P H I L I P H. SMITH, Editor and Proprietor. "RATIONAL tNTEOMITT MUST BE HELD PARAMOUNT TO PARTY ADVANTAGE." TERMS—12.00 a Year, St ranee.

VOL. II. —

PAWLING, DUTCHESS CO., N. Y., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1871.

T U B FIKST FHOST.

'I in; birch hath shed her purple leaves, the oak its crown of red, ~

The elm her russet robe hath doiTd,hcr houghs are bare and dead;

Dead to our eyes until they wear the tender green of spring,

Aud bud agtta, when through the wood the throstle's love-notes ring.

II.

The old yew dons his winter coat, of dark and sbiuing green, »

The holly, too, is clothed anew «lth bright and glossy sheen ;

And on their houghs the silver rime hangs feathery crystals rare,

That glow and gleam like orient geuis set in thc.l'Foaty air. . -

A III.

The hoar-frost lies upon the grass, aud tints the blackthorn hedge, »

Its white snow tips the bending reeds and lin­gers on the sedge;

The robin's pipe rlugs from the ash, with thrilling* shrill and clear,

As in sweet mellow notes he chants the re-quium of the year.

IV.

The earth is bound in iron bonds, her bosom hard and cold,

'1 hat bosom in whose warm depths He rich veins of summer gold;

"~TlrcTe-»faarr-b*rrtreasure re*t4iwlule, tilLfftrth. the snow-drops peep,

And, like a.giaat all refresh'd, she wakes from wtRter-slcep.

—English Society.

MRS. WIMBUSH'S REVENGE.

*

ll

A Mlory in Six Chapter*.

CHAPTER I.

Poor Mrs. Marrables! So young, too —only six and thirty—and very little the worse for wear, A widow with the bloom of youth still upon her cheeks (spiteful people who aged faster went so far as to say Mrs. Marrablos's bloom was like the manna of the Israelites—" new every morning "—but this was malice), flaxen hair, gray blue eyes; a small-boned woman with a downy skin; and a figure just plump and no more, which would wear forever without* spreading to obesity or criddHng up into wrinkles She had a daughter of eighteen, named Matilda, less young in proportion to her years than herself. I t is no affectation to say that the two women would pass anywhere for sisters—Mrs. Marrables as the elder by at most four or five years. A stranger would really be incredulous as to the relationship between them be­ing that oiSnother and daughter. Such a mistake, when it is made in favor of a woman who is old and looks it, is said to be not unpleasant to the omnivorous appetite for flattery developed in some of the sex by-advancing years; but to Mrs. Marrables it was most embarrass­ing. She was not old—she did not look i t ; and the explanation involved made the stranger suspect her of being older than she really was. B a t for this, Mrs. Marrabtgj might have been^ married long before. She was nover invited out without her daughter; and whenever any eligible gentleman began to pay her the slightest attention, some dear friend or other would be certain to whisper:

"That is Matilda's mother;" and of course there was an end of i t

I t must not be concealed that mother and daughter did not " hit i t " very well together. Mrs. Marrables resented °her daughter's very existence, while Matilda could not but be scandalized at having so youthful a mother. It was plain to Mrs. Marrables that, in order to her own success in life, her daughter must be got rid of. People who arrive at such a determination in novels, too often re-Hort to crime to remove a person from their path. But Mrs. Marrables went to church twice every Sunday. At last she married Matilda out of her way to one Mr. Wimbdsh, a most respectable retired corn merchant of 'Highgate. Poor Mrs. Marrables! How basely did Matilda return her kindness. Twelve months after her marriage, everybody read in the Timet, " The wife of Jethro Wimbush, Esq., of * daughter." This was too much. A grandmother at thir­ty-s ix! A youthful, ringing, waltzing grandmother, whose very youthfulnett, taken into conjunction with a not un­natural desire to get married again, be­came a reproach in the eyes of all right-thinking people.

" My dear, she is a grandmother," wo­men would say to one another; "and how deceitful of her i t is to look so young."

"Carries three generations remarka­bly well," said the men; " but you know, old fellow, she must be jolly old."

CHAPTER II.

Seventeen years passed away, and .still Mrs. Marrables, to the. scandal of everybody, wwi as young as ever, or nearly so, to all appearance, and as sin­gle as over. In years she was fifty-three, and of course ought to have dressed for the part. But her whole manners, feel­ing, and appearance were in ludicrous defiance of her years, and seemed palpa­bly to refute them. Had she done any­thing in her youth, people whispered, and was it a punishment f Was she a Wandering Jewess? How could she wear flaxen hair and a chignon at her time of life? I t was indecent, improper, scandalous! She might at least take to caps, with a gray front, and cork-screw ringlets, and a piece of narrow black velvet across her forehead, for the sake of decorum. Then look at the way she dressed ! Always in the fashion, stream­ing up the church aisles on a Sunday, set­t l ing her silks and laces and ribbons like a girl. As for her complexion, I heard one lady say:

" BIAM you, it isn't paint, and it can­not be enamel. I've tried both, and know how little wear there hi in either. The woman is petrified, or else em­balmed. I'm sure of it, for the uses nothing but violet powder."

Mrs. Marrables, or as she was com­monly, called, Mrs. Evergreen, was not even engaged. There teemed a settled conviction in the minds of eligible suit­ors that since a man may not marry hit own grandmother, the golden rule of " do unto others " ought to forbid them from marrying other people's grand­

mothers. Bi sides, what a horrible thing it was that the woman wouldn't grow old! It must be wicked, if 'twas real.

Mrs. Marrables never forgave Matilda for making her a grandmother. But Matilda did not repeat the offence. Mr. Wimbush died, leaving his widow a re­spectable maintenance for herself and child. The child, Carry Wimbush, had put short dresses to shame when she was twelve. She ran up like a scarlet-run­ner. She ran right,through by express from childhood to womanhood, without stopping at the intermediate station of girldom. At seventeen she was a grown woman of mature""expericnce< who had given up flirting for love, along with her other playthings, and was ready calmly to discuss an offer of marriage on the basis of its affording a good strategical position in the battle of life.

Here, therefore, we have Mrs. Wiin-bu*h, a comely widow, with a daughter somewhat prematurely developed, on the one hand, and with a mother persist­ently juvenile and evergreen on the oth­er. Mrs. Wimbush and her daughter Carry living together in Whittington Lodge, Highgate; Mrs. Marrables, the youthful and the ungrandmotherly, dwelling by herself at Taunton, and de­voting her time to collecting subscrip­tions for charitable objects, not forget­ting her own rents. Mrs. Wimbush sel­dom—corresponded*-with her mother. They were on the best of terms now, yet, by a sort of tacit understanding, each pursued the even tenor of her way, very rarely exchanging ecstacies by post.

In the spring of 186S, Mrs. Wimbush shut up her house in Highgate, and came with her daughter to Bourne­mouth, where Rhe hired a villa. Many of her friends were staying at Bourne­mouth ; and through the assistance of parties, of jaunts, and picnics and balls, she made a great many more. Among these, the Brookshanks must be specially noticed as particularly involved in this brief history.

Old Brookshank (so everybody called him), a cheerful old person on the shady side of sixty, was very rich, but very unpresentable, in the eyes of the rather rigid society of the place. He had made bis money by the invention of a patent medicine, familiar to us all by the name of Brookshank's Infallible Ointment. It brought him no end of money. But although he lived in a grand house in a fashionable watering-place, he was still sole proprietor of the Infallible Oint­ment, and his London manufactory and depot was yet in full working, with " Brookshank " ove4|fee door, and pic­tures of people withsore limbs all over the windows. All this society might have winked at—might have admitted him within its doors upon sufferance, and pretended never to wake to the no­tion of a " stranger present in the gal­lery." % But the worst of old Brookshank was that, not content with living on ointment, he talked ointment always, and puffed i t everywhere. It was not hypocrisy ; the man believed in it, heart

sion to alleviate the woes of mankind, at thirteen pence half-penny the b o x ; and be meant it. He believed in all bis testimonials—more devoutly than the Writers could have done. He was con­scientiously of opinion that his oint­ment was, as he said, " good for mortal complaint, inside or out." He carried bills with him everywhere, and dis­tributed them as zealously as though they had been tracts. " Shall F cease,' said he, " whilst a single fellow-creature suffers agony that I can cure ?" Society could not stand this; for the man would have distributed his bills in every ball­room and every soiree, and never rested till each guest was supplied with a pic­ture of bad legs and a string of testi­monials. He believed in his mission at much as Mohammed did. He said he had committed many sins in his lifetime, but he trusted the good his ointment had done to suffering humanity might be taken into account when they were reckoned up. The ointment was his creed—the ointment his extreme unc tion.

Brookshank's sister kept his house; a little, faded old maid, who believed in him as much as he did in himself; who would move softly in his presence, from a reverent regard for the great healer of the people; who would place his last published testimonials in her hymn book, and read them on Sundays with every appearance of devoutness—offer­ing up thanks from her simple heart for the good works he had beon enabled to do. Brookshank had two sons, both getting on toward middle age. Thomas, the eldest, a surgeon with a capital practice, used to declare that half his cases among the poor were those of peo­ple suffering from the effects of the In­fallible Ointment; though, of course, he only said so to tease his aunt. His brother, Charles, was a lawyer of good position and good circumstances. Nei­ther was married; people taid they were not marrying men. What blun­ders people make, sometimes, on this1

score I

CHAPTER Ilf.

It is strange what an impression Mrs. Wimbush seemed to make upon these two men. She met them everywhere, and the attentions they paid her were plainly marked by something warmer than politeness. Presents, too—flowers and hothouse fruit—found their way, both from Mr. Tom and Mr. Charles, to the widow's table. Of the two, Mr. Tom was by far the most in earnest. Yet she, feared to encourage either, and for some time preserved an attitude of strict neutrality between the rival powers, and could conscientiously report that she was on terms of the closest friendship with each of the bel­ligerents : the fact being that the key of her impartiality was lets a matter of sentiment than a desire to ascertain the relative standing of the two brothers in the eyes of their father with regard to future contingencies.

It was not long before she had an opportunity of satisfying herself on this point. The sincere admiration she pro ftssed for the Infallible Ointment made old Brookshank's sister her sincere friend for life, and Mrs. Wimbush be­came a visitor at the big house. She

soon found that ol,d Brookshank had a bad opinion of his eldest son, Tom. Partly, jealousy of a man who professed the art of healing as derived from books, • and expressed skepticism as to the in- ' spiration of the ointment, and partly distrust of a man who might find out its sacred ingrediauts, and hold them up to public derision, contributed to this bad opinion. Tom was a heretic, and an unbeliever in the Brookshank creed— a scoffer at the best authenticated testi­monials—and held the government stamp in open contempt. Charles was not so. Hard man of law though he was, he consumed quantities of the ointment, or professed to do so, and al­ways said it did him good. Mrs. Wim­bush would talk ointment by the hour, with old Brookshank, and consequently became a great favorite, besides getting the credit for being a most discriminat­ing woman. The old man would even go so far as to show her his unpublished testimonials, and produce great bundles of letters in praise of himself and his mpdicine. These the widow would pe­ruse with an exhibition of rapt interest, which was certainly very edifying. Working on the confidence so obtained, she gathered very clearly that ,the younger son would most likely come in for the largest share of the unguent property. That being satisfactorily as­certained* Mrs-.—Wimbush warmed; per­ceptibly in her manner toward Mr. Charles, the lawyer, and froze in the J same proportion in the aspect she pre­sented to Mr. Tom, the doctor. The result was something of an enstrange-meht between the brothers. Tom felt the treatment, but determined to know his fate. He came to the widow's house, and, with a very little preface, made her an offer—plump.

" Really, Mr. Tom," said Mrs. Wim­bush, " you entirely surprise me. Sure­ly I can have given you no encourage­ment to—to hope—that"

" Mrs. Wimbush," said Mr. Tom, " we are neither of us chickens, (the widow winced,) although doubtless, 1 am a good deal the older of the two. I am not sentimental, nor romantic, so par­don my plan Speaking. With regard to encouragement, you have given me quite enough to justify my putting the question—not enough, perhaps, to war­rant my expecting a favorable answer. The plain question is: Will you marry rae, Tom Brookshank, M. D., aged forty-two ? — a man, although I say it, who won't make a bad husband, as husbands do." i The widow looked, down, and twisted her handkerchief around her fingers, plaiting it in knots upon her lap, but did not reply.

Mr. Tom looked into his hat, and then out of the window. Then he said: "Pardon me; am I too late? Is there a prior attachment ?"

Without venturing a reply in speech, Mrs. Wimbush bowed her head.

Mr. Tom slowly gathered together his hat, his stick, and hit gloves, and went out. " Confound4ba4^bgotb4>r-oLmine^'.. said he to himself, when he got into the street. " Always supplanting me."

OHArTER IV.

It was a large pic-nic party. Mr. Charles Brookshank had drawn Mrs. Wimbush's arm through his own, and strolled away from the rest.

" How delightful it would be if one could know the language of birds, as folks did in the old Hindoo fairy tales! Would it not Mr. Brookshank ?"

" My dear Mrs. Wimbush, they do nothing the whole day long but make love and cry'Sweet , sweet!' I would I were a bird, to make love in music."

The widow sighed, but i t was more like the purr of pleasure.

" What did I know of love till you came here?" continued Mr. Charles. " Absolutely nothing—except," he ad­ded with reservation, " in a professional way. And then the lawyers generally see the dark side of the picture—the damages and decrees nisi. But .your visit has brightened' my whole life. O Mrs. Wimbush, you cannot have been blind to my secret! You have seen i t written legibly in my face, and have not interposed to check its development. I see you understand me, just as by in­tuitive fine feeling you can penetrate the meaning of Mendelssohn's songs without the words. Mrs. Wimbush, you have already far advanced toward learning the birds' language. I may rely upon your consent ?"

" Charles, this happiness is indeed too much'" ejaculated the widow.

" Yon need never be separated from your daughter Carry. A home for one is a home for both; and I will cherish her while I live."

" But, Charles dear, the may marry." " Marry, ma'am ? Bless my soul, of

course she wil l ! She will marry m e ! She hat said so, don't yon see r"

Mrs. Wimbush never said another word, but fell flat down upon the grass.

" What on earth has got the woman ?" thought Mr. Charles. "She couldn't have taken it worse if I had proposed to murder her daughter."

In their walk they had strayed through the trees close to the outskirts of another pic-nic party. Mr. Charles immediate­ly ran to ask some fair volunteer to come to the assistance of Mrs Wimbush, who had fainted. At hearing the name, an active middle-aged lady sprang up and followed him. I t was Mrs. Marrables. The sight of her mother brought Mrs. Wimbush round quicker than any smel­ling-bottle could have done. She sat up.

" Mother,Mr. Brookshank; Mr.Brook­shank, my mother, Mrs. Marrables." They bowed. "Have the goodness to leave us together, Mr. Charles." H e bowed and obeyed. "Mother," said Mrs. Wimbush, " what on earth brought you here? I thought you were at Taunton."

" No, dear. I have been at Bourne­mouth three weeks. I came merely for change. Only last week I heard of your being here, and should have called, but have been to much occupied, and I felt tura of meeting yon somewhere, and thought surprise might be the more agreeable. We've have had a inert de­lightful pio-nic with the Moontstewart folks. Bat what it all this fainting about?

One would think that Mr. Brookshank nad been proposing to you." ' " He certainly made me a proposal,

mother, but I was quite unprepared for it, and was overcome."

"What an imaginative and sensitive-minded girl you must be, Matilda! You make me feel quito young. When will you be old enough to attend to business ? You wi l l accept him, of omirse ? Well, do as you please; you may reckon on my consent, you know. But I must gat back to my party, and perhaps you had better rejoin yours. Ta-ta!" - Jilted for her daughter! It wasn't pleasant. When Mrs. Win bush got home, sho blew tip Carry^for being so sly.

" Well, mamma,"said Carry, "of course I thought you knew all about it. I never made any secret of the affair. I knew very well that you had rejected Mr. Tom, but I could ncij possibly sup­pose that was any reason why I should refuse Charles. Of course, he is older than I am, but he is only five-and-thirty, and has a good position; and I am sure we shall always give you a wel­come ; Charles said so."

"Well," thought Mrs. Wimbush. "he has money, and it will be all in the family; that's at least a comfort."

CHAPTER V.

rou! You make low . that your ig to marry my in some sort re-

bear you to think

The effect of the little episode of the last chapter was that the brothers were made friends, and Tom recovered his spirits, and could laugh heartily at what he had before supposed was his brother's rivalry.

Mrs. Wimbush repented that she had rejected Mr. Tom. Her repentance pro­duced a salutary desire on her part to make atonement for the past. She would have him yet. When a widow says so much as that about a man let " ware hawk."

A month went by, and behold Mrs. Wimbush and Mr. Tom Brookshank seated tete-a-tete at an evening party, where the music which was going on was sufficiently loud to render private conversation inaudible save to those to whom it was addressed.

" I fear," said the widow, affecting'an absent manner, " I treated you very un­kindly, Mr. Tom. You took me so en­tirely by surprise, that, really, I—hardly know what I said. I have been very unhappy about it—very."

" Forgotten and forgiven," whispered Mr. Tom.

" H o w generous of me so glad—bei brother Charles is g daughter—we shall' lated, and I could hot unkindly of me."

" No," said Mr. Tom, fidgeting a lit­tle ; " I shall never do that.'

" H o w droll!" said the widow. " Let me see, what will the relationship be ? You will be my son-in-law's brother, and consequently I shall be your mother-in-law once removed."*^You will have a mother younger than yourself, I hope you will not presume upon her youth to be a bad boy."

" All this is very true," he answered ; " but I see the relationship in a far dif­ferent light. I shall be your father-in-law, and consequently my own brother's grandfather-in-law."

" You mistake, Mr. Tom. Don't you see that if Carry "

" N o mistake at all about it, ma'am, for I've promised to marry your mother, Mrs. Marrables!"

" Monster!" cried Mrs.Wimbush aloud, and went off shrieking.

The music stopped, and there was a great fuss. But above all the others was heard the voice of Mrs. Marrables. "Don't be alarmed, pray. She is sub-ject to i t ; she went off just like-it the other day at a picnic. Poor young thing, a very little upsets her. Let me come to my little ga ma, then."

They moved her into another room. Presently Mrs. Wimbush opened her eyes. "Mother! how dare you come near me ! Go away, do! You ought to be ashamed of yourself at your time of life!"

" M y time of life! Why, I'm only fifty-four—about ten years older than Tom. How can you talk so to your mother!"

" Mother, if you don't leave the room, I will. It's really disreputable to have you for a mother. You've never done me any credit."

" M y dear, I am so*glad to think you feel well enough to leave the room, that I will remain."

Mrs. Wimbush got up and went home.

• P f ^ B WAR SKETCHES.

THE SITUATION OF STRA8BURO.

A letter from Strasburg in the AUge-mdne Zeitung states that the library i-daily receiving handsome presents 01 books, and that aCohteB+B savant, wlyos.-only son fell before Metz, has bequeath­ed to it a large and valuable collection. tlo.it, of the post, omce officials havt

been superseded by Germans. An ordei aas been issued subjecting all male in­habitants of Alsace between 17 and 40 years of age to supervision, on account of so manv having left to join the Frt-nch army. Whoover secretly leaves his home without permission will be sub­ject to a fine, and if necessary to arrest, together with his relatives Three more, persons have been arrested on the charge of promoting J recruiting, and four on account of seditious language. A few days ago a lady at Strasburg gratified her neighbors by singing the MarseMaixe for some hours at a stretch, but she was arrested for her pains. The collections for the French prisoners in Germany are continued, but are not, as may be sup­posed, after what the town has gone through, very productive. Strangers are ordered to report themselves to the police, in default of which they will be liable to a heavy fine.

—" - FROM IX*ID-I:. .PATHS .

CHAPTER VI.

Jilted, first for her daughter, and next for her mother! This was too much. Mrs. Wimbush went to church as regu­lar at any one, but revenge, after all is very sweet. i

Six weeks afterward, Mrs. Wimbush recovered sufficient fortitude to go and call on her mother.

" Well, child, I'm glad you are going to be friendly; there is nothing like harmony in a family circle. Let us consider the relationships into which we are about to enter, that we may rightly judge of our responsibilities and duties. I and my grand-daughter are going to marry two brothers—the consequence is, she and I wil l be sisters-in-law. But as you are mother to my sister-in-law, you will nearly be my mother-in-law, which is a very singular relationship lor a daughter to sustain toward her mother, especially when she is not the wife of one't father-in-law. Now, as "

" Wait a moment, dear mamma; I've news for y o u ; I'm going to marry old Unguent ! Old Mr. Brookshank has asked me t^ be his wife, and I've con­sented. The consequence is, I shall be the head of the family and bona jiA* mother-in-law to you all. 1 don't think we need trouble about harmony, for we shall be a united family, more so than any I know of."

Before her marriage Mrs. Marrables set to work to draw up a table of rela­tionships involved by the three wed­dings. It it an extensive work in three volumes; and when our readers tee The Brookshank Family ndvtrtited they will know what it means.

A Paris letter of the 1.5th, published in a Geneva paper says : " Since the 3d we have had only a pound of horseflesh for five persons for three days, making 30 grammes per head daily. Formerly we could supplement our rations by pur­chase, but nothing is now to be got at any price. For variety, salted codfish is served out for three days, and salt her­rings for three days. The butchers' shops are only opened every third day. Fresh vegetables are at an enormous price, and a fine cabbage costs 5f. Milk is only to be had for children. Our usual fare consists of beans, rice and a few .pota­toes."

A letter from an English printer em­ployed at one of the Paris newspaper of­fices, addressed to his wife in England, states that he has during 20 days only received four ouuees of meat, and that he has been obliged to support.himself by the use of some olive oil which he had by him.

Experiments have recently been made at Paris with a new navigable balloon. The steering apparatus, which is of a complicated character and is attached to an ordinary balloon, consists of two sets of small wings, which the reronaut puts in motion. The trials were made with a small balloon, and appeared sat­isfactory. They will shortly be repeat­ed on a larger scale.

The Lomlon Time* says: A lady has favorved us with the following letter, dated the 17th inst., and received by bal­loon post from a friend in Paris whose husband and father are both taking part in the defence <>f th« <ity : " I tan-not tell you how cheerfully the people of

They remain, moreover, quite resolved to hold out as long as there is a mouthful of bread. U p to the present time we are in want of nothing absolutely nec­essary. People are beginning to appre­ciate horseflesh, and to be pleased when the Government orders any to be dis­tributed at the butchers' shops. Some­times, instead of meat, rice and salt her­rings are served out. Nobody grumbles, and i t ought to make the Prussians re­flect to see how the French (sprit helps us to endure patiently all kinds of pri­vations. When the time comes for us to have nothing but dry bread, people will season it with a lion mot, and will fancy they have had a good dinner. Let us hope, however, that before then the Provinces will have succeeded in putting on a good footing the armies which they are preparing, and that the fortune of war may again be tried. If nothing should succeed, and we are obliged to submit to the law of the stronger, we shall at least have the consciousness of having amply fulfilled our duty ; honor, at least, will be preserved. Let us, how­ever, have confidence, for it is impossible that Providence should not bestow a glance on us and enable us to take our revenge. You can form no idea of the tranquillity which prevails in Paris. It might be thought a small country town of 2,000 souls, and at 8 p. it., not a sound is heard, unless that of the cannon, which with its harsh voice, reminds us that we are surrounded by enemies. I think without the cannon we should entirely forget that we aro besieged, people get to easily,accustomed to overything here."

GARIISAMH IN WSORACE.

The French provincial papers speak of Garibaldi's resignation or dismissal as imminent. The Libert* says: " The Gari-baldian corps are losing prestige daily. They exchange more speeches and let­ters with such and such a municipality than bullets and bombs with the enemy. Their •fflcers, moreover, are accused of indulging in too much luxury when simple volunteers are in want of neces­saries. Everybody remarks that war can be made on the Prussians without all this theatrical ornamentation, which contrasts strangely with our public mis­fortunes. Added to this eclat on the part of Garibaldi's Staff is the little affa­bility shown to simple patriots without laced uniforms who wish to give them good advice." On the other hand, the France, though unfriendly to Garibaldi, publishes a letter from a volunteer, who states that the failure of the attack on Dijon was owing to Garibaldi's French troops abandoning him. Mobiles and Francs-Tireurs frankly told him this, and added that this would always hap­pen, as they did not l iki serving under the orders of a foreign Veneral. He adds an indignant comment on the in­famy of preferring a foreign yoke to the glory of repulsing the invader with tne assistance of an honest and loyal sol­dier.

A norELEHS ricrtmg. The Bordeaux correspondent of the

Vienna Preue says: I taw yesterday a striking illustration of the state of things existing under the present Gov­ernment—a company of the highett state officials and distinguished person­

ages rushed with the greatest eagerness upou a new arrival of foreign papers (the Cologne Gazette, the Presse, aud tht Times,) not in order to learn how the enemy described their own petition, but to ascertain what had really happened to the Army of the Loire during the previous week. Nobody now knows this except Gambetta since he has been trav­elling Minister, and only allows the transmission of what he thinks pritoer. Cremieux, Chaudordy, and Fduric. are treated to an equally spare di Gambetta having become an unco: trolled despot: It is, however, more" and more difficult to disguise the hope­less picture which already presents itself plainly in sombre colors, and people are perceiving their real position. To ar­rest themarcn of the enemy, in order to deprive him of the advantages gained again at Orleans, and to continue the movement on Paris commenced on the 1st, has now become quite impractica­ble. Not only have the* losses in guns and men become very considerable, but the troops have again lost all confidence,-seldom make a stand, and have become with their defective organization quite unmanageable. As to the state of things here, 1 can assure you that the opiniou of the better classes inclines very much to ideas of peace, though the newspapers still blow the war trumpet, and the ex­ternal-aspect is quite warlike, ."" __

AN EPISODE OF THE LAST SORTIE.

The London Daily Newt's correspond­ent with the Saxon army writes: I am almost certain that I heard the crashing of the shells into Le Bourgut; every mo­ment I saw the flash and smoke of their explosion. With hardly an exception, every gun had the range well; and how it was possible for anything to live in the place, passes my comprehension. But certain it is that there was in it Von Altroch's battalion of the Queen Eliza­beths, in the cellars it may be, or behind the thick walls, but there sure enough, as the French infantry would have found out had they ventured on the attack. Several times it seemed as if this was coming. Once three battalions threw themselves into as many columns—just to the right of Courneuve, and made a start. 1 could see the officers out in the front. There was one man on a white horse, it might have been Ducrot him­self, who was ubiquitous—now canter­ing right out beyond everything, now wheeling and halting, as if making a speech to encourage the advance. They came on very steadily for about a quar­ter of a mile, then thfey slowed, and finally halted. The offifter on the white horse seemed to go frantic; he dashed hither and thither with desperate ener­gy. Once or twice he rode right into one battalion, then came scouring round the rear, no doubt to stay the falling off. But all was. of no use. He could not get his fellows' steam up. A few shells came flying over Le Bourget and burst under their noses. There was one sharp bicker of musketry out*from behind a barricade by Le Bourget railway sta-

That was von Altruch

MISCELLANEOUS I'll

Mrs. Partington is collejj crats, and will be grateful! imeus of the handwriting i ed characters.

Tom—" I say, Jack, wl complexion Miss Smith know her ? Jack—" No rirl who buys her coo same store."

A Western paper des of a young orator, says |

e ice felicitously with * aln

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itiful you

a ,e

(debut broke

tng and Fed with

was carrying in a paper, the

gtvmg-tongue, and when the Queen Elizabeths bark they also bite. The battalions went about, the white horseman bring­ing up the rear at a slow walk, as if marching to the funeral of his honor, and they blended again with the long fixed line.

THE PRIVATIONS OF WAR.

There are certain articles upon which there is a run, writes the London Times correspondent with the German Army of the Loire, and which are never to be obtained in a town through which an army has passed. These are especially sugar, cheese, candles, chocolate, and gloves. Coffee, bread, meat, and forage are served out from the military stores; milk, butter, and eggs are unknown as articles of diet. Tea is always to be bought at the chemists', but i t does not seem popular with the army. Wine, on the contrary, is in great demand; and there is a tolerable run on soap. Boots and shoes are not to be had for love or money, and nearly all the tobacco smoked by the army has to be imported from Germany. The people of the coun­try have long been deprived of this lux­ury, and as soon as their confidence in •he new comers begins to be a little re­stored they beg for cigars and snuff. Men who hav«? beon hard smokers all their lives have, owing to the Hohenzol-lern nomination, been deprived for many weeks of this essential ingredient to their daily happiness, nor can those whose habits enable them to sympathize in this deprivation wonder that tfiey should at last become indifferent to the fate of Alsace and Lorraine. Indeed, I have been assured by some that they never throughout recognized the horrors of war, and realized the enormity of its criminality, until their tobacco was stopped. So various and subtle are the methods by which a man's moral sense may be reached.

Tanning Alligators,' Hides,

An exchange says there is a tannery in Roxbury, Mass., for the tanning of alligators' hides, which, when properly tanned, make an exceedingly tough and elastic quality of leather, said to be al-mostimpervious to water. The first at­tempt made to utilize the hides of the reptile by making them into leather for boots, dates back about fifteen years, and was undertaken by two French Brothers, in New Orleans, who, however, did ifbt make a good article, and failed during the war, when the establishment was transferred to Roxbury. Green hides of the alligator are purchased at New Orleans and along the coast of Florida, all of which find their way to the Roxbury tannery, where they un­dergo a long and expensive tanning process, requiring eight months for its completion, during which they are han­dled regularly every week. The skins of the yonng animals, only, are availa­ble, as, after maturity, the hide becomes horny and valueless.

Never cheW your words. Open the mouth and let the words come out. A student once asked, " Can virchu, forti-chude, gratichude, or qoiechude dw,ell with that man who it a strsrojgtr to rM-tiohude r**

__ n many pointtTof view, a singuH?r»Fefiection of periodical litera­ture. For instance, I t comes out in sheets, and when a sufficient quantity i t issued, it is collected into'volumes; Dut how many Bheets of water make a vol­ume, it is difficult to say.

There is an improbable story that a New Jersey hen mislaid an egg, when another hen set on it, and the original hen recognized the chicken after it was hatched. The setting hen claimed a " fowl," but the umpire has not given his decision.

Some one speaking probably by au­thority says that the women in Detroit have feet like raisin boxes, a n d are. ashamed to buy shoes at home, ordering them usually from the prairies of the West, where leather is cheap and where there iR plenty of room to manufacture them.

A Cedar Rapids, Iowa, man, lately lost a pocket-book containing about thirty iollars. It was found by a neighbor to whom he sent a note telling him to keep " what he thought was right," on ac­count of finding it, and send him the rest. The finder returned five dollars.

A Hartford man who home some ice cream other day, held it up in a crowded car so that it melted in a gently meandering stream, which coursed down a one hun­dred and fifty dollar velvet cloak worn by a lady passenger. I t ruined the cloak, and the man said he was sorry.

There was a large amount of viluable practical philosophy in the remark of the gambler who recalled his compan­ions' attention to the business in hand, whenever they fell to discussing what might have been if certain cards had been differently used, with the remark, " Look here, gen'lemen, thar t int no use a-playm' post mortem hands."

A boy at Mount Pleasant, Iowa* »a» sitting up with a sick mother, when she asked him to give her the medicine the doctor prescribed. He was btisy read­ing a novel, so he gave her a dose out of the first bottle he came to, to save time, as he was interested in finding out how the hero got along. The mother was borne to the silent tomb the next day, but tho boy finished the novel the nig_ht before.

Tiu> Chinese custom of substitution in death penalties, it is said, was employed in the punishment of the Tien-tain assassins. The Chinese arrested a few of the meaner criminals, carefully al­lowed all the rest to escape, and filled up the list of victims with substitutes, who were quite, ready to suffer decapita­tion in consideration of about $750 apiece paid to their families.

A New York correspondent writes: The other day the front door of the New York 1'ribune office had to be closed for some purpose. So Horace Greeley wrote on a piece of paper, "Entrance on Spruce Street," and sent i t down to a man who does the printing of the bulle­tins to be copied. The man studied over Horace's tracks all the forenoon, and finally, in despair, wrote "Editors on a Spree," and posted it up. The pas­sers-by thought the circumstance was not unusual, but wondered why it should be posted up so conspicuously.

Mr. Wilson has introduced in the Sen­ate a bill to provide for an examination as to competency for the higher grades of clerks in the Executive Department. It prohibits their removal from office without just cause, and the levying of political assessments upon them, and provides also that they shall not take an active part in politics. If a law of this . kind could be enacted and faithfully carried out, the character of the public service would, undoubtedly, be greatly elevated and improved.

Col. Baxter, of Tennessee, having a considerable amount of character to dis­pose of, managed to get himself libelled. He has brought suit against the follow­ing papers and persons: Nashville Ban­ner for $50,000; Union and American, $50,-000; Athens Post, $50,000; Sweetwater Enterprise, $50,000; Whig and Register, $50,000; Prettand Herald, $50,000; Jos­eph A. Mabry, $40,000. If Col Baxter gets paid for the amounts of his damages ho will have $350,000.

List week the engineer of a train on the Boston and Albany road, having run down a market wagon, stopped the train at, soon as possible to learn the re­sult of the accident. Upon dismounting and looking on the platform connected with tho cosreatcher, he found a respect­able looking man, Well muffled up, with a bag of oats and a tub of butter by bis side, sitting very composedly, apparent­ly on his way to market! He was not hurt in tho least, though hit team was made into kindling wood.

I t is related by an ettimable and very pious lady in New Orleans that on her way to Sabbath school one bright sun­shiny Sunday morning the taw several boys, one of whom was a newsboy, seated in a doorway playing cards; one of them was a Sunday school toholar of the lady. She stopped and insitted that they should accompany her to church. After some persuasion the three eldest content­ed ; but the youngest, a lad of tome six years, persittontlf refuted. "Why won't yon come, my boy ?" said the lady; " it ts very wrong of yon to refute." «• Bat I don t want to go." » Why. what it the reason?" The impatience of the little fellow waxed desperate, and in an indig­nant voice he exclaimed, his hands fall of cards: " Wonld yon go to Saaday tobool with a hand full of tramps like thfttP

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Thomas M. Tryniski 309 South 4th Street Fulton New York 13069

www.fultonhistory.com