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He crawled the bulwark near; his eye
With coming death was dim;
He drew his clasp-knife forth, as death
No terrors had for him,

And strove, with firm, though feeble hand,
To sever his torn limb!

He strove in vain! They bore him thence
Still yearning to abide
The combat's issue, at his post.

"Messmates," he feebly cried,
"We'll beat them! aye, we'll surely beat,
I trust," and so he died.

-Phila. Press, Nov. 19

BALL'S BLUFF.

Big Bethel, Bull Run, and Ball's BluffOh, alliteration of blunders !

Of blunders more than enough,

In a time full of blunders and wonders.

History, shut up your book,

Or blot from your record the story, Nor honor such scenes with a look, Where the shame so eclipses the glory

No one to blame! Oh, no!

No one to blame for the slaughter;

Thomas Wilson, captain of a gun on board the steam frigate Wabash, killed in the action at Port Royal.

And the merciless rush of the water.

Where could be found braver men?

Braver men ne'er were in battle; Who drove them into the pen,

There to be slaughtered like cattle?

Two thousand men against six,

Led as the blind lead the blind; Two thousand men hemmed in by six, And the rushing river behind.

The rushing river behind,

And the furious foe beforeWho could have ever divined

That these were the perils of war?

Six thousand rifles ahead,

And behind them a river like Styx, Gulphing the wounded and deadGod pity the two against six.

A river as fatal as Styx,

With a heart dying out on each wave, Till the blood, where the streams intermix, Is swollen with the blood of the brave.

The stain of the sorrow and shame

Is mixed with the stain of the slaughter, And the dead hearts write vainly a name On the face of the innocent water.

For no one's to blame, and yet,

Who issued the murderous order?
We men may forgive and forget,
But not the Eternal Recorder.

ARMY POETRY.

The war, if it results in wounds and death, also produces much exquisite poetry. The solitude of the camps, the thought of absence from friends and home, the expectation of battle, and all the natural risks incident to the life of a soldier, are well calculated to inspire serious and sentimental reflection. The apprehension of parents and friends that military experience leads to dissipation and recklessness, is not, generally, well founded. Many who, at home, are not in the habit of thinking of religion, or of their own future state, meditate profoundly upon these things amid the loneliness of camp life. The following beautiful lines were written by a private in Company G of Stuart's En gineer regiment, at Camp Lesley, near Washington. In explanation of one of the verses of the poem, it is right to state that white rags are frequently scattered along the sentinel's path, of a dark night, to mark his beat.—Philadelphia Press.

THE COUNTERSIGN.

Alas! the weary hours pass slow,

The night is very dark and still, And in the marshes far below,

I hear the bearded whip-poor-will;

I scarce can see a yard ahead,

My ears are strained to catch each sound

I hear the leaves about me shed,

And the springs bubbling through the ground.

Along the beaten path I pace,

Where white rags mark my sentry's track, In formless shrubs I seem to trace

The foeman's form, with bending back;

I think I see him crouching low-
I stop and list-I stoop and peer,
Until the neighboring hillocks grow
To groups of soldiers far and near.

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"Halt! Who goes there?" my challenge cry, It rings along the watchful line; "Relief!" I hear a voice reply

"Advance, and give the countersign!" With bayonet at the charge I wait

The corporal gives the mystic word;
With arms aport I charge my mate,
Then onward pass, and all is well.

But in the tent, that night, awake,
I asked, if in the fray I fall,
Can I the mystic answer make

When the angelic sentries call?
And pray that Heaven may so ordain,
Where'er I go, what fate be mine,
Whether in pleasure or in pain,

I still may have the Countersign.

THE GOLDEN WEDGE OF ACHAN.
(JOSHUA VII.)

When Joshua, warrior of the Lord,
O'er Canaan held his powerful sway,
Lo! once the mighty victor's sword
Arrested in its conquering way.

Humbled, in ruinous defeat,

The men of Israel fled apace;
Chased by the foe, in full retreat,
They own the visible disgrace.

And Joshua rent his clothes, and said
Alas! O Lord, and must it be
To perish thus without thine aid,
And fall by thy great enemy?

The Lord replied: 'Tis sin, 'tis sin!
There is, O Israel, in thy midst,

A secret and accursed thing

That on thee all thy troubles bring'st.

They searched around, confessed, and owned,
And lo! from Achan's guilty tent,
'Mong other spoils, a wedge of gold,
Of vast and ominous portent !

The curse of God was on the gold'Twas stolen, coveted, retained, Against command to touch or hold,

Lest Israel's camp should be profaned.

Thus saith the Lord: Ye cannot stand
Before your enemies in fight,
Until, by my divine command,

This thing is out of mind and sight.

"Twas done, and lo! what honors came
To Joshua's triumphant arms!
New vict'ries clustered to his fame,

And whelmed the foe with new alarms.
VOL. III.-POETRY 8

Threescore and one of hostile kings,
Cities and armies strong and great,
In quick succession now he brings
To death-to all-devouring fate.

Triumphant Justice, pure and grand,
Ho, all ye nations of the earth,
And thou, America, blest land,
Struggling to Freedom's second birth-

Learn of the God of Israel's might,
Success in war does not depend
On numbers rushing to the fight,
Though just the cause we may defend.

Make it all just. Shun to pollute
The sacred fire of the soul,
Or Freedom's holy name imbrute
With slavery's tyrannous control.
Throw out that cursed wedge of gold!
Remnant of old barbaric spoil,
Nor seek one hour a slave to hold
On Freedom's consecrated soil.

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He has leapt in his fears from our vision to fade;
And the flag of secession in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the freed and the home of the brave.

and comprehensive, the illustrations are numerous, and the notes just such as the student may need. The examples in parsing are mostly new, and the book will show on almost every page that it is a Southern work by a Southern author. We appeal to

Oh, such is the welcome the Southron bestows On the minions who strive to make slaves of a teachers and to all others interested in the cause of nation, Southern education, to sustain us in this attempt to We've a hand for our friends but the sword for our furnish school-books for our people. Let us have no foes, more school-books or teachers from the North. Let And the charge of our soldiers in fierce exultation; our divorce from those fanatics who have grown rich Then again to the fight, upon our industry, and who are now seeking to subAnd God for the right, jugate us, be extended to our literature in all its

And the Northmen shall shrink from our warriors' departments. The price of the Grammar will be sevmight,

And the flag of secession in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the freed and the home of the brave.

DOWN-TRODDEN MARYLAND.

BY "B."

AIR-Tom Bowling.

Down-trodden, despised, see brave Maryland lie,
The noblest of all States;

Up and to ransom her let each one try,
To hasten the plans of the Fates.

Her land is of the greatest beauty
That e'er the eye gazed on;
Fearless she roused her to her duty,
Nor paused she till 'twas done.

From her, her Old Line has departed,
With leaders true and brave;
She's been of all the truest hearted-
Why suffer her to be a slave?
She's waited long with murmurs deep,
Aye calling on ye oft;

Still traitors on her insults heap,
Still lies her hope aloft.

But yet she hopes for better things,
When Jeff., who all commands,
This wanton war to an end quick brings,
With peace to our Southern lands.
And when the South is free once more,
"Twill be her proudest boast,
That forth the first her men did pour,
To curb the invading host.
BALTIMORE, Nov. 18, 1861.

A VIGOROUS DEFINITION.-A Western cotemporary defines a Peace Meeting to be "a meeting to enter a solemn and indignant protest against every effort to save the Government from being overthrown."-Michigan Argus, Nov. 8.

SOUTHERN ENGLISH GRAMMAR.-The undersigned have now in press, and about the 1st day of September next will publish, a new Southern English Grammar, by the Rev. Allen M. Scott, D.D., late President of South Gibson College Tennessee. Dr. Scott is a Tennessean by birth and education, and he has been a practical teacher in various parts of the South and West for thirty years. He has made English Grammar a specialty, and, perhaps, has taught that science to more persons than any other in the Southern confederacy. The forthcoming work has been examined in MSS. by many critics, and in every instance pronounced to be eminently adapted to the purposes of school instruction. The rules are brief

enty-five cents. Liberal arrangements made to supply schools, &c., &c. Booksellers furnished at a liberal discount. We have also in preparation from the same author, a new speller.

HUTTON & FRELIGH.

NEW SOUTHERN STYLES.-Miss M. Perdue, 326 Main Street, is now prepared to present to the ladies of Memphis and vicinity the Southern styles, gotten up expressly for Southern wear. We no longer will (or can) depend upon New York for our styles and fashions, which never did suit our climate or our people. We will have our opening of fall millinery on Saturday, October 5. We ask you, ladies, one and all, to call and examine our goods, and then decide for yourselves if Memphis has not outdone any thing New York could ever present to the South.-Memphis Appeal, Oct. 22.

MARTIAL MUSIC.-In the programme of a concert recently given in the interior of Georgia, we find the following: "Battle of Manassas, Descriptive Fantasia, Soldier's March in Camp, Cannon's Booming, Call the Alarm, Yankee Doodle Advancing, Dixie Answering, Yankee Doodle and Dixie Fighting, Dixie played on the Right Hand, Yankee Doodle on the Left Hand, Yankee Doodle Running, Dixie Victorious, Sweeping the Field.”—Illinois State Journal, Nov. 6.

says:

A PREDICTION FULFILLED.-A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, writing from Nolin, Ky., "On his memorable journey home from Washington, shortly before his death, Senator Douglas remarked to a distinguished Kentuckian whom he chanced to meet at Indianapolis, 'I know your man Breckinridge better than you do yourselves. Mark my words, sir; within a year from this time John C. Breckinridge will be a General in the rebel army!" The result shows how thoroughly Mr. Douglas did know his former friend. The year is but half passed since the prediction was made, and to-day Mr. Breckinridge holds a position as Brigadier-General in the rebel army under Buckner, at Bowling Green."

AN INCIDENT.-As the fleet of transports was passing down the Chesapeake Bay to Hampton Roads, on that beautiful day in October when we first got under weigh at Annapolis, a large bald eagle came sweeping out from the shore of Maryland, and soaring high in air above the fleet, finally alighted on the masthead of the Atlantic, the head-quarters of the army. In an instant all eyes were upon him, and conjectures were busy as to whether he were a loyal bird, come to give his blessing at parting, or a secession rooster, intent on spying out our strength. We gave the bird the benefit of the doubt; an officer peremptorily stayed the hand of a soldier who would have shot

him, and we accepted the omen as auguring the full | fell to Billy's lot. Billy held them up before him. success of our enterprise.-Leavenworth (Kansas) Times, Nov. 22.

GEORGIA IN THE WAR.-From the annual report of the Comptroller-General of the State of Georgia we learn that she has now in the field thirty-four full regiments, (some more than full,) and four partially filled regiments, together with three battalions and other independent companies in Virginia and Georgia, amounting in all to about forty regiments in the Confederate Government service. And besides this, three regiments now in the State service are to be increased at once to six regiments, for the defence of her sea-coast.-Richmond Examiner, Oct. 29.

"Jimmy," said he, "those are pretty bags to give a little fellow like me. Them stockings was knit for the President or a young gorilla, certain ;" and he was about to bestow them upon Cradle when a soldier in the opposite predicament made an exchange. "Them stockings made me think of the Louisiana volunteer I scared so the other day," said Billy. "How's that?" said I. "He was among our prisoners, and saw a big pair of red leggings, with feet, hanging up before a tent. He never said a word till he saw the leggings, and then he asked me what they were for. Them,' said I, 'them is General Banks' stockings.' He looked scared. 'He's a big man, is General Banks,' said I, but then he ort to be, the way he lives.' How?' said he. Why,' said I, 'his CAMP PHRASES.-An enterprising publisher might regular diet is bricks buttered with mortar.'" The make money by getting up a camp dictionary for the next day Billy got a present of a pair of stockings benefit of those who visit the army, and are mystified from a lady; a nice soft pair with his initials in red by the extraordinary words and phrases used. The silk upon them.-He was very happy. Jimmy," word 66 "" arms has been distorted into "uum," said he," just look at them," and he smoothed them brought forcibly forth like the last groan of a dying down with his hand-" marked with my initials, too; cat, and in place of "march" we hear "utch." A'B' for my Christian and 'W' for my heathen name. tent is jocularly termed "the canvas," a sword is a How kind! They came just in the right time, too; "toad-sticker," and any of the altered patterns of I've got such a sore heel; for it's a fact, Jimmy, that muskets are known as "howitzers." Mess beef is if there's any thing in life worse than unrequited "salt horse," coffee is "boiled rye," vegetables are love, it's a sore heel." Orders came to "fall in." 66 cow feed," and butter "strong grease." "Bully" Billy was so overjoyed with his new stockings he is the highest term of commendation, while dissent is didn't keep the line very well. "Steady, there," expressed in the remark "I don't see it." Almost growled the sergeant, "keep your place, and don't every regiment has its nickname, and few officers or be travelling around like the Boston Post Office." privates receive their legal appellations or titles when We were soon put upon double-quick. After a few spoken of in their absence.-Cincinnati Commercial, minutes Billy gave a groan. "What is it, Billy," Nov. 20 said I. "It's all up with them," said he. I didn't know what he meant, but his face showed something very bad had happened.

The Boston Post has the following Mark Tapley species of letter from one of its correspondents:

CAMP GUNPOWDER, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
November, 1861.

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DEAR MESSRS. EDITORS: Billy Briggs and I still remain in the army. The other morning I was standing by him in our tent. "Hand me them scabbards, Jimmy," said he. "Scabbards!" said I, look-teer. ing round. "Yes, boots, I mean.' Billy arranged himself in his scabbards-a dilapidated pair of fashionable boots-and stood up in a very erect and dignified manner. "Those boots of mine, I don't think were any relation to that beef we had for dinner today, Jimmy," said he. No," said I. "If they were only as tough as that beef, and vice versa, it would have been better."

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"I say, Cradle," he called out, "where are you?" Cradle was our contraband, a genuine darkey, with a foot of extraordinary length and extra heels to match, giving him a queer look about those extremities. What do you call him Cradle for, Billy?" said I, "that's a queer name." "What would you call him, Jimmy? if he ain't a cradle, what's he put on rockers for?" Cradle appeared with a pair of perforated stockings. "It's no use," said Billy, looking at them. "Them stockings will do to put on a sore throat, but they won't do for feet. It's a humiliation for a man like me to be without stockings; a man may be bald-headed, and it's genteel, but to be barefooted is ruination. The sleeves is good, too," he added, thoughtfully, "but the feet are gone. There is something about the heels of stockings and the elbows of stovepipes in this world, that is all wrong, Jimmy."

A supply of stockings had come that day, and were just being given out; a pair of very large ones

66

When we broke ranks Billy hurried to the tent, and when I got there, there he stood, the very picture of despair, with his shoes off, and his heels shining through his stockings like two crockery doorknobs. "Them new stockings of yours is breechloading, ain't they, Billy?" said an unfeeling volun"Better get your name on both ends, so you can keep them together," said another. "Shoddy stockings," said a third. Billy was silent; I saw his heart was breaking, and I said nothing. We held a council on them, and Billy, not feeling strong-hearted enough for the task, gave them to Cradle with directions to sew up the small holes. I came into the tent soon after, and he was drawing a portrait, with a piece of charcoal, on a board. That's a good por trait of Fremont," said I, "he looks just like that: that's the way he parts his hair, in the middle." "That isn't a portrait of Fremont," said Billy, "it's a map of the United States; that line in the middle you thought was the upper part in his hair, is the Mississippi River."

"Oh!" said I. I saw him again before supper; he came to me, looking worse than ever, the stockings in his hand. Jimmy," said he, “you know I gave them to Cradle and told him to sew up the small holes, and what do you think he's done? He's gone and sewed up the heads." "It's a hard case, Jimmy," said I, "in such a case tears are almost justifiable."

BATTLE OF LEESBURG.-One personal encounter is worthy of record. As Captain Jones, of Company B, Seventeenth Mississippi, was passing through the woods at the head of his men, he met another party headed by an officer. The two halting instantly upon

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