AIXEK COFFIN, Editar. ?< First the blade, then the ear, after that the full cx>rn in. the ear."-Paul. FO?FR D0I?AES ME Vol. I. CHAJRLESTO?-T, S?TTJEDAY, [DECEMBER 23, 1865 2ST?. UU PUBLISHED ON SATURDAYS, BT T. HUR JL. JE Y & CO: Subscription Price:-Four Dollars a year, lava riablj in advance. Bates of Advertising: For one Square of Ten Lines, one insertion; $2.00; for each subsequent insertion, $1.00. A liberal discount made to yearly, half-yearly-, and quarterly advertisers. Advertisements conspicuously displayed bj special agreement. PROSPECTUS FOR THE South Carolina Leader. A Weekly Journal of the Times? Tat LEADER will be devoted to the interest of fr? Labor and general reform. * Thc Federal Government will be sustained at all hauHU and we hope that its ultimate policy towards this Suo will ensure peace, prosperity, and domes tic tranquility. That self evident truth, contained in the Declara tion of Independence, "That all men are created tqua.'," will be steadfastly adhered to. lu matter? of local concern, it will give its earnest icpport to all important public measures and practi r?! improvements. While fearless in its advocacy of the right, sad fesk in its denunciation of the wrong, its colums will never be made a channel of coarse personal jba?e. It will deal with principles rather than men, ad allow the free and candid discussion of all sub jectipertaining to the public good. Ia striving: to make this emphatically a paper for the people, we confidently look to them for the unosut of subsciption and advertising patronage, .oicb its worth demands. T. HURLEY & CO POETRY. TKEASUKES. i lave some withered Mowers That are softly laid away, Not i-eeause they were so beautiful And fragrant in their day ; Bat litt le lingers clasped them, And little lips caressed, .lad little hands so tenderly Place.! them on 44 mothers " breast. Ti* paper that enfolds them Was white in other years ; ir "tis yellow now, and crumpled, And stained with many tears. Vet, though they look so worthless, This paper and that enfoldsthera They clasp and hold; like links of gold, Memories of jewel-hours. 1 have some litt-e ringlets That are softly laid away, Their lustre and their beauty Arc like thc sun's glad ray. But 'tis not for this 1 prize them it is that they restore Thc tender grace of a loving face* That gladdens earth no more. As shipwrecked men, at midnight, Have oft been known to cling With a silent prayer, in wild despair, To sorac frail floating thing So 1, in darkened moments; Clas,\ with a voice ess prayer, Whi st wandering wide on griefs deep tide, These locks of golden hair. I have some broken playthings That are softly laid away, With some dainty little garments Made in a long past day. To each there is a history ; But this I may not tell, Lest the old, old flood of sorrow Again should rise and swell. Sw that the skies have brightened, And the fearful storm is o'er, Let me sit in tender c Imness, On^lemory's silent shore, And count tlic simple treasures That still remain to show Where Hope's fair freight, by saddest fate, Was shipwrecked, long ago. 1 have another treasure That 1 have softly laid away, And, though 1 have not seen it This* many a we?ry day, ?rora everything around me Comes a token and a sign Toat His fondly watched and guarded, And that it still is mine. When the dowers lie dead in winter; In their winding-sheets of snow, We know they'll ris^to charm our eyes Again in Summer's glow. Thus ?, in this chill season, When frost and darkness reign, Wait the blest Spring, whose warmth shall bring Life to ?y flower again. Home Joumtd. The Philadelphia Board of Health have em ployed agents, who go to every house and di rect >the . removal of everything calculated to generate noxious effluvia that meets their atten tion. An enfant terrible once asked a lady if the person living in the next house to her was an idiot. ""Not that I know of," replied the lady. ..Why to you ask, ?rnld:" ? Because," said the child, " mamma says you are next door to an idiot.n It is remarked (says a London reporter), hy the police of the water side, that nearly every female who throws herself into the water is careful to divest herself of her bonnet and lhawl, which are placed on the ground in such a manner as n&t to be in the least damaged. COMMUNICATED; Articles inserted under this head are written by correspondents. We shall be glad to publish com mmweations of merit, but do not hold ourselves re spoaesfel? lor their sentiments. SANE-BANK ZOTTIN&S.-No. IV; MK. EDITOR,-I promised td write upon ?ne social condition of the colored people of Hil ton Head. The blacks are no exception to the remark that man was made for society. It is pre-eminently true of them. Given to excite ment, they associate together, and adopt an eh customs as the social element of their nature suggests. Those in whom the religious element predominates find their pleasure in their estab lished forms of worship. Others, more fond of mirth, gratify this propensity in the dance and other light and exciting diversions; It is not to be expected that a people so late ly out of the house of bondage should exhibit the highest phase of social life. That would be a miracle. Bought and sold in slavery like chattels; herded like cattle, and compelled to lead beastly lives, it ia unnatural to suppose that they would spring all at once to a state of moral and social purity. No nation on earth would have shown such a transformation as that. We should expect that many of their loose habits would cling to them for years. To some extent, this is so with these people. Still, they show no unwillingness nor incapac ity to improve when properly taught the prin gles of cultivated society. Much progress f\a* been made. The marriage bond has been established on a firm basis, and family ties are generally respected. True, there are those on *hom their covenants sit lightly. They can narry and dissolve, and shift about almost any way to accommodate. But such looseness is restrained when discovered. In their contracts and general dealings with each other, and with white people, the blacks have not yet generally adopted the principles .f upright, honorable dealing. 1 have found -trict integrity the exception, and not the rule. L'rue, the exceptions are numerous and honor tbb, and, 1 hope, are multiplying ; but too many either do not understand the nature of a contract or other obligation, or they conaider 'hem too trifling to be of any account. Even the religion of some is sb slipahod as .o alli?*? and tu?M di^/ioncotj. Por inot?ntc, i man was Wick and about to die ; in this con .inion, he desired ? religious brother to attend him and perform religious duties. The brother whom he selected came ; after a day or two, he .ook the sick man to his own home near by .and attended him till his death, which occ?rred in A few days. He then claimed and appropriated ill the deceased man's property, and only gave ?he legal heirs their share at the end of a law? -un: lt may seem paradoxical to say that though rhe colored people have strong social feelings, lhere is jet a lack of hospitality. It is too much "me and mine.'* There is not that whole hearted feeling which melcomes the way-farer, and gives him an humble meal or a night's lodging, and cheers him on his way. The Freedmen's Bureau must provide for him. This should not be so. It is said, .? a fellow feeling makes us won drous kind." And certainly those who ere re joicing in their new-found! liberty bhould not leave it for Freedmen's Bureaus ta do what they should leap tot joy to do for each other when in their power; There are many things which'education alone can do for these people ; ana not alone the edu cation of the school-room, but the lessons of precept and example. Slavery crushed their naturet* ; freedom must heal and elevate them. The mothers, especially, must be taught their duties in ^raining their households. It was a law of slavery that v the child followed the condition of the mother." And in another sense, the children follow the condition of the mother the world over. The child confide? in the-mother, is cheered by her sweet words, and blessed by her counsels. Education must sub due Vicious tempers, break down enmities, and establish the reign of love and kindness. In the intercourse of the white and colored people on this island, one thing has been found true, and that is, that they can live together; There are some of both races who advocate en tire separation, but on no tenable ground, lt is said they quarrel with each other. Granted. But whites quarrel with each other, and so do I blacks. Do they therefore separate? Let all have their rights, and there will be no quarrel ing, and none need be horrified at the idea of social equality. Many things in social life are matters ef tiste. Every one can choose his own associ ates, and drink tea or dance polkas with whom he pleases. That the whites have committed numerous outrages bil the blacks, even since emancipation, is undeniable. That the blacks have been unfaithful to th* whites in some cases, is no less true. But as they need etch other's services, and are therefore mutually de pendent, why not act in simply good faith, and cause enmity to cease ? Is not this th# more j excellent way ? France has* had sixtt-?e*en queen?. Of these, it is said that eleven were ditorced ; taro etecuted j* nine died yoting} seten were wid owed early ; three cruelly treated; three exiled, ? the rest either poisoned or broken hearted. This is a Prench fashion that our American la ta will not caxe to adopt. Tl MISCELLANY. BRAZIL. TM BRAZILIAN SLAVE TRADE.--THE REPUBLIC OE PALMARES. [Correspondence of the Evening Post.] Rio DB JANEIRO, October, 1865. Near the close of the fifteenth century the traf fic in human beings, which irrespective of color, had existed from the days of the Greeks and Romans, had nearly ceased on account of public Sentiment and ?rom the decrees of kings and popes It was, however, considered perfectly legal to enslave the Moors of ?frica, who could not be reached by public sentiment or the procla mations of European monarchs, and who per sisted in making slaves of every Spaniard Frenchman or Italian whom they might capture in the Mediterranean.' The Portuguese took ad vantage of the permission to put Moors into bondage, by extending that name to the non Mahommedan heathen tribes of trophicai Africa. I The Portuguese, therefore, became the fathers of the modern Atrican slave-trade. THE EARLY BRAZILIAN SLAVE TRADE. In 1508 the Spaniards began to import slaves from Africa into the West Indies. But when Brazil had become a prosperous colony of Portu gal and poured the productions of her fields and forests into the lap of Lisbon and Oporto, the labor question assumed new importance, and Africa, only eighteen hundred miles away, was ? more th?n ever cruelly set ?pbu to furnish sup- , plies of involuntary laborers, and up to the year j 1850, negroes ware annually brought by tens of t thousands to Brazil, and sold from he Amazon 2 to the La Plata into the severest bondage. So j it is only here and there that we can find an in- | cidentai account ol the condition Of the slavery t previous to this century-when the cruelty was t such that a man t*i nih |?nd?min five years. 1 Indeed, up to 1850 it was considered cheaper to c use up a man every five or seven years, and th?h \ purchase a 'new one, than to take care of him. s The Latin race, it has been observed, have al- t ways been more cruel to the negro in slavery ] than the Anglo-Saxon ; but on the other hand -, the Portuguese, the Spaniard and the Brazilian t have always been more Just to the emancipated /, slave, and have given him more scope for self- f emancipation than the English or the American, t The larger number of the slaves were landed at Bahia,-LVrnambuco and Kio de Janeiro, some- < times tiie market was so glutted with them at y Bahia that an able-bodied man could be pur- t chased for fifty-dollars. The situation of Bahia ( made it from early times an important rendez- 8 vous for the slave-traders, and one great cause of c the decline of the commerce of Bahia from 1838 c to 1850 was the activity of the English cruisers, i which prevented embarkations on the coast of c Africa, lt is not generally known that, notwith- j standing the effective opposition to the trafile j which the English have manifested during the i present century, the strong bulwork of the abom- f inable trade was the English capital, by which ? the marts of human flesh and blood were kept \ up. Rev. Dr. Kidder, who visited Bahia in 1839, ? put upon xecord here the history of the slave- r trade up to that time. He says that M few slave t vessels were fitted out without large credits from T English houses, based on'the anticipated sale of ' their return cargo. It was not principle that cut off these credits, but the repented losses of the slave-dealers, which left them nothing to pay. ? Yet the deiangement of so vast a business as the ? slave traffic had Income has been severely felt J in the commercial aff?irs of Bahia, not only on ? account of the number of persons engaged in it, 1 but also on acct)unt of the market it had hitherto < furnished for two principal products of the pro-. ' vince-rum and tobacco," RANSOM. The Portuguese, hard-hearted ai they were, did not fully enter the slave-trade without some twinges of conscience. They glossed over the matter by pretty euphemisms, and laid the flat tering unction to their souls that they were send ing vessels- " to ransom those poor pagan Afri can captives, and bring them where they could be Christianized by baptism." In the seven teenth and*eighteenth centuries the official ferm always employed for thc ?lavt-trade waa " the commerce for thc ransom of slaves." In 1756 King Joseph of Port?gal issued a de cree, which is a great comment on the times. Many planters of sugar cane and tobacco in the province of Bahia sent the king -a memorial, set ing forth that the bcrsiness of " ransoming slaves " had become a monopoly, and praying his royal interposition. This was soon forthcoming, and was worded to the following effect : . 44 First. That this commerce should thence forward be free td every one in ali the ports of ?frica, both this side of and beyond the Cape of Good Hope." u Second. Brit that iq order to avoid the evil of having vessels employed and a bad selection of provisions, boards of inspectors in Bahia. Per nambue J and Parahiba should examine, with ail care, the ca-go and provisions of each>ship fitted out, and see th?t the vessels were light, not car rying at most more than three thousand packages of tobacco, in order th*t they might enter ?ny port and accomplish ? good ransom at moderate pricei." TfiE REPUBLIC OP PALMARES. The slavea brought from Africa ? Brszil from the middle of the seventeenth century to j the extinction of the traffic were fine specimens of humanity--particularly those called Minas, who were brought from the interior and em barked at Btdagray, in the Bight of Benin That theee men felt their degraded condition and re solved to enjoy personal liberty, and were ca pable of maintaining it for a long time against i .larg? odds* is evident from the biitory of tba i "republic of Palmares," of which a numb Brazilian writers have given us interesting counts. Southey, in his ? Histprv of ?ra gives ?? extended narrative of Palmares. the Atlantic coast, about half way beti Pernambuco and where the great river ! Francico debouches, is the town of Porto C Sixty miles from this.town, in the in t?] there, existed in the seventeenth century a ? ernraent and people wholly composed of A cans, who, escaping from slavery, here fo a refuge in the virgin forests where the p tree predominated-hence the name, " The . public of the Palmares." Here, amid a se ery resembling that of their native land, t found secure shelter, and they increased by r ural augmentations and by constant dcsertii from the plantations for hundreds of miles ale the coast. They formed villages and cultiva the ground. Their chief town contained thousand houses, and M it consisted of th streets, each being a half hour's walk in leng The huts were contiguous, and each had its g den. The forest supplied them with fruit a game. And they were also a provident and i dustriou8 people, for they were flood tillers the land, so that at all times they abound with food." Twice a year they gathered their maize, ai celebrated both harrests with a week's festiv if rejoicing. Th y had their forms of religio md justice, both being a comingling ot heathe sm and of Christian civilization. They bad jystemized military disipiine. Every evening vas their custom to call the muster roll and si f any were missing. The two disadvantages < heir situation were want of water in dry seasot md nearness to the Portuguese settlements. Th >roximity, however, favored the escape of the jrethren, and gave them opportunities of pred; ory warfare. Their contact with Europeans an heir descendants had not practically impresso ipon them a very rigid notion of Christianity c )f mourn and tunm ; for, had they not been stole rom their own homes by Christian Portugues< md had they not been compelled, at the point.( he goad, to labor without remuneration for th brazilian colonists? Who, then, will wondertha vhen their watering parties were attacked km heir fields destroyed that they answered by th ex tai?oni*. They carried destruction to thi ron tier settlements, and inflicted more injurj aan they received. The war they waged was without quarter ex ,cpt for those ot their own coior. J. neir practice ^as tc receive all who fled on equal terms, bu hey retained as slaves all whom they made pris mers. In sixty years they acquired such strength md audacity that they infested the surrounding ;ountry. Their numbers were increased by men )f color who fled from justice, a3 well as by slaves ?vho sought liberty. Like the early.Romans, they )btairjed their wives by force. Whenever {hey uade an inroad they carried off the negresses md mulattoes, and often their uxprial tastes were mt limited to their own color, bdt they seized ;h? wives and daughters of the Portuguese plant ers, and thus compelled their enemies td deal vi th them upon equality ; ?nd; where the wives md daughters of the whites were concerned, no .eturn would be made unless a hcav^ ransom was ?aid in arms, money, or whatever the palm-tree ^publicans demanded. Thus they instituted their 4 good ransom." GOVERNMENT OF T?E REPUBLIC According to their enemies, they were well governed. They had an elective chief, ahd ? .ouncil of their best men. They were perfectly oyal in their obedience to their chief ; and it is ?aid that no conspiracies or struggles for power had been known among them. Robbery, adult ery, murder, and attempted desertion by the slaves who joined them, were punished- with death. They were clad in the spoils of the Portuguese > but they also derived supplies by a regular trade, which was carried on with some of the people of Pernaub?e?, who supplied the Palmaresians, in defiance of the law, with arras, amunition and European goods of every kind, in ex hange for the produce raised in the Palmares, and the gold ?nd silver acquired in their incursions. In a well planned ditched circuit of five miles twentr thousand of their people could be en closed in the strong stockades or fortifications, and chosen men were always placed as watch men on the outpost. At lehgth the Portuguese suffered so much from the depredations of the citizen* of Palmares, that in 1695 they resolved to exterminate this republic of fugitive slaves. For this purpose an army of ten thousand men were sent against them. . So long as small arms only were used tbe negroes held their own, but when, after heroically defending themselves, artillery was brought against them, the fate of the republic of Palmar?s was sealed. The lead ers perferred death to bondage, and hurled themselves from a lofty pinnacle in the centre of their stockade. The survivors of all ages were again reduced tb slavery. Husbands and wives; parents ?and children were, separated ; one fifth of the men were selected fur the crown, and the remainder were divided among the cap tors as . booty, and thus Palmares was obliter ated; Not half the people of the neighboring prov ince? now know of ita former existence; but the administrative capacity exhibited in the three score years of ita duration' show these men to have been more capable of self-government than half the European descendants of South Amer ica. For Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, and others of the t?ispano-American countries have had chronic self misrule' since their inde pendence. NEGRO CAPACITY. . Wiuie thia wa? the only instance, on a large 3 scale, of the administrative and military a of negroes in South America, there were i single examples of capacity and valor. I vi not rjave to cite, at the present day-, in any of BrazU, more than the mere name of rique Dias; to call up all that is und erst cc intelligence^ bravery; and skill. He wa African, the son of a slave woman, who < I mended the army in the famous battle of ( tapes, which was fought between the Pc g ii ese and Hollanders in 1646; and wjiich elded forever the power of Holland in Br; .That many of the blacks brought over bj slave trade have snown tnemselvos worthy freedom, I need not but mention that 1 many of them previous to 1850 worked their own freedom, and then paid their fi back again to Africa. Captain Burton infon me that he had found many in Africa who i once been slaves in Brazil. The prospect of trie extinction of the tra i? human beings was hailed with pleasure every lover of Brazil, but was harped upon croaking prophets, who confidently predic that the ruin of the country would ensue ; I no country connected with slavery ever exh ited such a striking example of benefits imo diately resulting from the extinction of the < tested trafile. J. C. F THE SEARCH POA JOHN SMTT? John Smith married my father's great uncl eldest daughter, Melinda Byrne. Consequent I was a relative to John. John's family had often visited us at o quiet country home, and at each visit had mt cordially pressed us to return the complimei Last October, business called me suddenly the city of B-, where they resided, an without having time to write and apprise th? of my coming, I was intending a visit to t family of Mr. John Smith. With my ?ceustomed carelessness, I had 1< his precise address at home iii my note-boot but I thought little of it ; I could easily fli him, I thought to myself, as the cars set E down amie the smoke and bustle of B-. I enquired for my relative of the first bael nan I came across. He looked at me with an ill-suppressed grii What was the fellow laughing at ? To be sur ?y clothes were not of the very latest cut, an it was not just the thing for any one out of th array to wear oiue witn urtajut uunutw , v%. my coat was whole, and my aunt Betsey ha scoured the buttons with whitening and soft ?oap until they shone like gold. I repeated m juestion with dignity. " Can you direct me to the residente bf Mi Smith ?" " Mr. S-rri-'i-tJh ? " sa'id he slowly.' ??Yes, sir, Mr. John Smith. He married m; father's great uncle's eldest daughter, Melinda.' "I don't think I know of a Mr. John Smitl with a wife Melinda." John Smith seemed to be a common nour with him, from the peculiar tone he used ii speaking of that individual. "Ah! " remarked I, <4 then there is more o that name in this city ? " .? I rather think there is. ' 44 Very well, then, direct me to the nearest.' .? The nearest is in West Street, second left hand corner-you'll see the name on the door.' I passed on, congratulating myself on th< cordial welcome I should receive from John anc Melinda. I soon reached the place-a handsome house with a silver doorplate. I rang the bell. A servant appeared. " Mr. Smith .in ? " ??.No, sir : Mr,. Smith is in the army." ?. Mrs. Sihith, is she ? " 44 In the army !-no, no. She's at the beach." .? This is Mr. John Smith's house, is it ? " ? It is." 44 Was his wife's name Melinda, and was she a. Byrne before she was married, from Squash ville ? " The man reddened, and responded angrily. 44 I'll not stand here to be insulted. Make ofl with ^ourself, or I'll call the police. I thought from the first that you were an entry thief, tut you don't play no game on me : Aaa ut banged the door m my face. A thief! If I had not been .in stich a hurry to find the Smiths I should have given that ras cally fellow a sound chastising." Inquiry elicited the fact that a John Smith re sided in Arch Street. Thither 1 bent my steps, ? maid servant answered my ring. ?. Mr. Smith in ? " Before the girl conld reply, a big; red-faced man jumped out from the shadow behind the door, ?nd laid his heavy hand upon my shoul der. m 44 Yes, sir!" he cried in a" voice of thunder, 44 Mr. Smith is in ! Yes, sir, for once he's in. He stayed at home all day tb catch you. Aud now; by Jupiter, I'll have my revenge ?" 44 Sir," said I, ,4 there must be some mistake. Allow me to inquire if you are Mr. John Smith r" , , <4 I'll inform you about Mr. John Smtth in a way you won't relish, if you don't settle the damage forthwith. Five thousand dollars is the very lowest figure-and you must leave the country." 44 Good ?|racious ! " I cried, .* what cfo you take tne for ? You'd better be careful, or you'll get your head caved in." 44 I'll cave your head in for you, you young villain, you!" eried he, springing at me with .his case* r 44 Oh/John ! dear John ! " cried a -shrill fe male voice, and a tall figure in a sea.of flounces; bounded down tiie stairway. ";Bon't, don't for the love of heaven-?^?*t^urd>r himj ? .. ?.? Who the deue? do you taxa inc for^ erica I,%iy temper risings , 44 It looks well for you ta ask mc tnaV^uei* tion," sneered the man ; 44 you who have my wife's heart," and are here now to .plan to I elope with her ? I have found it all out - you j needn't blush,-" ( . ? I beg your pardon for interrupting you/ ' said IA.*?butI have never seen you*, wife. ? perceive she Is not Melinda, the eldest daughter of my father's great uncle-" ; " Sir, will you denv you are William Jones ? Do you deny that you are in love with my wife?" # 4j 141 am not a Jones-I have not the horicf, sir J My name is Park well, Henry Parkwell," and? with a bow, I took myself off. , After that I had called at the residences ot three John Smiths, none of wh'ich was my Mri Smith, and nothing occurred worthy of note* My next Mr. Smith resided in Portland Str?etj Thither ? bent roy steps. It was a very ,smal? house,' evidently not the house of wealth and cleanliness. I made my way up to the frotff door, through a wilderness of old rags,' rpfokerv crockery., old tinware, etc., scattering a flock of hens, and rousing a snappish little terrier from his nap on the steps; . . A red-faced woman answered my rap, but before I could make my customary inquiry; she opened upon me like a two-edged* butcher* knife. .? Well, of all the impudent rasc?is that ever I see, you beat the lot ! I want to know if you had the cheek to come here again ? You'd like to sell me another German-silver teapot, and* another brass bosom-pin to dear ?raminty wouldn't you ?" . r . . ; . if--.. --.?j " By no means," said I, 44 I beg to inform vou-" "Oh, you needn't beg; we don't believe in beggars. I suppose you thought I shouldn't know you ? but ? did. I should, know that, black bag; of yours in Californy. Clear out of my premises, or I'll lay my broom-handle over you ! If there is anything I hate it's a peddler -especially a rascal like you ? " . . 44 Allow me to . inquire," said I, " if t?r. Smith's wife was Melinda, the daughter of my luutct a The broomstick was lifted. I heard it cut tho lir like a minnie bullet, and streng down the steps into the street at my best pace. An angry man I did not fearf but who car stand before an angry woman ? ? had rather face a roaring lion. I called on two more ftfr. Smiths-still un? successful in my search. It was getting near dark, and I was more than anxious to reach mt destination. . My next Mr. Smith was located in te?os; Street. It was at twilight when ? rang the bell ?t his door. A smiling fellow admitted me, fairly forcing me into the hall before I had time to utter a word. .-?.... ?, 44 Walk right in, sir ; they are waiting for you. The ladies will be down in a moment.' Hattie is in the back parlor. Wal? right in,* sir. . ? I was gently pushed toward the door of a shadowy apartment, and at the entrance I wat announced. * 44 Mr. Henry ?99 The gas was not lighted, and the apartment was in semi darkness. I neara a soft, quick foot-fail on the carpet, ana1 a pair of arms fell around my heck, and a pair of the sweetest lips on the footstool touched mine ; and, good gra cious ! the world swam, and I felt aa if I had been stewed in honey, and distilled into Lubin's best triple extract of roses. 134 Oh; ??enry ! my dearest and best! why don't you kiss me, Henry ! " cried a voice like, music. 44 Have you ceased to care for:" and* again the kiss was repeated. Who could resist the temptation ? I waa naturally a diffident man, but ? have some hu man nature in me,' and ? pa'id her,; principal anet Hue. cot. 44 Oh, Henry, I had so feared that being in the army had made you cold-hearted-Good* heavens ! " She fell back against a chair, pale as death. The servant had lit the gas,' and ? stood revealed. "I beg your pardon, mar*m," ?aid I. Ther? is evidently some mistake. May ? inquire ? Mr. Smith's wife waa Melinda Byrne, the eld* est daughter of my father's great uncle ! " The red flush came to the young lady's cheek* -she was as handsome as a picture-and ik\t replied with courtesy ; She was not. 44 You will, ? hope, excuse mt? for the blunder I have committed. We are ex? pecting our brother Henry from the army, anil your blue clothes deceived me.*" . . , 44 Por which I shall always wear blue," I re plied gallantly. Allow me to introduce myself? I am Henry Park well, of Squashvilie," and in making my best bow, I stumbled backwards over an ottoman,' and fell smash into a china closet," demolishing at least a dozen plates ano. as many tumblers. ? sprang to my feet, seized my" bag, ar d' with out a word dashed out of the house.' ? knocked over a man who- was passing al the moment, aiid landed myself on my hea