Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 22, 1874, Page 12

TIIE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE:. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1¥74. 12 c , Ao s e : [ m lflm L\"TERCSTS ()F SCKEHCE." would have recovered hor offspring in a fow | fication that the inquisition is made sololy with FEBRU ARY BIRDS. WASHINGTON. The Cloister 2nd The Capital--Echoes from thie Roman Convent at Georgetown, The Case of Bertha Gerolt---Limoelan, the Assassin-Abbe. Exciting Tale of a Cleriea! Bandit---Rem- iniscences of Bishop Carroll. From Our Own Correspondent. ‘WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 1874, Bertha Gerolt (daugbter of the lato Prussian dtinister to the United States), who entered the ¥ MONASTERY OF THE VISITATION, in the District of Columbia, about three years ago, took the finsl vows on Baturday, Feb. 7, 1874, and will hereafter be seen no more in the midst of that unconscious history performing within ber daily bearing. The same day 2 nun died within the convent-walls who bad been im- mursd thero twenty-five years, and belonged in the past to a respectable ofiicial family, still nu- merous in Waghington. Persons at a distsnco may be struck with the dramatic situation of a mouastery under the doie of the American Cap- ital, iu all respects 88 secluded and rigorous as those of ultra-monarchical ages, and fully as ex- citing in its legends of human sorrow, devotion, sud despair. Many s nun can look from its windows over the city, like Hildegunde from the convent in the island of the Rhino to the castlo on the bank, whero hor lover-Enight watched for ker uctil he heard her funeral-bell. In political society ot a Capital where, to the fervor of nat- ural affeciion, courtship often adds & high social aspiration, there are spt to be more despairing couples than in quiet places where young people meet, cousider each other, indulge the plessures cf hope, aud suddenly turn about 2ud marry in different directions. All the lsys and tales of unbappy loves in the age of legend clustered about persons connected with the Coutt, the Army, or the Church; and one dis- inclined to put credenco in such stories might have more faith if ho lived between the Coavent of the Visitation z1d the Halls of Congress. Many sears 3go, one SISTER OERTRUDE, or Miss Ann G. Wightt, & besutiful girl of an ©ld Marland family, waa sext to this Convent- echool while her family were visiting Europe; aud, when they returned, she was pledged to the Church. There she showed such zeal that she was talked of for Lady Superior; but, for some cauge nevor known, she covered herself with a Monl's cloak one night, and escaped into the city, refueiog all applications to return, and she again became a brilliant woman of society. not without influcnce in official things, and demon- strated her cloverness by going to the City of Mexico in pursuit of a legacy left her bya echoolmate, the daughter of the Emperor Tturbide, and recovering it. Miss Wightt never macried, and, a little while prior to the Robellion, she died in the family of Joun ¥. Mason, United States Senator. THE HEROINE OF THE CONVENT. Mies Bertha Gerolt was of & Catholic family, although her father represented a Protestent Kingdvm. She was of a refined nature, much ewsetoess and sensibility, and probsbly felt for her father, who was growing oid, was quite poor, and, in the movement of Count Bismarck against the Catholic Church, stood in danger of losip, his Legation. About that timo, tlere lived wit Baron Gerolt, a8 Attache, & youug man belong- ing to one of the noblest and oldest Protestant bovses of Brandenburg,—peopls 88 prond of their religions consistency as of their rank. He rew enamored of our Miss Gerolt, and tho al- s worid heva o proper and acceptable in every way but for the matter of religion. The Attache's mother, in Prussis, repelled the idea of the Catholic connection ; while the ecclesias- tics in America, secig an apparent opportunity to do some proselytiziog around the Prussisn Court, operated upon Miss Gerolt's mind. After the perents on both sices were tolerzbly sgrecd, 1hie roligious 1ssue was kept up, and the ques- tion of children had to be setiled in advance, un- til tbe young men's patience was worn out, tnd be broke the engsgement. The Clisireh, which had beon success{al in the mat- ter, was, of course, entitled to the bride ; and, aboz! this time, some controversy arole botwesn our Goverument and tho Siate authorities at Beilin, which ended in the recall of the old Minister,~the only one, although a Catholic, to adbere with enthusiosn to the cause of tho T'cd- eral Government during the dark days of the Relellion. Partha Gerolt bas disappeared, 18 did bofore her, aad within the samo walls, a_daughter of the Emperor Iturbide and a dnughter of Gen. Scott. A few woeks ago, the daushter of Ad- ‘miral Sands took the white veil in this convent ; her father is s nativo of Marsiand, and Superin~ tendent of the Naval Observatory. THE MYSTERY OF CBTFTS. The Monastery of teo Visilation is the oldest in the United Statos, and is the parent of nbout one dozen other Convezts of the same order.— oue at Keokui, Iown. 1t was founded in_1816, by thosecond Archbishop of the Church, Leoun- 87d Nenle, on the site of & convent-school estab- lished tweaty-four years previousy z_naome French nuns of another order. Its t Di- rector, who Low lies buried in the convent-vaalt, was one of the three couspirators who set off an infernal macbino to blow up Napoleon Bonaparto, io3 the year 1801. A full ‘story of :his couspiracy will be found i the first volume of Thiers' ** History of the Copsulate,” a3 well a8 in anylife of Napoleon. A paragraph on the eubject, moy be carious, 88 showing how great events, widely dispeised, sometimes gather their thrcads together under our windos. LDMOLLAN, The year 1789 was distinguished for the out~ break of the French Revoltior, andthe ercction of this Catholic College of Goorgetown, D. C. The Jesr that college was opened for students by Father Carroll,—1791,—insurractions, fo- mented by pricats who would not take tho oaths preecribed by the French._Assembly, broke out on the west coastsof France, aud are known in hirtory as the wars with the Chousns and Vencoeans. Queerly enough, these ultra- Catholic rebels lived close ncighbors to La Rochelle, whore the Fronch Protestants had so long sustzined war with the whole Kingdom. The Vendeoaus, after several victorions cam- g;i'gna ‘sgainat great Freach armics, wera finslly riven across the Loire into the rugged penin- sula of Brotague, whero they formed alliance with the Chouans, s smaller band, composed of smugglers and led by ulira-Royalists, who had adopted & system of guerrilla warfare, ~robbing stages, waylaying pmkeu, shoot~ ing prisoners, and aessssinating. The ecla French® Royal family, ~ then in London, supplied these Chouans with English subsidy money, arms, captaius, and high commissions. The caief of these Quantrells of that period was Georges Cadoudal, brawny young fellow with all the Breton characteristics; a dull exterior and melancholy tinge overlying atrong feelings, imagination, and Celtic persistence. Cadondal concaived the idea of an infernal machine, the £rst ever put in use, though many have suc- ceeded it, to blow up the Fust Consul, Thiers tells tho tory in theso three sentences: ‘“Cadoudal dispatched certain emisearies to Paris on a mission to agsassinate the First Con- sal. Amongst these were characters named Limoslan and Saint-Bejaut, both inured to all the horrors of civif war, and the atter, who had been a naval officer, having some knowledge of artiliery-practice. To these two was joined & third ealied Carbon, a subordinate accomplice, & worthy satellite of the principal criminals.” - THE INFERNAL MACHINE. Slipping into Paris, one after another, these nseaskins lived there one month, experimenting with air-guns. The ex-priest Fouche, Minister of Police, had them watched; but they were very eecretive sud escaped him. They finaliy resolved to hire a stable near tho Palace of the Tuileriee, in the Ruo Saint Naicaise, and watch their opportunity when the First Consul drova through this street, a3 he generally did, to block ap the way with a cart, under which should be suspended a barrel of powdor filled with pro- joctiles, which s time-fuse should explods, ec. 24, 1800, Bonaparte started to go to the opera and hear the first performance in_Paris of (aydn's Oratorio of * The Creation.” Limoelan aud Carbon were on the look out, while Saint~ Rejant wes getting the cart in place, and the Intver had the insensibility to ask s young girl to bold the horse. By accident, the First Consul's on this ml::i preceded his mounted mg.%m, snd, as he & very skillfal driver, s past the cart before the othertwo, in i3 their paralysis of surprise or fear, mulifi“ he signal. Saint-Rejsnt himeelf recognized the carriage just as it passed, and struck his mateh, when one of the grenadiers following gave lum a knock; but ho still pereisted, and then ran with all epeed. Bonaparte's carriage had just turoed an eibow when the barrel exploded, smashed all tho carriage windows, knocked Saint-Rejant down =nd wounded him severely,: blew the poor girl to atoms, leaving only her Iegs and fect, znd killed and wounded sixty persors. THE ESCATE. Napoleon believed that the Jacobins, of whom remnant remained, had devived this thing, and bo hiad a list prepared and some of the most no- table men in g‘rnuca banithed to the Cayenne,— amongst them tho veteran _Gen. Rossignal, Le- brun, the painter, and Cerracchi—a eeulptor whote work is in the old Capitol at Washiugton, and who modeled & head of Gen. Washingten,— and others, were executed. The oaly effect ug- on the wvational polity of Finuae obtained by ihis iniquitous performauce was to hasten the Empire #nd widen the arena of bloodshed in avilization. Fouche, however, holding to tho beliof that Cadoudal's gang, and mot the Jacob- ins, were tho gzuilty persons, continued his in- vestigations, and in another month fixed tho re- gpousibility. The original owner of the horse, the stable-keeper, and the cooper who bound the barzel with irop, were found, and police- sgents sent to the fastnesacs of Bretagne dis- covered where Carbon's sisters lodged In Paris. From the youngest sister was extorted the reve- Iation of the whereabouts of wo of the wretches. Carbon had found an ssylum amongst some old nuns in a8 remote part of Paris, recom- raended there by the family of an Arch- Bishop. Carbon denounced Limoelan and Saint Tejaut, ond the Istter was found wounded ia bed, tended by onoof Cadouds)'s men, and with all {he proofs of the conspiracy about bim. Thus two of tho nssassins were found snd promptly beliesded; but Limoelan, in some maaner not yet revealed, escaped to Amorica, and his body Yests under the Convent of Georzetown, which his fortune bas endowed. A BANDIT PRIEST. } His real namo was Joseph Pierre Picot de Limoelau de Cloriviere, and ho was a Breton oflicar in the army of Louis XYL, of the age of a1 when the Revolution broko out. At that time, his schoolmate, the great Chateaubrisud, was starting to Americs with somo Salpician pricsts who were to establish a Priests’ College at Baltimore, whilo Chateaubnand wauted to find the Northwest Pussago. These Fronch priests had been nearly ten years snugly fixed in profossorships at Laltimore and Georgetown whon Limoelan took flight. He naturally camo to them for protection; for bis uncle was a ro- nowned Jesuit, and between 1814 and 1824 was Superior of the Jeswis in France. Ten years before the explosion of the infornal machiue, according to Shes's History of the Church, Bishop Carroll had preesed the Jesuit uncle to come to America, and Shea says that Carroll knew the elder Cloriviere intimately in 1790. Now, queerly enough, ic was in 1790 that Carroll made his sccond visit to Bugland, whero ho went to be consecrated by Bishop Walmsley. It would appoear, therefore, that the two Jesuit priests must bave known essh other, perhaps at Bt. Omar, France, where Carroll was cducated, and, as Jesuits keep up international correrpond- ence with great zeal, 1t is possiblo that the uncle and the American Bishop amrnged to make it bhospitable for Napoleon's young assassin. N Wken Limoelan was doing this work in_Paris, be was a Chevalier of St. Louis, and Major- General under Cadoudal. While Cadoudal was gerving the Chmich, he was also putung priests to death whom he suspected of inclining to pence. Limoelan was, at tho time, aflianced to 3 young lndy at Versaillss, and he wrote to the family, before cwbarking, to_send her to the United States for the solomoization of the mar- ringe. Bhe replied that, when he was in the grestest danger, she hnd made a vow of perpet~ ual celibacy if Heaven would parmit him to es- cape. The young exile saw no othar source but to follow her example ; but it £ecis that be did not do €0 promptly,—for it wae not uatil 1803 when he entered the Priest's Semiuary at Baltimore, at the age of 40. LITERATURE OF THE CONVENT. The Iate French author, Saiut Bauve, wrots & romance called * Volupte,” m which ho made Limoelan figure, a8 well as bis_aifianced, Mlie. Jeuue d'Albert ; but he was so little respectfal to the Bretou that the fanuly of the latter wrote azroply. The lady in France, although never marrying, took pains not to becomo s pun. Limoelan was consecrated in 1812, and seut to Charleston to put down the Catholic laity in their attempts to obtain more representation, and there he spent some yoars, Whether he was appoiuted Dircctor of the Georgetorm Convent, by Neals, or by the thisd Bishop of the Church in America, who was & Frenchmap, is not clear. Tho latter, Arehbishop Marechal, was born near Orleans, and sent mis- sionary to old St, Mary's, and to tho eastern shore of Marsland, and, after spending several other years in France, was made absojute heroin the United States. DEATR OF THE ARBE. There is Jittle moze to be said abont Limoelsn, except that he governed the nuua about nine years, and, in 1834, they were 80 poor and stary- ing as to hove resoived to disperse. Their Director ordered his property in France to be s0ld o meot the siination, and, with the reccipts, he built tho present Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus within the walls, and erected the Academy building. The achool became eelf-sustaining with these enlarge- aent, and in 1824 ho excited the country, and revived tho bloods episode of his early Life, by proclaiming a miracle at the convent. Thus miracle was &s mysterious as the plot in the Rue Saint Naicaise, twenty-four yearo previ- ously. It waa precoded by the alleged cura of Mrs. Anno Mattingly, sister of the Mayor of Washington, who bad written for advice as to her discase to the Priest-Prince Hohenlohe, who was at the time a professionsl miracle-worker with a world-wide fame. He prescribed a No- vena, or nine-praser devotion, for Mrs. Matting- ly; snd a tumor with which she was aflicted was suddenly cured. Enormous excitsment follow- od this cure, the Protestauts decrying tho hon- esty of the thing; but the Abbe Cloriviers cleached the mattor by having one of his uuns as effeciually cured. At the age of 53 Limoelan was stricken with apoplexy, and survived the stroke but & little while. He roquested that he should be buricd in tho middle of the convent-vault, nud & tomb raised over him, on which the coffin of each snccessively-dying sister shonld be rested while the coremony of the dead was being performed. By his will he condemped to the flumes his vo- Iaminous memoits on his portion in the plot to sssassinate the First Consul, and otber matters about the war in-Bretagne and Poiton. An old sister recollects that he showed ber the bundles containing these momoirs, saying that he sealed the acconntof each year atita clogo, and never again opencd it, aitliough, a8 he sdded, much of interest lay therein, both to history and to re- Ligion. His wishos Wero strictly complied with, and the manuscript burned,—thus deopening the mystery, it possible, around the convont-vault, where now and then the bandof eelf-incarcerated women meet o copsign some of their number to the scarcely-narrower arens of the grave; and the central object in the place is the pluin tomb of Limoelan. PARALLEL READINGS. Bome of tho circumstances in the above story recall the flight of John Surratt, a pupil of Goorgetown College, which presides_over the convent. Surratt, more secular than Limoelan, mot only escaped across the ses after being hidden Dy Trench priests abont Montreal, but he became a military man in the Papal Guards, and thence isited the rcenes of Bonaparte’s campaigna in Egypt, to be returnod to Ius country op a ship-of-war, acquitted, and finnlly married a fow miles from the Capital. His mother, however, was lefc in the placs of the little girl who held the horse for the assassins in the Bue Baint-Naicaise. ROMANISY AT THE CAPITAL. Tho clump of Catholic institations on George- town Heights is imposivg, picturesque, and im- pressive to all the seneibilities. The colloge- houses, standing upon & tall steep, are built of brick in different poriods; and two high towers, like those of » castle, with peaked turrets and & croes. show over ali the surrounding country. The Potomac, here contracted to a deep and nar- row channel, flows under the walls; and the ecenery on that side has the character of both the Upper and Lower Rhine,—in front, clear, rushing, and with wooded banks; in the dis. tanco, miles broad, snd with low shores, whero the plain of the city and the flats are inundated. Bome portions of the bailding were erected in 1789. There are a great number of priests on ths Ppremises, all Jesuits; and, although the Academiic Departraent bas generally under 200 papils, the Law and Medical schools, in tho city, aro quito flourishing. Justice Alifler, of the Supreme Court, is one of the Profesaors in tho Law De- partment ; and both the special faculties are Btrong. Justice Affller, ex-Senator Casserly, and many other public men, have honorary degrees from this college; which also supports two companies of cadets, a reading-room 1n George- town, and five literary and religious socieuies. There are thirty ecclesisstica in the " college alone. Thae Astronomical Observatory was one of the first erected in America, and the telescope has 8 4-inch glass, and tho transit-instrument a still larger one, while the equatorial telescope in the dome bas an object-glass of 4 8-10inches. The library has 33,000 volumes,—some &ppa- rently eaved from the ruins of Jesnit establish- menta in Europe. One of its manuscripts dates 1280 A.D,, and 100 volumes were printed be- tween 1460 and 1520. Examining the list of stu- dents during the past year, they are found to come chinfly -from Maryland,. Louisiana, the and the’' Spanish-American - -States; = par- ticularly Mexico. Protestants consign -their children to Georgetown, although the standard history of the Catholic Church cays of it that it bas 1‘3““ *‘ the moat. ‘mifé:ll 00;1 all’ nurseries for tho Priests’ Seminary in Baltimore.” Iuisan impressive visit, to drive or walkin the afternoon out of the broad svenues of Wash- ington, and crosa the littlo barrier of Rock Creek Into the narrow strests of Georgetown, which looks to be half-a-century older than the Capital City, snd then. traversing the -whole Iength of this old suburb, &co to our right tho loug, low brick front of tle convent, with its littlo chapel eot in the facade, nnd the siylish new show-bzll of the seminary at the angle, whils bohind it, with Ligh inclosing walls, strotch the 40 acres of convent-grounds, guite up to the college-property. They are but & fow rods spart, and commanicate. The college- lawn and farm cover half s much ground as all Georgetown, and two creeks wind through these grounds in deep, misty dells, passing under the great aqueduct by culverts, Lvery day the space between the two E,xlcu of colloge- structures is filled with vobicles, borses, and pedestrians, assembled to see the boys at their eports, or to regard the magnifi- cent viow afforded of Washington City from the rocky terrace behind the ofd refectory, In 1870 the Catlolics had eleven churches in ‘Washington, which accommodated abont 9,000 pereons, whilo their property was vaiued at sbout $900,000. In the entire District ware 112 churches of all denominations, with 64.000 sit~ tings, and property valued at £3,400,000. The Catholics possess in the Diatrict & large hospital, to which Congress has voted support; and sove eral asylumy which have beou assisted 1u ground or benefactions. - BISHOP CABROLL'S CHAPEL, About 10 miles north of the city is the spot ‘which must bo alivays noted amongst American Catholics a8 the Homo and Mission Church where Father John Carroll reorgsnized, while the Rovolutionary War was happening around him, the Roman Church in America. It is a emall, neat church, rebuilt in recent years, with = echool-house clore at hand, and many old graves under the trees. Ono of tho gravestones tells the atory of the Bishop's mother + 4 Eleanor Carroll, relict of Daniel Carroll, Esq. Died 8d Febraary, 1796, aged 92." This lady was probably responsible for hor 6on becoming s priest. Ghe wes & Miss Darnall, of an-impoverished Catholio fami- 1y near Upper Marlboro, to which village Car- roll's father came from Ireland to be s mer- chant. Miss Darnall had about that time re- turned from France, where her father, after tho fashion of the Catholio Maryland planters, had placed ber at scliool. Carroll’s sisters married the Brents, of Aquis, Va. Onec of them, Elizabeth, lies in this grave- yard beside her hushand,—he dying at the age of 73, and sho 63. With these were intermixed the Digges family, veryrich, suod haughtyin their day, who are now beat Jmown for extend- jug, an asylum and grave to Maj. Fierre Charles L’ Enfant, who laid ont ths City of Washington. CARNOLL'S BANK. Tn sight of this churchyard, John Carroll, after about twenty years'absence in the Jeauit schools of France, began his work of reviving the Catho- lic power in the Umted States, which had nearly disappeared for want of prieats, and by the saperior ardor and repressing Jaws of the Prot- estants. At the close of the Revolution, Carroll computed 16,000 Catholics in the State, 7,000 in Pepnsylvania, and ounly 1, in all the otber Colovies. Maryland had but nine pricsts and Pooueylvania five, Carroll had no great natural powers, but the Jesnit institutions and givon bim fervor and disciplinn, and his op- portunity for use and distinction was scquired from his brother and cousin, tractible and eigh- borly men, who saw that they cctld emancipate their fellow-denomonationalists by joining the popular parts against Kwg George. The priest was iuduced to accompany Bonjamin Franklin and Charles Carroll ona political mission to Canads, soon after he roturned, but he never ventured twice to excced Lis spiritual duties; and, when the French Revolution disturbed the ciergry of all Europo and tho Spanish and French West Indies, Father Carroll hed it in his power to receive, distribute, and direct them. Mary- Iand became of far more consequence 8s & Catholic district than the Lords Baltimore had evor mada it; and at Georgotown, Baltimore, Emmotsburg, and Frederick, were established, within a faw years of cach otler, o series of in- stitutions, which have to some degree propa- gated Catholicism, but to a greater degree pre- served it from its natural weakness in a coun- try where a religion and & man have to take care of themselves. FINIS. Bishop Carroll married Jerome Bonaparte to Miss Patterson, and by hia influence, the Pope refused to divorce thecouple. One of his most celobrated sermons was a eulogy on Washington, His successor in the Diocese of Baltimors were Leonard Neals, Marylander; Ambrcse Merechal, French; James Whitfiold, English, and pupil in France of Marechal; 8amuel Eccleston, Protes- tant convert, born on the Esstorn Shore of Mary- land: and Francis P. Kenrick, born in Dablin and educated in Rome. Washington is stili sub-~ {m to the Dioceas of Baltimore, but there hsa ong been talk of making it Metropolitan. GaTr. ON THE DECADENCE OF MODERN POESY. -What a time is this we live in, When the IsTe-atrings of the dfuses Throb in harsh, discordant measures, Struck by hands profane and vulgar; Treating subjects gravs and sober With a light and cureloss mention ; Introducing slang and bombast In conuection with tne eolemn. How the sacred names in Homer,~ Smooth, euphonions, aad classic, — Sung by burds unskilled in numbers, Or devoid of any rev'rence, ‘Hop aud skip about like prippets Tu the modern Punch and Jady, Ol ! how fearfal to contemplate Such a talo as I will tell you. To exemplify the manner In which common, peity rhymestcrs ko familiar with their mastera < Thoy will seize a pan, snd tell you How the Trojana Hectorad Grecians, ‘And Achillea killed the Trojans, ¥ow tho Jove-defying Ajsx - Stood aatride upon the ramparts Which the carpenters had builded From the Phrygian w00ds they leveled, Hurling hunks of rock, and such like, On the death-devoted caputs Of the cilizens of Tum. How Tydides fought the Charmer From the courts of high Olympus, Drawing forth celestial ichor Through ber radisnt epidermis, Horw the level-head,” Ulyases, With his tried and trusty comrade, In the nmbrago of tho midnight, Bilked the guards of Daddy Prism, ‘And cut off tremendous numbers An they wandered in the dreamland. And that, whep the war was ended, And the fair snd fickle Helen . Waarestored to Menelsus, Grest Dlysses, homeward turning From the sanguine field of battlo, Tosmed about another decade In the reslms of angry Neptuns; D00k & shart cut into Hades, And shook hands with his relations; Baw tha ghost of friend Achilles, And sxchanged the latest war-nows,— In the distance sullen A jsx, Unrelenting in his dudgeon ; There he met his fellow-voyger, Who was drunk with wine and waseall At the feast which Circe gave bim, Aud, retiring to the house-top To sieep off his dizzy hesdache, Rolled from off the Afansard roof-tres And involved bimpelfin rula, i my tongus grows we: How some encrilegious moderns Give offence o ali the Muass Dy tholr base intorpolations Of uncoutb and vulgar phrases From the mint of comrmon coinage, H. H. RewmALL, —_— Anecdote of a Spider. Afine old English gentleman (Mr. Moggridgo), with abundant of leisure for studies in natura history, has written a very entertaining book on ivsects, in one chapter of which, as a critic asserte, he ‘‘elovates the character of the spider.” It is slunmt. st any rate, to know that hie has found out emough mbout tho cres- ture's foelings to clevato science in the direction of mercy. ‘The story is briefly as follows ; Mog- gridge Liad been in the habit of immorsing for Pproservation his different epecimens of spiders and ants in bottles of alcohol. He saw that they straggled for a few minutes; but bo thonght that the sonsation was soon extinguishod, and they were soon lree from suffering. Oa one occagion ho wished to rreeerve a Jarge female spider and twenty-four of her young ones that ke had cantured. He put the molaer into a bottle of aleohol, and saw that after s few moments sho folded her lega about her body and was &b rest. He then put into the bottle the young oues, who, of course, manifested acute ~pain. ‘What was his surpriee to see tha mother aronse berself from her lethargy, dart ronnd to, and gather her young ones' fo her bosom, fold ber arms around them, “and again relapse into insensibility, until at length death cams to her relief, and the Limbs no longer controlled by this matefnal icatinct, ralazed their grasp and bo- camo@cad The offect of the exhibition mpon him is 8 lesgon to our common humsnity. He bas applied chloroform ~ before immersion. Judging from the above, the spider ia certainly superior. to the human apimal, in the fact that elcohol does not destroy hor natural affection, District *~ of - "Colambis, | - & From Temple Bar. You ask me, my dear Ned, if iife at W— wasn't “‘uncommon duil” I forbear to dwell on the ungrammatical form of the question, and reply to the spirit. Life at W— was by 5o means dull. The character of daily events was cartainly tame, the order in which they moved regular, not to eay monotonous; bat to one who has eyes to sce and ears to hear, lifo can never be dull, especially life in the country. You take » walk in thefields, and objects are presented to you inuumerable, and works are being wrought around you on every side possessed of sufficicut interest, provided you have tho wit to notice and the patience o examine them, to perplex or amuse, enliven or sadden, qnite as effectnallyas the most seneational of Mr. Mudie's novels, Let me relate, by way of example, A LITTLE DBAMA, in which, & sbort time ago, I wzs led to play rather za unworthy part. It was but a poor af- fair, involving only ti:e happiness of a couple of very insignificant creatures indeed, but a lesson may be learnt from it all the samo. One burning afternoon in August last T had been strolling in s dreamy, purposeless way be- neath the shade of some enormous beech-trees in a retired portion of W-— Park. It was a favonte haunt of the deer, being one of the fow spots in that domain tolernbly free from’ intru- sion, and it was not withont s certain con- sciousness of impertinence that I had broken in upon their privacy. They had Tetreated with sngry looks of protest ; and, after an hour's enjoyment of the utter solitude to which thoy left me, I was thinking of extending my walk, and was considering whether I dare face the blazing sun that lit up the scene beyond the precincts of my fortress, whon my attention was attracted by the movement of some small snimal in the long grass boforo we. Yhat it was I could not tell. “It is not,” quoth I, “quick enough for & weasel or & rat; the brown is of too rich o tint for & hedgehog ; its action is tao halting and too awkward for & loveret j—canitho a cub?” And, sunstroke or no sunstroke, I went forth to clear up the mystery. IT WAS A SQUIRREL nothing better than a trumpery specimen of the Scinrus vulgaris. Rut then it was not a squirrel puro and sim- plo. It was a aquirrel in difficultics, an embar- rassed squirrel, o squirrol with an incambrance, And I again stepped on to ascertain the nature of its impedimenta. The interesting little ro- dent made for the stem of an sged thorn hard by, and as it ran up with more cantion and less speed than I believed to ha the common habit of squirrels, I discovered thal it was carrying t its mouth a younger member of the family, a Sciur- wulus, susponded by theneck. The lesser animal seomed perfeotly content with the proceeding, and made no sort of objection to the uapleasant- ness, 85 I shonld take it to have been, of the position which it cccupiod. But these things are wholly matters of tzste, and, after all, hang- ing may not be an operation 8o exceedingly dis- sgrovable 28 people in general suppose. ‘Heving attained a coign of vantaze n tho tree, where this variety of the Sciuridm is moro ab homa than on the firaund, the elder sqairrel sat hereelf up, reteasied the infant from ber teeth, and, with her tiny paws crossed upoa its back, gra:nbd it tondarly and protectingly as it were to er bosom, while the yonoger one, in the moat nataral way in the world, clasped hcr mother ronnd the neck. No mamma in Belgravia—if it is tho habit of Belgravian mammas to nurso {heir ohildron~—could, with all the accessories of Inco and white satin, isve assumed 2 mors grace- ful attitude. It was A TOUCHING SIGHT, and I stayed to gaze ouit with admiration, Tho little pair on their part looked ingairingly 8t me with “soft, wisttul eyes, hoping evidently that such s very superior boing 2s f must needs be would Ieave them in peace, and pot think it worth his while to izterfere mth their humble domestio arrangements. Aod my first thought was, 1assuro you, to do this thing,—to relisve them at once of my undeeirable presence. But then came the second thought, the thought which gentlemen of experience tell us with great sclf-complacency is the best thonght. Ah] be- liove not the maxim. It is & mean anda lying one. 1f thore be anything pare, anything holy, snything divine left in this broken nataro of ours, it speaks out at once, spoaks in the ' first thought, feobly it may bo, but generously and° nobly, regardless of conse- quences, indifferent to self. Dut the second thought is the cautious thought, begoiten by cold ealculation, having s_sharp eye to busi- ness—the solfish, sinfal thought, prompted by Diabolus. And Disbolus, as is usual 1n theso cages, was st my elbow at an instant to back his suggestion, + Botter examine them a httlo more clowely,” eaid he, with an easy air, * obsorve their for, watch their movements, take note of their hab- its; they are particularly well worth studying. tis all IN THEE INTERESTS OF SCIENCE, you know.” ; I advanced a step. Maternal fnstinct took the alarm immediately; and seizing her lttle one again with hor teeth, the squirrel nscended to the summit of the white-thorn. Even this position wes not sufi- clently securs' to inspire perfect confidonce, o8- pecially 83 tho tree was isolated save on one sido. ~There was, however, a siogle lateral branch which, reaching out several feet from the parent trunk, met, or all but met, in friend- 1y contact corrésponding limb of 'a brother May-tree of mu sor size. Once amid its sheltering foliage, and all danger was at an end. The gisnt beechos conld easily be rogained, and {from them not all the Queen’s horses and all the Queen's men, barring the assistance of those villainous guns, could dislodze the fagtives. The distance was really nothing,—a mers hop- skip-and-jump for & squirzel in_average condi- tion,—but then the baby | Peravian Rolla, if m; recollection serves, jumps across a chasm witl Corn's child npon his srm. Bat jumping with & baby in one's mouth! I never tried i, certainly, but should think jumping in a sack s mere joke toit, Tho poor little frightened thing evidently had misgivings horself. She ran ont towards hor city of refuge, and stopped to look back at me; again advanced, and sgsin paused as tho wig Dbent boneath her weight; and then, urged by terror, made a desperate effort to accomplish the leap. She was 80 far successful as to clear the spaca herself, but, loosed from her hold in the stroggle, hor 1ittlo ono ¥ELL TO THE GEOUND AT MY FEET! The mother gave one shrill, sharp cry, and then watched eagerly and ‘motionless thio course of events. Thero can be no sort of doubt about it, ~1I ought at once, 88 3 Fenuemnn, to have made Ty bow, and takeo my leave, *‘ Nonsense!” said Diabolus; “there can be 1o -harm in just looking at tho animal. It is really very protty.” St 4 41 will'be very gentla with it,” quoth I, and I stooped to pick up the littlo creature, which was Satnly endeavoring to concsal itaslt in the small grass. The mother's sgony as I raised it in my band became intense. Bheran in sbort, spas- ‘Tmodicstarts from branch to branch, uttering a low ‘mosning wail, interrupted by 8 sort of chirmp- ing, which I ook to be Sciurian baby-language, addressed, probably by way of encouragament, to the infant itseif. : ‘The latter looked up info my faco with o half- confident, hall-timid expression, 8s though it would eag, ** I am very small and very harmloss. I am sure you don't mean to kill me,” “Kill you? " I repeated. “I would not kill you for the world! Pray, my dear madsm, be b eade; you shail havoyour baby in s ino- ment.” ++ 0 course you would not kill it,” whispered Diabolas in my ear; * it is fartoointeresting an animal to bo killed. But why not cas it care- fully home, put it into a nico cago, and teach it to work the troadmill? Yom can etudy it at your leisuro—all IN TIE INTERESTS OF SCIENCE, asT obsorved Lefore. And then, what a preity pet it wonld make for Mra, B—1" ‘'The interests of science?” I repeeted. 4 Yell, yes, thero is something in that.” +Something in that! I shonld think mo. Why, it is the most important consideration in the world !" exclaimed Diabolus. “Yon wouldu't be 2uch a brute!" thundered Conscience, 1 was brought to my bezrings in an instant. “Most decidedly not,” I anawered: *the in- terests of science be— Vade relro Sathanas 1" + Oh, certainly, 1f you desireit; but, remem- ber, you may do worse than adopt my sugges- tion. Au revoir I Determined not to give tho zdversary another opportunity, and corscious that I had alresdy trified overmuch with the feelings of the unfor- tunste pair, I advanced to the white-thorn from which lga Rittle cresture had fallen. And here ‘was my ead mistake. Iought simply to have re- placed it upon the grass, 88 near as might be to the spot Whence I bad taken it, The mother minutes, and there would have been an end of her troadle—snd of ‘mine. ' But, alas! with an inconsiderate ofliciousuess, & fussy zeal, againat “{"which -Tallesrand’s wise counse! should have warned me, I sought to expedite matters by putting my captive into 4 SNUG HOLLOW OF THE TO! whero the branches diverged from the trunk. I could not ece the cavity; it was ritusted at s height too great for that; but I could, when stauding on tiptoe, just feal with the ends of my fi:fiem # gort of mossy nest, and into this I care~ fally droppod the baby squirrel, I then retired to watch the happiness of the approzching reunion. The motber, all this tim, had been unessily running to and fro just above my head, @ ming a8 near to me as she dared ven- ture, and Uttering the low soft wail broken by tho chirruping of which I have spoken. As soon a8 I departed she made straight for the spot where I had deposited her young one; but overrunning the mark descended the trunk, clinging to the rough bark, and pear- ing about'in every direction, till she reached the foot. Right and left she hunted across the gress, quartering her ground like an experienced pointer, ‘Then back to the tree, circling the stem, and passing a second time over the very nook 1n which I'had placed her treasure. Out sheranon one branch, dropping to snother, Bpringing upon a third, her restless little he spying in every direction, hor wail growing more dexpairing in its tone—and ALL TO NO FURPOSE. ‘“They are a couple of noodles,” “Porhaps Iy presence flurries them; avay altogetier.” . And away I went. I would not, however, rest content in uncertainty, so after a space of about a quarter of an hour I returned to the tree. As I approached I heard the same sad, moaning sound, and eaw the poor squirrel sprioging from Brauch to branch as uaweariedly and alas! as fruitlossly as wnen I left her. 1 drow nearer. She eaw me, 2nd ran forward as if to meet me with tho inquiry— *Have you brought back my little baby 7" X waa obliged to gonfesa that I had nat ; and at the same time a thought flashed across my mind, tarning me almost" sick with pain. What if the nollow, which I had felt, but not been sblo to oo, was the entrance to some deep quoth 1. will go cavern in the fotton _ trunk, down which the tioy animal had fallen! Buch s hole might reach to the vory roots of the tree, and if so, there tho belpless prison- er might lio, and pine, and _die, undiscovered by its parent, or, if discovered, found 1o ba far he- yond the possibility of rescues What was to be done? Clearly tho first thing w2s tc learn how far my suspicions were correct. With great dificulty—for my figure is, 2a you Xnow, of tha rotaud and ponderans order, my breath scant, and my activity much impaired of lato—1 gucceeded in raising my hiead to the level of the bifurcation, trifurcation, twentsfurcation —ivhat you will—of the braoches. More than this I could not do; bat it was enongh,— ENOTON TO CONFIBX MY WOBST ¥EAR. There was a hole, wide and deep, eaten into the very vitala of the aged thorn. Dowa I thrast my arm, but could find no bottom, nor could I touch the fur of the victim of my stupid beedlevsness. Well might the poet remind us how— Evii is wrought by want of thought, As well 28 want of heart, And so Diabolus was right then, after alll Had 1 not done worse, far worse, than follow his advice? Tt looked very Like it. Better surely a comfortable home, even in a cage, with plenty of air and exerciso, and nuts af discretion, than & ‘misorable, lingering, lonely death in & dark and loathsome prison. X droppod to the ground from oxhaustion, and tarned awsy sorrowfully uuder the burden of my misdoicg. There was, indeod, s gleam of Tope left tome even yet. The hoio might not bo g0 very doop, naiwre would fght stoutly, squirrels must be constantly getting into holes, snd, young 28 it was, the little thiog might suc- ceed in rogaining the openiog, or the mother might find somo means, unknown £o the non- Beturian mind, of extricating her offspring. I left tbem to their resources, and with tho resolve to return at tho expiration of half an hour. “Well, my fine fellow, . A PRETTY MTS8 ou bave made of it! Nothing can savo the ittle wretch now. Itis half suffocated by this time. You had better have taken my advice; you have done so before. Butcome,” added Dia- bolus—for I neod not 8ay he it was who spake— #don't be dowu-he: ; & squirrel more or less in tue world, or in the Park, 18 of no great ac- count." * Vade retro,” I roplied, but not quite so per- emptorily as before. ‘““Pooh| nonzensel Tlltell you what to do. 1 am used to this sort of thing. Go homo and bid one of the under-gardeners carry ont a pail of water and pour it into the opening in the tree. If ono pail is not sutlicient, lot him decant & conple. Thas will prove an effectual dose, And for yourself, just take an extra glass or two of champagre at dinner, and think no more of the mattor. The interests of science will suffer tle—that's all.” Vade retro Sathanas!™ *Oly, just a5 you pleaze. I'll leave. you, of course—to devise a more humaas plun, if you are able.” B It was certoinly » plausible scheme; and, in- deed, I could think of nothing better. It was, I koow, quito useless to ask my worthy host to consent to the demolition of oue of the prattiest objectsin his park, and- even were a writ of habeas corpus to bs issued the odds againet roscuing the captive from its dungeon were, 28 tue sporting geutlemen say, very long indecd. Moantime the balf hour had expired, and I ro- turued to tha tree. THE SAME SAD SCENE prosented itself. Thers was the unhappy mother ceasolessly running to and fro, giviog utteranco totho same inexpressibly mournful lament— ‘more moving, as it seomed, in its anguish; more reproachful inits tone, thon ever. Again she stopped on beholding mie, and her exprossion be- came almrost human In its eagerness a3 8bo de- Tou took it from me. manda: 4 My Little ono! What have you done with it ? 1 could make no spswer, but, with a choking gensacion about the throat and ‘a gathering mist in my eyes, I want slowly back to the houss, Timo sped _on, the_inevitable dinner-hour to boe announced by » dreadful gong whose sum- mons might well pigh wake the dead, drew near. « T don't care s dump about dressing,” I said, with uapardousble asporicy, to my wifo ; * Imust go out.” And out I went. This time I sallied forth ARMED WITH A HATCHET borrowed from the tool-house, though what en earth was to be done with tie implement I had not the faintest notion. 8till, something 1 resolved to attompt. *Yes,” said Diabolus, ““snd chop your toes off, like poor Lord Darnley. Coms, don't be & fool. Put down that agly thing, go back and apologize to Mrs. B— for your ness, dresa for dinner—and don’t forget the champagne. 1'll look aftor the interesta of ecience.” I escorned to reply, and hurried on- wards. . There was A& stillness in the heated air as though storms wero gathering in some far-off rogion, preparatory to an on- slaught on the unprotected grain. Not a leaf moved; not s sound was audible. No! not a sound—not & sound even of lamentationreeched my expectont car. From whatever caunse, the mother’s wail bad ceased. I 1ooked up aton the branches of the fatal troe—nothing stirred | I tried the one adjoining—nothing stirred! With the ‘same success, for in some degree it might bo considered success, I examined the folisge all around ; and all around was still and motionless. For from eatisfied, but with opirit nomowbat lightened, I turned upon my steps, further search obviously beiwg useless, As for the ax, I suuck sn idle blow at the tongh but bollow-bearted thorn that had caused all this misery. I mightas well have attempted to fell & cathedral. Nevertholeas, tho blow was not wholly mneffectusl. The consequeace, whether direct or indirect, of the concussion was the stirring of & twig, 'twas no more, at the top of the tree, ‘At the same time & leaf, prematorely sare and yollow, fluttered to the gromnd. I Iooked again more earnestly, and there above mo, just peeping from behind s decaying branch, » little brown face was clearly discernible. Thers could be no doubt about it ; it was tho face of the bereaved mother herself. She had not then deserted her post. But was she or was ghe not alone? I could not tell ; nothing but the out- line of one tiny head was vieible agminst the clear blue sky. A rapid movement, however, ensoled me to ontflank hor position; and 1 wonld give the happiest dav of the few that may yet bofeft to mo on earth rather than hava Tmisscd the emotion which I experieaced onm bololding tho loving matron sitting bolt upright in the snuggest of nook, with HER LITTLE ONE CLASYED AGAIN IN EXR ARME— if I may bo allowed the expression. The gaze of both were turced avxiously upon me : “ Come, yon aro not going to play ns any more tricks, surely 2" That was the gnestion; and not the sweet O'Niel herself could have delivered it more inctly or with more pathos. ‘ Hoaven forbid 1" said I *‘No! Herowe part; here I bid you heartily farewell, wish- ing you both all” the happiness of which your simple natures may be capables, aud. praying that you may never again become the victims of idle curiosity, even thongh it should * mean no harm,’ and pretend in justi- & view to tho interests of scionce.” 5 And &0 I sped me home, denonncing Diabolus the while 2a a liar and & deluder, such as he. hath ever been from the beginning, such a8 HX EVER WILL BE UN1O THE END, The hall-door was reached just as that never- sufficiently-to-be-anathemntized gong, in the construction of which the aforesaid Disbolus "had, I am sure, a band, rang out 1ts firat and wamning knell. Five minutes more, snd I was seated cheerfully at dinver; on which occa- sion—it ia a fact hardly worth mentioning, per- haps—1 certainly did not forget the extra glass or two of champagne. An awfal tempeat raged that night. I will not venture to speculats a8 to its origin ; but I have my suspicions all the same. Thero are, howey- er, in that magnificent grove of giant beeches recesses which never wind, nor rain, nor bailcan reach, inexpugnable eave by the forked light- nipg itself. In one of these I pictured the littls Beinrian family happily renuvited and corled cosi- 1y tp together, talking over, it might be, the gen’ lous adventure of the day, as I myself lay lown to rest and drifted away to tbe Jand of dreams. B. H. D. Banmay, “STUPID MAN!” 4 Behold Where Thou Art Drifting17? DeCATUR, TIL, Feb. 12, 1874, To the Editor of The Chicago Tribune: Ba: The writer of ' Woman and Her True Mission,” in your papor of Feb. 7, has stirred up my ire, and I must fres my mind, for L will not keep silent while oce of my own sex laya the sing of the whole world at woman's door. That Biring has been harped on long enough ; 80 has the one that ‘*woman's province” lies wholly within the four walls of SOME HOUSE CALLED HOME. Why, bless you, that same old term haas been rung in my ears eince my earliest recollections, and yet I dare to assume the position that “ woman's province” lics jusc where she can do the most good in the world. Now, I'm not of those that think she csn do the most good throagh the ballot; but if map, in his stupidity, forcea it npon s by makinga bad use of his especial rights, then I hope women will perceive it is her mission to make nse of tho ballob, if she can get is, or any ather legitimate means to accomplish good in the land. There are few women, I think, who would care to help men make Iaws, if we had BETTAR MEN to make them; but, a8 the cass now stands, may the goed Lord comfori the poor wives and mothers of our law-makers, if thoy wre to ba held responsibls for all the evil-doings of those men. God has created woman, and given ber talent, the same as man; and her *‘true mission” i where aho can improve that talent best, be it at homo or sbroad, indoors or out, preacling or doctoring, singing or sewing, wherever her calling leads her. 5 The great mistake Les in treining up our daughters to think the whols end and aim of life is to get married ; to make some dear John's bread, and cook hia meat for bim; to assumo the whole responsibility of training up his chil- dren, 8o that they may be an honor to him; muka his home tidy and inviting ; in ehort, be & good wife, and not complain if dear John does spend all his leisure timo at the club_or saloon, or some other worse place. Now, sll this may be £he true mission of some women, and 1 have no desizs to quarrel with such,—their lot in life ia hard enough ; but, if others elect somo other work to do, I sny, God spead them on their way. Let us.educste our daughters to know them- selves and their own capabilities, that they may ba able to judge what they ARE BEST FITTED FOR. If 1t is to marry and mako some men happy, let them do that: if to do something else, let them do that something, —always remembening to do woll and thoroughly whatever thoy attempt to do, and to obey the Divine injunction to ** Know thyself, that thou mayest bo able to judge con- carniag thysolf.” Your correspondent aflirms that * Women mer- cilesaly slander and ruin their pwn sex.” This sagertion may be true of a few, but not of the many, and I will not keep silent while such things are said of my sisters. Let & woman bo worthy of honor, and all trae women will honor her. Woman is quick to discern the right, the pure, and the good. She upholds the right_ and condemns the wrong. 1f man would do the ssme, our land would soon be ocleansod of some of the evil that is running riot in our midst. But man, ¥ BELF-RIONTEOUS MAX, ‘but winks at the shortromings of his brother, sud keeps silont,—thinking, perhaps, the timo may come when he, too, will want his deods pasted over in silence. Agaip, this writer says: ‘“Men always have standard of good that women too seldom reach, Does observation teach this ? 1f 8o, why allth thieving, cheating, and murdering even, in circles where only men meet? Do the men that fovu‘n and rale over this fair land teach us that hey have a high standard of good? If so, may the good Lord then preserve my sisters from that standard. We will take a lower seat, if you please, for we prefer to bo honest, if Rot great. Your correspondent accnses us of not havin moral courace. Novw, most of the wise men an women of our dsy claim that the women of our generation are PAR IN ADVANCE of the men in this respect, and I am quito will- ing to think as they do. I think the writer meant to sy "' physical courage.” If so, it s all right. Do the deeds of those bandsof noble ‘women in Ohio aud other places teach us that women lack moral courage, when thoy use the only means at their commana to eave their hus- bands snd sone from drunkards’ grases? They can pray wherever thoy choose, aud may their prayers be heard snd answered, till every grog- 8hop in the land sball be closed. But I say, Shame on the mon of America for allowing & state of things that forces woman to such ex- tromities in order to eave her sons. g BTUPID MAN { behold where thou art drifting! The woman's God i8 & God of justice; and. when thou showest toyself unfit to make laws to rule the people, then will He find other ways and means; an: do not the sigus of the times point toward woman 23 one of those meana? The men of Amenca are fast becoming a pation of drunkards in more than one sense. As the fathor is, 8o will the 80n be, is 88 truo now ns ever. Man can save himeel?; but, if he will not, then let him go to the wall, and let us save ourselves. We balt not make worse wives and mothers. The present Quoen -of England is o noble example of this. How does her clear mind, noble aud pure lite, compare with the life of the President of these United States? His smoke-befogged brain is only capable of fuch mistakes as we have just witnessed in his choice of Clief-Justice. Toxia. —_— THE MOUNTAIN. ‘Wooed by the winds that, sighisg, Near tiies would fondly stay ; ‘Wooed by the light that, dying, ‘Lingers behind the day, ‘Wooed by the blushing morning ; Woo:gyby Tho purple eve, That hastea to thy =dorning, Or lingers loth to leave. Dear to the snows that cap thee; Dear to the storma that hide; Loved by the mista that wrap thee, Climbing the mountain-side. The stars of Heaven, descending, Dioop from the arch above; And Dian’s self, unbending, Sinks {n thy arms of love, But to the tns whose home slceps Lowaon tlry slopes 8. fair, Over whose sot. thy strensth keeps Guardian watch snd care, Than to the winds or suntight, Btorma or the drooping star, Blush of moru or the twilight, Dearer thon Efi by Izr.‘ o ‘WARLES No; GORT, MuvrEoN, Wis, ExCRmgaRs —_—— A Female Clud in London, A female club has often bsen talked about, 8258 & London correspondent, but I believe that it 1s at Iast to become one of the institutions of the metropolis. Its chief promoters are thoso ladies who have been associated .with the vindi- cations of women's rights, and tho arrangementa for the estabushment of the club ara now in an advanced stato. It is stated that it will open with at least 500 members, and that suitable premises have been secured 'in St. James street. Aom- bersbip is, of course, strictly to be limited to members of the fair sex, and all the officials, from the Secretary down to the knife-cleaner, ate to be females. " Thers ia to bs, I hear, how- ever, au institution, called a *Husbana's Hall,” in connection with the clab. This, Ism given to underatand, is to be a room where husbandy may wait for their wives till they aro ready to g0 home, and which is to b extensively stocked with famale rights Literature, ——— —Tho following is the last specimen of an English wmvetfiivc exlml.uuio:;p: Historical Ezaminer— And now, sir, can yon tell me whero it was that the Merovingian King Clovia embraced Christianity " _Bright Foung Candi- date fihqfi and sharp)—**Under the miatletoe- bough, eirl’ The Snow-Bunting. 1t is in the February skies that wa may slways discern tho first premonition of Spring. Thera i8 a soft, moist, warm tone in their blus, which is peculiarly charactevistic of the vernal months, The sensitive stadent of Nature recognizes the tint ac s glance, and feels his soul stir within him at the beautiful prospect it foretokens. Buch adome of tender arura bends over the' opening buds and grecning turf in April and May, and, looking op at it now, from behind closed windows, it is easy to forget that the earih is still Iying cold and Stiff 1n the slnap of Winter, with s shroud of &now foldsd aunrite bosom. The air, too, as February pesses on, is rifa with sounds ; feeble, fugitive, uncertsin, but vocalizing & message not to be mistaken. Thers is A STID OF LIFE, like the anfolding of wings preparstory to fight; a myaterious unrest, as in tho prelade to day. break. The ear involuntarily strains to catch the inll outburst of voice and movement with which the Flowery Queen announces her come ing. Only these indistinct and broken mur- murings—like tho thrills aloug the railway. irons, which betray the passaze of a train—ine dicate that she is moving northward. The barn-yard fowls, feeling the subtlo incita~ tion, give vent to it through tho day in many choery, homely crow and cackle. Tho birds that have eought food and shelter in the depthe of the foresta throngh the severest weather, come out into the hodzerows and fit about in the vicinity of dwelliogs. Their low, quick, sweet chirps stsrtle the liatener every now snd then with their likeness to the first faint tones of the blue-bird and robin. Towards the close of Feb runry, these ecatterad notes multiply, and grad- ually link themselves in briet sentences of song, They are a part of the general promiss of the Beason, and, coming from birds that never war- blo their finished strains in these lower latie tudes, show that a wave of the APFROACHING LOVE-TIDE is swelling their happy hearts to overflowing. It is bigh timo to watch all Nature with glad expectation, when the last month of winter i waning; and it i8 & peculiarly favorable period for beginning to tako notes in ornithology. In the groves along tho lake-skore in tha en- ~vironsot Chicago there abounds,at all seasons of the yeer, = remarkable variety of the fea hered tribe. The combination of Isnd and water, tha equalizing effect of the latter upon the tempera- ture, and the intermingling of s forest-growth with open spaces, afford advantages suited to a groat diversity-of the bird species, and render this & superior locality for their study. In mid- ‘Winter, when, to the careless observer, there Beems to be an utter dearth of winged creatures, they really are scarcely. ever absent from the scene. Singly orin flocks, they are lurking in secladed spots, or boldly manging in exposed plsces, intent upon providing for their simple needs and pleasures. Among those which enliven this dreary term, th ere is nonemore conspicuous, because of pretty plumage, its habit of associating in large vom- panies, andita restless actinity, than THE BNIW-BUNTING (Plectrophanes Nivalis, Meyer). It must not be confounded with the Bnuw-Bird (Juneo Hye- malis) from tho similarity in the names, for tos t0 Bpeciea are quits remote from each other, sithongh belonging to the samo grest family o} the Fringillide, or Seed-Eaters. A curious interest attaches to the Snow-Bunte ing from its being a distant foreigner in a tom~ porate zone. It comos from a far-away country, almost as remote and inacceasible as thongh it were on_another plsnet. Its home is within the Arctic Curcle, on the lands fnnging the open Polar Soa, on tae gloamy heights of Spitzbergen and adjacent regions. In those desert-wastes of perpetasl snow it was born, and there it reg- ularly returns to pass the summer. It woos its mate, builds -its nest, cradles its young, sod chants its lullabies, in dreary salitudes, whers the reindeer, the Polar bear, the Arctio fox, the small field-mouse, and the sea-fowl on the coasts are it Bole compantons. It ia literally the SONG-RIND OF THE POLE ; : the single species of its race to carTy a voics of melody to the very verge of tha Arctic Ocean. ‘What strange temperament and constitution fits the httle creaturs for happiness m such an icy desolation? Throngh the entire round of its life, it dwella amid snow and s chilly stmos- phere. It will endure confivement. Bechstem tells of having kept a pair for six years, Butit must be in a cool temperature. 1ts native babitat, 1 Bpitzbergea, Nova Zewbls, and the nortbern limits of Scandinavia, during the sum- mer months, the temperature averages 343 deg., —In warm situations reaching, at ita greatest beight, 78 deg. With its thick coat of fat and feathers, promided for comfort in this frigid cli- mate, the Snow-Bunting would awelter exposed to a much milder temperature. 1t coustantly keeps . WITHIN THE CONFINES OF WINTCE, hovering onthe edge of tbe bitterest storms, and fiving in. their van when they threaten to bury its food out of sight. With its swift, strong wing, it can rapidly cleave its way from one dit- tant poing to another, and to-day may bo here and to-morrow hundreds of miles away, wheraver its instinct warns it the cunditiona will b besi. It needs no prediction from ** Old Probabiliies.” It is a prophat unto itself, foreseeing long enough beforehand to provids for its safaty, whetsier thero will be fair or foul weather. Axd 50 it has como to ba a barbinger to us, and wo aro aure of a sevare spell wheaever it aprears. Early inDecember, the Soov-Bunting swseps down in immense tlocks upon the northern cons tinonts of both bemispheres,—in Europe, de- scending to Germany and the south of Engiand, and 1o the United States, ns far as Marylaud. "They generally arrive in o lean condition, but 00D fatten upon the sbundant sceds they find, and then are estoemed a great delicacy for. the table. In Lapland theyaro relied upon ass staple article of food. Yast numbers are anaced in othor countries, especially in Austria, whers they are fatted upon muliet. \When in prime order, they are considered. scarcoly inferior to the famous Ortolon Bunting, so ighiy prized by the epicure for its dainty flavor. Nesting as they do in the secarity of uniohab- ited wastes, which man seldom visits, and then not for fong, they rase thewr broods without muca loss and 3 INCREASE ENORMOUSLT. y Multitndes of them have swarmed along tbe lake-shore, in and about Chicago, the present winter. ‘They expecially haunt wet sad marsby places, and the oorders of water, in quest of the sceds of aquatic plants, and minute shell fish, Althonga a granivorous bird, in ita breed- ing-place the Bnow-Bunting is necessarilyalmost enlirely ingectiverous, subsisting largely upon the gnata which swarm io Arctic countries. Vegetation is thers nearlyoxtinct. Ninoty-three species of owering plsnts are enumerated id tue flora of Spitzbargen, but they attain a stast- ed growth in scanty patches, gud could por yieid food tur the multitudes of birds whaich wmust have nounishment for themselves aud their young thraugh thie weeks of Summer. ] On the departuraof Wister, tue Snow-Bantiog loisurely FOLLOTS IN ITS WAKE NORTHWARD. It arrives at Hudzon's Bay toward the middle of Apnil, where 1t ingers for aoont s moath, and Ppasses on to its Polar home. In May it is bosy in the construction of its nest, which it builds in the fissures of the rocks, forming the shell of dricd grase, and lining it with feathers aod the down of the Arctic fox. In this nest and safe recoptacle it iays five white eggs, speckled with brown, and, blithe as a parent-bird can be, pours out 1ts psalms of thanksgiving over the lmze.n desert. Human eara have seldom listened to it8 sorg, but it is said to Lo clenr and sweet. The colors of tho Snow-Duatiog in summer "are pure white and black ; but, wiule tbe burd 8 on the continents, its plumage is irregalacly dashed with shades of brown. The markiugs arcof infipite variety, like those of the stript grass ; 0o Lwo blades and no tiwo birdy nere ever yot found to be exsct duplicates. The winter Plumago of tise Banting rangos all tha way frm & solid white to a dusky brown, with s limitlees diversity. The gieater variations in eclor am generally aserited (o the difforences in 8z Thero axe five specios of the Fiecrophanes it i ates; but only oue cther, (LAPLAND T.ONGSPOR), o is aver seen east of the Missouri, and this 812 xtofamiliar visitor, aod not mueh is known of itd Dabits. It breeds on the shores of the Arctio 8es, placing its nest among moss and stened “f the ground, and depositing sevan pals 5ellow: tinted eggs spotted with brown. i il B —A man in Washington County, N. T, re* cently eloped with his wiater-in-law. aged 13.