not to interfere
+with local State legislation upon slavery? Simply to steer between the
+Charybdis of no union and the Scylla of the repudiation of the
+Declaration of Independence, teaching that all men are born free and
+equal, and that all have natural rights, such as life, liberty, and the
+pursuit of happiness. And yet, in the slave States, the interpretation
+of the Constitution is such, that the free States are accused of
+violating it, unless they acknowledge that it recognizes slavery as a
+natural right, and an institution to be perpetuated and enlarged, and
+put upon the same level with the blessing of freedom, in the
+territories. Slavery virtually must be nationalized, and the
+Constitution be interpreted so as to carry it all over the territories
+now existing, or to be acquired, or the free States have broken the
+Constitution, and the slave States may leave the Union whenever it suits
+their pleasure. It is easy to see how time has brought about such a
+revolution of feeling and idea respecting slavery. It can be shown that
+circumstances have changed altogether the relations of slavery, and
+while names have remained the same, the things which they represent have
+assumed a radical difference. It can be shown that the introduction of
+the cotton-gin, and the increased profits of slave labor, have given an
+impetus to the domestic institution that brings with it an entire
+revolution of opinion. When slavery was unprofitable to the
+slaveholders; when, in the early days of the republic, the number of
+slaves was comparatively small; when, all over the country, the veterans
+of the Revolution existed to testify to the hardships they endured for
+national independence, and eulogize even the help of the negro in
+securing it, then slavery was regarded a curse, an evil to be curtailed
+and in time obliterated; then the local character of slavery, as the
+creature of municipal law, not to be recognized where such law does not
+exist, was the opinion universally of the people. But now, with the
+growing profits of slavery, with the increase of the power of this
+institution, other and far different language is held. Disguise it as we
+may, there do exist great motives that have silently yet powerfully
+operated within the last thirty or forty years, to change the popular
+current of feeling and opinion. Not only have the slave States held the
+balance of political power, but the spread of slavery has been gigantic.
+The fairest regions of the South have been opened up to the domestic
+institution, and Texas annexed, with Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida,
+making an immense area of country, to be the nursery of slavery. The
+political ascendency of the slave States has ever given to the South a
+great advantage, in the extension of their favored institution, and the
+result has proved that what our ancestors looked upon as an evil that
+time would soon do away with, has grown into a monster system that
+threatens to make subservient to it the free institutions of the North.
+
+Slavery has now come to be a mighty energy of disquietude all over the
+country, assuming colossal proportions of mischief, and mocking all the
+ordinary restraints of law. The question of the present day to be
+decided is not whether freedom and slavery shall exist side by side, nor
+whether slavery shall be tolerated as a necessary evil; but in reality,
+whether freedom shall be crushed under the iron hoof of slavery, and
+this institution shall obtain the complete control of the country. It
+has been said that the Constitution takes the position of complete
+indifference to slavery; but the history of the slave States does not
+lead us to infer that they were ever willing that slavery should be
+tested by its own merits, or stand without the most persistent efforts
+to secure for it the patronage of the Federal Government. Study the
+progress of slavery, the last forty years, and none can fail to see that
+it has ever aimed to secure first the supreme political control, and
+then to advance its own selfish interests, at the expense of free
+institutions. The great danger has always been, that while numerically
+vastly inferior to the North, slavery has always been an unit, with a
+single eye to its own aggrandizement; consequently, the history of the
+country will show that so far from the general policy of the government
+being adverse to slavery, that policy has been almost exclusively upon
+the side of slaveholders. The domestic institution has been ever the pet
+interest of the land.
+
+In all that pertains to political power, the slaveholding interests have
+been in the ascendant. Even when Lincoln was elected, it was found that
+the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the Judiciary, were
+numerically upon the side of slavery, so that he could not, even had it
+been his wish, carry out any measure inimical to the South. True, the
+South had not the same power as under Buchanan; they could not hope ever
+again to wield the resources of government to secure the ascendency of
+slavery in Kansas; but for all that, Lincoln was powerless to encroach
+upon their supposed rights, even if thus disposed. Is it not, then,
+evident, that so far from the slaveholding States holding to the
+opinions of the framers of the Constitution, there has been within the
+last forty years a mighty change going on in the South, giving to
+slavery an essentially aggressive policy, and an extension never dreamed
+of by the authors of the Constitution? The ground of the Constitution
+respecting slavery, was simply non-interference in the States where it
+already existed. It left slavery to be curtailed, or done away with by
+the local legislature, but it used language the most guarded, to
+preclude the idea that slavery rested upon natural right, and that
+slaves, like other property, could be carried into the territories. It
+has been said, that the position of the Constitution is that of absolute
+indifference, both to freedom and slavery; that it advocated neither,
+but was bound to protect both. But how could the Constitution be
+indifferent to the very end for which it was made? Was not its great
+design to secure the liberty of the country, and promote its highest
+welfare? The Constitution simply tolerated the existence of slavery, and
+no more. As union was impossible without the provision for the rendition
+of persons held to labor, escaping from one state into another, it
+simply accommodated itself to an evil that was thought would be
+restricted, and in due process of time done away with in the slave
+States. To strain this provision to mean that it advocated the natural
+right of slavery, and recognized the slave as property, to be sold and
+bought like other merchandise, is simply to say that the framers of the
+Constitution were the greatest hypocrites in the world, originating the
+Declaration of Independence upon the basis of the natural right of all
+men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and yet with full
+knowledge and purpose giving the lie to this instrument in the
+Constitution. Madison thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the
+idea of property in man. The word 'service' was substituted for
+'servitude,' simply because this last encouraged the idea of property.
+
+The constitutional provision for the rendition of slaves was simply a
+compromise between union and slavery. Of the two evils of _no union_, or
+_no slavery_, it was thought the former was the worse, and consequently
+the free States fell in with the measure. But could the patriots of the
+Revolution have foreseen the gigantic growth of slavery, and the use
+that would have been made of the provision recognizing it, no
+consideration would have induced them to adopt a course that has been
+prolific of so much misrepresentation and mischief to the country. They
+left the suppression of slavery to the States where it existed, but
+there was no intention to ingraft the idea of property in man in the
+Constitution, or to favor its extension beyond the original slave States
+in any way. John Jay, the first Chief-Justice, was pre�minently
+qualified to judge respecting this. We have his testimony most
+explicitly denying the natural right of property in slaves, and
+declaring that the Constitution did not recognize the equity of its
+extension in the new States or Territories. Who was there more
+conversant with the genius of our country than Washington; and yet how
+full is his testimony to the evil of slavery; its want of natural right
+to support it, and the necessity of its speedy suppression and
+abolition? Is it possible that he, himself a slaveholder and an
+emancipationist, could utter such sentiments and enforce them by his
+example, if he regarded the Constitution as establishing the light of
+property in man, and the benefit of the indefinite expansion of slavery
+over the country? No, indeed! If we may consider the Constitution in
+relation to slaves an inconsistent instrument, we can not prove it an
+hypocritical and dishonest one. The hard necessities of the times wrung
+out of reluctant patriots the admission of the rendition of slaves, but
+they would not by any reasonable construction of language, assert the
+natural right of property in slaves, and the propriety or benefit of its
+toleration in new States and Territories. It was bad enough to tolerate
+this evil in the old slave States, but it would be infamous to hand down
+to posterity a Constitution denying the self-evident truths of the
+Declaration of Independence. Toleration is not synonymous with approval,
+or existence with right. There is a most subtle error in the assumption
+of the indifference of the Constitution to freedom and slavery--that it
+advocated neither, but protected both. Certainly the framers of the
+Constitution were not automatons, or this instrument the accident of the
+throw of the dice-box. The great purpose of this instrument was to raise
+the revenue, and defend the country. Its end was to protect the
+liberties and command the respect of civilized nations. The old
+Confederation was to give way to the Federal Constitution. The
+independence of the United States had been achieved at a heavy cost. To
+say nothing of frontiers exposed, country ravaged, towns burnt, commerce
+nearly ruined, the derangement of finances--the pecuniary loss alone
+amounted to one hundred and seventy million dollars, two thirds of which
+had been expended by Congress, the balance by individual States. The
+design of the Constitution was to preserve the fruits of the Revolution,
+to respect State sovereignty, and yet secure a powerful and efficient
+Union; to have a central government, and yet not infringe upon the local
+rights of the States. It will, therefore, be seen that while the subject
+of slavery was earnestly discussed, and presented at the outset a great
+obstacle to the union of the States, yet it was thought, upon the whole,
+best to leave to the slave States the business of doing away with this
+great evil in such a manner as in their judgment might best conduce to
+their own security and the preservation of the Union.
+
+But no truth of history is more evident than that the authors of the
+Constitution regarded slavery as impossible to be sustained upon the
+ground of the natural rights of mankind, and deserving of no
+encouragement in the Territories, or States hereafter to come into the
+Union. It was thought that the best interests of the slave States would
+lead them to abolish slavery, and that before many years, the Republic
+would cease to bear the disgrace of chattel bondage. It is certainly
+proper that the acts and language of the authors of the Constitution,
+and those who chiefly were instrumental in achieving our independence,
+should be made to interpret that instrument which was the creation of
+their own toils and love of country. Because the circumstances of the
+present day have brought about a mighty change in the feelings and
+opinions of the slave States, it does not follow that the Constitution
+in its original intention and spirit should be accommodated to this new
+aspect of things. It is easy to get up a theory of the natural right of
+slavery, and then say that the Constitution meant that the slave States
+should carry slave property just where the free States carry their
+property; but when this ground is taken, the Constitution is made, to
+all intents, a pro-slavery instrument. It ceases to be the charter of a
+nation's freedom, and resolves itself into the most effective agent of
+the propagandism of slavery. The transition is easy from such a theory
+to the fulfillment of the boast of Senator Toombs, 'that the roll of
+slaves might yet be called at the foot of Bunker Hill Monument.' But no
+straining of the language of the Constitution can make it mean the
+recognition of the natural right of slavery, The guarded manner in which
+the provision was made for the rendition of slaves, and all the
+circumstances connected with the adoption of the Constitution, show
+conclusively that slavery was considered only a local and municipal
+institution, a serious evil, to be suppressed and curtailed by the slave
+States, and never by the General Government a blessing to be fostered
+and extended where it did not exist at the time the Union of the
+thirteen States was perfected.
+
+Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States, in a
+speech at Atlanta, Georgia, said:
+
+     'Jefferson, Madison, Washington, and many others, were tender of
+     the word slave, in the organic law, and all looked forward to the
+     time when the institution of slavery should be removed from our
+     midst as a trouble and a stumbling-block. The delusion could not be
+     traced in any of the component parts of the Southern Constitution.
+     In that instrument we solemnly discarded the pestilent heresy of
+     fancy politicians, that all men of all races were equal, and we
+     have made African inequality, and subordination, the chief
+     corner-stone of the Southern Republic.'
+
+Here we have the great idea of an essential difference in relation to
+the Constitution and slavery existing at the present day South, from
+that which did exist at the time of its ratification universally by the
+people of the thirteen States. The Vice-President of the Southern
+Confederacy frankly admits that slavery is its chief corner-stone; that
+our ancestors were deluded upon the subject of slavery; that the ideas
+contained in the Declaration of Independence respecting the equality of
+all men, and their natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
+happiness, are only the pestilent heresy of fancy politicians;
+consequently that in the Southern Constitution all such trash was
+solemnly discarded. Can clearer proof be wanted to show that the
+stand-point of slavery and freedom has altogether changed since the days
+of Washington? Is it not true that our country at the present day
+presents the singular spectacle of two great divisions, one holding to
+the Constitution as interpreted by our ancestors North and South, the
+other openly repudiating such interpretation? Is it strange, with such a
+radical difference existing as to the import of the Constitution upon
+the subject of slavery, that we should have such frequent and ever
+persistent charges of Northern aggression? If the history of slavery be
+kept in mind, it will be seen that it has steadily had its eye upon one
+end, and that is national aggrandizement. Thus about two hundred
+thousand slaveholders wield all the political power of the South, and
+compel all non-slaveholders to acquiesce in their supremacy. But
+whatever the South may choose to do, the North is under obligation to
+give to slavery nothing more than what is guaranteed in the
+Constitution. If more than this is asked for, the North is bound by a
+just regard for its own interests and the prosperity of the country to
+refuse compliance. It has been seen that even admitting that a State has
+a just cause of complaint, or supposing as a matter of fact that the
+Constitution is violated, she can not set herself up to be exclusively
+the judge in this matter, and leave the Union at her convenience.
+
+The history of our country reveals two memorable cases where the
+question was decided that not the State, but the Federal Government was
+to be its own judge of what was constitutional, and act accordingly.
+First, the case of New-York; secondly, the course taken by Massachusetts
+in relation to the Embargo law of 1807, which was believed to be
+unconstitutional generally in New-England. In the case of New-York,
+there was, as has been said, the surrender of any right to secede from
+the Union at her pleasure; while in the Embargo law of 1807, which was
+brought up to the Supreme Court for decision, there was the acquiescence
+of New-England upon the simple point, who should be the final arbiter in
+the dispute. Massachusetts and all New-England assented to a decision of
+the Judiciary, not upon the ground that it was right, but that the
+Supreme Court had alone the authority to say what was right.
+
+In this case there was a perfect refutation of the whole theory of
+secession; that theory falls back upon the idea that the State
+government is to be its own judge of what constitutes a violation of the
+Constitution, and act accordingly; but the Embargo law of 1807, when
+carried up to the Supreme bench, and the way New-England assented to a
+decision that was not believed to be in accordance with the
+Constitution, is a signal rebuke of the assumption of State sovereignty
+when arrayed against the General Government. The all-important question
+was not, Was the decision of the Judiciary right, but simply, Who had
+the authority to say what was right? Who should submit to that
+authority? No person can fail to see in these two cases, under
+circumstances so widely different, and with an end proposed in each
+directly the reverse of the other, that the point so important to
+establish was clearly made out, that the National Government reserves to
+itself alone the right to decide as to what should be the course taken
+in questions of dispute that arise between the States and the Federal
+authority.
+
+It is mournful to see the finest country on the earth--a land peculiarly
+blessed with every element of material wealth, a land that has grown
+like a giant, and commanded the respect of the world--now in her central
+government made an object of contempt, and crippled in her strength by
+those very States who should, upon the principle of gratitude for favors
+granted, have been the last to leave the Union. While the Government at
+Washington has shown the utmost forbearance, they have manifested the
+greatest insolence, as well as disregard of the most sacred rights of
+the Union. An Absalom the most willful and impetuous of his father's
+family, and yet the most caressed and indulged, requites every debt of
+parental kindness by seeking through treachery and the prostitution of
+all his privileges to raise an insurrection in the household of David,
+and turn away through craft the hearts of the people from their rightful
+lord. So like Absalom, South-Carolina first unfurls the banner of
+treason and war among the sister States, desperately resolved to secure
+her selfish aggrandizement even at the price of the ruin of the country,
+but like Absalom, also, she is destined to experience a reverse as
+ignominious and as fatal.
+
+
+
+_A STORY OF MEXICAN LIFE_
+
+VIII.
+
+'My neighbor gazed at the stranger with bewilderment, and remained
+speechless. There was, nevertheless, nothing in his outward mien to give
+rise to so much emotion. He was a robust and rather handsome fellow, of
+about twenty-five, bold, swaggering, and free and easy in his
+deportment--a perfect specimen of the race of half-breeds so common in
+Mexico. His skin was swarthy, his features regular, and his beard
+luxuriant and soft as silk. His eyes were large and black as sloes, his
+teeth small, regular, and white as ivory, and his whole countenance,
+when in repose, wore an expression which won confidence rather than
+excited distrust. But when conversing, there was an indefinable
+craftiness in his smile, and a peculiar cunning in the twinkle of his
+eye, that often strikes the traveler in Mexico, as pervading all that
+class who are accustomed to making excursions into the interior. His
+costume, covered with dust, and torn in many places, led me to infer
+that he had only just returned from some long journey.
+
+'After waiting, with great politeness, for some few seconds, to allow
+Arthur time to address him, and finding he waited in vain, the Mexican
+opened the conversation:
+
+''I fear your excellency will scold me for delaying so long on the road;
+but how could I help it? I am more to be pitied than blamed--I lost
+three horses--at monte--and if it had not been by good luck that the ace
+turned up when I staked my saddle and bridle, I should not be here even
+now; but the ace won; I bought a fresh horse--and here I am.'
+
+''What success?' inquired Arthur, with a look of intense anxiety; 'did
+you bring any?'
+
+''Certainly,' replied Pepito, handing him very unconcernedly a small
+package; 'I brought more than you told me, and, in fact, I might have
+brought a mule-load if you had wanted so many.'
+
+''Ad�le!' cried Mr. Livermore, overcome with delight, as he rushed into
+my room, 'Ad�le, HE HAS FOUND IT!'
+
+Pepito followed Arthur with his sharp eye, and on beholding Ad�le, asked
+me, in a low tone:
+
+''Who is that lady, Caballero?'
+
+''I can not say; I myself never saw her until to-day,' said I; and
+noticing his gaze riveted on her in apparent admiration, I added:
+
+''Do you think her pretty?'
+
+''Pretty! Holy Virgin! she is lovely enough to make a man risk his
+salvation to win her.'
+
+'Feeling that my presence might be one of those superfluities with which
+they would gratefully dispense, I was on the point of leaving, when
+there was a knock at the door. Again Ad�le sought refuge in my room, and
+again Arthur advanced to the door:
+
+''Open, it is I,' said a voice from the outside; 'I have come to inquire
+after my friend Pepito.'
+
+''Se�or,' exclaimed Pepito, 'that must be my compadre, Pedro.'
+
+'On the door being opened, they flew to one another's arms, and gave a
+true Mexican embrace.
+
+'The entrance of Pedro, which evidently annoyed Mr. Livermore, awakened
+in my mind strange suspicions. I resolved at the earliest opportunity I
+had of a private interview with him, to allude to what I had overheard
+on the Alameda. In the mean time I would keep an eye on these two
+cronies.
+
+''Stand back, Pedro, and let me have a good look at you.'
+
+''_There!_ well, how do you think I look?'
+
+''My dear fellow, you are growing decidedly coarse and fat.'
+
+''Bah! but how do you like my new rig?'
+
+''I can not admire the cut; but, of course, you bought them
+ready-made--one could see that with half an eye.'
+
+''Well, Pepito, now that you are once more back in the city, I lack
+nothing to make me perfectly happy. You will spend the rest of the day
+with me?'
+
+''Of course, my dear fellow.'
+
+''Well, it is about dinner-time; let us be off.'
+
+''Wait till I have first bid adieu to his excellency,' replied Pepito,
+turning toward Mr. Livermore. Then advancing a few steps, he whispered a
+few words to him, at the same time bowing very low. Arthur unlocked the
+drawer of his table and took out a roll of dollars, which he handed to
+the Mexican.
+
+''Must you absolutely leave me so soon?' said he.
+
+''Well, Caballero, after so long a journey, a man requires relaxation,
+and enjoys a social glass; so, with your permission, I will see you
+again to-morrow.'
+
+'This answer was any thing but pleasing to Mr. Livermore, who turned to
+me, and addressing me in English, said:
+
+''My dear sir, once more I must trespass on your good-nature. It is
+essential to the success of my plans, that these two men should not be
+left together. Will you, _can_ you, tack yourself on to them, and keep
+close to Pepito until they separate?'
+
+''Your request is as strange as it is difficult of execution; but I will
+do my best.'
+
+''Gentlemen,' said I, to the two Mexicans, as we all three were going
+down the stairs, 'you were speaking of dining--now I want to visit a
+real Mexican _fonda_; I am tired of these French caf�s; will you favor
+me by taking me to a first-rate house, for I am not acquainted with this
+city.'
+
+''If you will accompany us to the Fonda Genovesa, Caballero,' said
+Pedro, 'I will warrant you will have no cause to repent it.'
+
+''I am infinitely indebted to you, and shall gladly accept your
+guidance.'
+
+'The Fonda Genovesa was certainly one of the vilest establishments I
+ever visited, and the dinner was, of course, detestably bad. However, I
+treated my two worthies to a couple of bottles of wine, which being to
+them a rare luxury, they declared they had fared sumptuously.
+
+''But, look here, Pepito,' said Pedro, 'you have not yet alluded to your
+journey. Where have you been all this time?'
+
+''Where have I been? Oh! well, that is a secret.'
+
+''A secret! what, from me, from your compadre Pedro?'
+
+''Even so, my dear Pedro, even so; I have sworn not to mention the
+object of my journey nor my destination.'
+
+''Oh! I dare say; but look here, what did you swear by--the holy Virgin
+of Guadalupe? No? Well, was it the cross?'
+
+''No, neither by the one nor the other.'
+
+''What is there binding, then? nothing else ought to keep you silent
+when _I_ am in question?'
+
+''I pledged my sacred honor.'
+
+''Your sacred honor! Give me your hand, you always were a wag, but you
+humbugged me this time, I confess; well, that _is_ a good one--the best
+joke I have heard for an age--excellent! well, go on, I am all
+attention, all ears.'
+
+''Well, you won't hear much, for I am a man of honor, and bound not to
+speak; besides, I received a hundred dollars to keep mum.'
+
+'Pedro for a moment appeared to be in a brown study; at last, gazing
+hard at his friend, he said:
+
+''Would two hundred tempt you to speak?'
+
+''If such a proposition were to come from a stranger, I might,
+perchance, accept it; but seeing it comes from you--never.'
+
+''Why?'
+
+''Because, when you offer me two hundred dollars for any thing, it must
+be worth far more than you offer.'
+
+''Well, now, admit, just as a supposition, that I am interested in this
+matter, what harm will it do you, if we both turn an honest penny?'
+
+''That is just the point; but I don't want you to turn ten pennies to my
+one.'
+
+''Your scruples, my dear Pepito, display a cautious temperament, and
+evince deep acquaintance with human nature; you see through my little
+veil of mystery, and I own your sagacity; now I will be honest with
+you--with a man like you, lying is mere folly. It is true, I am to have
+four hundred dollars if I can find out where you have been. I swear to
+you by the holy Virgin of Guadalupe, I am making a clean breast of it.
+Now, will you take that amount? Say the word, and I will go and fetch it
+right away.'
+
+'This proposition seemed to embarrass the scrupulous Pepito extremely,
+and he remained some time lost in thought.
+
+''But, if you only receive four hundred, and give me four hundred, what
+the deuce will you make out of such an operation?'
+
+''Trust entirely to your generosity.'
+
+''What! leave me to do what I like! I take you up--by Jupiter! Pedro,
+that is a noble trait in your character--I take you up.'
+
+''Then it is a bargain. Will you wait here for me, or would you prefer
+to meet me at our usual Monte in the Calle de los Meradores?'
+
+''I prefer the Monte.'
+
+''You will swear on the cross, to relate fully and truly every
+particular relating to your journey?'
+
+''Of course--every thing.'
+
+''I will be there in a couple of hours.'
+
+'After his friend's departure, Pepito sat silent; his brow was knit, and
+yet a mocking sneer played around his lips; he seemed to be pursuing two
+trains of thought at once; suspicion and merriment were clearly working
+in his mind.
+
+''This is a droll affair, Caballero; I can't clearly see the bottom of
+it'
+
+''There is nothing very unusual in it that I see,' I replied, 'for every
+day men sacrifice honor for gold.'
+
+''True, nothing more common, and yet this proposition beats all I ever
+met with.'
+
+''In what respect?'
+
+''Why, the interest that these folks who employ Pedro, take in this
+journey that I undertook for your friend, Se�or Pride.'
+
+''But, if this journey has some valuable secret object in view?'
+
+''Valuable secret!' repeated Pepito, bursting into a fit of laughter;
+'Yes, a valuable secret indeed! Oh! the joke of offering four hundred
+dollars for what, 'twixt you and me, is not worth a cent. But who can it
+be that is behind Pedro, in this matter? He must be some rival doctor,
+or else a naturalist, on the same scent.'
+
+''Is Se�or Pride,' I inquired, 'a doctor--are you sure of that?'
+
+''Yes--he must be--but I don't know,' exclaimed Pepito; 'I am at my
+wits' end. If he is not, I have been working in the dark, and he has
+deceived me with a false pretext; I am at a loss--dead beat. But one
+thing is plain--I can make four hundred dollars, if I like.'
+
+''And will you betray your employer?' said I indignantly.
+
+''Time enough--never decide rashly, Caballero; I shall
+deliberate--nothing like sleeping on important affairs; to-morrow--who
+knows what to-morrow may bring forth?'
+
+'So saying, Pepito arose, took his traveling sword under his arm, placed
+his hat jauntily on his head, cast an admiring eye at the looking-glass,
+and then brushed off some of the dust that still clung to his left
+sleeve.
+
+''The smile of Heaven abide with you, Se�or,' said he, with a most
+graceful bow. 'As for your friend's secret, do not be uneasy about it; I
+am not going to meet Pedro to-night. I shall take advantage of his
+absence to make a call on my lady-love. Pedro is a good fellow, but
+shockingly self-conceited; he fancies himself far smarter than
+I--perhaps he is--but somehow I fancy, this time he must be early if he
+catches me asleep.'
+
+'On his departure, I paid the bill, which both my friends had
+overlooked, then walked out and seated myself on the Alameda, which at
+that hour was thronged with promenaders. Isolated, buried in thought, in
+the midst of that teeming throng, the various episodes in the drama of
+which my mysterious neighbor was the principal character, passed before
+my mind. I again and again reviewed the strange events which, by some
+freak of fortune, I had been a witness to. What was the basis on which
+my friend, with two sets of names, founded his dream of inexhaustible
+wealth, this mission he had intrusted to Pepito? What the mission which
+the agent laughed at, and which to gain a clue to, others were tempting
+him with glittering bribes? And again, why the deceit practiced on
+Pepito, by assuming the guise of a doctor? Each of these facts was a
+text on which I piled a mountain of speculation.
+
+'Vexed and annoyed at finding myself becoming entangled in this web of
+mystery, as well as piqued at my failure to unravel it, I determined to
+avoid all further connection with any of the actors; and full of this
+resolve, I wended my way homeward, to have a final and decisive
+interview with Mr. Livermore.
+
+'The worthy Donna Teresa Lopez confronted me as I entered the inner
+door:
+
+''Plenty of news, is there not?' she asked; 'I heard a good deal of
+squabbling, last night; that man in the cloak was noisy.'
+
+''Yes; they had an interesting discussion.'
+
+''You can not make me believe that was all. _Discussion_, indeed! When
+there is a pretty woman in the case, and two men talk as loudly as they
+did, it generally ends in a serious kind of discussion. 'When love stirs
+the fire, anger makes the blood boil.' Tell me, now, will they fight
+here, in the Se�or Pride's room?'
+
+'This question, which Donna Teresa put in the most matter-of-fact sort
+of way, staggered me considerably, and confirmed me in the resolution to
+avoid the whole business.
+
+''I sincerely trust, Se�ora, that such an event is not probable. On what
+do you base your supposition?'
+
+''There is nothing so very astounding in rivals fighting; but it is all
+the same to me. I only asked that I might take precautions.'
+
+''Precautions! what, inform the police?'
+
+''No, no! I thought it might be as well to take down the new
+curtains--the blood might spoil them.'
+
+'Need I say I terminated my interview with my hostess, more impressed
+with admiration of her business qualities than of her sympathetic
+virtues? But let me do the poor woman justice; life is held so cheap,
+and the knife acts so large a part in Mexico, that violence and sudden
+death produce a mere transient effect.
+
+
+IX.
+
+'Instead of going to my own apartments, I went direct to Mr.
+Livermore's, intending thus to show him that I wished no longer to be
+looked upon as the man in the next room.
+
+''We were dying with anxiety to see you,' he said, as I entered; 'walk
+into the other room, you will find Ad�le there.'
+
+''Well, Mr. Rideau,' said she, with intense anxiety visible on her
+countenance, 'what passed between those two men?'
+
+''Little of importance. Pedro offered Pepito four hundred dollars if he
+would divulge the particulars of his journey; to which offer Pepito has
+acceded. That is about all.'
+
+'I was far from anticipating the effect my answer would produce on my
+hearers. They were overwhelmed--thunderstruck. Ad�le was the first to
+recover.
+
+''Fool! fool that I was,' she exclaimed, 'why did I select in such an
+enterprise a man worn down by sickness and disease?'
+
+'The look she cast on Arthur, rapid as it was, was so full of menace
+and reproach, that it startled me.
+
+''Well, Arthur,' she said, laying her hand on his arm; 'do you feel ill
+again?'
+
+'Roused by the sound of her voice, Arthur placed his hand on his heart,
+and mutely plead excuse for the silence which his sufferings imposed on
+him.
+
+'As for me, I spoke no word, but mentally consigned my mysterious
+neighbors to a distant port, whence consignments never return.
+
+''My dear sir,' I replied at length, 'Pepito's treachery, which appears
+so deeply to affect you, is not yet carried into execution, it is only
+contemplated. I will give you word for word what transpired.'
+
+'When I had concluded my narrative, to which they listened with
+breathless attention, Ad�le exclaimed:
+
+''Our hopes are not yet crushed, the case is not utterly desperate; but
+alas! it is evident our secret is suspected, if not known. Arthur,' she
+continued, 'now is the time to display all our energy. We have some
+enemy to dread, as I have long suspected. If we do not at once steal a
+march on him, then farewell forever to all our dreams of happiness, of
+wealth, or even of subsistence.'
+
+''Sir,' said she, again addressing me; 'your honor alone has kept you in
+ignorance of our secret. You could easily have tempted and corrupted
+Pepito. We prefer you should learn it from us rather than from an
+accidental source. We merely request your word of honor that you will
+not use it to your own advantage, without our joint consent, nor in any
+way thwart our plans.'
+
+''I am deeply sensible, madame, of the confidence you repose in me; but
+I must beg you will allow me to remain in ignorance.'
+
+''You refuse, then, to give us the promise?' exclaimed Ad�le, 'I see it
+all! you will thwart us; you would preserve your liberty of action
+without forfeiting your word.'
+
+'If you had known me longer, such a suspicion would not have crossed
+your mind. However, as I have no other means of proving it unjust, I
+will give the pledge you desire, I am now ready to hear whatever you
+have to communicate.'
+
+'Mr. Livermore resumed the conversation:
+
+''The secret which Ad�le imparted to me will, I dare say, appear at
+first very extravagant, but before you laugh at it, give me time to
+explain. It is the existence of a marvelous opal mine in the interior;
+the precise location of which is known to no one save Ad�le and myself.'
+
+'In spite of the greatest effort, I could not suppress a smile of
+incredulity, at this announcement. Mexico is so full of strange stories
+of fabulous mines, that this wondrous tale of opals looked to me like
+some new confidence game, and I felt sure my neighbors were duped or
+else trying to dupe me.
+
+''Oh! I see you think we are deceived?'
+
+''I admit,' I replied, 'it strikes me as possible that you have been the
+victims of some crafty scheme. Did you hear of this mine before or since
+your arrival in Mexico?'
+
+''Before we left New-Orleans.'
+
+''And yet it is not known to the natives?'
+
+''It was from a Mexican we had our information.'
+
+''Why did not this Mexican himself take advantage of it?'
+
+''He could not, for he was banished. He is now dead. But what do you
+think of these specimens?'
+
+'He took from a drawer ten or twelve opals of rare size and brilliancy.
+I examined them with care; they were, beyond all doubt, of very
+considerable value. My incredulity gradually gave way to amazement.
+
+''Are you certain these opals really came from the mine of which you
+speak?'
+
+''Nothing can be more certain; you saw Pepito hand me a package; you
+heard his remark that he could have brought a mule-load; these are a
+few of what he did bring.'
+
+''This mine then really exists?' I said, my incredulity giving way to
+the most ardent curiosity.
+
+''Really exists! yes, my friend; if you listen, I will dispel all doubt
+of that.'
+
+
+X.
+
+''On arriving in this country, my first step was to procure a guide and
+the necessary equipage for reaching the opal mine. Although I felt sure
+of its existence, I could not dispel the fear that the story of its
+marvelous richness would prove false. Without loss of time, I started;
+for to me it was a question of life and death. I had, however, barely
+accomplished a third of the journey, when I was prostrated by fever. The
+fatigue of traveling in the interior of this magnificent but wretched
+country, combined with excitement and anxiety, preyed upon my mind, and
+brought on an illness, from which at one time I gave up all hope of
+recovering. I was compelled to return to Vera Cruz. The doctors were all
+of the opinion that several months of perfect repose would be necessary
+before I could undertake another such journey. Several months--oh! how
+those words fell on my ears; they sounded like the knell of all my
+hopes. A thousand expedients floated through my brain, and in adopting
+the course I eventually did, time alone will prove whether I followed
+the promptings of a good or evil genius. One evening, I explained to my
+attendant that I was a medical man, deeply interested in botanical and
+mineralogical discoveries; that my object in undertaking my recent
+journey was to collect certain rare herbs and a singular description of
+shell. I laid peculiar stress on the herbs, and added in relation to the
+shells, that I merely wanted a few specimens, as they were rare in my
+country. My attendant at once proffered his services, to go in search of
+them. I appeared at first to attach but little importance to his offer;
+but as he renewed it whenever the subject was alluded to, I at last
+employed him. The mine is situated on the margin of a little brook. One
+day's work of an active man will turn the stream into a fresh channel,
+and a few inches beneath its bed will be found, mixed with the damp sand
+and loam, the shells, which, when polished, form the opal. I gave my
+servant the needful information as to localities and landmarks, and
+promised him a gratuity of a hundred dollars over and above his wages,
+in case he succeeded. Having given him instructions, I retained his
+services until I reached this city, where I determined to await his
+return, it being more healthy than Vera Cruz. Having selected my
+lodgings and given him the pass-word by which alone a stranger could
+obtain admittance to me, with an anxious heart I dispatched him on the
+mission.
+
+''For three months I had no tidings of him; night and day, I was the
+prey of doubt and fear. No words can portray the agony of suspense that
+I endured; the hours seemed days, the days months, and the bitterness of
+years was crowded into that short interval. At last, thanks be to
+heaven, my messenger returned.'
+
+''Do you mean Pepito?' I exclaimed.
+
+''The very man,' replied Arthur; 'his journey was successful. You have
+seen the specimens he brought. I was intoxicated with delight; but Ad�le
+did not share my joy. Nature has given woman a faculty of intuition
+denied to man. Alas! Ad�le's presentiment has been verified; your
+account of the interview between Pepito and his friend proves her fears
+were well-grounded.'
+
+''In what way?'
+
+''In _this_ way; it shows we have an enemy who has an inkling of our
+secret, and is striving to snatch the prize from us. What course to take
+I am at a loss to know. Ad�le advises to make sure of Pepito, at any
+price.'
+
+''And that strikes me as being your surest if not your only course.'
+
+''Yes, the surest; but how to make _sure_ of him?'
+
+''By outbidding your competitors, and proving to him that in adhering to
+you he is best serving his own interests.'
+
+''But he is base enough to take bribes from both sides, and betray
+each.'
+
+''Oh! that I were a man!' exclaimed Ad�le, 'this fellow is the only one
+who knows our secret. One man ought not to stand in fear of another.
+Only _one_ man crosses your path, Arthur.'
+
+''Unless I murder him, how can he be silenced?'
+
+''_Murder_ him! It is not murder to kill a robber. Were _I_ a man, I
+would not hesitate how to act.'
+
+''The anxiety of Pedro,' I said, 'indicates you have an enemy. Have you
+any idea who he is?'
+
+''I believe,' said Ad�le, 'that I know him.'
+
+''Are you sure there is only one?'
+
+''Why do you ask?' said the woman, fixing her eye upon me as though she
+would, in spite of every obstacle, read my inmost thoughts.
+
+''Because I fancy there are _two_, for instance, Brown and Hunt.'
+
+'At the mention of these names Ad�le started to her feet, exclaiming:
+
+''On all sides there is treachery. I _demand_, sir, an explanation. What
+leads you to associate the name of that firm with this matter? Either
+you are our friend or you are not. Speak plainly!'
+
+''Madame, by the merest chance, I overheard Pedro mention those names,
+and since you have given me your confidence, I will give you some
+information which may put you on your guard, and help to guide your
+future plans.'
+
+'I then briefly related the conversations I had overheard between
+General Valiente and Pedro, both on the Alameda and in the gaming-house
+in the Calle del Arco.
+
+''Now, madame,' I continued, 'let me inquire whether the Mexican from
+whom you derived your information, had any connection with this firm?'
+
+''Yes, sir, he knew them,' she replied; then, after a slight pause, she
+added: 'We have already told you so much that it would be folly to
+conceal the way in which we became acquainted with the existence of this
+mine. Soon after my marriage, I met a veteran officer of the Mexican
+army, General Ramiro, then living in exile, at New-Orleans. For me he
+conceived a paternal affection, and many a time remonstrated with Mr.
+Percival, and entreated him to devote himself to his family, and abandon
+the course of life which was leading him to ruin. He often spoke of his
+desire to return to Mexico, and lived constantly in the hope of the
+decree being revoked, which had driven him into exile. One day he
+disclosed the chief cause of his desire to return, by revealing the
+secret we have imparted to you.'
+
+''Pardon me, madame,' I said, 'but tell me how General Ramiro gained his
+information? Exploring for opal mines is hardly part of the duties of a
+General, even in Mexico.'
+
+''I was about to explain that,' replied the lady. 'An Indian, convicted
+of murdering a monk, some three years previously, was condemned to
+death. On being taken, according to Mexican usage, on the eve of
+execution, to the confessional, he refused the slightest attention to
+the exhortations of the priests, affirming that he had written a letter
+to the Governor, which would secure his pardon.
+
+''True enough, a party of dragoons arrived during the night, and took
+him away. The letter was addressed to General Ramiro, then acting as
+Governor, and contained promises of a revelation of the highest
+importance.
+
+''When conducted to the General, the Indian proved, by a host of
+details, the existence of an opal mine, which he had accidentally
+discovered, and in return for the revelation, demanded a free pardon.'
+
+''I understand, perfectly, madame,' I added, seeing Ad�le hesitate.
+
+''I feel,' she said, 'a certain reluctance at this portion of my
+narrative, for it forces me to lay bare an act which General Ramiro ever
+after regretted, and which--' ''Madame, I will spare you the recital;
+the fact is, the General gained the Indian's secret, and
+then--unfortunately for the Indian--forgot to fulfill his promise.'
+
+''Alas! sir, you have rightly judged. Two hours after the interview, the
+Indian suffered the garrote, and General Ramiro became the sole
+possessor of this important secret. I will not attempt to justify my
+venerable friend. He sincerely lamented his sin, and retribution
+followed him with long, sad years of exile and poverty. We often sat
+together for hours, he talking of his wonderful mine, and longing for
+his recall to his native land. His enemies, however, held a firm hold of
+government, and growing weary of delay, he made overtures to this firm
+of Brown and Hunt, through their correspondents in New-Orleans. Being
+sadly in want of funds, he was even mad enough to give a hint of some
+kind, relative to an opal mine, which was to be worked by them on joint
+account.
+
+''Before any definite arrangement was perfected, an event occurred which
+is indelibly impressed on my memory. The General, after spending a
+portion of the afternoon with us, had returned to his home; and about
+eleven at night, a messenger begged my immediate attendance on him. He
+had been taken suddenly ill; and my husband, who was cognizant of the
+paternal affection the General felt for me, urged me to hasten to his
+bedside.
+
+''I found him at the point of death; but my presence seemed to call him
+back to life. 'My child,' said he, placing in my hands a very voluminous
+letter, 'this is all I have to give you. Farewell, dear child, I am
+going. Farewell, forever.' In a few moments he was no more. I returned
+home a prey to the most intense grief, and for several days did not
+think of opening the letter I had received from my dying benefactor. It
+contained the most precise details of the situation of the opal mine,
+and advice as to the best means of reaching it.
+
+''So you see, Mr. Rideau,' she added, after a slight pause, 'the secret
+is known only to three persons--Arthur, Pepito, and myself. What, under
+the circumstances, would you do?'
+
+''I see but one course, madame--prompt action; by this means only can
+you hope to succeed. You should start without a day's delay.'
+
+''And Pepito?'
+
+''Take him with you.'
+
+''Your advice would be excellent were it practicable; but the state of
+Mr. Livermore's health will not permit him to travel.'
+
+''Oh! never fear, Ad�le; your presence and your care will keep me up. I
+shall gain strength by change of air and scene.'
+
+'Ad�le was, probably, about to protest against such a proof of his
+attachment, when she was interrupted by a knock at the door.
+
+''It is Pepito,' said I. My conjecture proved correct. Opening the door,
+the Mexican appeared, dressed in a new suit, and evidently not a little
+proud of his external improvements. He bowed politely to Mr. Livermore
+and myself, and then bending before Ad�le, took her hand and raised it
+with true Mexican grace, to his lips.
+
+''You arrive, Pepito,' said Ad�le, 'at the very moment we are talking
+about you.'
+
+'Pepito again bowed to the lady.
+
+''Se�ora,' said he, 'to please you I would die; to obey you I would kill
+myself.'
+
+'The exaggerated tone of Mexican politeness which prompted this reply
+did not surprise Ad�le, but it brought a smile to her lips.
+
+''I trust my wishes will not lead to such disastrous results,' she
+replied. 'The fact is, Se�or Pride thinks shortly of undertaking another
+journey; and as his health is delicate, we are anxious you should bear
+us company. I need not add, the zeal you have already shown, will not
+fail to secure our interest in your future welfare.'
+
+''Indeed! does his excellency intend starting very soon? May I be
+allowed to ask where is he going?'
+
+''To the same place,' said Arthur.
+
+''Oh! oh! I see; the herbs and shells I brought were not enough to
+answer his excellency's purpose; you want more of the shells--eh,
+Se�or?'
+
+'Yes, a few more,' said Arthur, with a deep sigh, for he felt acutely
+the ironical tone which the Mexican assumed.
+
+''Well, what would you say, Se�or Pride, if, instead of the few I handed
+you, I had brought a sack full--you would not feel angry, would you?'
+
+''Scoundrel! you have not dared to thus deceive me?' exclaimed Mr.
+Livermore, starting to his feet and advancing toward Pepito, with an air
+of menace.
+
+''Unfortunately, I did not; but you have proved to me what a fool I was,
+not to suspect their value. You evidently attach immense importance to
+them.'
+
+''Control your temper, Arthur,' said Ad�le, in English, 'or you will
+ruin every thing.'
+
+''After all,' resumed Pepito, 'it is only a chance deferred, not a
+chance lost. With a good horse, I can soon make up for lost time.'
+
+'His tone of defiance annihilated the self-possession even of Ad�le;
+while as for Arthur, he looked the very picture of despair. I,
+therefore, resolved to smooth matters over, and if possible, to bring
+Pepito to terms. At first he listened to me very unwillingly, and
+answered sulkily and laconically; but wearied at last by my pertinacity,
+he suggested that it was scarcely fair play for me to assume to sit as
+judge in a cause wherein I was an interested party.'
+
+''You are strangely mistaken, Pepito,' I said, in reply; 'I can swear to
+you on my honor, and by the holy Virgin of Guadalupe, that I am not in
+any way a party to this transaction; and that its success or its failure
+will not affect me to the extent of a real.
+
+''Oh! I beg your pardon, Caballero,' muttered Pepito, on whom my
+adjuration by the holy Virgin of Guadalupe, had produced an unexpected
+effect. 'In that case I will trust to your advice; I rely on your honor.
+Now tell me--I know very well these shells are valuable--how much would
+a mule-load be worth--two thousand dollars?'
+
+''Yes, and perhaps more.'
+
+''You speak frankly, like a man!' he exclaimed with delight; 'you don't
+seek to take advantage of my ignorance; you are a true gentleman. Tell
+me where I could sell these things.'
+
+''You could find no one to buy them in this country; they must be sent
+either to Europe or New-York.'
+
+''The devil! that upsets my plans. I know no one in Europe, no one in
+New-York; besides, I can neither read nor write; I should be cheated on
+all hands. Is there no way to settle this business between ourselves?
+Listen, now: I will agree not only to accompany Se�or Pride as his
+guide, but to do all the work when we arrive at our destination, on
+condition that he pays me two thousand dollars for every trip we make.
+What do you say to my proposition?'
+
+''That it is Se�or Pride who must answer you, not I.'
+
+
+XI.
+
+'Obeying the injunction laid upon him by Ad�le, Mr. Livermore affected
+to demur at the high price placed by Pepito on his cooperation, but
+finally appeared to yield to our joint solicitation.
+
+''Well, then, the bargain is closed,' said Pepito, smiling. 'Now I can
+understand why Pedro was so anxious to have me betray my trust. Oh! how
+delighted I am to think he will find I have left him in the lurch.'
+
+''Se�or Pepito,' said Ad�le, with a most winning smile, 'do you happen
+to know a family residing some short distance from this city, who, in
+consideration of a liberal compensation, would not object to take a lady
+to board with them?'
+
+''I do, Se�ora, at Toluca.'
+
+''How far is it from here?'
+
+''Twelve or fourteen leagues.'
+
+'' Are you intimate enough with the family to take me there to-morrow,
+without previously informing them of my intention?'
+
+''Certainly; the lady I allude to is my sister.'
+
+''Then to-morrow morning early, at seven, say. But Se�or Pepito, I had
+forgotten to warn you that in escorting me you will run a great danger.'
+
+''Oh! I am not afraid of the robbers on the road; they know me well, and
+never molest me.'
+
+''It is not of robbers that I stand in dread.'
+
+''Of what, then?'
+
+''Of a man--an enemy who hates me with a deadly hatred, and who, I fear,
+seeks my life.'
+
+''A man--_one_ man--and he seeks your life; well, well, I should like
+to meet him face to face,' exclaimed Pepito.
+
+''Then, Se�or, you promise to protect me at any risk?'
+
+''Protect you! _yes_,' replied he with vehemence, 'I pledge you my
+honor, my body, and my soul. I will face the bravest of the brave, to
+defend you from injury.'
+
+''From my heart of hearts I thank you, Pepito,' said Mr. Livermore, 'you
+shall find me not ungrateful, and in return for the zeal and devotion
+you have shown, two hundred dollars shall be yours, on your return with
+tidings of madame's safe arrival.'
+
+''I will at once proceed to secure the necessary equipage, Se�or.
+Se�ora, rely on my punctuality; at seven, I shall attend you.'
+
+''Are you related to Se�or Pride?' asked Pepito, as we descended the
+stairs.
+
+''In no way; I have known him only a few days.'
+
+''Well, Caballero, I own I am enchanted with his wife; I never met a
+woman of such matchless beauty, such fascinating manners; why, Se�or, if
+she said to me, 'Pepito, kill your brother,' and I had a brother, which,
+luckily, I have not, I think I should kill him.'
+
+'These words were uttered with so much vehemence, that I deemed it
+advisable to turn the conversation.
+
+''It seems strange to me,' said I, 'that you should be so intimate with
+Pedro, and yet be ever on the very verge of quarreling with him.'
+
+''Well, it is perhaps astonishing to those who do not know us; but
+somehow Pedro is my best, in fact, my only friend. We were brought up in
+the same village, and are just like brothers. He is a good sort of
+fellow, but is abominably vain and self-conceited; then he is deucedly
+overbearing. He has no delicacy for his friend's feelings, and, in fact,
+has a thousand failings that no one else but I could tolerate. True, we
+have now and then a pretty rough time of it. The two gashes on his left
+cheek are mementoes of my regard, and I confess I have two ugly marks,
+one on my shoulder, the other on my right breast, which I owe to him.
+But what galls me most, he is always talking of his six dead ones, while
+I can claim only five; but then my five are all men, while two of his
+six are women.'
+
+''Horrible!' I exclaimed.
+
+''Yes, it is not a fair count; but then it shows his insatiable vanity.
+Vanity is one of the capital sins; it is hard to tell into what meanness
+it may not lead a man.' With this sententious denunciation, the Mexican,
+who had clearly misinterpreted my indignant ejaculation, raised his hat,
+with an air of extreme politeness, and departed.
+
+'When I again entered Mr. Livermore's apartment, the conversation
+naturally turned on Pepito.
+
+''Well, what think you of my cavalier?' said Ad�le.
+
+''As you are aware, my acquaintance with him is of but recent date; but
+one thing speaks greatly in his favor: he has been for several months
+attached to Mr. Livermore's person, both as guide and as attendant while
+sick, and he has not attempted, as far as I have heard, either to
+assassinate or poison him. This I take to be a striking proof of
+meritorious moderation.'
+
+''I fear, Ad�le, we are acting imprudently,' said Arthur, 'in intrusting
+you to the tender mercies of such an unprincipled scoundrel, a man you
+have seen but twice.
+
+''Good heavens! dearest Arthur, would it be less imprudent for that man
+Percival to find me here? I shudder to think of ever again meeting him;
+and moreover, by flattering this Pepito and pretending to place entire
+confidence in him, I shall win him to a devoted submission to my every
+wish.'
+
+'After a somewhat protracted but by no means important conversation, I
+retired, promising to see them in the morning, previous to Ad�le's
+departure.
+
+
+XII.
+
+'Shortly before the appointed hour, Pepito arrived, and announced that
+all his preparations had been made. His fair charge quickly made her
+appearance, dressed in complete Mexican costume. It suited her
+remarkably well, and I was not surprised to observe the intense
+admiration with which Pepito gazed upon her, for her beauty was truly
+fascinating. Notwithstanding my suspicions of the absence of that inner
+spiritual beauty which should adorn all female loveliness, I myself
+could scarce resist the spell she exercised on my feelings, even in
+spite of my judgment.
+
+'Turning to Pepito, with a smile, she inquired gayly, 'Well, Se�or, how
+do you like my change of costume?'
+
+'The Mexican replied merely by putting his hand on his heart, and bowing
+almost reverentially.
+
+'Having given Mr. Livermore an affectionate embrace, she exclaimed, in a
+firm, determined voice: 'Let us be off: time is precious.'
+
+'It had been arranged that I should accompany them until they were out
+of the city. I therefore left Mr. Livermore alone, and followed the two
+travelers. On reaching the street, Ad�le took the Mexican's arm; but as
+they turned the corner of one of the streets running into the Cathedral
+Square, I noticed that she raised her hood and lowered the veil attached
+to it. Surprised at this apparently uncalled-for act of caution, I
+inquired the reason.
+
+''Do you not see Mr. Percival?' she exclaimed, in Spanish.
+
+''Who is he? Is that the man you said you dreaded? that
+melancholy-looking man, who is walking so moodily ahead of us?'
+exclaimed Pepito. 'I must have a good look at him.'
+
+''Be cautious, I beseech you; if he sees me, all is lost.'
+
+''Fear nothing, I will be discreet; I only want to get one good look at
+him.' So saying, Pepito increased his speed, and was soon walking beside
+the unconscious Percival.
+
+'In a few minutes, Pepito turned suddenly down a narrow street, into
+which we followed, and there we found a carriage awaiting us.
+
+''Se�ora, I shall know your enemy among a thousand,' was Pepito's
+remark, on again offering Ad�le his arm, to assist her in entering the
+vehicle.
+
+'We were soon safely out of the city, and taking advantage of the first
+returning carriage we met, I returned with it, Ad�le thanked me with
+much apparent gratitude for my past services, and begged me to devote as
+much of my leisure as possible to cheering and advising her dear Arthur.
+
+'On my return, I found him pacing his chamber with intense anxiety, and
+evidently prostrated by the excitement he had undergone.
+
+''Well, what news?' said he, almost gasping for breath.
+
+''Ad�le is beyond the reach of danger.'
+
+''You met no one?'
+
+''No one.'
+
+''Heaven be praised; and yet I feel a presentiment I shall never see her
+again--never.'
+
+''Pshaw! love is always timorous; it delights in raising phantoms.'
+
+''This is no phantom; death is a reality, and, mark my words, on earth
+we shall meet no more.'
+
+'Overcome by the violence of his emotions, he buried his face in his
+hands, and gave way to an outburst of Intense grief. Yielding, finally,
+to my reiterated entreaties, he threw himself upon his bed, and, as I
+had some private business to settle, I left him to the care of our
+officious hostess, who was only too happy to find one on whom she could
+display her self-acquired knowledge of the healing art.
+
+'The next day, Arthur, though still feeble, was able to walk about his
+apartments. Toward dusk, a letter arrived from Ad�le. She announced her
+safe arrival at Toluca, spoke in terms of praise of Pepito's devotion
+and attention, and expressed herself agreeably surprised at the
+hospitality she had received from his sister. The receipt of this letter
+produced a marked improvement in my patient's health. In a postscript,
+reference was made to an accident which had happened to poor Pepito, who
+was prevented from being the bearer of this letter, by having sprained
+his ankle. This would retard his return to the city for a day or two;
+nevertheless, she begged her 'dear Arthur' not to be uneasy, as even
+this delay, annoying as it was, might prove of advantage, as it would
+give him time to recover from the effects of the excitement of the past
+few days.
+
+'After Ad�le's departure, I again fastened up the door of communication,
+and although I saw him at least once every day, to some extent I carried
+out my determination of ceasing to be on such intimate terms with Mr.
+Livermore. I fell back into my former course of life, and yet I felt a
+certain envy of the colossal fortune upon which he had, as it were,
+stumbled. Though I sincerely wished my poor sick neighbor might succeed
+in his enterprise, I gradually grew restless and morose. The opal-mine
+became a painful and distasteful topic of conversation, and as Arthur
+invariably adverted to it in some way or other, I by degrees made my
+visits of shorter and shorter duration.
+
+'In vain I strove to divert my mind from this one absorbing idea. I
+visited the theatres, attended cock-pits and bull-fights, in the hope
+that the excitement would afford me relief from the fascinating spell:
+but it was useless, I was a haunted man.
+
+'One night, returning from the opera, at about ten o'clock, I was
+stopped by a large crowd at the corner of the Calle Plateros. From an
+officer near me, I ascertained that a foreigner, believed to be a
+heretic, had been stabbed, and was either dead or dying.
+
+'The next morning, in the _Diario de Gobierno_, which Donna Teresa
+brought up with my chocolate, I learned that 'at about ten on the
+previous night, an American, named Percival, recently arrived from
+New-Orleans, was murdered in the Calle Plateros.' His watch and purse
+were missing; it was therefore inferred that robbery and not revenge had
+prompted the foul deed.
+
+'I instantly summoned Donna Teresa, and requested her to take the paper,
+which I marked, to Mr. Livermore; and as soon as my breakfast was over,
+I hastened to make my usual call. I found him looking very sombre.
+
+''God is my witness!' he exclaimed, the instant I entered the room,
+'that I did not seek this poor unfortunate man's death; but it relieves
+Ad�le from all fear. Have you heard any details of the event?'
+
+''I have not; but assassination is not so rare here that you need be
+under any fear about it. No suspicion can possibly attach to you.'
+
+''I have no fear, for I know my own innocence; but it is inexplicable to
+me. Poor Percival! he could have had no enemy in the city.'
+
+''Doubtless he was murdered for his money and his watch; but have you
+heard from Toluca?'
+
+''Yes, and Ad�le informs me that I may expect Pepito in the course of
+the day. So I shall not delay my departure beyond to-morrow, perhaps
+to-night. But there is some one at the door; doubtless it is Pepito.'
+
+'Mr. Livermore opened the door; but instead of Pepito it was his friend,
+Pedro, who entered.
+
+''My presence surprises you, Caballero,' said Pedro, drawing a long
+sigh; 'but alas! I have bad news.'
+
+'What! bad news? speak, speak, quick!' exclaimed Arthur, turning
+deadly pale.
+
+'Pedro, before deigning to answer, drew forth a very soiled rag, which
+served him as a handkerchief, and proceeded to rub his eyes with no
+little vigor, a pantomime which was intended no doubt to convey the idea
+of tears having dimmed his eyes.
+
+''Alas! Excellency,' said he at length, in a lugubrious tone; 'poor
+Pepito is in sad trouble.'
+
+''Have you been fighting again? Have you killed him?' I exclaimed.
+
+''Killed him? _I_ kill him!' he repeated indignantly; 'how can you
+imagine such an outrage, Caballero? Kill my best friend! No, Se�or; but
+poor Pepito has been pressed into a military company. To-morrow, they
+will uniform him and march him off to some frontier regiment.'
+
+''Is there no way of buying him off?' inquired Arthur.
+
+''Nothing more easy, Caballero. You have simply to write to the General
+who commands the department, and state that Pepito is attached to your
+person, as a personal attendant, and that will suffice to set him at
+liberty. They never press people in service.'
+
+'Mr. Livermore lost no time in following Pedro's advice. As soon as the
+letter was handed to him, the latter waved it in triumph over his head,
+and rushed forth to effect the deliverance of his dear compadre, Pepito.
+
+'The impressment of Pepito surprised me, for I had not heard of their
+taking any body who had reached the dignity of a pair of inexpressibles,
+and the luxury of a pair of shoes. The Indians in the neighborhood of
+the capital, besotted by drink and misery, almost naked, and living or
+rather burrowing in caves, were usually the only victims of the
+recruiting sergeant. However, as the letter given by Arthur to Pedro
+could be of no use to the latter, I saw no reasonable ground to doubt
+the story.
+
+'As it seemed probable that Mr. Livermore would shortly leave the city,
+I accepted his invitation, and promised to return and dine with him at
+five o'clock, adding that I hoped then to meet Pepito, and receive from
+him a full account of his adventures since we had parted.
+
+
+XIII.
+
+'About three o'clock, I returned home. I had ensconced myself, book in
+hand, in my rocking-chair, when groans which seemed to proceed from Mr.
+Livermore's room, attracted my attention. I listened at the door, and my
+fears were realized. The groans were assuredly uttered by my neighbor. I
+rushed into his room, and as I crossed toward his bed, a fearful
+spectacle met my gaze.
+
+'Lying across the bed, his face livid, every muscle in motion, a prey to
+the most violent convulsions, I saw my unfortunate fellow-countryman. No
+sooner, however, did the noise of my entrance fall upon his ear, than he
+summoned strength enough to rise, and seizing a pistol that was beside
+him, pointed it at me.
+
+''Ah! it is you?' said he, lowering his weapon, and falling back, 'you
+have arrived just in time to see me die.'
+
+''Take courage, my friend; for heaven's sake, be of good cheer. It is
+only one of your usual attacks, and will pass off; there is no danger.'
+
+''No danger!' repeated the unfortunate sufferer, biting the sheet and
+striving to stifle the cry which agony drew from him; 'no danger? why, I
+am poisoned!'
+
+''Poisoned! you must be mad,' I exclaimed: but without loss of time, I
+summoned Donna Lopez, and sent instantly for a doctor, who fortunately
+lived within a few doors of our house.
+
+'Once more alone with Arthur, I inquired, during a momentary cessation
+of his sufferings:
+
+''What reason have you for thinking you are poisoned?'
+
+''I am _sure_ of it,' he replied. 'About an hour since, I received a
+visit from the Mexican General who is superintendent of the recruiting
+service. He desired me to give him certain explanations relative to
+Pepito, which, of course, I did. It was very warm, and he asked for a
+glass of iced water. I offered him some claret to mix with it, and, at
+his request, joined him in the drink. But a few moments elapsed after I
+had taken my draught, when I felt a weakness steal over me; my eyelids
+grew heavy, my knees gave way, and an intolerable heat burned my veins.
+I was compelled to sit down upon my bed. At that moment, the General
+changed his tone, and imperiously demanded the key of my desk. 'I do not
+want your money,' he said, 'but I must have the papers relative to the
+opal-mine.' I can not express the effect these words produced upon me.
+'To deal frankly with you,' continued the General, 'you are poisoned,
+and the Indian poison that is now coursing through your veins has no
+antidote. Ten minutes, and your strength will begin to fail; two hours,
+and your earthly career will end. If you do not at once give me your
+keys, I shall force the lock.' These words, which he doubtless thought
+would crush me, filled me with boundless rage, and for a few moments
+revived my sinking energies. I started to my feet, and seized my
+revolver.'
+
+'''The devil! it seems the dose was not strong enough,' exclaimed my
+assassin, taking flight; 'but I will return, be sure of that.''
+
+'The doctor soon arrived. At the first glance at the patient, he knit
+his brow, and his countenance became overcast.
+
+''How long have you been ill?' he inquired.
+
+''I was poisoned, about an hour since.'
+
+''Ah! you know you have been poisoned?'
+
+''Yes, doctor, and also the man who poisoned me. Tell me, I beseech you,
+how long I have to live? Speak! you need have no fear; I am prepared for
+the worst.'
+
+'The doctor hesitated, and then said: 'I fear, my dear sir, another hour
+is all you can hope for.'
+
+''I thank you, doctor, for your frankness. No antidote, then, can save
+me?'
+
+''None. The poison you have taken, which the Indians call '_Leche de
+palo_,' is deadly. Your present sufferings will soon cease, and
+gradually you will sink, peacefully and painlessly, into the sleep of
+death.'
+
+''Send instantly, then, for a magistrate. I at least will be revenged on
+my murderer,' said Arthur, 'let me at once make my statement.'
+
+''You will only be wasting your dying moments,' interposed the doctor;
+'day after day, I am called upon to witness the ravages of this
+insidious poison, but never yet has the scaffold punished the assassin.
+My dear friend, think not of your murderer; eternity is opening to
+receive you; in its solemn presence, mere human vengeance shrinks into
+utter nothingness.'
+
+''Doctor, you speak wisely as well as kindly. Poor Ad�le,' murmured
+Arthur, and his eyes closed, though his lips still moved.
+
+'After the doctor's departure, I sent to the American Legation, urgently
+requesting some official to return with my messenger. I took a chair
+beside the bed, while Donna Teresa knelt in the adjoining room, and
+prayed and sobbed with much fervor. In a short while, Arthur rallied
+from the stupor into which he had fallen. His features became calm, his
+breathing regular though feeble, and the tranquil, almost happy,
+expression of his eye made me for a time half doubt the fearful
+prediction of the physician.
+
+''Do you feel better?' I inquired.
+
+''Much much; I am in no pain.'
+
+''Let us hope, then, for the best. I will send for another doctor.'
+
+''No, that would be useless. My lower extremities are swelling, and I
+can feel the hand of death clutching at my vitals. The doctor was
+right; death is not racking me with torture, it is gently embracing me.
+But I want your assistance; sit down.'
+
+'I resumed my seat, and Arthur continued, in a feeble tone, but
+perfectly calm:
+
+''How mean a thing is life! Good God! so mean, that at this moment I can
+not explain to my own soul why man should cling to it. What do we meet
+during our short career? Deceit, hypocrisy, and treachery. Ah! death
+reveals the hollowness of life.'
+
+''My dear friend, you are exhausting yourself. Did you not say you wanted
+my assistance? Rely on my zeal, my fidelity, and my discretion.'
+
+''Rely on you! How can I tell? You are only a man; perhaps avaricious and
+treacherous as your fellow-mortals. No matter; though you should
+forswear yourself; I, at least, will do what is right. Feel beneath my
+pillow, there is a key; take it, open my desk. In the small drawer on
+the left is a package of letters. Have you them? Good. Next to that
+there is a sealed letter. Now, read aloud the direction on each.'
+
+''Papers to be burnt after my death,' said I, obeying his injunction.
+
+''Well, what do you intend doing with them?'
+
+''Can you for one moment doubt?' I replied.
+
+'What if I should tell you they contain the entire secret of my
+opal-mine!'
+
+'I made no reply; but struck a match against the wall, and setting them
+on fire, resumed my seat.
+
+''I could hardly have believed it; but you still have Pepito; from him
+you hope to learn the secret,' said the dying man.
+
+''Shall I bind myself by an oath not to seek him?'
+
+''No; I leave you at liberty. Act as you think best. I burned those
+papers because they were bought with blood, for no other reason.'
+
+''Bought with blood?' I exclaimed.
+
+''Yes; ten months ago, General Ramiro died at New-Orleans, by
+poison--poison administered by Ad�le. Do you wonder life has lost all
+charm for me? Oh! life is the bitterness, not death.'
+
+'His voice momently grew fainter. I leaned closer, to catch his fading
+tones, till he ceased to speak. I gazed intently at his glassy eyes; the
+lids closed for a moment, then partially opened, the jaw fell, and he
+was no more.'
+
+'I know not how long I had stood beside his lifeless body, pondering
+over the uncertainty of life, and the mystery of death, and the
+conflicting presentiments he had uttered: that he should live to achieve
+success, yet die without again seeing her who had lured him to his
+wretched end, when the door of the chamber suddenly opened, and five or
+six dragoons entered, accompanied by an officer in undress uniform.
+
+''What! you here, General?' I exclaimed.
+
+''Why not?' was the cool reply, 'I am in search of a deserter named
+Pepito, who, I was informed, was concealed here. I see he is not here;
+but doubtless by searching among the papers contained in this desk, I
+shall find some clue to him.'
+
+''Your search, General, will be fruitless. The unfortunate young man
+whose corpse lies here, instructed me, before he expired, to burn all
+the papers in his possession, and I have obeyed his injunctions.'
+
+''Curses on his infernal obstinacy!' exclaimed General Valiente, 'but
+look you, Se�or, I tell you I will search this desk.'
+
+''By what right?'
+
+''By the right of might.'
+
+'Taking my stand in front of the desk, I was protesting against the
+lawless act of violence, when the Secretary of the American Legation
+fortunately arrived. Finding his plans defeated, Valiente, with
+commendable prudence, decided on beating a retreat, and with his
+followers, took rather an abrupt departure.
+
+'The ordinary formalities of attaching the seals of the Legation having
+been performed, and having secured a faithful person to take charge of
+the remains of the unfortunate Livermore, I sallied forth to make
+arrangements to leave, as soon as possible, for Toluca.
+
+The first person I met was Pedro. It is impossible to express the horror
+I felt of this villain. My hand was on my weapon before he had reached
+my side.
+
+''Have you heard the news, Caballero?' said he, in a low, mysterious
+tone.
+
+''No.'
+
+''I was not fortunate enough to release Pepito; when I arrived with his
+master's letter, he had already escaped from the barracks.'
+
+''Tell me frankly, Pedro, did not General Valiente send you, this
+morning, for that letter?'
+
+''Why? What makes you ask?' inquired Pedro, quite disconcerted by the
+abruptness of my question.
+
+''Because Se�or Pride is dead, and General Valiente has twice been to
+his rooms.'
+
+''Dead! Se�or Pride dead!' echoed Pedro, in unfeigned astonishment.
+'Caballero, I must be off.' And he instantly turned away, and was soon
+lost to my sight.
+
+'Before another hour had passed I was on horseback and on the way to
+Toluca. The road was infested by gangs of robbers, but my pockets were
+empty, and my brain was full, so I gave those gentry not even a passing
+thought. The evening was fast closing in, and as the shadows gathered
+round me, the tragic event which I had just witnessed gradually receded
+from my mind. As I journeyed on, it grew more and more distant, until at
+last it faded into a dim memory of the past; and through the long miles
+of my lonely ride there went before me the glorious vision of an
+opal-mine of untold wealth--an opal-mine without an owner--a countless
+fortune, untold riches, waiting to fall into my hands.
+
+
+XIV.
+
+'It was past midnight when I reached Toluca. As it was too late to call
+on Ad�le, I alighted at a tavern, where I passed the night, pacing my
+chamber, and not closing my eyes. Soon after daybreak I sought the house
+of Pepito's sister; and notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, found
+Mrs. Percival standing at one of the windows.
+
+''You here, Mr. Rideau!' she exclaimed, with surprise, on seeing me.
+'How did you find my retreat?'
+
+''I was told of it by Mr. Livermore.'
+
+''Ah! 'tis he who sent you.'
+
+''Alas! not so, madame.'
+
+''Alas!--you say, alas! What do you mean? Have you ill news?'
+
+''I have, indeed, madame.'
+
+''Arthur is dead!' she cried. 'I know he is dead! But, tell me, I
+entreat you, tell me all. How--when did this happen?'
+
+'I gave her a detailed account of Arthur's death, to which she listened
+with rapt attention.
+
+''This opal-mine, like the Golden Fleece, brings misfortune to all who
+seek it,' she said, when I had finished, 'Poor Arthur! I loved him
+fondly, devotedly; and his image will live forever in my heart. But at
+such a crisis it is worse than folly--it is madness to waste time by
+giving way to grief. Reason teaches us to bow before the inevitable. It
+is idle to repine at the decrees of Fate. I am alone, now--alone,
+without a friend or a protector. No matter; I have a stout heart, and
+the mercy of Providence is above all. But to business: After the death
+of Mr. Livermore, what became of the papers?'
+
+''I burned them before his death, in obedience to his injunctions.'
+
+''You burned them! I will not believe it!' she exclaimed, in a loud
+voice, and with a penetrating glance.
+
+'I felt the blood rush to my face; she noticed my anger, and at once
+added, in milder tone:
+
+''Pardon me! pardon me! I knew not what I said; I am well-nigh crazy; I
+do believe you, I do indeed; forgive me, and think of the despair to
+which the loss of those papers reduces me. I have no copy, and with them
+my secret perishes. I am ruined--ruined irretrievably. The mine is
+known now only to Pepito!'
+
+''Then, madame, on him you must hereafter rely.'
+
+''Explain to me, pray, how could Arthur, on his dying-bed, have been
+guilty of so cruel, so mean an act? How could he despoil the woman who
+had trusted him, and leave her not only forlorn, but destitute?'
+
+'This question embarrassed me, and I was conning an answer, when Ad�le
+resumed:
+
+''Let no false delicacy restrain you; speak out, Mr. Rideau; adversity
+has taught me endurance, if not courage.'
+
+''Since, madame, you absolutely extort it from me, I must admit that a
+few moments before he expired, Mr. Livermore--'
+
+''Speak out, plainly; I beg of you, conceal nothing.'
+
+''Well, madame, the words he used were: 'I destroy these papers because
+they were bought with blood. Ten months ago General Ramiro died, at
+New-Orleans, by poison--poison administered by Ad�le!''
+
+''Poor Arthur! what agony he must have suffered--he must have been
+delirious. O Arthur! why was I not beside you? Poor Arthur!' As she
+uttered these words, she raised her streaming eyes to heaven; her lips
+moved as if in prayer, and a deadly pallor overspread her countenance.
+
+'In a short time her fortitude returned, and turning toward me, she
+said, in a voice which betrayed no emotion:
+
+''Let us turn from the past and look at the present. Difficulties
+surround and threaten to overwhelm me. Before I can determine how they
+are to be met, I have a proposition to make to you, Mr. Rideau, to which
+I must have an immediate answer. Will you become my partner in this
+business?'
+
+''Have you enough confidence in me?'
+
+''I have; and for this reason: you have not sought to meddle in this
+matter, but from the outset have striven to shun it; you have not
+obtruded yourself, but been drawn into it in spite of your wishes. Do
+you accept my proposition? Yes, or no?'
+
+''I accept,' I replied, moderating my joyful feelings as well as I
+possibly could.
+
+''Such being your decision, what course do you advise?'
+
+''Immediate action, for minutes are precious.'
+
+''I foresee we shall agree perfectly. To-day my host purposes starting
+for the capital; I shall accompany him. If you return without delay, the
+remainder of the day will suffice to prepare for the journey, and
+to-morrow we will start for the opal-mine.'
+
+''But where shall I meet you, madame?'
+
+''At the Hotel de las Diligencias.'
+
+''And where shall I find Pepito?'
+
+''At a tavern near the Barrier del Nino Perdido. But you will not, if
+you please, inform him of my address. For--well, it is an unpleasant
+matter to mention--but this Pepito seems to be--'
+
+''Desperately in love with you.'
+
+''I hardly meant that--but his attentions are too oppressive to be quite
+agreeable.'
+
+''I fully understand you, madame. May I inquire if you have had any
+tidings of Mr. Percival?'
+
+''Do not, I beg, Mr. Rideau, allude to that painful topic--all feelings
+of resentment are hushed in the grave.'
+
+''What! have you heard of his assassination?'
+
+'' Yes; the news reached me yesterday; I read it in the newspaper.'
+
+'I shortly afterward took my leave--the last words of my new copartner
+being:
+
+''At five, then, at the Hotel de las Diligencias. Be sure you are
+punctual.'
+
+'Arrived in Mexico, my first thought was to seek for Pepito. Following
+the directions given me by Mrs. Percival, I soon found him; and
+repeating to him a portion of the interview I had with the lady, I
+finished by proposing to take the place of Mr. Livermore in the bargain
+that had been made between them.
+
+''I ask nothing better,' was the reply. 'Here are my terms--two thousand
+dollars the very day we return to Mexico, and I to hold the shells till
+you hand over the money. That is fair, is it not?'
+
+''Quite. When shall I see you again?'
+
+''At eight to-night, on the Cathedral steps.'
+
+'Hastening home, I devoted the rest of the day to preparing for my
+journey, and a little before five started for the Hotel de las
+Diligencias. Mrs. Percival had not yet arrived. Twice again I called,
+but still in vain. The evening gradually wore away, and at eight I paced
+the Cathedral Square, and for an hour loitered around the steps; but
+Pepito, also, failed to keep the rendezvous.
+
+'As the next day was Sunday, I felt assured the most likely place to
+find Pepito, would be the bull-ring. On reaching it, I found a crowd
+assembled near one of the entrances, and pushing my way through, I
+beheld Pepito lying on the ground weltering in his blood. I rushed to
+him, and kneeling down, raised him in my arms.
+
+''Ah! it is you, Se�or,' said he, in a feeble tone. 'This is Pedro's
+work, but it was his last; for I have killed the traitor.'
+
+''Pepito, tell me, for Heaven's sake, where did you find the shells?'I
+inquired; for avarice and cupidity reigned, I am ashamed to own,
+paramount within my breast.
+
+''Those shells? In the plains of Chiapa--three days' journey from the
+sea--near the little river--in a brook--Ah! glory to God! here comes a
+priest!'
+
+'At this moment a fat Franciscan friar pressed through the crowd.
+
+''Absolution, padre! absolution!' cried Pepito, to whom the sight of the
+friar brought back new life.
+
+''Patience, my son, patience! I am very late--very late--and I must not
+be detained. Wait a little--and after the sports of the day are over, I
+will return.'
+
+''But, padre, I shall be dead!'
+
+''Well, then, be quick!'
+
+''I have only two sins on my conscience: I have not attended mass for
+three weeks.'
+
+''That is sad! very sad! Well, what next?'
+
+''Three days ago I stabbed an Inglez--a heretic.'
+
+''Well, my dear son, your sins are venial sins; I absolve you.'
+
+''Pepito, how did that dagger come into your hands?' I exclaimed, for I
+was astonished to see in his belt the dagger I had lost on the night
+when Ad�le took refuge in my room.
+
+''From my dear--Ad�le.'
+
+''And the _Inglez_--the heretic you stabbed--who was he?'
+
+''Her husband--she wished it--promised to be mine--and I obeyed. But,
+stand back--I want air--air.'
+
+'I turned away my head, sickened at the fearful revelation. When I again
+looked, my eyes fell on a corpse. I snatched the dagger, which was still
+wet with Pedro's blood, from his belt, and hurried almost frantic to the
+Hotel de las Diligencias. Mrs. Percival had been waiting for me about
+two hours.
+
+'The violent emotions which raged within me must have been portrayed on
+my countenance, for on my entering the apartment, she started back in
+dismay.
+
+''Mrs. Percival,' said I, striving to master the repulsive feeling which
+the mere sight of her excited, 'Pepito has, within the past hour, been
+murdered.'
+
+''Murdered!' she repeated. 'And the secret--'
+
+''Is dead--for _you_--forever! Madame, that infernal mine has for years
+been driving you to the blackest crime! It is time that the bait fell
+from the devil's hook.'
+
+''What do you mean by this altered tone?'
+
+''I mean, madame, that, thanks to Heaven, your crimes have been revealed
+to me. Shall I enumerate the list of your victims--General Ramiro,
+Arthur Livermore, Edward Percival, your husband, and last of all,
+Pepito? Your path, since you have sought this mine, is marked at every
+step by treachery and crime. The boldest heart must shudder to look at
+the ghastly procession led on by the General you poisoned.'
+
+'''Tis false! God help me, 'tis false!'
+
+''False--_is_ it false--that three days since your husband was murdered
+at your instigation, by Pepito? Stay--hear me! Look at this dagger! did
+you not steal it from my room and give it to Pepito to perpetrate the
+crime? Madame, pause, ere you dare to swear it is false.'
+
+'She trembled, and falling on her knees, exclaimed:
+
+''My God! my God! forgive me!'
+
+''It is not, madame, for erring man to limit the infinite mercy of
+Heaven; but for such crimes as yours there must be a fearful
+retribution. Farewell; may you go and sin no more.'
+
+'I left the room, but in a few moments heard a piercing shriek; and
+rushing back, found the wretched woman extended on the floor in the
+agonies of death. She had picked up the dagger which I had thrown away,
+and stabbed herself to the heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+'And the opal-mine?'
+
+'I meant, at first, to leave the Nibelungen Hoard alone; but time tames
+all things except the love of gold. I went there; it was rich, but not
+inexhaustible. You have all had proof that I am neither poor nor
+parsimonious; but neither am I extravagant. I have all that I want--a
+cottage at Newport, a neat house in the Rue de la Paix, stocks, and real
+estate. The opal-mine started me; I have kept myself going very well
+ever since.
+
+'Gentlemen, my tale is ended. I am sorry it has proved so long, and am
+grateful to you all for the attentive hearing you have given me. I have
+been constantly looking round expecting to detect some one of you
+falling into a gentle slumber; I therefore feel really flattered at
+finding you all still awake.'
+
+'But what became of the child that Percival was seeking?' shouted one.
+
+'Did you ever find out any thing about Ad�le's previous history?' asked
+another.
+
+'And look here, Rideau, what did you--?'
+
+'Gentlemen, take pity on me; while I have been spinning this long yarn,
+you have been smoking and imbibing; I am very willing to join you in
+both; but to-night I am tired out. The next time we meet, I shall be
+delighted to tell you what particulars I learned on my return to New
+Orleans, relative to Ad�le and her poor orphan child; but no more
+to-night.'
+
+
+
+
+_THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE._
+
+  Red was the lightning's flashing,
+    And down through the driving rain,
+  We saw the red eyes dashing
+    Of the merciless midnight train;
+  Soon many crowded together,
+    Under the lamp's red glow,
+  But I saw one figure only--
+    Ah! why did I tremble so?
+  The eyes that gazed in the darkness
+    After the midnight train,
+  Are red with watching and weeping,
+    For it brings none back again.
+  Clouds hang in the west like banners,
+    Red banners of war unfurled,
+  And the prairie sod is crimson
+    With the best blood of the world.
+
+  White faces are pressed to the window,
+    Watching the sun go down,
+  Looking out to the coming darkness,
+    That covers the noisy town.
+  White are the hands, too, and quiet,
+    Over the pulseless breast;
+  No more will the vision of parting
+    Disturb the white sleeper's rest.
+  Over sleeper, and grave, and tombstone,
+    Like a pitying mantle spread,
+  The snow comes down in the night-time,
+    With a shy and noiseless tread.
+
+  Blue smoke rolls away on the north-wind,
+    Blue skies grow dusk in the din,
+  Blue waters look dark with the shadow
+    That gathers the world within.
+  Rigid and blue are the fingers
+    That clutch at the fading sky;
+  Blue lips in their agony mutter:
+    'O God! let this cup pass by.'
+  Blue eyes grow weary with watching;
+    Strong hands with waiting to do;
+  While brave hearts echo the watchword:
+    'Hurrah! for the Red, White, and Blue.'
+
+
+
+
+_MACCARONI AND CANVAS._
+
+IV.
+
+THE FAIR AT GROTTO FERRATA.
+
+No matter how well and hearty you may be, if you are in Rome, in summer,
+when the _scir�cco_ blows, you will feel as if convalescent from some
+debilitating fever; in winter, however, this gentle-breathing south-east
+wind will act more mildly; it will woo you to the country, induce you to
+sit down in a shady place, smoke, and 'muse.' That incarnate essence of
+enterprise, business, industry, economy, sharpness, shrewdness, and
+keenness--that Prometheus whose liver was torn by the vulture of cent
+per cent--eternally tossing, restless DOOLITTLE, was one day seen
+asleep, during bank hours, on a seat in the Villa Madama. The _scir�cco_
+blew that day: Doolittle fell.
+
+At breakfast, one morning in the latter part of the month of March,
+Caper proposed to Roejean and another artist named Bagswell, to attend
+the fair held that day at Grotto Ferrata.
+
+'What will you find there?' asked Roejean.
+
+'Find?--I remember, in the _Bohemian Girl_, a song that will answer
+you,' replied Caper; 'the words were composed by the theatrical poet
+Bunn':
+
+  'Rank, in its halls, may not find
+  The calm of a happy mind;
+      So repair
+      To the Fair,
+  And they may be met with there.'
+
+'Unsatisfactory, both the grammar and the sentiment,' said Bagswell; 'it
+won't work; it's all wrong. In the first place, rank, in its hauls,
+_may_ find the calm of a happy mind: for instance, the captain of a
+herring-smack may find the calm of a very happy mind in his hauls of No.
+1 Digbys; more joy even than the fair could afford him. Let us go!'
+
+Bagswell was a 'funny' Englishman.
+
+They went--taking the railroad. Dashing out of the station, the
+locomotive carried them, in half an hour, to the station at Frascati,
+whirling them across the Campagna, past long lines of ruined or
+half-ruined and repaired aqueducts; past Roman tombs; past _Roma
+Vecchia_, the name given to the ruins of an immense villa; landing them
+at the first slope of the mountains, covered at their base with
+vineyards, olive and fruit-trees, and corn-fields, while high over them
+gleamed glistening white snow-peaks.
+
+The walk from Frascati to the Grotto, about three miles, was beautiful,
+winding over hills through a fine wood of huge old elms and plane-trees.
+In the warm sun-light, the butterflies were flitting, while the
+road-side was purple with violets, and white and blue with little
+flowers. From time to time, our three artists had glimpses of the
+Campagna, rolling away like the ocean, to dash on Rome, crowned by St.
+Peter's; the dome of which church towers above the surrounding country,
+so that it can be seen, far and wide, for thirty miles or more. The road
+was alive with walkers and riders; here a dashing, open carriage, filled
+with rosy English; there a _contadino_, donkey-back, dressed in
+holiday-suit, with short-clothes of blue woolen, a scarlet waistcoat,
+his coarse blue-cloth jacket worn on one shoulder, and in his brown,
+conical-shaped hat, a large carnation-pink. Then came more of the
+country-people, almost always called _villani_, (hence our word,
+villains!) These poor villains had sacks on their backs, or were
+carrying in their hands--if women, on their heads--loads of bacon, sides
+of bacon, flitches of bacon, hams, loaves of bread, cheese, and very
+loud-smelling _mortadella_; which they had bought and were bringing away
+from the fair.
+
+'There was one task,' said Roejean, 'that Hercules declined, and that
+was eating that vile _mortadella_. He was a strong man; but that was
+stronger. Wait a moment, till I fill a pipe with caporal, and have a
+smoke; for if I meet another man with that delicacy, I shall have to
+give up the Grotto--unless I have a pipe under my nose, as
+counter-irritant.'
+
+The three artists tramped along gayly, until they approached the town,
+when they assumed the proud, disdainful mood, assuring spectators that
+they who wear it are of gentle blood, and are tired of life and weary of
+traveling around with pockets filled with gold. They only looked coldly
+at the pens filled with cattle for sale; long-horned, mouse-colored oxen
+were there; groups of patient donkeys, or the rough-maned,
+shaggy-fetlocked, bright-eyed small horses of the Campagna; countless
+pigs, many goats; while above all, the loud-singing jackasses were
+performing at the top of their lungs. Here were knots of country-people,
+buying provisions or clothing; there were groups of carriages from Rome,
+which had rolled out the wealthy _forestieri_ or strangers, drawn up by
+the way-side, in the midst of all sorts and kinds of hucksters. The road
+leading to the church, shaded by trees, was crowded with country-people,
+in picturesque costumes, busily engaged in buying and selling hams,
+bacon, bacon and hams, and a few more hams. Here and there, a
+cheese-stand languished, for pork flourished. Now a copper-smith exposed
+his wares, chief among which were the graceful-shaped _conche_ or
+water-vessels, the same you see so carefully poised on the heads of so
+many black-eyed Italian girls, going to or coming from so many
+picturesque fountains, in--paintings, and all wearing such brilliant
+costumes, as you find at--Gigi's costume-class. Then came an ironmonger,
+whose wares were all made by hand, even the smallest nails; for
+machinery, as yet, is in its first infancy around Rome. At this stand,
+Roejean stopped to purchase a pallet-knife; not one of the regular,
+artist-made tools, but a thin, pliable piece of steel, without handle,
+which experience taught him was well adapted to his work. As usual, the
+iron-man asked twice as much as he intended to take, and after a sharp
+bargain, Roejean conquered. Then they came to a stand where there were
+piles of coarse crockery, and some of a better kind, of classical shape.
+
+Caper particularly admired a beautiful white jug, intended for a
+water-pitcher, and holding about two gallons. After asking its price, he
+offered a quarter of the money for it; to Bagswell's horror, the
+crockery-man took it, and Caper, passing his arm through the handle, was
+proceeding up the road, when Bagswell energetically asked him what he
+was going to do with it.
+
+'Enter Rome with it, like Titus with the _spolia opima_,' replied Caper.
+
+'Oh! I say, now,' said the former, who was an Englishman and an
+historical painter; 'you aren't going to trot all over the fair with
+that old crockery on your arm. Why, God bless me, they'll swear we are
+drunk. There comes the Duchess of Brodneck; what the deuce will she
+say?'
+
+'Say?' said Caper, 'why, I'll go and ask her; this is not court-day.'
+
+Without another word, with water-pitcher on arm, he walked toward the
+Duchess. Saluting her with marked politeness, he said:
+
+'A countryman of yours, madame, has objected to my carrying this _objet
+de fantaisie_, assuring me that it would occasion remarks from the
+Duchess of Brodneck. May I have the good fortune to know what she says
+of it?'
+
+'She says,' replied the lady, smiling and speaking slowly and quietly;
+'that a young man who has independence enough to carry it, has
+confidence enough to--fill it.' She bowed, and passed on, Caper politely
+raising his hat, in acknowledgment of the well-rounded sentence. When he
+returned to Bagswell, he found the historical painter with eyes the size
+of grape-shot, at the sublime impudence of the man. He told him what
+she had said.
+
+'Upon my honor, you Americans have a face of brass; to address a duchess
+you don't know, and ask her a question like that!'
+
+'That's nothing,' said Caper, 'a little experience has taught me that
+the higher you fly, in England, the nearer you approach true politeness
+and courtesy. Believe me, I should never have asked that question of any
+Englishwoman whose social position did not assure me she was
+cosmopolitan.'
+
+'Come,' said Bagswell, 'come, after such an adventure, if there is one
+drop of any thing fit to drink in this town, we'll all go and get
+lushy.'
+
+They went. They found a door over which hung a green branch. Good wine
+needs no bush, therefore Italian wine-shops hang it out; for the wine
+there is not over good. But as luck was with our three artists, in the
+shop over the door of which hung the green bough, they found that the
+_padrone_ was an old acquaintance of Roejean; he had married and moved
+to Grotto Ferrata. He had a barrel of Frascati wine, which was bright,
+sparkling, sweet, and not watered. This the _padrone_ tapped in honor of
+his guests, and at their urgent request, sat down and helped empty a
+couple of bottles. Moreover, he told them that as the town was
+overcrowded, they would find it difficult to get a good dinner, unless
+they would come and dine with him, at his private table, and be his
+guests; which invitation Roejean accepted, to the tavern-keeper's great
+joy, promising to be back at the appointed time.
+
+Our trio then sauntered forth to see the fair. Wandering among the
+crowded booths, they came suddenly on a collection of _Zingare_, looking
+like their Spanish cousins, the _Gita�as_. Wild black eyes, coarse black
+locks of hair, brown as Indians, small hands, small feet--the Gipsies,
+children of the storm--my Rommani pals, what are you doing here? Only
+one woman among them was noticeable. Her face was startlingly handsome,
+with an aquiline nose, thin nostrils, beautifully-arched eyebrows, and
+eyes like an eagle. She was tall, straight, with exquisitely-rounded
+figure, and the full drapery of white around her bosom fell from the
+shoulders in large hanging sleeves; over her head was thrown a crimson
+and green shawl, folded like the _pane_ of the _ciociare_, and setting
+off her raven-black hair and rich red and swarthy complexion.
+
+Roejean stood entranced, and Caper, noticing his rapt air, forbore
+breaking silence; while the gipsy, who knew that she was the admiration
+of the _forestieri_, stood immovable as a statue, looking steadily at
+them, without changing a feature.
+
+'_Piu bellisima che la madonna!_' said Roejean, loud enough for her to
+hear. Then turning to Caper, 'Let's _andiammo_,' (travel,) said he,
+'that woman's face will haunt me for a month. I've seen it before; yes,
+seen her shut up in the Vatican, immortal on an old Etruscan vase.
+Egypt, Etruria, the Saracen hordes who once overrun all this Southern
+Italy, I find, every hour, among live people, some trace of you all; but
+of the old Roman, nothing!'
+
+'You find the old Roman cropping out in these church processions,
+festivals, shrines, and superstitions, don't you?' asked Caper.
+
+'No! something of those who made the seal, nothing of the impression on
+the wax remains for me. Before Rome was, the great East was, and shall
+be. The Germans are right to call the East the Morning-Land; thence came
+light.... The longer you live along the wave-washed shore of the
+Mediterranean, the more you will see what a deep hold the East once had
+on the people of the coast. The Romans, after all, were only opulent
+tradesmen, who could buy luxuries without having the education to
+appreciate them. So utterly did they ignore the Etruscans, who made them
+what they were, that you seek in vain to find in Roman history any thing
+but the barest outline of the origin of a people so graceful and
+refined that the Roman citizen was a boot-black in comparison to one of
+them. The Saracens flashed light and life, in later days, once more into
+the Roman leaven. What a dirty, filthy page the whole Gothic middle-age
+is at best! It lies like a huge body struck with apoplexy, and only
+restored to its sensual life by the sharp lancet, bringing blood, of
+these same infidels, these stinging Saracens. Go into the mountains back
+of us, hunt up the costumes that still remain, and see where they all
+come from--the East. Look at the crescent earrings and graceful twisted
+gold-work, from--the East. All the commonest household ware, the
+agricultural implements, the manner of cooking their food, and all that
+is picturesque in life and religion--all from the East.'
+
+'Strikes me,' quoth Caper, 'that this question of food touches my
+weakest point; therefore, let us go and dine, and continue the lecture
+at a more un-hungry period. But where is Bagswell?'
+
+'He is seeking adventures, of course.'
+
+'Oh! yes, I sec him down there among the billy-goats; let's go and pick
+him up, and then for mine host of the Green Bough.'
+
+Having found Bagswell, our trio at once marched to the Green Bough,
+which they saw was filled to overflowing with country-people, eating and
+drinking, sitting on rough benches, and stowing away food and wine as if
+in expectation of being very soon shipwrecked on a desert island, where
+there would be nothing but hard-shell clams and lemons to eat. The
+landlord at once took the trio up-stairs, where, at a large table, were
+half-a-dozen of his friends, all of the cleanly order of country-people,
+stout, and having a well-to-do look that deprecated any thing like
+famine. A young lady of twenty and two hundred, as Caper summed up her
+age and weight, was evidently the cynosure of all eyes; two other
+good-natured women, of a few more years and a very little less weight,
+and three men, made up the table. Any amount of compliments, as usual,
+passed between the first six and the last three comers, prefacing every
+thing with desires that they would act without ceremony; but Caper and
+Roejean were on a high horse, and they fairly pumped the spring of
+Italian compliments so dry, that Bagswell could only make a squeaking
+noise when he tried the handle. This verbifuge of our three artists put
+their host into an ecstasy of delight, and he circulated all round,
+rubbing his hands and telling his six friends that his three friends
+were _milordi_, in very audible whispers, _milordi_ of the most genial,
+courtly, polite, complimentary, cosmopolitan, and exquisite description.
+
+After all this, down sat our trio, and for the sake of future ages which
+will live on steam-bread, electrical beef, and magnetic fish, let us
+give them the bill of fare set before them:
+
+ALL THE WINE THEY COULD DRINK.
+
+Maccaroni (_fettucia_) a la Milanese--dish two feet in diameter, one
+foot and a half high.
+
+Mutton-chops, with tomato-sauce, (_pomo d'oro._)
+
+Stewed celery, with Parmesan cheese.
+
+Stewed chickens.
+
+Mutton-chops, bird-fashion, (_Ucc�lli di Castrato._ They are made of
+pieces of mutton rolled into a shape like a bird, and cooked, several at
+a time, on a wooden spit. They are the _kibaubs_ of the East.)
+
+Baked pie of cocks' combs and giblets.
+
+Roasted pig, a twelve-pounder.
+
+Roast squashes, stuffed with minced veal.
+
+Apples, oranges, figs, and _finocchio_.
+
+_Crostata di visciola_, or wild-cherry pie, served on an iron plate the
+size of a Roman warrior's shield; the dish evidently having been one
+formerly.
+
+MORE WINE!
+
+The stout young lady rejoicing in the name of Angelucia, or large angel,
+was fascinated by Roejean's conversational powers and Caper's
+attentions; the rest of the company, perfectly at ease on finding out
+that the _milordi_ were not French--Roejean turning American to better
+please them--and that they were moreover full of fun, talked and laughed
+as if they were brother Italians. A jollier dinner Caper acknowledged he
+had never known. One of the Italians was farmer-general for one of the
+Roman princes; he was a man of broad views, and having traveled to Paris
+and London, came home with ultra-liberal sentiments, and to Bagswell's
+astonishment, spoke his mind so clearly on the Roman rulers, that our
+Englishman's eyes were slightly opened at the by no means complimentary
+expressions used toward the wire-workers of the Papal government. One
+Italy, and Rome its capital, was the only platform our princely farmer
+would take, and he was willing to stake his fortune, a cool one hundred
+thousand scudi, on regenerated Italy.
+
+Conversation then fell on the fair; and one of the Italians told several
+stories which were broad enough to have shoved the generality of English
+and American ladies out of the window of the room. But Angelucia and the
+two wives of the stout gentlemen never winked; they had probably been to
+confession that morning, had cleared out their old sins, and were now
+ready to take in a new cargo. In a little while Roejean sent the waiter
+out to a caf�, and he soon returned with coffee for the party, upon
+which Caper, who had the day before bought some Havana cigars of the man
+in the Twelve Apostles, in the piazza D�dici Apostoli, where there is a
+government cigar-store for the sale of them, passed them around, and
+they were thoroughly appreciated by the diners. The farmer-general gave
+our three artists a hearty invitation to visit him, promising them all
+the horses they could ride, all the wine they could drink, and all the
+maccaroni they could eat. The last clause was inserted for Roejean's
+benefit, who had played a noble game with the grand dish they had had
+for dinner, and at which Angelucia had made great fun, assuring Roejean
+he was Italian to the heart, _e piu basso_.
+
+Then came good-by, and our artists were off--slowly, meditatively, and
+extremely happy, but, so far, quite steady. They walked to the
+castellated monastery of San Basilio, where in the chapel of Saint Nilus
+they saw the celebrated frescoes of Domenichino, and gazed at them
+tranquilly and not quite so appreciatingly as they would have done
+before dinner. Then they came out from the gloom and the air heavy with
+incense of the chapel to the bright light and lively scenes of the fair,
+with renewed pleasure. They noticed that every one wore in the hat or in
+the lappel of the coat, if men--in their hair or in their bosom, if
+women, artificial roses; and presently coming to a stand where such
+flowers were for sale, our trio bought half-a-dozen each, and then
+turned to where the crowd was thickest and the noise greatest. Three or
+four donkeys loaded with tin-ware were standing near the crowd, when one
+of them, ambitious of distinction, began clambering over the tops of the
+others in an insane attempt to get at some greens, temptingly displayed
+before him. Rattle, bang! right and left went the tins, and in rushed
+men and women with cudgels; but donkey was not to be stopped, and for
+four or five minutes the whole fair seemed gathered around the scene,
+cheering and laughing, with a spirit that set Caper wild with
+excitement, and induced him to work his way through the crowd and
+present one old woman who had finally conquered the donkey, with two
+large roses, an action which was enthusiastically applauded by the
+entire assembly.
+
+'Bravo! bravo! well done, O Englishman!' went up the shout.
+
+A little farther on they came to a large traveling van, one end of which
+was arranged as a platform in the open air. Here a female dentist, in a
+sea-green dress, with her sleeves rolled up and a gold bracelet on her
+right arm, held in both hands a tooth-extractor, bound round with a
+white handkerchief--to keep her steady, as Caper explained, while she
+pulled a tooth from the head of a young man who was down in front of
+her on his knees. Her assistant, a good-looking young man, in very white
+teeth and livery, sold some patent toothache drops: _Solo cinque
+baiocchi il fiasco, S'gnore_.
+
+Caper having seen the tooth extracted, cried, '_Bravissima!_' as if he
+had been at the opera, and threw some roses at the _prima donna
+dentista_, who acknowledged the applause with a bow, and requested the
+Signore to step up and let her draw him out. This he declined, pleading
+the fact that he had sound teeth. The _dentista_ congratulated him, in
+spite of his teeth.
+
+'But come!' said Bagswell; 'look at that group of men and women in
+Albano costume; there is a chance to make a deuced good sketch.'
+
+Two men and three women were seated in a circle; they were laughing and
+talking, and cutting and eating large slices of raw ham and bread, while
+they passed from one to another a three-gallon keg of wine, and drank
+out of the bung. As one of the hearty, laughing, jolly, brown-eyed girls
+lifted up the keg, Caper pulled out sketch-book and pencil to catch an
+outline sketch--of her head thrown back, her fine full throat and breast
+heaving as the red wine ran out of the barrel, and the half-closed,
+dreamy eyes, and pleasure in the face as the wine slowly trickled down
+her throat. One of the men noted the artist making a _ritratto_, and
+laughing heartily, cried out: 'Oh! but you'll have to pay us well for
+taking our portraits!' And the girl, slowly finishing her long
+draught, looked merrily round, shook her finger at the artist, laughed,
+and--the sketch was finished. Then Caper taking Roejean's roses, went
+laughingly up to the girl with brown eyes and fine throat, in Albano
+costume, and begged that she would take the poor flowers, and putting
+them next her heart, keep them where it is forever warm--'as the young
+man on your left knows very well!' he concluded. This speech was
+received amid loud applause and cheers, and thanks for the roses and an
+invitation to take a pull at the barrel. Caper waved them _Adio_, and as
+our trio turned Rome-ward from the fair, the last things he saw as he
+turned his head to take a farewell look, were the roses that the Italian
+girl had placed next her heart.
+
+
+THE TOMBOLA.
+
+The exceedingly interesting amusement known as the Tombola is nothing
+more than the game of Loto, or _L�tto_, 'Brobdignagified,' and played in
+the open air of the Papal States, in Rome on Sundays, and in the
+Campagna on certain saints' days, come they when they may.
+
+The English have made holiday from holy day, and call the Lord's day
+Sunday; while the Italians call Sunday Lord's day, or _Domenica_. Their
+way of keeping it holy, however, with tombolas, horse-races, and
+fire-works, strikes a heretic, to say the least, oddly.
+
+The Roman tombola should be seen in the Piazza Navona democratically; in
+the Villa Borghese, if not aristocratically at least middle
+classically, or bourgeois-istically.
+
+In the month of November, when the English drown themselves, and the
+Italians sit in the sun and smile, our friend Caper, one Sunday morning,
+putting his watch and purse where pick-pockets could not reach them,
+walked with two or three friends down to the Piazza Navona, stopping, as
+he went along, at the entrance of a small street leading into it, to
+purchase a tombola-ticket. The ticket-seller, seated behind a small
+table, a blank-book, and piles of blank tickets, charged eleven
+_baiocchi_ (cents) for a ticket, including one _baioccho_ for
+registering it. We give below a copy of Caper's ticket:
+
+     No. 17 D'ORDINE, LETTERA C.
+
+     CARTELLA DA RITENERSI DAL GIUOCATORE.
+
+     8      12      32      87      60
+    20       4      76      30      11
+    45       3      90      55      63
+
+
+The numbers on this ticket the registrar filled up, after which it was
+his duty to copy them in his book, and thus verify the ticket should it
+draw a prize.
+
+The total amount to be played for that day, the tombola being for the
+benefit of the Cholera Orphans, was one thousand scudi, and was divided
+as follows:
+
+
+    Terno,.................... $50
+    Quaterno,................. 100
+    Cinquina,................. 200
+    Tombola,.................. 650
+                            -------
+                             $1000
+
+How many tickets were issued, Caper was never able to find out; but he
+was told that for a one thousand dollar tombola the number was limited
+to ninety thousand.
+
+The tickets, as will be seen above, are divided into three lines, with
+five divisions in each line, and you can fill up the fifteen divisions
+with any numbers running from one to ninety, that you may see fit.
+Ninety tickets, with numbers from one to ninety, are put in a revolving
+glass barrel, and after being well shaken up, some one draws out one
+number at random, (the slips of paper being rolled up in such manner
+that the numbers on them can not be seen.) It is passed to the judges,
+and is then read aloud, and exposed to view, in conspicuous figures, on
+a stand or stands; and so on until the tombola is won or the numbers all
+drawn.
+
+Whoever has three consecutive figures on a line, beginning from left
+hand to right, wins the _Terno_; if four consecutive figures, the
+_Quaterno_; if five figures, or a full line, the _Cinquina_; and whoever
+has all fifteen figures, wins the Tombola. It often happens that several
+persons win the _Terno_, etc., at the same time, in which case the
+amount of the _Terno_, etc., is equally divided among them. These public
+tombolas are like too many thimble-rig tables, ostensibly started for
+charitable objects, and it is popularly whispered that the Roman
+nobility and heads of the Church purchase vast numbers of these tickets,
+and never fill them up; but then again, they are not large enough for
+shaving, and are too small for curl-papers; besides, six hundred and
+fifty _scudi_! Whew!
+
+The Piazza Navona, bearing on its face, on week-days, the most terrible
+eruptions of piles of old iron, rags, paintings, books, boots,
+vegetables, crockery, jackdaws, contadini, and occasional dead cats,
+wore on the Sunday of the tombola--it was Advent Sunday--a clean,
+bright, and even joyful look. From many windows hung gay cloths and
+banners; the three fountains were making Roman pearls and diamonds of
+the first water; the entire length (seven hundred and fifty feet) and
+breadth of the square was filled with the Roman people; three bands of
+military music played uncensurable airs, since the public censor
+permitted them; and several companies of soldiers, with loaded guns,
+stood all ready to slaughter the _plebe_. It was a sublime spectacle.
+
+But the curtain rose; that is to say, the tombola commenced. At a raised
+platform, a small boy, dressed in black, popularly supposed to be a
+cholera orphan, rolled back his shirt-cuffs--he had a shirt--plunged his
+hand into the glass barrel, and produced a slip of paper; an assistant
+carried it to the judges--one resembled Mr. Pecksniff--and then the
+crier announced the number, and, presto! on a large blackboard the
+number appeared, so that every one could see it.
+
+Caper found the number on his ticket, and was marking it off, when a
+countryman at his side asked him if he would see if the number was on
+his ticket, as he could not read figures. Caper accordingly looked it
+over, and finding that it was there, marked it off for him.
+
+'_Padrone mio_, thank you,' said the man, evidently determined, since he
+had found out a scholar, to keep close by him.
+
+'Seventeen!' called out the tombola-crier.
+
+'C----o!' said the contadino, with joy in his face; 'seventeen is always
+my lucky number. My wife was seventeen years old when I married her. My
+donkey was killed by the railroad cars the other day, and he gave just
+seventeen groans before he died. I shall have luck to-day.'
+
+We refrain from writing the exclamation the contadino prefaced his
+remarks with, for fear the reader might have a good Italian
+dictionary--an article, by the way, the writer has never yet seen.
+Suffice it to say, that the exclamations made use of by the Romans, men
+and women, not only of the lower but even the middling class, are of a
+nature exceedingly natural, and plainly point to Bacchic and Phallic
+sources. The _best�mmia_ of the Romans is viler than the blasphemy of
+English or Americans.
+
+It happened that the countryman had a seventeen on his ticket, and Caper
+marked it off, at the same time asking him how much he would take for
+his pantaloons. These pantaloons were made of a goat's skin; the long
+white wool, inches in length, left on and hanging down below the knees
+of the man, gave him a Pan-like look, and with the word tombola,
+suggested the lines of that good old song--save the maledictory part of
+it:
+
+  'Tombolin had no breeches to wear,
+  So he bought him a goat's skin, to make him a pair.'
+
+These breeches were not for sale; they were evidently the joy and the
+pride of the countryman, who had no heart for trade, having by this time
+two numbers in one line marked off, only wanting an adjoining one to win
+the _terno_.
+
+'If you were to win the _terno_, what would you do with it?' Caper asked
+him.
+
+'_Accidente!_ I'd buy a barrel of wine, and a hog, and a--'
+
+'Thirty-two!' shouted the crier.
+
+'It's on your paper,' said Caper to him, marking it off; 'and you've won
+the _terno_!'
+
+The eyes of the man gleamed wildly; he crossed himself, grasped the
+paper, and the next thing Caper saw was the crowd dividing right and
+left, as the excited owner of the goat-skin breeches made his way to the
+platform. When he had climbed up, and stepping forward, stood ready to
+receive the _terno_, the crowd jeered and cheered the _villano_, making
+fine fun of his goat-skin, and not a little jealous that a _contadino_
+should take the money out of the city.
+
+'It's always so,' said a fat man next to Caper, 'these _villani_ take
+the bread out of our mouths; but _ecco_! there is another one who has
+the _terno_; blessed be the Madonna, there is a third! Oh! _diavolo_,
+the _villano_ will only have one third of the _terno_; and may he die of
+apoplexy!'
+
+A vender of refreshments passing along, the fat man stopped him, and
+purchased a _baioccho's_ worth of--what?
+
+Pumpkin-seeds! These are extensively eaten in Rome, as well as the seeds
+of pine-cones, acorns, and round yellow chick-peas; these supply the
+place occupied by ground-nuts in our more favored land.
+
+There is this excitement about the tombolas in the Piazza Navona, that
+occasionally a panic seizes the crowd, and in the rush of people to
+escape from the square, some have their pockets picked, and some are
+trampled down, never to rise again. Fortunately for Caper, no stampede
+took place on Advent Sunday, so that he lived to attend another grand
+tombola in the Villa Borghese.
+
+This was held in the spring-time, and the promise of the ascension of a
+balloon added to the attractions of the lottery. To enter the Villa, you
+had to purchase a tombola-ticket, whereas, in the Piazza Navona, this
+was unnecessary. At one end of the amphitheatre of the villa, under the
+shade of the ilex-trees, a platform was erected, where the numbers were
+called out and the awards given.
+
+Caper, Roejean, and another French artist, not of the French Academy,
+named Achille L�gume, assisted at this entertainment. L�gume was a very
+pleasant companion, lively, good-natured, with a decided penchant for
+the pretty side of humanity, and continually haunted with the idea that
+a princess was to carry him off from his mistress in spectacles, Madame
+Art, and convey him to the land of Cocaigne, where they never make, only
+buy, paintings--of which articles, in parenthesis, Monsieur Achille had
+a number for sale.
+
+'Roejean,' said L�gume, 'do you notice that distinguished lady on the
+platform; isn't she the Princess Faniente? She certainly looked at _me_
+very peculiarly a few minutes since.'
+
+'It is the Princess,' answered Roejean, 'and I also noticed, a few
+minutes since, when I was on the other side of the circus, that she
+looked at ME with an air.'
+
+'Don't quarrel,' spoke Caper,'she probably regards you both equally, for
+--she squints.'
+
+This answer capsized Achille, who having a small red rose-bud in his
+button-hole, hoped that at a distance he might pass for a chevalier of
+the Legion of Honor, and had conquered something, say something noble.
+
+A wandering cigar-seller, with _zigarri scelti_, next demanded their
+attention, and Roejean commenced an inspection of the selected cigars,
+which are made by government, and sold at the fixed price of one and a
+half _baiocchi_ each; even at this low price, the stock of the
+tobacco-factory paid thirteen per cent under Antonelli's direction.
+
+'Antonelli makes a pretty fair cigar,' said, 'but I wish he would wrap
+the ends a little tighter. I'm sorry to hear he is going out of the
+business.'
+
+'Why, he would stay in,' answered Caper, 'but what with baking all the
+bread for Rome, and attending to all the fire-wood sold, and trying to
+make Ostia a seaport, and having to fight Monsieur About, and looking
+after his lotteries and big pawnbroker's shop, and balancing himself on
+the end of a very sharp French bayonet, his time is so occupied, he can
+not roll these cigars so well as they ought to be rolled.... But they
+have called out number forty-nine; you've got it, L�gume, I remember you
+wrote it down. Yes, there it is.'
+
+'Forty-nine!'
+
+'I wonder they dare call out '49 in this villa; or have the people
+forgotten the revolution already, forgotten that this spot was made
+ready for a battleground for liberty. The public censor knows his
+business; give the Romans bread, and the circus or tombola, they will be
+content--forever?'
+
+'_Au diable_ with politics,' interrupted Achille; 'what a very pretty
+girl that is alongside you, Caper. Look at her; how nicely that costume
+fits her, the red boddice especially. Where, except in Italy, do you
+ever see such fine black eyes, and such a splendid head of coal-black
+hair? This way of having Italian nurses dressed in the Albano costume is
+very fine. That little boy with her is English, certainly.'
+
+'Och! master Jamey, come in out of that grane grass; d'yiz want ter
+dirty the clane pinafore I've put on yiz this blissed afthernoon?' spoke
+the nurse.
+
+'In the name of all that's awful, what kind of Italian is she speaking?'
+asked L�gume of Caper.
+
+'Irish-English,' he answered; 'she is not the first woman out of Old
+Ireland masquerading as an Albanian nurse. She probably belongs to some
+English family who have pretensions.'
+
+'Ah bah!' said L�gume, 'it's monstrous, perfectly atrocious, ugh! Let us
+make a little tour of a walk. The tombola is finished. An Irish dressed
+up as an Italian--execrable!'
+
+
+
+
+_EN AVANT!_
+
+  O GOD! let us not live these days in vain,
+    This variegated life of doubt and hope;
+  And though, as day leads night, so joy leads pain,
+    Let it be symbol of a broader scope.
+
+  God! make us serve the monitor within;
+    Cast off the trammels that bow manhood down,
+  Of form or custom, appetite or sin,
+    The care for folly's smile or envy's frown.
+
+  Oh! that true nobleness that rises up,
+    And teaches man his kindredship to Thee;
+  Which wakes the slaveling from the poison cup
+    Of passion, bidding him be grandly free:
+
+  May it be ours, in these the evil days,
+    That fall upon our nation like a pall;
+  May we have power each one himself to raise,
+    And place God's signet on the brow of all!
+
+  Not race nor color is the badge of slaves;
+    'Tis manhood, after all, that makes men free;
+  Weakness is slavery; 'tis but mind that saves
+    God's glorious image as he willed it be.
+
+  Out of the shadows thick, will coming day
+    Send Peace and Plenty smiling o'er our land;
+  And the events that fill us with dismay,
+    Are but the implements in God's right hand.
+
+  Where patriot blood is poured as cheap as rain,
+    A newer freedom, phoenix-like, will spring;
+  Our Father never asks for us in vain:
+    From noble seed comes noble harvesting.
+
+  Then let, to-day, true nobleness be ours;
+    That we be worthy of the day of bliss,
+  When truth's, and love's, and freedom's allied powers
+    Shall bind all nations with fraternal kiss.
+
+  Would we might see, as did the saint of old,
+    The heavens opening, and the starry throng
+  Listening to have our tale of peace be told,
+    That they may hymn man's resurrection song!
+
+
+
+
+_DESPERATION AND COLONIZATION._
+
+As the war rolls on, and as the prospects of Federal victory increase,
+the greater becomes the anxiety to know what must be done to secure our
+conquests. How shall we reestablish the Union in its early strength? How
+shall we definitely crush the possibility of renewed rebellion? The
+tremendous taxation which hangs over us gives fearful meaning to these
+questions. And they must be answered promptly and practically.
+
+The impossibility of Southern independence was from the first a foregone
+conclusion to all who impartially studied the geography of this country
+and the social progress of its inhabitants. The West, with its growing
+millions vigorously working out the problem of free labor, and of
+Republicanism, will _inevitably_ control the Mississippi river and
+master the destinies of all soil above the so-called isothermal line,
+and probably of much below it. The cotton States, making comparatively
+almost no increase in population, receiving no foreign immigration, and
+desiring none, have precipitated, by war, their destined inferiority to
+the North. It has been from the beginning, only a question of time, when
+they should become the weaker, and goaded by this consciousness, they
+have set their all upon a throw, by appeal to wager of battle, and are
+losing. It is not a question of abolitionism, for it would have been
+brought on without abolition. It is not a question of Southern wrongs,
+for the South never had a _right_ disturbed; and in addition to
+controlling our Government for years, and directly injuring our
+manufactures, it long swallowed a disproportionably great share of
+government appointments, offices, and emoluments. It is simply the last
+illustration in history of a smaller and rebellious portion of a
+community forced by the onward march of civilization into subordination
+to the greater. The men of the South were first to preach Manifest
+Destiny and the subjugation of Cuba and Mexico--forgetting that as
+regarded civilization, they themselves, on an average, only filled an
+intermediate station between the Spanish Creole and the truly _white_
+man of the North. Before manifest destiny can overtake the Mexican, it
+must first overtake the Southerner.
+
+Despite all its external show of elan, courtesy, and chivalry, 'the
+South,' as it exists, is and ever must be, in the very great aggregate,
+inferior to the North in the elements of progress, and in nearly all
+that constitutes true superiority. They boast incessantly of their
+superior education and culture; but what literature or art has this
+education produced amid their thousands of ladies and gentlemen of taste
+and of leisure? The Northern editor of any literary magazine who has had
+any experience in by-gone days with the manuscripts of the chivalry,
+will shrug his shoulders with a smile as he recalls the reams of
+reechoes of Northern writers, and not unfrequently of mere 'sensation'
+third-rate writers at that, which he was wont to receive from Dixie. And
+amid all his vaunts and taunts, the consciousness of this intellectual
+inferiority never left the Southerner. It stimulated his hatred--it
+rankled in his heart. He might boast or lie--and his chief statistician,
+De Bow, was so notoriously convicted of falsifying facts and figures
+that the assertion, as applied to him, is merely historical--but it was
+of no avail. The Northern school and the Northern college continued to
+be the great fountain of North-American intellect, and the Southerner
+found himself year by year falling behind-hand intellectually and
+socially as well as numerically. As a last resort, despairing of victory
+in the _real_, he plunged after the wild chivalric dream of
+independence; of Mexican and Cuban conquest; of an endless realm and a
+reopened slave-trade--or at least of holding the cotton mart of the
+world. It is all in vain. We of the same continent recognize no right in
+a very few millions to seize on the land which belongs as much to our
+descendants and to the labor of all Europe and of the world as it does
+to them. They have _no right_ to exclude white labor by slaves. A
+Doughface press may cry, Compromise; and try to restore the _status quo
+ante bellum_, but all in vain. The best that can be hoped for, is some
+ingenious temporary arrangement to break the fall of their old
+slaveholding friends. It is not as _we_ will, or as _we_ or _you_ would
+_like_, that what the Southerners themselves term a conflict of races,
+can be settled. People who burn their own cities and fire their own
+crops are going to the dire and bitter end; and the Might which under
+God's providence is generally found in the long run of history to be the
+Right--will triumph at last.
+
+As has been intimated in the foregoing passages, the antipathy of the
+South to the North is deeply seated, springing from such rancor as can
+only be bred between a claim to social superiority mingled with a bitter
+consciousness of inferiority in nearly all which the spirit of the age
+declares constitutes true greatness. It is almost needless to say, that
+with such motives goading them on, with an ignorant, unthinking mass for
+soldiers, and with unprincipled politicians who have to a want of
+principle added the newly acquired lust for blood, any prospect of
+conciliation becomes extremely remote. We may hope for it--we may and
+should proceed cautiously, so that no possible opportunity of restoring
+peace may be lost; but it is of the utmost importance that we be blind
+to no facts; and every fact developed as the war advances seems to
+indicate that we have to deal with a most intractable, crafty, and
+ferocious enemy, whom to trust is to be deceived.
+
+There can be no doubt that the ultimatum of the South is secession or
+death. We of the North can not contemplate such a picture with calmness,
+and therefore evade it as amiably as we can. We say, it stands to reason
+that very few men will burn their own homes and crops, yet every mail
+tells us of tremendous suicidal sacrifices of this description. The ruin
+and misery which the South is preparing for itself in every way is
+incalculable and incredible, and yet there is no diminution of
+desperation. The prosperity which made a mock of honest poverty is now,
+as by the retributive judgment of God, sinking itself into penury, and
+the planter who spoke of the Northern serf as a creature just one remove
+above the brute, is himself learning by bitter experience to be a
+mud-sill. Verily the cause of the poor and lowly is being avenged. Yet
+with all this there is no hint or hope of compromise; repeated defeats
+are, so far, of little avail. The Northern Doughfaces tell us over and
+over again, that if we will 'only leave the slave question untouched,'
+all will yet be right. 'Only spare them the negro, and they, seeing that
+we do not intend to interfere with their rights, will eventually settle
+down into the Union.' But what is there to guarantee this assertion?
+What _proof_ have we that the South can be in this manner conciliated?
+None--positively none.
+
+There is nothing which the Southern press, and, so far as we can learn,
+the Southern people, have so consistently and thoroughly disavowed since
+the war began, as the assertion that a restoration of the Union may be
+effected on the basis of undisturbed slavery. They have ridiculed the
+Democrats of the North with as great contempt and as bitter sarcasm as
+were ever awarded of old to Abolitionists, for continually urging this
+worn-out folly; for now that the mask is finally thrown off, they make
+no secret of their scorn for their old tools and dupes. Slavery is no
+longer the primary object; they are quite willing to give up slavery if
+the growing prosperity of the South should require it; their emissaries
+abroad in every _salon_ have been vowing that manumission of their
+slaves would soon follow recognition; and it was their rage at failure
+after such wretched abasement and unprincipled inconsistency which, very
+naturally, provoked the present ire of the South against England and
+France. They, the proud, chivalrous Southrons, who had daringly rushed
+to battle as slave lords, after eating abundant dirt as prospective
+Abolitionists, after promising any thing and every thing for a
+recognition, received the cold shoulder. No wonder that ill-will to
+England is openly avowed by the Richmond press as one of the reasons for
+burning the cotton as the Northern armies advance.
+
+The only basis of peace with the North, as the South declares, is
+Disunion; and they do most certainly mean it. No giving up the slave
+question, no enforcing of fugitive slave laws; no, not the hanging of
+Messrs. Garrison and Phillips, or any other punishment of all
+Emancipationists--as clamored for by thousands of trembling
+cowards--would be of any avail. It is disunion or nothing--and disunion
+they can not have. There shall be no disunion, no settlement of any
+thing on _any_ basis but the Union. Richmond papers, after the battle of
+Pittsburgh Landing, proposed peace and separation. They do not know us.
+The North was never so determined to push on as now; never so eager for
+battle or for sacrifices. If the South is in earnest, so are we; if they
+have deaths to avenge, so have we; if they cry for war to the knife, so
+surely as God lives they can have it in full measure. For thirty years
+the blazing straw of Southern insult has been heaped on the Northern
+steel; and now that the latter is red-hot, it shall scorch and sear ere
+it cools, and they who heated it shall feel it.
+
+We may as well make up our minds to it first as last, that we must at
+every effort and at _any_ cost, conquer this rebellion. There is no
+alternative. This done, the great question which remains to settle, is,
+how shall we manage the conquered provinces? There are fearful obstacles
+in the way; great difficulties, such as no one has as yet calmly
+realized; difficulties at home and abroad. We have a fierce and
+discontented population to keep under; increased expenses in every
+department of government; but it is needless to sum them up. The first
+and most apparent difficulty is that involved in the form of government
+to be adopted. As the rebellious States have, by the mere act of
+secession, forfeited all State rights, and thereby reduced themselves to
+territories, this question would seem to settle itself without
+difficulty, were it not that a vast body of the ever-mischief-making,
+ever-meddling, and never-contented politicians (who continue to believe
+that the millennium would at once arrive were Emancipation only
+extinguished) cry out against this measure as an infringement of those
+Southern rights which are so dear to them. They argue and hope in vain.
+Never more will the South come back to be served and toadied to by them
+as of old; never more will they receive contemptuous patronage and
+dishonorable honors. It is all passed. Those who look deepest into this
+battle, and into the future, see a resistance, grim and terrible, to the
+death; and one which will call for the strictest and sternest watch and
+ward. It will only be by putting fresh life and fresh blood into
+Secessia, that union can be practically realized. Out of the old
+Southern stock but little can be made. A great portion must be kept
+under by the strong hand; a part may be induced to consult its own
+interests, and reform. But the great future of the South, and the great
+hope of a revived and improved Union will be found in colonizing certain
+portions of the conquered territory with free white labor.
+
+A more important topic, and one so deeply concerning the most vital
+prosperity of the United States, was never before submitted to the
+consideration of her citizens. If entertained by Government and the
+people on a great, enterprising, and vigorous scale, as such schemes
+were planned and executed by the giant minds of antiquity, it may be
+made productive of such vast benefits, that in a few years at most, the
+millions of Americans may look back to this war as one of the greatest
+blessings that ever befell humanity, and Jefferson Davis and his
+coadjutors be regarded as the blind implements by which God advanced
+human progress, as it had never before advanced at one stride. But to
+effect this, it should be planned and executed as a great, harmonious,
+and centrally powerful scheme, not be tinkered over and frittered away
+by all the petty doughfaces in every village. In great emergencies,
+great acts are required.
+
+It is evident that the only certain road to Union-izing the South is, to
+plant in it colonies of Northern men. Thousands, hundreds of thousands
+now in the army, would gladly remain in the land of tobacco or of
+cotton, if Government would only provide them with the land whereon to
+live. Were they thus settled, and were every slave in the South
+emancipated by the chances of war, there would be no danger to apprehend
+as to the future of the latter. Give a Yankee a fat farm in Dixie, and
+we may rely upon it that although a Southern nabob may not know how to
+get work out of a 'free nigger', the Northerner will contrive to
+persuade Cuffy to become industrious. We have somewhere heard of a
+Vermonter, who taught ground-hogs or 'wood-chucks' to plant corn for
+him; the story has its application. Were Cuffy ten times as lazy as he
+is, the free farmer would contrive to get him to work. And in view of
+this, I am not sorry that the Legislatures of the border wheat States
+are passing laws to prevent slaves from entering their territories. The
+mission of the black is to labor as a free man in the South, under the
+farmer, until capable of being a farmer on his own account.
+
+The manner and method of colonizing free labor in the South deserves
+very serious consideration, and is, it may be presumed, receiving it at
+the hands of Government, in anticipation of further developments in this
+direction. We trust, however, that the Administration will _lead_, as
+rapidly as possible, in this matter, and that the President will soon
+make it the subject of a Message as significant and as noble as that
+wherein this country first stood committed by its chief officer to
+Emancipation, the noblest document which ever passed from president or
+potentate to the people; a paper which, in the eyes of future ages, will
+cast Magna Charta itself into the shade, and rank with the glorious
+manumission of the Emperor of Russia.
+
+The primary question would be, whether it were more expedient to scatter
+free labor all over the South, or simply form large colonies at such
+points as might serve to effectually break up and surround the
+confederacy. Without venturing to decide on the final merit of either
+plan, we would suggest that the latter would be, for a beginning,
+probably most feasible. Should Virginia, certain points on the Atlantic
+coast, embracing the larger cities and vicinity of forts, and Texas, be
+largely or strongly occupied by free men, we should at once throw a
+chain around the vanquished foe, whose links would grow stronger every
+year. With slavery abolished--and it is at present abolishing itself
+with such rapidity that it is almost time lost to discuss the
+subject--immigration from Europe would stream in at an unprecedented
+rate, and in a few years, all the old Southern system become entirely a
+tradition of the past, like that of the feudal chivalry which the
+present chivalry so fondly ape.
+
+The enormous internal resources of Eastern Virginia, her proximity to
+free soil, the arrogance and insubordination of her inhabitants, render
+her peculiarly fitted for colonization. Not less attractive is Texas--a
+State which, be it remembered, is capable of raising six times as much
+cotton as is now raised in the whole South, and which, if only settled
+and railroaded-ed, would, in a few years, become the wealthiest
+agricultural State in America. But let our army once settle in the
+South, there will be little danger of its not retaining its possessions.
+He who can win can wear.
+
+The country has thus far treated very gingerly the question of
+confiscation, which is, however, destined to thrust itself very
+prominently forward among the great issues of the day, and which is
+closely allied to colonization. That the South, after forcing upon us
+such a war as this, with its enormous losses and expenses, should be
+subjected to no penalty, is preposterous. Confiscation there must
+be--not urged inhumanly on a wholesale scale, but in such a manner as to
+properly punish those who were forward in aiding rebellion. When this
+war broke out, the South was unanimous in crying for plunder, in
+speaking of wasting our commerce and our cities on a grand scale. But it
+is needless to point out that punishment of the most guilty alone would
+of itself half cover the expenses of the war.
+
+It may be observed that already, since the decree of emancipation in the
+District of Columbia, a fresh spirit of enterprise has manifested itself
+there. Within a few days after the signature of the President to that
+act, Northern men began to prepare for renewed industry and action in
+the old slave field. The tide of free labor which will rush into
+Virginia, after the chances of war or other action shall have
+emancipated that State, will be incalculable. Its worn-out plantations
+will become thriving farms, its mines and inexhaustible water-powers
+will call into play the incessant demand and supply of vigorous industry
+and active capital. We may hasten the movement or we may not, by direct
+legislation. For the present, it seems advisable to await the rapidly
+developing chances of war and their results; but the great rush of free
+labor will come, and that rapidly, and Virginia, disenthralled, become,
+in all probability, once more the first among the States.
+
+We have spoken of the desperation of the rebels, and of the idleness of
+expecting from them any peaceable compromise. Those who, in the South,
+will take the oath of allegiance, and who have probably acted only under
+compulsion, should be spared. But there is a vast number who are as yet
+under the dominion of a madness, for which nothing but the most vigorous
+measures can be of any avail. It is evident that at present, every where
+except in Halleck's department, government is too indulgent. Traitors
+flaunt and boast openly in the border States, and publicly scheme with
+their doughface allies, to defeat the Union cause in every possible way,
+too often with signal success. The more mercy they receive, the more
+insolent do they become, and yet every effort has been made, and is
+making, 'to conciliate.' Let Government be vigorous, and rely only on
+its strong hand, so far as the management of avowed traitors is
+concerned; such men hold to no faith, and keep no oaths. With such, a
+threat of confiscation will be found of more avail than all the lenity
+in the world.
+
+We may quote, in this connection, from a letter to the Salem _Register_,
+from Captain Driver, who hoisted 'Old Glory' at Nashville, when our
+troops took possession of that city. After speaking of the immense
+amount of property being destroyed through the State, he asks:
+
+     'Is there one man North, who now expects to make peace, based on
+     compromise with such men as lead here? Is there one who expects a
+     lasting peace in this land, until the armed heel of freedom's
+     soldiers marks every inch of slave soil? If there is, he knows
+     little of the South or Southern men and women. One defeat of the
+     Federal forces, and madness would be rampant here. In the hour of
+     victory, they would destroy every Union family in the South. We
+     live on a volcanic mass, which at any moment may upheave and blow
+     us to glory without the benefit of the clergy, the most of whom are
+     in the army of Dixie.
+
+     'Our enemy is as bitter as death, as implacable as the savage of
+     the forest; he will do any thing to gain his end. Twice has the
+     'Black Flag' been flaunted in our faces, and cheered by a portion
+     of our citizens. Our women are more bitter than the men, and our
+     children are taught to hate the North, in church, in school, and at
+     the fireside. Our city still presents a sullen, silent front; it
+     will take as long time to root treason out of Nashville us it did
+     the household sins of Egypt out of Israel.
+
+     'Had I my way, I would confiscate the property of all traitors,
+     work the slaves three or four years under overseers, on the land of
+     their masters, sell the crops thus raised, and pay the war debt;
+     this would save the people from taxation. The fifth year's crop
+     give to the slaves, and send them to Texas or elsewhere; give them
+     a governance, buy up the slaves of the loyal men, and let them be
+     sent to their brethren. The land confiscated, I would divide among
+     the soldiers of the North and the widows and orphans of those
+     deluded poor men of the South who fell victims to false notions of
+     'Southern Rights;' compel the Northern man to settle on his grant,
+     or to send a settler of true, industrious habits, and give him no
+     power to alienate his title for ten or more years. This will insure
+     an industrious, worthy, patriotic people for the South. One man
+     will make one bale of cotton, others ten; your spindles and looms
+     will be kept running by free men, and slavery will cease forever,
+     as it should do. Slavery is a curse, a crime, a mildew, and must
+     end, or war will blast our fair heritage for all time to come.'
+
+Such are the views of one who seems to know what a real
+Southern-sympathizing secessionist is made of. Let it not be forgotten
+that there are thousands of native Tennesseeans, as of other borderers
+of intelligence, character, and influence, who have offered to raise
+regiments to fight for the Union; and this fact is urged by the
+doughface democrats as a reason for increased leniency to traitors. We
+confess we do not see what connection exists between the two. If these
+loyal borderers are sincere in their professions, they have certainly no
+sympathy for the wretches around them, who visit with death or pillage
+every friend of the Union. But it is idle to argue with traitors. Either
+we are at war, or we are not; and if the history of the past eighteen
+months has not taught the country the folly of procrastinating, nothing
+will do it. 'When you feel the knife in your heart, _then_ wish that you
+had fought!'
+
+
+
+
+_THE EDUCATION TO BE._
+
+II.
+
+A right intellectual education presupposes three essential features: the
+selection of the most suitable subjects for study; the proper
+presentation of these, in the order of their dependence, and in view of
+the gradual growth of the pupil's powers of comprehension; and, not less
+important than either of these, the finding out and following of the
+best method and order of presenting the truths belonging to each subject
+to be studied. These are the problems with which, as something apart
+from Metaphysics or Logic, the possible but yet unachieved pedagogical
+science has to deal. To the first of these questions, What shall we
+teach? or, as he phrases it, 'What knowledge is of most worth?' Mr.
+Spencer (presuming the child already supplied with his bare implements,
+reading, spelling, and penmanship) is led, after a long discussion, to
+conclude that 'the uniform reply is, Science.' The 'counts' on which he
+bases this verdict, are, the purposes of self-preservation; the gaining
+of a livelihood; the due discharge of parental functions; qualification
+for political responsibilities; the production and enjoyment of art; and
+discipline, whether intellectual, moral, or religious. Taken at his own
+showing, Mr. Spencer seems to contemplate, as his model of an educated
+man, a prodigiously capable and efficient mute. But can he deny that the
+ability _to express_ what one may know, and in speech, as well as in
+production, is at once the final proof, and in a very real sense the
+indispensable consummation of such knowing? _Language_ is the
+counterpart and complement of _Science_. The two are but two sides, and
+either separately an incomplete one, of one thing; that one thing we may
+name _definite and practical knowledge_; and it is the only sort of
+knowledge that has real value. Language is yet larger than all the
+sciences proper which it embodies, namely, those clustering about
+Philology, Grammar, and Rhetoric. Of these, all deal with words, or
+those larger words--sentences; but under these forms they deal, in
+reality, with the objective world as perceived or apprehended by us, and
+as named and uttered in accordance with subjective aptitudes and laws.
+In language, then, there stands revealed, in the degree in which we can
+ascend to it, all that is yet known of the external world, and all that
+has yet evolved itself of the human mind. Can we decry the study of that
+which, whether as articulate breath, or through a symbolism of visible
+forms, mirrors to us at once all of nature and all of humanity? But if
+we yield this claim in behalf of language, noting meanwhile that the
+mathematics are already well represented in our courses of instruction,
+then much of Mr. Spencer's eloquent appeal is simply wasted by
+misdirection. All that he had really to claim is, that a
+disproportionate time is now surrendered to the studies of the symbols,
+as such, and too often to characteristics of them not yet brought in any
+way into scientific co�rdination, nor of a kind having practical or
+peculiarly disciplinary value. If Mr. Spencer had insisted on a more
+just division of the school studies between the mathematical, physical,
+biological, and linguistic sciences, he would have struck a chord
+yielding no uncertain sound, and one finding response in a multitude of
+advanced and liberal minds. If he had gone yet deeper, and disclosed to
+his readers the fact that the fundamental need is, not that we study
+what in the more restricted sense is known as _Science_, but that we
+begin to study all proper and profitable subjects, as we now do hardly
+any of them, _in the true scientific spirit and method_, he would not
+merely seem to have said, but would have succeeded in saying, something
+of the deepest and most pressing import to all educators.
+
+The volume of republished papers from Mr. Barnard's able _Journal of
+Education_--the first of a series of five under the general title of
+'Papers for the Teacher'--will afford to those desirous of investigating
+the second of the problems above proposed, some useful material and
+hints. Especially will this be true, we think, of the first series of
+articles, by Mr. William Russell, on the 'Cultivation of the Perceptive,
+Expressive, and Reflective Faculties;' and of the second, by Rev. Dr.
+Hill, now President of Antioch College, upon the 'True Order of
+Studies.' In the outset of his first essay, (which appeared in March,
+1859,) Dr. Hill takes it '_for granted_ [postulating, we think, a pretty
+large ground, and one that analysis and proof would better have
+befitted] that there is a rational order of development in the course of
+the sciences, and that it ought to be followed in common education.' The
+order he finds is that of five great studies, Mathesis, [mathematics;]
+Physics, or Natural History; History; Psychology; and Theology. 'We also
+take it for granted,' he continues, 'that there is a natural order of
+development in the human powers, and that studies should be so arranged
+as to develop the powers in this order.' Here two very difficult
+problems are undertaken--the hierarchy of the sciences, and the analysis
+of the intellect--and though we seem to find in the elucidation of the
+subject traces of that 'harmony of results of the two lines of inquiry,'
+on which the author relies as one source of confirmation of the results
+themselves, yet we can not admit that the solutions given us remove all,
+nor even all the main difficulties of the case. While we regard the
+mathematics, physics, psychology, and theology as quite well
+individualized and distinct lines of scientific research, we can not
+help feeling that the day has hardly come for embracing _physiology_
+under either physics or psychology; the forming of the bile and the
+growing and waste of brain are yet, to our apprehension, too far removed
+from the gravitation of planets or the oxidation of phosphorus, on the
+one hand, as they are from the scintillations of wit or the severe march
+of reason on the other, for ready affiliation with either. We question
+decidedly whether Theology proper can, at the most, be more than a very
+restricted subject; and quite as decidedly whether the heterogeneous
+matters grouped under History, namely, Agriculture, Trade, Manufactures,
+the Fine Arts, Language, Education, Politics, and Political Economy, are
+or can be shown to be linked by any principle of essential unity. Most
+of these have their historical side; but their unhistorical and
+scientific side most interests the great body of learners. And this
+latter aspect of some of them, Education and Politics especially,
+belongs after, not before Psychology. Then, the great fact of
+expression--Language--has not adequate justice done it by the position
+it is here placed in. Want of space is the least among our reasons for
+forbearing to attempt here a classification of the sciences--a work
+which Ramus, D'Alembert, Stewart, Bentham, and Amp�re successively
+essayed and left unfinished. But the principle that the faculties in
+their order are called out by the branches named in their order, is
+quite given up as the writer proceeds, and distinctly so in his Tabular
+View of the studies adapted to successive ages. In actual life, usually
+the first set teaching the infant receives is in language; and even
+though it previously is and should be getting its ideas of forms,
+colors, and other qualities, in the concrete, yet it remains far from
+true that we should 'pay our earliest attention to the development of
+the child's power to grasp the truths of space and time.' Dr. Hill has,
+however, taken in these papers a step in a needful direction; and
+perhaps the best we could at first expect, are hints and an
+approximation toward a much desired result.
+
+We may fairly assume that Mr. Willson's answer to the question, What to
+teach? is in some good degree embodied in his elaborate series of
+'School and Family Readers,' of which the first six of the eight
+contemplated volumes have already appeared. These Readers aim to replace
+in a good degree the more purely literary materials of most of their
+predecessors, with a somewhat systematic and complete view of the more
+generally useful branches of human knowledge. They begin, where the
+child is sure to be interested, with studies of animals, illustrated
+with good and often spirited drawings, and proceed through Physiology,
+Botany, Architecture, Physical Geography, Chemistry, etc., up at last,
+as is promised, to Mental and Moral Philosophy, Natural Theology,
+Rhetoric, Criticism, Logic, the Fine Arts, including that one of those
+arts, as we presume we may class it, with which pupils of the rural
+schools will have best cause to become acquainted, namely, Gardening!
+Readers on this plan have long been known in the schools of Prussia and
+Holland, and are even lately well received in England, in the form of
+Mr. Constable's popular series; though apparently, when finished, the
+American series will be more full and complete in topics and treatment
+of them than any preceding one. Of course, restricted space, and the
+range of maturity of talents addressed, compel the presentation in
+simplified form of scarcely more than 'a little learning' under the
+several heads; and the compiler sensibly tells us his aim is not to give
+a full exposition of any theme, but rather, 'to present a _pleasing
+introduction_ to science.' We may grant, in the outset, that most pupils
+will really comprehend, in and through the reading of it, but a modicum
+of all the high and large fields of knowledge here intimated to them;
+but who that can now look on his school-days as in the past, does not
+remember how many grandiose sentences he was then called on to utter in
+cadence duly swelling or pathetic, but of the meaning of which he had
+not the most distant approach to a true comprehension? It was _ours_
+once to be of a class whose enunciative powers were disciplined by
+repeated goings 'through' of the 'Old English Reader,' and well do we
+remember how the accidental omission of the full pause after 'shows' in
+the quotation ending the piece entitled 'Excellency of the Holy
+Scriptures,' caused a certain teacher to understand(!) and direct us to
+read the whole sentence thus: 'Compared, indeed, with this, all other
+moral and theological wisdom
+
+     'Loses, discountenanced, and like folly shows' BEATTIE.'
+
+Now, it is true, the whole sentence, in its best state, would have shown
+to our green understandings like enough to 'folly,' if we had once made
+the effort to find meaning of any sort in it; nor can it be considered
+the most profitable use of school time, thus to 'like folly show' to
+unknit juvenile brains the abstract and high thought of mature and great
+minds, who uttered them with no foolishness or frivolity in their
+intentions! We see reasons to expect substantial advantages from Mr.
+Willson's books; and we believe teachers will appreciate and use them.
+We could wish they had not gone so far to mechanicalize the pupil's
+enunciation; by too freely introducing throughout the points of
+inflection; but it is safe to predict that most pupils will take up with
+interest the simplified readings in science; that they will comprehend
+and remember a useful portion of what they read; that the lessons will
+afford both them and the teachers points of suggestion from which the
+mind can profitably be led out to other knowledge and its connections;
+and that they who go through the series can at least leave school with
+some more distinct ideas as to what the fields of human knowledge are,
+and what they embrace, than was ever possible under the _r�gime_ of
+merely fine writing, of pathetic, poetic, and generally miscellaneous
+selections.
+
+The educational interest that grew up in our country between the years
+1810 and 1828, about the year 1835 gave place to a stagnation that has
+marked nearly the whole of the period intervening between the last-named
+and the present date. In the year 1858, the _New-York Teacher_ was made
+the first medium of some thoughts in substance agreeing with those set
+forth in the earlier part of this paper, claiming the indispensableness
+to true education of a more true and liberal _work_ on the part of the
+learner's intellectual faculties, and of a more true and logical
+_consecution_ than has yet been attained, and one corresponding to the
+natural order of the intellectual operations, in the books and lessons
+through which the usual school studies are to be mastered. 'Make'--said
+the first of the articles setting forth this thought--'the [form of the]
+facts and principles of any branch of study as simple as you choose, and
+unless the order of their presentation be natural--be that order, from
+observation to laws and causes, in which the mind naturally moves,
+whenever it moves surely and successfully--the child, except in the rare
+case of prodigies that find a pleasure in unraveling complexity, will
+still turn from the book with loathing. He will do so because he must.
+It is not in his nature to violate his nature for the sake of acquiring
+knowledge, however great the incentives or threatenings attending the
+process.' 'The child's mind ... with reference to all unacquired
+knowledge ... stands in precisely the attitude of the experimenters and
+discoverers of riper years. It is to come to results not only previously
+unknown, but not even conceived of. Because their nature and faculties
+are identical, the law of their intellectual action must be the same.'
+'Study is research.' In subsequent articles, it was claimed that the law
+here indicated is for intellectual education, the one true and
+comprehensive law; and it was expressed more fully in the words: 'All
+true study is investigation; all true learning is discovery.'
+
+We say, now, that when the first of these articles appeared, the leading
+thought it contained, namely, that our pupils can and should learn by a
+process of _re-discovery_, in the subjects they pursue, had not in
+distinct nor in substantial statement in any way appeared in the
+educational treatises or journals; and further, that it was not, so far
+as their uttered or published expressions show, previously occupying the
+attention of teachers or of educational writers, nor was it the subject
+or substance of remarks, speeches, or debates, in the meetings of
+Teachers' Associations. We say further, and because history and justice
+require it, that in our country, especially in the educational movements
+in the State of New-York, and in the several national associations of
+educators, a marked change and revolution in the course of much of the
+thought and discussion touching matters of education has, since the year
+1858, become apparent, and that to the most casual participant or
+observer, and in the precise direction in which the thought above
+referred to points. The essential issue itself--the practicability and
+desirableness of casting our studies into the form of courses of
+re-discovery is somewhat distantly and delicately approached,
+incorporated into speeches by an allusion or in the way of _aperc�_, or
+thrown out as a suggestion of a partial or auxiliary method with the
+younger learners, all which is of a fashion highly patronizing to the
+thought, spite of the scruples about confessing who was the suggester of
+it. But other questions, which spring up in the train of this, which by
+themselves had received attention long since, but had been mainly
+dropped and unheard of among us during the past twenty-five years, have
+come again into full and unconcealed prominence. Such are the questions
+about the natural order of appearance of the faculties in childhood, as
+to what are the elementary faculties of the mind, as to the adaptation
+of the kinds and order of studies to these, etc. And thus, all at once,
+is disclosed that Education itself, which many had thought quite a
+'finished' thing, well and happily disposed of, or at least so far
+perfected as to leave no work further save upon the veriest outskirts of
+details, is in truth a giant superstructure with foundations in sand, or
+so almost visibly lacking underneath it, that it threatens to fall. For,
+in the name of the simplest of all common sense, how are we to educate
+to the best, _not yet knowing_--and that is now acknowledged--_what are
+the_ FACULTIES _of the very minds we are dealing with, nor what are the_
+PROCESSES _by which those minds begin and keep up their advance in
+knowledge?_ So, also, those who in the most charitable mood could see in
+education only something too hum-drum and narrow for their better
+fancies, find it now rising and expanding into a new and large field for
+intellectual effort, full of interesting problems, and fraught with
+realizations as yet undreamed of.
+
+It may be said, that the young mind had always learned what it did
+learn, by discoveries; we answer, our methods and our books have not in
+any sufficient degree recognized the fact, provided for it, nor taken
+advantage of it. It may be said, that writers had previously
+acknowledged that the mind learns well--some of them even, that it
+learns best--when it discovers: we answer, that nevertheless, no one had
+recorded it as a well-grounded, universal conclusion and positive law,
+that the mind only can learn, in all strictly scientific matters, as it
+discovers, and that hence, the canons of the method of discovery become
+rules for directing, in studies of this character, the education of the
+young. Aristotle and Bacon have recognized and enforced upon the adult
+mind its two master methods of advance by reasoning. But our children
+have their knowing also to attain to, their discoveries to make, their
+logic of proof, on occasions, to employ. Shall we lavish all the
+treasures of method on those who have passed the formative stage of
+mind, and acquired the bent of its activities? Rather, we think, the
+true intellectual method--combining both Baconian _induction_ and
+Aristotelian _deduction_--yet waits to realize some of the best of the
+application and work for which its joint originators and their
+co-workers have been preparing it; and that perhaps one of the highest
+consummations of this one method of thought may yet appear in the
+carrying forward, with more of certainty, pleasure, and success in their
+attaining of knowledge, the lisping philosophers of our school-rooms and
+our firesides.
+
+From one source, disconnected latterly from those to which I have thus
+far called attention, there has arisen a decidedly progressive movement
+in the direction of right teaching, and one that, at least in
+geographical studies, promises soon to result in a consummation of great
+importance. Though Pestalozzianism, as further developed by the Prussian
+educators and schools, has never yet realized the completely inductive
+and consecutive character here contended for, it has been tending in a
+degree toward such a result; and this is perhaps seen in the most marked
+way in the method of teaching geography developed by Humboldt and
+Ritter, and represented in this country by their distinguished pupil,
+Professor Guyot. This method subordinates political to physical
+geography, proceeding from facts to laws, and by setting out with the
+grand natural features of the globe, leads the learner to comprehend not
+only the existence, boundaries, capitals, and strength of nations, but
+the reasons why these have come to be what they are. As tending in the
+same true direction, we should not fail to mention also the
+faithfully-executed series of raised or embossed maps of the late Mr.
+Schroeter, presenting not only the profile but the comparative
+elevations of the land-surfaces or continents and islands, and, in
+detail, of the several political divisions of the globe, thus at once
+making the ocular study of geography _real_, and not as formerly,
+leaving the right conception of the land-surfaces to the pupil's unaided
+imagination.
+
+Among the decisive and important steps marking the revival of
+educational interest among us, is that looking to the introduction into
+our primary schools of the simple lessons for what is called the
+'education of the senses,' and what is in fact the solicitation of the
+perceptive faculties, and the storing of them, with their proper ideas,
+through the avenues of sense. When employed about observing or finding
+and naming the parts or qualities and uses of objects, as _glass,
+leather, milk, wood, a tree, the human body_, etc., this sort of
+teaching takes the name of 'Object Lessons;' when it rises to
+philosophizing in the more obvious and easy stages about natural
+phenomena, as _rain, snow,_ etc., or about parts of the system of
+nature, as _oceans, mountains, stars,_ etc., it is sometimes termed
+'Lessons in Common Things.' In the year 1860, Mr. E.A. Sheldon, the
+enterprising superintendent of the schools of that city, first
+introduced with some degree of completeness and system, this sort of
+teaching into the primary schools of Oswego. In March, 1861, under the
+leadership also, as we infer, of their superintendent, Mr. William H.
+Wells, the Educational Board of the city of Chicago adopted a still more
+minutely systematized and more extensive course of instruction of this
+sort, arranged in ten successive grades, and intended to advance from
+the simple study of objects, forms, colors, etc., gradually to the
+prosecution of the regular and higher studies. The greater naturalness,
+life-likeness, and interest of this kind of mental occupation for young
+learners, over the old plan of restricting them mainly to the bare
+alphabet, with barren spelling, reading, definitions, and so on, is at
+once obvious in principle and confirmed by the facts; and for the
+younger classes--a stage of the utmost delicacy and importance to the
+future habits of the learner--the fruits must appear in increased
+readiness of thought and fullness of ideas, and in a preparation for
+more true and enlarged subsequent comprehension of the proper branches
+of study; provided, we must add, that these also, when reached, be
+taught by a method best suited to their subject-matter and to the higher
+range of mental activity required to deal with it. Whether, now, the
+object-lesson system and plan is the one competent to carry on the
+learner through those later studies, is another and larger question, and
+one to which we shall presently recur.
+
+Under the recall of the minds of educators among us to fundamental
+principles of methods and tendencies in teaching, which we have pointed
+out, it was but natural to expect attempts to be made toward remedying
+the defects and supplying the needs that could not fail to be detected
+in our teaching processes. Naturally, too, such attempts would result in
+the bringing forward, sooner or later, of novelties in the topics and
+form of the school-books. What the pen--which, in the outset, proposed
+the necessity of molding the school-work into a course of re-discoveries
+of the scientific truths--should reasonably be expected to do toward
+supplying the want it had indicated; or what it may, in the interim,
+have actually accomplished toward furnishing the working implements
+requisite to realizing in practice the possible results foreshadowed by
+the best educational theories, it may be neither in place nor needful
+that we should here intimate. Sometimes, indeed, there is in our social
+movements evidence of a singular sort of intellectual _catalysis;_ and a
+mute fact, so it _be_ a fact, and even under enforced continuance of
+muteness, through influence of temporary and extraneous circumstances,
+may yet, like the innocent _platinum_ in a mixture of certain gases, or
+the equally innocent _yeast-plant_ vegetating in the 'lump' of dough,
+take effect in a variety of ways, as if by mere presence.
+
+We shall remember how even Virgil had to write:
+
+     'Hos ego versiculos scripsi: tulit alter honores!'
+
+And the veriest bumpkin knows the force of the adage about one's shaking
+the tree, for another to gather up the fruit. But Virgil was patient,
+and did well at the last; though the chronicles do not tell us how many
+pears ever came to the teeth of him that did the tree-shaking. At all
+events, it is satisfying to know that time spins a long yarn, and comes
+to the end of it leisurely and at his own wise motion!
+
+The English object-lesson system being now fairly and successfully
+domesticated among us, and to such an extent as to call for the
+invitation and temporary residence among us, in the city of Oswego, of a
+distinguished lady-teacher from the English Training Schools, it is
+again but natural that the system should call forth books adapted to its
+purposes; and it was scarcely possible, under the circumstances we have
+now shown to exist, that such books should come forth without presenting
+a more conscious aim toward embodying something of the principle and
+order of _discovery_ than has marked even their English prototypes.
+These anticipations we find exactly realized in the first book of the
+new pattern that has yet made its appearance--the 'Primary
+Object-Lessons' of Mr. Calkins. Of this book, issued June, 1861, the
+author thus states the motive: 'With an earnest desire to contribute
+something toward a general radical change in the system of primary
+education in this country--a change from the plan of exercising the
+memory chiefly to that of developing the observing powers--a change from
+an artificial to a natural plan, one in accordance with the philosophy
+of mind and its laws of development, the author commenced the following
+pages.'
+
+Acknowledging his indebtedness to the manuals of Wilderspin, Stow,
+Currie, the Home and Colonial School Society, and other sources, the
+author tells us that the plan of developing the lessons 'corresponds
+more nearly to that given in Miss Mayo's works than to either of the
+other systems;' and we understand him to claim (and the feature is a
+valuable one) that in this book, which is not a text-book, but one of
+suggestive or pattern lessons for teachers, he directs the teacher to
+proceed less by telling the child what is before it and to be seen, and
+more by requiring the child to find for itself what is present. Again,
+an important circumstance, the purpose of the book does not terminate in
+describing right processes of teaching, but on the contrary, _'in
+telling what ought to be done, it proceeds to show how to do it by
+illustrative examples,' (sic.)_ Now, spite of some liberties with the
+President's English, which may properly be screened by the author's
+proviso that he does not seek 'to produce a faultless composition,' so
+much as to afford simple and clear examples for the teacher's use, we
+are compelled to inquire, especially as this is matter addressed to
+mature and not to immature minds, which it is the author really meant us
+to understand; that is, whether, in fact, the book 'proceeds to show
+_how to do it by_ illustrative examples;' or whether, in reality, it
+does not aim _to show by illustrative examples how to do it_--that,
+namely, which ought to be done. If we still find Mr. Calkins's
+philosophy somewhat more faultless than his practice, perhaps that is
+but one of the necessary incidents of all human effort; and we can say
+with sincerity that, in some of its features, we believe this a book
+better adapted to its intended uses--the age it is designed to meet
+being that of the lowest classes in the primary schools, or say from
+four to seven or eight years--than any of its predecessors. It will not,
+we hope, therefore, be understood as in a captious spirit, that we take
+exception to certain details.
+
+The author is clearly right in his principle that 'The chief object of
+primary education is the development of the faculties;' though doubtless
+it would have been better to say, _to begin_ the development of the
+faculties; but then, he recognizes, as the faculties specially active in
+children, those of 'sensation, perception, observation, and simple
+memory,' adding, for mature years, those of 'abstraction, the higher
+powers of reason, imagination, philosophical memory, generalization,'
+etc. But that any one of all these is in the true psychological sense, a
+_faculty_--save, it may be, in the single instance of imagination--we
+shall decidedly question; and Mr. Calkins will see by the intent of his
+very lessons, that he does not contemplate any such thing as 'sensation'
+or 'observation,' as being a faculty: but, on the other hand, that he is
+so regarding certain individual powers of mind, by which we know in
+nature Color and Form and Number and Change and so on.
+
+We must question whether 'in the natural order of the development of the
+human faculties, the mind of the child takes cognizance first of the
+_forms_ of objects.' Form is a result of particular _extensions:_
+evidently, extension must be known before form can be. But again,
+visibly, form is revealed through kinds and degrees of light and shade;
+in one word, through _color_. Evidently, then, color also must be
+appreciated before visible form can be. But this 'natural order of the
+development of the human faculties,' is a seductive thing. In phrase, it
+is mellifluous; in idea, impressively philosophical. It would be well if
+this book, while cautiously applying developing processes to the little
+learner, were to _dogmatise_ less to the teacher. But when the
+development-idea is carried into the titles of the sections, it becomes,
+we think, yet more questionable. Thus, a section is headed, 'To develop
+the idea of straight lines.' First, would not the idea of _a straight
+line_ come nearer to the thing actually had in view? Again, 'To develop
+the idea of right, acute, and obtuse angles.' 'The idea,' taking in all
+these things, must be most mixed and multifarious; it could not be
+_clear_, though that is a quality mainly to be sought. Is not the
+intention rather, to develop _ideas_ of _the right, the acute,_ and _the
+obtuse angle?_ Instances of this sort, which we can not understand
+otherwise than as showing a loose way of thinking, are numerous. But
+then, again, it is assumed that the lessons _develop_ all the ideas
+successively discoursed about. Far otherwise, in fact. In many
+instances, of course, a sharper, better idea of the object or quality
+discussed will be elicited in the course of the lesson. This is, at
+best, only a sort of quasi-development, individualizing an idea by
+turning it on all sides, comparing with others, and sweeping away the
+rubbish that partly obscured it. In others of the topics, the learner
+has the ideas before we begin our developing operations. But the great
+misfortune of the usage of the term here is, that _develop_ properly
+implies to _unroll, uncover, or disclose_ something that is infolded,
+complicate, or hidden away; but mark, something that is always THERE
+before the developing begins, and that by it is only brought into light,
+freedom, or activity! Thus, we may develop faculties, for they were
+there before we began; but we simply can not develop _objective ideas_,
+such as this book deals with, but must impart them, or rather, give the
+mind the opportunity to get them. First, then, this term thus employed
+is needlessly pretentious; secondly, it is totally misapplied. Would it
+not help both teacher and pupil, then, if we were to leave this stilted
+form of expression, and set forth the actual thing the lessons
+undertake, by using such caption as for for example, _To give the idea,
+of a triangle,_ or to insure, or _to furnish the idea of a curve?_ We
+think the misnomer yet greater and worse, when we come to such captions
+as 'To develop the idea of God, as a kind Father;' especially when the
+amount of the development is this: 'Now, children, listen very
+attentively to what I say, and I will _tell you_ about a Friend that
+_you all have_, one who is kind to all of you, one who _loves you
+better_ than your father or your mother does,' and so on. All this, and
+what precedes and follows, is 'telling,' as the author acknowledges; of
+course, then, it is not developing. How is the child here made to _find_
+and _know_ that it has such a Friend?--that this Friend _is_ kind to
+all?--that this Friend loves it better than do parents, or, in fact, at
+all? This is the way the nursery develops this and kindred ideas, and if
+the child be yet too young for its own comprehension of the most obvious
+truths of Natural Theology, then better defer the subject, or at least
+cease to call the nursery method by too swelling a name!
+
+As to arrangement of topics, though the geographical lessons properly
+come late, as they stand, the idea of _place_, as well as those of
+_weight and size_, all belong earlier than the positions they are found
+in; and _number_, later. Such mental anachronisms as talking of _solids_
+before the attempt has been made to impart or insure the idea of a
+solid, should, where practicable, be avoided; and more notably, such as
+bringing a subsequent and complex idea, like that of 'square measure,'
+before scarcely any one of the elementary ideas it involves, such as
+_measure, standard_, or even _length or size_, is presented. As to the
+substance of the teaching, we will indicate a few points that raise a
+question on perusal of them. What will the little learner gain, if the
+teacher follows the book in this instance? 'Where is the skin of the
+apple? _On_ its surface.'' This is in the lesson for 'developing the
+idea' of surface. When, by and by, the young mathematician gets the true
+idea of a surface, as extension in two dimensions only, hence, without
+thickness, then will follow this surprising result, that the whole
+thickness of the apple-skin is _on_--outside--the apple's surface, and
+hence, is nowhere: a singular converse of the teaching of those smart
+gentlemen who waste reams of good paper in establishing, to their own
+satisfaction, that even the mathematical surface itself has thickness!
+In the lesson on 'perpendicular and horizontal,' the definition of
+perpendicular is correct; but all the developing, before and after,
+unfortunately confounds the _perpendicular_ with the _vertical_--a bad
+way toward future accuracy of thought, or toward making scientific
+ideas, as they should be, definite as well as practically useful. If we
+judge by the brevity and incompleteness of the lesson on 'Developing
+ideas of Drawing'(!), ideas of that particular 'stripe' must be scarce.
+The Object Lessons at the close of the book we find generally very good
+models of such exercises, clear and to the purpose. Once in a while
+there is a _lapsus_, as in this: The criterion of a _liquid_ is
+presented as being in the circumstances that it does not '_hold
+together_' when poured from a vessel, but 'forms drops.' Now, since it
+forms drops, it _has cohesion_, and the criterion is wrongly taken; In
+fact, the same thing appears in that the liquid, even in pouring out,
+does hold together in a stream, and a stream that experiments with
+liquid jets show it really requires considerable force to break up.
+
+Finally, Mr. Calkins's book, in the bands of discerning and skillful
+teachers, can be made the instrument of a great deal of right and
+valuable discipline for primary classes; but without some guarding and
+help from the teacher's own thought, it will not always do the best
+work, nor in the best way. It is an approach to a good book for early
+mental development; but it is not the consummation to be desired. Many
+of its suggestions and patterns of lessons are excellent; but there is
+too large a lack of true consecution of topics, of accuracy of
+expression, and of really natural method of handling the subjects. We
+say this with no unkindly feeling toward the attempt or the author, but
+because, though no matter by how fortuitous circumstances, it comes to
+us as in this country the _first effort_ toward a certain new style of
+books and subjects, and certain more rational teaching; and we hold it,
+as being the privilege of teachers whose time may be too much consumed
+in applying, to criticise minutely, as no less our right and duty, and
+that of every independent man, to recognize and point out wherein this
+new venture meets, or fails to meet, the new and positive demand of the
+pupils and the teachers in our time. If, in a degree, the working out
+shows defects such as we have named, is it not yet a question, whether
+we have in the book an illustration 'how this system of training may be
+applied to the entire course of common school education'?--to say
+nothing now of the question whether, even in its best form, it is a
+system that ought to be so applied.
+
+After the author of a book for young learners is sure of the
+comprehensibility of his subjects, and the accuracy of his ideas and
+expressions of them, the highest need--and one the lack of which is
+fatal to true educative value--is that of a natural and true synthesis
+and consecution of the successive steps of fact and principle that are
+to be presented. We would not be understood that every successive lesson
+and every act of voluntary thinking must thus be consecutive: to say
+this, would be to confine the mind to one study, and to make us dread
+even relaxation, lest it break the precious and fragile chain of
+thought. Our growth in knowledge is not after that narrow pattern. We
+take food at one time, work at another, and sleep at a third: and so,
+the mind too has its variations of employment, and best grows by a like
+periodicity in them. This is our point--that it is a peculiarity and law
+of mind, growing out of the very nature of mind and of its knowings,
+that no truth or knowledge which is in its nature a _consequent_ on some
+other truths or knowledge, can by any possibility be in reality attained
+by any mind until after that mind has first secured and rightly
+appreciated those _antecedent_ truths or knowings. No later or more
+complex knowledge is ever comprehensible or acquirable, until after the
+elements of knowledge constituting or involved in it have first been
+definitely secured. To suppose otherwise, is precisely like supposing a
+vigorously nourishing foliage and head of a tree with neither roots nor
+stem under it; it is to suppose a majestic river, that had neither
+sufficient springs nor tributaries. Now, for the pupil, the text-book
+maker, the educator, no truth is more positive or profoundly important
+than this. He who fails of it, by just so much as he does so, fails to
+educate. Let the pupil, as he must, alternately study and not study--go
+even on the same day from one study to a second, though seldom to more
+than a third or fourth. By all this he need lose nothing; and he will
+tax and rest certain faculties in turn. But then, insist that each
+subject shall recur frequently enough to perpetuate a healthy activity
+and growth of the faculties it exercises, usually, daily for five days
+in a week, or every other day at farthest; that each shall recur at a
+stated period, so that a habit of mind running its daily, steady and
+productive round with the sun may be formed; and that in and along the
+material of every subject pursued, whether it be arithmetic, or grammar,
+or chemistry, or an ancient or modern language, the mind shall so be
+enabled to advance consecutively, clearly and firmly from step to
+step--from observation to law, from law to application, from analysis to
+broader generalization, and its application, and so on--that every new
+step shall just have been prepared for by the conceptions, the mental
+susceptibility and fibre, gotten during the preceding ones, and that
+thus, every new step shall be one forward upon new and yet sure ground,
+a source of intellectual delight, and a further intellectual gain and
+triumph. Need we say, this is the _ideal_? Practice must fall somewhat
+short of it; but Practice must first aim at it; and as yet she has
+scarcely conceived about the thing, or begun to attempt it. In truth,
+Practice is very busy, dashing on without a due amount of consideration,
+striving to project in young minds noble rivers of knowledge without
+their fountains; and building up therein grand trees of science, of
+which either the roots are wanting, or all parts come together too much
+in confusion.
+
+First, then, we are not to make the presentation of any topic or lesson,
+even to the youngest learner, needlessly inconsecutive; but with the
+more advanced learners--with those in the academic and collegiate
+courses--we should insist on the display, and in so doing best insure
+the increase of the true _robur_ of the intellect, by positive
+requirement that all the topics shall be developed logically; that
+sufficient facts shall come before all conclusions; and rigid, sharp,
+and satisfactory analysis before every generalization or other
+synthesis. So, the more advanced mind would learn induction, and logic,
+and method, by use of them upon all topics; it would know by experience
+their possibilities, requirements, and special advantages; and it would
+be able to recognize their principles, when formally studied, as but the
+reflex and expression of its own acquired habitudes. Such a mind, we may
+safely say, would be _educated_. But secondly, the foregoing
+considerations show that we are not unnecessarily to jumble together the
+topics and lessons; to vacillate from one line of study to another; to
+wander, truant-like, among all sorts of good things--exploiting, now, a
+_color_; then _milk_; then in due time _gratitude_ and _the pyramids_;
+then _leather_, (for, though 'there's nothing like leather,' it may be
+wisest to keep it in its place;) then _sponge_, and _duty to parents,
+lying_, the _points of compass_, etc.! And here, for all ages above nine
+or ten years, is a real drawback, or at the least, a positive danger, of
+the Object-Lesson and Common-Things teaching. Just here is shadowed
+forth a real peril that threatens the brains of the men and women of
+the--we may say, 'rising' generation, through this fresh accession of
+the object-lesson interest in our country. _Objects_, now, are
+unquestionably good things; and yet, even objects can be 'run into the
+ground.'
+
+We had put the essential thought here insisted on into words, before
+object-lessons had acquired the impetus of the last and current year.
+
+     'The 'object lessons' of Pestalozzi and his numerous followers, had,
+     in a good degree, one needed element--they required WORK of the
+     pupil's own mind, not mere recipiency. But they have [almost]
+     wholly lacked another element, just as important--that of
+     CONSECUTION in the steps and results dealt with. In most of the
+     schools in our country--in a degree, in all of them--these two
+     fundamental elements of all right education, namely, true work of
+     the learner's mind, and a natural and true consecution in not only
+     the processes of each day or lesson, but of one day on another, and
+     of each term on the preceding, are things quite overlooked, and
+     undreamed of, or, at the best, imperfectly and fragmentarily
+     attempted. But these, in so far as, he can secure their benefits,
+     are just the elements that make the thinker, the scholar, the man
+     of real learning or intellectual power in any pursuit.--_New-York
+     Teacher, December,_ 1859.
+
+A like view begins to show itself in the writings of some of the English
+educationists. The object-teaching is recognized as being, in most
+instances, at least, too promiscuous and disorderly for the ends of a
+true discipline and development, and certainly, therefore, even for
+securing the largest amount of information. It too much excludes the
+later, systematic study of the indispensable branches, and supplants the
+due exercise of the reasoning powers, by too habitual restriction of the
+mind's activities to the channels of sense and perception. Isaac Taylor,
+in his _Home Education_, admits the benefits of this teaching for the
+mere outset of the pupil's course, but adds: 'For the rest, that is to
+say, whatever _reaches its end in the bodily perceptions_, I think we
+can go but a very little way without so giving the mind a bent _toward
+the lower faculties as must divert it from the exercise of the higher._'
+This thought is no mere fancy. It rests on a great law of _derivation_,
+true in mind as in the body; that inanition and comparative loss of one
+set of powers necessarily follows a too habitual activity of a different
+set. Thus it is that, in the body, over-use of the nervous, saps the
+muscular energies, and excessive muscular exertion detracts from the
+vivacity of the mind. Logically, then, when carried to any excess over
+just sufficient to secure the needed clear perceptions and the
+corresponding names for material objects and qualities, the
+object-lesson system at once becomes the special and fitting education
+for the ditcher, the 'hewer of wood,' the mere human machine in any
+employment or station in life, where a quick and right taking to the
+work at the hand is desirable, and any thing higher is commonly thought
+to be in the way; but it is not the complete education for the
+independent mind, the clear judgment and good taste, which must grow out
+of habits of weighing and appreciating also thousands of _non_-material
+considerations; and which are characteristics indispensable in all the
+more responsible positions of life, and that in reality may adorn and
+help even in the humblest. In a recently published report or address on
+a recommendation respecting the teaching of Sciences, made by the
+English 'Committee of Council on Education,' in 1859, Mr. Buckmaster
+says:
+
+     'The object-lessons given in some schools are so vague and
+     unsystematic, that I doubt very much if they have any educational
+     or practical value. I have copied the following lessons from the
+     outline of a large elementary school; Monday, twenty minutes past
+     nine to ten, Oral Lesson--_The Tower of Babel_; Tuesday, _The
+     Senses_; Wednesday, _Noah's Ark_; Thursday, _Fire_; Friday, _The
+     Collect for Sunday_. What can come of this kind of teaching, I am
+     at a loss to understand. Now, a connected and systematic course of
+     lessons on any of the natural sciences, or on the specimens
+     contained in one of Mr. Dexter's cabinets, would have been of far
+     greater educational value, and more interesting to the children.
+     _This loose and desultory habit of teaching encourages a loose and
+     desultory habit of thought_; it is for this reason that I attach
+     great value to _consecutive courses_ of instruction. I think, it
+     will not be difficult to show that the study of _almost any branch
+     of elementary science_ not only has a direct bearing on many of the
+     practical affairs of every-day life, but also _supplies all the
+     conditions necessary to stimulate and strengthen the intellectual
+     faculties in a much greater degree_ than many of the subjects now
+     taught in our elementary schools.'
+
+All the lines of our investigation, as well as the most competent
+testimony, thus converge in showing that the object-lesson and
+common-things teaching is but a partial and preliminary resource in the
+business of education; that, to avoid working positive harm, it must be
+restricted within due limits of age, capacity, and subject; that it is
+not, therefore, the real and total present desideratum of our schools;
+and that, subsequently to the completion of the more purely sensuous and
+percipient phase of the mind, and to the acquirement of the store of
+simpler ideas and information, and the degree of capacity, that ought to
+be secured during that period--hence, from an age not later than eleven,
+or according as circumstances may determine, thirteen years--all the
+true and desirable ends of education, whether they be right mental
+habits and tastes, discipline and power of the faculties, or a large
+information and practical command of the acquisitions made--all these
+ends, we say, are thenceforward most certainly secured by the systematic
+prosecution, in a proper method, of the usually recognized distinct
+branches or departments of scientific knowledge. Let then, 'common
+things,' _et id genus omne_, early enough give place to thorough-going
+study of the elements of Geometry, of Geography, Arithmetic, Language,
+(including Grammar,) of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany,
+Physiology, and something of their derivations and applications. Thus
+shall our schools produce a race not of mere curious _gazers_, but of
+conscious and purposive investigators; not a generation of intellectual
+truants and vagabonds, but one of definitely skilled cultivators of
+definite domains in handicraft, art, or science.
+
+We are compelled to take issue, therefore, with Mr. Spencer's
+recommendation, indorsed in the Chicago Report, to the effect that
+object-lessons should, after a 'different fashion,' 'be extended to a
+range of things far wider, and continued to a period far later than
+now.' Not so: after any possible fashion. But let us, as early as the
+child's capacity and preparation will allow, have the individualized,
+consecutive studies, and the very manner of studying which shall be made
+to do _for the higher and the lower intellectual faculties together,
+what well-conducted object-lessons can and now do perform, mainly for
+the lower_. Of all school-method, this we conceive to be the true end
+and consummation. This would be the ultimate fruitage of the Baconian
+philosophy, and of philosophy larger than the Baconian--by as much as
+the whole is greater than any part--in the school-life and work of every
+boy and girl admitted to the benefits of our courses of instruction.
+
+Thus we have endeavored, with some particularity of examination and
+detail, to find and state not only what _are_, but what _should be_, the
+tendencies of educational thought and effort in our country and times.
+And we seem to find that those tendencies _are_, in spite of a
+stand-still conservatism or perplexed doubt in some quarters, and of a
+conflict of views and practices in others, largely in the direction in
+which the ends to be sought show that they _should be_. The _Education
+to be_, as far as the intellectual being is concerned, when time and
+study shall better have determined the conditions, and furnished the
+working instrumentalities, is to be, not in name merely, but in fact, an
+education by simply natural employment and development of all the
+perceiving, reasoning, originative, and productive faculties of the
+mind. It is to be such, because it is to insist on proceeding, after
+proper age, and then upon every suitable topic, by observation and
+investigation, and so, by discovery of the principles and results the
+mind is desired to attain; because it will be an education by rigidly
+consecutive, comprehended and firm lines of advance, employing processes
+analytic and synthetic, inductive and deductive, each in its requisite
+place and in accordance with the nature and stage of the topics under
+investigation. For the like reasons, it will have become, what we have
+long foreseen and desired that education should be, rightly progressive
+in form, and in character such as must develop, strengthen, and store
+the mind; such as must best fit, so far as the merely scholastic
+education can do this, for practical expression and use of what is
+learned, showing all our acquired knowledge in the light of its actual
+and various relationships, and conferring true serviceableness and the
+largest value, whether for enjoyment or execution.
+
+Such an education would be _real_ in its method as well as in its
+substance. We have fairly entered upon the era in which education must
+be, and, spite of any temporary recoil of timorous despotisms, must
+continue to be, popular and universal. But many are too apt to forget
+that, upon our planet, this thing of popular and universal education is
+comparatively a new and untried experience; that, so far as its mode and
+substance are concerned, it is, in truth, still in course of experiment.
+There is at present a very general and but too just complaint of the
+popular education, as tending to inflate rather than to inform; as
+prompting large numbers of young men especially to aim at scaling to
+positions above those in which the school found them, a thing that would
+be well enough were it not inevitable that, in the general scramble, the
+positions aspired to are at the same time too frequently those above
+their capabilities, and quite too full without them: as, in few words,
+inspiring youth with a disrelish for those less responsible pursuits to
+which a large majority should devote their lives, rather than with a
+desire to qualify themselves for their proper work. The tendency is
+admitted; and it has become, in overcrowded professions and commercial
+pursuits, the fruitful source of superficiality, of charlatanry, of
+poverty at once of pocket and of honor, of empty speculations, and of
+the worst crimes.
+
+But, appreciating the unquestionable fact that universal education is to
+be henceforth the rule in the most advanced nations, and that, in spite
+of its apparent consequences or our fears, and remembering also that the
+experience is, for the world, a new one, is there not some hope left us
+in the thought that possibly the alarmists have been attributing to the
+_fact_ of popular education itself what in truth is only a temporary
+consequence of a false, an abnormally-educating _method and procedure_
+on the part of our schools? Nay, more; does not the latter afford the
+true solution of the evil? We believe it has been shown that our
+teaching methods not only fail in great part, but in a degree positively
+mis-educate; that the very 'head and front' of this failure and
+non-developing appears in the want of bringing into just prominence the
+discriminating and the applicative powers of the mind, the judgment, and
+reason; in a word, the thinking as distinguished from the merely
+receptive and retentive powers. Now, what are we to expect from a people
+too many of whom are put in possession of stores of fact quite beyond
+the degree in which their capacities to discriminate clearly, to judge
+wisely, and to draw conclusions rationally have been strengthened and
+furnished with the requisite guiding principles? What but a shallow
+shrewdness that should run into all the evils we have above named? But
+discipline all to think and reason more and more justly and assuredly
+upon their facts, and to men so educated, the very thought of an
+inordinate crowding of the so-called genteeler avocations, to the
+neglect of the more substantial, _becomes appreciated in its true light,
+as absurd and unfortunate in every way, and, in all its bearings upon
+the individual as well as the social welfare_.
+
+So, let us have popular education; and let a due proportion of fit minds
+enter the professions, the posts of office, and commercial pursuits; let
+a few even live by mere work of thought; but let all enjoy the luxury of
+a degree of thought and rationality that shall forbid their richest
+blessing turning to their rankest curse. That such must be the result of
+a _true_ education, our faith in a wise Providence forbids us to doubt.
+Such an education being _real_, and appealing to all the faculties, does
+not eventuate in vain aspirings; but fits each for his place and
+work--fits for making that great and happy discovery, that the best
+talents and the most complete cultivation of them can not only find in
+every employment scope for real exercise, but in the commonest and
+simplest occupations will be more expert and successful than uncultured
+ignorance can possibly be. In this view, the true education tends not to
+_level_ but to utilize, to make the most of every man's special
+aptitudes for his special field. Such an education monarchy and
+aristocracy might dread, and re�ctive tendencies have already, indeed,
+blighted the once pattern school-system of Prussia, while they are
+believed to threaten a like step in England. But the idea of such an
+education as we have striven to portray, harmonizes with the spirit and
+objects of a commonwealth, and if we mistake not, to the perpetuity and
+perfection of free institutions it may yet be found the condition
+precedent.
+
+
+
+
+_TRAVEL-PICTURES._
+
+A QUIET COURT IN PARIS.
+
+No lodging on a village street could be quieter than my room in Paris,
+and yet the court it opened upon was not more than an easy stone's throw
+from the gayest part of the Boulevards. Once within the great wooden
+gate and up the narrow lane conducting to the court, and you seemed to
+have left the great world as completely behind you as if it had been a
+dream. It was one of the smallest of Parisian courts, and--to me its
+chief recommendation--one of the neatest. With its two or three small
+stuccoed houses built around, it reminded one rather of inclosures that
+you see in provincial towns in France than of the damp, high-walled
+courts, so common in the capital. In one of these small houses, looking
+out upon the sunny, cheerful yard, I had my room, and as I often sat at
+the window, I began by degrees to take some interest in the movements of
+my neighbors, as we can hardly help doing when the same persons pass in
+and out before our eyes for many days in succession. The house was
+rented or owned by an elderly lady, who, with her niece and an old
+servant-woman, seemed to be its only occupants, with the exception of
+two American boys, attending school by day at one of the large
+_Pensions_ so numerous in Paris. Kinder people can not be found any
+where, and fortunate indeed is the sojourner in a strange land who falls
+in with such good hearts. Their history was a singular one, and I did
+not really learn it till my return to Paris, after a long absence. They
+interested me very much, from the first day. The lady and her niece had
+seen better days, and were notable partisans of the Orleans family,
+whose memory they deeply reverenced. Politics, indeed, could make but
+little difference to them, passing, as they did, most of their lives in
+their quiet rooms; but such interest as they had in it clung to what
+they considered the model royal family of Europe, a family that carried
+its affections and virtues equally through the saddest and most splendid
+experiences. They could not sympathize with the oppressive and military
+character of the present dynasty and the crowd of time-serving
+adventurers that swarmed around it. The life of the younger lady was
+devoted to her aunt, and all the spare hours that remained to her from
+those occupied by the lessons she was compelled to give, to increase
+their scanty income, were passed in her society. I have seldom seen a
+life of such entire self-denial as that led by this refined and delicate
+woman. The third figure of this family group, the old servant, Marie,
+was a character peculiar to France. She seemed rather a companion than a
+servant, though she performed all the duties of the latter, keeping the
+rooms in neatest order, and making better coffee than I found at the
+most splendid restaurants. She had a clear blue eye, with one of the
+most faithful expressions I ever saw on human face, and seemed to take
+as much interest in me and the two American boys as if we had been her
+children. She was the housekeeper, buying all their little supplies; but
+when her labors were over, passing her leisure hours in the society of
+the ladies she had so long served. I soon saw that the connection
+between these three beings would be terminated only by death. The chief
+difference in the two ladies and their faithful old _bonne_, beyond the
+circumstance of better education and greater refinement, was that for
+the former the outer world no longer had much interest, while the old
+Marie still seemed to retain a keen relish for what was going on around
+her, and often amused me by the eagerness with which she would enter
+into trifling details of gossip and general news. After sight-seeing all
+day, and the experiences of a stranger in Paris, I was often glad to
+join the trio in their little parlor, and talk over the Paris of former
+days, during its revolutions and _f�tes_, or answer their questions
+about my every-day ramblings or my American home. I felt, during these
+evenings, a relief from the general routine of places of amusement,
+enjoyed their home-like quiet, and knew I could always give pleasure by
+varying the monotony of these ladies' every-day life. So the three, so
+devoted to each other, lived quietly on, winning my respect and
+sympathy. I left them, with many regrets on their part and my own, and
+on my return, after an absence of nearly a year, one of my first visits
+was to these kind-hearted people. To my sorrow, I learned that death had
+removed the elder lady some months before. I could hardly imagine a
+death that would longer or more painfully affect a family group than
+this, for they had so few outward circumstances to distract their
+thoughts. They received me cordially; but grief for their irreparable
+loss was always visible in every subsequent interview I had with them.
+Meeting again one of the school-boys who had lodged there, he told me
+the following circumstances of the death of the lady, and of the
+relationship existing between them, which was so different from what I
+had always imagined. Madame de B---- was the widow of a French officer
+of high rank, during whose life she had been in affluent circumstances;
+but through various causes, she had lost most of the property left her
+at his death, and retained at last only enough to keep them in the
+humble style I have described. The manner of her death was very
+singular. In her better days, she had lived with her husband in a
+handsome house near the Champs Elyse�s. On the day of her death, she was
+walking with a gentleman from Boston, a friend of the two pupils I have
+mentioned, and was speaking to him of her more affluent days, when, as
+they were near the house where she had once lived, she proposed to walk
+on a little further, that she might point it out. He consented, and as
+they drew near to it, she exclaimed, '_Ah! nous l'apercevons_,' and,
+without another word, fell suddenly in a sort of apoplectic fit, not
+living more than half an hour longer. The circumstance of this lady
+dying suddenly so near the place where she had once lived, and which she
+so seldom visited, was certainly very singular. To my surprise, I
+learned that the younger lady was the daughter of old Marie, having been
+adopted and educated by the person she had always supposed to be her
+aunt; she having no children of her own. What made it more singular was,
+that the younger lady had herself been in possession of this family
+secret only a few years. It reminded me somewhat of Tennyson's Lady
+Clare, though in this case no one had been kept out of an estate by the
+fiction. It was merely to give the young lady the advantage of the
+supposed relationship. This, then, accounted for the strong affection
+existing between them, and lest any reader might think this conduct
+strange, I must again bear witness to the kindness and true affection
+always displayed toward the real mother. I would not narrate this true
+story, did I not feel how little chance there is of my humble pen
+writing any thing that would reach the ears of this family, living so
+obscurely in the great world of Paris.
+
+Just opposite us, in the court, lived another lady, who has played many
+fictitious parts, as well as a somewhat prominent one, on the stage of
+real life. This was Madame George, the once celebrated actress; in her
+younger days, a famous beauty, and at one time mistress of the great
+Napoleon. Though long retired from regular connection with the stage,
+she still makes an occasional appearance upon it, almost always drawing
+a full audience, collected principally from curiosity to see so noted a
+personage, or to remark what portion of her once great dramatic power
+time has still left her. One of these appearances was made at the Od�on,
+while we were in Paris. Marie informed us of the coming event before it
+was announced on the bills, and seemed to take as much interest in it as
+if it had been the _d�b�t_ of a near relative. We had sometimes caught a
+glimpse of the great actress, tending her geraniums and roses at the
+window, or going out to drive. On the evening in question, a very large
+audience greeted the tragedienne, and she was received, with much
+enthusiasm. She appeared in a tragedy of Racine, in which she had once
+been pre�minently distinguished. Magnificently dressed, and adorned with
+splendid jewels, trophies of her younger days, when her favors were
+sought by those who could afford to bestow such gifts, she did not look
+over thirty-five, though now more than twice that age. I am no admirer
+of French tragedy, but I certainly thought Madame George still showed
+the remains of a great actress, and in some passages produced a decided
+impression. Her tall, commanding figure, expressive eyes, and features
+of perfect regularity, must have given her every natural requisite for
+the higher walks of her profession. As I watched her moving with
+majestic grace across the stage, irrepressible though trite reflections
+upon her early career passed through my mind. What audiences she has
+played before, in the days of the first empire! How many soldiers and
+statesmen, now numbered with the not-to-be-forgotten dead, have
+applauded her delivery of the same lines that we applaud to-night.
+Napoleon and his brilliant military court, the ministers of foreign
+nations, students such as are here this evening, themselves since
+distinguished in various walks of life, have passed across the stage,
+and made their final exit, leaving Madame George still upon it. And the
+not irreproachable old character herself--what piquant anecdotes she
+could favor us with, would she but draw some memory-pictures for us!
+Women in Europe, in losing virtue, do not always lose worldly prudence,
+as with us, and go down to infamy and a miserable old age. Better,
+however, make allowance for the manners of the time--French manners at
+that--and contemplate the old lady from an historical point of view,
+regarding her with interest, as I could not help doing, as one of the
+few remaining links connecting the old Napoleon dynasty with the new.
+How strange the closing of a life like hers! Except for the occasional
+re�ppearance on the scene of her old triumphs, not oftener than once or
+twice a year, how quiet the life she now leads! what a contrast to the
+excitement and brilliancy that mark the career of a leading actress in
+the zenith of her reputation! _Then_, from the theatre she would drive
+in her splendid equipage through streets illuminated perhaps for some
+fresh victory gained by the invincible battalions of her imperial lover.
+_Now_, in a retired house, she probably sometimes muses over the past,
+pronouncing, as few with better reason can, 'all the world's a stage,
+and all the men and women merely players,' such changes has she
+witnessed in the fortunes of the great actors by whom she was once
+surrounded. So here were the histories of two of the occupants of our
+court. The others may have had experiences no less strange; and in many
+another court in this great city, from the stately inclosures of the Rue
+de Lille to the squalid dens of the Faubourg St. Antoine, (if the names
+have not escaped me,) lives well worth the telling are passing away.
+Such is a great city.
+
+
+
+
+THE COUNTRY OF EUGENE ARAM
+
+There is a little river in England called the Nidd, and on its high
+banks stand the ruins of a castle. There is much in this part of it to
+remind one of the Rhine; the banks rise up in bold, picturesque form;
+the river just here is broad and deep, and the castle enough of a ruin
+to lead us to invest it with some legend, such as belongs to every
+robber's nest on that famous river. No hawk-eyed baron ready to pounce
+on the traveler, is recorded as having lived here; all that seems to be
+remembered of it is, that the murderers of Thomas � Becket lay secreted
+here for a time after that deed of blood, ere they ventured forth on
+their pilgrimage, haunted by the accursed memory of it all their lives.
+This is something, to be sure, in the way of historic incident, but the
+real interest of this immediate region arises from the fact of its being
+the home and haunt of Eugene Aram. A great English novelist has woven
+such a spell of enchantment around the history of this celebrated
+criminal, that I could not help devoting a day to the environs of the
+little town of Knaresboro', in and around which the most eventful
+portion of Aram's life was passed. A famous dropping-well, whose waters
+possess the power of rapidly petrifying every object exposed to them, is
+one of the most noticeable things in the neighborhood. There are also
+one or two curious rockcut cells, high up on precipitous slopes, which
+were inhabited years ago by pious recluses who had withdrawn from the
+vanities of the world. Some were highly esteemed here in their lives,
+and here their bones reposed; and the fact of their remaining
+undiscovered sometimes for many years, was ingeniously used by Aram in
+his defense, to account for the discovery of the bones of his victim in
+the neighboring cave of St. Robert. This latter is one of the few places
+connected with Aram's history that can be pointed out with certainty. It
+lies about two miles below the castle before mentioned. It is even now a
+place that a careless pedestrian might easily pass without remarking,
+notwithstanding that its entrance is worn by many curious feet. The
+entrance is very narrow, and the cavern, like caverns in general,
+exceedingly dark. The river flows by more rapidly here than above; the
+grass grows long and wild, and there is a gloomy air about it that would
+make it an unpleasant place for a night rendezvous even without the
+horrid associations connected with it. The exact place where Clark's
+hones were discovered is pointed out, and probably correctly, as the
+space is too narrow to admit of much choice. Here they lay buried for
+years, while according to Bulwer, this most refined of murderers was
+building up a high name as a scholar and a stainless reputation as a
+man. A field not far off is pointed out as the place where were found
+the bones which led to the detection of Aram. Though but few places can
+now be indicated with certainty in connection with his tragic story, a
+vague outline of the character of the man before the discovery of his
+crime, is preserved in the neighborhood. As we read the true story of
+Eugene Aram, lately published by an apparently reliable person, our
+sense of the poetic is somewhat blunted; we feel that the lofty
+character drawn by Bulwer is in many respects a creation of the
+novelist, while the whole story of his love is demolished by the stern
+fact of his having a wife, of no reputable character, with whom he lived
+unhappily; but he was still a man of talent, of great mental, if not
+moral refinement, and of indomitable ardor in the pursuit of learning.
+The chief fault of his character until his one great crime was
+discovered, seems to have been recklessness in pecuniary transactions,
+by which he was often involved in petty difficulties. He seems to have
+had a tenderness amounting to acute sensibility, for dumb animals, and
+to have dreaded killing a fly more than many a man who could not, like
+him, be brought to kill a fellow-being His mental acquirements, though
+remarkable for an unaided man of obscure origin, would not probably have
+attracted wide attention, had it not been for the notoriety caused by
+the detection of his crime. How many fair girls have shed tears over
+'his ill-starred love' and melancholy fate, who little dreamed that he
+was a husband, in a very humble rank of life. Bulwer speaks of his
+favorite walks with Madeline, and of a rustic seat still called 'The
+Lovers' Scat.' It is not, I think, now pointed out, nor is the account
+of his love probably more than an imaginary one, but it may be founded
+upon fact, and some high-souled English girl may really, in his early
+life, or when separated as he was for a long time from his wife, have
+called forth all his better feelings and revealed glimpses of the beauty
+of the life of two affectionate and pure beings keeping no secrets of
+the heart from each other. How it must have tortured him to think that
+such a life never could be his, well fitted for it as in some respects
+he was, and ever haunted by the fear that the poor sham by which he was
+concealed must some day be torn away, and an ignominious fate be
+apportioned him! No situation can be more deplorable than that of a man
+of refined and lofty nature, who has made one fatal mistake connecting
+him with men far worse than himself, who are masters of his secret and
+ever ready to use it for their own base purposes. Are there not many men
+so situated--men near us now, who walk through life haunted by the
+dreadful spectres of past misdeeds hastily committed, bitterly
+repented--a phantom that can blast every joy, and from whose presence
+death comes as a friendly deliverer?
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT ST. BERNARD.
+
+We reached the Hospice about an hour after dark, somewhat stiff, and
+very wet from the rain and snow that commenced falling as we entered the
+region of clouds. We had passed unpleasantly near some very considerable
+precipices, and though unable to distinguish the ground below, knew they
+were deep enough to occasion us decided 'inconvenience' had we gone over
+them. The long, low, substantial-looking building finally loomed through
+the mist, and alighting, we were shown into a room with a cheerful fire
+blazing on the hearth, and were soon joined by a priest of cordial,
+gentlemanly manners and agreeable conversation. So this was the famous
+monastery of St. Bernard, which we had read of all our lives, and the
+stories of whose sagacious dogs had delighted our childish minds. A
+substantial supper was provided for us, to which was added some
+excellent wine, made in the valley below. Conversation was pretty
+general in French, and somewhat exclusive in Latin; two of our party
+understanding the dead language, but ignorant of the living, framed with
+great difficulty ponderous but by no means Ciceronian sentences, which
+they launched at our host, who replied with great fluency, showing that
+for conversational purposes, at least, his command of the language was
+much better than theirs. Being anxious to attend the early mass in the
+morning, and tired from our ride, we were soon shown to our rooms.
+Walking along the passages and viewing the different apartments, we saw
+the house would accommodate a great number of persons. The rooms were
+long and narrow, many of them containing a number of beds; but in this
+bracing mountain air there is no fear of bad ventilation. No crack of my
+window was open, but the wind blew furiously outside, and there was a
+decidedly 'healthy coolness' about the apartment. The room was
+uncarpeted and scantily furnished, but every thing was spotlessly clean,
+and in pleasant contrast with the dirty luxury of some of the
+Continental inns. A few small pictures of saints and representations of
+scriptural subjects graced the white walls and constituted the only
+ornaments of the room. Looking from my window I saw that the clouds had
+blown away, and the brilliant moon shone on the sharp crags of the hills
+and on the patches of snow that lay scattered about on the ground. The
+scene was beautiful, but very cold; the wind howled around the house,
+and yet this was a balmy night compared with most they have here. I
+thought of merciless snow-drifts overtaking the poor blinded traveler,
+benumbed, fainting, and uncertain of his path; of the terrors of such a
+situation, and then glancing around the plain but comfortable room, I
+could not but feel grateful to the pious founders of this venerable
+institution. Long may it stand a monument of their benevolence and of
+the shelter that poor wayfarers have so often found within its
+hospitable walls!
+
+At daybreak we made our way to the chapel, a large and beautiful room
+with many pictures and rich ornaments, gifts of persons who have shared
+the hospitality of the place. At the altar the brother who had welcomed
+us on our arrival was officiating in his priestly robes, assisted by
+several others. A few persons, servants of the establishment and
+peasants stopping for the night, with ourselves, composed the
+congregation. Two of the women present, we were told, were penitents; we
+asked no further of their history, but at this remote place the incident
+gave us cause for reflection and surmise. Heaven grant that in this
+sublime solitude their souls may have found the peace arising from the
+consciousness of forgiveness. I have never been more impressed with the
+Catholic service than I was this morning, when the voices of the priests
+blending with the organ, rose on the stillness of that early hour in one
+of the familiar chants of the Church. It seemed, indeed, like heavenly
+music. Here with the first dawn of morning on these lofty mountaintops,
+where returning day is welcomed earlier than in the great world below,
+men had assembled to pour forth their worship to God, here so manifest
+in his mighty works. The ever-burning lamp swung in the dim chapel, and
+it seemed a beautiful idea that morning after morning on these great
+mountains, the song of gratitude and praise should ascend to Him who
+fashioned them; that so it has been for years, while successive winters
+have beat in fury on this house, and the snows have again and again shut
+out all signs of life from nature. As my heart filled with emotion, I
+could not but think of the aptness to the present scene of those
+beautiful lines of our poet:
+
+    'At break of day as heavenward
+    The pious monks of St. Bernard
+    Chanted the oft-repeated prayer.'
+
+Time and place were the same, and the service seemed as beautiful and
+solemn as might have been that chanted over the stiff, frozen body of
+the high-souled but too aspiring boy. The service ended, and we were
+left alone in the chapel. In one corner of it is the box in which those
+who can, leave a contribution for the support of the establishment. No
+regular charge is made, but probably most persons leave more than they
+would at a hotel--and our party certainly did. I believe that the money
+is well applied; at any rate, for years the hospice afforded shelter
+before travel became a fashionable summer amusement, and in those days
+it expended far more than it received.
+
+Our breakfast was very simple, and the Superior of the establishment
+confined himself to a small cup of coffee and morsel of bread. They have
+but one substantial meal a day. I was interested in observing our host.
+His appearance and manner were prepossessing and agreeable, but this
+morning something seemed to weigh anxiously on his mind. He was
+abstracted in manner, and once as I looked up suddenly, his lips were
+moving, and he half checked himself in an involuntary gesture. Had the
+confession of the penitents, perhaps, troubled him? I believe he was a
+sincere, self-sacrificing man, and I have often thought of his manner
+that morning.
+
+We were, of course, very anxious to see the dogs, but were told they are
+now becoming exceedingly scarce. They can not be kept very long in the
+piercing air of the mountains, its rarefaction being as injurious to
+them as to human beings. Most of them are therefore kept at Martigny, or
+some other place below. We were told, however, that two 'pups' were now
+at the hospice; and as we sallied out for a walk over the hills, we
+heard a violent scratching at an adjoining door, which being opened, out
+burst the pups. They were perfect monsters, though very young, with huge
+paws, lithe and graceful but compact forms, full of life and activity,
+and faces beaming with instinct. Darting out with us, they seemed
+frantic with joy, snuffed the keen air as they rushed about, sometimes
+tumbling over each other, and at times bursting against us with a force
+that nearly knocked us down. They reminded me of two young tigers at
+their gambols. I have never seen nobler-looking brutes. What fine,
+honest, expressive countenances they had! At times a peculiar sort of
+frown would ruffle the skin around their eyes, their ears would prick
+up, and every nerve seem to be quickened. The face of a noble dog
+appears to me to be capable of almost as great a variety of expression
+as the human countenance, and these changes are sometimes more rapid.
+The inquisitive and chagrined look when baffled in pursuit of prey, the
+keen relish of joy, the look of supplication for food, of conscious
+guilt for misdemeanor, the eyes beaming with intense affection for a
+master, and whining sorrow for his absence, the meek look of endurance
+in sickness, the feeble, listless air, the resigned expression of the
+glassy eye at the approach of death, blending even then with indications
+of gratitude for kindness shown! These dumb brutes can often teach us
+lessons of meek endurance and resignation as well as courage, and few
+things call forth more just indignation than to see them abused by men
+far more brutish than they.
+
+Accompanying one of the younger brethren on an errand to the valley
+below, we watched them dashing along till the intervening rocks hid them
+from our view. In the extensive museum of the Monastery we found much to
+interest us. Many of the curiosities are gifts of former travelers, and
+some of them are of great value. There is also a small collection of
+antiquities found in the immediate neighborhood, where, I believe, are
+still traces of an ancient temple. The St. Bernard has been a favorite
+pass with armies, and is thought by many to have been that chosen by
+Hannibal.
+
+Not very far from the house is the 'morgue' so often noticed by
+travelers, containing numerous bodies, which, though they have not
+decayed, are nevertheless repulsive to look upon. The well-known figures
+of the woman and her babe show that for once the warm refuge of a
+mother's breast chilled and fainted in the pitiless storm.
+
+After cordial well--wishes from the brethren, we left the hospice,
+bringing away remembrances of it as one of the most interesting places
+it has been our privilege to visit. It has, of course, changed character
+within half a century, and there is now less necessity for it than
+formerly. Many travelers complain of it as now wearing too much the
+appearance of a hotel; but we were there too late in the season to find
+it so; and even if true at other times, the associations with the
+Monastery and the Pass are so interesting, the scenery so bold, and the
+welcome one meets with so cordial, that he who regrets having made the
+ascent must have had a very different experience from ourselves.
+
+A few hours' ride brought us to the valley, where we met peasants
+driving carts and bearing baskets piled up with luscious grapes. A
+trifle that the poorest traveler could have spared, procured us an ample
+supply.
+
+
+
+
+THE HUGUENOTS OF STATEN ISLAND.
+
+Staten Island, that enchanting sea-girt spot in the beautiful Bay of
+New-York, early became a favorite resort with the French Protestants. It
+should be called the Huguenot Island; and for fine scenery, inland and
+water, natural beauties, hill, dale, and streams, with a bracing,
+healthful climate, it strongly reminds the traveler of some regions in
+France. No wonder that Frenchmen should select such a spot in a new
+land, for their quiet homes. The very earliest settlers on its shores
+were men of religious principles. Hudson, the great navigator,
+discovered the Island, in 1609, when he first entered the noble river
+which bears his undying name. It was called by its Indian owners,
+_Aquehioneja, Manackong_, or _Eghquaous_, which, translated, means the
+place of _Bad Woods_, referring, probably, to the character of its
+original savage inhabitants. Among the very earliest patents granted for
+lands in New-Netherland, we find one of June 19th, 1642, to Cornelius
+Melyn, a Dutch burgomaster. He thus became a Patroon of Staten Island,
+and subsequently a few others obtained the same honor and privileges.
+They were all connected with the Dutch Reformed Church, in Holland; and
+when they emigrated to New-Netherland, always brought with them their
+Bibles and the '_Kranek-besoecker_,' or 'Comforter of the Sick,' who
+supplied the place of a regular clergyman. Twice were the earliest
+settlers dispersed by the Raritan Indians, but they rallied again, until
+their progress became uninterrupted and permanent.
+
+Between the Hollanders and the French Refugees, there existed an old and
+intimate friendship. Holland, from the beginning of the Middle Ages, had
+been the asylum for all the religious out-laws from all parts of Europe.
+But especially the persecuting wars and troubles of the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries, brought hither crowds of exiles. Not less than
+thirty thousand English, who had embraced the Reformed faith, found here
+a shelter during the reign of Mary Tudor. Hosts of Germans, during the
+'Thirty Years' War,' obtained on the banks of the Amstel and the Rhine,
+that religious liberty, which they had in vain claimed in their own
+country. But the greatest emigration was that of the _Walloons_, from
+the bloody tyranny of the Duke of Alba, and the Count of Parma. For a
+long period the Reformed faith had found adherents in the Provinces of
+the Low Countries. Here the first churches were _under the Cross_, or
+_in the Secret_, as it was styled, and they concealed themselves from
+the raging persecution, by hiding, as it were, their faith, under mystic
+names, the sense of which believers only knew. We will mention only a
+few. That of Tournay, '_The Palm-Tree_;' Antwerp, '_The Vine_;' Mons,
+'_The Olive_;' Lille, '_The Rose_;' Douay, '_The Wheat-Sheaf_;' and the
+Church of Arras had for its symbol '_The Hearts-Ease_.' In 1561, they
+published in French, their Confession of Faith, and in 1563, their
+Deputies, from the Reformed Communities of Flanders, Brabant, Artois,
+and Hainault, united in a single body, holding the first Synod of which
+we have any account. These regions were an old part of the French
+Netherlands, or Low Countries; and a small section of Brabant was called
+_Walloon_; and here were found innumerable advocates of the Reformed
+faith. The whole country would probably have become the most Protestant
+of all Europe, were it not for the torrents of blood poured out for the
+maintenance of the Roman religion by the Duke of Alba.
+
+Welcomed by the States General, Walloon Colonies were formed from the
+year 1578 to 1589, at Amsterdam, Harlaem, Leyden, Utrecht, and other
+places. But new persecutions arising, the Reformed French retired to
+Holland, where new churches arose at Rotterdam, in 1605, Nimeguen, 1621,
+and Tholen, in 1658. It was natural, therefore, that the Huguenots of
+France should afterward settle in a country of so much sympathy for the
+Walloon refugees, whom they regarded as their brethren. When Henry III.
+commanded them to be converted to the Romish Church or to leave the
+kingdom in six months, many of them repairing to Holland, joined the
+Walloon communities, whose language and creed were their own. After the
+fall of La Rochelle, this emigration recommenced, and was doubled under
+Louis XIV., when he promulgated his first wicked and insane edict
+against his Protestant subjects. From that unfortunate period, during a
+century, the Western Provinces of France depopulated themselves to the
+benefit of the Dutch Republic. Many learned men and preachers visited
+these Walloon churches, while endeavoring to escape the persecuting
+perils of every kind, to which they were exposed. Among the ministers we
+may mention the names of Basnage, Claude, Benoit, and Saurin, who
+surpassed them all, by the superiority of his genius, who was the
+patriarch of 'The Refuge,' and contributed more than all the rest to
+prevail on the Huguenots to leave France.
+
+During the last twenty years of the seventeenth century, the French
+Protestant emigration into Holland rose to a political event, and the
+first '_Dragonades_' gave the signal in 1681. The Burgomasters of
+Amsterdam soon perceived the golden advantages which the Hollanders
+would derive from the fatal policy of Louis XIV. The city of Amsterdam
+announced to the refugees all the rights of citizenship, with an
+exemption from taxes for three years. The States of Holland soon
+followed the example of Amsterdam, and by a public declaration,
+discharged all refugees who should settle there, from all taxes for
+twelve years. In less than eight days all the Protestants of France were
+informed of this favorable proclamation, which gave impulse to new
+emigration. In all the Dutch provinces and towns collections were taken
+up for the benefit of the French refugees, and a general fast proclaimed
+for Wednesday, November 21st, 1685, and all Protestants were invited to
+thank God for the grace he gave them to worship Him in liberty, and to
+entreat him to touch the heart of the French King, who had inflicted
+such cruel persecutions on true believers.
+
+The Prince of Orange attached two preachers to his person from the
+church of Paris, and the Huguenot ladies found a noble protectress in
+the Princess of Orange. Thanks to her most generous care, more than one
+hundred ladies of noble birth, who had lost all they possessed in
+France, and had seen their husbands or fathers thrown into dungeons, now
+found comfortable homes at Harlaem, Delft, and the Hague. At the Hague,
+the old convent of preaching monks was turned into an establishment for
+French women. At Nort, a boarding-house for young ladies of quality
+received an annual benefaction of two thousand florins from her liberal
+hands. Nor did she forget these pious asylums, after the British
+Parliament had decreed her the crown. Most of the refugees came from the
+Southern provinces--brave officers, rich merchants of Amiens, Rouen,
+Bourdeaux, and Nantes, artisans of Brittany and Normandy, with
+agriculturists from Provence, the shores of Languedoc, Roussillon, and
+La Guienne. Thus were transported into hospitable Holland, gentlemen and
+ladies of noble birth, with polished minds and refined manners, simple
+mechanics and ministers of high renown, and all more valuable than the
+golden mines of India or Peru. Thus Holland, of all lands, received most
+of the French refugees, and Bayle calls it 'the grand ark of the
+refugees.' No documents exist, by which their numbers can be correctly
+computed, but they have been estimated from fifty-five to seventy-five
+thousand souls, and the greatest number were to be found at Amsterdam,
+Rotterdam, and the Hague. In 1686, there were not less than _sixteen_
+French pastors to the Walloon churches at Amsterdam.
+
+Thus intimately, by a common faith, friendship, and interest, did the
+Huguenots unite themselves with the people of Holland, who, about this
+period, commenced the establishment of New-Netherland in America. We
+have traced this union the more fully for the better understanding of
+our general subject. The Walloons and Huguenots were, in fact, the same
+people--oppressed and persecuted French Protestants. Of the former, as
+early as the year 1622, several Walloon families from the frontier,
+between Belgium and France, turned their attention to America. They
+applied to Sir Dudley Carleton, for permission to settle in the colony
+of Virginia, with the privilege of erecting a town and governing
+themselves, by magistrates of their own election. The application was
+referred to the Virginia Company,[1] but its conditions seem to have
+been too republican, and many of these Walloons looked, toward
+New-Netherland, where some arrived in 1624, with the Dutch Director,
+Minuit.
+
+[1: Lond. Doc. 1, 24.]
+
+
+At first, they settled on Staten Island, (1624,) but afterward removed
+to _Wahle Bocht_ or the 'Bay of Foreigners,' which has since been
+corrupted into Wallabout. This settlement extended subsequently toward
+'Breukelen,' named after an ancient Dutch village on the river Veght, in
+the province of Utrecht; so that Staten Island has the honor of having
+presented the first safe home, in America, and on her beautiful shores,
+to the Walloons or Huguenots. The name of Walloon itself is said to be
+derived either from Wall, (water or sea,) or more probably, the old
+German word _Wahle_, signifying a foreigner. It must be remembered that
+this is a part of the earliest chapter in the history of New-Netherland,
+which the 'West-India Company' now resolved to erect into a province. To
+the Chamber of Amsterdam the superintendence of this new and extensive
+country was committed, and this body, during the previous year, had sent
+out an expedition, in a vessel called the 'New-Netherland,' 'whereof
+Cornelius Jacobs of Hoorn was skipper, _with thirty families, mostly
+Walloons, to plant a colony there_.' They arrived in the beginning of
+May, (1623,) and the old document, from which we quote, adds:
+
+     'God be praised, it hath so prospered, that the honorable Lords
+     Directors of the West-India Company have, with the consent of the
+     noble, high, and mighty Lords States General, undertaken to plant
+     some colonies,'[2] ... 'The Honorable _Daniel Van Kriecke-beeck_,
+     for brevity called _Beeck_, was commissary here, and so did his
+     duty that he was thanked.'
+
+     [2: Wassemaer's Historie Van Europa, Amsterdam, 1621-1628.]
+
+
+In 1625, three ships and a yacht arrived at Manhattan, with more
+families, farming implements, and one hundred and three head of cattle.
+Hitherto the government of the settlement had been simple, but now,
+affairs assuming more permanency, a proper 'Director' from Holland was
+appointed, and Peter Minuit, then in the office, was instructed to
+organize a provincial government. He arrived in May, 1626, and to his
+unfading honor be it recorded, that his first official act was to secure
+possession of Manhattan Island, by fair and lawful purchase of the
+Indians. It was estimated to contain twenty-two thousand acres, and was
+bought for the sum of sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars! Lands were
+cheap then, where our proud and princely metropolis now stands, with her
+millions, her churches, palatial stores, residences, and shipping.
+
+As yet there was no clergyman in the colony, but two visitors of the
+sick, Sebastian Jansen Keol and Jan Huyck, were appointed for this
+important duty, and also to read the Scriptures, on Sundays, to the
+people. Thus was laid, more than two hundred years ago, the corner-stone
+of the Empire State, on the firm foundation of justice, morality, and
+religion. This historical fact places the character of the Dutch and
+French settlers in a most honorable light. They enjoy the illustrious
+distinction of fair, honest dealing with the aborigines, the natural
+owners of the lands.
+
+The purchase of Manhattan, in 1626, was only imitated when William Penn,
+fifty-six years afterward, purchased the site of Philadelphia from the
+Indians, under the famous Elm Tree. The Dutch and Huguenot settlers of
+New-Netherland were grave, firm, persevering men, who brought with them
+the simplicity, industry, integrity, economy, and bravery of their
+Belgic sires, and to these eminent virtues were added the light of the
+civil law and the purity of the Protestant faith. To such we can point
+with gratitude and respect, for the beginnings of our western
+metropolis, and the works of our American forefathers.
+
+The Rev. Joannes Megapolensis, as early as the year 1642, took charge of
+the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, under the patronage of the Patroon
+of Renssaelaerwick, and five years afterward became 'Domine' at
+Manhattan. In 1652, he selected for a colleague, Samuel Drissius, on
+account of his knowledge of French and English, and from his letters we
+learn that he went, once a month, to preach to the French Protestants on
+Staten Island. These were Vaudois or Waldenses, who had fled to Holland
+from severe persecutions in Piedmont, and by the liberality of the city
+of Amsterdam, were forwarded to settle in New-Netherland. We wish that
+more materials could be gathered to describe the history of this
+minister and his early Huguenot flock upon Staten Island. His ministry
+continued from 1652 to 1671, and I have recorded all that I can find
+respecting him and his people. About the year 1690, the New-York
+Consistory invited the Rev. Peter Daille, who had ministered among the
+Massachusetts Huguenots, to preach occasionally on Staten Island.
+
+In August, 1661, a number of Dutch and French emigrants from the
+Palatinate obtained grants of land on the south side of Staten Island,
+where a site for a village was surveyed. In a short time its population
+increased to twelve or fourteen families, and to protect them from the
+Indians, a block-house was erected and garrisoned with three guns and
+ten soldiers. Domine Drissius visited them, and from a letter of his to
+the Classis of Amsterdam, we learn the names of these early emigrants,
+and some are familiar ones[3], Jan Classen, Johannes Christoffels, Ryk
+Hendricks, Meyndert Evertsen, Gerrit Cornelissen, Capt. Post, Govert
+Lockermans, Wynant Peertersen, etc., etc. Previous to this period, the
+island had been twice overrun by the savages and its population
+scattered; but now its progress became uninterrupted and onward. Crowds
+of people from Germany, Norway, Austria, and Westphalia had fled to
+Holland, and their number was increased by the religious troubles of the
+Waldenses and Huguenots. Several families of the latter requested
+permission to emigrate with the Dutch farmers to New-Netherland, at
+their own expense. They only asked protection for a year or two from the
+Indians; and the English, now in possession of the New-York colony, were
+most favorably disposed toward them. This transfer from the Dutch to the
+British rule took place in 1664. Fort Amsterdam became Fort James, and
+the city took its present name, imposed as it was upon its rightful
+owners. Staten Island was called Richmond County, and the province of
+New-Netherland New-York, the name of one known only in history as a
+tyrant and a bigot, the enemy of both political and religious freedom.
+
+    [3: Alb. Rec. xviii.]
+
+
+From 1656 to 1663, some Protestant emigrants from Savoy came to Staten
+Island, and a large body of Rochelle Huguenots also reached New-York
+during the latter year. This fertile and beautiful spot, with its gentle
+hills and wide-spread surrounding waters, became a favorite asylum for
+the French refugees, and they arrived in considerable numbers about the
+year 1675, with a pastor, and erected a church near Richmond village. I
+have visited the place, but all that remains to mark the venerable and
+sacred spot is a single dilapidated grave-stone! The building, it is
+said, was burned down, and none of its records have been discovered. At
+that period, there were only five or six congregations in the province
+of New-York, and this must have been one of them. The Rev. David
+Bonrepos accompanied some of the French Protestants in their flight from
+France to this country, and in an early description of New-York, the
+Rev. John Miller says: 'There is a meeting-house at Richmond, Staten
+Island, of which Dr. Bonrepos is the minister. There are forty English,
+forty-four Dutch, and thirty-six French families.' In 1695-1696, letters
+of denization were granted to David Bonrepos and others. Among my
+autographs is a copy of his; he wrote a fair, clear hand.
+
+Under the tolerant rule of 'Good Queen Anne,' many French refugees
+obtained peaceful abodes in Richmond county. In their escape from their
+own land, multitudes had been kindly received in England, and afterward
+accepted a permanent and safe shelter in the Province of New-York. What
+a noble origin had the Staten Island Christian refugees! Their
+ancestors, the Waldenses, resided several centuries, as a whole people,
+in the South of France, and like the ancient Israelites of the land of
+Goshen, enjoyed the pure light of sacred truth, while Egyptian darkness
+spread its gloom on every side. In vain have historians endeavored to
+trace correctly their origin and progress. All, however, allow them a
+very high antiquity, with what is far better, an uncontaminated, pure
+faith. A very ancient record gives a beautiful picture of their simple
+manners and devotions:
+
+     'They, kneeling on their knees, or leaning against some bank or
+     stay, do continue in their prayers with silence, as long as a man
+     may say thirty or forty _paternosters_. This they do every day,
+     with great reverence, being among themselves. Before meat, they
+     say, '_Benedicite_.' etc. Then the elders, in their own tongue,
+     repeat: 'God, which blessed the five loaves and two fishes, bless
+     this table and what is set upon it. In the name of the Father, Son,
+     and Holy Ghost. Amen.' After meat, they say: 'Blessing, and
+     worship, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, virtue, and strength,
+     to God alone, for ever and ever. Amen. The Lord which has given us
+     corporeal feeding, grant, us his spiritual life; and God be with
+     us, and we always with him. Amen.' Thus saying grace, they hold
+     their hands upward, looking up to heaven; and afterward they teach
+     and exhort among themselves.'
+
+To Staten Islanders it must be a pleasant reminiscence, that among their
+earliest settlers were these pious Waldenses.
+
+Like their brethren in Utrecht, the descendants of the Huguenots on the
+Island sometimes occupy the same farms which their pious ancestors
+obtained more than a century and a half ago. The Disosways, the Guions,
+the Seguines, on its beautiful winding shores, are well-known examples
+of this kind. The Hollanders, Walloons, Waldenses, and the Huguenots
+here all intermarried, and the noble, spiritual races thus combined,
+ever have formed a most excellent, industrious, and influential
+population. Judges, Assemblymen, members of Congress, and ministers,
+again and again, in Richmond county, have been selected from these
+unions. During the Revolutionary struggle, the husband of Mrs. Colonel
+Disosway had fallen into the hands of the common enemy; she was the
+sister of the well-known and brave Captain Fitz-Randolph, or Randell, as
+commonly called, who had greatly annoyed the British. When one of their
+officers had consented to procure her husband's release, if she would
+persuade her brother to quit the American ranks, she indignantly
+replied: 'If I could act so dastardly a part, think you that General
+Washington has but one Captain Randolph in his army?'
+
+The early history of some of the emigrants is almost the reality of
+romance. Henri de La Tourette fled from La Vendee, after the Revolution,
+and to avoid suspicion, gave a large entertainment. While the guests
+were assembled at his house, he suddenly left, with his wife, for the
+sea-coast. This was not far off, and reaching it, he escaped on board a
+vessel bound for Charleston. The ship was either cast away upon the
+shores of Staten Island, or made a harbor in distress. Here La Tourette
+landed, and a long list of exemplary, virtuous people trace their origin
+to this source, and one of them has been pastor to the 'Huguenot,' a
+Dutch Reformed church on the Island, and is now a useful minister among
+the Episcopalians of the Western States. A branch of this family still
+exists at the chateau of La Tourette, in France, and some years since,
+one of them visited this country to obtain the 'Old Family Bible.' But
+he was unsuccessful, as the holy and venerable volume had been sent long
+before to a French refugee in Germany. But few of such holy books can
+now be found, printed in French, and very scarce; wherever met with,
+they should he carefully perused and preserved.
+
+Dr. Channing Moore for a long time was the faithful pastor of St.
+Andrew's, the Episcopal Church at Richmond. Afterward he was consecrated
+the Bishop of Virginia. He was connected by marriage with an old
+Huguenot family of the Island, and his son, the Rev. David Moore, D.D.,
+succeeded him here, living and dying, a striking example of fidelity to
+his most important duties. That eloquent divine, the late Rev. Dr.
+Bedell, of Philadelphia, was a Staten Islander by birth, and of the same
+French origin on the maternal side.
+
+His son is the present Bishop Bedell of Ohio. There are scarcely any of
+the original Richmond county families but claim relationship to the
+French Protestants either on the father or mother's side. In all the
+official records are to be found such names as Disosway, Fontaine,
+(Fountain,) Reseau, Bedell, Rutan, Poillon, Mercereau, La Conte,
+Britten, Maney, Perrin, (Perrine,) Larselene, Curse, De Puy, (Depuy,)
+Corssen, Martineau, Morgane, (Morgan,) Le Guine, (Leguine,) Journey,
+Teunise, Guion, Dubois, Andronette, Winant, Totten, La Farge, Martling,
+De Decker, (Decker very numerous,) Barton, Ryers, Menell, Hillyer, De
+Groot, Garretson, Vanderbilt, etc., etc.
+
+Few communities are blest with a better population than Richmond county,
+moral, industrious, thrifty, and religious, and they should ever cherish
+the remembrance of their virtuous and noble origin. The island is not
+more than twelve or fourteen miles long, and about three wide, with some
+thirty thousand inhabitants; and within these small limits there are
+over thirty churches, of various denominations, each having a regular
+pastor; and most of the official members in these congregations are
+lineal branches of the first settlers, the French Protestants. What a
+rich and glorious, harvest, since the handful of Holland, Walloon,
+Waldenses, and Huguenot emigrants, two centuries and a half ago, first
+landed upon the wilderness shores of Staten Island!
+
+
+
+
+_RECOLLECTIONS OF WASHINGTON IRVING._
+
+BY ONE OF HIS FRIENDS.
+
+The appearance of the first volume of the long-expected _Life of
+Washington Irving_ has excited an interest which will not be satisfied
+until the whole work shall have been completed. Its author, Pierre M.
+Irving, sets forth with the announcement that his plan is to make the
+patriarch of American literature his own biographer. It is nothing new
+that this branch of letters is beset with peculiar difficulties. Some
+men suffer sadly at the hand of their chronicler. Scott misrepresents
+Napoleon, and Southey fails equally in his Memoirs of Cowper and of the
+Wesleys. Friendship's colors are too bright for correct portraiture, and
+prejudice equally forbids acuracy. Mr. Pierre M. Irving, though an
+admirer of his distinguished kinsman, (and who that knew him could fail
+of admiration?) avoids the character of a mere eulogist, while at the
+same time he exhibits none of the obsequiousness of a Boswell,
+fluttering like a moth about a huge candle. Being a man of independent
+mind and of high culture, he brings out the character he portrays in
+aspects true to life, and not exaggerated by excess of tone, while he
+fully exhibits its exquisite finish.
+
+Among the many incidents of deep interest which are contained in this
+volume, the episode of Matilda Hoffman stands forth in most striking
+relief. While lifting the veil which for a half-century covered the most
+pathetic event in Irving's life, his biographer touches with a
+scrupulous delicacy a theme so sacredly enshrined in a life-long memory.
+In referring to this affair, which gave a tender aspect to Irving's
+subsequent career, and in fact changed its whole tenor, we may remark
+that the loves of literary men form a most interesting and, in some
+cases, moving history. Some, like Petrarch, Earl Surrey, Burns, and
+Byron, have embalmed the objects of their affection in the effusions of
+their muse, while others have bequeathed that duty to others. Shakspeare
+says but little about his sweetheart, while Milton, who was decidedly
+unsuccessful in matters of the heart, seems to have acted on the motto,
+'The least said, the soonest mended.' Poor Pope, miserable invalid
+though he was, nervous, irritable, and full of hate and spleen, was not
+beyond the power of the tender passion, and confessed the charms of the
+lonely Martha Blount, who held the wretched genius among her conquests.
+Swift, although an ogre at heart, had his chapter of love matters, which
+never fail to give us the horrors when we bring them to mind, and the
+episodes of Stella and Vanessa are among the minor tragedies in life's
+great drama. Johnson had a great heart, and was born to love, though,
+like the lion, he needed to have his claws pared, to fit him for female
+society. What a tender attachment was that which he bore 'Tetty,' and
+with what solemn remembrance he preserved her as his own, even after
+death had robbed him of her presence!
+
+The loves of these men exercised the strongest influence on their
+destinies, while, on the other hand, disappointment and consequent
+celibacy have done the same to their victims. To the bachelor list of
+modern days, which can boast of Charles Lamb and Macaulay, America adds
+the proud name of Washington Irving, whose early disappointment made him
+an author.
+
+My impressions of Irving's boyhood and youth are alive with the
+freshness of an early memory, which conserves along with him the
+Crugers, Clintons, Livingstons, Ogdens, and other old and honored names
+of New-York. The biography which inspires this reminiscence gives a
+sketch of the early history of the family, and as its author has thus
+opened the subject, it will not, we presume, be considered an intrusion
+if I pursue the thread of domestic incident a little farther than he has
+done.
+
+The Irving homestead, in William street, was, in its day, a place of
+some pretension, when contrasted with the humble dwellings which
+surrounded it. The street on which it stood was miserably built, but
+here, in the suburb of the city, was a house whose appearance
+corresponded with the solid and high-toned character of its owner. Old
+Mr. Irving was, at the time to which I refer, a hale citizen of about
+three-score and ten, of grave and majestic bearing, and a form and
+expression which, when once fixed in the mind, could not easily be
+forgotten. As I remember him, his countenance was cast in that strong
+mould which characterized the land of his birth, but the features were
+often mellowed by a quiet smile. He was a man of deep piety, and was
+esteemed a pillar in the Brick Church, then the leading Presbyterian
+church of the city.
+
+His mode of conducting family worship was peculiarly beautiful, and even
+to his last days he maintained this service. On such occasions, it was a
+most touching spectacle to see the majestic old man, bowed and hoary
+with extreme age, leaning upon his staff, as he stood among his family
+and sung a closing hymn, generally one appropriate to his condition,
+while tears of emotion ran down his checks. One of these hymns we well
+remember. It runs in these lines,
+
+'Death may dissolve my body now,
+  And bear my spirit home;
+Why do my moments move so slow,
+  Nor my salvation come?
+
+'With heavenly weapons I have fought
+  The battles of my Lord;
+Finished my course, and kept the faith,
+  And wait the sure reward.'
+
+In a few years, the words of this exquisite hymn were fulfilled; the old
+man fell asleep, full of years and of honors, going to the grave like a
+shock of corn in its season. His funeral was one of imposing simplicity,
+and he was buried just at the entrance of that church where he had been
+so long a faithful attendant.
+
+Mrs. Irving, who survived him several years, was of a different type of
+character, which, by its peculiar contrast, seemed to perfect the
+harmony of a well-matched union. She was of elegant shape, with large
+English features, which were permeated by an indescribable life and
+beauty. Her manners were full of action, and her conversational powers
+were of a high order. All of these graces appeared in the children, and
+were united with the vigor of intellect which marked the character of
+the father.
+
+It would have been surprising if the offspring of such a union should
+not have been distinguished, and it is only the peculiar relation which
+the biographer sustains to it which prevents him from bringing this
+feature out more prominently.
+
+It was, however, acknowledged, at an early day, that the family of
+William Irving had no equal in the city, and when we consider its
+number, its personal beauty, its moral excellence, its varied talents,
+without a single deficient or unworthy member, we can not wonder at the
+general admiration which it commanded. From the eldest son, William, and
+Ann, the eldest daughter, whom her father fondly termed Nancy, to
+Washington, the youngest, all were endowed with beauty, grace,
+amiability, and talent, yet in the latter they seemed to effloresce with
+culminating fullness. Nancy Irving was the cynosure of William street,
+concerning whose future destiny many a youth might have confessed an
+impassioned interest. Her brother William had become connected
+commercially with a young revolutionary soldier, (General Dodge,) who
+had opened a trading-station on the Mohawk frontier, and the latter bore
+away the sister as his bride. The union was one of happiness, and lasted
+twenty years, when it was terminated by her death. Of this, Washington
+thus speaks, in a letter in 1808: 'On the road, as I was traveling in
+high spirits, with the idea of home to inspire me, I had the shock of
+reading an account of my dear sister's death, and never was a blow
+struck so near my heart before.... One more heart lies cold and still
+that ever beat toward me with the warmest affection, for she was the
+tenderest, best of sisters, and a woman of whom a brother might be
+proud.' Little did the author of this letter then dream of that more
+crushing blow which within one year was to fall upon him, and from whose
+weight he was never wholly to recover.
+
+William Irving, the brother of the biographer, was a model of manly
+beauty, and early remarkable for a brilliant and sparkling intellect,
+which overflowed in conversation, and often bordered on eloquence. Had
+he been bred to the law, he would have shone among its brightest stars;
+but those gifts, which so many envied, were buried in trade, and though
+he became one of the merchant-princes of the city, even this success
+could not compensate for so great a burial of gifts. As one of the
+contributors to _Salmagundi_, he exhibits the keenness of a flashing
+wit, while, in subsequent years, he represented New-York in Congress,
+when such an office was a distinction.
+
+Peter Irving, like his brother, united personal elegance with talents,
+and conducted the _Morning Chronicle_, amid the boisterous storms of
+early politics. This journal favored the interests of Burr; but it must
+be remembered that at that time Burr's name was free from infamy, and
+that, as a leader, he enjoyed the highest prestige, being the centre of
+the Democracy of New-York. Burr's powers of fascination were peculiarly
+great, and he had surrounded himself with a circle of enthusiastic
+admirers. Indeed, such was his skill in politics, that in 1800 he upset
+the Federalists, after a pitched battle of three days, (the old duration
+of an election,) which was one of the most exciting scenes I ever
+witnessed. Horatio Gates, of Saratoga fame, was one of his nominees for
+the State Legislature, (Gates was then enjoying those undeserved laurels
+which posterity has since taken away,) and it was surprising to see the
+veterans of the Revolution abandoning their party to vote for their old
+comrade and leader. The result was, that the Federalists were most
+thoroughly worsted, and the party never recovered from the blow. Such
+were the exciting events which identified the young politicians of the
+metropolis, and which inspired their speeches and their press. Burr's
+headquarters were at Martling's Tavern, 87 Nassau street. On being torn
+down, the business was removed to Tammany Hall, which has inherited a
+political character from its predecessor. Besides this, he used to meet
+his friends in more select numbers at a Coffee-house in Maiden Lane. His
+office was Number 30 Partition street, (now Fulton,) and his residence
+was at Richmond Hill. This place has lately been pulled down; it stood
+far away from the city, in a wild, secluded neighborhood, and in bad
+going was quite an out of the way spot, though now it would be in the
+densest part of the city. As there were no public vehicles plying in
+this direction, except the Chelsea (Twenty-eighth street) stage, which
+was very unreliable, one either had to hire a coach or else be subjected
+to a walk of two miles. But such as had the _entr�e_ of this
+establishment would be well rewarded, even for these difficulties, by an
+interview with Theodosia Burr, the most charming creature of her day.
+She was married early, and we saw but little of her. From the interest
+which the Irvings felt in Burr's fortunes, it might have been expected
+that they should sympathize with him in his subsequent reverses.
+
+The biographer presents Washington Irving as an attendant at the famous
+trial at Richmond, where his indignation at some of Burr's privations
+are expressed in a most interesting letter. This sympathy is the more
+touching from the fact that Washington was a Federalist, and in this
+respect differed from his brothers. We have an idea that his youthful
+politics were in no small degree influenced by those of that
+illustrious personage for whom he was named. Another of the sons was
+John T., who became a successful and wealthy jurist, and for many years
+presided at New-York Common Pleas, while Ebenezer was established in
+trade at an early day. Such was the development of that family, which in
+rosy childhood followed William Irving to the old Brick Church, and
+whose early progress he was permitted to witness. The biographer passes
+lightly over the scenes of boyhood, and there was hardly any need for
+his expatiating on that idolatry which surrounded the youngest. He was
+no doubt the first child ever named after the father of his country, and
+the touching incident of Lizzie's presenting the chubby, bright-eyed boy
+to Washington, is hit off in a few touches. It was, however, in itself a
+sublime thing. Nearly seventy years afterward, that child, still feeling
+the hand of benediction resting upon him, concludes his _Life of
+Washington_ by a description of his reception in New-York, of which he
+had been a witness. Why does he not (it would have been a most
+pardonable allusion) bring in the incident referred to above? Ah!
+modesty forbade; yet, as he penned that description, his heart must have
+rejoiced at the boldness of the servant who broke through the crowd and
+presented to the General a boy honored with his name. Glorious incident
+indeed!
+
+As the family grew up, the young men took to their different
+professions, which we have briefly designated. Peter read medicine, and
+hence received the title of 'doctor;' though he hated and finally
+abjured it, yet, as early as 1794, he had opened an office at 208
+Broadway. This, however, was more a resort for the muses than for
+Hygeia, notwithstanding its sign, 'Peter Irving, M.D.' In 1796, William
+Irving, who had been clerk in the loan office, established himself in
+trade in Pearl--near Partition--street, and from his energy and elegance
+of manners, he became immediately successful, while farther up the
+street, near Old Slip, John T. opened a law office, which was
+subsequently removed to Wall street, near Broadway. We mention these
+facts to show that Irving entered life surrounded by protecting
+influences, and that the kindness which sheltered him from the world's
+great battle had a tendency to increase his natural delicacy and to
+expose him to more intense suffering, when the hand of misfortune should
+visit him. One who had 'roughed it' with the world would have better
+borne the killing disappointment of his affections; but he was rendered
+peculiarly sensitive to suffering by his genial surroundings.
+
+This fact sets off in remarkable contrast, the noble resolution with
+which such an one as he, when he had buried all the world held in the
+tomb with the dead form of his beloved, rose above his sorrows. It is
+well observed by his biographer, that 'it is an affecting evidence how
+little Mr. Irving was ever disposed to cultivate or encourage sadness,
+that he should be engaged during this period of sorrow and seclusion in
+revising and giving additional touches to his _History of New-York_.'
+Those who may smile at the elegant humor which pervades the pages of
+that history, will be surprised to learn that they were nearly complete,
+yet their final revision and preparation for the press was by one who
+was almost broken of heart, and who thus cultivated a spirit of
+cheerfulness, lest he should become a burden to himself and others. As
+he writes to Mrs. Hoffman: 'By constantly exercising my mind, never
+suffering it to prey upon itself, and resolutely determining to be
+cheerful, I have, in a manner, worked myself into a very enviable state
+of serenity and self-possession.'
+
+How truly has Wordsworth expressed this idea:
+
+  'If there be one who need bemoan
+    His kindred laid in earth,
+  The household hearts that were his own,
+    It is the man of mirth.'
+
+We are glad to know that in time Irving sought a better consolation.
+
+But to return from this digression, or rather anticipation of our
+subject. At the time of which we now write, New-York was comparatively a
+small town; true, it was the chief commercial city in America, and yet
+its limits proper could be described by a line drawn across the island
+some distance below Canal street. Yet even then New-York was full of
+life, and seemed to feel the promise of subsequent greatness. Her
+streets echoed to the footsteps of men whom the present generation, with
+all its progress, can not surpass. At Number 26 Broadway, might have
+been daily seen the light-built but martial and elegant form of
+Alexander Hamilton, while his mortal foe, Aaron Burr, as we have stated,
+held his office in Partition street. John Jacob Astor was just becoming
+an established and solid business man, and dwelt at 223 Broadway, the
+present site of the Astor House, and which was one of the earliest
+purchases which led to the greatest landed estate in America. Robert
+Lenox lived in Broadway, near Trinity Church, and was building up that
+splendid commerce which has made his son one of the chief city
+capitalists. De Witt Clinton was a young and ambitious lawyer, full of
+promise, whose office (he was just elected Mayor) was Number 1 Broadway.
+Cadwallader D. Colden was pursuing his brilliant career, and might be
+found immersed in law at Number 59 Wall street. Such were the legal and
+political magnates of the day; while to slake the thirst of their
+excited followers, Medcef Eden brewed ale in Gold street, and Janeway
+carried on the same business in Magazine street; and his empty
+establishment became notorious, in later years, as the 'Old Brewery.'
+
+About this time young Irving was developing as one of the most
+interesting youth of the city. His manners were soft without being
+effeminate, his form finely molded, and his countenance singularly
+beautiful. To this might be added the general opinion that he was
+considerably gifted in the use of the pen. Yet with all these promising
+features, the future was clothed with shadows, for his health was
+failing, and his friends considered him too lovely a flower to last.
+Little did his brothers and sisters think that that delicate youth
+would, with one exception, outlive the whole family. It was at this time
+that he first went abroad; and his experiences of travel are given by
+Pierre Irving in the sparkling letters which he wrote to his brothers.
+
+In 1807 I used to meet him once more in social gatherings in the city,
+for he had returned in full restoration of health, his mind expanded,
+and his manners improved by intercourse with the European world, while
+_Salmagundi_ had electrified the city and given him the first rank among
+its satirists. The question of profession crowded on him, and he
+alternated between the law and the counting-room, in either of which he
+might find one or more of his brothers. The former of these was a road
+to distinction, the latter was one to wealth; but feeling the absence of
+practical business gifts, he shrank from trade, and took refuge in the
+quiet readings of an office. Josiah Ogden Hoffman, of whose daughter so
+much has recently been written, was a family friend, as well as a lawyer
+of high character. He lived first at Number 68 Greenwich street, but
+afterward moved up-town, his office being in Wall street, first Number
+47, and afterward Number 16. Young Irving finished his studies with Mr.
+Hoffman, and immediately took office with his brother John, at Number 3
+Wall street. To these two was soon added the presence of Peter, who was
+still connected with the press, and thus might have been found for a
+short time a most interesting and talented, as well as fraternal trio.
+
+Washington was still, to a considerable degree an _habitu�_ of Mr.
+Hoffman's office, and it seems quite amusing that one who was so dull at
+reading law that he makes merry with his own deficiencies, should have a
+connection with two offices. But the name of Matilda was the magnet
+which drew him to one where he vainly struggled to climb Alp on Alp of
+difficulties in hope of love's fruition, while at the other he might
+smile at the bewilderments of Coke, brush away the cobwebs from his
+brain, and recreate himself with the rich humors of _Salmagundi_.
+
+The place and time where this remarkable attachment had its inception,
+are not known; but like all such affairs, it arose, no doubt, from
+felicitous accident. In one of his sketches, Irving speaks of a
+mysterious footprint seen on the sward of the Battery, which awoke a
+romantic interest in his breast. This youthful incident comes to our
+mind when we remember that Mr. Hoffman lived at Number 68 Greenwich
+street, not a stone's throw from the Battery, and we have sometimes
+thought that the mysterious footprint might have been Matilda's. At any
+rate, the Battery was at that day a place of fashionable resort, and
+hence the fair but fragile form of Matilda Hoffman could almost any day
+have been seen tripping among bevies of city girls in pursuit of health
+or pleasure. But whatever be the history of its origin, the attachment
+became one of mutual strength; and while young Irving was surrounded by
+piles of lawbooks and red tape, his hope of success was identified with
+the name of Matilda. My remembrance of Matilda (her name was Sarah
+Matilda, but the first was dropped in common intercourse) revives a
+countenance of great sweetness, and an indescribable beauty of
+expression. Her auburn hair played carelessly in the wind, and her
+features, though not of classic outline, were radiant with life. Her eye
+was one of the finest I have ever seen--rich, deep-toned, and eloquent,
+speaking volumes in each varying expression, and generally suggestive of
+pensive emotion. Irving was about eight years her senior, and this
+difference was just sufficient to draw out that fond reliance of female
+character which he has so beautifully set forth in the sketch of 'The
+Wife.' The brief period of this courtship was the sunny hour of his
+life, for his tender and sensitive nature forbade any thing but the most
+ardent attachment. What dreams of future bliss floated before his
+intoxicated vision, soon to change to the stern realities of grieving
+sorrow!
+
+In 1809, Mr. Hoffman removed to a suburban residence in Broadway,
+(corner of Leonard street,) and the frequent walks which the young lover
+took up that sequestered avenue may have suggested some of the
+descriptions of the same street in the pages of the _History of
+New-York_, and his allusions to the front-gardens so adapted to ancient
+courtship. While at this mansion, amid all the blandishments of hope,
+Matilda's health began to fail beyond the power of restoratives, and the
+anxious eye both of parent and betrothed, marked the advance of
+relentless disease. The maiden faded away from their affections until
+both stood by her bed and saw her breathe her last.
+
+The biographer informs us that after Mr. Irving's death, there was found
+in a repository of which he always kept the key, a memorial of this
+affair, which had evidently been written to some friend, in explanation
+of his single life. Of the memorial the following extract is given:
+
+     'We saw each other every day, and I became excessively attached to
+     her. Her shyness wore off by degrees. The more I saw of her the
+     more I had reason to admire her. Her mind seemed to unfold itself
+     leaf by leaf, and every time to discover new sweetness. Nobody knew
+     her so well as I, for she was generally timid and silent, but I, in
+     a manner, studied her excellence. Never did I meet more intuitive
+     rectitude of mind, more native delicacy, more exquisite propriety
+     in word, thought, or action, than in this young creature. I am not
+     exaggerating; what I say was acknowledged by all who knew her. Her
+     brilliant little sister used to say that people began by admiring
+     her, but ended by loving Matilda. For my part, I idolized her. I
+     felt at times rebuked by her superior delicacy and purity, as if I
+     was a coarse, unworthy being, in comparison.
+
+     'This passion was terribly against my studies. I felt my own
+     deficiency, and despaired of ever succeeding at the bar. I could
+     study any thing else rather than law, and had a fatal propensity to
+     belles-lettres. I had gone on blindly like a boy in love, but now
+     I began to open my eyes and be miserable. I had nothing in purse or
+     in expectation. I anticipated nothing from my legal pursuits, and
+     had done nothing to make me hope for public employment, or
+     political elevation. I had begun a satirical and humorous work,
+     (_The History of New-York_,) in company with one of my brothers;
+     but he had gone to Europe shortly after commencing it, and my
+     feelings had run in so different a vein that I could not go on with
+     it. I became low-spirited and disheartened, and did not know what
+     was to become of me. I made frequent attempts to apply myself to
+     the law; but it is a slow and tedious undertaking for a young man
+     to get into practice, and I had, unluckily, no turn for business.
+     The gentleman with whom I studied saw the state of my mind. He had
+     an affectionate regard for me--a paternal one, I may say. He had a
+     better opinion of my legal capacity than it merited. He urged me to
+     return to my studies, to apply myself, to become well acquainted
+     with the law, and that in case I could make myself capable of
+     undertaking legal concerns, he would take me into partnership with
+     him and give me his daughter. Nothing could be more generous. I set
+     to work with zeal to study anew, and I considered myself bound in
+     honor not to make farther advances with the daughter until I should
+     feel satisfied with my proficiency with the law. It was all in
+     vain. I had an insuperable repugnance to the study; my mind would
+     not take hold of it; or rather, by long despondency had become for
+     the time incapable of any application. I was in a wretched state of
+     doubt and self-distrust. I tried to finish the work which I was
+     secretly writing, hoping it would give me reputation and gain me
+     some public employment. In the mean time I saw Matilda every day,
+     and that helped distract me. In the midst of this struggle and
+     anxiety, she was taken ill with a cold. Nothing was thought of it
+     at first, but she grew rapidly worse, and fell into a consumption.
+     I can not tell you what I suffered. The ills that I have undergone
+     in this life have been dealt out to me drop by drop, and I have
+     tasted all their bitterness. I saw her fade rapidly away--beautiful
+     and more beautiful, and more angelic to the very last. I was often
+     by her bedside, and in her wandering state of mind she would talk
+     to me with a sweet, natural, and affecting eloquence that was
+     overpowering. I saw more of the beauty of her mind in that
+     delirious state than I had ever known before. Her malady was rapid
+     in its career, and hurried her off in two months. Her
+     dying-struggles were painful and protracted. For three days and
+     nights I did not leave the house, and scarcely slept. I was by her
+     when she died. All the family were assembled around her, some
+     praying, others weeping, for she was adored by them all. I was the
+     last one she looked upon. I have told you as briefly as I could,
+     what, if I were to tell with all the incidents and feelings that
+     accompanied it, would fill volumes. She was but seventeen years old
+     when she died.
+
+     'I can not tell you what a horrid state of mind I was in for a long
+     time. I seemed to care for nothing; the world was a blank to me. I
+     abandoned all thoughts of the law. I went into the country, but
+     could not bear solitude, yet could not enjoy society. There was a
+     dismal horror continually on my mind that made me fear to be alone.
+     I had often to get up in the night and seek the bedroom of my
+     brother, as if the having of a human being by me would relieve me
+     from the frightful gloom of my own thoughts.
+
+     'Months elapsed before my mind would resume any tone, but the
+     despondency I had suffered for a long time in the course of this
+     attachment, and the anguish that attended its final catastrophe,
+     seemed to give a turn to my whole character, and threw some clouds
+     into my disposition, which have ever since hung about it. When I
+     became more calm and collected, I applied myself, by way of
+     occupation, to the finishing of my work. I brought it to a close as
+     well as I could, and published it; but the time and circumstances
+     in which it was produced rendered me always unable to look upon it
+     with satisfaction. Still, it took with the public, and gave me
+     celebrity, as an original work was something remarkable and
+     uncommon in America. I was noticed, caressed, and for a time
+     elevated by the popularity I had gained. Wherever I went, I was
+     overwhelmed with attentions. I was full of youth and animation, far
+     different from the being I now am, and I was quite flushed with
+     this early taste of public favor. Still, however, the career of
+     gayety and notoriety soon palled upon me. I seemed to drift about
+     without aim or object, at the mercy of every breeze; my heart
+     wanted anchorage. I was naturally susceptible, and tried to form
+     other attachments, but my heart would not hold on. It would
+     continually revert to what it had lost; and whenever there was a
+     pause in the hurry of novelty and excitement, I would sink into
+     dismal dejection. For years I could not talk on the subject of this
+     hopeless regret; I could not even mention her name; but her image
+     was continually before me, and I dreamed of her incessantly.'
+
+The fragment of which the above is an extract, is doubly interesting as
+not only clearing up a mystery which the world has long desired to
+penetrate, but also as giving Irving's experience in his own words. It
+proves how deeply he felt the pangs of a rooted sorrow, and how
+impossible it was, amid all the attractions of society, for him to
+escape the power of one who had bidden to all earthly societies an
+everlasting farewell. That his regrets over his early bereavement did
+not arise from overwrought dreams of excellence in the departed, is
+evident from the character she bore with others; and this is illustrated
+by the following extract from a faded copy of the _Commercial
+Advertiser_, which reads as follows:
+
+     'OBITUARY,
+
+     'Died, on the 26th instant, in the eighteenth year of her age, Miss
+     Sarah Matilda Hoffman, daughter of Josiah Ogden Hoffman. Thus
+     another youthful and lovely victim is added to the ravages of that
+     relentless and invincible enemy to earthly happiness, the
+     _consumption_. In the month of January we beheld this amiable and
+     interesting girl in the glow of health and spirits, the delight of
+     her friends, the joy and pride of her family; she is now cold and
+     lifeless as the clod of the valley. So falls the tender flower of
+     spring as it expands its bosom to the chilling blight of the
+     morning frost. Endowed by nature with a mind unusually
+     discriminating, and a docility of temper and disposition admirably
+     calculated to reap profit from instruction, Miss Hoffman very early
+     became an object of anxious care and solicitude to the fondest of
+     fathers. That care and solicitude he soon found richly rewarded by
+     the progress she made in her learning, and by every evidence of a
+     grateful and feeling heart. After completing the course of her
+     education in a highly respectable seminary in Philadelphia, she
+     returned to her father's house, where she diligently sought every
+     opportunity to improve her mind by various and useful reading. She
+     charmed the circle of her friends by the suavity of her disposition
+     and the most gentle and engaging manners. She delighted and blessed
+     her own family by her uniformly correct and affectionate conduct.
+     Though not formed to mingle and shine in the noisy haunts of
+     dissipation, she was eminently fitted to increase the store of
+     domestic happiness, to bring pleasure and tranquillity to the
+     fireside, and to gladden the fond heart of a parent.
+
+     'Religion, so necessary to our peace in this world and to our
+     happiness in the next, and which gives so high a lustre to the
+     charms and to the virtues of woman, constantly shed her benign
+     influence over the conduct of Miss Hoffman, nor could the insidious
+     attempts of the infidel for a moment weaken her confidence in its
+     heavenly doctrines. With a form rather slender and fragile was
+     united a beauty of face, which, though not dazzling, had so much
+     softness, such a touching sweetness in it, that the expression
+     which mantled over her features was in a high degree lovely and
+     interesting. Her countenance was indeed the faithful image of a
+     mind that was purity itself, and of a heart where compassion and
+     goodness had fixed their abode. To the sweetest disposition that
+     ever graced a woman, was joined a sensibility, not the fictitious
+     creature of the imagination, but the glowing offspring of a pure
+     and affectionate soul.
+
+     'Tenderness, that quality of the heart which gives such a charm to
+     every female virtue, was hers in an eminent degree. It diffused
+     itself over every action of her life. Sometimes blended with a
+     delicate and happy humor, characteristic of her nature, it would
+     delight the social circle; again, with the most assiduous offices
+     of affection, it would show itself at the sick couch of a parent, a
+     relative, or a friend. In this manner the writer of this brief
+     memorial witnessed those soothing acts of kindness which, under
+     peculiar circumstances, will ever be dear to his memory. Alas!
+     little did she then dream that in one short year she herself would
+     fall a sacrifice to the same disease under which the friend to whom
+     she so kindly ministered, sunk to the grave.'
+
+This testimony to departed worth bears the impress of deep sincerity,
+and its freedom from the fulsome praise, which so often varnishes the
+dead, seems to add to its force. Peter Irving, also, pays a tribute to
+her character in the following utterance, in a letter to his bereaved
+brother: 'May her gentle spirit have found that heaven to which it ever
+seemed to appertain. She was too spotless for this contaminated world.'
+
+The biographer states that 'Mr. Irving never alluded to this event, nor
+did any of his relatives ever venture in his presence to introduce the
+name of Matilda,' 'I have heard,' he adds, 'of but one instance in which
+it was ever obtruded upon him, and that was by her father, nearly thirty
+years after her death, and at his own house. A granddaughter had been
+requested to play for him some favorite piece on the piano, and in
+extricating her music from the drawer, she accidentally brought forth a
+piece of embroidery with it. 'Washington,' said Mr. Hoffman, picking up
+the faded relic, 'this is a piece of poor Matilda's workmanship.' The
+effect was electric. He had been conversing in the sprightliest mood
+before, but he sunk at once into utter silence, and in a few moments got
+up and left the house. It is evidence with what romantic tenderness
+Irving cherished the memory of this early love, that he kept by him
+through life the Bible and Prayer-Book of Matilda. He lay with them
+under his pillow in the first days of keen and vivid anguish that
+followed her loss, and they were ever afterward, in all changes of
+climate and country, his inseparable companions.'
+
+The scene at the house of Mr. Hoffman, to which the biographer alludes,
+took place after Irving's second return from Europe, and after an
+absence of nearly twenty years from his native land. During this time he
+had become famous as an author, and had been conceded the position of
+the first American gentleman in Europe. He had been received at Courts
+as in his official position (Secretary of Legation) and had received the
+admiration of the social and intellectual aristocracy of England.
+Returning full of honors, he became at once the lion of New-York, and
+was greeted by a public dinner at the City Hotel. How little could it
+have been imagined, that amid all this harvest of honors, while he stood
+the cynosure of a general admiration, he should still be under the power
+of a youthful attachment, and that outliving all the glories of his
+splendid success, a maiden, dead thirty years, held him with undying
+power. While others thought him the happy object of a nation's
+popularity, his heart was stealing away from noise and notice to the
+hallowed ground where Matilda lay.
+
+     'Oh! what are thousand living loves To that which can not quit the
+     dead?'
+
+The biographer observes that 'it is in the light of this event that we
+must interpret portions of 'Rural Funerals,' in the _Sketch-Book_, and
+'Saint Mark's Eve,' in _Bracebridge Hull_.' From the former of these, we
+therefore make an extract, which is now so powerfully illustrated by the
+experience of its author:
+
+     'The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to
+     be divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal; every other
+     affliction to forget; but this wound we consider it a duty to keep
+     open; this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude. Where
+     is the mother that would willingly forget the infant that perished
+     like a blossom from her arms, though every recollection is a pang?
+     Where is the child that would willingly forget the most tender of
+     parents, though to remember be but to lament? Who in the hour of
+     agony would forget the friend over whom he mourns? Who, when the
+     tomb is closing upon the remains of her he most loved, when he
+     feels his heart, as it were, crushed, in the closing of its portal,
+     would accept of consolation that must be bought by forgetfulness?
+     No; the love that survives the tomb is one of the noblest
+     attributes of the soul. If it has its woes, it has likewise its
+     delights; and when the overwhelming burst of grief is calmed into
+     the gentle tear of recollection; when the sudden anguish and the
+     convulsive agony over the present ruins of all that we most loved
+     is softened away into pensive meditation on all that it was in the
+     days of its loveliness, who would root out such a sorrow from the
+     heart? Though it may sometimes throw a passing cloud over the
+     bright hour of gayety, or spread a deeper sadness over the hour of
+     gloom, yet who would exchange it even for the song of pleasure or
+     the burst of revelry? No; there is a voice from the tomb sweeter
+     than song; there is a remembrance of the dead to which we turn even
+     from the charms of the living.... But the grave of those we love,
+     what a place for meditation! There it is that we call up in long
+     review the whole history of virtue and goodness, and the thousand
+     endearments lavished upon us almost unheeded in the daily
+     intercourse of intimacy; there it is that we dwell upon the
+     tenderness, the solemn, awful tenderness of the dying scene. The
+     bed of death, with all its stifled griefs, its noiseless
+     attendance, its mute, watchful assiduities. The last testimonies of
+     expiring love! The feeble, fluttering, thrilling--oh! how
+     thrilling--pressure of the hand! The last fond look of the glazing
+     eye turned upon us even from the threshold of existence! The
+     faint, faltering accents struggling in death to give one more
+     assurance of affection!'
+
+How truly is this passage 'to be interpreted in the light of the event
+in Irving's history', when it is evident from a comparison of it with
+the memoranda, that it is a sketch of that scene which wrecked his
+brightest hopes, and that here he is renewing in this unequaled
+description of a dying-bed, the last hours of Matilda Hoffman. The
+highly-wrought picture presents a complete detail to the eye, and yet
+still more powerful is that simple utterance in the memoranda: '_I was
+the last one she looked upon_.'
+
+_St. Mark's Eve_,' to which reference is also made, was written several
+years subsequently, and as may be gathered from its tone, under
+circumstances of peculiar loneliness. It was while a solitary occupant
+of his lodgings, a stranger in a foreign city, that he felt the
+inspiration of precious memories, and improved his lonely hours by this
+exquisite production. 'I am alone,' he writes, 'in my chamber; but these
+themes have taken such hold upon me that I can not sleep. The room in
+which I sit is just fitted to foster such a state of mind. The walls are
+hung with tapestry, the figures of which are faded and look like
+unsubstantial shapes melting away from sight.... The murmur of voices and
+the peal of remote laughter no longer reach the ear. The clock from the
+church, in which so many of the former inhabitants of this house lie
+buried, has chimed the awful hour of midnight.' It was a fitting time to
+yield to the power of that undying affection which abode with him under
+all changes, and the serene presence of one snatched from him years ago
+must at such times have invested him as with a spell. Thus he writes:
+
+     'Even the doctrines of departed spirits returning to visit the
+     scenes and beings which were dear to them during the body's
+     existence, though it has been debased by the absurd superstitions
+     of the vulgar, in itself is awfully solemn and sublime.... Raise it
+     above the frivolous purposes to which it has been applied; strip it
+     of the gloom and horror with which it has been surrounded; and
+     there is none of the whole circle of visionary creeds that could
+     more delightfully elevate the imagination or more tenderly affect
+     the heart.... What could be more consoling than the idea that the
+     souls of those we once loved were permitted to return and watch
+     over our welfare?--that affectionate and guardian spirits sat by
+     our pillows while we slept, keeping a vigil over our most helpless
+     hours?--that beauty and innocence which had languished in the tomb
+     yet smiled unseen around us, revealing themselves in those blest
+     dreams wherein they live over again the hours of past
+     endearments?.... There are departed beings that I have loved as I
+     never shall love again in this world--that have loved me as I never
+     again shall be loved. If such beings do ever retain in their
+     blessed spheres the attachments they felt on earth; if they take an
+     interest in the poor concerns of transient mortality, and are
+     permitted to hold communion with those they have loved on earth, I
+     feel as if now, at this deep hour of night, in this silence and
+     solitude, I could receive their visitation with the most solemn but
+     unalloyed delight.'
+
+The use of the plural in the above extract obviated that publicity of
+his especial bereavement which would have arisen from a reference to
+_one_, and it is to be explained by the deaths of three persons to whom
+he sustained the most endearing though varied relations of which man is
+capable: his mother, his sister Nancy, and his betrothed. The first two
+had become sacred memories, and were enshrined in the sanctuary of his
+soul; but the latter was a thing of life, whose existence had become
+identified with his own, and was made sure beyond the power of disease
+and mortality. Who, indeed, would have been so welcome to the solitary
+tourist on that weird midnight as she whose Bible and Prayer-Book
+accompanied his wanderings, whose miniature was his treasure, and of
+whom he could say: 'She died in the beauty of her youth, and in my
+memory she will ever be young and beautiful.'
+
+That a re�nion with all the beloved of earth was a controlling thought
+in his mind, and one bearing an especial reference to this supreme
+bereavement, is manifest from the following, from the same sketch:
+
+     'We take each other by the hand, and we exchange a few words and
+     looks of kindness, and we rejoice together for a few moments, and
+     then days, months, years intervene, and we see and know nothing of
+     each other. Or granting that we dwell together for the full season
+     of this mortal life, the grave soon closes its gates between us,
+     and then our spirits are doomed to remain in separation and
+     _widowhood_ until they meet again in that more perfect state of
+     being, where soul will dwell with soul in blissful communion, and
+     there will be neither death, nor absence, nor any thing else to
+     interrupt our felicity.'
+
+Such was the view which cheered the life of one thus early stripped of
+promised and expected happiness, and to which he dung during all changes
+of time and place. Amid the infirmities of advancing years, while
+surrounded by an endearing circle of relatives, who ministered to him
+with the most watchful affection, there was one that abode in still
+closer communion with his heart. While writing in his study at
+Sunnyside, or pacing, in quiet solitude, the streets of New-York, at all
+times, a fair young form hovered over him and beckoned him heavenward.
+Years passed on, until a half-century had been told. All things had
+changed, the scenes and characters of early life had passed away. The
+lover had become a kindly old man. The young essayist had become a great
+author and an heir of fame. The story of life was complete. The hour of
+his departure was at hand, when suddenly the same hand which had
+separated the lovers re�nited them forever. Who shall say that the last
+image which flitted across his mind at the awful moment of dissolution,
+was not that fresh and lovely form which he had cherished in unchanging
+affection for fifty years?
+
+I have stated my opinion that it was Irving's disappointment which made
+him the great American author, and to this opinion I now return with
+increased confidence. Had the plans of his youth been carried out; had
+he become a partner of Mr. Hoffman, and had the hands of the lovers been
+united, the whole tenor of his life would have been changed. He would
+have published some fine things, in addition to the Knickerbocker
+history, and would have ranked high as a gentleman of elegant humor; but
+where would have been his enduring works? We sympathize with the
+disappointed lover; but we feel thankful that from his sorrow we gather
+such precious fruit. The death of Matilda led him abroad--to Spain,
+where he compiled his _Columbus_ and gathered material for his
+_Alhambra_--and to England, where the _Columbus_ was finished and
+published, and where his name became great, in spite of national
+prejudice. Beside this, the sorrow which cast its sacred shadow upon him
+gave his writings that endearing charm which fascinates the emotional
+nature and enabled him to touch the hidden chords of the heart.
+
+If Ogilvie could congratulate him on the bankruptcy which drove him from
+the details of trade to the richer fruition of literary promise, we may
+consider it a beneficent working of Providence, which afforded to Irving
+a still earlier emancipation from the law, cheered as it might have been
+by the kindness of Mr. Hoffman and the society of Matilda.
+
+Such being the remarkable chain which unites the names of the author and
+his love, we can not but consider her as a part of his character through
+the best years of his life and amid all the splendid success of his
+literary career. Indeed, through coming generations of readers, the
+names of Irving and Matilda will be united in the loveliest and most
+romantic of associations.
+
+I have prolonged this reminiscence to an unexpected length, and yet can
+not close without a few additional thoughts which grow out of the
+perusal of the biography. Perhaps the chief of these is the nationality
+of Irving's character, particularly while a resident of Europe. Neither
+the pungent bitterness of the British press nor the patronage of the
+aristocracy could abate the firmness with which he upheld the dignity of
+his country. He was not less her representative when a struggling author
+in Liverpool or London than when Secretary of Legation at the Court of
+St. James, or Ambassador at Madrid. His first appearance abroad was at a
+time of little foreign travel, and an American was an object of remark
+and observation. His elegant simplicity reflected honor upon his native
+land, and amid all classes, and in all places, love of country ruled
+him. This high tone pervaded his views of public duty. A gross defaulter
+having been mentioned in his presence, he replied, that 'next to robbing
+one's father it is, to rob one's country.'
+
+It is also worthy of note that while Irving lived to unusual fullness of
+years, yet he never was considered an old man. We do not so much refer
+to his erect and vigorous frame as to the freshness of his mind. It is
+said that Goethe, on being asked the definition of a poet, replied: 'One
+who preserves to old age the feelings of youth.' Such was a leading
+feature in Mr. Irving's spirit, which, notwithstanding his shadowed
+hours, was so buoyant and cheerful. His countenance was penseroso when
+in repose, and allegro in action, and these graces clung to him even in
+life's winter, like the flower at the base of the glacier.
+
+Among the varied elements which constituted Irving's popularity, one of
+them might have been the beauty of his name, whose secret is revealed by
+the laws of prosody. Washington is a stately _dactyl_; Irving is a sweet
+and mellow _spondee_, and thus we have a combination which poets in
+ancient and modern days have sought with sedulous care, and which should
+close every line of hexameter verse. Hence a measure such, as that found
+in 'Washington Irving' terminates every line in _Evangeline_, or the
+works of Virgil, thus:
+
+    'Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline _went from the mission_,
+    When, over green ways, by long and _perilous marches_,
+    She had attained at length the depth of the _Michigan forest_.'
+
+or
+
+    'Supplicia hausorem ecopulis: et _nomine Dido_,
+    Et recidiva manu posuissem _Pergama vetis_.'
+
+It will be readily perceived that the name of the American author can be
+substituted for the feet italicized above, without injuring the measure,
+while in some of Moore's finest stansas beautifully alternates the same
+verse, thus:
+
+    'Oh! fair as the sea-flower, _close to thee growing_,
+      How light was thy heart till love's witchery came!
+    Like the wind of the South, o'er a _summer lute blowing_,
+      And hushed all its music, and withered its flame.'
+
+At the close of his last great work, Mr. Irving sought for rest. He laid
+aside his pen, even from correspondence, and felt that his work was
+done. When in New-York, he was often to be found at the Astor Library,
+of which he was a trustee; but his visits to the city became few, and he
+seemed to realize that his time was come. To one who kindly remarked, 'I
+hope you will soon be better,' He calmly replied, in an earnest tone: 'I
+shall never be better.' The words came true too soon, and amid an
+unequaled pomp of unaffected sorrow, they bore him to a place of rest,
+by the side of his parents and all of his kin who had gone before him.
+
+
+
+
+_BYRONIC MISANTHROPY._
+
+  He has a grief he can not speak;
+    He wears his hat awry;
+  He blacks his boots but once a week;
+    And says he wants to die!
+
+
+
+
+_NEW-ENGLAND'S ADVANCE._
+
+  Hurrah! for our New-England,
+    When she rose up firm and grand,
+  In her calm, terrific beauty,
+    With the stout sword in her hand;
+  When she raised her arm undaunted,
+    In the sacred cause of Right,
+  Like a crowned queen of valor,
+    Strong in her faith and might.
+
+  Hurrah! for our New-England!
+    When the war-cry shook the breeze,
+  She wore the garb of glory,
+    And quaffed the cup of ease;
+  But I saw a look of daring
+    On her proud features rise,
+  And the fire of will was flashing
+    Through the calm light of her eyes.
+
+  From her brow serene, majestic,
+    The wreath of peace she took,
+  And war's red rose sprang blooming,
+    And its bloody petals shook
+  On her heaving, beating bosom;
+    And with forehead crowned with light,
+  Transfigured, she presented
+    Her proud form to the fight.
+
+  Hurrah! for our New-England!
+    What lightning courage ran
+  Through her brave heart, as she bounded
+    To the battle's fearful van;
+  O'er her head the starry banner;
+    While her loud, inspiring cry,
+  'Death or Freedom for our Nation,'
+    Rang against the clouded sky.
+
+  I saw our own New-England
+    Dealing blows for Truth and Right,
+  And the grandeur of her purpose
+    Gave her eyes a sacred light;
+  Ah! name her 'the Invincible,'
+    Through rebel rank and host;
+  For Justice evermore is done,
+    And Right comes uppermost.
+
+  Hurrah for our New-England!
+    Through the battle's fearful brunt,
+  Through the red sea of the carnage,
+    Still she struggles in the front;
+
+  And victory's war-eagle,
+    Hovering o'er the fiery blast,
+  On her floating, starry standard.
+    Is settling down at last.
+
+  There is glory for New-England,
+    When Oppression's strife is done,
+  When the tools of Wrong are vanquished,
+    And the cause of Freedom won;
+  She shall sit in garments spotless,
+    And shall breathe the odorous balm
+  Of the cool green of contentment,
+    In the bowers of peace and calm.
+
+
+
+
+_WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?_
+
+     'Do but grasp into the thick of human life! Every one _lives_
+     it--to many it is _known_; and seize it where you will, it is
+     interesting.--_Goethe_.
+
+     'SUCCESSFUL.--Terminating in accomplishing what is wished or
+     intended.'--_Webster's Dictionary_.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The little village of Burnsville, in Connecticut, was thrown into a
+state of excitement by the report that Hiram Meeker was about to remove
+to the city of New-York. Two or three elderly maiden ladies with whom
+Hiram was an especial favorite, declared there was not a word of truth
+in the ridiculous rumor. The girls of the village very generally
+discredited it. The young men said Hiram was not such a fool; he knew on
+which side his bread was buttered; he knew when to let well enough
+alone, and so forth. Still the report was circulated. To be sure, nobody
+believed it, yet it spread all the faster for being contradicted. I have
+said that the young ladies of Burnsville put no faith in the story.
+Possibly Sarah Burns was an exception, and Sarah, it was well
+understood, was an interested party, and would be apt to know the truth.
+She did not contradict the statement when made in her presence, and
+once, when appealed to for her opinion, she looked very serious, and
+said it might be so for all she knew. At length there were two parties
+formed in Burnsville. One on whose banner was inscribed: 'Hiram Meeker
+is going to New-York.' The other with flag bearing in large letters: 'No
+such thing: Hiram is not going.'
+
+It would have been easy, one would suppose, to settle the important
+controversy by a direct appeal to Hiram Meeker himself. Strange to say,
+this does not appear to have been done, both sides fearing, like
+experienced generals, to risk the result on a single issue. But numerous
+were the hints and innuendoes conveyed to him, to which he always gave
+satisfactory replies--satisfactory to both parties--both contending he
+had, by his answers, confirmed their own particular view of the case.
+
+This state of things could not last forever. It was brought suddenly to
+an end one Friday afternoon.
+
+Hiram Meeker was a member, in regular standing, of the Congregational
+Church in Burnsville. The Preparatory Lecture, as it is called, that is,
+the lecture delivered prior to 'Communion-Sabbath,' in the church, was
+always on the previous Friday, at three o'clock P.M. On a pleasant day
+toward the end of April, Hiram Meeker and Sarah Burns went in company
+to attend this lecture. The exercises were especially interesting.
+Several young people, at the close of the services, who had previously
+been propounded, were examined as to their 'experience,' and a vote was
+separately taken on the admission of each. This over, the clergyman
+spoke as follows: 'Brother Hiram Meeker being about to remove from among
+us, desires to dissolve his connection with the Congregational church in
+Burnsville, and requests the usual certificate of membership and good
+standing. Is it your pleasure that he receive it? Those in favor will
+please to signify it.' Several 'right hands' were held up, and the
+matter was concluded. A young man who sat nearly opposite Sarah Burns,
+observed that on the announcement, her face became very pale.
+
+When the little company of church-members was dismissed, Hiram Meeker
+and Sarah Burns walked away together as they came. No, not _as_ they
+came, as the following conversation will show.
+
+'Why did you not tell me, Hiram?'
+
+'Because, Sarah, I did not fully decide till the mail came in this very
+afternoon. I had only time to speak to Mr. Chase, and there was no
+opportunity to see you, and I could not tell you about it while we were
+walking along so happy together.'
+
+Hiram Meeker lied.
+
+Sarah Burns could not disbelieve him; it was not possible Hiram would
+deceive her, but her heart _felt_ the lie, nevertheless.
+
+Hiram Meeker is the hero of this history. It is, therefore, necessary to
+give some account of him previous to his introduction to the reader on
+the afternoon of the preparatory lecture. At the date of the
+commencement of the narrative, he was already twenty-two years old. He
+was the youngest of several children. His father was a highly
+respectable man, who resided in Hampton, about fifteen miles from
+Burnsville, and cultivated one of the most valuable farms in the county.
+Mr. and Mrs. Meeker both had the reputation of being excellent people.
+They were exemplary members of the church, and brought up their children
+with a great deal of care. They were in every respect dissimilar. He was
+tall, thin, and dark-complexioned; she was almost short, very fair, and
+portly in appearance. Mr. Meeker was a kind-hearted, generous,
+unambitious man, who loved his home and his children, and rejoiced when
+he could see every body happy around him. He was neither close nor
+calculating. With a full share of natural ability, he did not turn his
+talents to accumulation, quite content if he made the ends of the year
+meet.
+
+Mrs. Meeker was a woman who never took a step from impulse. She had a
+motive for every act of her life. Exceedingly acute in her judgments of
+people, she brought her shrewdness to bear on all occasions. She was a
+capital housekeeper, a most excellent manager, a pattern wife and
+mother. I say, 'pattern wife and mother,' for she was devoted to her
+husband's interests, which, to be sure, were equally her own; she made
+every thing very comfortable for him indoors, and she managed
+expenditures with an economy and closeness which Mr. Meeker was quite
+incapable of. She looked after her children with unremitting care. They
+were sent to better schools, and their associations were of a better
+description than those of her neighbors. She took personal pains with
+their religious culture. Although they were sent to Sunday-school, she
+herself taught them the Catechism, the Commandments, the Lord's Prayer,
+and the Sermon on the Mount, beside a great variety of Gospel hymns and
+Bible-stories. But along with these excellent teachings they were
+taught--what is apt to be taught in almost every family, to almost every
+child--to regard appearances, to make the best possible show to the
+world, to _seem_ what they ought to _be_; apparently a sort of short-cut
+to goodness, but really a turnpike erected by the devil, which leads any
+where rather than to the desired point. Mrs. Meeker was a religious
+woman, scrupulous and exact in every outward observance; in this
+respect severe with herself and with all around her. Yet this never
+prevented her having an eye to the 'main chance,' which was, to get on
+in the world. Indeed, to attempt to do so, was with her a fundamental
+duty. She loved to pray the Lord to bless 'our basket and our store.'
+She dwelt much on the promise of 'a hundred-fold' in this world in
+addition to the 'inheritance of everlasting life.' She could repeat all
+the practical maxims which abound in the book of Proverbs, and she was
+careful, when she feared her husband was about to give way to a generous
+impulse in favor of a poor relation or neighbor, to put him in mind of
+his own large and increasing household, solemnly cautioning him that he
+who looked not well after it, was 'worse than an infidel.' In short,
+being fully convinced by application of her natural shrewd sense that
+religion was the safest thing for her here and hereafter, she became
+religious. In her piety there was manifested but one idea--self.
+Whatever she did, was from a sense of duty, and she did her duty because
+it was the way to prosperity and heaven.
+
+I have remarked how different were husband and wife. They lived
+together, however, without discord, for Mr. Meeker yielded most points
+of controversy when they arose, and for the rest his wife was neither
+disagreeable nor unamiable. But the poor woman had experienced through
+life one great drawback; she had half-a-dozen fine children. Alas! not
+one of them resembled her in temper, character, or disposition. All
+possessed their father's happy traits, which were developed more and
+more as they grew older, despite their mother's incessant warnings and
+teachings.
+
+Frank, the first-born, exhibited fondness for books, and early
+manifested an earnest desire for a liberal education with a view to the
+study of medicine. His father resolved to gratify him. His mother was
+opposed to it. She wanted her boy a merchant. 'Doctors,' she said, 'were
+mostly a poor set, who were obliged to work very hard by day and by
+night, and got little for it. If Frank would only be contented to go
+into her cousin's store, in New-York, (he was one of the prominent
+wholesale dry-goods jobbers,) why, there would be some hope of him, that
+is, if he could cure himself of certain extravagant notions; but to go
+through college, and then study medicine! Why couldn't he, at least, be
+a lawyer, then there might be a chance for him.'
+
+'But the boy has no taste for mercantile life, nor for the law,' said
+Mr. Meeker.
+
+'Taste--fiddlesticks,' responded his wife, 'as if a boy has a right to
+have any taste contrary to his parents' wish.'.
+
+'But, Jane, it is not contrary to _my_ wish.'
+
+Mrs. Meeker looked her husband steadily in the face. She saw there an
+unusual expression of firmness; something which she knew it to be idle
+to contend with, and with her usual good sense, she withdrew from the
+contest.
+
+'Have it your own way, Mr. Meeker. You know my opinion. It was my duty
+to express it. Make of Frank what you like. I pray that he may be
+prospered in whatever he undertakes.'
+
+So Frank was sent to college, with the understanding that, after
+graduating, he was to pursue his favorite study of medicine.
+
+A few months after he entered, Mrs. Meeker gave birth to her seventh
+child--the subject of the present narrative. Her disappointment at
+Frank's destination was severe. Besides, she met with daily evidences
+that pained her. None of her children were, to use her expression,
+'after her own heart.' There were two other boys, George and William,
+who she was accustomed to say, almost bitterly, were 'clear father.' The
+three girls, Jane, Laura, and Mary, one would suppose might represent
+the mother's side; but alas! they were 'clear father' too.
+
+In her great distress, as Mrs. Meeker often afterward declared, she
+resolved to 'call upon the Lord.' She prayed that the child she was
+soon to give birth to might be a boy, and become a joy and consolation
+to his mother. She read over solicitously all the passages, of Scripture
+she could find, which she thought might be applicable to her case. As
+the event approached, she exhibited still greater faith and enthusiasm.
+She declared she had consecrated her child to God, and felt a holy
+confidence that the offering was accepted. Do not suppose from this, she
+intended to devote him to the ministry. _That_ required a special call,
+and it did not appear such a call had been revealed to her. But she
+prayed earnestly that he might be chosen and favored of the Most High;
+that he might stand before kings; that he might not be slothful in
+business; but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. The happy frame of
+mind Mrs. Meeker had attained, at length became the subject of
+conversation in the neighborhood. The clergyman was greatly interested.
+He even made allusion to it in the weekly prayer-meeting, which, by the
+by, rather scandalized some of the unmarried ladies present.
+
+Mr. Meeker took all this in good part. The truth is, he regarded it as a
+very innocent whim, which required to be indulged in his wife's delicate
+situation; so he always joined in her hopeful anticipations, and
+endeavored to sympathize with them. It was under these auspicious
+circumstances that Hiram Meeker first saw the light. All his mother's
+prayers seemed to have been answered. The boy, from the earliest
+manifestation of intelligence, exhibited traits which could belong only
+to her. As he advanced into childhood, these became more and more
+apparent. He had none of the openness of disposition which was possessed
+by the other children. He gave much less trouble about the house than
+they ever did, and was more easily managed than they had been at his
+age. It must not be inferred that because he was his mother's favorite,
+he received any special indulgence, or was not subject to every proper
+discipline. Indeed, the discipline was more severe, the moral teachings
+more unremitting, the practical lessons more frequent than with any of
+the rest. But there could not exist a more tractable child than Hiram.
+He was apparently made for special training, he took to it so readily,
+as if appreciating results and anxious to arrive at them. When he was
+six years old, it was astonishing what a number of Bible-verses and
+Sunday-school hymns he had committed to memory, and how much the child
+_knew_. He was especially familiar with the uses of money. He knew the
+value of a dollar, and what could be purchased with it. So of half a
+dollar, a quarter, ten cents, and five cents. He had already established
+for himself a little savings bank, in which were placed the small sums
+which were occasionally presented to him. He could tell the cost of each
+of his playthings respectively, and, indeed, of every article about the
+house; he learned the price of tea, sugar, coffee, and molasses. This
+information, to be sure, formed a part of his mother's course of
+instruction; but it was strange how he took to it. Systematically and
+unceasingly, she pursued it. Oh! how she rejoiced in her youngest child.
+How she thanked God for answering her prayers. I had forgotten to state
+that there was considerable difficulty in deciding what name to give the
+boy. Mrs. Meeker had an uncle, a worthy minister, by the name of
+Nathaniel. Mr. Meeker suggested that the new-comer be called after him.
+His wife did not like to object; but she thought Nathaniel a very
+disagreeable name. Her cousin, the rich dry-goods merchant in New-York,
+who had four daughters and no sons, was named Hiram. Hiram was a good
+name, not too long and very expressive. It sounded firm and strong. It
+was a Bible-name, too, as well as the other. In fact, she liked it, and
+she thought her cousin would be gratified when he learned that she had
+named a child for him. There were advantages which might flow from it,
+it was not necessary to specify, Mr. Meeker could understand to what
+she alluded Mr. Meeker did not understand; in fact, he did not trouble
+his head to conjecture; but it was settled Hiram should be the name, and
+our hero was baptized accordingly. He was a good boy; never in mischief,
+never a truant, never disobedient, nor willful, nor irritable, nor
+obstinate. 'Too good for this world;' that is what folks said. 'Such an
+astonishing child--too wise to live long.' So it was prophesied; but
+Hiram survived all these dismal forebodings, until the people gave up
+and concluded to let him live.
+
+We pass over his earlier days at school. At twelve, he was sent to the
+academy in the village, about a mile distant. He was to receive a
+first-rate English education, 'no Latin, no Greek, no nonsense,' to use
+his mother's language; but the real substantials. Hiram proved to be an
+excellent scholar. He was especially good in figures. When he came to
+study bookkeeping, he seemed as happy as if he were reading a romance.
+He mastered with ease the science of single and double entry. He soon
+became fascinated with the beauties of his imaginary business. For his
+instructor had prepared for him a regular set of books, and gave him
+problems, from day to day, in mercantile dealings, which opened up to
+the youth all the mysteries of 'Dr.' and 'Cr.' Out of these various
+problems, he constructed quite a little library of account-books, which
+he numbered, and which were representations of various descriptions of
+trade, and marked with the name of some supposed company, and labeled
+'Business Successful,' or 'Business Unsuccessful,' as the case might be.
+
+We must now turn from Hiram, engaged in diligently pursuing his studies,
+and enter on another topic.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Mrs. Meeker had been a church-member from the time she was fourteen
+years old. There was an extensive revival throughout the country at that
+period, and she, with a large number of young people of both sexes,
+were, or thought they were, converted. She used to speak of this
+circumstance very often to her children, especially when any one of them
+approached the age which witnessed, to use her own language, 'her
+resignation of the pomps and vanities of life, and her dedication to the
+service of her Saviour.' Still, notwithstanding her prayers and
+painstaking, not one of them had ever been under 'conviction of sin;' at
+least, none had ever manifested that agony and mental suffering which
+she considered necessary to a genuine change of heart. She mourned much
+over such a state of things in her household. What a scandal that not
+one of _her_ children should give any evidences of saving grace! What a
+subject for reproach in the mouths of the ungodly! But it was not her
+fault; no, she often felt that Mr. Meeker was too lax in discipline,
+(she had had fears of _him_, sometimes, lest he might become a
+castaway,) and did not set that Christian example, at all times, which
+she could desire. For instance, after church on Sunday afternoon, it was
+his custom, when the season was favorable, frequently with a child
+holding each hand, to walk leisurely over his fields, humming a cheerful
+hymn and taking note of whatever was pleasant in the scene, perhaps the
+fresh vegetation just bursting into life, or the opening flowers, or it
+might be the maturing fruit, or the ripening yellow grain. On these
+occasions, he would endeavor to impress on his children how good God
+was; how seed-time and harvest always came; how the sun shone on the
+evil as well as on the good, and the rain descended both on the just and
+on the unjust. He, too, would inculcate lessons of diligence and
+industry, agreeable lessons, after quite a different model from those of
+his wife. He would repeat, for example, not in an austere fashion, but
+in a way which interested and even amused them, the dramatic description
+of the sluggard, from the hook of Proverbs, commencing:
+
+_'I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man,
+void of understanding;
+
+'And lo! it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the
+face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.'_
+
+It is a memorable fact that Hiram was never in the habit of accompanying
+his father on these Sunday-excursions. Not that his mother positively
+interdicted him. She was too judicious a person to hold up to censure
+any habitual act of her husband, whatever might have been her own
+opinion, or however she might have remonstrated with him in private. She
+had no difficulty in keeping Hiram by her side on Sunday afternoons, and
+the little fellow seemed instinctively to appreciate why. Indeed, I
+doubt if the green fields and pleasant meadow, with the pretty brook
+running through it, had any charms for him even then. At any rate, he
+was satisfied with his mother's reason, that it was not good for him; he
+had better stay at home with her.
+
+At fourteen, Hiram was to become 'pious.' So Mrs. Meeker fervently
+hoped, and to this end her prayers were specially directed. Her son once
+secure and safe within the pale of the church, she could be free to
+prosecute for him her earthly plans, which could not be sanctioned or
+blessed of Heaven, so long as he was still in the gall of sin and bonds
+of iniquity. So she labored to explain to him how impossible it was for
+an unconverted person to think an acceptable thought or do a single
+acceptable act in the sight of God. All his labor was sin, while he was
+in a state of sin, whether it was at the plow, or in the shop, or store,
+or office, or counting-room. She warned him of the wrath to come, and
+she explained to him with minute vividness the everlasting despair and
+tortures of the damned. Hiram was a good deal affected. He began to feel
+that his position personally was perilous. He wanted to get out of it,
+especially as his mother assured him if he should be taken away--and he
+was liable to die that very night--then alas! his soul would lie down in
+everlasting burnings. At last, the youth was thoroughly alarmed. His
+mother recollected she had continued just one week under conviction,
+before light dawned in on her, and she considered that a proper period
+for her son to go through. She contented herself, at first, by
+cautioning him against a relapse into his old condition, for then seven
+other spirits more wicked than the first would have possession of him,
+and his last state would be worse than the first. Besides, he would run
+great risk of sinning away his day of grace. It was soon understood in
+the church that Hiram was under concern of mind. Mrs. Meeker, on the
+fourth day, withdrew him from school, and sent for the minister to pray
+with him. He found him in great distress, I might say in great bodily
+terror; for he was very much afraid when he got into bed at night, he
+might awake in hell the next morning. The clergyman was a worthy and a
+sincere man. He was anxious that a true repentance should flow from
+Hiram's present distress, and the lively agony of the child awakened his
+strongest sympathy. He talked very kindly to him, explained in a
+genuine, truthful manner, what was necessary. He dwelt on the mercy of
+our heavenly Father, and on his love. He prayed with the lad earnestly,
+and with many affectionate counsels he went away. Hiram was comforted.
+Things began to look in a pleasanter light than ever before. He had only
+to repent and believe, and it was his duty to repent and believe, and
+all would be well. So it happened that when the week was out, Hiram felt
+that he had cast his burden on the Lord, and was accepted by him.
+
+There were great rejoicings over this event. Mrs. Meeker exclaimed,
+while tears streamed from her eyes, that she was ready to depart in
+peace. Mr. Meeker, who had by no means been indifferent to his son's
+state of mind, and who had sought from time to time to encourage him,
+(rather, it must be confessed, to his wife's annoyance,) was thankful
+that he had obtained relief from the right source. The happy subject
+himself became an object of a good deal of interest in the congregation.
+There was not the usual attention, just then, to religious matters, and
+Hiram's conversion was seized on as a token that more fruits were to be
+gathered in from the same field, that is, among the young. In due course
+he was propounded and admitted into the church. It happened on that day
+that he was the only individual who joined, and he was the observed of
+all observers. Hiram Meeker was a handsome boy, well formed, with an
+interesting face, blight blue eyes, and a profusion of light hair
+shading a forehead indicative of much intelligence. All this was
+disclosed to the casual observer; indeed, who would stop to criticise
+the features of one so young--else you would have been struck by
+something disagreeable about the corners of his mouth, something
+repulsive in the curve of those thin lips, (he had his mother's lips,)
+something forbidding in a certain latent expression of the eye, while
+you would remark with pain the conscious, self-possessed air with which
+he took his place in the broad aisle before the pulpit, to give his
+assent to the church articles and confession of faith. The good minister
+preached from the text, 'Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
+youth,' and in the course of his sermon held up Hiram as an example to
+all the unconverted youth of his flock. On Monday he returned to school,
+prosecuting his studies more diligently than ever. He felt that he had
+secured the true salvation, and was safe now in whatever he undertook.
+He was very careful in the observance of all his religious exercises,
+and so far as I can ascertain, never neglected any of them. Thus happily
+launched, Hiram continued at school till he was nearly seventeen. He
+had, for the last two years, been sent to Newton Institute, one of the
+best institutions in the State, where his advantages would be superior
+to those of the academy in his native town. There he learned the higher
+branches of mathematics, and studied with care mercantile and
+descriptive geography with reference to the different products of the
+earth. During this time his proficiency was excellent, and his conduct
+always most exemplary.
+
+At length his course was completed, and Mrs. Meeker felt that her
+cousin, the wholesale dry-goods jobber in New-York, would be proud of
+such an acquisition in his establishment. He had been duly apprised that
+the boy was named for him, and really appeared to manifest, by his
+inquiries, a good deal of interest in Hiram. Although they generally met
+once or twice a year, Mrs. Meeker did not apprise her cousin of her
+plans, preferring to wait till her son should have finished his
+academical course before making them known. Her first idea was to send
+him to New-York with a letter, in which she would fully explain her
+hopes and wishes. On second thought, she concluded to write first, and
+await her cousin's reply. It will be seen, from the perusal of it, she
+took the proper course.
+
+Here it is:
+
+                                        '_New-York, May 15th, 18--._
+
+     'DEAR COUSIN: Your letter of May 12th is before me. I am glad to
+     hear you are all well at Hampton. We are much obliged for your kind
+     invitation for the summer. I think you may count confidently on a
+     visit from my wife and myself some time during the season, and I
+     have no doubt one of the girls will come with us. I know _I_ shall
+     enjoy it for one, and I am sure we all shall.
+
+     'As to my namesake, I am glad to hear so good an account of him.
+     Now, cousin, I really take an interest in the lad, and beg you will
+     not make any wry faces over an honest expression of my opinion. If
+     you want the boy to make a first-rate merchant, and SUCCEED, don't
+     send him to me at present. Of course, I will receive him, if you
+     insist upon it. But, in my opinion, it will only spoil him. I tell
+     you frankly, I would not give a fig for a city-bred boy. But I will
+     enter into this compact with you: I will undertake to make a
+     first-class merchant of Hiram, if you will let me have my own way.
+     If you do not, I can not answer for it. What I recommend is, that
+     you put him into one of the stores in your own village. If I
+     remember right, there are two there which do a regular country
+     trade, and have a general stock of dry goods, groceries, crockery,
+     clothing, stationery, etc., etc., etc. Here he will learn two
+     things--detail and economy--without a practical knowledge of which,
+     no man can succeed in mercantile business. I presume you will
+     consider this a great falling off from your expectations. Perhaps
+     you will think it petty business for your boy to be behind a
+     counter in a small country store, selling a shilling's worth of
+     calico, a cent's worth of snuff, or taking in a dozen eggs in
+     exchange, but there is just where he ought to be, for the present.
+     I repeat, he will learn detail. He will understand the value of all
+     sorts of merchandise; he will get a real knowledge of barter and
+     trade. When he learns out there, put him in another retail store of
+     more magnitude. Keep him at this three or four years, and then I
+     agree to make a merchant of him. I repeat, don't be disappointed at
+     my letter. I tell you candidly, if I had a son, that's just what I
+     would do with him, and it is just what I want you to do with Hiram.
+     I hope you will write me that you approve of my plan. If you do,
+     you may rely on my advice at all times, and I think I have some
+     experience in these matters.
+
+     'We all desire to be remembered to your husband and family.
+
+                                  'Very truly, your cousin,
+
+                                           'HIRAM BENNETT.'
+
+He had added, from habit, '& Co.,' but this was erased.
+
+The letter _was_ a heavy blow to the fond mother; but she recovered from
+it quickly, like a sensible woman. In fact, she perceived her cousin was
+sincere, and she herself appreciated the good sense of his suggestions.
+Her husband, whom she thought best to consult, since matters were taking
+this turn, approved of what her cousin had written, and so it was
+decided that Hiram should become a clerk of Mr. Jessup, the most
+enterprising of the two 'store--keepers' in Hampton. How he got along
+with Mr. Jessup, and finally entered the service of Mr. Burns, at
+Burnsville, must be reserved for a separate chapter.
+
+
+
+
+_MONROE TO FARRAGUT._
+
+  By brutal force you've seized the town,
+  And therefore the flag shall not come down.
+  And having told you that it shan't,
+  Just let me show you why it can't.
+  The climate here is very queer,
+  In the matter of flags at this time of year.
+  If a Pelican touched the banner prized,
+  He would be _immediately_ paralyzed.
+  I'm a gentleman born--though now on the shelf,
+  And I think you are almost one yourself.
+  For from my noble ancestry,
+  I can tell the _�lite_, by sympathy.
+  Had you lived among _us_, sir, now and then,
+  No one can say what you might have been.
+  So refrain from any sneer or quiz,
+  Which may wound our susceptibilities.
+  For my people are all refined--like me,
+  While yours are all low as low can be.
+  As for shooting women or children either,
+  Or any such birds of the Union feather,
+  We shall in all things consult our ease,
+  And act exactly as we please.
+  For you've nothing to do with our laws, you know,
+  Yours, merely 'respectfully,           JOHN MONROE.'
+
+
+
+
+_AMONG THE PINES._
+
+Alighting from the carriage, I entered, with the Colonel, the cabin of
+the negro-hunter. So far as external appearance went, the shanty was a
+slight improvement on the 'Mills House,' described in a previous
+chapter; but internally, it was hard to say whether it resembled more a
+pig-sty or a dog-kennel. The floor was of the bare earth, covered in
+patches with loose plank of various descriptions, and littered over with
+billets of 'lightwood,' unwashed cooking utensils, two or three cheap
+stools, a pine settee--made from the rough log and hewn smooth on the
+upper-side--a full-grown blood-hound, two younger canines, and nine
+dirt-encrusted juveniles, of the flax-head species. Over against the
+fire-place three low beds afforded sleeping accommodation to nearly a
+dozen human beings, (of assorted sizes, and dove-tailed together with
+heads and feet alternating,) and in the opposite corner a lower couch,
+whose finer furnishings told plainly it was the peculiar property of the
+'wee-ones' of her family--a mother's tenderness for the youngest thus
+cropping out even in the midst of filth and degradation--furnished
+quarters for an unwashed, uncombed, unclothed, saffron-hued little
+fellow about fifteen months old, and--the dog 'Lady.'
+
+The dog was of a dark hazel-color--a cross between a setter and a
+gray-hound--and one of the most beautiful creatures I ever saw. Her neck
+and breast were bound about with a coarse cotton cloth, saturated with
+blood, and emitting a strong odor of bad whisky; and her whole
+appearance showed the desperate nature of the encounter with the
+overseer.
+
+The nine young democrats who were lolling about the room in various
+attitudes rose as we entered, and with a familiar but rather deferential
+'Howdy'ge,' to the Colonel, huddled around and stared at me with open
+mouths and distended eyes, as if I were a strange being dropped from
+some other sphere. The two eldest were of the male gender, as was shown
+by their clothes--cast-off suits of the inevitable reddish-gray--much
+too large, and out at the elbows and the knees; but the sex of the
+others I was at a loss to determine, for they wore only a single robe,
+reaching, like their mother's, from the neck to the knees. Not one of
+the occupants of the cabin boasted a pair of stockings, but the father
+and mother did enjoy the luxury of shoes--coarse, stout brogans,
+untanned, and of the color of the legs which they encased.
+
+'Well, Sandy, how is Lady?' asked the Colonel, as he stepped to the bed
+of the wounded dog.
+
+'Reckon she's a goner, Cunnel; the d----d Yankee orter swing fur it.'
+
+This intimation that the overseer was a 'countryman' of mine, took me by
+surprise, nothing I had observed in his speech or manners having
+indicated it, but I consoled myself with the reflection that Connecticut
+had reared him--as she makes wooden hams and nutmegs--expressly for the
+Southern market.'
+
+'He _shall_ swing for it, by ----. But are you sure the dog will die?'
+
+'Not shore, Cunnel, but she can't stand, and the blood _will_ run. I
+reckon a hun'red and fifty ar done for thar, sartin.'
+
+'D---- the money--I'll make that right. Go to the house and get some
+ointment from Madam--she can save her--go at once,' said my host.
+
+'I will, Cunnel,' replied the dirt-eater, taking his broad-brim from the
+wooden peg where it was reposing, and leisurely leaving the cabin.
+Making our way over the piles of rubbish and crowds of children that
+cumbered the apartment, the Colonel and I then returned to the carriage.
+
+'Dogs must be rare in this region,' I remarked, as we resumed our
+seats.
+
+'Yes, well-trained bloodhounds are scarce every where. That dog is well
+worth a hundred and fifty dollars.'
+
+'The business of nigger-catching, then, is brisk, just now?'
+
+'No, not more brisk than usual. We always have more or less runaways.'
+
+'Do most of them take to the swamps?'
+
+'Yes, nine out of ten do, though now and then one gets off on a
+trading-vessel. It is almost impossible for a strange nigger to make his
+way by land from here to the free States.'
+
+'Then why do you Carolinians make such an outcry about the violation of
+the Fugitive Slave Law?'
+
+'For the same reason that dogs quarrel over a naked bone. We should be
+unhappy if we couldn't growl at the Yankees,' replied the Colonel,
+laughing heartily.
+
+'_We_, you say; you mean by that, the hundred and eighty thousand nabobs
+who own five sixths of your slaves?'[4]
+
+     [4: The statistics given above are correct. That small number of
+     slaveholders sustains the system of slavery, and has caused this
+     terrible rebellion. They are, almost to a man, rebels and
+     secessionists, and we may cover the South with armies, and keep
+     a file of soldiers upon every plantation, and not smother this
+     insurrection unless we break down the power of that class. Their
+     wealth gives them their power, and their wealth is in their
+     slaves. Free their negroes by an act of Emancipation, or
+     Confiscation, and the rebellion will crumble to pieces in a day.
+     Omit to do it, and it will last till doomsday.
+
+     The power of this dominant class once broken; with landed property
+     at the South more equally divided, a new order of things will arise
+     there. Where now, with their large plantations, not one acre in ten
+     is tilled, a system of small farms will spring into existence, and
+     the whole country be covered with cultivation. The six hundred
+     thousand men who have gone there to fight our battles, will see the
+     amazing fertility of the Southern soil--into which the seed is
+     thrown and springs up without labor into a bountiful harvest--and
+     many of them, if slavery is crushed out, will remain there. Thus a
+     new element will be introduced into the South, an element that will
+     speedily make it a loyal, prosperous, and _intelligent_ section of
+     the Union.
+
+     I would interfere with no one's rights, but a rebel in arms against
+     his country has no rights; all that he has 'is confiscate.' Will
+     the loyal people of the North submit to be ground to the earth with
+     taxes to pay the expenditures of a war brought upon them by these
+     Southern oligarchists, while the traitors are left in undisturbed
+     possession of every thing, and even their slaves are exempted from
+     taxation? It were well that our legislators should ask this
+     question now, and not wait till it is asked of them by THE PEOPLE.]
+
+'Yes, I mean them, and the three or four millions of poor whites--the
+ignorant, half-starved, lazy vermin you have just seen. _They_ are the
+real basis of our Southern oligarchy, as you call it,' continued the
+Colonel, still laughing.
+
+'I thought the negro was the serf, in your feudal system?'
+
+'Both the negro and the poor whites are the serfs, but the white trash
+are its real support. Their votes give the small minority of
+slave-owners all their power. You say we control the Union. We do, and
+we do it by the votes of these people, who are as far below our niggers
+as the niggers are below decent white men. Who that reflects that this
+country has been controlled for fifty years by such scum, would give a
+d---- for republican institutions?'
+
+'It does speak very badly for _your_ institutions. A system that reduces
+one half of a white population to the level of slaves can not stand in
+this country. The late election shows that the power of your 'white
+trash' is broken.'
+
+'Well, it does, that's a fact. If the States should remain together, the
+West would in future control the Union. We see that, and are therefore
+determined on dissolution. It is our only way to keep our niggers.'
+
+'You will have to get the consent of that same West to that project. My
+opinion is, your present policy will, if carried out, free every one of
+your slaves.'
+
+'I don't see how. Even if we are put down--which we can not be--and are
+held in the Union against our will, Government can not, by the
+Constitution, interfere with slavery in the States.'
+
+'I admit that, but it can confiscate the property of traitors. Every
+large slaveholder is to-day, at heart, a traitor. If this movement goes
+on, you will commit overt acts against the Government, and in
+self-defense it will punish treason by taking from you the means of
+future mischief.'
+
+'The Republicans and Abolitionists might do that if they had the power,
+but nearly one half of the North is on our side, and will not fight us.'
+
+'Perhaps so; but if _I_ had this thing to manage, I'd put you down
+without fighting.'
+
+'How would you do it--by preaching Abolition where even the niggers
+would mob you? There's not a slave in South-Carolina but would shoot
+Garrison or Greeley on sight.'
+
+'That may be, but if so, it is because you keep them in ignorance. Build
+a free-school at every cross-road, and teach the poor whites, and what
+would become of slavery? If these people were on a par with the farmers
+of New-England, would it last for an hour? Would they not see that it
+stands in the way of their advancement, and vote it out of existence as
+a nuisance?'
+
+'Yes, perhaps they would; but the school-houses are not at the
+cross-roads, and, thank God, they will not be there in this generation.'
+
+'The greater the pity; but that which will not nourish alongside of a
+school-house, can not, in the nature of things, outlast this century.
+Its time must soon come.'
+
+'Enough for the day is the evil thereof, I'll risk the future of
+slavery, if the South, in a body, goes out of the Union.'
+
+'In other words, you'll shut out schools and knowledge, in order to keep
+slavery in existence. The Abolitionists claim it to be a relic of
+barbarism, and you admit it could not exist with general education among
+the people.'
+
+'Of course it could not. If Sandy, for instance, knew he were as good a
+man as I am--and he would be if he were educated--do you suppose he
+would vote as I tell him, go and come at my bidding, and live on my
+charity? No sir! give a man knowledge, and, however poor he may be,
+he'll act for himself.'
+
+'Then free-schools and general education would destroy slavery?'
+
+'Of course they would. The few can not rule when the many know their
+rights. But the South, and the world, are a long, way off from general
+education. When it conies to that, we shall need no laws, and no
+slavery, for the millennium will have arrived.'
+
+'I'm glad you think slavery will not exist during the millennium,' I
+replied, laughing; 'but how is it that you insist the negro is naturally
+inferior to the white, and still admit that the 'white trash' are far
+below the black slaves?'
+
+'Education makes the difference. We educate the negro enough to make him
+useful to us, but the poor white man knows nothing. He can neither read
+nor write, and not only that, he is not trained to any useful
+employment. Sandy, here, who is a fair specimen of the tribe, obtains
+his living just like an Indian, by hunting, fishing, and stealing,
+interspersed with nigger-catching. His whole wealth consists of two
+hounds and their pups; his house--even the wooden trough his miserable
+children eat from--belongs to me. If he didn't catch a runaway nigger
+once in a while, he wouldn't see a dime from one year to another.'
+
+'Then you have to support this man and his family?'
+
+'Yes, what I don't give him, he steals. Half-a-dozen others poach on me
+in the same way.'
+
+'Why don't you set them at work?'
+
+'They can't be made to work. I have hired them time and again, hoping to
+make something of them, but I never got one to work more than half-a-day
+at a time. It's their nature to lounge and to steal.'
+
+'Then why do you keep them about you?'
+
+'Well, to be candid, their presence is of use in keeping the blacks in
+subordination, and they are worth all they cost me, because I control
+their votes.'
+
+'I thought the blacks were said to be entirely contented?'
+
+'No, not contented. I do not claim that. I only say that they are unfit
+for freedom. I might cite a hundred instances in which it has been their
+ruin.'
+
+'I have never heard of one. It seems strange to me that a man who can
+support another can not support himself.'
+
+'Oh! no, it's not at all strange. The slave has hands, and when the
+master gives him brains, he works well enough; but to support himself he
+needs both hands and brains, and he has only hands. I'll give you a case
+in point: At Wilmington, N.C., some years ago lived a negro by the name
+of Jack Campbell. He was a slave, and he was employed, before the river
+below the town was deepened so as to admit of the passage of large
+vessels, in lightering cargoes up to the city. He hired his time of his
+master, and carried on business on his own account. Every one knew him,
+and his character for honesty, sobriety, and punctuality stood so high
+that his word was considered among merchants as good as that of the
+first business-men of the place. Well, Jack's wife and children were
+free, and he finally took it into his head to be free himself. He
+arranged with his master to purchase himself within a specified time, at
+eight hundred dollars, and was to deposit his earnings, till they
+reached the required sum, in the hands of a certain merchant. He went
+on, and in three years had accumulated nearly seven hundred dollars,
+_when his master failed_. As the slave has no right to property, Jack's
+earnings belonged by law to his master, and they were attached by the
+creditors, and taken to pay the master's debts. Jack then 'changed
+hands,' received a new owner, who also consented to his buying himself,
+at about the price previously agreed on. Nothing discouraged, he went to
+work again. Night and day, he toiled, and it surprised every one to see
+so much energy and fixedness of purpose in a negro. At last, after four
+more years of labor, he accomplished his purpose, and received his
+free-papers. He had worked seven years--as long as Jacob toiled for
+Rachel--for his freedom, and like the old patriarch found himself
+cheated at last. I was present when he received his papers from his
+owner, a Mr. William H. Lippitt--who still resides at Wilmington--and I
+shall never forget the ecstasy of joy which he showed on the occasion;
+he sung and danced and laughed and wept, till my conscience smote me for
+holding my own niggers, when freedom might give them so much happiness.
+Well, he went off that day and treated some friends, and then, for three
+days afterward, lay in the gutter, the entreaties of his wife and
+children having no effect on him. He swore he was free, and would do as
+he 'd----d pleased.' He had previously been a class-leader in his
+church, but after getting free-papers, he forsook his previous
+associates, and spent his Sundays and evenings in a bar-room. He
+neglected his business; people lost confidence in him, and step by step
+he went down, till in five years he stink into a wretched grave. That
+was the effect of freedom on _him_, and it would be so on all his race.'
+
+'It is clear,' I replied, 'he could not bear freedom, but that does not
+prove he might not have 'endured' it if he had never been a slave. His
+overjoy at obtaining liberty, after so long a struggle for it, led to
+his excesses and his ruin. According to your view, neither the black nor
+the poor white is competent to take care of himself. The Almighty,
+therefore, has laid upon _you_ a triple burden; you not only have to
+provide for yourself and your children, but for two races beneath you,
+the black and the clay-eating white man. The poor nigger has a hard
+time, but it seems to me you have a harder one.'
+
+'Well, it's a fact, we do. I often think that if it wasn't for the color
+and the odor, I'd be glad to exchange places with my man Jim.'
+
+The Colonel made this last remark in a half-serious, half-comic way,
+that excited my risibilities amazingly, but before I could reply, the
+carriage stopped, and Jim, opening the door, announced:
+
+'We's h'ar, massa, and de prayin' am gwine on.'
+
+Had we not been absorbed in conversation, we might have discovered the
+latter fact some time previous to our arrival at the church-door, for
+the preacher was shouting at the top of his lungs. He evidently thought
+the good Lord either a long way off, or very hard of hearing. Not
+wishing to disturb the congregation at their devotions, we loitered near
+the doorway until the prayer was over, and in the mean time I glanced
+around the premises.
+
+The 'meeting-house,' of large unhewed logs, was a story and a half in
+hight, and about large enough to seat comfortably a congregation of two
+hundred persons. It was covered with shingles, with a roof projecting
+some four feet over the wall, and was surmounted at the front gable by a
+tower, about twelve feet square. This also was built of logs, and
+contained a bell 'to call the erring to the house of prayer,' though,
+unfortunately, all of that character thereabouts dwelt beyond the sound
+of its voice. The building was located at a cross-roads about equally
+distant from two little hamlets, (the nearest nine miles off,) neither
+of which was populous enough to singly support a church and a preacher.
+The trees in the vicinity had been thinned out, so that carriages could
+drive into the woods, and find under the branches shelter from the rain
+and the sun, and at the time of my visit, about twenty vehicles of all
+sorts and descriptions, from the Colonel's magnificent barouche to the
+rude cart drawn by a single two-horned quadruped, filled the openings.
+There was a rustic simplicity about the whole scene that charmed me. The
+low, rude church, the grand old pines that towered in leafy magnificence
+around it, and the soft, low wind, that sung a morning hymn in the
+green, wavy woods, seemed to lift the soul up to Him who inhabiteth
+eternity, but who also visits the erring children of men.
+
+The preacher was about to 'line out' one of Watts' psalms, when we
+entered the church, but he stopped short on perceiving us, and, bowing
+low, waited till we had taken our seats. This action, and the
+sycophantic air which accompanied it, disgusted me, and turning to the
+Colonel, I asked jocosely:
+
+'Do the chivalry exact so much obsequiousness from the country clergy'?
+Do you require to be bowed up to heaven?'
+
+In a low voice, but high enough, I thought, for the preacher to hear,
+for we sat very near, the Colonel replied:
+
+'He's a renegade Yankee--the meanest thing on earth.'
+
+I said no more, but entered into the services as seriously as the
+strange gymnastic performances of the preacher would allow me to do, for
+the truth is, he was quite as amusing as a circus clown.
+
+With the exception of the Colonel's and a few other pews in the vicinity
+of the pulpit, all of the seats were mere rough benches, without backs,
+and placed so closely together as to interfere uncomfortably with the
+knees of the sitters. The house was full, and the congregation as
+attentive as any I ever saw. All classes were there; the black
+serving-man away off by the doorway, the poor white a little higher up,
+the small turpentine-farmer a little higher still, and the wealthy
+planter, of the class to which the Colonel belonged, on 'the highest
+seats of the synagogue,' and in close proximity to the preacher.
+
+The 'man of prayer' was a tall, lean, raw-boned, angular-built
+individual, with a thin, sharp, hatchet-face, a small sunken eye, and
+long, loose hair, brushed back and falling over the collar of a seedy
+black coat. He looked like nothing in the world I have ever seen, and
+his pale, sallow face, and cracked, wheezy voice, were in comic keeping
+with his discourse. His text was: 'Speak unto the children of Israel,
+that they go forward.' And addressing the motley gathering of poor
+whites and small-planters before him as the 'chosen people of God,' he
+urged them to press on in the mad course their State had chosen. It was
+a political harangue, a genuine stump-speech, but its frequent allusion
+to the auditory as the legitimate children of the old patriarch, and the
+rightful heirs of all the promises, struck me as out of place in a rural
+district of South-Carolina, however appropriate it might have been in
+one of the large towns, before an audience of merchants and traders, who
+are, almost to a man, Jews.
+
+The services over, the congregation slowly left the church. Gathered in
+groups in front of the 'meeting-house,' they were engaging in a general
+discussion of the affairs of the day, when the Colonel and I emerged
+from the doorway. The better class greeted my host with considerable
+cordiality, but I noticed that the well-to-do, small planters, who
+composed the greater part of the assemblage, received him with decided
+coolness. These people were the 'North county folks' on whom the
+overseer had invoked a hanging. Except that their clothing was more
+uncouth and ill-fashioned, and their faces generally less 'cute' of
+expression, they did not differ materially in appearance from the rustic
+citizens who may be seen on any pleasant Sunday gathered around the
+door-ways of the rural meeting-houses of New-England.
+
+One of them, who was leaning against a tree, quietly lighting a pipe,
+was a fair type of the whole, and as he took a part in the scene which
+followed, I will describe him. He was tall and spare, with a swinging,
+awkward gait, and a wiry, athletic frame. His hair, which he wore almost
+as long as a woman's, was coarse and black, and his face strongly
+marked, and of the precise color of two small rivulets of tobacco-juice
+that escaped from the corners of his mouth. He had an easy,
+self-possessed manner, and a careless, devil-may-care way about him,
+that showed he had measured his powers, and was accustomed to 'rough it'
+with the world. He wore a broadcloth coat of the fashion of some years
+ago, but his waistcoat and nether garments of the common, reddish
+homespun, were loose and ill-shaped, as if their owner did not waste
+thought on such trifles. His hat, as shockingly bad as Horace Greeley's,
+had the inevitable broad brim, and fell over his face like a
+calash-awning over a shop-window. As I approached him he extended his
+hand with a pleasant 'How are ye, stranger?.'
+
+'Very well,' I replied, returning his grasp with equal warmth, 'how are
+you?'
+
+'Right smart, right smart, thank ye. You're--' the rest of the
+sentence was cut short by a gleeful exclamation from Jim, who, mounted
+on the box of the carriage, which was drawn up on the cleared plot in
+front of the meeting-house, waved an open newspaper over his head, and
+called out, as he caught sight of the Colonel:
+
+'Great news, massa, great news from Charls'on!'
+
+(The darky, while we were in church, had gone to the post-office, some
+four miles away, and got the Colonel's mail, consisting of letters from
+his New-York and Charleston factors, the Charleston _Courier_ and
+_Mercury_ and the New-York _Journal of Commerce_. The latter sheet, at
+the date of which I am writing, was in wide circulation at the South,
+its piety (!) and its politics being then calculated with mathematical
+precision for secession latitudes.)
+
+'What is it, Jim?' shouted his master. 'Give it to us.'
+
+The darky had somehow learned to read, but holding the paper at arm's
+length, and throwing himself into a theatrical attitude, he belched out,
+with any amount of gesticulation, the following:
+
+'De news am, massa, and gemmen and ladies, dat de ole fort fore
+Charls'on hab hen devacuated by Major Andersin and de sogers, and dat
+dey hab stole 'way in de dark night and gone to Sumter, whar dey can't
+be took; and dat de ole Gubner hab got out a procdemation dat all dat
+don't lub de Aberlishen Yankees shill cum up dar and clar 'em out; and
+de paper say dat lots ob sogers hab cum from Gorgia and Al'bama and 'way
+down Souf, to help 'em. Dis am w'at de _Currer_ say,' he continued,
+holding the paper up to his eyes and reading: 'Major Andersin, ob
+United States army hab 'chieved de 'stinction ob op'ning de cibil war
+'tween American citizens; he hab desarted Moulfrie, and by false
+fretexts hab took de ole Garrison and all his millinery stores to Fort
+Sumter.'
+
+'Get down, you d----d nigger,' said the Colonel, laughing, and mounting
+the carriage-box beside him. 'You can't read. Old Garrison isn't
+there--he's the d----d Northern Abolitionist.'
+
+'I knows dat, Cunnel, but see dar,' holding the paper out to his master,
+'don't dat say he'm dar? It'm him dat make all de trubble. P'raps dis
+nig' can't read, but ef dat ain't readin' I'd like to know it!'
+
+'Clear out,' said the Colonel, now actually roaring with laughter; 'it's
+the soldiers that the _Courier_ speaks of, not the Abolitionist.'
+
+'Read it yoursef, den, massa, I don't seed it dat way.'
+
+Jim was altogether wiser than he appeared, and while he was equally as
+well pleased with the news as the Colonel, he was so for an entirely
+different reason. In the crisis which these tidings announced, he saw
+hope for his race.
+
+The Colonel then read the paper to the assemblage. The news was received
+with a variety of manifestations by the auditory, the larger portion, I
+thought, hearing it, as I did, with sincere regret.
+
+'Now is the time to stand by the State, my friends,' said my host as he
+finished the reading. 'I hope every man here is ready to do his duty by
+old South-Carolina.'
+
+'Yes, _sar!_ if she does _har_ duty by the Union. We'll go to the death
+for har just so long as she's in the right, but not a d----d step if she
+arn't,' said the long-legged native I have introduced to the reader.
+
+'And what have _you_ to say about South-Carolina? What does, she owe to
+_you?_' asked the Colonel, turning on the speaker with a proud and angry
+look.
+
+'More, a darned sight than she'll pay, if ye cursed 'ristocrats run her
+to h---- as ye'r doing. She owes me, and 'bout ten as likely niggers as
+ye ever seed, a living, and we've d----d hard work to get it out on her
+_now_, let alone what's comin'.
+
+'Don't talk to me, you ill-mannered cur,' said my host, turning his back
+on his neighbor, and directing his attention to the remainder of the
+assemblage.
+
+'Look har, Cunnel,' replied the native, 'if ye'll jest come down from
+thar and throw 'way yer shootin'-irons, I'll give ye the all-firedest
+thrashing ye ever did get.'
+
+The Colonel gave no further heed to him, but the speaker mounted the
+steps of the meeting-house and harangued the natives in a strain of rude
+and passionate declamation, in which my host, the aristocrats, and the
+Secessionists came in for about equal shares of abuse. Seeing that the
+native (who, it appeared, was quite popular as a stump-speaker) was
+drawing away his audience, the Colonel descended from the driver's seat,
+and motioning for me to follow, entered the carriage. Turning the horses
+homeward, we rode off at a brisk pace.
+
+'Not much Secession about that fellow, Colonel,' I remarked, after a
+while.
+
+'No,' he replied, 'he's a North-Carolina 'corn-cracker,' one of the
+meanest specimens of humanity extant. They're as thick as fleas in this
+part of the State, and about all of them are traitors.'
+
+'Traitors to the State, but true to the Union. As far as I've seen, that
+is the case with the middling class throughout the South.'
+
+'Well, it may be, but they generally go with us, and I reckon they will
+now, when it comes to the rub. Those in the towns--the traders and
+mechanics--will, certain; it's only these half-way independent planters
+that ever kick the traces. By the way,' continued my host, in a jocose
+way, 'what did you think of the preaching?'
+
+'I thought it very poor. I'd rather have heard the stump-speech, had it
+not been a little too personal on you.'
+
+'Well, it was the better of the two,' he replied, laughing, 'but the
+old devil can't afford any thing good, he don't get enough pay.'
+
+'Why, how much does he get?'
+
+'Only a hundred dollars.'
+
+'That is small. How does the man live?'
+
+'Well, he teaches the daughter of my neighbor, Captain Randall, who
+believes in praying, and gives him his board. Randall thinks that
+enough. The rest of the parish can't afford to pay him, and I _won't_.'
+
+'Why won't you?'
+
+'Because he's a d----d old hypocrite. He believes in the Union with all
+his heart--at least, so Randall, who's a sincere Union man, says--and
+yet, he never sees me at meeting but he preaches a red-hot secession
+sermon.'
+
+'He wants to keep you in the faith,' I replied.
+
+A few more miles of sandy road took us to the mansion, where we found
+dinner in waiting. Meeting 'Massa Tommy'--who had staid at home with his
+mother--as we entered the doorway, the Colonel asked after the overseer.
+
+'He seems well enough, sir; I believe he's coming the possum over
+mother.'
+
+'Ill bet on it, Tommy; but he won't fool you and me, will he, my boy?'
+said his father, slapping him affectionately on the back.
+
+After dinner I went with my host to the room of the wounded man. His
+head was still bound up, and he was groaning piteously, as if in great
+pain; but I thought there was too fresh a color in his face to be
+entirely natural in one who had lost so much blood, and been so severely
+wounded as he affected to be.
+
+The Colonel mentioned our suspicions to Madam P----, and suggested that
+the shackles should be put on him.
+
+'Oh! no, don't do that; it would be inhuman,' said the lady; 'the color
+is the effect of fever. If you fear he is plotting to get away, let him
+be watched.'
+
+The Colonel consented, but with evident reluctance, to the arrangement,
+and retired to his room to take a _siesta_, while I lit a cigar, and
+strolled out to the negro-quarters.
+
+Making my way through the woods to the scene of the morning's
+jollification, I found about a hundred darkies gathered around Jim, on
+the little plot in front of Old Lucy's cabin. Jim had evidently been
+giving them the news. Pausing when I came near, he exclaimed:
+
+'Har's Massa K----, he'll say dat I tells you de trufh;' then turning to
+me, he said: 'Massa K----, dese darkies say dat Massa Andersin am an
+ab'lisherner, and dat none but de ab'lisherners will fight for de Union;
+am dat so, sar?'
+
+'No, I reckon not, Jim; I think the whole North would fight for it if it
+were necessary.'
+
+'Am dat so, massa? am dat so?' eagerly inquired a dozen of the darkies;
+'and am dar great many folks at de Norf--more dan dar am down har?'
+
+'Yas, you fools, didn't I tell you dat?' said Jim, as I, not exactly
+relishing the idea of preaching treason, in the Colonel's absence, to
+his slaves, hesitated to reply. 'Hain't I tole you,' he continued, 'dat
+in de big city ob New-York dar'm more folks dan dar am in all Car'lina?
+I'se been dar, and I knows; and Massa K----'ll tell you dat dey--'most
+on 'em--feel mighty sorry for de brack man.'
+
+'No he won't,' I replied, 'and besides, Jim, you should not talk in this
+way before me; I might tell your master.'
+
+'No! you won't do dat; I knows you won't, massa. Scipio tole us he'd
+trust his bery life wid _you_.'
+
+'Well, perhaps he might; it's true I would not injure _you_.' Saying
+that, I turned away, though my curiosity was greatly excited to hear
+more.
+
+I wandered farther into the woods, and a half-hour found me near one of
+the turpentine distilleries. Seating myself on a rosin barrel, I quietly
+finished my cigar, and was about lighting another, when Jim made his
+appearance.
+
+'Beg pardon, Massa K----,' said the negro, bowing very low, 'but I
+wants to ax you one or two tings, ef you please, sar.'
+
+'Well,' I replied, 'I'll answer any thing that I ought to.'
+
+'Der yer tink, den, massa, dat dey'll git to fightin' at Charls'on?'
+
+'Yes, judging by the tone of the Charleston papers you've read to-day, I
+think they will.'
+
+'And der yer tink dat de rest ob de Souf will jine wid Souf Car'lina, if
+she go at it fust?'
+
+'Yes, Jim, I'm inclined to think so.'
+
+'I hard you say to massa, dat ef dey goes to war,'twill free all de
+niggers--der you raily b'lieve dat, sar?'
+
+'_You_ heard me say that; how did you hear it?' I exclaimed, in
+surprise.
+
+'Why, sar, de front winder ob de carriage war down jess a crack, and I
+hard all you said.'
+
+'Did you let it down on purpose?'
+
+'P'r'aps so, massa. Whot's de use ob habin' ears, ef you don't h'ar?'
+
+'Well, I suppose not much; and you tell all you hear to the other
+negroes?'
+
+'I reckon so, massa,' said the darky, looking very demure.
+
+'That's the use of having a tongue, eh?' I replied, laughing.
+
+'Dat's it 'zaxly, massa.'
+
+'Well, Jim, I do think the slaves will be finally freed; but it will
+cost more white blood to do it than all the niggers in creation are
+worth. Do you think the darkies would fight for their freedom?'
+
+'Fight, sar!' exclaimed the negro, straightening up his fine form, while
+his usual good-natured look--passed from his face and gave way to an
+expression that made him seem more like an incarnate fiend than a human
+being; 'FIGHT, sar; gib dem de chance, and den see.'
+
+'Why are you discontented? You have been at the North, and you know the
+blacks are as well off as the majority of the poor laboring men there.'
+
+'You say dat to me, Massa K----; you don't say it to de _Cunnel_. We are
+not so well off as de pore man at de Norf! You knows dat, sar. He hab
+his wife and children, and his own home; what hab we, sar? No wife, no
+children, no home; all am de white man's. Der yer tink we wouldn't fight
+to be free?' and he pressed his teeth together, and there passed again
+over his face the same look it wore the moment before.
+
+'Come, come, Jim, this may be true of your race; but it don't apply to
+yourself. Your master is kind and indulgent to _you_.'
+
+'He am kind to me, sar; he orter be,' said the negro, the savage
+expression coming again into his eyes. For a moment he hesitated; then,
+taking a step toward me, he placed his face down to mine, and hissed out
+these words, every syllable seeming to come from the very bottom of his
+being. 'I tell you he orter be, sar, FUR I AM HIS OWN FATHER'S SON!'
+
+'Your brother!' I exclaimed, springing to my feet, and looking at him in
+blank amazement. 'It can't be true.'
+
+'It am true, sar--as true as there's a hell! His father had my mother:
+when he got tired of her, he sold her Souf. _I was too young den eben to
+know her_!'
+
+'This is horrible, too horrible!' I said.
+
+'It am slavery, sar! Shouldn't we be contented?' replied the negro with
+a grim smile. Drawing, then, a large spring-knife from his pocket, he
+waved it above his head, adding: 'Ef I had all de white race dar--right
+dar under dat knife, don't yer tink I'd take all dar lives--all at one
+blow--to be FREE!'
+
+'And yet you refused to run away when the Abolitionists tempted you, at
+the North. Why didn't you go then?'
+
+''Cause I had promised, massa.'
+
+'Promised the Colonel before you went?'
+
+'No, sar, he neber axed me; but _I_ can't tell you no more. P'raps
+Scipio will, ef you ax him.'
+
+'Oh! I see; you're in that league, of which Scip is a leader. You'll get
+into trouble, _sure_,' I replied, in a quick, decided tone, which
+startled him.
+
+'You tole Scipio dat, sar, and what did _he_ tell you?'
+
+'That he didn't care for his life.'
+
+'No more do I, sar,' said the negro, as he turned on his heel with a
+proud, almost defiant gesture, and started to go.
+
+'A moment, Jim. You are very imprudent; never say these things to any
+other mortal; promise me that.'
+
+'You'se bery good, massa, bery good. Scipio say you's true, and he'm
+allers right. I ortent to hab said what I hab; but sumhow, sar, dat news
+brought it all up _har_,' (laying his hand on his breast,) 'and it wud
+come out.'
+
+The tears filled his eyes as he said this, and turning away without
+another word, he passed from my sight behind the trees.
+
+I was almost stunned by this strange revelation, but the more I
+reflected on it, the more probable it appeared. Now, too, that my
+thoughts were turned in that direction, I called to mind a certain
+resemblance between the Colonel and the negro that I had not heeded
+before. Though one was a high-bred Southern gentleman, claiming an old
+and proud descent, and the other a poor African slave, they had some
+striking peculiarities which might indicate a common origin. The
+likeness was not in their features, for Jim's face was of the
+unmistakable negro type, and his skin of a hue so dark that it seemed
+impossible he could be the son of a white man, (I afterward learned that
+his mother was a black of the deepest dye,) but it was in their form and
+general bearing. They had the same closely-knit and sinewy frame, the
+same erect, elastic step, the same rare blending of good-natured ease
+and dignity--to which I have already alluded as characteristic of the
+Colonel--and in the wild burst of passion that accompanied the negro's
+disclosure of their relationship, I saw the same fierce, unbridled
+temper, whose outbreaks I had witnessed in my host.
+
+What a strange fate was theirs! Two brothers--the one the owner of three
+hundred slaves, and the first man of his district--the other, a bonded
+menial, and so poor that the very bread he ate, the clothes he wore,
+were another's! How terribly on him had fallen the curse pronounced on
+his race!
+
+I passed the remainder of the afternoon in my room, and did not again
+meet my host until the family assembled at the tea-table. Jim then
+occupied his accustomed seat behind the Colonel's chair, and my host was
+in more than his usual spirits, though Madam P----, I thought, wore a
+sad and absent look.
+
+The conversation rambled over a wide range of subjects, and was carried
+on mainly by the Colonel and myself; but toward the close of the meal
+the lady said to me:
+
+'Mr. K----, Sam and young Junius are to be buried this evening. If you
+have never seen a negro funeral, perhaps you'd like to attend.'
+
+'I will be happy to accompany you, Madam, if you go,' I replied.
+
+'Thank you,' said the lady.
+
+'Pshaw! Alice, you'll not go into the woods on so cold a night as this!'
+
+'Yes, I think I ought to. Our people will expect me.'
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was about an hour after nightfall when we took our way to the
+burial-ground. The moon had risen, but the clouds which gathered when
+the sun went down, covered its face, and were fast spreading their
+thick, black shadows over the little collection of negro-houses. Near
+two new-made graves were gathered some two hundred men and women, as
+dark as the night that was setting around them. As we entered the circle
+the old preacher pointed to the seats reserved for us, and the sable
+crowd fell back a few paces, as if, even in the presence of death, they
+did not forget the difference between their race and ours.
+
+Scattered here and there among the trees, torches of lightwood threw a
+wild and fitful light over the little cluster of graves, and revealed
+the long, straight boxes of rough pine that held the remains of the two
+negroes, and lit up the score of russet mounds beneath which slept the
+dusky kinsmen who had gone before them.
+
+The simple head-boards that marked these humble graves chronicled no
+bad biography or senseless rhyme, and told no false tales of lives that
+had better not have been, but 'SAM, AGE 22;' 'POMPEY;' 'JAKE'S ELIZA;;
+'AUNT SUE;' 'AUNT LUCY'S TOM;' 'JOE;' and other like inscriptions,
+scratched in rough characters on those unplaned boards, were all the
+records there. The rude tenants had passed away and 'left no sign;'
+their birth, their age, their deeds, were alike unknown--unknown, but
+not forgotten; for are they not written in the book of His
+remembrance--and when He counteth up his jewels, may not some of them be
+there?
+
+The queer, grotesque dress, and sad, earnest looks of the black group;
+the red, fitful glare of the blazing pine, and the white faces of the
+tapped trees, gleaming through the gloom like so many sheeted-ghosts
+gathered to some death-carnival, made up a strange, wild scene--the
+strangest and the wildest I had ever witnessed.
+
+The covers of the rude coffins were not yet nailed down, and when we
+arrived, the blacks were one by one passing before them, taking a last
+look at the faces of the dead. Soon, Junius, holding his weeping wife by
+the hand, approached the smaller of the two boxes, which held all that
+was left of their first-born. The mother kneeling by its side, kissed
+again and again the cold, shrunken lips, and sobbed as if her heart
+would break; while the strong frame of the father shook convulsively,
+as, choking down the great sorrow which welled up in his throat, he
+turned away from his boy forever. As he did so, old Pompey said:
+
+'Don't grebe, June, he'm whar de wicked cease from trubbling, whar de
+weary am at rest.'
+
+'I knows it; I knows it, Uncle. I knows de Lord am bery good to take 'im
+'way; but why did he take de young chile, and leab de ole man har?'
+
+'De little sapling dat grow in de shade may die while it'm young; de
+great tree dat grow in de sun must lib till de ax cut him down.'
+
+These words were the one drop wanting to make the great grief which was
+swelling in the negro's heart overflow. Giving one low, wild cry, he
+folded his wife in his arms, and burst into a paroxysm of tears.
+
+'Come now, my chil'ren,' said the old preacher, kneeling down, 'let us
+pray.'
+
+The whole assemblage then knelt on the cold ground, while the old man
+prayed, and a more sincere, heart-touching prayer never went up from
+human lips to that God 'who hath made of one blood all nations that
+dwell on the face of the earth.' Though clothed in rags, and in feeble
+old age, a slave, at the mercy of a cruel task-master, that old man was
+richer far than his master. His simple faith, which looked through the
+darkness surrounding him into the clear and radiant light of the unseen
+land, was of far more worth than all the wealth and glory of this world.
+I know not why it was, but as I looked at him in the dim, red light
+which fell on his upturned face, and cast a strange halo around his bent
+form, I thought of Stephen, as he gazed upward and saw heaven open, and
+'the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the throne of God.'
+
+Rising from his knees, the old preacher turned slowly to the black mass
+that encircled him, and said:
+
+'My dear bredderin and sisters, de Lord say dat 'de dust shill return to
+de earth as it war, and de spirit to Him who gabe it,' and now, 'cordin'
+to dat text, my friends, we'm gwine to put dis dust (pointing to the two
+coffins) in de groun' whar it cum from, and whar it shill lay till de
+blessed Lord blow de great trumpet on de resumrection mornin'. De
+spirits of our brudders har de Lord hab already took to hisseff. 'Our
+brudders,' I say, my chil'ren, 'case ebery one dat de Lord hab made am
+brudders to you and to me, whedder dey'm bad or good, white or brack.
+
+'Dis young chile, who hab gone 'way and leff his pore fader and mudder
+suffrin' all ober wid grief, _he_ hab gone to de Lord, _shore_. _He_
+neber did no wrong; he allers 'bey'd his massa, and he neber said no
+hard word, nor found no fault, not eben w'en de cruel, bad oberseer put
+de load so heaby on him dat it kill him. Yes, my bredderin and sisters,
+_he_ hab gone to de Lord; gone whar dey don't work in de swamps; whar de
+little chil'ren don't tote de big shingles fru de water up to dar knees.
+No swamps am dar; no shingles am cut dar; dey doan't need 'em, 'case dar
+hous'n haint builded wid hands, for dey'm all built by de Lord, and
+gib'n to de good niggers, ready-made, and for nuffin'. De Lord don't
+say, like as our massa do, 'Pomp, dar's de logs and de shingles,' (dey'm
+allers pore shingles, de kine dat woant sell; but he say, '_dey'm_ good
+'nuff for niggers, ef de roof do leak.) De Lord doan't say: 'Now, Pomp,
+you go to work and build you' own house; but mine dat you does you task
+all de time, jess de same!' But de Lord--de bressed Lord--He say, w'en
+we goes up dar, 'Dar, Pomp, dar's de house dat I'se been a buildin' for
+you eber sence 'de foundation ob de worle.' It'm done now, and you kin
+cum in; your room am jess ready, and ole Sal and de chil'ren dat I tuk
+'way from you eber so long ago, and dat you mourned ober and cried ober
+as ef you'd neber see dem agin, _dar dey am, all on 'em, a waiting for
+you_. Dey'm been fixin' up de house 'spressly for you all dese long
+years, and dey'be got it all nice and comfible now.' Yas, my frens,
+glory be to Him, dat's what our Heabenly massa say, and who ob you
+wouldn't hab sich a massa as dat? a massa dat don't set you no hard
+tasks, and dat gibs you 'nuff to eat, and time to rest and to sing and
+to play. A massa dat doan't keep no Yankee oberseer to foller you 'bout
+wid de big free-lashed whip; but dat leads you hisseff round to de green
+pastures and de still waters; and w'en you'm a-faint and a-tired, and
+can't go no furder, dat takes you up in his arms, and carries you in his
+bosom. What pore darky am dar dat wudn't hab sich a massa? What one ob
+us, eben ef we had to work so hard as we does now, wudn't tink hisseff
+de happiest nigger in de hull worle, ef he could hab sich hous'n to lib
+in as dem? dem hous'n 'not made wid hands, eternal in de heabens!'
+
+'But glory, glory to de Lord! my chil'ren, wese all got dat massa, ef we
+only knowd it, and he'm buildin' dem housn up dar, now, for ebery one ob
+us dat am tryin' to be good and to lub one anoder. _For ebery one ob
+us_, I say, and we kin all git de fine hous'n ef we try.
+
+'Recolember, too, my brudders, dat our great Massa am rich, bery rich,
+and He kin do all he promise. _He_ won't say, w'en wese worked ober time
+to git some little ting to comfort de sick chile, 'I knows, Pomp, you'se
+done de work, and I did 'gree to gib you de pay; but de fact am, Pomp,
+de frost hab come so sudden dis yar, dat I'se loss de hull ob de sebenfh
+dippin', and I'se pore, so pore, de chile must go widout dis time.' No,
+no, brudders, de bressed Lord He neber talk so. He neber break, 'case de
+sebenfh dip am shet off, or 'case de price of turpentime gwo down at de
+Norf. He neber sell his niggers down Souf, 'case he lose his money on de
+hoss-race. No, my chil'ren, our HEABENLY Massa am rich, RICH, I say. He
+own all dis worle, and all de odor worles dat am shinin' up dar in de
+sky. He own dem all; but he tink more ob one ob you, more ob one ob
+you--pore, ignorant brack folks dat you am--dan ob all dem great worles!
+Who wouldn't belong, to sich a Massa as dat? Who wouldn't be his
+nigger--not his slave--He don't hab no slaves--but his chile; and 'ef
+his chile, den his heir, de heir ob God, and de joint heir wid Christ.'
+O my chil'ren! tink of dat! de heir ob de Lord ob all de earth and all
+de sky! What white man kin be more'n dat?
+
+'Don't none ob you say you'm too wicked to be His chile; 'ca'se you
+an't. He lubs de wicked ones de best, 'ca'se dey need his lub de most.
+Yas, my brudders, eben de wickedest, ef dey's only sorry, and turn roun'
+and leab off dar bad ways, he lub de bery best ob all, 'ca'se he'm all
+lub and pity.
+
+'Sam, har, my children, war wicked, but don't _we_ pity him; don't _we_
+tink he had a hard time, and don't we tink de bad oberseer, who'm layin'
+dar in de house jess ready to gwo and answer for it--don't we tink he
+gabe Sam bery great probincation?'
+
+'Dat's so,' said a dozen of the auditors.
+
+'Den don't you 'spose dat de blessed Lord know all dat, and dat He pity
+Sam too? If we pore sinners feel sorry for him, an't de Lord's heart
+bigger'n our'n, and an't he more sorry for him? Don't you tink dat ef He
+lub and pity de bery worse whites, dat He lub and pity pore Sam, who
+warn't so bery bad, arter all? Don't you think He'll gib Sam a house?
+P'r'aps 'twon't be one ob de fine hous'n, but won't it be a comfible
+house, dat hain't no cracks, and one dat'll keep out de wind and de
+rain? And don't you s'pose, my chil'ren, dat it'll be big 'nuff for
+Jule, too--dat pore, repentin' chile, whose heart am clean broke, 'ca'se
+she hab broughten dis on Sam--and won't de Lord--de good Lord--de
+tender-hearted Lord--won't He touch Sam's heart, and coax him to forgib
+Jule, and to take her inter his house up dar? I knows he will, my
+chil'ren. I knows--'
+
+Here the old negro paused abruptly; for there was a quick swaying in the
+crowd--a hasty rush--a wild cry--and Sam's wife burst into the open
+space around the preacher, and fell at the old man's feet. Throwing her
+arms wildly around him, she shrieked out:
+
+'Say dat agin, Uncle Pomp! for de lub ob de good Lord, oh! say dat
+agin!'
+
+Bending down, the old man raised her gently in his arms, and folding her
+there, as he would have folded a child, he said, in a voice thick with
+emotion:
+
+'It am so, Juley. I knows dat Sam will forgib you, and take you wid him
+up dar.'
+
+Fastening her arms frantically around Pompey's neck, the poor woman
+burst into a paroxysm of grief, while the old man's tears fell in great
+drops on her upturned face, and many a dark cheek near was wet, as with
+rain.
+
+The scene had lasted a few minutes, and I was turning away to hide the
+emotion that was fast filling my eyes, and creeping up, with a choking
+feeling, to my throat, when the Colonel, from the farther edge of the
+group, called out:
+
+'Take that d----d ---- away--take her away, Pomp!'
+
+The old negro turned toward his master with a sad, grieved look, but
+gave no heed to the words.
+
+'Take her away, some of you, I say,' again cried the Colonel. 'Pomp, you
+mustn't keep these niggers all night in the cold.'
+
+At the sound of her master's voice the metif woman fell to the ground as
+if struck by a Minie-ball. Soon several negroes lifted her up to bear
+her away; but she struggled violently, and rent the woods with her wild
+cries for 'one more look at Sam.'
+
+'Look at him, you d----d ----, then go, and don't let me see you again.'
+
+She threw herself on the face of the dead, and covered the cold lips
+with her kisses; then rose, and with a weak, uncertain step, staggered
+out into the darkness.
+
+'The system' that had so seared and hardened that man's heart, must have
+been begotten in the lowest hell.
+
+The old preacher said no more, but four stout negro men stepped forward,
+nailed down the lids, and lowered the rough boxes into the ground.
+Turning to Madam P----, I saw her face was red with weeping. She rose to
+go just as the first earth fell, with a dull, heavy sound, on the rude
+coffins; and giving her my arm, I led her from the scene.
+
+As we walked slowly back to the house, a low wail--half a chant, half a
+dirge--rose from the black crowd, and floated off on the still night
+air, till it died away amid the far woods, in a strange, wild moan. With
+that sad, wild music in our ears, we entered the mansion.
+
+As we seated ourselves by the bright wood-fire on the library hearth,
+obeying a sudden impulse which I could not restrain, I said to Madam
+P----:
+
+'The Colonel's treatment of that poor woman is inexplicable to me. Why
+is he so hard with her? It is not in keeping with what I have seen of
+his character.'
+
+'The Colonel is a peculiar man,' replied the lady. 'Noble, generous, and
+a true friend, he is also a bitter, implacable enemy. When he once
+conceives a dislike, his feelings become even vindictive; and never
+having had an ungratified wish, he does not know how to feel for the
+sorrows of those beneath him. Sam, though a proud, headstrong, unruly
+character, was a great favorite with him; he felt his death much; and as
+he attributes it to Jule, he feels terribly bitter toward her. She will
+have to be sold to get her out of his way, for he will _never_ forgive
+her.'
+
+It was some time before the Colonel joined us, and when he at last made
+his appearance, he seemed in no mood for conversation. The lady soon
+retired; but feeling unlike sleep, I took down a book from the shelves,
+drew my chair near the fire, and fell to reading. The Colonel, too, was
+deep in the newspapers, till, after a while, Jim entered the room:
+
+'I'se cum to ax ef you've nuffin more to-night, Cunnel?' said the negro.
+
+'No, nothing, Jim,' replied his master; 'but, stay--hadn't you better
+sleep in front of Moye's door?'
+
+'Dunno, sar; jess as you say.'
+
+'I think you'd better,' returned the Colonel.
+
+With a 'Yas, massa,' the darky left the apartment.
+
+The Colonel shortly rose, and bade me 'good night.' I continued reading
+till the clock struck eleven, when I laid the book aside and went to my
+room.
+
+I slept, as I have said before, on the lower floor, and was obliged to
+pass by the door of the overseer's apartment as I went to mine. Wrapped
+in his blanket, and stretched at full length on the ground, Jim lay
+there, fast asleep. I passed on, thinking of the wisdom of placing a
+tired negro on guard over an acute and desperate Yankee.
+
+I rose in the morning with the sun, and had partly donned my clothing,
+when I heard a loud uproar in the hall. Opening my door, I saw Jim
+pounding vehemently at the Colonel's room, and looking as pale as is
+possible with a person of his completion.
+
+'What the d---l is the matter?' asked his master, who now, partly
+dressed, stepped into the hall.
+
+'Moye hab gone, sar; he'm gone and took Firefly (my host's
+five-thousand-dollar thorough-bred) wid him.'
+
+For a moment the Colonel stood stupified; then, his face turning to a
+cold, clayey white, he seized the black by the throat, and hurled him to
+the floor. Planting his thick boot on the man's face, he seemed about to
+dash out his brains with its ironed heel, when, at that instant, the
+octoroon woman rushed, in her night-clothes, from his room, and with
+desperate energy pushed him aside, exclaiming: 'What would you do?
+remember WHO HE IS!'
+
+The negro rose, and the Colonel, without a word, passed into his
+apartment. What followed will be the subject of another chapter.
+
+
+
+
+_PICAYUNE BUTLER._
+
+'General Butler was a barber,'
+  So the Pelicans were raving;
+Now you've got him in your harbor,
+  Tell us how you like his shaving?
+
+
+
+
+_LITERARY NOTICES._
+
+LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE. Delivered at the royal Institution
+     of Great Britain in April, May, and June, 1861. By MAX MULLER,
+     Fellow of All Souls College, etc. From the second London edition,
+     revised. New-York: Charles Scribner, Boston: A.K. Loring. 1862.
+
+Within the memory of man one could in England or America be 'very well
+educated,' as the word went, and yet remain grossly ignorant of the
+simplest elements of the history of language. In those days Latin was
+held by scholars to be derived from Greek--where the Greek came from
+nobody knew or cared, though it was thought, from Hebrew. German was a
+jargon, Proven�al a '_patois_,' and Sanscrit an obsolete tongue, held in
+reverence by Hindoo savages. The vast connections of language with
+history were generally ignored. Hebrew was assumed, as a matter of
+course, to have been the primeval language, and it was wicked to doubt
+it. Then came Sir William Jones, Carey, Wilkins, Forster, Colebrooke,
+and the other Anglo-Indian scholars, and the world learned what it ought
+to have learned from the Jesuits, that there was in the East a very
+ancient language--Sanscrit--'of wonderful structure, more perfect than
+Greek, more copious than Latin, more exquisitely refined than either;
+bearing to both a strong affinity,' and stranger still, containing a
+vast amount of words almost identical with many in all European and many
+Oriental tongues. This was an apocalypse of truth to many--but a source
+of grief to the orthodox believers that Greek and Latin were either
+aboriginal languages, or modifications of Hebrew. Hence the blind, and
+in some cases untruthful warfare made on the Sanscrit discoveries, as in
+the case of Dugald Stewart.
+
+     'Dugald Stewart was too wise not to see that the conclusions drawn
+     from the facts about Sanscrit were inevitable. He therefore _denied
+     the reality of such a language as Sanscrit altogether_, and wrote
+     his famous essay to prove that Sanscrit had been put together,
+     after the model of Greek and Latin, by those arch forgers and
+     liars, the Brahmins, and that the whole of Sanscrit literature was
+     an imposture.'
+
+But it was all of no avail. In 1808 Frederick Schlegel's work, _On the
+Language and Wisdom of the Indians_, first 'boldly faced the facts and
+conclusions of Sanscrit scholarship, and became,' with all its faults,
+the 'foundation for the science of language.' Its great result may be
+given in one sentence--it embraced at a glance the languages of India,
+Persia, Greece, Italy, and Northern Europe, and riveted them by the
+simple name 'Indo-Germanic.' Then in this school, begun by English
+industry and shaped by German genius, came Franz Bopp, with his great
+comparative grammar of the Indo-Germanic tongues, and the enormous
+labors of Lassen, Rosen, Burnouf, and W. von Humboldt--a man to whose
+incredible ability of every kind, as to his secret diplomatic influence,
+history has never done justice. Grimm, and Rask--the first great Zend
+scholar--were among these early explorers, who have been followed by so
+many scholars, until some knowledge not merely of Greek and Latin, but
+of the relations of _all_ languages, has become essential to a truly
+good education.
+
+Yet after all, Sanscrit, it was soon seen, was not the parent, but '_the
+elder sister_' of the Indo-Germanic languages. Behind Greek, Latin, and
+Sanscrit, Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic tongues, lurks a lost
+language--the mysterious Aryan, which, re�choed through the tones of
+those six remaining Pleiades, its sisters, speaks of a mighty race
+which once, it may be, ruled supreme over a hundred lands, or perchance
+sole in the Caucasus. It is strange to see philologists slowly
+reconstructing, here and there, fragments of the Aryan,
+
+    'And speak in a tongue which man speaks no more.'
+
+Among the many excellent elementary and introductory works on philology
+which have appeared of late years, this of M�ller's is on several
+accounts the best. It is clearly written, so as to be within the
+comprehension of any reader of ordinary intelligence, and we can hardly
+conceive that any such person would not find it an extremely
+entertaining book. Its author is a _genial_ writer--he writes with a
+relish and with real power--he loves knowledge, and wishes others to
+share it with him. Language, he holds--though the idea is not new with
+him--springs from a very few hundred roots, which are the _phonetic
+types_ produced by a power inherent in human nature. Every substance has
+its peculiar _ring_ when struck--man, under the action of certain laws,
+must develop first onomato-poietic sounds, and finally language. With
+this we take leave of this excellent work, trusting that the public will
+extend to it the favor which it so amply deserves.
+
+
+THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WASHINGTON IRVING. By his Nephew, PIERRE M. IRVING.
+     Vol. I. New-York: G.P. Putnam. Boston: A.K. Loring. 1862.
+
+This work has a strong, we might say an extraordinary claim to the
+interest of the most general reader, in its very first paragraph, since
+in it we are told that Washington Irving, on committing to his nephew
+Pierre the vast mass of papers requisite to his biography, remarked:
+'Somebody will be writing my life when I am gone, and I wish you to do
+it. You must promise me that you will.' So with unusual wealth of
+material, gathered together for the purpose by the subject of the
+biography himself, the work has been begun, by the person whom Irving
+judged best fitted for it.
+
+And a delightful work it is, not a page without something of special
+relish, as might be anticipated in the chronicle of a life which is
+thickly studded with personal association or correspondence with almost
+every intellectual eminence either of Europe or America during the past
+half-century. But apart from this, there is a racy Irving-y flavor from
+the very beginning, long before the wide world had incorporated Irving
+into its fraternity of great men, in the details of life, of home travel
+and of homely incident, as set forth in extracts from his letters, which
+is irresistibly charming. Full as this portion of the life is, we can
+not resist the hope that it will be greatly enlarged in subsequent
+editions, and that more copious extracts will be given from those
+letters, to the humblest of which the writer invariably communicates an
+indefinable fascination. In them, as in his regular 'writings,' we find
+the simplest incident narrated always without exaggeration--always as
+briefly as possible, yet told so quaintly and humorously withal, that we
+wonder at the piquancy which it assumes. It is the trouble with great
+men that they are, for lack of authentic anecdotes and details of their
+daily life, apt to retire into myths. Such will not be the case with
+Irving. The _reality_, the life-likeness of these letters, and of the
+_ana_ drawn from them, will keep him, Washington Irving the New-Yorker,
+alive and breathing before the world to all time. In these chapters a
+vail seems lifted from what was growing obscure in our knowledge of
+social life in the youth of our fathers. Our only wish, in reading, is
+for more of it. But the life gathers interest as it proceeds. From
+America it extends to Europe, and we meet the names of Humboldt, De
+Sta�l, Allston, Vanderlyn, Mrs. Siddons, as among his associates even in
+early youth. So through Home Again and in Europe Again there is a
+constant succession of personal experience and wide opportunity to know
+the world. Did our limits permit, we would gladly cite largely from
+these pages, for it is long since the press has given to the world a
+book so richly quotable. But the best service we can render the reader
+is to refer him to the work itself, which is as well worth reading as
+any thing that its illustrious subject ever wrote, since in it we have
+most admirably reflected Irving himself; the best loved of our writers,
+and the man who did more, so far as intellectual effort is concerned, to
+honor our country than any American who ever lived.
+
+BEAUTIES SELECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS DE QUINCKY. With a Portrait.
+    Boston: Ticknor and Fields.
+
+We are not sure that this is not the very first book of other than
+pictorial beauties which we ever regarded with patience. Books of
+literary 'beauties' are like musical matin�es--the first act of one
+opera--the grand dying-scene from another--all very pretty, but not on
+the whole satisfactory, or entitling one to claim from it alone any real
+knowledge of the original whole. Yet this volume we have found
+fascinating, have flitted from page to page, backwards and forwards, [it
+is a great advantage in a book of 'unconnections' that one may
+_conscientiously_ skip about,] and concluded by thanking in our heart
+the judicious Eclectic, whoever he may be--who mosaicked these bits into
+an enduring picture of De Quincey-ism. For really in it, by virtue of
+selection, collection, and recollection, we have given an authentic
+cabinet of specimens more directly suggestive of the course and
+soul-idioms of the author than many minds would gather from reading
+_all_ that he ever wrote. Only one thing seems needed--the great
+original commentary or essay on De Quincey, which these Beauties would
+most happily illustrate. It seems to rise shadowy before us--a sort of
+dead-letter ghost of a glorious book which craves life and has it not.
+We trust that our suggestion may induce some admirer of the Opium-Eater
+to have prepared an interleaved copy of these Beauties, and perfect the
+suggestion.
+
+
+THE CHURCH IN THE ARMY; OR THE FOUR CENTURIONS. By Rev. WM. A. SCOTT, D.D.,
+     of San Francisco. New-York: Carleton, No. 413 Broadway. Boston:
+     Crosby and Nichols. 1862.
+
+Since every one is doing their 'little utmost' for the army, Mr. Scott
+hath contributed his mite in a work on the four captains of hundreds
+mentioned in the Bible--the first whereof was he of Capernaum; the
+second, the one commanding at the crucifixion; the third, that of
+Cesarea; and the fourth, Julius, the centurion who had Paul in charge
+during his voyage to Rome. We are glad to learn, from the close
+researches and critical acumen of Rev. Mr. Scott, that there is very
+good ground for concluding that all of these centurions were so
+impressed by the thrilling scenes which they witnessed, and the society
+with which they mingled, as to have eventually been converted and saved,
+a consummation which may possibly have escaped the observation of most
+readers, who, absorbed in their contemplation of the great _dramatis
+personae_, seldom give thought as to what the effect on the minor
+characters must have been. It is worth observing that our author is
+thoroughly earnest in his exhortations--at times almost naively so. If
+he be often rather over-inclined to threaten grim damnation to an
+alarming majority, and describe with a relish the eternal horrors which
+hang around the second death, in good old-fashioned style, still we must
+remember that he sincerely means what he says, and is a Puritan of the
+ancient stamp.
+
+
+
+
+_EDITOR'S TABLE._
+
+There is something intensely American in such phrases as 'manifest
+destiny,' 'mission,' and 'call,' and we may add, something very vigorous
+may be found in the character of him who uses them. They are expressions
+which admit no alternative, no second possibility. The man of a
+'mission,' or of a 'manifest destiny,' may be a fanatic, but he will be
+no flincher; he will strive to the bitter end, and fall dead in the
+traces; _but he will succeed_.
+
+We are glad to learn that there is growing up in the army, and of course
+from it in all the homes of the whole country, a fixed impression that
+the South is inevitably destined to be 'Northed' or 'free-labored,' as
+the result of this war. The intelligent farmer in the ranks, who has
+learned his superiority to 'Secesh,' as a soldier, and who _knows_
+himself to be superior to any Southern in all matters of information and
+practical creative _power_, looks with scorn at the worn-out fields,
+wasteful agriculture, and general shiftlessness of the natives, and
+says, with a contemptuous laugh: 'We will get better crops out of the
+land, and manage it in another fashion, when _we_ settle down here.' Not
+less scornfully does the mechanic look down on the clumsy, labor-wasting
+contrivances of the negro or negro-stupified white man, and agree with
+his mate that 'these people will never be of much account until we take
+them in hand.'
+
+Master-mechanic, master-farmer, _you are right_. These people _are_ your
+inferiors; with all their boasts and brags of 'culture,' you could teach
+them, by your shrewder intelligence, at a glance, the short cut to
+almost any thing at which their intellects might be employed; and you
+indulge in a very natural feeling, when, as conquerors, in glancing over
+their Canaan, you involuntarily plan what you will do some day, _if_ a
+farm should by chance be your share of the bounty-money, when the war is
+over. For it is absurd to suppose that such a country will continue
+forever a prey to the wasting and exhaustive disease of the
+plantation-system, or that the black will always, as at present,
+inefficiently and awkwardly fulfill those mechanic labors which a keen
+white workman can better manage. Wherever the hand of the Northman
+touches, in these times, it shows a superior touch, whether in
+improvising a six-action cotton-gin, in repairing locomotives, or in
+sarcastically seizing a 'Secesh' newspaper and re�diting it with a storm
+of fun and piquancy such as its doleful columns never witnessed of old.
+In this and in a thousand ways, the Northern soldier realizes that he is
+in a land of inferiors, and a very rich land at that. At this point, his
+speculations on manifest destiny may very appropriately begin. There is
+no harm in suffering this idea to take firm hold. Like ultimate
+emancipation, it may be assumed as a fact, all to be determined in due
+time, according to the progress of events, as wisely laid down by
+President Lincoln, without hurry, without feverish haste, simply guided
+by the firm determination that eventually it must be.
+
+We can not insist too strongly on this great truth, that when a nation
+makes up its mind that a certain event _must_ take place, and acts
+calmly in the spirit of perfect persuasion, very little is really needed
+to hasten the wished-for consummation. Events suddenly spring up to aid,
+and in due time all is accomplished. Those who strive to hurry it retard
+it, those who work to drag it back hasten it. Never yet on earth was a
+real conviction crushed or prematurely realized. So it is, so it will be
+with this 'Northing' of the South. Let the country simply familiarize
+itself with the idea, and the idea will advance as rapidly as need be.
+In it lies the only solution of the great problem of reconciling the
+South and the North; the sooner we make up our minds to the fact, the
+better; and, on the other hand, the more deliberately and calmly we
+proceed to the work, the more certain will its accomplishment be. Events
+are now working to aid us with tremendous power and rapidity--faith, a
+judicious guiding of the current as it runs, is all that is at present
+required to insure a happy fulfillment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The degree to which a vindictive and malignant opposition to every thing
+for the sake of 'the party' can be carried, has been well illustrated in
+the amount and variety of slander which has been heaped by the
+Southern-rights, sympathizing Democratic press on the efforts of those
+noble-hearted women who have endeavored to do something to alleviate the
+condition of the thousands of contrabands, who are many without clothes,
+employment, or the slightest idea of what they are to do. It would be
+hard to imagine any thing more harmless or more perfectly free from any
+thing like sinister or selfish motives than have been the conduct and
+motives of the noble women who have assumed this mission. Florence
+Nightingale undertook nothing nobler; and the world will some day
+recognize the deserts of those who strove against every obstacle to
+relieve the sufferings and enlighten the ignorance of the blacks--among
+whom were thousands of women and little children. Such being the literal
+truth, what does the reader think of such a paragraph as the following,
+which we find going the rounds of the Boston Courier and other journals
+of the same political faith?
+
+     '_On dit_, that some of the schoolmarms who went to South-Carolina
+     several weeks ago, are not so intent upon 'teaching the young ideas
+     how to shoot,' as upon flirting with the officers, in a manner not
+     entirely consistent with morality. General Hunter is going to send
+     some of the misbehaving misses home.'
+
+If there is a loathsome, cowardly, infamous phrase, it is that of _on
+dit_, 'they say,' 'it is said,' when used to assail the virtue of
+women--above all, of women engaged in such a cause as that in question.
+We believe in our heart, this whole story to be a slander of the meanest
+description possible--a piece of as dirty innuendo as ever disgraced a
+Democratic paper. The spirit of the viper is apparent in every line of
+it. Yet it is in perfect keeping with the storm of abuse and falsehood
+which has been heaped on these 'contraband' missionaries, teachers, and
+nurses, since they went their way. They have been accused of pilfering,
+of lying, of doing nothing, of corrupting the blacks, of going out only
+to speculate, and, as might have been expected, we have at last the
+unfailing resort of the lying coward--a dirty hint as to breaking the
+seventh commandment--all according to the devilish old Jesuit precept of,
+'_Calumniare fortiter aliquis koerebit_'--'Slander boldly, something will
+be sure to stick.' And to such a depth of degradation--to the hinting
+away the characters of young ladies because they try to teach the poor
+contrabands--can _men_ descend 'for the sake of the _party'!_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of late years, those soundest of philanthropists, the men of
+common-sense who labor unweariedly to facilitate exchanges between
+civilized nations, have endeavored to promote in every possible manner
+the adoption of the same system of currency, weights and measures among
+civilized nations. It has been accepted as a rule beyond all debate,
+that if such mediums of business could be adopted--nay, if a common
+language even were in use, industry would receive an incalculable
+impulse, and the production of capital be enormously increased.
+
+Not so, however, thinks John M. Vernon, of New-Orleans, who, stimulated
+by the purest secession sentiments, and urged by the most legitimate
+secession and 'State rights' logic, has developed a new principle of
+exclusiveness by devising a new system of decimal currency, which he
+thus recommends to the rebel Congress:
+
+     'We are a separate and distinct people, influenced by different
+     interests and sentiments from the vandals who would subjugate us.
+     Our manners and customs are different; our tastes and talents are
+     different; our geographical position is different; and in
+     conformity with natural laws, nature and instinct, our
+     currency,--weights and measures, should be different.
+
+     'The basis of integral limit of value proposed for our currency, is
+     the star, which is to be divided into one hundred equal parts, each
+     part to be called a centime, namely: 10 centimes--1 tropic;
+     10 tropics--1 star; 10 stars--1 sol.
+
+     'These denominations for our currency have been selected for three
+     reasons: first, they are appropriate to ourselves as a people;
+     second, they are emblems of cheerfulness, honor, honesty of
+     purpose, solidity, and stability; and third, the words used are
+     simple, easily remembered, and are common to several languages. I
+     will, in addition, observe that similar characteristics distinguish
+     the proposed tables of weights and measures.'
+
+'Stars'--'centimes'--'tropics,' and 'sols.' Why these words should be
+more significant of cheerfulness, honor, honesty, and solidity, than
+dollars and dimes, cents and mills, is not, as yet, apparent. As set
+forth in this recommendation, it would really appear that the root of
+all evil would have its evil properties extracted by giving the radical
+a different name. To be sure, the wages of sin thus far in the world's
+history, have generally been found equivalent to death, whether they are
+termed guineas, francs, thalers, cobangs, pesos, sequins, ducats, or
+dollars. But in Dixie--happy Dixie!--they only need another name, and
+lo! a miracle is to be wrought at once.
+
+There is something in this whole proposition which accurately embodies
+the whole Southern policy. While the rest of the world is working to
+assimilate into civilization, they are laboring to get away and
+apart--to be different from everybody else--to remain provincial and
+'peculiar.' It is the working of the same spirit which inspires the
+desire to substitute 'State rights' or individual will, or, in plain
+terms, lawlessness and barbarism for enlightenment and common rights. It
+is a craving for darkness instead of light, for antiquated feudal
+falsehood instead of republican truth; and it will meet with the destiny
+which awaits every struggle against the great and holy cause of
+humanity.
+
+
+
+
+_KYNG COTEN._
+
+A 'DARK' CONCEIT.
+
+(_Being an ensample of a longe poeme._)
+
+  O muse! that did me somedeal favour erst,
+    Whereas I piped my silly oaten reede,
+  And songs in homely guise to mine reherst,
+    Well pleased with maiden's smilings for my meed;
+    Sweet muse, do give my Pegasus good speede,
+  And send to him of thy high, potent might,
+    Whiles mortalls I all of my theme do rede,
+  Thatte is the story of a doughty knight,
+  Who eftsoons wageth war, Kyng COTEN is he hight.
+
+  Kyng Coten cometh of a goodly race,
+    Though black it was, as records sothly tell;
+  But thatte is nought, which only is the face,
+    And ne the hart, where alle goode beings dwell;
+    For witness him the puissant Hannibal,
+  Who was in veray sooth a Black-a-Moor;
+    And Cleopatra, Egypt's darksome belle,
+  And others, great on earth, a hundred score;
+  Howbeit, ilke kyng was white, which doth amaze me sore.
+
+  Kyng Coten cometh of a goodly race,
+    As born of fathers clean as many as
+  The sands thatte doe the mighty sea-shore grace,
+    But black, as sayde, as dark is Erebus.
+    His rule the Southron Federation was,
+  Thatte was a part of great Columbia,
+    Which was as fayre a clyme as man mote pass;
+  And situate where Vesper holds his swaye,
+  But habited wilome by men of salvage fray.
+
+  Farre in the North he had an enimie,
+    Who certes was the knight's true soveraine,
+  Who lik�d not his wicked slaverie,
+    Which 'cross God's will was counter-wisely laine,
+    Whiles he himself, it seemeth now right playne,
+  Did seek to have a kyngdom of his kynde,
+    Where he, as tyrant-like, mote lonly raine;
+  So to a treacherie he fetched his mynde,
+  Which soon was rent in four, and sent upon each wynde.
+
+  His enimie thatte liveth in the North,
+    Who, after all, was not his enimie,
+  Ydeemed he was a gentilman of worth,
+    Too proud to make so vile a villianie,
+    And, therefore, did ne tent his railerie,
+  But went his ways, as was his wont wilome;
+    Goliah, he turned out eftsoons, ah! me,
+  Who leaned upon his speare when David come,
+  And laughed to scorn the sillie boy his threat'ning doom.
+
+  But when his stronghold in ye Southron land,
+    Of formidable front, Forte Sumter hight,
+  Did fall into Kyng Coten's rebell hand,
+    Who coward-wise did challenge to the fight,
+    Some several men again his host of might;
+  Then Samuel, for so was he yclipt,
+    Begun in batail's gear himself to dight,
+  As being fooled by him with whom he sippt,
+  And hied him out, loud crying, 'Treason must be nippt!'
+
+  O ye who doe the crusades' musters tell,
+    In wise that maketh myndes incredulous,
+  And paynte how like Dan Neptune's sweeping swell
+    The North bore down on the perfidious!
+    Ne nigh so potent thatte as was with us;
+  Where men, like locusts, darkened all the land,
+    As marched they toward the place that's treacherous,
+  And shippes, that eke did follow the command,
+  Like forests, motion-got, doe walk along the strand.
+
+  Fierce battails ther were fought upon the ground,
+  Thatte rob'd the heavens alle in ayer dunne;
+  And shoke the world as doth the thunder's sound,
+    Till, soth to say, it well-nigh was undone:
+    But of them alle, ther is an one
+  That frayle pen dispairs for to descrive,
+  Which mortalls call the Battail of Bull Run;
+  But why I mote ne tell, as I'm alive,
+  Unless it haply he ther _running_ did most thrive.
+
+LAWRENCE MINOT.
+
+
+
+
+
+'Our Orientalist' appears this month with
+
+_EGYPT IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS._
+
+BY A FAST TRAVELER.
+
+'You ought to go to the East,' said Mr. Swift, with a wave of his hand;
+'I've been there, and seen it under peculiar circumstances.'
+
+'Explain, O howaga! Give us the facts.
+
+'Immediately. Just place the punch-pitcher where I can reach it easily.
+That's right! Light another Caba�as. So; now for it. In 1858, month of
+December, I was settled in comfortable quarters in the Santa Lucia,
+Naples, and fully expected to winter there at my ease, when, to my
+disgust, I received letters from England, briefly ordering me by first
+steamer to Alexandria, thence per railroad to Cairo, there to see the
+head of a certain banking-house; transact my business, and return to
+Naples with all possible dispatch. No sooner said than done; there was
+one of the Messag�rie steamers up for Malta next day; got my passport
+visaed, secured berth, all right. Next night I was steaming it past
+Stromboli, next morning in Messina; then Malta, where I found steamer up
+for Alexandria that night; in four days was off that port, at six
+o'clock in the morning, and at half-past eight o'clock was in the cars,
+landing in Cairo at four o'clock in the afternoon. Posted from the
+railroad-station to the banker's, saw my man, arranged my business, was
+to receive instructions at seven o'clock the next morning, and at eight
+o'clock take the return train to Alexandria, where a steamer was to sail
+next day, that would carry me back to Naples, _presto_! as the jugglers
+say.
+
+'There, breathe a little, and take another glass of punch, while I
+recall my day in the East.
+
+'Through at the banker's, he recommended me to the Hotel ----, where I
+would find a good table, clean rooms, and none of my English
+compatriots. I love my native land and my countrymen _in it_, but as for
+them out of it, and as Bohemians--ugh! I am too much of a wolf myself to
+love wolves. Arrived at the hotel, with my head swimming with
+palm-trees, railroad, turbans, tarbooshes, veiled women, camels, pipes,
+dust, donkeys, oceans of blue calico, groaning water-wheels, the Nile,
+far-off view of the Pyramids, etc., I at once asked the headwaiter for a
+room, water, towels; he passed me into the hands of a very tall Berber
+answering to the name of Yusef, who was dressed in flowing garments and
+tarboosh, and who was one of the gentlest beings entitled to wear
+breeches I have ever seen; he had feet that in my recollection seem a
+yard long, and how he managed to move so noiselessly, unless both pedals
+were soft-shod, worries me to the present time. Well, at six o'clock the
+gong sounded for dinner, and out I went over marble floors to the dining
+hall, where I found only three other guests, who saluted me courteously
+when I entered, and at a signal from Yusef, a compromise between a bow
+and a salaam, we seated ourselves at table. Of the three guests, one was
+particularly a marked man, apart from his costume, that of a cavalry
+officer in the Pacha's service; there was something grand in his face,
+large blue eyes, full of humor and _bonhommie_, a prominent nose, a
+broad forehead, burned brown with the sun, his head covered with the
+omnipresent tarboosh, a mustache like Cartouche's; such was my
+_vis-�-vis_ at the hotel-table.
+
+'In conversation with this officer, it turned up that one of my most
+intimate friends was his cousin, and so we had a bottle of old
+East-India pale sherry over that; then we had another to finally cement
+our acquaintance; I said finally--I should say, finally for dinner.
+
+'I have seen the interiors of more than three hundred hotels in Europe,
+Africa, and America; but I have yet to see one that appeared so
+outrageously romantic as that of the Hotel ----, at Cairo, after that
+second bottle of sherry! The divans on which we reposed, the curious
+interlacing of the figures on the ceiling, the raised marble floor at
+the end of the room overlooking the street, the arabesques on the doors,
+and finally the never-ending masquerade-ball going on in the street
+under the divans where we sat and smoked.
+
+'I can't tell you how it happened, but after very small cups of very
+black coffee and a pousse caf�, in the officer's room, of genuine
+kirschwasser and good cura�oa, I was mounted on a bay horse; there was a
+dapple-gray alongside of me; and running ahead of us, to clear the way,
+the officer's _sais_ afoot, ready to hold our horses when we halted. We
+were quickly mounted and off like the wind, past turbans, flowing
+bournouses, tarbooshes, past grand old mosques, petty caf�s, where the
+faithful were squatting on bamboo-seats, smoking pipes or drinking
+coffee-grounds, while listening to a storyteller, possibly relating some
+story in the _Arabian Nights_; then we were through the bazaars, all
+closed now and silent; then up in the citadel, and through the mosque of
+Yusef; then down and scouring over the flying sand among the grand old
+tombs of the Mamelukes and of the caliphs; then off at break-neck speed
+toward the Mokatamma mountains, from a rise on the lower spur of one of
+which we saw, in the shadow of the coming night, the Pyramids and the
+slow-flowing Nile.
+
+'Again we were in Cairo, and now threading narrow street after street,
+the fall of our horses' hoofs hardly heard on the unpaved ways, as we
+were passing under overhanging balconies covered with lace-work
+lattices. As it grew darker, our _sais_ preceded us with lighted
+lantern, shouting to pedestrians, blind and halt, to clear the road for
+the coming effendis.
+
+'_Halte la!_
+
+'My foaming bay was reined in with a strong hand, I leaped from the
+saddle, and found the _sais_ at hand to hold our horses, while we saw
+the seventh heaven of the Koran, and by no means _al Hotama_.
+
+'With a foresight indicating an old campaigner, the officer produced a
+couple of bottles of sherry from the capacious folds of the _sais_'
+mantle, and unlocking the door of the house in front of which we stood,
+invited me to enter. Two or three turns, a court-yard full of
+rose-bushes, and an enormous palm-tree, a fountain shooting up its
+sparkling waters in the moonlight, a clapping of hands, chibouks, sherry
+cooled in the fountain.
+
+'Then, in the moonlight, the gleam of white flowing garments, the
+nervous thrill breathed in from perfumes filling the evening air; the
+great swimming eyes; the kiss; the ah!--other bottles of sherry. The
+fingans of coffee, the pipe of Latakiah tobacco, the blowing a cloud
+into dreamland, while Fatima or Zoe insists on taking a puff with you.
+
+'But as she said, '_Hathih al-kissah moaththirah_, which, in the
+vernacular, is. 'This history is affecting,' so let us pass it by. We
+finished those two bottles of sherry, and if Mohammed, in his majesty,
+refuses admittance to two Peris into paradise, because they drank sherry
+that night, let the sins be on our shoulders, WE are to blame.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+'Next morning, at seven o'clock, I was at the banker's, and received his
+orders, and at six o'clock that evening was steaming out of Alexandria,
+bound to Naples _via_ Malta. A little over twenty-four hours, and I had
+SEEN THE ORIENT THROUGH SHERRY--pale, golden, and serenely beautiful!
+
+'Pass the punch.'
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Very welcome is our pleasant contributor--he who of late discoursed on
+'honeyed thefts' and rural religious discipline--and now, in the
+present letter, he gives us his views on meals, feeds, banquets,
+symposia, or by whatever name the reader may choose to designate
+assemblies for the purpose of eating.
+
+     Please make room at this table, right here, for me. Surely at a
+     table of such dimensions, there should be plenty of room. Many a
+     table-scene do I now recall, in days gone by, 'all of which I saw,
+     and part of which I was,' but nothing like this. Tables of all
+     sorts and sizes, but never a CONTINENTAL table before. I suppose
+     the nearest approach to it was _the_ picnic dinner the wee
+     youngsters used to eat off the _ground_! A CONTINENTAL table! The
+     most hospitable idea imaginable. Give place! Do you demand my
+     credentials, my card, my ticket? Here we have it all; a little note
+     from mine host, Mr. LELAND, inviting the bearer to this monthly
+     repast, and requesting, very properly--it was the way we always
+     did, when we used to get up picnics--that the receiver of the note
+     bring some sort of refreshments along. Thank you. This seat is very
+     comfortable. What more appropriate, at such a time, than the
+     discussion of _the Meal?_
+
+     I protest I am no glutton; in fact, I despise the man whose
+     meal-times are the epochs of his life; yet I frankly confess to
+     emotions of a very positive character, in contemplating the
+     associations of the table, and I admit farther, that I take
+     pleasure in the reality as well as in the imagination. I like to be
+     'one of the company,' whether in palace or in farm-house. I always
+     brighten up when I see the dining-room door thrown open to an angle
+     hospitably obtuse, and am pleased alike with the politely-worded
+     request, 'Will the ladies and gentlemen please walk out and partake
+     of some refreshments?' or the blunt, kindly voice of mine host,
+     'Come, friends; dinner's ready.' Still I assert my freedom from any
+     slavish fondness for the creature comforts. It is not the bill of
+     fare that so pleases me. In fact, some of the best meals of which I
+     have ever partaken, were those the materials of which I could not
+     have remembered twenty minutes after. Exquisite palatal pleasures,
+     then, are not a _sine qua non_ in the enjoyment of table comforts.
+     No, indeed. There is a condiment which is calculated to impart a
+     high relish to the humblest fare; but without this charmed
+     seasoning, every banquet is a failure. Solomon was a man of nice
+     observation, even in so humble a matter as a meal. Let him reveal
+     the secret in his own words: 'Better is a dinner of herbs, where
+     LOVE is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.'
+
+     By a merciful arrangement of Providence, man is so constituted that
+     he may think, talk, and eat, all at one and the same time. Hence,
+     the table is often the scene of animated and very interesting
+     conversations, provided _love is there_. Many of our Saviour's most
+     interesting and instructive discourses were delivered while
+     'sitting at meat,' and the 'table-talk' of some authors is
+     decidedly the most meritorious of all their performances.
+
+     But the truth is, there are not many meals where love _is_ entirely
+     absent. Cheerfulness is naturally connected with eating; eating
+     begets it probably. It is difficult for a man to eat at all, if he
+     is in a bad humor. Quite impossible, if he is in a rage; especially
+     if he is obliged to sit down to his dinner in company with the man
+     he hates. There are so many little kind offices that guests must
+     perform for each other at table, so many delicate compliments may
+     be paid to those we love or revere, by polite attentions to them,
+     and so necessary, indeed, have these become to our notion of a
+     satisfactory repast, that to banish such amiable usages from our
+     tables would be not only to degrade us to the level of the brute,
+     but would deprive us of a most humanising and refining means of
+     enjoyment. How beautiful and necessary, then, is the arrangement by
+     which, morning, noon, and night, (I pity folks who only eat twice a
+     day,) the members of the household are brought together in such
+     kindly intercourse around the family board! How seldom would they
+     assemble thus pleasantly, were it not for the meal!
+
+     The little wounds and scratches which the sharp edges of our
+     characters will inflict upon each other, when brought together in
+     the necessary contact of daily intercourse, would otherwise be
+     suffered to fret and vex us sorely; but before they have had time
+     to fester and inflame, meal-time comes, and brings with it the
+     magic, mollifying oil.
+
+     It is meet, then, (we spell the word with two e's, mind you,) that,
+     on any occasion of public rejoicing, the banquet should be an
+     indispensable accompaniment. The accomplishment of some important
+     public enterprise, the celebration of the birth-days of great and
+     good men, a nation's holidays, the re�nions of friends engaged in a
+     common cause, are occasions in which the dinner, very properly,
+     constitutes one of the leading features.
+
+     And what can be more exhilarating than the innocent mirthfulness,
+     the unaffected kindnesses, the witty speeches, the sprightly
+     conversations which are universally incident to such occasions? No
+     wonder Lycurgus decreed that the Spartans should eat in public.
+     Ostensibly, it was for the sake of the grave conversations of the
+     elders at such times, but really, I imagine, it was to keep the
+     citizens (who had been at swords' points with each other) in a good
+     humor, by bringing them around a common table.
+
+     He knew that if any thing would soften their mutual asperities and
+     cultivate mutual good feeling, such a measure would. Would it not
+     be well for modern times to take a hint here? Had I been appointed
+     architect of the Capitol, I think I could have saved the feuds
+     which long ago sprang up, and which have resulted in, and will yet
+     bring about, alas! we know not how much bloodshed. I would have
+     constructed a couple of immense dining-rooms, with all the
+     necessary appurtenances. Just to think how different would have
+     been the aspect of things in the chamber where Sumner once lay
+     bleeding, and in the hall where a gentleman, in a m�l�e, '_stubbed
+     his toe and fell_!' There would have been Mr. Breckinridge, in a
+     canopied seat at the head of one of the tables, rapping the Senate
+     to order with his knife-handle, and Mr. Orr at the head of the
+     other, uncovering an immense tureen, with the remark that '_the
+     House will now proceed to business_!' How strange it would be to
+     hear any angry debate at such a time! Imagine a Congressman helping
+     himself to a batter-cake and at the same time calling his
+     brother-member a liar! or throwing down his napkin, by way of
+     challenge to '_the gentleman on the opposite side of the table_!'
+     Think of Keitt politely handing Grow the cream-pitcher, and
+     attempting to knock him down before the meal was dispatched. Had
+     the discussion of the Lecompton Constitution been carried on
+     simultaneously with that of a couple of dozen roast turkeys, I
+     sometimes think we might have avoided this war.
+
+     Not only in public but in private rejoicings, is the table the
+     scene of chief enjoyment. When was it that the fatted calf was
+     killed? On what occasion was the water turned into wine? What
+     better way to rejoice over the return of a long-absent one than to
+     meet him around the hospitable table? Ye gods! let your mouths
+     water! There's a feast ahead for our brave soldiers, when they come
+     home from this war, that will make your tables look beggarly. I
+     refer to that auspicious moment when the patriot now baring his
+     bosom to the bloody brunt of war, shall sit down once more to the
+     table, in his own dear home, however humble, and partake of the
+     cheerful meal in peace, with his wife and his little ones about
+     him. Oh! for the luxury of that first meal! I almost feel as if I
+     could endure the hardships of the fierce campaign that precedes it.
+
+     There is no memory so pleasant to me as that of the annual re�nion
+     of my aunts and uncles, with their respective troops of cousins, at
+     the house of my dear grandmother of blessed memory. It was pleasant
+     to watch the conveyances one by one coming in, laden with friends
+     who had traveled many a weary mile to be present on the great
+     occasion. It was pleasant to witness the mutual recognitions of
+     brothers and sisters with their respective wives and husbands; to
+     observe the transports of the little fellows, in their hearty
+     greetings, after a twelve months' separation, and to hear their
+     expressions of mingled surprise and delight on being introduced to
+     the strange _little_ cousins, whose presence increased the number
+     considerably above the preceding census. But the culminating point
+     was yet to come. That was attained when all the brothers and
+     sisters had gathered around the great long table, just as they did
+     when they were children, with their dear mother at the head,
+     surveying the scene in quiet enjoyment, and one of the 'older boys'
+     at the foot, to ask a blessing. There were the waffle-cakes, baked
+     in the irons which had furnished every cake for that table for the
+     last quarter of a century. There was the roast-turkey, which
+     grandma had been putting through a generous system of dietetics for
+     weeks, preparatory to this occasion. It rested on the same old
+     turkey-plate, with its two great birds sitting on a rose-bush, and
+     by its side was the great old carving-knife, which had from time
+     immemorial been the instrument of dissection on such occasions. And
+     there was maple-molasses from Uncle D----'s 'sugar-camp,' and
+     cheese from Aunt N----'s press, and honey from Uncle T----'s hives,
+     and oranges which Aunt I----, who lived in the city, had provided,
+     and all contained in the old-fashioned plates and dishes of a
+     preceding generation.
+
+     I discover I am treating my subject in a very desultory manner.
+     Perhaps I should have stated that under the head of the complete
+     genus, _meal_, there are three distinct species, public, social,
+     and private. That the grand banquet, celebrating some great man's
+     birth, or the success of some noble public enterprise, with its
+     assemblages of the great and the good from every part of the
+     country; the Fourth of July festival, in honor of our nation's
+     independence, with its speeches, its drums, its toasts, and its
+     cannon; the '_table d'h�te_,' or in plain English, the hotel
+     dinner-table, so remarkable for the multitude of its dishes and the
+     meagreness of their contents; the harvest-feast, the exact opposite
+     of the last-named, even to the mellow thirds and fifths that come
+     floating over the valleys from the old-fashioned dinner-horn,
+     calling in the tired laborers; its musical invitation in such
+     striking contrast with the unimagined horrors of the gong that
+     bellows its expectant victims to their meals; the family repast,
+     where one so often feels gratified with the delicate compliment of
+     a mother, a sister, or a wife, in placing some favorite dish or
+     flower near his plate; the annual gatherings of jolly alumni; the
+     delightful concourse of relatives and friends; the gleesome picnic
+     lunch, with its grassy carpet and log seats; the luxurious
+     oyster-supper, with its temptations 'to carry the thing too far;'
+     the festival at the donation-party, which, in common parlance,
+     would be called a dish of 'all sorts;' the self-boarding student's
+     desolate corn-cake, baked in a pan of multifarious use: all these
+     are so many modifications under their respective species.
+
+     Let me remark, in conclusion, that there are some meals from which
+     I pray to be delivered. There is the noisy dinner of the
+     country-town _tavern_ or railroad station, where each individual
+     seems particularly anxious that number _one_ should be provided
+     for, and where, in truth, he is obliged often to make pretty
+     vigorous efforts, if he succeeds. Again, have you ever observed how
+     gloomy is the look of those who for the first time gather around
+     the table, after the departure of a friend? The breakfast was
+     earlier than usual, and the dishes were suffered to stand and the
+     beds to go unmade, and housemaid, chamber-maid, cook, and
+     seamstress, all engaged in the _m�l�e_ of packing up, and of course
+     came in for their share of 'good-bys.' After the guests were fairly
+     off, 'things took a stand-still' for a while. All hands sat down
+     and rested, and looked very blank, and didn't know just where to
+     begin. Slowly, confusion began to relax _his_ hold, and order, by
+     degrees, resumed _her_ sway; (for the life of me, I can't bring
+     myself to determine the genders in any other way.) But when, at
+     last, the dinner-hour came, how strangely silent were the eaters!
+     Ah! if the departed one have gone to his long home, how _solemn_ is
+     this first meeting of the family, after their return to their
+     lonely home! It may be the sire whose place at the head of the
+     table is now vacant, and whose silvery voice we no longer hear
+     humbly invoking the divine blessing; or perhaps the mother, and how
+     studiously we keep our eye away from the seat where her generous
+     hand was wont to pour our tea. Perhaps the little one, the idol of
+     the household, whose chirruping voice was wont to set us all
+     laughing with droll remarks, expressed in baby dialect. How we miss
+     the little high-chair that was always drawn up 'close by papa!' How
+     our eyes will swim and our hearts swell up and choke us when we see
+     it pushed back into the corner, now silent and vacant! Hast thou
+     not wept thus? Be grateful. Thou hast been spared one of life's
+     keenest pangs.
+
+Thou speakest well. Dr. Doran has pleased us with his _Table Traits_,
+but a great book yet remains to be written on the social power of meals.
+The immortals were never so lordly as when assembled at the celestial
+table, where inextinguishable laughter went the rounds with the nectar.
+The heroes of Valhalla were most glorious over the ever-growing
+roast-boar and never-failing mead. Heine suggests a millennial banquet
+of all nations, where the French are to have the place of honor, for
+their improvements in freedom and in cookery, and Master Rabelais could
+imagine nothing more genial than when in the _Moyen de Parvenir_, he
+placed all the gay, gallant, wise, brave, genial, joyous dames and
+demoiselles, knights, and scholars of all ages at one eternal supper.
+Ah! yes; it matters but little what is 'gatherounded,' as a quaint
+Americanism hath it, so that the wit, and smiles, and good-fellowship be
+there.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is stated in the newspapers--we know not on what authority--that
+Charles A. Dana, late of the New-York _Tribune_, will probably receive
+an important appointment in the army. A man of iron will, of indomitable
+energy, undoubted courage, and of an inexhaustible genius, which
+displays itself by mastering every subject as by intuition, Dana is one
+whom, of all others, we would wish to see actively employed in the war.
+We have described him in by-gone days as one who was 'an editor by
+destiny and a soldier by nature,' and sincerely trust that his career
+will yet happily confer upon him military honors. No man in America--we
+speak advisedly--has labored more assiduously, or with more sterling
+honest conviction in politics, than Charles A. Dana. The influence which
+he has exerted has been immense, and it is fit that it be recognized.
+Men who, like him, combine stern integrity with vigorous practical
+talent, have a claim to lead.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among the most striking songs which the war has brought forth, we must
+class that grim Puritanical lyric, 'The Kansas John Brown,' which
+appeared originally in the Kansas _Herald_, and which is, as we are
+informed, extensively sung in the army. The words are as follows:
+
+THE KANSAS JOHN BROWN SONG.
+
+  Old John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
+  While the bondmen all are weeping whom he ventured for to save;
+  But though he lost his life a-fighting for the slave,
+        His soul is marching on.
+          Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
+          Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
+          Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
+        His soul is marching on.
+
+  John Brown was a hero undaunted, true and brave,
+  And Kansas knew his valor when he fought her rights to save;
+  And now, though the grass grows green above his grave,
+        His soul is marching on.
+
+  He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so few,
+  And frightened Old Virginia till she trembled through and through;
+  They hung him for a traitor--themselves a traitor crew,
+        But his soul is marching on.
+
+  John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see;
+  CHRIST, who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be;
+  And soon through all the South the slaves shall all be free,
+        For his soul goes marching on.
+
+  John Brown he was a soldier--a soldier of the LORD;
+  John Brown he was a martyr--a martyr to the WORD;
+  And he made the gallows holy when he perished by the cord,
+        For his soul goes marching on.
+
+  The battle that John Brown begun, he looks from heaven to view,
+  On the army of the Union with its flag, red, white and blue;
+  _And the angels shall sing hymns o'er the deeds we mean to do_,
+        _As we go marching on!_
+
+  Ye soldiers of JESUS, then strike it while you may,
+  The death-blow of Oppression in a better time and way,
+  For the dawn of Old John Brown is a-brightening into day,
+        And his soul is marching on.
+          Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
+          Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
+          Glory, glory, Hallelujah!
+        His soul is marching on.
+
+There! if the soldiers of Cromwell and of Ireton had any lyric to beat
+_that_, we should like to see it. Among its rough and rude rhymes gleams
+out a fierce fire which we supposed was long since extinct. Verily, old
+Father Puritan is _not_ dead yet, neither does he sleep; and to judge from
+what we have heard of the effects of this song among the soldiers, we
+should say that grim Old John Brown himself, far from perishing, is even
+now terribly alive. There is something fearful in the inspiration which
+can inspire songs like this.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+'GALLI VAN T' is welcome, and will be 'welcomer' when he again visits us
+in another letter like _this_:
+
+     DEAR CONTINENTAL: I have a friend who is not an artful man, though
+     he be full of art; and yesterday evening he told me the following:
+
+     'In my early days, when I took views of burly farmers and their
+     bouncing daughters in oil, and painted portraits of their favorite
+     horses for a very moderate _honorarium_, and in short, was the
+     artist of a small country town--why, then, to tell the truth, I was
+     held to be one of the greatest painters in existence. Since
+     studying abroad, and settling down in New-York--'
+
+     'And getting your name up among the first,' I added.
+
+     'Never mind that--I'm not 'the greatest painter that ever lived'
+     here. But in Spodunk, I was. Folks 'admired to see me.' I was a man
+     that 'had got talent into him,' and the village damsels invited me
+     to tea. There were occasional drawbacks, to be sure. One day a man
+     who had heard that I had painted Doctor Hewls's house, called and
+     asked me what I would charge to paint his little 'humsted.' I
+     offered to do it for twenty dollars.
+
+     'He gave me a shrewd gimlet-look and said:
+
+     'Find your own paint--o' course?'
+
+     ''Of course,' I replied.
+
+     ''What color?'
+
+     ''Why, the same color you now have,' was my astonished answer.
+
+     ''Wall, I don't know. My wife kind o' thinks that turtle-color
+     would suit our house better than Spanish brown. You put on two
+     coats, of course?'
+
+     'I now saw what he meant, and roaring with laughter, explained to
+     him that there was a difference between a painter of houses and a
+     house-painter.
+
+     'One morning I was interrupted by a grim, Herculean, stern-looking
+     young fellow--one who was manifestly a man of facts--who, with a
+     brief introduction of himself, asked if I could teach 'the pictur
+     business.' I signified my assent, and while talking of terms,
+     continued painting away at a landscape. I noticed that my visitor
+     glanced at my work at first as if puzzled, and then with an air of
+     contempt. Finally he inquired:
+
+     '''S _that_ the way you make your pictures?'
+
+     ''That is it,' I replied.
+
+     ''Do you have to keep workin' it in, bit by bit, _slow_--like as a
+     gal works woosted-patterns?'
+
+     ''Yes, and sometimes much slower, to paint well.'
+
+     ''How long 'll it take to learn your trade?'
+
+     ''Well, if you've any genius for it, you may become a tolerable
+     artist in two years.'
+
+     ''Two--_thunder_! Why, a man could learn to make shoes, in that
+     time!'
+
+     ''Very likely. There is not one man in a hundred, who can make
+     shoes, who would ever become even a middling sort of artist.'
+
+     ''_Darn_ paintin'!' was the reply of my visitor, as he took up his
+     club to depart--his hat had not been removed during the whole of
+     the visit. 'Darn paintin'! I thought you did the thing with
+     stencils, and finished it up with a comb and a scraper. Mister, I
+     don't want to hurt your feeling--but 'cordin' to _my_ way o'
+     thinkin', paintin' as _you_ do it, an't a trade at all--it's
+     nothin' but a darned despisable _fine art!_'
+
+     'And with this candid statement of his views, my lost pupil turned
+     to go. I burst out laughing. He turned around squarely, and
+     presenting an angry front not unlike that of a mad bull, inquired
+     abruptly, as he glared at me:
+
+     ''Maybe you'd like to paint my portrit?'
+
+     'I looked at him steadily in the eyes, as I gravely took up my
+     spatula, (I knew he thought it some deadly kind of dagger,) and
+     answered:
+
+     ''I don't paint animals.
+
+     'He gave me a parting look, and 'abscondulated.' When I saw him
+     last, he was among the City Fathers! GALLI VAN T.'
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_A SONG OF THE PRESENT._
+
+BY EDWARD S. RAND, JR.
+
+  Not to the Past whose smouldering embers lie,
+   Sad relics of the hopes we fondly nursed,
+  Not to the moments that have hurried by,
+   Whose joys and griefs are lived, the best, the worst.
+
+  Not to the Future, 'tis a realm where dwell
+    Fair, misty ghosts, which fade as we draw near,
+  Whose fair mirages coming hours dispel,
+    A land whose hopes find no fruition here.
+
+  But to the Present: be it dark or bright,
+    Stout-hearted greet it; turn its ill to good;
+  Throw on its clouds a soul-reflected light;
+    Its ills are blessings, rightly understood.
+
+  Prate not of failing hopes, of fading flowers;
+    Whine not in melancholy, plaintive lays,
+  Of joys departed, vanished sunny hours;
+    A cheerful heart turns every thing to praise.
+
+  Clouds can not always lower, the sun must shine;
+    Grief can not always last, joy's hour will come;
+  Seize as you may, each sunbeam, make it thine,
+    And make thy heart the sunshine's constant home.
+
+  Nor for thyself alone, a sunny smile
+    Carries a magic nothing can withstand;
+  A cheerful look may many a care beguile,
+    And to the weary be a helping hand.
+
+  Be brave--clasp thy great sorrows in thy arms;
+   Though eagle-like, they threat, with lifted crest,
+  The dread, the terror which thy soul alarms,
+   Shall turn a peaceful dove upon thy breast.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_A STRANGE STORY--ITS SEQUEL._
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The often expressed wish of the American Press for an explanation of the
+meaning of 'A Strange Story,' shall be complied with. It is purely and
+simply this: Many novels, most of them, in fact, treat of the World; the
+rest may be divided into those vaguely attempting to describe the works
+of the Flesh and the Devil. This division of subjects is fatal to their
+force; there was need to write a novel embracing them all; therefore 'A
+Strange Story' was penned. Mrs. Colonel Poyntz personated the World,
+Doctor Fenwick the Flesh, and Margrave, _alias_ Louis Grayle, certainly,
+I may be allowed to say, played the Devil with marked ability. To give a
+fitting _morale_ to all, the character of Lilian Ashleigh was thrown in;
+the good genius, the conqueror of darkness, the positive of the
+electrical battery meeting the negative and eliciting sparks of
+triumphant light--such was the heroine.
+
+Man, conscious of a future life, and endowed with imagination, is not
+content with things material, especially if his brain is crowded with
+the thoughts of the brains of ten thousand dead authors, and his nervous
+system is over-tasked and over-excited. In this condition he rushes
+away--away from cool, pure, and lovely feature--burying himself in the
+hot, spicy, and gorgeous dreams of Art. He would adore Cagliostro, while
+he mocked Doctor Watts! Infatuated dreamer! Returning at last, by good
+chance--or, rather, let me say, by the directing hand of
+Providence--from his evil search of things tabooed, to admiration of the
+Real, the Tangible, and the True; he will show himself as Doctor Fenwick
+does in this sequel, a strong, sensible, family-man, with a clear head
+and no-nonsense about him.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+'I think,' said Faber, with a sigh, 'that I must leave Australia and go
+to other lands, where I can make more money. You remember when that
+Egyptian woman bore the last--positively the last--remains of Margrave,
+or Louis Grayle, to the vessel?'
+
+'I do,' quoth Doctor Fenwick.
+
+'Well, a pencil dropped from the pocket of the inanimate form. I picked
+it up, and on it was stamped in gilded letters:
+
+              'FABER, No. 4.'
+
+I believe it may belong to one of my family--lost, perhaps, in the ocean
+of commerce.'
+
+'Who knows? We will think of this anon; but hark! the tea-bell is rung;
+let us enter the house.'
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+'Good gracious! Doctor Faber, I am so glad to see you. Sit right down in
+this easy-chair. We've muffins for tea, and some preserves sent all the
+way from dear Old England. Now, Allen, be lively to-night, and show us
+how that cold chicken should be carved.'
+
+Thus Lilian, Doctor Fenwick's wife, rattled on. She had grown very stout
+in the five years passed since 'A Strange Story' was written, and now
+weighed full thirteen stone, was red-cheeked and merry as a cricket.
+Mrs. Ashleigh, too, had grown very stout and red-cheeked, and was
+bustling around when the two doctors entered the room.
+
+'How much do you think I weigh?' asked Fenwick of Doctor Faber.
+
+'About fifteen stone,' answered the old doctor, while he dissected a
+side-bone of the chicken. 'I think you did well to begin farming in
+earnest. There is nothing like good hard work to cure the dyspepsia and
+romantic dreams.'
+
+'Indeed, dear doctor, and you have reason, to be sure,' said Mrs.
+Ashleigh. 'And pray, don't you think, now, that Lilian is a great deal
+more comely since she has given up worsted-work and dawdling, and taken
+to filling her duties as housewife?'
+
+'To be sure I do.'
+
+The doctor here passed the muffins to Lilian. She helped herself to a
+brown one, remarking:
+
+'It is such a blessed thing to have a fine appetite, and be able to eat
+half-a-dozen muffins for tea! Oh! by the way, Allen, I wish you would
+buy three or four more barrels of pale ale--we are nearly out.'
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+'Here ye are, gen-till-men! This fine de-tersive soap--on-ly thrippence
+a tab-let--takes stains out of all kinds of things. Step up while there
+air a few tab-lets left of this in-im-a-table art-tickle unsold.'
+
+'Who's that guy in the soap-trade?' asked one policeman of another one
+as they passed along Lowther Arcade and saw the man whose conversation
+is reported above.
+
+'He's a deep one, hi know,' said the one asked. ''Is name is Grayle,
+Louis Grayle. There's hodd stories 'bout 'im, werry hodd. 'E tries to
+work a werry wiry dodge on the johnny-raws, bout bein' ha 'undred hand
+ten years hold. Says 'e's got some kind o' water wot kips hun' from
+growink hold, My heye! strikes me if 'e 'ad, 'e wouldn't bein' sellin'
+soap 'bout 'ere. Go hup to 'im hand tell 'im to move hon, 'e's ben
+wurkin this lay long enough, I _ham_ thinkin'.
+
+Such, gentle reader, was the condition of Louis Grayle when I last saw
+him. By the assistance of confederates and other means, he had imposed
+on our good friend Doctor Fenwick, in former years, and nearly driven
+that poor gentleman crazy during his celibacy, especially as the doctor
+in all this period would smoke hasheesh and drink laudanum
+cocktails--two little facts neglected to be mentioned in 'A Strange
+Story.' Now, he was poor as a crow, this Louis Grayle, and was only too
+glad to turn the information he had learned of Haroun of Aleppo, to
+profitable account--the most valuable knowledge he had gained from that
+Oriental sage being the composition of a soap, good to erase stains from
+habits.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Mrs. Colonel Poyntz having rendered herself generally disagreeable to
+even the London world of fashion, by her commanding presence, has been
+quietly put aside, and at latest accounts, every thing else having
+failed, had taken up fugitive American secessionists for subjects, and
+reports of revolvers and pokers (a slavish game of cards) were
+circulated as filling the air she ruled.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Doctor Fenwick is now the father of four small tow-headed children, who
+poss the long Australian days teasing a tame Kangaroo and stoning the
+loud-laughing great kingfisher and other birds, catalogue of which is
+mislaid. His wife has not had a single nervous attack for years, and
+probably never will have another. Doctor Faber married Mrs. Ashleigh!
+
+Doctor Fenwick, it is needless to say, has thrown his library of
+Alchemists, Rosicrucianists, Mesmerists, Spiritualists,
+Transcendentalists, and all other trashy lists into the fire, together
+with several pounds of bang, hasheesh, cocculus indicus, and opium. He
+at this present time of writing, is an active, industrious, intelligent,
+and practical man, finding in the truthful working out THE great
+problem, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, an
+exceeding great reward.
+
+THE END.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_WHAT THEN?_
+
+BY J. HAL. ELLIOT.
+
+  God's pity on them! Human souls, I mean,
+    Crushed down and hid 'neath squalid rags and dirt,
+    And bodies which no common sore can hurt;
+           All this between
+  Those souls, and life--corrupt, defiled, unclean.
+
+  And more--hard faces, pinched by starving years.
+    Cold, stolid, grimy faces--vacant eyes,
+    Wishful anon, as when one looks and dies;
+           But never tears!
+  Tears would not help them--battling constant jeers.
+
+  Forms, trained to bend and grovel from the first,
+    Crouching through life forever in the dark,
+    Aimlessly creeping toward an unseen mark;
+           And no one durst
+  Deny their horrid dream, that they are curst.
+
+  And life for them! dare we call life its name?
+    O God! an arid sea of burning sand,
+    Eternal blackness! death on every hand!
+           A smothered flame,
+  Writhing and blasting in the tortured frame.
+
+  And death! we shudder when we speak the word;
+    'Tis all the same to them--or life, or death;
+    They breathe them both with every fevered breath;
+           When have they heard,
+  That cool Bethesda's waters might be stirred!
+
+  They live among us--live and die to-day;
+    We brush them with our garments on the street,
+    And track their footsteps with our dainty feet;
+           'Poor common clay!'
+  We curl our lips--and that is what we say.
+
+  God's pity on them! and on us as well:
+    They live and die like brutes, and we like men:
+    Both go alone into the dark--what then?
+           Or heaven, or hell?
+  They suffered in this life! Stop! Who can tell?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last stranger who visited Washington Irving, before his death, was
+Theodore Tilton, who published shortly afterward an account of the
+interview. Mr. Tilton wrote also a private letter to a friend, giving an
+interesting reminiscence, which he did not mention in his published
+account. The following is an extract from this letter, now first made
+public:
+
+
+     As I was about parting from Mr. Irving, at the door-step, he held
+     my hand a few moments, and said:
+
+     'You know Henry Ward Beecher?'
+
+     'Yes,' I replied, 'he is an intimate friend.'
+
+     'I have never seen him,' said he, 'tell me how he looks.'
+
+     I described, in a few words, Mr. Beecher's personal appearance;
+     when Mr. Irving remarked:
+
+     'I take him to be a man always in fine health and cheery spirits.'
+
+     I replied that he was hale, vigorous, and full of life; that every
+     drop of his blood bubbled with good humor.
+
+     'His writings,' said Knickerbocker, 'are full of human kindness. I
+     think he must have a great power of enjoyment.'
+
+     'Yes,' I added, 'to hear him laugh is as if one had spilt over you
+     a pitcher of wine.'
+
+     'It is a good thing for a man to laugh well,' returned the old
+     gentleman, smiling. He then observed:
+
+     'I have read many of your friend's writings; he draws charming
+     pictures; he inspires and elevates one's mind; I wish I could once
+     take him by the hand.'
+
+     At which I instantly said:
+
+     'I will ask him to make you a visit.'
+
+     'Tell him I will give him a Scotch welcome; tell him that I love
+     him, though I never have seen his face.'
+
+     These words were spoken with such evident sincerity, that
+     Sunnyside will always have a sunnier place in my memory, because
+     of the old man's genial tribute to my dear friend.
+
+                                      I am ever yours,
+                                                THEODORE TILTON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following paragraph from the _Boston Traveller,_ contains a few
+facts well worth noting:
+
+     'The secession sympathizers in the North have two favorite dodges
+     for the service of their friends, the enemy. The first is, to
+     magnify the numbers of the rebel forces, placing them at 500,000
+     men, whereas they never have had above half as many men in the
+     field, all told, and counting negroes as well as white men. The
+     other is, to magnify the cost of the war on the side of the
+     Federalists. They tell us that our public war-debt, by the close of
+     the current fiscal year, June 30, 1862, will be $1,200,000,000,
+     (twelve hundred million dollars.) They know better than this, for
+     that debt will, at the date named, be not much above $620,000,000,
+     which would be no greater burden on the country than was that which
+     it owed in 1815, perhaps not so great a burden as that was. People
+     should not allow themselves to be frightened by the prophecies of
+     men who, if they could be sure of preserving slavery in all its
+     force, would care for nothing else.'
+
+It is always easy to make up a gloomy statement, and this has been done
+of late to perfection by the demo-secessionists among us. It is an easy
+matter to assume, as has been done, the maximum war expenditure for one
+single day, and say that it is the average. It is easy, too, to say that
+'You can never whip the South,' and point to Richmond 'bounce' in
+confirmation. It will all avail nothing. Slavery is going--of _that_
+rest assured--and the South is to be thoroughly Northed with new blood.
+_Delenda est Dixie._
+
+Our 'private' readers in the army--of whom we have enough, we are proud
+to say, to constitute a pretty large-sized public--may rest assured that
+accounts will not be settled with the South without very serious
+consideration of what is due to the soldier for his services 'in
+snatching the common-weal from the jaws of hell,' as the Latin memorial
+to Pitt, on the Dedham stone hath it. It has been said that republics
+are ungrateful; but in this instance the adage must fall to the ground.
+The soldier will be as much needed after the war, to settle the South,
+'North it,' and preserve the Union by his intellect and his industry, as
+he now is to reestablish it by his bravery.
+
+We find the following in the Boston _Courier_ of March 29th:
+
+     'Our attention has been called to a statement in the
+     _CONTINENTAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE_, to the effect, that certain
+     interesting 'Notes on the Gulf States,' which have recently
+     appeared in this paper were reproductions, with certain
+     alterations, of letters which were printed in the _Knickerbocker
+     Magazine_ several years ago. The statement made is not positive,
+     but made with such qualifications as might lead to the inference
+     that the comparison was not very carefully made. We can only
+     say, that we have had no opportunity to confer with our distant
+     correspondent, who handed us the whole series of 'Notes'
+     together, in manuscript, for publication; nor had we any reason
+     to believe that they were ever printed before, either in whole
+     or in part. We can say nothing further, until we know more about
+     the grounds for the intimation of the CONTINENTAL MONTHLY.'
+
+We were guarded in our statement, not having at hand, when we wrote the
+paragraph referred to, more than three or four numbers of the Courier
+containing the Gulf States articles, and not desiring to give the
+accusation a needlessly harsh expression, knowing well that the best
+informed editor may have at times old literary notes passed upon him for
+new ones. What we _do_ say, is simply that several columns of the
+articles which appeared as original in the Boston _Courier,_ were
+_literal reprints_ from a series which appeared in the _Knickerbocker_
+Magazine in 1847.
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+
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+Surveys, by the Committee on Inland Transportation of the Board of Trade
+of Philadelphia, and superbly engraved in the finest style of map
+making.
+
+The information for this map was recently obtained by A PERSONAL TOUR
+THROUGH THE SOUTH, as well as by the information given by THE PRESIDENT
+OF EVERY RAILROAD; the corrections make it COMPLETE TO THE PRESENT HOUR;
+and it gives so recent and such valuable facts concerning all the
+Railroads, that the War Department immediately authorized its
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+in issuing the map will occur, and subscribers can now be supplied at
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+
+In Sheets, Carefully Colored,                                  $1.00
+In Sheets, Carefully Colored, in a Neat Cloth Case,             1.50
+The Same,  Carefully Colored, Mounted on Muslin, Folded,        2.50
+  Do.      Carefully Colored, on Rollers, Varnished,            2.50
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+
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+
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+is of such universal interest. This is the ONLY MAP that has been
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+
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+and inlet, and is as correct as the large maps issued by the Coast
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+
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+of the best specimens of map engraving ever done in this country.
+
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+railroads are so distinctly marked as to show at a glance the most
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+
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+importance to his movements of the accurate information in regard to the
+Southern Railroads, conveyed in this map_."
+
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+BACHE, of the Coast Survey Department, as to the great accuracy of the
+coast line; and _one hundred extra copies ordered "to distribute among
+the Commanders of the Atlantic and Gulf Squadrons,"_ which have been
+furnished.
+
+While ADOPTED FOR ITS ACCURACY by the MILITARY AUTHORITIES, as has been
+stated, it is yet more especially a COMMERCIAL MAP, and was at first
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+undiminished when the war is over, and renewed attention is directed to
+that section.
+
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+INTELLIGENT MAN, is there any one who will be without it? particularly
+since its price has been made as low as that of inferior maps, in order
+to keep up with the times. We are constantly told by those who already
+have several of the maps rushed upon the public, that they have laid
+them aside and use only this one.
+
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+
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+
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+
+CLEAYTON NEWBOLD, _Vice-President_.
+CYRUS CURTISS, _President_.
+GEO. T. ELLIOT, JR., M.D., _Medical Examiner_.
+W.A. BREWER, Jr., _Sec'ty_.
+GEO. M. GRIGGS, _General Agent for the State of New-York_.
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+Read the following Notices from the Press:
+
+"It contains the most vivid and lifelike representation of a specimen
+family of poor South-Carolina whites we have ever read."--E.P. WHIPPLE,
+in the _Boston Transcript_.
+
+"It is full of absorbing interest."--_Whig_, Quincy, Ill.
+
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+Columbia, Pa.
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+embodying only facts"--C.C. HAZEWELL, in the _Traveller_, Boston.
+
+"A very graphic picture of life among the clay-eaters and
+turpentine-makers."--_Lorain News_, Oberlin, Ohio.
+
+"The author wields a ready and graphic pen."--_Times_, Armenia, N.Y.
+
+"There are passages in it of the most thrilling dramatic
+power."--_Journal_, Roxbury, Mass.
+
+"It is the best and most truthful sketch of Southern Life and Character
+we have ever read"--R. SHELTON MACKENZIE; in the _Press_, Philadelphia.
+
+"Has a peculiar interest just now, and deserves a wide
+reading."--_Dispatch_, Amsterdam, N.Y.
+
+"An intensely vivid description of things as they occur on a Southern
+Plantation"--_Union_ Lancaster, Pa.
+
+"The author is one of the finest descriptive writers in the
+country."--_Journal_, Boston, Mass.
+
+"It presents a vivid picture of Plantation Life, with something of the
+action of a character that is more than likely to pass from story into
+history before the cause of the Rebellion is rooted out."--_Gazette_,
+Taunton, Mass.
+
+"A most powerful production, which can not be read without exciting
+great and continued interest"--_Palladium_, New-Haven.
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+J.R. GILMORE,
+532 BROADWAY, NEW-YORK,
+And 110 TREMONT STREET, BOSTON
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+Orders from the Trade will be filled in the order in which they are
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+_THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY._
+
+PUBLISHER'S NOTICE.
+
+THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY Has passed its experimental ordeal, and stands
+firmly established in popular regard. It was started at a period when
+any new literary enterprise was deemed almost foolhardy, but the
+publisher believed that the time had arrived for just such a Magazine.
+Fearlessly advocating the doctrine of ultimate and gradual Emancipation,
+for the sake of the UNION and the WHITE MAN, it has found favor in
+quarters where censure was expected, and patronage where opposition only
+was looked for. While holding firmly to its _own opinions_, it has
+opened its pages to POLITICAL WRITERS _of widely different views_, and
+has made a feature of employing the literary labors of the _younger_
+race of American writers. How much has been gained by thus giving,
+practically, the fullest freedom to the expression of opinion, and by
+the infusion of fresh blood into literature, has been felt from month to
+month in its constantly increasing circulation.
+
+The most eminent of our Statesmen have furnished THE CONTINENTAL many of
+its political articles, and the result is, it has not given labored
+essays fit only for a place in ponderous encyclopedias, but fresh,
+vigorous, and practical contributions on men and things as they exist.
+
+It will be our effort to go on in the path we have entered, and as a
+guarantee of the future, we may point to the array of live and brilliant
+talent which has brought so many encomiums on our Magazine. The able
+political articles which have given it so much reputation will be
+continued in each issue, and in this number is commenced a new Serial by
+Richard D. Kimball, the eminent author of the 'Under-Currents of
+Wall-Street,' 'St. Leger,' etc., entitled,
+
+
+_WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?_
+
+An account of the Life and Conduct of Hiram Meeker, one of the leading
+men in the mercantile community, and 'a bright and shining light' in the
+Church, recounting what he did, and how he made his money. This work
+which will excel the previous brilliant productions of this author.
+
+The UNION--The Union of ALL THE STATES--that indicates our politics. To
+be content with no ground lower than the highest--that is the standard
+of our literary character.
+
+We hope all who are friendly to the spread of our political views, and
+all who are favorable to the diffusion of a live, fresh, and energetic
+literature, will lend us their aid to increase our circulation. There is
+not one of our readers who may not influence one or two more, and there
+is in every town in the loyal States some active person whose time might
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+GENERAL AGENT.
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+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. VI,
+June, 1862, by Various
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