DEAN'S 
 
 3lltwtrittrit /itrtfjhig t 
 
 THE FUNNY YOUNG LADY; 
 
 AND THE 
 
 SOLDIERS TRUST. 
 
 > LONDON: DKAN & SON, 
 <y 11, Ludgate Hill. 
 
 
THE FUNNY YOUNG LADY. 
 
 Once when travelling in a stage coach, I 
 met a young lady who seemed to be upon 
 the constant look out for something laugh- 
 able- and not content with laughing her- 
 
THE FUNNY YOUNG LADY. 3 
 
 self, took great pains to make others do the 
 same. 
 
 Now, travelling in a stage-coach is 
 rather dull business. People in this situa- 
 tion are very apt to show themselves 
 peevish and selfish, so the young lady's 
 good humour was, for a time, very agree- 
 able. Every old barn was made the sub- 
 ject of a passing joke ; while the cows and 
 hens looked demurely on, little dreaming 
 that folks could be merry at their expense. 
 But they are not likely to have their 
 feelings injured because people make fun 
 of them; but when we come to human 
 beings, that is quite another thing. So, 
 after a while an old lady came running 
 across the field, swinging her bag at the 
 coachman, in a shrill voice begging him 
 to stop. The good-natured coachman 
 drew in his horses, and the old lady, 
 coming to the fence by the road-side, 
 squeezed herself through two bars which 
 were not only in a horizontal position, but 
 very near together. The young lady 
 in the stage-coach made some ludicrous 
 remark, and the passengers laughed. It 
 
4 THE FUNNY 
 
 seemed very excusable; for in getting 
 through the fence the poor woman had 
 made sad work with her old black bonnet, 
 and now, taking a seat beside a well- 
 dressed lady, really looked as if she had 
 been blown there by a whirlwind. This 
 was a new piece ot fun, and the girl made 
 the most of it. She caricatured the old 
 lady ; pretending, when she was not look- 
 ing, to take patterns of her bonnet. At 
 length the old woman turned towards her. 
 " My dear," said she, " you are young, 
 healthy, and happy. I have been so too, 
 but that time is past, 1 am now old, de- 
 crepit, and forlorn. This coach is taking 
 me to the death-bed of my only child. 
 And then, my dear, I shall be a poor old 
 woman, all alone in a world where merry 
 girls will thmk me a very amusing object, 
 They will laugh at my old-fashioned 
 clothes and odd appearance, forgetting 
 that the old woman has a spirit that has 
 loved and suffered, and will live for ever." 
 The coach now stopped before a poor- 
 looking house, and the old lady feebly 
 descended the stops. 
 
YOUNG LADY. 
 
 (i How is she?" was the first trembling 
 inquiry of the poor mother. 
 
 "Just alive," said the man who was 
 leading her into the house. 
 
 t Putting up the steps, the driver mounted 
 his box, and we were upon the road again. 
 Our merry young friend had placed the 
 card in her pocket. She was leaning her 
 head upon her hand; and you may be 
 assured that I was not sorry to see a tear 
 upon her fair young cheek. It was a 
 good lesson, and one which we greatly 
 hoped would do her good. 
 
THE SOLIDER'S TRUST. 
 
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 In the present war, the Southerners made 
 an attack upon one of the Northern regi- 
 ments doing picket duty on the Maryland 
 side of the Potomac. There were three 
 houses standing upon the Virginia shore 
 which afforded shelter to the enemy, and 
 it became necessary to have them removed. 
 The colonel tried the effect of shelling 
 them, but, owing to the short range of his 
 guns and the groat distance, could not 
 demolish them. The only thing aceom- 
 
THE SOLDIERS TRUST. 7 
 
 plished by this was driving the enemy 
 out of them to the shelter of the woods 
 beyond. 
 
 The colonel then asked for volunteers 
 to cross the river and burn the buildings. 
 Only two men came forward, one a pri- 
 vate, the other an orderly sergeant. The 
 colonel gave the command to the sergeant, 
 and told him to select as many men as he 
 needed, and go. Selecting three men from 
 his own company, to manage the boat and 
 assist him, the brave fellows departed on 
 their perilous mission. Ere they reached 
 the middle of the stream, they were 
 greeted with a shower of bullets ; volley 
 followed volley, each passing over their 
 heads without touching a man. As they 
 neared the shore, the house immediately 
 in front of them, which was a large .brick 
 one, offered them shelter for landing ; and 
 it was not many minutes after, ere the 
 smoke issuing from the roof showed their 
 work was accomplished there. The next 
 house was soon in flames also ; but the 
 third stood some distance from the river ; 
 to get to it, they must cross a ploughec 
 
8 THE soldier's trust. 
 
 field directly under fire of the musketry. 
 
 here, as m crossing the river, they were 
 made the target for the enemy's bullets, 
 fctrange to say, this "forlorn hope" re- 
 turned uninjured, and were received by 
 enthusiastic cheers from their brave com- 
 rades. 
 
 The young sergeant, upon being com- 
 plimented upon his courage, replied : " It 
 is not in me ; give God the glory. When 
 I started, I committed my beloved wife 
 and child to His fatherly care, should I 
 never return. I breathed a prayer for 
 myself and my little band, that we might 
 all return in safety ; and as I stepped 
 from that boat, these words of the ninety- 
 first Psalm came forcibly to my mind ■ 
 'A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten 
 thousand at thy right bond : but it shall not 
 come nigh thee. Because thou hast made 
 
 S e r?A which is m y refi, g e > even the 
 
 Most High, thy habitation ; there shall no 
 evil befal thee. 1 humbly received it 
 as an answer to my prayer; and though 
 we could hear the bullets whizzing by 
 almost touching us, I felt no more fear of 
 ti*em than if they had been hail stones "