"But suppose they never come?" I asked, a little ruefully. "Why, then, I make no doubt that we shall get along very comfortably without them,” she answered, laughing. And with this I was obliged to be content. and she had not lost much at the time of which | Jenny; I am not. Wait for the hour and the I write. Such a sweet smile, such a clear bloom, man?"" such delicate and graceful features; small hands and feet, and a throat white as swan's-down. I had always fancied that she would marry well; some stranger-for no one in the place was good enough for her. Some tall, dark, handsome man, who would carry her away and give her all the luxuries and lady-like belongings that were so suited to her. Meanwhile mother and I would live on just as we were, and Grace and the children come to visit us every summer. It was now the spring of the year-early spring-the last of March. The cattle lowed their welcome to the season, and jubilant crows sounded from the barn-yard where the fowls paShe was very different from me. I was a raded. Patches of snow yet lingered in the fields pretty good scholar in my day; but Grace went and by the roadside, but in our door-yard there far ahead of me in every thing, and she was al- was a visible greenness springing up among the ways learning something, even now. For my brown débris of last year's grass; bluebirds and part, when work was done, I could find things robins sang now and then their prophecies of to do that pleased me better than plodding over summer; the air was mild, and the brook, freed German, or vexing my soul with problems in from its icy slumbers, made itself heard all day trigonometry. I liked to read pretty well nov- in soft delicious murmurs. I don't know if els and poetry or the newspapers, but she de- such weather affects other people as it does me; lighted in Shelley and Keats and such writers, I feel-not exactly discontented-but such a whom it would kill me to read a page of, and longing after something. It seems as if freewent into scientific works and history and meta- dom, change, travel-seeing new scenes and new physics. I admired it all very much in her, faces-would be so delightful. However, there though I could never have done it myself. Then was no use in thinking of that. The most exshe had such a pretty taste in dress, and always citing event we had to look forward to was looked nice, though her clothes cost almost no-house-cleaning-and that brought up afresh our thing. She loved flowers, and had a perfect pas- lack of means. Grace and I went to the barn sion for books and pictures. It was no wonder to hunt for eggs, peered into every corner of the that I was always hoping the future would ar- mangers, climbed all sorts of steep places at the range itself so that she would have means to in- risk of our necks, but found nothing. So we dulge her tastes, and lead altogether a more re- sat down on a hay-mow and fell into conversafined and congenial life than had yet been possi- tion about our affairs. ble to her. You may think that being so pretty and intelligent she would have plenty of eligible offers. Well, there were not many young men left in our place: most of them had gone to seek their fortune in the West, or in distant cities; and Grace was very quiet and reserved. Two or three opportunities of marriage she had and had refused, though one of the suitors, Lawyer Graves, was very well-to-do and a rising man. Mother was rather disappointed that Grace did not listen to him more kindly; and prophesied, as elderly people are apt to do on such occasions, that she would go through the woods and pick up a crooked stick at last. But even this fearful prospect did not move her to reconsider the decision. "Why wouldn't you have him, child ?" I said, one day when we were alone. "He is tolerably good-looking, tolerably gentlemanly, and would have made you very comfortable." "I shall not marry any one on those grounds," she answered. "They may be very good grounds for all that. I wonder what you demand in a husband." "In the first place," said she, "I demand that I shall love him so much that I should be miserable without him." "Why, Grace, I had no idea you were so sentimental." "I intend to be always sentimental enough for that," she maintained. "Don't be impatient, "We really ought to paint and paper the house this spring," said I. "Yes-if we could." "And the sitting-room carpet is too shabby for any thing. I'll never buy a cheap article of that sort again; there's not a bit of economy in it." "Well, you know it was a choice between that or nothing. We had not the money for a good one. It looked much better than a bare floor." "I suppose it did. Then the wall must be mended if we can ever get the mason to spare us an hour-and oh, that roof, it leaks so badly!" "It can't be helped, Janet; we haven't the money to repair it. You know Mr. Brown said it would be quite an expensive job, if done thoroughly." "But when shall we have any more? I'm tired of hoping for better crops or better prices; they never come. And the outside of the house is getting so bad; it looks more like a brown building than a white one. It ought to be painted, if only as a matter of economy. The longer we wait the more it will take to do it." "Yes, if we could," said Grace, again. "The fact is," I continued, "that we want two hundred dollars this very minute to do what really needs to be done--not what we would like, but what we want, to be respectable. Two hundred dollars, and we haven't two hundred cents! And there's no way of getting them that I can see, now or ever. The amount of it is, Grace, to help ourselves with. I expounded my views that I shall go distracted!" "Don't," said she, by way of cheering me "That would only be making fresh ex up. pense." "Oh no. They have a ward in the poorhouse for lunatics of a harmless sort, and I don't think I shall be violent." "But mother and I would miss you so." "You may console yourselves with thoughts of following soon. You can regard me as not lost, but gone before.' Grace smiled. "It is rather wicked for us to talk so, even in jest," she said. "Things haven't come to quite that pass with us yet. But I do wish we could think of something to brighten up the scene a little." And forthwith we resolved ourselves most vigorously into a committee of ways and means, but with very small result. "Grace," said I, "suppose you take to authorship. I dare say you could do as well as a great many of them." "Thank you," she replied; "but I fear I haven't the competent and critical knowledge of cookery and mantua-making necessary to success in that line." "You mightn't do books, but you could be a 'Maude Meeke,' or something of that sort in the sensation papers." to Grace till she began to acknowledge the feasibility of the plan, and to build castles with me. Our "en Espagne" were not at all of a luxurious character; we did not expect idleness or amusement, but good, solid work, and such advantages as might accrue from it. We would rent a house in the village-Grace should teach, if she could obtain the necessary pupils; while I would raise our income to a comfortable standard by taking boarders. In our little town such a proceeding would involve no loss of "caste;" I was an adept in every sort of household labor, and could "set an excellent table," as the phrase is, if I only had things to set it with. There was no manner of doubt that I should do well. "Of course we shall have to keep busy," I said; "but that we are used to, and shall not mind. It will give us a great deal more to spend; and what is better, we shall know what we have. It won't go for things that make no return." Once started, we went on as rapidly as the girl with the milk-pail. New carpets and chairs, and various other desirable acquisitions, shone upon us from the future. By-and-by, perhaps, if we did well, we might try some larger village; keep a boarding-school on a limited scale, Grace doing the head-work and I the hand. Our projects were wonderful, and we saw ourselves " "laying up for old age," besides enjoying a great many comforts as we went along. There was one terrible hindrance to the ful "I haven't sufficient 'intellect,' Jenny. You know the heroes and heroines of those stories are always of the loftiest stamp. You remem-fillment of our desires-the getting mother to ber what our little cousin used to say, 'Brag is a good dog, but Do is a better.' I am afraid that when I had proclaimed my hero, for instance, as possessing a mind of the highest order, and then had to furnish him out of my own brain with thoughts and remarks in unison with his exalted genius, the contrast between 'Brag' and 'Do' would be rather overpowering. Can't do it, my dear; haven't the first requisite.' A clever thought struck me. "Grace," said I, "let us prevail on mother to sell the farm!" "Sell the farm!” cried she, in amazement; "what are you thinking of? Mother would no more do it than-" She paused for want of a strong enough comparison. "But listen," I continued, earnestly. "Nearly all the money we raise from it goes back on the land again in the shape of seed, labor, and 'improvements' generally. Now if we sold the place we should have-" And I paused to do a sum in mental arithmetic. So many acres at such a sum per acre. "Dear me !" I exclaimed, "how little it is, after all." "And think of parting with our home-the place we were born in, and where we have always lived? Why, Jenny, you don't know what it would be. Every corner of the house is dear to us, and every tree in the orchard has some association." I felt all this, too; but the substantial benefits to be realized attracted me. The farm-say so much; then the "stock" would sell for something we should have a little money in hand consent. Whenever we came to consider that branch of the subject we were brought up standing. It was like proposing a constitutional monarchy to an absolute sovereign, or informing a venerable president that the interests of the college require him to resign. It would be better for her as well as us could she only be brought to see it; but who should broach the matter?-who argue and convince her? We talked it over many a time, and got our courage almost to the point, as timid people with the toothache ponder the only remedy that can avail them, and wish so much they could, yet never quite accomplish it. Like them we deferred the dreaded moment. One day mother had gone to take tea with a neighbor. Grace and I, as we turned and trimmed, and generally revamped those "best dresses" that we might have been known by any time during the last eight years, discussed our project for the thousandth time. A noise in the yard presently attracted my attention, and, looking out, I exclaimed, "Why, here's Dr. Olmsted!" did that kindly philosopher. He was a member, in "good and regular standing," of the Baptist Church; and if he did not consider immersion as exactly needful to salvation, regarded it as the only proper "door," and thought that people who did not go in thereat had got into the fold in a very unauthorized manner. I call him our Dr. Kittredge, because he was the oracle for all that section of country in every thing pertaining to medicine. His devotees were as absolute, if not quite as numerous, as those of Buddh or Brahma. If people died any where about it was their own fault, in that "they didn't have Olmsted ;" and supposing him to have been infinitely divisible, so that every clime and country could have had him, there was no good reason why the present generation should not endure forever. To be sure, once in a great while patients did die under his care; but that was because their time had come, when of course no skill could save them. For the rest, he was the kindest, best-hearted person living, and a great favorite with Grace and me, who had known him all our lives. His wife, now some four or five years dead, had been our dearest friend; one of those women on whose steadfast regard, chary of profession but prompt in deed, you could implicitly rely. The Doctor was now perhaps fifty-one or two, but very well preserved. As he dismounted from his sulky, which appeared to be a "cast," only done in mud instead of plaster, there was no one we could have been better pleased to see. "Good-afternoon, young women," he said, glancing in at us. "I hear your mother has some oats to sell. Can I look at them ?" "Certainly, Doctor. You'll find them in the carriage-house." He went his way, and presently returned, bidding us tell mother that he "would take the lot." Then disembarrassing himself of a very rough and shabby overcoat, he announced his intention of spending half an hour with us. "Can't you stay to tea, Doctor?" said Grace. "Have you any thing very nice to tempt me?" he inquired. "My dear, he was perfectly honest about it; he no doubt considered that it was an ample remuneration for my time and trouble." "It takes all sorts of people to make a world," I remarked, with truth if not originality. "And a doctor gets acquainted with most of the varieties. Speaking of consultations, I had a case last week that was a little too much for flesh and blood. A man over beyond the Guernsey had hurt his leg very badly"-(if you imagine, oh reader, that the Doctor said "limb" in compliment to ladies' society you are very much mistaken)-" and they sent for me. I went as soon as I could, and found quite an array of the brethren; three-four-physicians, they called themselves. We looked at the man and looked at each other, as wisely as we knew how, and then retired into a room by ourselves to consult. The youngest, as in duty bound, gave his opinion first-to save the life the limb must be amputated; the next one followed suit-I could hardly believe my ears; and so on till they came to me. 'Gentlemen,' said I, politely, I shall be glad to have you tell me which of his legs you propose to amputate!' Pack of ignoramuses! disgrace to the profession! The man will be around again in a month; and they would have sent him hobbling about on cork for the rest of his days!" And the Doctor's pleasant face glowed with indignation. "Very fortunate for him," said my sister, "that he had such an accomplished surgeon to interfere in his behalf." "No satire, if you please, Miss Grace. I don't profess to be Keate or Brodie, but I do claim to have a modicum of common sense.' Which claim very few would incline to dispute. Tea was ready by this time, and while the Doctor sipped his Hyson-very strong and sweet, with plenty of cream-he informed us that he was presently to have a partner in his business, on whom he expected to put all the long, hard rides and heavy work, while he enjoyed the otium cum dignitate in his office. The young man was quite a prodigy of good looks and tal 'Nothing more than warm biscuit and maple ent, according to his account, and it was prophesirup. Have you had any sugar yet?" "Not an ounce have I seen; the season has been very unfavorable. Well, if you'll give me an early tea I will stay for it." And we talked a while of neighborhood matters. "Have I any thing of a purse-proud look?" he asked, after a time. "For I have received a heavy fee to-day." sied that Grace would lose her heart to him at sight. In return for this news we confided our own plans to him, and requested his advice concerning them. He thought the notion a very good one, and volunteered to say as much to mother, if we liked. This took such a load from our minds, and the whole thing seemed so much more feasible when a business-man like "A consultation ?" said I, for we knew he Dr. Olmsted had approved it. was often sent for from a distance. "No; a case de lunatico inquirendo; a father taking out a commission to manage the affairs of his son, who is insane. I gave my testimony and was about to leave, when the man's lawyer reminded him that I must have my fee. He tendered me this coin, inquiring if it would satisfy me; and I informed him that it would, perfectly." So saying, he displayed—a dime! "And he actually had the face to offer you that!" I exclaimed. "Ah, "I'll mention it day after to-morrow, when I come for the oats," he said, at parting. girls! how comfortable you make a man. I should have had one of you in my own house long ago, if I could only have made up my mind which to take." "Which of us would take you, you mean!" I answered, laughing. "Nonsense! you would either of you jump at the chance of such a handsome young husband," he said, as he drove away. I shut the door and we talked about him; how merry and kind he was, and how like a father to us! We speculated a little-not much -on the coming physician; whether he were really as "nice" as Dr. Olmsted boasted; whether we should consider him worth knowing or not. "For that matter," observed my sister, "we shall not probably be called on to decide. Such an Adonis will hardly trouble himself to make the acquaintance of single ladies of a certain age.'" Now if ever a speech sounded absurd it was this of Grace's, when you looked at her fair, sweet face and girlish figure. I told her so; and then we talked of what lay a great deal nearer our hearts than any doctor, young or old. Our plans seemed almost realized now that we had ventured to confide them to a third party, and we awaited, with mingled hope and anxiety, the Doctor's decisive visit. We had a long time of into a happier state. While Grace was at the worst our old friend trusted her case to no one but himself. As she grew better he occasionally sent up his partner, or "pardner," as he was more commonly denominated. Nothing but an angel direct from heaven could possibly have looked sweeter than she did in her convalescence, and I could not wonder that his visits were continued long after they ceased to be strictly necessary. "Single females of a certain age,"" I remarked to Grace one day, "do not seem to frighten Dr. Morris as much as you apprehended." She blushed a very guilty crimson. "I have no doubt," she said, "that he thinks us a couple of very nice old maids." "Us!" I did not consider such barefaced hypocrisy worthy of a single comment. He came as was agreed, and gently and skillfully worked the conversation round to the desired point. How nervously we listened to him! and made errands out of the room every now and then to escape the first burst of mother's sur- It is a good thing that people in real life are prise and wrath. For amazed and horrified she not obliged to linger along, and have quarrels, truly was. What! we had grown too genteel to and be miserable, as they are in novels, in order live on a farm, hey? Wanted to move into the to "make out the story.' Grace's true love convillage and set up for ladies! Sell the farm, in-tradicted the proverb and ran entirely smooth. deed, and leave herself without a home! The thing was too preposterous to be thought of for a moment. Summer passed and autumn waned, and in the drear days of December we had a quiet wedding. It realized my every ambition for this darling sister. Dr. Morris was all that our old friend had claimed for him: handsome, gentlemanly, with mind and cultivation that more than satisfied her best ideal. Not wanting, either, in worldly prosperity, and, best of all, fitted to aid her progress in that path which, since her illness, she had most earnestly desired to tread. The Doctor waited for her indignation to expend itself a little, and then proceeded to set before her all the proposed advantages. She fought every inch of the ground; but men have always a way, somehow, of domineering us about every thing of a business nature-putting us right down as ignorant or incapable where we differ from them. The Doctor so clearly proved to mother In the course of the winter mother sold her her utter unfitness to take charge of the farm-farm, and we removed to the village; but we do so set before her that she was the lawful prey and spoil of any one who had to deal with her-that in the end she promised to think about the matSo we considered the victory as almost gained, and at once, in imagination, selected our house, engaged our boarders, and were in the full tide of successful operations. ter. But a sudden period was put to all our plansGrace fell sick. Whether she had taken cold in house-cleaning, or got her feet wet in some of our long spring walks, we could not tell; but one day she complained of fever and a headache, and was soon prostrate with a severe and dangerous illness. Oh how little, how worthless every ambition we had felt looked to me as I sat by her bedside in those long nights, watching her uneasy slumbers, and oppressed by the dread that she never would recover! Nothing was of any consequence except to see her well again; or if that could not be, to rest assured that she had passed not rely upon boarders for subsistence. It was very lonely without Grace, and Dr. Olmsted used to come in frequently to cheer us. Whether it is true, as he says, that he "had had thoughts of me for a long time," or that now, when only one was left he found it easier to make up his mind as to which of us he really wanted, I can not say. But he managed to persuade me that thirty and fifty-two are not such very different ages, and that looking on a man as a father for a good portion of your life is the best possible preparation for regarding him as a husband during the remainder of it. Mother divides her time between the two houses, and is alternately "ridden over" by the youngsters of each, who conceive that grandma has no business in life but to make herself useful and agreeable to them. As for my own- But, as I live, there is the Doctor's sulky, and I must put away my writing and hurry Ann about the dinner, for he will be so hungry after his ride. UNITED STATES. magazine enveloped in flames, and the door closed UR Record embraces the important events of from the heat, so that only four barrels of powder Early a which numbered only about 100 men, including la- Hostilities against the United States having thus been commenced by the Confederate States, President Lincoln, on the 15th of April, issued a proclamation stating that the laws of the United States had been and are opposed in several States, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings; he therefore called for 75,000 troops from the several States. The first service assigned to this force would probably be to repossess the forts and other places and property which had been seized from the Union. An extra session of Congress was also summoned, to meet on the Fourth of July. in April it became apparent that the Administration had decided upon its policy. The Southern Commissioners, on the 9th, were informed that the Government declined to acknowledge them in their of ficial capacity. Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, said, in his final reply, that he saw in the events which have recently occurred, not a rightful and accomplished revolution and an independent nation with an established government, but rather a perversion of a temporary and partisan excitement to the purpose of an unjustifiable and unconstitutional aggression upon the authority of the Federal Government. The remedy for these evils was not to be found in irregular negotiations, but in the action of the people of the United States, through Congress and such Conventions as are authorized by the Constitution.-A Commission appointed by the Virginia Convention to ask of the President information as to the policy which the Federal Executive intended to pursue toward the Confederate States, was received by the President on the 13th. Mr. Lincoln replied that he intended to pursue the course marked out in his Inaugural Address. The power confided in him would be used to hold, occupy, and possess property and places belonging to the Government. By "property and places" he then meant chiefly military posts and property which were in the possession of the Government when it came into his hands; but if, as now appeared, an assault had been made upon Fort Sumter, he should hold himself at liberty to repossess it, if he could, and also all like places which had been seized before the Government was devolved upon him; and in any event, he should to the best of his ability repel force by force; he might also cause the United States mails to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded. He Dispatches from the Secretary of War, addressed should not attempt to collect duties by armed inva- to the Governors of the several States, designated sion of any part of the country, though he might the quotas assigned to each State, under this procladeem it necessary to relieve forts upon the borders mation. The Executives of the slaveholding States, of the country. He concluded by reaffirming every with the exception of Maryland and Delaware, perpart of his Inaugural Address, unless what he now emptorily refused to comply with this requisition. said of the mails might be regarded as a modification. Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, replied, “I reIn the mean while increased activity had been gard the levy of troops made by the Administration noted in the navy-yards and forts at the North. for the purpose of subjugating the States of the Vessels were equipped and manned as rapidly as pos- South as in violation of the Constitution, and a sible. About the 8th a fleet, having on board near- usurpation of power. I can be no party to this ly 2000 men and a large quantity of stores, was dis- wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to patched Southward. It soon transpired that its ob- this war upon the rights of a free people. You can ject was to reinforce Fort Pickens, and if possible to get no troops from North Carolina."-Governor Jackthrow provisions into Fort Sumter, the supplies of son, of Missouri, answered, "There can be, I apprewhich were known to be nearly exhausted. On hend, no doubt but these men are intended to form the 8th General Beauregard, the Commander of the part of the President's army to make war upon the Confederate forces at Charleston, was formally noti- people of the seceding States. Your requisition, in fied that an attempt would be made to provision my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and revFort Sumter. After communicating with his Gov-olutionary in its objects, altogether inhuman and ernment, he was directed to reduce the Fort. On the 11th Major Anderson was summoned to evacuate the Fort. He refused to comply; and on the morning of the following day fire was opened upon Fort Sumter from Fort Moultrie and the Confederate batteries. This was returned by Major Anderson with as much vigor as was possible with the small force under his command. The bombardment continued with scarcely an intermission for 34 hours. The wood-work within the Fort was set on fire by hot shot, the quarters were entirely consumed, the main gate burned, the gorge wall seriously injured, the diabolical, and can not be complied with. Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade."-Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied, "In answer, I say emphatically that Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States."Governor Letcher, of Virginia, answered, "I have only to say that the militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States, and a requisition made upon me for such an object—an object, in |