, 1863-04-07

PEEP NO. /.

PEEP No.
4 neat little one story house with gablo
fronting street in the suburb The home Of
an Industrious carpenter. 4 little three year
old sits III Lis chair very busy.
What arc you doing little one?
make sunthin pootty to sen war for our
Charley, hee'th our Charley.
Her fingers played sew very nimbly on
Piece Of morocco with a pin
The pale mother wears sort of beamy,
heroic look as she packed one oyster can after
another, filed with dainty little cucumber
pickles, and such nice cabbage salad, all sea-
eoned with vinegar, salt md mustard, SO it
would keep. How good that would make the
army bacon taAte. There were boxes Of mus
lard md boxes of black pepper ready ground
for use. There were packages of nice dried
apples; these she thought will be SO much
more wholesome andrelishablc with salt meat
and hard bread than jcllics and sweet meats,
No, think I'll not send any cake either, for
John Kerfoot got sick on his, said the mother
half aloud. Oh there are those parcels of
dried cuTrants and cherries, 1 would rather lie
should have them thousand times than to
cat them myself. Charley will remember I
dried them. I wonder had not thought of
that tomato catsap before, it shall 70, Just rs
many bottles as can send, and then lie can
divide Wlfe some poor fellow that has not
nottrer to think of him. Here sor,:,;,ainr
began to glisten in her eye and skz bruslIni, 4
aside with the corner Of lie: apron.
a1a IE:l, Jou must make room for my pie,
Hrfr
sentative baked on a SKINNER
Lottie, 50 he'll know that it IS T minc. M .bo Do.
please do, ma'ma, urged Lottie9
The mother wrote, For Lottic's brave
Charley" will that do? o yes. and she clap
wrapped the pie in the paper.
The box was nearly full, but over and amonr
it oil she packed lot Of entertaining books
and LOYAL papers, and then he could read
and lena 1n5iis cut among his companr, For
Charley had written her, saying, t.All our
rcading matter consists of torn volume Of
Nicolas NicklebY, and there are twenty ahead
has gone the rounds so much that in our
mess We could patch out 4 verbatim rehearsal
Of it. Send us j reinforcement Of books for
the camp frcs.n
Mother, here comes papa to dinner, said
Lottic with childish gravity, because the
il0le Ht1s Hot spfeau Yet
There Gin, you nail up tho box and III
get tile dinner on the table in twiukling.
John, goud natured fellow, went about II
and seemed to strike every nail with short
est in this.
The table CAME ont with "risht about
Whee!,' 1nci1 was little Gathering Of dishes,
ahu thea the dinner was ready.
Mary, said John, my blood fairly boiled to-
l ri fhaf nj ,rof$1
candidate for - talking to knot Of half
drunken men about resisting the draft. I
Late these home secesh thousand fold more
than Southern rebels, and, heaven knows
hate them bad enough. I don't care If he is
our neighbor, I shall dcspise him as long as
he and lire. can't bear these fellows now
as well Us could before Charley enlisted
They want to nulllfy every effort Of ourarmy.
Well, he overlook me in d minute or two,
and says blandly, What do you think Of the
times? holding out his hand, which did not
take.
Well, il you are ready to be drawn and
submit to the draft, aii have got to say i IS.
am ready to be in at the quartering any time.
Something made him In great hurry to ret
home, Tor he slept of very fast.
PEEP no. II.
The telegraph quivers, and the dispatch
gives Sher1nnn's Late retreat from VieLsburr.
The mother left her nntasted breakfast, aid
vent about her daily imperative duties, but
oh the look that told what an1ieties were
tugging at her heart!
There were no murmurs; no, it was Sim
ply, How fares it with my first born?''
AL that day, and the next, and the succeed
ing, the struggles Of maternal tenderness
snfged and walled through the chambers Of
her soul, where the imag &c Of her boy had
dWclt, but there was no word that meant
Nd hat,
tice,, nothing but loyalty. Then came that
cruel correspondents letter: "Fredericks.
burg over again; our badly wounded left on
the 1ield." No mnrmur still, but the pale lips
move, and from between the almost closed
teeth come the fervid words:
"Oh my God! could I but stand in his
stead, and bear all his wounds and s,1fferinrs,
how gladly would do it! Child, home and
country are an thy gifts, use them ms thou
wilt" The Soldiers Aid Society saw her in
their midst the next day, plying her needle
with quiet dignity and energy. Her conn-
tenance was settled ey firm control, only
when random mention was made Of tho
Illinois Legislature, and then her eye flashed,
and her lip curled with scorn for men that
could be 90 1ecreant to their country in her
hour Of need.
Three days more wear their weary round,
when the mail brings her tidings. It is in her
boys Own handwriting; She breaks the seal,
~ liz
mother; we embarked in the night safely,
bringing of al our wounded.n
rEEP NO. 111-A PRIVATE,
! had known him only rs = teacher may
know pupil, when they see them day by day,
meeting the thousand and one little tests that
try their character, and had marked him al
ways rs manly soul-tbat is much-a manly
soul is large Inheritance.
Ages he stood among my echoo1-room
group as of high resolve, ono with tho
eagle eye and the strong wings Of purpose,
his way. The first promise Of manhood man
tied his young face, and such manhood it WAS,
so transparent, so truthful so ingenious aud
noble, IS was written in his clear, star-like
eyes. 1t was impossible to think he would
not take good position, and stand nobly By
1t, among his fclloN-men-
He waa the son Of an obscure Scotch farm.
State.
Itwas said the blood of the ancient Earls OF
Hamilton ran In his veins, hut It matters not,
since it is be who honors them, and not they
Him. Lis lore OF country was as broad as the
American domain, and among its people he
meant to defend.
The sociiss.. :..,.tIItnde Of real manltne.s NAV
sometimes dazzle the eye, as does the torrent
1lnding It's birth under the snowy cap OF
1efty Ben Nevis, leaping its first cataract in
the face of the sun. but the grand, slow-pacing
stream, barring its breast to nations flag
and commerce, has mora extended useful
ness and a broader honor.
Years passed on, we hesrd Of him at HE post
in 1ife-We knew We should. Then came the
first low, sullcn booming Of the cannon, up
from Southern fields. His eye flashed, and
his llaId gEaspcd the mnsket,. and he came
forward to be sworn in.
Amid the wearisomc marches, and the lone
sentinel vigils, and the withering scorchings
of Southern fevers, there would come in Ills
own chccr-written words, "I am no. eorry,
mother; had I foreseen all that has happened
/ should have made tie same choice. nm
willing 10 lay down my life, If need be, formy
country" All, could the ancient Earl Of Ham:
ilton'e own patent Of nobility make him half
as noble as his OWL manly sonl has made him ?
The only Covenanter mud his "gudc dame''
Eat at the lonely hearth reading and re-readipg
the noble words Of their distant boy las they
fopdly ca1led him,) but whom our hearts name
hero. The old mans eye flashed out the ire
said be, alowly folding up The letter. 1 could
shoulder my gun, but for my old limbs, and