BY S. J. KOW.
CLEARFIELD, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1861.
VOL. 8.AT0. 17.
THE BEAVE AT BEST.
How sleep the brave who sink to rest.
"With all their country wishes blest.
When spring, with dewy fingers cold,
.Returns to deck their hallowod mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod,
Than fancy's feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands their knell is rung,
Br form unseen their dirge is sung ;
There honor cornea, a pilgrim grey,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay,
And freedom shall awhile repair,
.X d if ell a weeping there.
-OENEKAL M'CLELLATTS DREAM.
"The following Is from the pen of Wesley Brad
ihaw. Edq ...and makes a fitting companion to
'Washington's Vision," which sketch, written
by the siune author, at the commencement of
our Natiwaal difficulties, was widely copied by
the press, and commended by Hon. Ed ward Er
erett, as "teaching a highly important lesson to
very true lover of his country :"
Two o'clock of the third i ight after General
McClcllan'a arrival in Washington to take com
mand of the United States army, found that
justly celebrated soldier pouring over several
inapt and reports of scouts. As the hour came
toiling through tho night, together with the
dull rumbling of army wagons and artillery
wheels, tho wearied hero, pushing from him
Ids maps and reports, leaned his forehead on
his tolfied arms upon the table before him,
and fell into a sleep, so deep that even tho
occasional booming of the heavy guns, being
placed in position on the intruhchmcnts, was
inMifticient to disturb it.
I could not have been slumbering thus
more than ten minutes, " said the General to
an intimate friend, to whom he related tl.o
strange narrative, "when I thought the door
ot my room, which I bad carefully locked, was
thrown suddenly open, and some one strode to
me, and, laying a hand upon my shoulder said,
in s!ow, solemn voice :
'General McCht'lan do you sleep at your
post 7 Koue you, or ere it can be prevented,
tho foe will be on Washington !"
"Never before in my life have I heard a
voice possessing the commanding and even
terrible tone of that one that addressed to me
these words. And the sensation that passed
through roe, as it fell upon my ears, and I
conerlngly shrunk into myself at the thought
of my own negligence, I can only compare it
to the whistling, shrinking sweep ot a storm
of grape-shot, discharged directly through my
bruin. I could not move however, although I
tried hard to raise ray head from the table.
As a estf of my willingness, and yet helpless
to wake an answer to the unknown intruder,
oppressed rue, f once wore beard the same
slow, lefnn voice repeat :
"General MaClelliii, do you sleep at your
post 7"
There was a peculiarity about it this time ;
it seemed a though I a mere atom of water
was suspended iti the aentre of an infinite space,
ana (at toe voice came from a hollow distance
llarundme. As tUo'ast word was uttered
I regained by so rue felt and yet unknown pow
er, my volition, a net with the change, the
grape-shot discbarge sensation in my brain
ceased, and a strange but new one seized my
heart, odo & if a bug, rough icicle wus being
Sited bae and forth through and through me.
"1 stwfed tip, or rather I should say I tho't
I started up, lor whether I was awake or asleep
Isu utterly unable to decide. My first thought
was aboat my maps, and, before my eyelids
had half opened my rmnd was grssping them.
But this was all. The table was still before
ic,andthe maps all crumpled in my tightening
clutch, were Mill before ine, but everything
else had disappeared. Tho furniture was
gune, tho walls of tho apartment were gone,
tin. ceiling was not to bo seen. All I saw was
the tableau I am about to describe to you.
"My gate was turned Southward, and there,
spread out before me, was a living map, yes, a
living map, that is the only expression I can
think of as befitting the scone. In one grand
coup d'ail, my eye took in the wholo expanse
f country, as far south as tho Gulf of Mexico,
and from the Atlantic ocean on tho east to the
Mississippi river westwardly.
"Before fully fixing my attention npon the
immense scene, however, I thought of the
mysterious visitant, whose voice I had heard
but a moment previous, and I looked toward
him. An apparition stood on my left, some
bat in frout, at a distance of about six feet
from tne. 1 sought for his features, hoping to
rccogniao him. But I was disappointed, for
the statue-like figure was naught but a vapor,
a cloud, having only the general outlines of a
nan. This troubled me, and I was turning
the matter over in my mind, when the shadowy
visitors, in the sumo slow, solemn tone as be
fore, said :
"'General McCIellan, your time is short!
Look to the Southward !"
"I felt unable to resist this command, even
bad 1 wished fo do so, and again, therefore,
lay eyes were cast on the living map.
"Out on tho Atlantic I saw thu various ves
sels of the blockading squadron looming up
with the most perfect distinctness in the bright
moonshine, that illuminated everything with
a strong, but mellow light. I saw Charleston
Harbor and its forts, with their pacing senti
nels, and their sullen looking barbette guns.
Ify eyes followed the ocean line all the way
roand into the Gulf, to New Orleans, and
L''enc8 UP t,,e Mississippi. Fort Pickens,and,
,,Ct' everT trtificatlon along this water
boundary, I beheld with as much distinctness
m Jon, sir, see that Corporal's guard passing
there.
"This sight filled me with delightful sur
prise f but It would be utterly impossible for
e to describe the ecstatic amazement that
lollowed, as, within tho limits I mention, ray
?ea took: in.in a minute.but lightning-like de
tail, every mountain range, every hill, every
Tslley, every forest, every meadow, every
rrer, every city,cvery camp.every tent, evory
of men, every sentinel, every earthwork,
Very cannon, and, I may say, dispensing with
further detail, every living and every dead
thing, no matter what its bulk or height.
"My blood seemed to stop in its channels,
ith joy, as I thonght that the knowledge,
nd thereby advantage.thus given to me,would
insure a speedy and happy termination of the
wr. And this one idea was engrossing my
niind, when, once more, that slow, solemn
'oicesaid:
"General McCIellan , take your map, and
note wkatyou behold. Tarry not ; your time
short.
I started, and glancing at tbe unearthly
Peaker, saw L'mu extend bis arm and point
Southwardly.
Mill 1 saw no features. Smoothing out the
largest and most accurate one of my maps, I
seized a pencil, and once more bent my gaze
out over the living map. As I looked this
time, a cold, thrilling chill ran over me, and
tho huge rough icicle again began its sawing
motion through my heart.. For, as, pencil In
nana, l compared tho map before me with the
living map, I saw masses of the enemy's for
cos being hurried to certain points so as to
thwart movements that, within a day or .two,
l intended to make at those identical points ;
while on two particular approaches to Wash
ington I beheld heavy columns of the foe
posted for a concentrated attack, that I in
stantly saw must succeed in its object unless
speedily prevented.
"Treachery ! treachery !" cried I in despair.
And, as before my blood seemed to stop in its
channels for joy, it now did so for fear. Ruin
and defeat seemed to stare me in the face.
At this dreadful moment, that same .slow,
solemn voice struck once more upon my ears,
.tying :
"General McCIellan, you havo been betray
ed ! and, had not God willed otherwise, ere
the sun of tomorrow had set, the Confederate
fl ig would have floated above the Capital and
your own grave- But uoto what yon see.
Your time is short ! Tarry not !"
Ere the words bad left the lips of my vapory
mentor, my pencil. was flying with the speed
ot thought, transferring to the map before me
all that I saw upon the Jiving map. ome
mysterious and unearthly influence was upon
me, and I noted and recorded the minutest
point I beheld without the slightest effort, de
lay or mistake. At last the task wasdone,and
my pencil dropped from my fingers.
For a while previous to this, however, I had
become conscious that there was a shining of
light on my left, that steadily increased until
the moment I ceased my task, when It became
in an instant moro intense than the noon-day
sun. Quickly I raised my eyes, and never,
were I to live forever, will I forget what I saw.
The dim, shadowy figure was no longer a dim
shadowy figure, but the glorified and refulgent
spirit ot Washington, the Father of his country,
and now a second time its saviour. My friend,
it would be utterly useless for me to attempt
to describe the mighty, returned spirit. I can
only say that Washington, us I beheld him In
1113- dream, or trance, as you may choose to
term it, was the most God. like being I could
have conceived of. Like a weak, dazzled
bird, I sat gazing at the heavenly vision.
From the sweet and silent repose of Mount
Wrnon, our. Washington had risen to once
more encircle and raiso up, with bis saving
arm, our fallen, bleeding country. As I con
tinued looking, an expression of sublime
benignity camij gently upon his visage, and
for the las: time, I heard that slow and solemn
voice, saying to me something like this:
"General McCIellan, while yet in the flesh,
I beheld the birth of the American Republic.
It was, indeed, a hard and blood v one. but
God's blessing was upon the nation, and there
fore, through this, her first great struggle for
existence, he sustained her, and with His
mighty band brought her out triumphantly.
A century has not passed since then, and yet
the child Republic has taken her position, a
peer with nations whose page of history ex
tends for ages into tbe past. She has, since
those dark days, by fhe favor of God, greatly
prospered. And now, by very reason of this
prosperity, has she been brought to her second
great struggle. This is by far the most peril
nus ordeal she has to endure. Passing, as she
is, from childhood to opening maturity, she is
called on to accomplish that vast result, self
conquest, to learn that important lesson, self
control, self-rule, that in the future will place
her in the van of power and civilization. It
is here that all nations havo hitherto failed,
and she too, tho Republic of the earth, had
cot God willed otherwise, would, by to-morrow's
sunset, have been a broken heap of
stones cast up over the final grave of human
liberty.
"But hercries have come up out of her bor
ders like sweet incense unto heaven, and she
will be saved. Thus shall peace, once more,
come upon her, and prosperity fill her with
joy. But her mission will not then be yet
finished, for, ore another century shall have
gono by, the oppressors of the whole earth,
hating and envying her exaltation, shall join
themselves together and raise up their bands
against her. But if she still be found worthy
of her high calling, they shall surely be dis
comfitted, and then will be ended her third
and last great struggle for existence !
"Thenceforth shall the Republic go on, In
creasing in goodness and power, until her bor
ders shall end only in the remotest corners of
the earth, and the whole earth shall, beneath
her shadowing wings, become a Universal Re
public. Let her in her prosperity, however,
remember the Lord, her God ; let her trust bo
always inllim,and she shall never bo con
founded." The heavenly visitant ceased speaking and
as I still continued gazing upon him, drew
near to me, and raised and spread out bis
hands above me. No sound now passed his
lips, but 1 felt a strange influence coming over
me. I inclined my head forward to receive
the blessing, the baptism of Washington.
The following instant a peal of thunder rolled
in upon my ears, and I awoke. The vision
had departed, and I was again sitting in my
apartment, with everything exactly as it was
before I fell asleep, with one exception.
The map, on which I had dreamed I had
been marking, was literally covered with a
network of pencil-marks, signs, and figures.
I rose to my feet, and rubbed my eyes, and
took a turn or two about the room, to convince
myself that I was really awake. I again seated
myself; but the pencillings were as plain as
ever and I had before me as complete a map
and repository of information as though I had
spent years in gathering and recording its de
tails. My mind now became confused with
tbe strange and numberless ideas and thoughts
that crowded themselves into it, and I invol
untarily sank down on my knees to seek wis
dom and guidance from on high. As I arose,
refreshed in spirit, that same solemn voice
seemed to say to me from an infinite distance :
" 'Tour time is short ! Tarry not !'
"In an instant thonght became clear and
active. Hastening out couriers, with orders
to have execnted certain raanceuvers at cer
tain points, (guiding myself by that, now, in
my eyes, unearthly map,) J. threw myself into
tbe saddle, and long ere daylight, galloping
like the tempest, from post to post and camp
to camp, bad the happiness to divert the ene
my from his object, which, my friend, I as
sure yon, would bare proved entirely auccess-
ful, by reason of the last piece of treachery
had not Heaven interposed.
"That map is looked upon by no human eye,
save my own, and, therefore, treachery can do
us no harm. I have on it every whit of infor
mation ma: i need, information that the enemy
would give millions to keep from us. The
fate of the war is settled.
"Tho rebellion truly seems very formidable,
but it is only struggling in the path of an ava-
lancne. l he mighty.toDDline mass of Nation
al power and retribution will, until the proper
moment comes, now and then let slip down
upon its victim forerunners of its approach
And when the proper moment does come, it
win sweep down upon, and forever annihilate
disunion with a thunder that shall reverberate
throughout tho world for ages upon ages to
come.
"Sir there will be no more Bull Run affairs !
"God has stretched forth his arms, and tbe
American Union is saved I And our beloved,
glorious Washington shall again rest quietly,
sweetly in his tomb, until, oerhaps, the end of
the prophetic century approaches that is to
bring the Republic to her third and final strug
gle, when he may, once n ore, laying asido the
cerements of Mount V ernon, come a mcssen
ger of succor and peace, from tho Great Ruler,
who has all tho uitions of the Earth in his
keeping.
"But that future is too vast for our compre
hension ; we are the children of tho present.
"When peace shall again have folded her
bnght wings, and settled upon our land., that
strange, unearthly wonderful map, matked
while the spirit eyes of Washington looked
on, shall bo preserved among American ar
chives, asaprecious reminder to the. American
nation, of what, in their second great struggle
tor existence, they owed to Uod and the Glori
tied Spirit of Washington.
"Verily, the works of God are above tbe
understanding of man."
A Ol'ttL CLT UfK WITH AN AXE. " DO yOU
see tins lock of hair " said an old man to me
"Yes; but what of it? It is, I suppose
tho curl from tho head of a dear child long
since gone to God." &
"It is not. It is a lock of my own hair ; and
it is now nearly seventy years since it was cut
from this head."
"But why do you prize a lock of your hair
so much 7"
"It has a story belonging to it, and a strange
one. I keep it thus with care because it speaks
to me more of God and of his special care
than anything else I possess.
"I was a little child ot tour years old, with
long, curly locks, which, in sun, or rain, or
wind, hung down my cheeks uncovered
One day my father went into the woods to cut
a log, and I went with him. I was standing a
Iittlo way behind him, or rather at his side,
watching with interest the heavy strokes of
the axe, as it went up and down upon the
wood, sending 08 splinters with everv stroke,
in all directions. Some of tbe splinters fell
at my feet, and I eagerly stooped to pick them
up. in aoing so 1 stumoiea forward, and in a
moment my curly head lay upon the log. I
had fallen just at the moment when the axe
was coming nowu with all its lorce. It was
too late to stop the blow. Down came tbe
axe. I screamed, and my father fell to the
ground in terror. He could not stay the
stroke, and in the blindness which the sudden
horror caused, he thought he had killed his
boy. We soon recovered ; I from my fright,
and he from his terror. He caught me In his
arms and looked at me from head to foot, to
find out the deadly wound which he was sure
he bad inflicted. Not a drop of blood nor a
scar was to be seen. He knelt upo.n the grass
and gave thanks to a gracious God. Having
done so he took his axe and found a few hairs
upon its edge. He turned to the log he had
been splitting, and there was a single curl of
his boy's hair, sharply cut through and laid
upon the wood. How great the escape ! It
was as if an angel had turned aside the edga
at the moment when it was descending upon
my head. With renewed thanks upon his
lips be took up the curl, and went home with
me in his arms.
"That lock he kept all his days, as a me
morial of God's care and love. That lock be
left to me on his death-bed."
Gen. Heintzelman's lines are still open to
ref ugee slaves and closed to their capture by
masters. If the latter come, they are assured
that American soldiers are not slave catchers.
If they desire to return to their farms, they
are informed that civilians are not admitted
within or beyond the camp, and ate sent to
Alexandria. One would-be-master has already
been there a month. Stone and Kelly, or
Halleck, and some others can learn a lesson
of wisdom from this. Nobody but Secession
ists disapprove of Gen. Heintzelman's conduct
while theirs gtieves and annoys tho country.
A pint bowl of light dough that has been
made wholly with milk, with the addition ot
a small tea cup of cream and a fresh egg, will
make a very nice dish of biscuit. These in
gredients must be thoroughly kneaded togeth
er; then roiled out to an inch in thickness, and
cut with a tumbler or cake cutter. Place
them on a tin sheet and let them rise in a
moderately warm place ; when well risen will
bake In twelve or fifteen minutes in a quick
oven.
A New York merchant, recently returned
from Richmond, makes an interesting state
ment, in which he says that business is gener
ally suspended at the South, and that the peo
ple of the Confederacy are a unit for seces
sion. A general wish is expressed there that
this country may become involved with Eng
land, growing out of the Slidell-Mason seizure.
The rebel Gen. Buckner recently sent a Mag
of truce from his camp at Bowling Green, Ky.,
to the Union lines, asking permission for bis
wife to pass on to Louisville with the mortal
remains of their infant daughter, which they
wished to inter in their family vault in that
city. Gen. Buell courteously refnsed tbe re
quest. Several batteries of the light and highly sor
riceable "Napoleon" cannon made on tbe im
proved model, have been received and are
ready tor use. Eight horses can drag one of
these guns through the deepest mud into
which tbe "sacred soil" can be trodden.
' Tbe New Orleans Crescent states that three
eminentdivines of the Methodist church have
been commissioned to raise . a mounted regi
ment of preachers for the confederate army.
THE LEGION OF HONOR.
A TALE FOR THE TIMES.
"And you are willing ho should go 7"
"And why not 7" answered the young wife
enthusiastically. I ahould despise myself,
Adele, if I were not willing to give my hus
band to my country. France needs all her
sons in this extremity. I thank God I have
Henri to offer on her altar."
Her sister shrugged her shoulders. "You
always were romantic, my dear," she said,
"for my part, if I had a handsome husband, a
splendid estate in Normandy, a hotel in Paris,
diamonds, cashmeres, equipages, servants, as
youtiave, I should not be willing to risk them
so lightly. Suppose jllenri is killed. You
will be a widow, and for a time, at least, can
enjoy none of these things."
"Oh, Adele ! how can you talk so 7 Has not
the good father Lacoire been telling 11 a ever
since we were children, that the curse of mod
ern times was its materialistic view of life 7
That to eat, drink, and be merry, seemed to be
the whole pnrpose of existence ? That luxury
had corroded national virtue 7 That the days
of heroism had passed 7 How often has my
heart swelled against these imputations, for I
will not believe human nature has sunk so low!
No, 1 have often told him that the diviner
parts of our race have not all died out. We
are still capable, we women, of making sacri
fices for our country ; and our husbands, fath
ers, brothers, sons, capable of dying for it. I
could myself, if the occasion called for it.be
I hope, a second Joan of Arc. I never loved
Henri half so much as when he came home the
other day and told me that the crisis of
France's fate, he had determined to offer her
his sword if necessary, his life. We can die
but once. What more glorious than to die in
a holy cause ;" and the young wite looted
sublime as she spoke it.
Natalie had been married hut a year or two
Her beauty, accomplishments, and amiabtlity
had won for her, at eighteen, the heart ot the
young Count de Tankerville, the greatest
match of the season. Passionately attached
to each other, they speut the hours continually
together ; they read, they rode, they did every
thing in company. The life they led was more
like an idyl than like a life in modern soeiety
in Paris. In the midst of this dream of bliss
came the news of the retreat from Moscow
All Europe rose against Franch. The Emper
or beaten back from Dresden to Leipsic, and
from Leipsic to the Rhine, was making a last
desperate effort to retrieve the fortunes of the
nation. It was in this extremity that the
younir Couut stepped forward. His father had
been a constitutional royalist in tbe last days
of Louis XVI., and the familv bad never em
igrated ; it had never, on the other hand, at
tached itself to the fortune? of Xopoleon. So
long as the great Emperor pursued his con
quests, so long tbe Tankervilles held aloof
from him. But now, when the question was
not Napoleon, but the nation, the young Count
felt that the time had come when the country
demanded bis services. In view of tbe dis
memberment of France, what were lands, hous
es, life itself ? "Save the nation !" was the
cry that rose to everv patriotic lip. Women
brought their jewels, men brought their lives.
r oremost among these, were Henri and his
wife.
" Well," said Adele, who had one of these
cold selfish natures that could not understand
how anybody could do anythinir noblo or he
roic, "I think you and your husband mad.
But go your own ways."
"I wish you were mad in the same way.
We are mad as Leonidas was mad, as Tell was
mad, as Bruce was mad, as every other bero
was mad who died for liberty. It is not now
a question of the Emperor. It is a question
of the country. It is not whether Napoleon
shall reign, but whether France shall be dis
membered. It is whether the glorious flag of
the nation, that the glorious tri-color which
waved at Marengo and Austcrlitz, shall be
trailed in the dust, or shall still bring tears to
the eyes of the Frenchman in foreign lands,
floating from the masthead J"
We will not dwell on the parting of husband
and wife. Natalie bore up heroically. Not
even lady Russell, when leaving her lord on
the sad morning of bis execution, controlled
herself more nobly than Natalie now. But
when the door had closed on Henri, when she
had heard the clatter of bis horse's feet down
the street, then she flung herself on her bed
and wept as if her heart was breaking.
Itwas'an eventful winter. A baftle was
fought almost daily. Like a lion in the toils,
Napoleon turned first on one and then on an
other of his foes, and always unexpectedly.
In the brightest days of his intellect he had
never been so terrible as now. Henri was
foremost in all these battles. Once he saved
the Emperor's life. The cross of tbe logion
of honor soon decked his breast. He received
tho decoration from Napoleon's own hand, on
the very day Natelie had presented him with
a son. But the genius of the Emperor and
the valor of his troops were of no avail.
Treachery was at work at Paris while Napo
leon was absent in Campaigne. Tbe capital
was surrendered, the emperor was forced to
abdicate.
Every one knows what followed. The Bour
bons came back, forgetting nothing as was
said, and forgiving nothicg.
"Ah, my bleeding country," Henri would
cry to his young wife. At another time it was.
"Oh, for one hour by tho old Emperor."
At last tbe nation could boar it no longer.
Napoleon landed ; the army rose in bis favor;
tho king fled ; a constitution was proclaimed.
Once more the young Count buckled on his
sword.
Again I say go," was his wife's horoic
parting, "and again and again. I will stay at
home and pray. I think sometimes it is hard
er for women than it is for men. You have
tbe excitement of the campaign. But we can
only wait and wait, from one day to another ;
we can only pray and pray through the
sleepless hours of the night. Do not sup
pose I say this to keep you back. Go, and
may Gad crown yon with vietory ; or if
not "
"If not," said ber husband interrupting ber,
"I will stay on the battle field."
Alas I it was a prediction. A few days later
when the old guard at tbe end of that terrible
Waterloo, closed up their ranks, and to the
demand to lay down their arms, replied, "The
Guard dies, bnt never surrenders." Henri de
Tankerville, fighting with the bravest, and
fighting longest almost of all, sank under a
dozen wounds. -- -- -
Did his wife regret what she had done 7
"No, do," she cried, in answer to tbe cruel
reproaches of her sister, "I would send him
forth again if I could. I would rather be a
widow a thousand times over," she added with
flashing eyes, "of a soldier who died tor his
country, than to be the petted wife of one who
had failed France in her hour of need, for such
would be either a coward or a traitor."
Nor did she ever think otherwise. In after
years lich and titled suitors solicited her hand;
but she lived faithful to the memory of her
lost Henri. Her chief consolation was to take
her child, and showing him the cross of the
legion of honor which his father had won in
battle, point afterward to the portrait which
hung overhead, and bid him emulate the hero
ism of the departed.
"It is a prouder inheritance to you, dar
ling," she would say, kissing him pasionately,
"than if ho had leltyou a throne. Think how
your heart will glow in years to come, when
tou see men pointing to you aud saying, 'His
father too, was one of the Grand Army.' "
Remarkable Illustrations or Issects.
The surprising faculties of vultures in discov
ering carrion hss been a subject of much spec
ulation, as to whether it is dependent on their
powers of sight or of scent. It is not, howev
er, more mysterious than the unerring certain
ty and rapidty with which some of the miuor
animals, and more especially insects, in warm
climates, congregate around the oHal on which
they feed. Circumstanced as they are, they
must be guided toward their object mainly, if
not exclnsively, by tho sense of smell; but
that which excites astonishment, is tbo Small
degree of odor which seems to suffice for the
purpose ; the subtlety aud rapidity with which
It traverses and impregnates the air ; and the
keen and quick preccption with which it is
taken up by the organs of those creatures.
The instance of tbe scavenger beadle has been
already alluded to; the promptitude with
which they discern the existance of matter
suited to their purposes, and the speed with
which they hurry to it from all directions;
often from distances as extraordinary, propor
tionately, as those traversed by the eye of the
vulturs. In the instance of tho dying ele
phant referred to above, life was barely ex
tinct when the flies, of which not one was visi
ble but a moment before, arrived in clouds and
blackened the body by their multitudes;
scarcely an instanf was allowed to elapse from
the commencement of the decomposition ; no
odor or purification could be discerned by us
who stood close by; yet some peculiar smell
of mortality, simultaneously with parting
breath, must have sammoaed them to tbe
feast. Ants exhibit an instinct equally sur
prising. I have sometimes covered up a par
ticle ot refined sugar with paper in the centre
of a a polished table, and counted the number
of minutes which would elapse before it was
feasted on by the small black ants of Ceylon,
and a line formed to lower it safely to the
floor Here was a substance which, to our
apprehension at least, it is altogether inodor
ous, and yet the quick sense of smell must
have been the only conductor of tbe ants.
It has been observed of those fishes which
travel overland on the evaporations of the
ponds in which they lived, that they invaria
bly marched in the direction of tbe nearest
water ; aud even when captured, and placed
on the floor of a room, their efforts to escape
are always made towards the same point. Is
the sense of smell sufficient to account for this
display of instinct in them 7 or is it aided by
special organs as in the caso ot the others 7
Multiplying Negroes. The slaves in this
country increased twenty-five per cent, during
the last decade, and they have averaged that
rate of multiplication for the last titty years,
and this wholly by natural increase, the
African slave trade having ceased in 1808.
During thu last decade the treo negroes in this
country increased only ten and one-half per
cent., and by natural increase certainly not
more than five per cent., their numbers being
constantly swollen by manumissions and es
capes from slavery. This fact of the slow in
crease of free negroes bas been constantly ob
served in this country, somo of tbe causes
of this slow increase of free negroes, and of
the rapid multiplication of slaves, are obscure
Others are plain. But the fact itself is undis
puted and indisputable. Tbe four millions of
negroes which we have to-day in the condition
of slavery, will, if left in that condition, be
come five millions in ten years. If emancipa
ted, their increase in ten years, instead of be
ing one million, will only be one-fifth of that
amount, taking the results of tbe last decade
as the guide of the calculation. It is slavery,
which is tho breeding mother of negroes. By
emancipation, we shall havo eight hundred
thousand fewer negroes in tbe country in 1870,
than we shall have by continuing slavery.
A farmer who has been professing Union
sentiments, near Lewinsville, and whose house
has been guarded by our soldiers, was re-arrested
on Saturday, by order of Gen. Smith,
and brought into camp, for having brought
his cattle down to the rebels, and forgiving
them information about our troops. For such
conduct, equally infamous to that of Johnson,
who was shot, being a Virginian, he will be
compelled to take the oath of allegiance be
fore he is released. In tbe meantime, the
penalty is death for any of our soldiers to dis
turb his private property.
Robert J. Walker asserts with great posi
tiveness, that the rebel treasury will complete
ly break down before next March, and that
tbe rebellion will by that time prove an utter
failure. Prominent Kentuckians aver that it
will require two or three great victories to
cure , the rebels of their folly. This is also
Gen. McClellan's opinion. He believes that
the rebels must be soundly thrashed beaten
on the field before the rebellion will succumb.
Daniel Webster penned the following senti
ment : "If we work npon marble, it will per
ish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it;
if we rear temples they will crumble into dust;
bnt if we work upon immortal minds, if we
imbue them with principles, with tbe just fear
of God and our fellow man, we engrave on
those tablets something that will brighten
through all eternity."
The Commercial's Frankfort despatch says
that tbe Southern Bank of Kentucky, at Hop-
kinsville, having ordered the Louisville branch
to pass large sums to the credit of the mother
bank in Liverpool, to be used, as suspected,
to aid in the rebellion, the Legislature has au
thorized the branches to act independently of
tbe mother bank until tbe State authority is
re-established.
HOW TO EARN A HOME.
A STORV FOIt UAUD TIMES.
Tho other evening I came home with an ex
tra ten dollar bill in my pocKet money that
I had earned by out-of doors work. The fact
Is, I'm a clerk in a down town store, at a sal
ary of $000 per annum, and a pretty wife and
baby to support out of it. I suppose this inconio
will sound amazingly small to your two and
three thousand dollar office holders, but never
theless we contrive to live very comfortably
upon it. We live on a floor of an unpretend
ing iittlo house, for which we pay $150 per
annum, and Kitty, my wife, you'll understand,
does all her own work ; so that we lay up a
neat little sum every year. I've got a balance
of two or three hundred dollars at the savings
bank, the hoard of several years, and it is
astonishing how rich I feel! Why, Roths
child himself isn't a circumstance to me !
Well, I came homo with my extra bill, and
showed it triumphantly to Kitty, who ot
course was delighted with my industry and
thrift.
"Now, my love," said I, "just add this to
our account at the bank, and with interest to
the end of the year."
Forthwith 1 commenced casting interest,
and calculating in my brain. Kitty was si
lent, and rocked the cradle musingly with her
foot.
"I've been thinking Harry," said she, after
a moments pause, that "since you've got this
extra money, we might afford to buy a new
rug. This is getting dreadfully shabby, my
dear, you must see."
I looked dolefully at tho rug ; it was worn
and shabby enough, that was a fact.
"I can get a beautiful new velvet pattern for
seven dollars," resumed my wife.
'Velvet seven dollars," groaned I.
''Well, then, a common tufted rug like this
would only cost three," said my cautious bet
ter halt, who, seeing she couldn't carry her
first ambitious point, wisely withdrew ber
guns.
"That's more sensible," said I. "Well,
we'll see about it."
"And there's another thing I want," con
tinued my wife, putting her hand coaxingly
on my shoulder, "and it's not at all extrava
gant either."
"What is it 7 I asked, softening rapidly.
"I saw such a lovely silk dress pattern on
Canal street this rooming, and I can get it fr
six dollars, only six dollars Harry ! It's
the cheapest thing 1 ever saw."
"But haven't you got a pretty green silk
dress?"
"Thart old thing Why, Harry, I've worn it
ever since we've been married."
"Is it soiled, or ragged 7"
"No, of course ; but who wants to wear the
same green dress forever 7 Everybody knows
it is the only silk dress I have."
"Well, what then 7"
"That's just a man's question," pouted
Kitty. "And I suppose you have, not ob
served how old-fashioned my bonnet is get
ting."
"Why, I thought it looked very neat and
tasteful since you put on that black velvet
winter trimming."
"Of course you men have no taste m such
matters."
We were silent for a moment ; I'm afraid
wc both felt a little cross and out of humor
with one another. In fact, on my journey
home, I bad entertaincd.serious thoughts of
exchanging my old silver watch for a more
modern time-piece of gold, and had mentally
appropriated the ten dollars to further that
purpose. Savings-bank reflections had come
later.
As we sat before the fire, each wrapped in
thought, our neighbor, Mr. Wilmot, kuocked
at the door. Ho was employed at tho same
store as myself, and his wife was an old family
friend,
"I w-aut you to congratulate me," be said,
taking a scat. "I have purchased that Iittlo
cottage out on the Bloomingdale road to-day."
"What! that beautiful little wooden cot
tage with the piazza, ind lawn, and fruit gar
den behind?" exclaimed Kitty almost envi
ously. "Is it possible 7" I cried. A little cottage
home of my own, just like that I bad often
admired on the Bloomingdale road, had al
ways been the crowning ambition of my life
a distant and almost hopeless poiLt, but no
less earnestly desired.
"Why, Wilmot," said I, "bow did this
happen? You've only been, in buiness eight
or ten years longer than I, at a, salary but a
trifle larger than mine, yet I could as soon
buy the mint as purchase a cottage like that."
"Well," said my neighbor "we have all
been working to this end for years. My wife,
has darned, patched, mended and saved we
have lived on plain fare, and done with the
cheapest things. But the magic charm of tho
whole affair was that we laid aside every pen
ny that was not needed by actual, positive
want. Yes, I havo seen my wife lay by red
coppers, one by one."
"Times are hard you know, just now ; the
owner was not what you call an economical
man, and he was glad to sell at a moderate
price. So you see that even "hard times'
have helped me !"
When our neighbor was gone, Kitty and I
looked meaningly at one another.
"Harry," said she, "the rug isn't so bad
after all, and my green silk will do a year
longer with care." "And a silver watch is
quite as good for all practical purposes, as'a
gold repeater," said I. "We will set asido
all imaginary wants."
"The ten dollar bill must go to the. bank,"
said Kitty, "and I'll economise th coppers
just as Mrs. Wilmot did. Oh, how happy she
will be among the roses in that cottage garden
next spring I"
Our merry tea-kettle sung us a cheerful lit
tle song over the glowing tire that night, and
its burden was "Economy and a home of our
own amid the roses and the country air."
The setting of a great hope is like the setting
of the sun ; the brightness of enr life is gone.
Shadows ol evening fall around us, and tbe
world seems but a dim reflection itself a
broader shadow. We look forward into tho
coming lonely night. The soul withdraws in
to itself- Then stars arise and the night is
holy.
Some one named "Armapd N. Toutant"
gives public notice through the New Orleans
papers that In tbe future he will sign bis name
"Toiifont Beauregard." So it seems in tho
South one may change bis name when acd.
now no chooses.
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