Chapter VIII (2)

Much has been said as to the degree of complicity in which the confederates were guilty in stirring up savages against us. In a 'Secesh' poem which 'De Bow' declares to be among the best which belong to the war, we find the following, which seems to have been written in the Indian interest:

'Our women have hung their harps away,
And they scowl on your brutal bands,
While the nimble poignard dares the day
In their dear defiant hands;
They will strip their tresses to string our bows
Ere the Northern sun is set;
There's faith in their unrelenting woes,
There's life in the old land yet.'

Now it is very evident that if the author of the lyric was not describing Indian squaws when he alluded to the 'scowling' females whose 'nimble poignards dare the day,' he certainly _ought_ to have been. But the allusion to 'the bows,' settles the matter. Bows and arrows are not used in the confederate army, though they are by Albert Pike's Indians--enough said.

But if the secessionists _will_ come North, and hemp should give out, we may find a new application, with a slight alteration to the verse in question. For then our women of the North may

'Strip their tresses to string _your_ beaux.'

And serve 'em right, too. That's all. But really, if this be, in the opinion of the first magazine of the South, one of the _best_ of Southern poems, what _must_ the 'common sort' be?'

GONE.

BY H. L. SPENCER.

Gone! the South winds come again,
Sweeping over bill and plain,
Murmuring through the sombre pines,
Singing o'er the budding vines,
Bringing with them birds that sing
All the glories of the spring;
But they bring not back to me
The boy without whose smile earth's smiles
I never see.

His bed the wood-nymphs strow
With all the flowers that blow,
And the sweet tones of their minim harps
His quiet slumbers lull;

For Nature was his joy,
And he was Nature's toy:
Where sleeps the peerless boy,
She scatters with a lavish hand
The bright, the beautiful.

He reigns, though lost to sight!
Through the long day and night
Is his sweet influence shed
Around the paths I tread:
He is not lost--ah! no--he is not dead.

Not dead! his voice I hear
When South winds murmur near;
I feel, when stars arise,
His soft and loving eyes,
And from the forest flower
His face at evening hour
Smiles on me as of old,
And dreamily my neck his tiny arms enfold.

Not lost to joy, but lost to pain,
Which never shall he feel again;
Earth's acrid fruits he shall not taste,
And wrong it were to chide the haste
With which he left this barren field,
That with its flowers so few, so many thorns doth yield.

I can not mourn my king, for his
Still, still the kingdom is,
And the cares which earth-bred kings annoy,
No more disturb my king--my boy.

Do you smoke? If so, read the following:

IS SMOKING BENEFICIAL?

Leaning from the balcony of the old hotel at Stresa, on the Lago Maggiore, the old hotel kept by Papa Bolangaro, and watching the sunset over Isola Bella and the lake, my friend Blome knocked away the ashes from his Vevay segar--wretched segars those--and dreamily gazed at the beautiful scene before him.

_Vino Barbera_, as they wrote its name in the bill, was not a bad wine; a bottle of it assisted imagination as a percussion-cap does the powder in your rifle. In the present ease it also brought on an explosion, for as Blome knocked off the segar-ashes for the second time, he heard a loud exclamation from a balcony on the _primo piano_ below him. He looked down. You have seen, I have seen, all the world has seen the Italian woman of paintings and engravings--black eyes, black hair, golden and red-peach complexion--there she was.

My friend passed down apologies for his oversight; an oversight--bowing _preux-chevalier_-ly--he was afraid unpardonable, when he saw the object he had overlooked. The beautiful Italian received the apology most charmingly. It proved the overture to a brilliant adventure culminating in Milan.

'You observe,' said Blome to me, 'what real benefits can be derived from smoking. Here have I formed the acquaintance of a very pretty woman, who will fall desperately in love with me, who will call me by my first name within two days, all through segar-ashes. I had a friend in Jena once, the university-town----'

'Where you got that sword-cut over the cheek?'

'Where I received it. Good! My friend in Jena was a theological student, a very steady young man. While others would come reeling home from the beer-kneips, he would be careful always to keep steady and under gentle sail; but he had one weakness, a want of confidence while in the presence of woman--one strong point, pipe-smoking.

'One afternoon he was smoking a pipe at his chamber-window, and regarding the passers-by in the street below. When his pipe was smoked out, he emptied its ashes in the street; as he did so, he looked down, _Himmel_! The ashes fell on the head of Fräulein Baumann, who dwelt in the same house in the story below him, and who was at that time knitting a pair of stockings and also looking at the passengers in the street.

'The theological student drew his head in from the window with the quickness of a turtle. He sat down and meditated.

'Now Fräulein Baumann was a good-hearted blonde, very well calculated to make a good wife to somebody, and her mother, the widow Baumann, determined that this calculation should become a mathematical certainty the first time there was any opportunity of its becoming a fixed fact. She had for some time regarded our student as the coming man. When he flung ashes at her daughter's head, the mother said to her daughter:

''Angelika, thou must find time to make a potato-salad, and see that the smoked goose is well cooked on thy wedding-day.'

''Ma, when am I going to be married, and who to?'

''_Stille!_ here comes thy husband.'

'With great trembling the student summoned up force enough to descend the stairs, in order to make a humble apology to the Fräulein for the ashes accident. He knocked at the Frau Baumann's door, and asked to see the Fräulein; but lo! her mother stood before him with a very affable air.

''_Mad-dad-ame_, I have called in--in, in relation to your d--d-daughter. I----'

''Are you not the theological student, Herr Müller, who lives overhead?' asked Frau Baumann.

''I am, Mad-dame. I----'

''Be seated, I pray you, and _O mein Herr_! I am so glad to learn from your own lips the declaration of your love for my dearest, best, kindest daughter, Angelika. She will make you the best of wives; a nurse in affliction, a companion in distress, a soother in sorrow, a housekeeper in tribulation, a--but here she is! Angelika, my daughter, behold the Herr Müller, who has sought thy hand; give him the betrothal kiss.' Here Frau Baumann bursting into tears, left the room and the young people together.

'I draw a curtain over the thunderstruck theological student. He went in about ashes and was coming out with hymeneal torches! Before he knew where he was, he had given the betrothal kiss, and one year afterward married the blonde Angelika. If you ever meet an old lady who says smoking is beneficial, you may be sure her name is Frau Baumann, mother-in-law of our theological student.'

* * * * *

Shoddy is not so much heard of now. But he still lives--especially in memory and in poetry--_videlicet_.

'SHODDY.'

BY J. IVES PEASE.

Old Shoddy sits in his easy-chair,
And cracks his jokes and drinks his ale,
Dumb to the shivering soldier's prayer,
Deaf to the widows' and orphans' wail.
_His_ coat is warm as the fleece unshorn;
Of a 'golden fleece' he is dreaming still:
And the music that lulls him, night and morn,
Is the hum-hum-hum of the shoddy-mill.

Clashing cylinders, whizzing wheels,
Rend and ravel and tear and pick;
What can resist these hooks of steel,
Sharp as the claws of the ancient Nick?
Cast-off mantle of millionaire,
Pestilent vagrant's vesture chill,
Rags of miser or beggar bare,
_All_ are 'grist' for the shoddy-mill.

Worthless waste and worn-out wool,
Flung together--a specious _sham_!
With just enough of the 'fleece' to pull
Over the eyes of poor 'Uncle Sam.'
Cunningly twisted through web and woof,
Not 'shirt of Nessus' such power to kill.
Look! how the prints of his hideous hoof
Track the fiend of the shoddy-mill!

A soldier lies on the frozen ground,
While crack his joints with aches and ails;
A 'shoddy' blanket wraps him round,
His 'shoddy' garments the wind assails.
His coat is 'shoddy,' well 'stuffed' with 'flocks';
He dreams of the flocks on his native hill,
His feverish sense the demon mocks--
The demon that drives the shoddy-mill.

Ay! pierce his tissues with shooting pains,
Tear the muscles and rend the hone,
Fire with frenzy the heart and brain;
Old Rough-Shoddy! your work is done!
Never again shall the bugle-blast
Waken the sleeper that lies so still;
His dream of home and glory's past:
Fatal's the 'work' of the shoddy-mill.

Struck by 'shoddy,' and not by 'shells,'
And not by shot, our brave ones fall.
Greed of gold the story tells.
Drop the mantle and spread the pall.
Out! on the vampires! out! on those
Who of our life-blood take their fill.
No _meaner_ 'traitor' the nation knows,
Than the greedy ghoul of the shoddy-mill!

* * * * *

Some years ago, a German writer informed his astonished readers: 'Thieves are so rare in America, that I observe, from reading their journals, that those who are curious in such studies are obliged to offer a reward to find them.' To judge from a recent attempt at imposition in New-York, one might suppose that negroes were so rare in this country that we are obliged to imitate them, by way of keeping up the supply. Not long ago, a young woman, named Perry, and a Dr. Perkins, of Oneida county, engaged with a broker of the curb-stone persuasion to show off the lady as a case of gradual external carbonization; it being asserted that for four years her body had gradually been turning to charcoal! Examination by Dr. Mott and others revealed the fact that 'the supposed epidermis was made of woven cotton, into which charcoal mixed with gum had been worked.' This was tightly gummed to the fair dame, who was to have been exhibited 'in style' in a stylish house in Fourth street; but who was taken to Bellevue Hospital, to be 'ungummed,' as the French say of people who are turned out of place and lose their chances--as this damsel did. The incident will doubtless, at a future day, find a conspicuous place in the history of remarkable impostures. As it is, we conclude with the remark of a friend, to the effect that the lady, by putting the Coal On, had brought herself to a Full Stop!

* * * * *

We are indebted to the Amsterdam (N. Y.) _Weekly Dispatch_ for remarks to the effect that THE CONTINENTAL MAGAZINE is reaching a point in American literature seldom gained at so early a period by any young magazine. 'We hail its independence of thought as the development of a new era in the literature of our land. Its matter is high-toned and interesting, it is the _most outspoken_ print we know of, and its outspokenness is the result of a fresh and vigorous life that is not warped by petty conventionalities.'

We thank our editorial friend for his compliment, and sincerely trust that those who have followed us in our career will not disagree with him. We honestly and earnestly believe that we _are_ outspoken and independent, and accountable in no earthly way to any one, or aught save our conscience and the public. We can imagine no measure for the good of the people, which we would not urge heart and soul, and we most certainly know of no public official, in any capacity, whom we should feel bound to spare in the event of his unworthiness becoming patent. We are neither Radical nor Conservative, neither anti-capital nor anti-poor-man's rights, but hold to the great and glorious creed of Labor and Intelligence hand in hand with Capital, and the harmony of their interests. We believe in constantly enlarging the area of human freedom, holding that the freer and more responsible you make a man, the more, as a rule, will you stimulate him to improve himself. And we detest from our very soul the Southern-planter and Northern-democratic-conservative doctrine that society should consist of two grades, the first being the mudsill poor, to whom certain protections and privileges should be granted, and are due by the second or the 'higher classes;' holding that a free American, beyond a good education (to which every tax-payer contributes) should claim 'nothing from any body,' and that the less use is made of such phrases as 'lower orders,' 'aristocracy,' and 'social nobility,' the more creditable will it be for man or woman, let their 'position' be what it will.

This war has inaugurated a new era when earnest, honest thought, and bold straightforward speech alone can effect any thing. It is the time for fearlessness and straightforwardness if there ever was one in our history. We have a great war in hand, and great political reforms and measures of tremendous importance are crowding thickly around it, while others, not less mighty, are looming dimly behind them. The great principles of Republicanism, of man's capacity for self-government, of freedom and of progress, have been brought to 'the struggle for life,' and it depends upon our national American energy and _honesty_ to determine whether they shall live. If they _are_ to live, we shall be first among nations, not in the narrow, wretched sense of old-fashioned diplomacy, but in the high Christian sense of aiding all oppressed humanity in their hopes of attaining their rights. But if these principles are to perish--better would it be for this whole land to become a wilderness, and every life a death, than that we should survive the degradation. We have not yet sunk so low that there is no truth left worth dying for. There was a time when men, women, and children were martyred by countless thousands for their fidelity to the faith that extended the same religious rights to all, and now that time has come again to us, calling for fresh sacrifices to the same principle as regards earthly rights and the common happiness of mankind.

But we believe that the truth will prevail, after a sore trial, and that we shall be rewarded to the full. 'No cross, no crown.' But there is a crown after the cross, and God will give it to us. We are passing through the baptism of fire--and verily we needed it, both South and North. The South had become mad with vanity and aristocracy; the North was, is still, corrupt and rotten beyond all healthy life, with such villainy in 'politics,' and such indifference to all that was noble and honorable through the greed of gold, that honest and able men were cast aside, or at best, used as mere tools by the 'intelligent.' Now we are in the struggle for life, and rascals, whether of the Union or of the confederacy, will sooner or later be tried, tested, and rejected. The people are very patient, and they can be for a long time fooled with this or that man's reputed honesty and ability. But we have come to the time of trial, and the people will soon find who is false and what is _true_.

It is not to be expected that in one year, or in two, the country will be rid of all the old, corrupt politicians and demagogues who continually work every subject of public interest into the question of a 'party.' But it is gratifying to observe that, whether Radical or Conservative, such men are beginning to be regarded with contempt. In times like these, _we_, at least, blame no man for honestly advocating any policy which he thinks will aid the Union cause. But the country was never more disgusted than it is at present, with men who use politics as a mere trade by which to live. The infamy which has attached to the miserable and imbecile Buchanan, that type of degraded, pettifogging diplomacy, is rapidly extending to his whole tribe--and their name is legion. It is significant that a bank, whose notes bore as vignette a portrait of the ex-honorable ex-President, has been obliged to call them in, and substitute another device, since so many of the bills were marked beneath the picture with such words as 'traitor,' and 'Judas Iscariot.'

The _people_ are 'all right' in this struggle: but they are awaking very rapidly to the fact that those in power _must_ be honest or able. The coming year is to witness either a grand sifting or a tremendous protest, whose thunder-tones will be heard through all history. It is all very well for conservatives to lay the blame on their enemies and yell for their blood; to recommend the assassination of Charles Sumner, as has been done by one Boston journal; or the hanging of all leading Radicals, as recommended time and again by the New-York _Herald_; but this will not satisfy the people who can not see how the country is to be saved by holding up and aiding the enemy. Neither, on the other hand, will the people long regard with favor any persons of the opposite party, who are suspected of having managed the war for their own selfish purposes. The old hacks who can only live for personal preferment and for plunder, will be found out, and their places taken by honester and younger men, whose minds will have been shaped, not in by-gone political pettifogging, but in the great earnest needs of the times--in honor and in truth.

* * * * *

Even before authentic copies of General Butler's famed 'Woman Order' had reached us, it was generally understood that he had really done very little more than enforce an already existing local law; yet 'with the word' there went up a squall from the democratic press, clamoring for his instant removal; so angry were the 'Conservatives' that any thing should be said or done which would in any way injure the 'susceptibilities' of their beloved rebel friends.

If we are really _at war_, it is neither fit nor proper that such expressions of sympathy for the enemy should continually appear, to keep alive in the heart of the foe continual hopes of Northern aid. What does the reader think, for instance, of such a paragraph as the following from the Washington correspondence of the New-York _Herald_--which has been copied with commendation by its colleagues:

'All conservative men here are shocked at the sweeping measures of
confiscation proposed by the radicals. They provide substantially
for the abolition of slavery, because slaveholders, for the most
part, are considered as rebels by these bills. _There are a quarter
of a million of slaveholders_, and a quarter of a million of other
property-holders in the South, _that would be made beggars by the
execution of this programme_. It is pretended that this wholesale
confiscation is for the purpose of compensating for the expenses of
the war; but none will dare to go into the Africanized South among
an infuriated people to purchase estates. It is proposed, also, to
arm the negroes, and in effect make them superior to the million of
whites, who are to be deprived of their property. Of course, under
such circumstances, there will be no cotton or other crops, nor any
demand for Northern manufactures from the South.'

Really! and so legislation at Washington is to be conducted with special reference to protecting the property of the rebels! No confiscation, forsooth, because the half million of rebels who have plunged us into this iniquitous and horrible war, in the hope of utterly ruining us, might thereby be reduced to poverty! Northern men may pay a million a day in taxes, but the select slaveholding few who caused the taxation are to be exempted. How shallow is the concluding '_of course_, under such circumstances there will be no demand for Northern manufactures from the South.' Will there not? Wait until the South has been well subdued, thoroughly Butlered and vigorously Northed; wait till the Yankee is at home there, and then see if there will be 'no demand for Northern manufactures.' Quite as tender to the rebels is the spirit of the following from the Boston _Post_ of May 31st:

'Senator Sumner,' a correspondent writes, 'in an argument against
the proposed tax on cotton, not only opposed it as _an act of
injustice to the unrepresented South_--for grain, hemp, and flax
are left untouched--but as oppressive on manufacturers.' Mr.
Sumner's sense of justice is called into exercise only when it
suits its owner's convenience. He has no thought of 'injustice to
the unrepresented South,' when he wishes to tax negroes, emancipate
slaves, and confiscate Southern property.'

Such remarks require no comment. If a rebel in arms, disgraced by every infamy of treason, is only to be treated as his representatives would like, then it is indeed time for the honest friends of the Union to inquire what safeguard we have in the future against national ruin?

* * * * *

MY MOCKING-BIRD.

With wings a-quiver, eyes irate,
He watched me coming near,
Each plume upon his panting breast
Astir with kindling fear.

My hand, though always kindly stretched,
He _would_ not think it good;
And as I placed some sugar in,
He pecked, and drew my blood.

So have I seen the souls caged here,
To learn celestial speech
From angels chanting love so near
They seemed within arm reach;

When closer to them drew God's power,
In wrath or terror stand;
And while he dropped the sweet, dart up
And rend His dear, warm hand.

* * * * *

The London _Times_ is becoming malignantly consistent, and has declared that there should be at present nothing more said of intervention in American affairs, because it would have the effect to immediately strengthen the Federal army.

'If we wish to give the Civil War a new impetus, to recruit for the
North with a vigor with which they never can again recruit for
themselves, we have only to take some step, we do not say what
step, but any step which can be represented as being an
interference on our part in the quarrel. The spirit of conquest is
worn out, but we know the Americans too well to doubt that the
spirit of national independence is as strong as ever. If we
interfere at all, we assist Mr. Lincoln to raise his three hundred
thousand men, we give a new impetus to the war, and postpone
indefinitely the chances of peace, which will never come till the
North has been convinced that it is useless to prosecute the war
any further. To do nothing is often the wisest, but generally the
most difficult policy. We hope that, unless some complete change in
the conditions of the problem take place, our government will on no
account allow itself to be tempted out of its present policy of
expressive silence and masterly inaction.'

The _Times_ speaks too late. One year ago it did not express the sentiments of all England--now unfortunately we find that it has not only poisoned all Great Britain, but is rapidly stirring up Europe against us. The steady stream of falsehood; the reports of Federal defeats which never occurred, and of confederate victories more unfounded, are gradually weakening the faith even of Americans abroad in the great cause of freedom. Let our people arm and out, in all their strength. England and France are only waiting for reverses to our Government to attack us right and left.

* * * * *

We clip the following in reference to a popular eccentric phrase from a note by a friend:

'By the way, do you know that the phrase, 'Or any other man,' can
be found in Byron's _Letter to my Grandmother's Review_? He writes:

"Charley Incledon's usual exordium when people came into the tavern
to hear him sing, without paying their share of the reckoning: 'If
a maun, or _ony_ maun, or _ony other_ maun,' etc., etc.''

That settles it. After all, there is nothing original in this world, or, as we presume, 'any other world.'

* * * * *

If the steamers for Europe take every week gold from this country, there is at least some comfort in the reflection that we received and continue to receive something for it. If American securities are returning to us from abroad, we are at least getting them back cheap and shall some day sell them again dear. There is some comfort and common-sense in the following from one of 'Hallett and Co.'s' circulars:

'We certainly ought not to complain. We had their money at the
right time. It has done for the nation all that money could do--by
giving the highest possible value to all our resources and
products. Having reaped the full advantage of the investment,
which has increased our means more than five-fold, we were never in
a better position to commence its return. The securities are still
very low; on an average from ten to fifty per cent below what they
were originally sold for. To this discount is to be added something
over twenty per cent in the present price of exchange. We are
getting back our securities at about one half what we parted with
them for. As money is plenty, the foreigner paying the premium on
gold, we are certainly driving a very good bargain. We can, without
the least inconvenience, part with one hundred million dollars in
specie, which is lying idle in the vaults of our banks and the
hands of our people, and get back nearly twice the amount of
interest-paying securities, which is equivalent to the payment of a
debt too, and stopping the interest on an equal amount, assuming
securities of this country to a similar amount were held abroad,
which is an excessive estimate, the aggregate not probably
exceeding one hundred million dollars.'

* * * * *

We have heard of a German, who having been strung up in jest and cut down, declared it was 'a fery pad choke.' The best 'choke' of the season was issued by our friend the _Boston Traveller_, who in commenting on the remark of the London _Times_, to the effect that Mr. Lincoln is eating his artichoke, the South, leaf by leaf, but thinks it will not agree with him, said: 'It will not trouble him a thousandth part so much as Jeff Davis will be troubled when he shall, by and by, take _his_ 'heartychoke with caper sauce.''

* * * * *

HON ROBERT J. WALKER knows the South well, and he has of late written well on it and on the present state and future prospects of our country. Those who have read Mr. Atkinson's instructive pamphlet upon 'Cheap Cotton,' will be interested in the strong confirmation of his arguments given by Hon. Robert J. Walker, late of Mississippi, in the following statement contained in one of his recent letters:

'From long residence in the South, and from having traversed every
Southern State, I know it to be true that cotton is raised there
most extensively and profitably by non-slaveholders, and upon farms
using exclusively white labor. In Texas, especially, this is a
great truth, nor is there a doubt that skilled, educated,
persevering, and energetic free labor, engaged voluntarily for
wages for its own use, would in time, especially when aided by
improved culture and machinery, produce much larger crops and
better cotton than is now raised by the forced and ignorant labor
of slaves, and at a much cheaper rate and a far greater profit than
any crop now produced in the North.'

With this great truth before us, will Government hesitate to seize on and settle Texas, as soon as circumstances admit? We have urged Texas from the beginning as the great stone of resistance which must eventually, by means of free labor be employed to stem the progress of cotton-ocracy in the other Southern States. On this subject Hon. Robert J. Walker's letter of June 28th is one of the most instructive and remarkable documents issued since the beginning of the free-labor agitation, and it is to be desired that it should be read by every freeman in the Union. Colonization, voluntary but effective, is, as he holds, the only remedy for the terrible evil of slavery, and the only basis of the peaceful restoration of the Union.

It was urged, months ago, against THE CONTINENTAL by a radical Abolition organ, that while favoring Emancipation, we were quite willing 'to colonize the negro out of the way.' And if it could promote the real welfare of both black and white, why should he not be colonized, even 'out of the way'? 'But it is impossible,' say the Conservatives; to which we reply that this is an age of great conceptions and great deeds, and it would be strange indeed if we, with steamboats, could not effect as much as was done of old by the most primitive races of both hemispheres. The Incas of Peru had no difficulty in moving hundreds of thousands of a conquered race to fresh fields and pastures new--why should we find it impossible? Let the same enthusiasm which has been displayed on the bare subject of freeing the black, be devoted to freeing and placing him at the same time in a climate congenial to his nature, and we should soon witness a solution of our great national difficulty.

* * * * *

We are indebted to a genial Western correspondent for

TOM JOHNSON'S BEAR.

A STORY WITH A MORAL.

To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, this poem is dedicated with the 'distinguished consideration' of

THE AUTHOR.

Tom Johnson he lived on the Western border,
Where he went to escape from 'law and order,'
For Tom was a terrible fellow, was he,
He drunk, and he swore, and he fou't[B] like the
Old Harry--and Tom he had a wife:
Fit partner she was of his backwoods life.

Tom lived on the border for divers years,
Where he fou't the red-skins, and he fou't the bears
And there wasn't a thing that could bite or scratch
For which Tom Johnson wasn't a match,
Excepting his wife, and she was the better
Half by all odds--he'd often get her
In a tight place, and give her a strapping.
But somehow or other 'twould always happen,
In every tussle and every bout,
In every 'scrimmage' and every rout,
She'd come out ahead of the cross-grained old wizzard,
And by hook or crook manage to 'give him a blizzard.'
Sometimes from a brawl of which Tom was the hero,
Returning at midnight, the weather at zero,
His wife snug in bed, and the door safely barred,
Long time would elapse ere his shouts could be heard;
And sometimes she'd catch him dead drunk or asleep,
When he'd find himself suddenly 'all of a heap,'
And open his eyes on his bellicose bride,
Hot mush in his mouth and his under-pins tied.
So she managed to keep just inside of the law,
While he ever would find himself '_hors du combat_.'

As Johnson was one day exploring the wood,
To replenish the meat-tub--then empty--with food,
While a tree-top near by he was leisurely viewin''
He spied the short ears and sharp eyes of old Bruin,
Peering out 'mid the branches--a sight worth a dollar
When the rifle is charged and the stomach is hollow;
So he drew a bead on him, and sent him a missile,
Which Brain perceived, by an ominous whistle,
Was very near taking him plump in the eye,
But he dodged just in time, and the bullet went by.

Now bears are pugnacious--as much so as wives,
And whenever assaulted will fight for their lives;
So seeing that Tom's ammunition was spent,
He determined at once on a hasty descent;
For knowing that he or Tom Johnson would eat,
The question arose which should furnish the meat;
For although the bullet had wrought some confusion,
A moment's reflection produced the conclusion,
That he at the foot of the tree with the gun,
Minus powder and bullet, must needs be the one;
So he slid down the tree, with much scratching and clawing,
Designing to give poor Tom's carcass a gnawing.

But Thomas, intent upon saving his life,
And calling to mind a sharp trick of his wife,
As Bruin came down, his legs clasping the tree,
Caught a paw in each hand and held tight as could be:
He put on a grip unto Bruin quite new,
Like a vice when the blacksmith is turning the screw.

But now what to do there arose a great doubt,
For Bruin and Johnson had both just found out
What neither had thought of until 'twas too late,
That each was exposed to a merciless fate
At the hands, or the teeth, or the claws of the other,
At which _neither_ could his astonishment smother,
And neither knew what it was safest to do;
'Twas _hard_ to hold on, but 'twas worse to let go!

Now Johnson still being not far from his house,
Bethought him in time of his excellent spouse,
So he hooted and hallooed and made such a noise
She distinguished at last his affectionate voice,
Calling loudly for help as it rose on the breeze,
Like the panther's wild scream in the tops of the trees:
'O Julee, dear Julee! come, help me this time,
And I never again--will--(oh! bother the rhyme,)
Will bite you, or scratch you, or whip you, not I,
But love and protect you till you or I die.'

Now good Mistress Johnson, dear soul, when she heard
The piteous cries of her penitent lord,
Got herself to the wood with broom-stick in hand.
'I am, most respectfully, yours to command,'
Said the wife, as she came and found Tom and the bear
Both hugging a tree with the grip of despair.
'O Julee, _dear_ Julee! How can you?--now come,
Do help me, or quickly-confound it!--our home
Won't have any master!--dear Julee, consider--
The children no daddy, and you a lone widow!'
An _un_lucky hint for poor Tom, by the by,
'For worse things _might_ happen!' thought she with a sigh.

But good mistress Johnson, though love was but scant,
Had a heart never hewn from the worst adamant;
It softened apace, so with broom-stick in air
And ire in her eye she advanced on the bear,
Who seeing the enemy thus reënforced
Tried to get his fore-paws from Tom's clutches divorced.

O woman, poor woman! dear woman! sweet thing!
O light of earth's darkness! O treasure supernal!
Thy fond heart, though crushed, win unceasingly cling
To a loved one, though fallen, degraded, infernal!

Thrice Bruin's tough hide from the broom-stick now had a cut;
Quoth Johnson: 'My darling, that weapon's inadequate--
Hold a bit--let me see--now we'll fix him--here, Mother--
Reach your hand--take this paw--hold it tight--now the other.
There, _I_ will dispatch him--ah! where is my gun?
And bullets? dear me!--ah!--why, what have I done?
I will run to the house, and be back in a trice--
Hold on, my beloved! be 'still as a mice!''
'Quick! quick!' the wife shouted. 'Be off--get away!
Make tracks, Mr. Johnson! don't stand there all day!'

So Tom started off in pursuit of assistance,
And leisurely walking a very short distance,
Turned, paused to reflect, then addressed her: 'My dear,
My conscience upbraids me concerning this bear;
A very great doubt has arisen in my mind--
I am not quite sure--but am rather inclined,
Indeed--I may say--I have reached the conclusion
That bears have been made a Divine Institution;
This is plainly deduced from the Scriptures of truth,
Which frightened me much in the days of my youth,
With the story of forty of ages quite tender,
Torn to strings by two gears of the feminine gender:
And not only so, but you see, Mistress Julia,
This same institution is very 'peculiar;'
I found it somewhat inconvenient to hold,
(The cubs are quite harmless, but this one is old,)
He is gentle at first, but as muscle increases,
Shows some disposition to tear one in pieces.
Then hold him the tighter, and keep up good heart,
As it's all in the family, you'll do your part.'

Tom closed his oration with actions to suit,
Then went to his house, where the reprobate brute
Whipped the children and kicked his old mother out-door,
Got tipsy as Bacchus and rolled on the floor,
While his wife held the bear, fast tied to the spot,
And how long she staid there, deponent says not.

* * * * *

Secesh has a bear, and has had many years,
At first, a mere pet, he engendered no fears;
But now he's grown strong and can fight like a major,
And has like his master become an old stager;
He has taught him to work, and has trained him to fight,
Adding strength to his hands and increasing his might;
Albeit if _free_ he would turn on his master,
Who knows it full well, and hence holds him the faster;
But not only so, he insists _we_ shall help
While he fights to destroy us, at holding his whelp!
And strangely enough, we obey his command,
While he strikes at our vitals and plunders the land!
He has murdered the son and led captive the brother,
Has broke up the home and made war on his mother;
And now while our sons by the thousand are slain
The nation to save and its life to maintain,
When the patriot's eyelids are closing in death,
While a prayer for his country inspires his last breath,
Or bleeding he lies as the foul traitor's dart
Is caught in the folds of the flag round his heart,
While freedom's bright bow, for the millions unborn,
No longer encircles the brow of the storm,
While the sun of our glory grows dim in our sight,
And the star of our destiny's shrouded in night;
Still our paralyzed hands, to our country untrue,
Are stretched out to _succor_ the traitorous crew,
As they strike for our lives, fully bent on our ruin,
_We_ lend them assistance by holding their Bruin,
And tell all the world that our national wars
Shall be waged to protect _constitutional bears_.

And now let us know, my dear sir, in conclusion,
How long must continue this monstrous delusion,
(If not a state secret, so sacred a one
That it may to the Cabinet only be known,)
While being destroyed by a traitorous war,
_How long we must aid them by holding their bear_?
Or how long shall we flourish our broom-stick, and say,
To one who would help us: 'Keep out of the way!
Go home to your master, your Samaritan neighbor;
Return all his kindness and give him your labor,
Plant corn, hoe the cotton, and keep things all bright,
Give him plenty to eat and more leisure to fight;
For we mean to protect him in every 'RIGHT;'
And the best way of keeping the 'whole Constitution'
Is to help those who fight for its _whole_ dissolution,
(Though this proposition may seem somewhat strange,)
While we dig our own ditches and fire at long range,
For our duty is plain, when the traitor makes war,
To give aid and comfort by _holding his bear_.'

[Footnote B: In the border dialect this word rhymes with 'shout,' 'about,' etc.]

* * * * *

We find the following in the notice of THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY by a contemporary:

'The CONTINENTAL looks upon Slavery through blood and murder eyes.
It sees in the institution nothing but lashes, salt-rubbed wounds,
bloodhounds, and iron-hearted taskmasters. _It looks upon the war
as solely for the freedom of the nigger_; and judging from its tone
for the past six months would undoubtedly go in for an entire
separation, if its editors and contributors thought at the end of
the conflict the rebellious States would be restored to the Union
with the 'peculiar institution' still in force.'

_Ab uno disce omnes._ This, reader, is the manner in which every democratic-conservative journal which has undertaken to notice our Magazine speaks of it. And the reader who has followed us--who has fairly and equitably appreciated our views of the war and of Emancipation--will not hesitate for an instant in pronouncing it as perfectly _false_ a verdict as was ever yet given against any one. We have never in any way looked upon the war as 'solely for the freedom of the nigger,' and we have been chid by the regular Abolition press because we did _not_ look more to the welfare of the negro, or, as the _Liberator_ accused us, of being willing to 'colonize the slave out of the way.' It was in the _Knickerbocker_ and in these pages, and editorially, that the principle of the true Republican, Free White Labor Emancipationists, in the words, 'Emancipation for the sake of the WHITE Man,' first appeared. And while we advocate ultimate emancipation, it is not as _the_ matter of _primary_ importance that we do so. Slavery has inextricably entangled itself with the war, and no one who takes a broad, comprehensive view of the struggle, or of contemporary history, can fail to see that slavery must ultimately go, because it makes bad citizens of the masters, wastes soil, represses manufactures, neutralizes the proper development of capital, and, worst of all, degrades labor--man's noblest prerogative--and inflicts grievous wrong on the white working man. And does not every Southern journal and every Southern 'gentleman' prove what we say? 'Aristocrat,' 'Norman gentleman,' 'Yankee serf,' 'vile herd'--is it not enough to make the heart sick and the brain burn to hear the poor sons and daughters of toil, those whom God has appointed to be truly good and useful, cursed and reviled in this manner by the few owners of black labor? Is there not enough in the wrongs of the _white_ man to inspire all the headlong zeal and boldness with which the press credit us, without making the miserable _negro_ the chief aim? Not but that we pity the latter, God knows! But it is the elevation of the dignity of _white_ labor that we have in hand, and while we advocate 'emancipation to come' sooner or later, it is as a means of doing justice to the white man. Let us emancipate white labor from the comparison with slavery and from the sneers of an aristocracy which _will_ be 'Cæsar or nothing' among us.

The South has sinned against man and God by voluntarily, boldly, shamelessly reviling the poor, who are the chosen children of God. And for all this they shall be judged by those whom they have cursed and ridiculed. The most crushing tread of destiny is reserved for those who impertinently aid her in trampling the lowly. Does Christ, think you, whose whole teaching was one upholding of the poor and the hard-working, approve this scorn of the 'laboring scum'? So surely as this thing has been fevered to a war, so surely shall there be one last moment when dying Southern sin shall exclaim: '_Vicisti Galilæ!_'

But what are we to think of the hangers-on and parasites and shadows and 'shadows of shadows,' as Plautus calls the vilest toadies to sycophants, who, hard-working men themselves, try to catch some faint reflection of sham gentility by 'talking pro-slavery because they think it aristocratic,' as Winthrop says? What of an _editor_--the one who of all men works hard for indifferent reward--who forgets the nobility which _should_ surround all who speak for and to the people, and beslabbers the meanest and most contemptible of even sham aristocracies, that which is _self_-conscious, self-glorifying by comparison and forgetful that _noblesse oblige_? Or what of him when he cunningly and with the vulgar 'cuteness which characterizes the most degraded snobbery, takes pains to make it appear that the labor of another on behalf of the poor white man is meant solely for the negro, and that the former is to be sacrificed to the latter!

We know, see, and feel clearly what we want and what we believe. It is the progress of the rights of free white labor, which correctly considered means all that is right. And if this were understood and felt, as it _should_ be by those most deeply interested, our police would be amply sufficient to punish the _soi-disant_ Normans of the South.

* * * * *

If we could speak a word to all men in or about to enter the army, it would be: 'Don't drink.' We know the fever and ague country, and assure our readers that all advice to the contrary notwithstanding, he who lets liquor alone will fare best in the end. _Apropos_ of which we clip the following:

'Hall's _Journal of Health_ recommends to those writing to soldier
friends to inclose a little _capsicum_ (in the vulgar, simply
strong cayenne pepper) in the letter. The editor declares that the
effect of the slightest pinch in a glass of water, is better than
quinine whisky. It prevents thirst, and wards off miasma; it
protects from chills, and does not induce too much animal heat. It
stimulates without leaving any depressing effect; all of which we
most firmly believe. The weight is so small that enough to do a
great deal of good may be put in tissue-paper and be inclosed in a
single letter without cost additional to the regular postage
rates.'

* * * * *

Every mail brings fresh proof of English antipathy to the Federal Union. It is now only a question of time when we are to be attacked by the great Abolition nation. John Bull is hammering away at his iron-clads and doing his best in every direction to aid the aristocratic and despotic principle, so dear to his soul--nay, which _is_ his very soul and self. In China he is helping the Imperialists, whose awful and heart-rending atrocities go beyond all belief--in the West, the slaveholder meets with his warmest sympathy. How well--how human--how Christian he looks _now_ with his sheepskin thrown aside--this selfish, brutal savage, howling for cotton and trade and gold as though all truth, honor, and nobility were as dirt before them.

For all this, England will have its reward. In the history of nations, 1862 shall be marked as the year of British falsehood, infamy, and guilt. _Upharsin!_

* * * * *

DEAR CONTINENTAL: Curious fellows those Pre-Raphaelites!

Do you remember Holman Hunt's picture of the Light of the World? I remember that one evening at the Century, among a cheerful group of Leutze, Durand, Gifford, Mignot, and others, you once called it a pre-Raphaelight of the World!

Well, 'twas far away in Switzerland, _tilly hi ho--tilly i o!_ all in the mountains high, several years ago, and I was touring and sketching somewhere along in the Oberland. I found at last a retired village without English. No--not without them altogether--there was one little man with a _barba rossa_, and he was pre-Raphaeliting round for a subject.

He found it at last in a small rock about nine inches by twelve--full of sentiment, tone, color, piety, feeling, reality, child-like faith and trustingness.

And he went to work to paint the rock.

Day after day he painted. When it rained he worked under an umbrella; when it sun-shone on him he toiled in the heat.

I pitied him. 'Smith,' said I, 'what do you do that for? Why don't you pick your stone up and take it home with you? Put it in your trunk and carry it back to London. It isn't a landscape, you know.'

'By Jove!' quoth he, 'I never thought of that. So I will, d'ye know. 'Ow very hodd! Vell! you Yankees are werry hinwentive, I must hadmit.'

And he did; and the portrait of the rock went into the 'Annual Exhibish,' and was thought to be the deepest-toned thing 'out.'

And it's _true_.

Yours also,
GALLI VAN T.

* * * * *

It is odd, but after all, the world seldom sees a real original letter. Letters of business, old letters, love-letters, and letters written for print, the world sees enough. But the real life-descriptive gossiping letter is rarely en-typed. More's the pity.

Here is one--from a never-seen friend--which has been lying for months in THE CONTINENTAL his drawer. Shall we be pardoned for publishing it? We hope so, for we remember that it pleased us well when we received it, and what is good for the editor must be good for the reader. Let it go!

_The Hermitage, May_, 1862.

DEAR FRIEND: Appearances--to make a very original remark--are deceitful. To the traveler who may chance to cast his eyes upon this little brown, house, a little brown house it will be to him, 'and nothing more.' He will not even notice the woodbines that are flinging their arms around the windows, nor will he dwell for an instant upon the thrifty cotton-woods that guard the door, or bestow more than a casual glance on the artistically arranged garden-beds, wherein I have anxiously watched tulips and radishes sprouting into existence. Anxiously--for winter has been writing a somewhat lengthy postscript to his annual message, and the modest, gentle-mannered spring retreats in lady-like fright before his furious blasts.

Now we are having an interval of hazy warmth--the really royal weather of the year--red sunshine, the hills purple and blue in the distance, and the still air savory with the smoke of brush-burnings and the wild breath of new-lifed vegetation. Lovelier than the Indian summer, for mingled with all things is the consciousness of the flowering and fruiting _to come_. The Indian summer has a sweet sadness. The spring is full of hope and promise, and the _heart_ buds with the flowers.

Out in the midst of all this country springtime freshness, our 'Hermitage' looks up from its shrubberies and rejoices within itself, and does not care for the traveler's careless glances. The traveler may call it stupid and ugly, if he calls it at all; our Hermitage still patiently wears its havelock of weather-beaten shingles, for _it_ knows that beneath its lowly roof--radiant with whitewash and fresh paper--are cozy, coolly curtained rooms, where friendly books look down from the wall, and drowsy arm-chairs woo from the corners.

Yes, many Wisconsin banks have yielded up their lives in the past year, and in one of these fatal safes our little pile of 'ready' irrevocably evaporated! Ah! the palmy days! when we had rooms at the ----; when our tables were marble-topped and our mirrors presented full-length portraits of us; when every dinner was a feast for epicures; when servants awaited our nod or beck; when Davis's best turn-out bowled us away to the purple bluffs yonder, at every sunset, and bowled us back again happy in pocket and in heart! Those days have gemmed themselves in the past.

We find it necessary to 'put in for repairs,' as they say of a steamboat when her smoke-stacks are snapped off by a Lake Pepin gale, and she goes ashore. At no distant day we will again go out into the tide. From any quantity of 'wild lands'--which we have the felicity of paying taxes on--we have selected a ten-acre patch in the neighborhood of the city, and are living something after the style of Thoreau, except that we have a better cook!

From our modestly architectured porch we look out upon the broad, far-stretching valley of the Mississippi. It is a vast view--so that a shower becomes a part of the landscape, and it is delightful to watch it trailing over the hills. Alexander Smith is ahead of me in this idea, but no matter. East and west the picturesque bluffs mingle in hazy softness with the sky; the roofs and steeples of the city glimmer in the sunny distance; now and then, away through the wooded banks we see columns of pearly steam, as some stately boat goes gliding by. I shall always have a weakness for these proud, screeching steamboats, for there is one among them--the dear old 'Milwaukee'--for which I entertain a confirmed infirmity! _We_ went honey-mooning in the 'Milwaukee.' Its musical and far-heard whistle is doomed for evermore to deluge my soul in a 'sea of soft-blue memories.'