Pittston Gazette

              \ VJ^"A,f."K.u,,,ri Oldest Newsoauer in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1890. \ WeeKly Local and Family Journal. Llk* m BOM. 1 can see her standing yet, open, glanced anxiously at its contents, then threw it with an exclamation of peevish indignation upon the table. next thing she noted was that Mr. Hayne's fur cap was blown from his head, and that he was groping for it helplessly. sister; for Miss Travers bad listened-in silence to her sister's exposition of what her manner should be to the colonel and his wife, and when they met she was bright and winsome. The colonel stood and talked with her about her father whom she could remember only vaguely, but of whom she never tired of hearing, and that night Mrs. Rayner rebuked her severely for her disloyalty to the captain, who had given her a home. iouuu, tor nor sister Kept vigilant guaru;! that always followed the mention of Hayne's name. Mrs. Rayner looked annoyed. It was evident that she wanted more information—wanted to ask, but was restrained. Royce determined to lD« outspoken. but, onco satisfied of his high connections, his wealth and his social standing, the door was opened, and ho was something more than welcomed, said the gossips at the Surf house. What his past history had been, where and how his life had been spent, were matters of less consequence, apparently, than what he was now. He had beeii wild at college, as other boys had been, she learned; he had tried the cattle business in the west, she was told; but there had been a quarrel with his father, a reconciliation, a devoted mother, a long sojourn abroad— Heidelberg—a sudden summons to return, the death of the father, and then the management of a valuable estate fell to the son. AT PETERSBURG. maae prisoners ot' nearly all or ttio pickets on the line of the Third brigade, and then this unwelcome menace to Gordon's enterprise was removed. Behind the pickets were the guards in the trenches. When Gordon's men began hewing at the abatis obstructions on the Confederate side, the guard at Fort Stedman called out, ''What are you doing there, 'Johnny?"' "All right, 'Yank,' only picking corn." railroad. A detachment or cavalry was in the vicinity wftli orders to gallop dawn the river road toward City Point and raid the depots, landings and bridges the moment the storming parties had silenced the batteries commanding the road. The next step in Gordon's plan was to form on the space he held and move toward 'the Union left, taking ob the way Fort Haskell, which his storming party had not silenced. This work had three guns on the north face, having a range on all the ground between it and Fort Bted man. Owing to the irregularity of the Hne of breastworks connecting these forts, the gnns of Haskell could not sweep the rear of the breastworks beyond the distance of about fifty yards. The Confederates therefore these works as a cover, and a column of a couple of brigades started from Stedmaa to move down on Haskell to strike it in the rear. Dewy-eyed, As she stood that summer mora At my side; "You'll have to answer for yourself, Nellie. I cannot straighten your affairs and mine too." And with that she was going, but Miss Travers called her back. It Is not so long ago That 1 parted from her so; Yet the gull la fixed, I know, Deep and wide. There was no one to call, no one to assist. She hesitated one minute, looked anxiously around, then sprang to the gate, picked up the cap, pulled it well down over the bandaged eyes, seized the young officer firmly by the arm, drew him within the gate and led him to the shelter of the piazza. Once out of the fury of the gale, she could hear his question, "Did you get it all, Sam?" "Several of us have got quite in the way of stopping there on our way froit afternoon stables," ho takl, very quietly. "Mr. Hayne has his jkujio now, and lirif nearly recovered the full use of his eye3. He plays well." A Night Assault, March 25, The message simply read: "No letter in four days. Is anything wrong? Answer paid," and was addressed to Mrs. Rayner and signed S. V. A. Down the garden path we walked To the gate, And I begged her: "Ah, my own. Name the date.1* But she answered: "No, my dear, *Tls your fickleness I tear— I will try you tor a year— You must wait," 18G5. Gordon's storming parties were huddled in the rifle pits of the Union picket lines, and on a signal, which followed this discovery, they rushed over the narrow space and overpowered the trench guards of the breastworks adjoining Fort Stedman and captured Battery Ten. The trench {guards here belonged to the Fourteenth New York heavy artillery, which garrisoned also Fort Stedman and Fort Haskell. The men were nearly all asleep, although the guard and guard reliefs were at the guard house. The commandant, Maj. George M. Randall, was in his tent, and being aroused with the news that the enemy was in the works he dispatched orders to have the men turned out and placed in the trenches. When he left his tent he ran into the Confederates and was made prisoner, and the men Coug the works were seized while asleep in their huts. Tbfe commander of tbe guns in Battery Ten, Lieut. Nye, Fourteenth Massachusetts battery, rushed to the defense of his pieces and was killed. Some of tho men of the Fourteenth New York opened the guns of Fort Stedman, and gave the assailants canister in their faces, but in a very few minutes the Confederates swarmed on the works and the Fourteenth men retired, leaving about two hundred prisoners behind. The guns of these batteries, now in Gordon's hands, were opened on Batteries Nine, Eleven and Twelve and on Fort HasktSl, and the sound gave tho first general alarm on the line. Promptly, now, these storming parties of about one hundred each moved out of the Confederate works and passing inside of the Union picket pits separated for the desperate work of the hour, the capture of the batteries bearing on Stedman, namely, Fort Haskell, Battery Nine and the fortified battery in rear of Stedman. Also a long line of skirmishers spread out to the rear and set out for the interior lines. Some of these reached the United States military railroad running from City Point along the line of Union camps. Here they cut the telegraph wires. In the darkness there was a running to and fro of aids and orderlies, and one after another these rushed toward Fort Stedman and fell into the hands of the enemy. The commander of the brigade, Gen. McLaughlen, had been aroused, and making his way to the front, reached Fort Haskell just as the assault on that work had been repulsed. "I think you have been extremely neglectful," said Mrs. Rayner, who had turned and now stood watching the rising color and impatiently tapping foot of her younger sister. Miss Travers bit her lips and compressed them hard. There was an evident struggle in her mind between a desire to make an impulsive and sweeping reply and an effort to control herself. But when Mrs. Rayner heard that Maj. and Mrs. Waldron had invited Mr Hayne to dine with them, and had invited to meet him two of the cavalry officers and their wives, she was incensed beyond measure. 8he and Mrs. Waldroii had a brief talk, as a result of which Mrs. Rayner refused to speak to Mrs Waldron at the evening party given by Mrs. Stannard in honor of her and her sister. It was this that brought on the crisis. Whatever was 6aid between the' men was not told Maj. Waldron and Capt. Rayner had a long consultation and they took no one into their confidence; but Mrs. Rayner obeyed her husband, went to Mrs. Waldron and apologized for her .rudeness, and then went with her sister and returned the call of the colonel's wife; but she chose a bright afternoon, when she knew well the lady was not at home. THE STONEWALL JACKSON COUPS Mrs. Rayner turned alDout once more, and without saying eo much as good night, went heavily upstairs, leaving It Storms the Union Forts—The Lost Of- Grief was on my features then "Not yet," she anrwered. Oh, how she longed for a deep contralto! "He is coming. He will be here in a moment." fensive Movement of Lee's Army—Dec Is- Written plain. For she said: "I'm sorry, dear, her esoor; to share with Mr. Royce such welcome as the captain was ready to accord them. If forbidden to talk on the subject nearest her heart, she would not speak at all. She would have banged her door, but that would have waked babv. Ive Failure and Dire Disaxler for the For your pain. Take this little rose, I pray; It shall wither In a day, Bnt my love for you tor aye Shall remain." "I am so sorry to have been a trouble to you," he began again, vaguely. Confederate Forces. l'ho night sortie by the Confederates under Gen. John B. Gordon on the lines of the Ninth corps, at Petersburg, March 25, 1805— twenty-five years ago—gave the Army of the Potomac its first complete surprise. The famous flank movements of Stonewall Jackson on the Peninsula and at Chancellorsville had been looked upon by the Union commanders is among the possibilities of the situation, ind were in a measure provided for. At east they were not surprises. The same may Desaid of Gen. Longstreet's bold and well Cjh successful asilt on Gen. Sickline at Gettysirg. But of the ivement of Gori's command to eak through mt's lines of iiiestment along the opomattox there ' not been an iling given in all i Union camps il the sleeping "You are no trouble to me. I'm glad I was where I happened to see you and could help." There were other children, brother and sisters, three in all, but Steven was the first born and the mother's glory. She was with him at the seaside, and the first thing that moved Nellie Travers to like him was his devotion to that white haired woman who seemed so happy in his care. Between that mother and Mrs. Rayner there had speedily sprung up an acquaintance. She had vastly admired Nellie, and during the first fortnight of their visit to the Surf bouse had 6hown her many attentions. The illness of a daughter called her away, and Mrs. Rayner announced that she, too, was going elsewhere, when Mr. Van Antwerp himself returned, and Mrs. Rayner decided it was so late in the season that they had better remain until it was time to go to town. In October they spent a fortnight in the city, staying at the Westminster, and he was assiduous in his attentions, taking them everywhere and lavishing flowers and bonbons upon Nell. Then Mrs. Van Antwerp invited them to visit her at her own comfortable, old fashioned house dows town, and Mrs. Rayner was eager to accept, but Nellie said no, she would not Love Is sometimes sweet and sure, "Will you answer a quiet question or two?" she finally asked. He spoke no more for a minute. She stood gazing at all that was visible of the pale face below the darkened eyes. It was so clear cut, so refined in feature, and the lips under the sweeping blonde mustache, though set and compressed, were delicate and pink. He turned his head eagerly towards the parade; but Sam was still far away. The music had scattered and was leading him a lively dance. It stung her to the quick to know that the cavalry ofBccrs were daily visitors at Mr. Hayne's quarters. It was little comfort to know that the infantry officers did not go, for the and they both knew that, except Maj. Waldron, no one of their number was welcome under that roof, unless ho would voluntarily come forward and 6ay, "I believe you innocent." She felt that but for the 6tand made by Ilayne himself most of their number would have received him into comradeship again by this time, and she could hardly sleep that night from thinking over what 6he had heard. I suppose; Who would not have faith in such "You know perfectly well 1 will," was the sisterly rejoinder. Vows as those t But, alas I I'm forced to rue That they were not semi-true, For her love was withered, too, Like the rose. "How long does it take a letter to go from here to New York?" Miss Travers stepped to the door, briefly told the soldier there was no answer, thanked him for waiting, and returned. "Five or six days, I suppose." To my feet. Ah I 'twas summer when its charms Bee, I let It flutter thus Were complete; Save It not, my heart is set, For 'tis wise I should forget, And its perfume lingers yet, Faint and sweet. —George Uorton, in Siftlaga "You are not going to reply?" asked Mrs. Rayner, in amaze. She retired from the contest, apparently, as has been said, and took much Christian conjolation to herself from the fact that at so great a sacrifice she was obeying her husband and doing the duty she owed to him. In very truth, however, the contest was withdrawn from Iter by the fact that for a week or more after his evening at the Waldrons' Mr. Hayne did not reappear in garrison, and she had no cause to talk about him Officers visiting the house avoided mention of his name. Ladies of the cavalry regiment calling upon Mrs. Rayner and Miss Travers occasionally spoke of him and his devotion to the men and his bravery at the fire, but rather as though they meant in a general way to compliment the Riflers, not Mr. Hayne; and so she heard little of the man whose existence was 60 6ore a trial to her. What ahe would have said, what she would have tfepught, had she known of the meeting between him and her guarded Nellie, is beyond us to describe; but she □ever dreamed of »uch a thing, and Miss Travers never dreamed of telling her—for the present, at least Fortunately, or unfortunately,, for the latter, it was not so much of her relations with Mr. Hayne as of her relations with half a dozen young bachelors that Mrs. Rayner speedily felt herself compelled to complain. It was a blessed relief to the elder Bister. Her surcharged spirit was in sore need of an escape valve. She was ready to boil over in the mental ebullition consequent upon Mr. Hayne's reception at the pobt, and with all the pent up irritability which that episode had generated she could not have contained herself and slept. "I am not; and I inferred you did not intend to. Now another question. How many days have we been here?" "Isn't my servant coming?" he asked, constrainedly. "I fear I'm keeping you. Please do not wait. He will find me here. You were going somewhere." CHEVAUX DK FRISK. The infantry and the batteries drawn op along the bluffs in the rear were able to do some execution by firing on this column in the flank. However, they reached the J  leading up to the fort, and in the face C ister from one gun of the Third New , battery they pushed up within hail i moned the fort to surrender. A t shells was pouring down on Haskell; regular Confederate batteries, aad t pet facing Fort Stedman, and again the asfeault was aimed, was exposed fire from the rear. The commandant Haskell, Maj. C. H. Houghton, of ti teenth New York heavy artillery, 1 struck down at this parapet while i by his colors. The commander of tery, Maj. Christian Woerner, brave by the gun that commanded the breastwork along which the were advancing, and for an ai summons to surrender he sent a c ister that struck the foremost of 1 thirty paces. A portion of the j Fourteenth heavy artillery, ak of the One Hundredth Penusj had left the outside of the brea come into the fort, stood to the ; opened with muskets. The pressed up until they were wit of the ditch, and then moved i rear, where they were i "Eight or nine—nine, it is." But could 6he have seen the figure that was slinking in the snow at the rear door of Hayne's quarters that very evening, peering into the lighted rooms, and at clast, after many an irresolute turn, knocking timidly for admission and then hiding behind the corner of th* shed until Sam came and poked his pig tailed head out into the wintry darkness in wondering effort to find the visitor, she would not have slept at all. THE DESERTER. "You saw me post a letter to Mr. Van Antwerp as we left the Missouri, did you not?" "No—unless it was here." She was trembling now. "Please be patient, Mr. Hayne. Sam may be a minute or two yet, and here you are out of the wind." "Yes. At least I suppose so." r "I wrote again as soon as we got settled here, three days after that, did I not?" Again she looked in his face. He was listening eagerly to her words, as though striving to "place" her voice. Could she be mistaken? Was he, too, not trembling? Beyond all doubt his lips were quivering now. trench guards on By Oapt. CHARLES KING, U. 8. A. oen. John b. OORDON. nearly a inile of the lines were aroused by the sounds of attack, and awoke to find their own guns turned upon them and the cold steel of a daring enemy held to their very breasts. Author of "Dunrwoe* Ranch," "The ColomTi Daughter," "Marion's "You said you did," replied Mrs. Rayner, ungraciously. Faith," Etc., JSU. "And you, Kate, when you are yourself have been prompt to declare that I say what I mean. Very probably it may have been four days from the time that letter from the transfer reached Wall street to the time the next one could get to him from here, even had I written the night we arrived. Possibly you forget that you forbade my doing so, and sent me to bed early. Mr. Van Antwerp has simply failed to remember that I had gone several hundred miles farther west; and even had I written on the train twice a day, the letters would not have reached hiiu uninterruptedly. By this time he is beginning to get them fast en6ugh. And as for you, Kate, you are quite as unjust as he. It augurs badly for my future peace; and—I am learning two lessons here, Kate." "May I not know who it is that led me here?" he asked, gently. It was poor Clancy, once more mooning about the garrison and up to his old tricks. Clancy had been drinking; but he wanted to know, "could he spake with the lieutenant?" In an interview with some of liis old antagonists Gen. John B. Gordon, who at this crisis came to the front as a successor to "Stonewall" Jackson, whose old command, or what there remained of it, had come under Gordon's leadership, told how he had two conferences with Lee early in March, and at these conferences it was decided to make a night sortie on Grant's lines at Fort Stedman, on Hare's Hill, in front of Petersburg. (Oorarriffht, by J. B. Llpptoeott Company, Phil*- published by *pacial arrangement do it; she could not accept Mr. Van Ant werp; she liked, admired and was attracted by him, but she feltthat lore him she did not. He was devoted, but had tact and patience, and Mrs. Rayner at last yielded to her demand and took her off in October to spend some time in the interior of the state with relations of their mother, and there frequently came Mr. Van Antwerp to se® he* and to urge his suit. She hesitated, hardly knowing how to tell him. "Try and guess," she laughed, nervously. "But you couldn't. You do not know my name. It is my good fortune, Mr. Hayne. You—you saved my kitten: I—your cap." 8TS0PSI3 or PBKCKDIXO CHAPTERS. Prelude. —During au Indian tight io tbD wett CipL Hull of the United tliate* R g'.lv army in killed. BDi Dw his de-it1) a Urge rum of money—about $3 000, the pa7 of soMieni who, while ou field duty, misled ih* tnjmatter—wan placed in b« charge. WC iCe dying he bind* the package to Liwrence Hayne, a vouug officer whoa? father h-tii been a denr f ieoi of C-tpt. Hull s. Hayne bar, by boyish ir-vereccd for tupeiiir officer*, oalan enemy of ('apt. Rayner, another offl *r eC - gaged i D the campaizo. It alto dev -lopj th t Sergtt. Clancy and Gower bave lost ccu-iiC rable motiey by gambling:, f art of the mi-s og cash belonging to other*. Tbey are iu bad odor accordingly. Chapter 1.—The scene is s Pulltran car oo its way t) Warren*r, near which viihge is situated Fort Warren,er. A mug fe pnaw gers oa the car are Mrs. Rayner, »if of Ctp*. Rayner, Mia* Travers, ber sister (who i« engage! t» marry Stevn Vao A-itwerp, a rich New Yorker, who has shown a queer avereion to travel iu tbe went), sod a you ait man whose evident desire to avoi] converseioo or acquaintance fiax pCqu Dd tbe curi' i'ty C f the wovo BD f »re the train reaches Warreui r it tike* aboard s nm badly froseo cava'rymen, who are being s nt to tbe firt The myserious young men does much to si ertat? the sufferings of the frC men on the way ti Warreoer. CHAPrER 2.—Toe Indies are green! a' "Warrener by Cap'. Rayner and other officer*. It develops that the mysterious young rain is Mr Hayne, who his beon promoted to n first lieutenancy io Oapt Rayner's company. Capt Rayner shows that be still fdels a decided dislike f ,r the young officer. Chapter 3.—Lieut- Hayne proves a disturbing element among tbe officer* at Fort Warrener. Ascaudal has been attached to his sane in the past, and those who side with him are forced by tbe peculiarities cf the case to side against Capt. Rayner. Tbe two men bare been sworn enemies fir tire years Tbe commaodant of the post rcc ived Lieut Hayne kindly and decides to give aojunrr i D bis honor Jo f»ct, most of the civ»lry tr«aC Lim well, while the mfaot'y (his own regiment) do not. It transpires tbat the t-ouble coni.ec ed with Hayne's name wss s courtmartial which bad convio'ed him of a srrious principally on Cipt. Rayne r's evidence. This ruling wai reversed uy higher au'.houtie*. Some Cf Hayne's old comrades moke a ivanecs, which are repelled. Hayne takes up bis quarters io a house at some dittince fr m the other officers' qusi ters. CiUPTKS *—Jtpt Ray inr's wife get* angry because of tbe colonel's courtesy n Hayne and thi camp is divided into Hayne and anti-Hayoe fact tons An evening gathering at Capt Rayner's house, where the msiter is discussed, is broken up by cries of "fire" f out Oaisida CHAPTER IX. jr * ' There was no mistaking his start. Beyond doubt he had winced as though stung, and was now striving to grope his way to the railing. She divined his purpose in an instant, and her slender hand was laid pleadingly yet firmly on his arm. "Mr. Hayne, don't go. Don't think of going. Stay here until Sam comes. He's coming now," she faltered. STORMING UNION BATTERIES. The point selected for the bold enterprise was where the opposing; lines were very close, on the east of the city, where Beauregard and Hancock had struggled for the mastery in June, 1864. Fort Stedman was a bastioned earthwork, with outside batteries, and stood on a salient elevation known as Hare's Hill. It was the site of the mansion of Col. Ottway P. Hare, of the Confederate service. The works themselves were located in a fine grove of oaks that surrounded the mansion, now destroyed, but the surface around the grove on all sides was clear and in the main suitable The storming party detailed to silence Fort Haskell bad been provided with a guide to lead it to the rear of the work, but owing to the changed appearance of things on the ground caused by the cutting away of trees, and the fact that an old line of trenches in front of the main line led him to suppoee he was inside of the Union works, the party advanced to the front of the fort and ran into the ready guns and muskets of the garrison. The alarm that was caused by the sound of chopping on the Confederate abatis had been taken seriously by the trench guard here, and the garrison had been avrakened and moved up to the parapet.  They were to have gone to Warrener immediately after the holidays, but January came and Nellie had not surrendered. Another week in the city, a long talk with the devoted old mother whose heart was so wrapped up in her son's happiness, and whose arms seemed yearning to enfold the lovely girl, and Nellie was conquered. If not fully convinced of her love for Mr. Van Antwerp, she was more than half in love with hil mother. Her promise was given, and then she seemed eager to get back to the frontier which she had known and loved as a child. "I want to see the mountains, the snow peaks, the great rolling prairies, once more," she said, and he had to consent. Man never urged more Importunately than he that the weddina gnouia come on that very winter; but Nellie once more said no. She could not and would not listen to an earlier date than the summer to come. The attempt on Fort Hi was repeated twice with no similar movement on Ba failed, Gordon's men fc hemmed in under a galling £ much nearer to them now occupied their own lines. A in his narration, the harde before him. It was dayligh position that he had feare had expected to evade bv cover of darkness, was conn The artillery on both side* cannonade, the Union guns men and the Confederate upon the batteries and upon drawn up around the bread sponded with Gen. Lee, and that the re-enforcement* thi ised him were not forthcot his men to retire. This they a storm of bullets, shells an they were retreating somC Third brigade advanced b "Is this Capt. Rayner's house?" he asked, hoarse and low. "That he can be foolishly unreliable in estimating a woman." "And the other?" "What two, pray?" "No matter whose it is! 1 welcome you here. You shall not go," she cried impulsively, and both little hands were tugging at his arm. He had found the railing, and was pulling himself toward the gate, but her words, her clinging hands, were too persuasive. "That you may be persistently unreliable in your judgment of a man." Verily, for a young woman with a sweet, girlish face, whom we saw but a week"hgone twitching a kitten's ears and saying little or nothing. Miss Travers was displaying unexpected fighting qualities. For a moment, Mrs. Rayner glared at her in tremulous indignation and dismay.A BLOODY SET BACK. The storming party moved up confidently, the commander urging his men in whispers, and just as they reached the abatis they met the volley prepared for just such emergencies. The volley was repeated, and then all was still around the fort for a few minutes. Finally some of the riflemen on the flank facing Fort S ted man began to distinguish in the uncertain light armed men moving past toward the rear. Some of them were shot down and others went on. "I cannot realize this." be said, do not understand"  But here Miss Travers came to her relief. Her beauty, her winsome ways, her unqualified delight in everything that was soldierly, speedily rendered her vastly attractive to all the young officers in garrison Graham and Foster, of the Infantry, Merton, Webster and Royce, of the cavalry, haunted the house at all manner of hours, and the captain bade them welcome and urged them to come oftener and stay later, and told Mrs. Rayner he wanted some kind of a supper or collation every night. He set before his guests a good deal of wine, and drank a good deal more himself than he had ever been known to do before, and they were keeping very late hours at Bayner's, for, said the captain, "I don't care if Nellie is engaged; she shall have a good time while she's here; and if the boys know all about it—goodness knows you've told them often enough, Kate— and they don't mind it, why, it's nobody's business—here, at least." "Do not try to understand it, Mr. Hayne. If I am only a girl, I have a right to think for myself. My father was a soldier—I am Nellie Travers—and if he were alive I know well he would have had me do just what I have done this night. Now won't you stay7" ♦•You—you ought to be ashamed of yourself!" was her eventual outbreak. But to this there was no reply. Miaa Travers moved quietly to the doorway, turned and looked her angry sister in the eye, and said: No one on earth knew with what sore foreboding and misery he let her go. It was something that Mrs. Rayner could not help remarking --his unconquerable aversion to every mention of the army and of his own slight experience on th« frontier. He would not talk of it even with Nellie, who was an enthusiast and had spent two year® of her girlhood almost under the shadow of Laramie Peak and loved the mere mention of the Wyo ming streams and valleys. In her hus band's name Mrs. Rayner had urged him to drop his business early in the spring and come to them for a visit. He declared it was utterly impossible. Every moment of his time must be given to the settling of estate affairs, so that he could be a free man in the summer. He meant to take his bride abroad immediately and spend a year or more in Europe. These were details which were industriously circulated by Mrs. Rayner and speedily became garrison property. It seemed t« the men that in bringing her sister there en (raced she had violated all nrecedent tc Degin witn, ana in tms instance, at least, there was general complaint. "Mrs. Clancy, you must icateh him.'" and planted a: a number of ] vanced his div  with troops of the I— of Willcox's division - This line covered the the trenches, capturing federates, who now willingly lai arms. Nearly 2,000 prisoners battle flags fell into the hands C corps. The loss of the corps ■* killed and wounded and the si missing. The missing were t pickets and the garrison of the Batteries, who had been seised  stroke, before daylight. Some of them had b«en taken while asleep. George L. Knjm, oil the' And light was beaming in through his darkened eyes and gladdening his soul with a rapture he had not known for years. One instant he seized and clasped her hand. "May God bless you!" was all he whispered, but so softly that even she did not hear him. He bowed low over the slender white hand and stayed. "I have been reading over your letter of Thursday last, dear Steven," wrote Miss Travers, "and there is niudi that I feel I ought to answer. You and Kate arc very much of a mind about the 'temptations' with which I am surrounded; but you are far more imaginative than 6he i3, and far more courteous. There is so much about your letter that touches me deeply that I want to be frank and fair in my reply. I have been dancing all this evening, was out at dinner before that, and have made many calls this afternoon; but. tired as I am, my letter must be written, for to-morrow will be but the repetition of today. Is it that I am cold and utterly heartless that I can sit and write 60 calmly in reply to your fervent end appealing letter? INTERIOR OF FORT STEDMAN. Gen. McLaughlen was now told by the commandant at Haskell that the Confederates had taken Fort Stedruan. Her guns were already at work on reversed range and the men in Haskell could seethe shells from there going into the camps of their own men. The ground between the two forts was occupied by the camps of the One Hundredth Pennsylvania (Round Heads) and the Twenty-ninth and Fifty-ninth Massachusetts. These men were now getting under arms and McLaughlen passed along their trenches, ordering the captains to move up towards Stedman. for maneuvering large bodies of men. The Prince George's Court Houso road ran directly from Petersburg past Hare's Hill, crossing both the Confederate and the Union lines. It seemed perfectly feasible for the Confederates to throw a good column of men of all arms into this space and add strength to it as it should move down the Union lines toward Grant's left. But first it would be necessary to make a breach in the Union works. This Gen. Gordon provided for, and his plan /approved by Lee, was as follows: "I shall give up the walk and will go to my room. Excuse me to any visitors this evening." "You are not going to write' to him now, when you are angry, I hope?" "I shall not write to him until to-morrow, but when 1 do I shall tell him this, Kate: that if he desire my confidence he will address his complrints and inquiries to me. If I am old enough to be engaged Kj-i ;n vour ODinion. I am ean&llvnlH enough to attend to such details as these, in mv own." CHAPTER VIII. March had come—the month of gale and bluster, sleet and storm, in almost every section of our broad domain—and March at Warrener was to the full as blustering and conscienceless as in New England. There were a few days of sunshine during the first week; then came a fortnight of raging snow storms. The cavalry troops, officers and men, went about their stable duties as usual, but, except for roll call on the porch of the barracks and for guard mounting over at the guard house, all military exercise seemed suspended. This meant livelier tffies for the ladies, however, as the officers were enabled to devote just so many more hours a day to their entertainment. There were two or three hops a week over in the big assembly room, and there was some talk of getting up a german in honor of Miss Travers, but the strained relations existing between Mrs. Rayner and the ladies of other families at the post made the matter difficult of accomplishmentThere wero bright little luncheon, dintier and tea parties, where the young officers and the younger ladies met every day; and. besides all this, despite the fact that Mrs. Rayner had at first shown a fixed determination to discuss the rights and wrongs of "the Hayne affair," as it was now beginning to be termed, with all comers who belonged to the Riflers, it had grown to be a very general thing for the youngsters to drop in at her house at all hours of the day; but that was because there were attractions there which outweighed her combativeness. Then Rayner himself overheard some comments on the mistake she was making, and forbade her discussing the subject with the officers even of her own regiment She was indignant, and demanded a reason. He would name no To take Fort Stedman by direct assault at night, then send a separate body of men to each of the rear forts, who, claiming to bo Federals, might pass through the Federal reserves and take possession of the rear line of forts as if ordered to do so by the Federal commander; next to press with his whole force to the rear of Grant's main line and force him out of his trenches, destroy his pontoons, cut his telegraph wires and prrss down his flank. When the right of the One Hundredth Pennsylvania was reached it was found under arms, led by Lieut. CoL J. H. Pentecost. McLaughlen rushed on into the melee at Stedman, and Pentecost fell in trying to go forward to drive out the assailants. The Twenty-ninth and Fifty-ninth Massachusetts Mr. Lincoln's Little Joke. A New York firm applied to Abraham Lincoln, some years before he became president, for information as to the financial standing of one of his neighbors. Mr. Lincoln replied as follows: "Yours of the 10tn inst. received. I am well acquainted with Mr. X., and know his circumstances. First of all, he has a wile and baby; together they ought to be worth fifty thousand dollars to any man. Secondly, he has an office, in which there are a table worth one and a half dollars, and three chairs worth, say, one dollar. Last of all, there is in one corner a large i at hole, which will bear looking into. Respectfully yours, A. Lincoln.—Exchange.Mrs. Rayner stood one moment as though astounded; then she flew to the door and relieved her surcharged bosom as follows: "Well, I pity the man you marry, whether you are lucky enough to keep tins one or not!" and flounced indignantly out of the house. What Mr. Van Antwerp might think or care was another matter. Rayner never saw him, and did not know him. He rather resented it that Van Antwerp had never written to him and asked his consent As Mrs. Rayner's husband and Nellie's brother-in-law, it seemed to him he stood in loco parentis; but Mrs. Rayner managed the whole thing herself, and he was not even consulted. If anything, he rather enjoyed the contemplation of Van Antwerp's fidgety frame of mind as described to him by Mrs. Rayner about the time it became apparent to her that Nellie was enjoying the attentions 6f which she was so general an object, and that the captain was sitting up later and drinking more wine than was good for him. She was aware that the very number of Nell's admirers would probably prevent her becoming entangled with any one of them, but she needed something to scold about, and eagerly pitched upon this. charged on the batteries held by the Confederates and recovered Battery Eleven, but were soon driven out by overwhelming odds. These troops then retired from the trenches and formed lines facing the Confederates. "Ah, Steven, it 13 wliat may bo said of me; but, if cold and heartless to you, 1 Lave ccrtainly given no man at this garrison the faintest reason to think that he has inspired any greater interest in him. 1 uey aro aa nina, ail very attentive. J have told you how well Mr. Royce dances and Mr. Merton rides and Mr. Fostei rends and talks. They entertain me vastly, and I do like it. Moro than this, Steven, I am pleased with their evident admiration—not alone pleased and proud that they should admiro me who am pledged to you—not that alone, I frankly confess, but because it in itself is pleasant. It pleases me. Very possibly it is becauso I am vain. The forts referred to in the rear of Fort Stedman were not, with one exception, in the rear. One high fortified battery stood on the bluff near the Court House road in rear of Stedman. On the Union left of Stedman, in the direction Gordon proposed to move his force as soon as he had opened a breach, was Fort Haskell, and on the Union right of Fort Stedman was Battery Nine, an inclosed work mounting two guns and also a mortar battery. Still to the right. of Battery Nine stood Fort McGilvery, mounting cannon and mortars. Fort Stedman proper had four guns in position, and Battery Ten, adjoining, When Capt. Rayner came in, half an hour afterwards, the parlor was deserted. He was looking worn and dispirited. Finding no one on the ground floor, he went to the foot of the stairs, and called: The Confederates swarmed in Fort Stedraan. The storming party sent against Battery Nine returned to Stedman for re- Mr. Blake 6aid it reminded him of hit early boyhood, when they used to take him to the great toy stores at Christmas: "Look all you like, long for it as much as you please, but don't touch." Merton and Royce, of the cavalry, said it wat jsimply a challenge to any better fellow to cut in and cut out the Knickerbocker; and, to do them justice, they did theii best to carry out their theory. Both they and their comrades of the Riflers were assiduous in their attentions to Mise Travers, and other ladies, less favored, made acrimonious comment in consequence. A maiden 6ister of one of the veteran captains in the —th, a damsel whose stern asceticism of character wai reflected in her features and grimly illustrated in her dress, was moved to censure of her more attractive neighbor. "If I had given my heart to a gentleman," said she, and her manner was in iicative of the long struggle which such a bestowal would cost both him and her, "nothing on earth would induce me tc accept attentions from any one else, not even if he were millions of miles away." enforcements and a along the Union column set out Chapter 5.—The Are is in a bouse occupied by Private Clancy (who wis# ser/eam during the Iodiin fight mentioned in the prelude) and his wife, whs is • laundrae*. Lieut Bay e rescues Clancy and his little daughter from the Acnes, and also saves a bundle of bar k notesof large denominating which Mrs. Cl.ncy eagerly clutches aad apparently considers'cf greater importance than the lives of her husband aad chili Hayne himself is badly burned, and II is i Travers evncee great intmst in the young officer for #hom her sister and brother-in-law show so much dislike ChaT rB8.$ —Otaocy is in the hospital, and his wife, for the first tCm*, acts tenderly toward hits, watehing bin nigbt and day. When Olancy is told that Lieut. Hayse was the man who saved him, he is greatly agitated, and h is wife fiireely forbils any ons to talk tj him. Capt. Rayner's wife shows a strange inuDrrst in the welftre of CUncy aid wife. Hayne rtfusea to accept advances made by old conuaie* unless they expreas belkf in his lonocence of ihC» charges of which he was convict «L This woull be practctlly a declaration that th y be'ieved CCpt. Riyoer t* be a perjurer, or at least mistaken, l'hey decide to sjie with Capt. Rayner. A door opened above: "Kate h&s gone out, captain." "Kate." trenches between these points. The "Do you know where, Nellie?" "Over to the hospital, I think; though I cannot say." by the Second bri- line here was held gade of Wlllcox's lie Kicked. "I'm just a goin' to kick," grumbled Jimmy Tuff boy, as he went down cellar after his third hod of coal. "Every other feller is off playing shinny, an' I have to work all the time. If I was dead yon would put some kind o' machinery in to keep me working all the time." "James, my son," said his mother, "You do very wrong to talk no. You do not work very hard, and I am sure you play a great deal." who had been division. Willcox, She heard him sigh deeply, move irresolutely about the hall for a moment, then turn and go out. aroused at his head- "And yet, though my hours are constantly occupied, though they are here from morning till night, no one of them is moro attentive than another. There are live or six who come daily. There are some who do not come at all. Am 1 a wretch, Steven? There are two 01 three that do not call who I wish would call. I would like to know them. quarters in the At bis gate he found two figures dimly visible in the gathering darkness; they bad stopped on hearing his footstep. One was an officer in uniform, wrapped in heavy overcoat, with a fur cap, and 4 bandage over his eyes. The other was a Chinese servant, and it was the latter who asked: rear, had gone to this part of the '• F- hartranft. line, and the men of Buttery Nine and Fort McGilvery were put under arms for defense. The Second Michigan Infantry, occupying the trench's between S ted man and B&ttery Kiuo. retired, skirmishing before the Confederal column, and, entering the battery, aided the garrison, the Twentieth Michigan and a section of the Fifth United States artillery, in repulsing this assault. The defense of Battery Nine and Fort Haskell against these sudden attacks gave Gordon's movement a severe check on the flanks and limited the success he had counted upon. It was now growing light. He had not silenced the Union guns that swept the space between the lines where he intended to move out his main force, and be had not made a point in the rear. The column sent to the rear to secure the battery had been misguided, and, having made a halt to get their bearines. soon found themselves oonironted by an opposing torce. TQe seventeenth Michigan, on duty at Willcox's headquarters, had been led by Maj. Mathews toward the scene of tiie fighting, and began skirmishing with the Confederates, who halted and made no further nttempt. Many of the Fourteenth men from Fort Stedpian and some from the Fifty-se* enth Massachusetts, in camp near there, had fallen back towards the rear battery and formed a line and opened Are. She knew well that she could not comfort her husband in the anxiety that was gnawing at his heartstrings, but she was jealous of comfort that might come to him from any other souroe, and the Lethe of wine and iollv comnanionshin she dreaded most of all. Long, long before, she had induced him to promise that he would never offer the young offioers spirits in his house. She would not prohibit wine at table, she said; but she never thought of there coming a time when he himself would seek consolation in the glass and make up in quantity what it lacked in alcoholic strength. He was impatient of all reproof now, and would listen to no talk; but Nellie was yean her junior—more years than she would admit except at such times as these, when she meant to admonish; and Nellie had to take it. "But how'm I goin' to be captain & the best shinny team in town with my arm all out o' shape bringin' up coal T-~ Rartford Poet. "Yet they know—they could not help it, with Kato here, and I never forgetthat I am your promised wife. Steven, do you not sometimes forget tho conditions of that promise? Even now, again and again, do I not repeat to you that you ought to release ine and free your self? Of course j our impulse will bo to say my heart is changing—that I have seen others whom I like better. No; I have seen no one I like as well. But is 'like' what you deserve, what you ask: And is it not all I have ever been able to promise you? Steven, bear me witness, for Kate is bitterly unjust to me at times, I told you again and again last summer and fall that I did not love you and ought not to think of being your wife. Yet, poor, homeless, dependent as 1 am, how strong was the temptation to say yes to your plea! "This Maje WaldlonV "No," said he, hastily. "Maj. Waldron's is the third door beyond." At the sound of his voice the officer quickly started, but spoke in low, measured tone: "Straight ahead, Sam." And the Chinaman led him on. Miss Sharpley— I beg your pardon, Mr. Noodley, did I understand yoa to say something? Oh! Bayner stood a moment watching tbem, bitter thoughts coursing through his mind. Mr. Hayne was evidently sufficiently recovered to be up and out for air, and now he was being invited again. This time it was his old comrade, Waldron, who honored him. Probably it was another dinner. Little by little, at this rate, the time would soon come when Mr. Hayne would be asked everywhere and ho and his correspondingly drowsed. He turned miserably away and went back to the billiard rooms al the store. When Mrs. Rayner rang hei bell for tea that evening he had not r» appeared, and she sent a messenger foi him. Mr. Noodley (pouting)—Why, my dear Miss Sharpley, I've been talking to yw for half an hour, don't yon know. Miss S.—Yes, I know that. m| wish people would mind their own affairs," wailed Mrs. Rayner, peevishly. But Nellie Travers was "accepting attentions" with laughing grace and enjoying the society of these young fellows immensely. The house would have been gloomy without her and "the boys," Rayner was prompt to admit, for he wai ill at ease and sorely worried, while liu inflammable Kate was fuming over the situation of her husband's affairs. Under ordinary circumstances she would have seen very little to object to so long as Nellie showed no preference for any one of her admirers at Warrener, and unless peevish or perturbed in spirit would havo made little allusion to it. As matters stood, however, she was in a most querulous and cxcitable mood; she could not rail at tho real cause of hoi misery, and so, womanlike, she was thankful for a pretext for uncorking the vials of her wrath on somebody or some thing else. "So do I, Kate; but they never have, and never will, especially with an engaged girL I have more to complain of than you, but it doesn't make me forlorn, whereas you look fearfully worried about nothing." says I'm worried?" asked Mrs. Rayner, with sudden vehemence. had two. Fort Haskell had four guns and Batteries Eleven and Twelve, between Haskell and Stedman, had coliorn mortars. All of these pieces commanded tho space between the lines where Gordon proposed to push through. A brigade of infantry, the Third brigade, First division, Ninth corps, commanded by Gen. N. B. McLaughlen, garrisoned the line from Fort Haskell to Battery Nine. The command at the time of the attack numbered 1,800 men, end the space covered by the ranks was ovc" mile in extent. Beside the trench guara r id garrison steadily maintained, there was a j.lcket lino in front of the entire space which was kept up day and night. The Second and First brigades of the First division performed similar duty on the line to the right and left, respectively, of the Third brigade. Gen. O. fj. Willcox commanded the First division and Gen. John G. Parke the corps. The roserves to this line consisted of six regiments under Gen. John F, Hartranft, constituting the Third division. They were stationed about one mile in the rear and covered a space of four miles. DESERTERS COMING IN. And now Mr. Noodley wonders whal she meant by that sort of remark.— Washington Star. Mm  Two weeks after their arrival at Warrener the burden of Mrs. Rayner's song —morn, noon and night—was: "What would Mr. Van Antwerp say if he could but see this or hear that?" A Question of Talurr, The value of a ton of silver, as we are informed by several esteemed exchanges, is $37,705.84. This will be of much prao tical interest to all having a few tons of silver about tLeir premises, ana might be followed up with feood effect by a statement giving the exact value of \ ton of greenbacks.—Chicago Tribune. "You look worried, Kate, and haven't been at all like yourself for several days. Now, why shouldn't I go to the hospital with you? Why do you try to hide your going from me? Don't you know that I must have heard the strange stories that are flitting about the garrison? Haveg't 1 asked you to set me right if I havo been told a wrong one? Kate, you are fretting yourself to death about something, and the captain looks worried and ill. I cannot but think it has some connection with the case of Mr. Hayne. Why should the Clancys"  "You have no right to think any such thing," answered her sister, angrily. "We have suffered too much at his hands or on his account already, and I never want to hear such words from your lips. At would outrage Capt. Rayner to hear that my sister, to whom he has given a home and a welcome, was linking herself with those who side with Can any reader recall an instance where the cause of an absent lover was benefited by the ceaseless warning in a woman's ear, "Remember, you're engaged?" The hero of antiquity who caused himself to be attended by a shadowing slave whispering ever and only, "Remember, thou are mortal," is a fine figure to contemplate—at this remote date. He, we are told, admitted the need, submitted to the infliction. But livee there a woman who will admit that ■he needs any instruction as to what her conduct should be when the lord of her heart is away? Lives there a woman who, submitting, because she cannot escape, to the constant reminder, "Thou art engaged," will Cnot resent it in her heart of hearts and possibly revenge herself on the one alone whom she holds at her mercy? Left to herself—to her generosity, her conscience, her innate tendernes—the cause of the absent one will plead for itself, and, if it have even faint foundation, hold its own. "With the best intentions in the world," many an excellent cause has been ruined by the injudicious urgings of a mother; but to talk an engaged girl into mutiny, rely on the infallibility of women—a married sister or a maiden aunt. "You know that I did not and would not until time and again your sweet mother, whom I do love, and Kate, who had been a mother to me, both declared that that should make no difference; the lore would come; the happiest marriages the world over wero those in which the girl respected the man of her choice; lore would come, and come speedily, when oncc she was his wife. You yourself declared you could wait in patience —you would woo and win by and by. Only promise to be your wife before returning to the frontier and you would be content. Steven, are you content? You know you aro not; you know you are unhappy; and it is all, not becauso I am growing to love some one else, but because I am not growing to love you. Heaven knows I want to lovo you; for so long as you hold me to it my promise is sacred and shall be kept. The Third division, under Gen. Hartranft, had been ordered out by Gen. Parke, and the Two Hundredth Pennsylvania, being near the Court House road, advanced and engaged the Confederates, whose skirmishers were advancing down this road. Other regiments of this division were brought up under cover of ravines that ran parallel with the works, and by daylight the whole command of six regiments was on the scene. It was now plain that Gordon's surprises had secured no more than Fort S ted man, Batteries Ten, Eleven and Twelve, and about three-quarters of a mile of infantry breastworks connecting and adjoining these works. It was a brilliant moonlit evening. A strong prairie gale had begun to blow from the northwest, and was banging shutters and whirling pebbles at a furious rate. At the sound of the trumpets' wailing tattoo a brace of young officers calling on the ladiee took their leave. The captain had retired to his den, or study, where he shut himself up a goad deal of late, and thither Mrs. Rayner followed him and closed the door after her. Throwing a cloak over her shoulders Miss Travers stepped out on the piazza and gazed in delight upon the moonlit panorama—the snow covered summits to the south and west, the rolling expanse of upland prairie between, the rough outlines of the foothills softened in the silvery light, the dark shadows of the barracks across the parade, the twinkling lights of the sergeants as they took their stations, the soldierly forms of the officers hastening to their companies far across the frozen level. Very Different. Snooper—Do you know Lee, the china man? McCrackle—I know Lee, but he is not a Chinaman. He is an American. Snooper—Well, I meant a dealer in chinaware. If the young matrons in garrison who with the two or three visiting maidens wero disposed to rebel at Miss Nell's ap parent absorption of all the availabh cavaliers at the post, and call her a toe lucky girl, could but have heard Mre. Rayner's nightly tirades and hourly rebukes, they might have realized tha. here, as elsewhere, the roso had it* stinging thorns. As for Miss Travers, she confounded her sister by taking it all very submissively and attempting node fense. Possibly conscience was telling her that she deserved more than she wai getting, or than she would be likely to get until her sister heard of the advenD ture with Mr. Ilayne. McCrackle—Why didn't you say so?- Yenowine's News. Could she have seen the figure that tcat tlinkina in the mow. names, but told her that he had heard enough to convince him she was doing him more harm than good, and, if anything, contributing to the turn of the tide in Hayne's favor. Then she felt outraged and utterly misjudged. It was a critical time for her, and if deprived of the use of her main weapon of offense and defense the battle was sure to go amiss. Sorely against her inclination, she obeyed hor lord, for, as has been said, she was » )ov»D -wife, and for the time being the baby became the recipient of her undivided attention. The distance from Fort Btedman, where the first blow was to be struck, to the Confederate salient (Colquitt's), where Gordon was to start his storming [«rties, was sixty rods. His force of two divisions, under Gens. M. W. Ransom and Phil Cook, was massed in and around Fort Stedman, with skirmishers out toward the rear Union works. Two assaults on flanking forts had been repulsed, and the third, against the rear battery, had been checked before the assailants reached within rifle shot of the work. The field of the fighting was a series of knolls with a wide open space in the rear, extending about half a mile and terminating in a bluff fifteen or twenty feet high. From the bluff the land was open and generally level for a mile to the eastward. The Merciful Boy. With lines so close as they were on the front of Willcox's division it was difficult for the Confederates to make any movement in their works without attracting attention, and that—that thief." "Kate! Oh, how can you use such words? How dare you speak so of an officer? You would not tell me what he was accused of; but I tell you that if it be theft I don't believe it, and no one the silence of the Cr ' Union pickets had Jf JrafiX been secured by a u clever stratagem. L ISfeCl 801110 tilne during JBsfe1 jITSr?? th0 previous sumry RmW mer Gen. Grant had /I Pry 'ssued order periiitV mitting Coufederate deserters t o f bring in their guns were paid by the ' Union government, /* ' * and it had become (TO be CONTINUED ) The Star of ISetiilcliem The "star of Bethlehem" should reappear In 1890, according to astronomical calculations, for the seventh time since the beginning of the Christian era. It was last found by Tycho Braho in 1572, and was visible seventeen mouths, being so brilliant during the first three weeks that it outshone all stars of the first magnitude, and could be seen by day. It sh Duld appear in the constellation of Caniopea. Chatter. else"  "By the way," said Mr. Royce on« evening as they were stamping off thi snow and removing their heavy wraps ii Rayner's hallway after a series of garrison calls, "Mrs. Waldron says she expects jou to play for her to-morrow afternoon, Miss Travers. Of course it will be my luck to be at stables." All of the movements of the captured line could be watched from the Union rear, and as soon as the Confederate positions could be made out by the Union commanders, the reserve batteries opened on the enemy in the breach, and infantry wss ordered up to all the weak points where the assailants would be likely to attempt an advance. From the main Confederate positions, also, the view was unobstructed, and the combat about to take place was thus witnessed by thousands of both armies, standing at their guns as idle spectators. In addition to the forces in the breach with Gordon, two divisions from the corps of Longstreet and A. P. Hill had been placed in position in front of the Union line to the left of the breach, order to join Gordon's men, who expected tw-ts\veep down and roll up Grant's line toward the Norfolk The Infant—Say! Ken I hitch on? Bobby Bonner—Naw; d'ye s'pose I want Homer all stove up?—Puck. There was a sudden footfall on the porch without, and a quick, sharp, imperative knock at the door. Mrs. Ray r."" II .C1 l ack nloug tha hail towards the room Miss Travers, hesitating but a : , j» ned the door. It was the soldier telegraph operator with a dispatch envelope in his h.nJ 'It is for Mrs. Rayner, miss, and an answer is expected. Shall I wait?" Mrs. Rayner came hastily forward from her place of refuge within the dining room, took the envelope without • word and passed into tlie p irlor, where, standing beneath the lamp, she tore it Suddenly she became aware of two forms coming down the walk. They issued from Maj. Waldron's quarters, and the door close*] behind tiiem. One was a young officer; the other, she speedily nude out, a Chinnw servant, who was gui l«irt master She knew the pair m an i Utnt, and her first impulse wil to retire. Then she reflected that he could not see, and she wanted to look, so she stayed. They had almost reached her gate when a wild blast whirled the officer's cape about his ears and sent some sheets of music flying across the road. Leaving his master at the feoosk the Chinaman sped in pnreoik aad the True to her declaration, die behaved so coldly and with such marked distance of manner to the colonel and his wife when they met in society immediately after the dinner that the colonel quietly told his wife she need not give either dinner or reception in honor of Mrs. Raj ner's return. He would like to have her do something to welcome Miss Travers for he thought the girl had much of hei father in her. He knew him well in the old days before and during the war. and liked him. He liked her looks a ad her sweet, unaffected, cheery manner. He Weed the contrast between her and her Just what Mr. Van Antwerp would have said could ha have seen tlicdtuation at Warrener ia pcriiap3 im]KDssiltle to predict. Just what he did say without seeing was, p 'rhaps, the most unwise thing Irj could have thought of: he urged Sirs. Rayner to keep reminding Nellie of her promise. His had not been a life of unmixed joy. He was now nearly 85, and desperately in love with a pretty girl who had simply bewitched him during the previous summer. It was not easy to approach Jigr* he Long Drawn Ont Wisdom. Stammerrer —Now—n—n—now—now —now—n—now  Sympathizing Listener — Yes, the "a true. There certainly is no time like V..* present.—Harvard Lampoon. "You hear better music every after noon than I can give you, Mr, Jioyce." Gold from Siberian Mines. gen. o. b. WILLCOX. a common thing for squads of deserters to give themselves up, guns in hand, to the Union pickets. During this night of March 24-25th several bona fide deserters came in and they were followed by some desperate men, who approached the Union pickets ostensibly to surrender These pickets occupied detached posts, and from three to five men were In each pit. The Dreteuded deserters soon "Where, prav?" asked Rayner, turning quickly upon them, Mr. Royce hesitated, and—with sham« be it said—allowed Miss Heavers to mee the question: A very heavy consignment of gold from the Siberian mines recently arrived at St. Petersburg. Our correspondent telegraphs that a caravan which left Irkutsk took 183,- 840 ounces of gold. The wagons containing it were escorted by 800 CoaBacks, under the command of Lieut. Cols, lickrassoff and Karneyoff. Part of gold was from the ▲moor fields.—London News. D spair not, neither man nor rood. Although your mouth baa raftered ill Although your teeth are half decayed, You can still save them, if yon will. A little Sozodent be rare Will make all balms, brgbt and pure. •At Mr. Hayne'i, Kate." There was mtonn* ft