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 Appleton's Journal 
 July 20, 1872 
 
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 GIRLS AND CANNON: 
 
 65 
 
 JIRLS AND CANNON. 
 
 '' Not in such plight as he went forth, 
 Returned Lord Marmion home again 1 " 
 
 THE Confederacy approached its end. But, 
 palpable as that fact must have been, it 
 yas hidden from the clouded sight of many 
 )f the dwellers in that " dream within a 
 Iream." I, for my part — I was still a mere 
 thild of seventeen years, or so — felt my heart 
 hrob, and my bosom swell with indignant 
 lenial, if a hint was whispered that its exist- 
 ence was not as stable as the everlasting 
 lills. And this in the beginning of April, 
 865! Even /knew better before May. 
 Ah ! with fie remembrance of those days, 
 
 how the tide of time flows back with me — 
 " the forward - flowing tide of time " — and 
 carries me on its receding wave into the old 
 feverish excitement that breathed in every 
 breath, and spoke in every word and look ! 
 I hear again and again, as if in a dream, the 
 names almost forgotten now, but then fa- 
 miliar as household words, of Confederates 
 and Federals, of battles and skirmishes, de- 
 feat and victory, hope from France, disap- 
 pointment from England, the quarrels of the 
 cabinet, and all the rest of it. 
 
 The town in Carolina where I had taken 
 refuge, after my own home was destroyed, 
 lay upon what was supposed would be the 
 line of Sherman's march. He passed south 
 of us, as it turned out, but we suffered all 
 the thousand deaths of anticipation, though, 
 from him at least, we never suffered at all, in 
 reality. Our household would have been an 
 admirable working-ground for " Lady Psyche 
 and Lady Blanche." We saw no men, not even 
 my brother, nor the numerous kin-claiming 
 soldiers that, in the earlier part of the rebel- 
 lion, had made of war only a gay, delightful 
 change from the commonplace comforts of 
 plantation-life. My godmother presided over 
 this woman-kingdom, and her subjects, though 
 
 few, were loyal. Mrs. General P , refugee, 
 
 with her two daughters and myself, comprised 
 them. 
 
 None of us were particularly timid, and 
 it was well that we were not — our unpro- 
 tected condition not being calculated to 
 strengthen weak nerves ; but the news that 
 reached us daily, as the wave of Sherman's 
 army came rolling inland from the sea, ap- 
 palled us. We were told how, night after 
 night, along the line of that wonderful march, 
 the sky was red with the light of burning 
 villages ; how all day long it was darkened 
 by the smoke ascending from the ruins. 
 Fearful tales of the tragedies witnessed by 
 the walls of solitary houses, hideous visions 
 of the agonies and death of defenceless wom- 
 en, filled the air about us, until the horror of 
 it tainted the very breath we drew, and 
 mingled bitterness with the bread-and-water 
 of our fasting. 
 
 We did not sleep much in those days. 
 We made a pretence of retiring, of course ; 
 and bade each other good-night. And then 
 would each haunt the rooms of the others 
 until daylight gave us some sense of security 
 again ; all the long night was there a flavor 
 of white muslin flitting through the shadows ; 
 glimpses of ghostly figures leaning intent 
 near the windows ; sudden voices whispering 
 beside the pillows : " Don't you think the 
 sky looks strangely bright toward the south ? " 
 " Didn't you hear an odd, unusual sound just 
 now 1 " " That long, low rumble, surely it 
 must be cannon." And then, trembling and 
 listening, we would find ourselves mistaken — 
 or, at least, uncertain — and creep back to our 
 beds, to be startled from them again in an 
 hour. We had lived in this state of anxiety 
 ever since the fall of Fort ilcAUister, in De- 
 cember ; and the constant terror of what might 
 be — the mightiest terror of all — had not fitted 
 us, perhaps, to be calm judges of probabilities, 
 when the news we had been expecting came 
 one dreadful morning in reality, toward the 
 the latter part of March. 
 
 The day dawned cloudy and cold. And, 
 shivering with a chilliness that seemed rather 
 to come from the heart outward, we as- 
 sembled round the breakfast-table in heavy 
 silence. Before we sat down we had heard 
 the news — discussed it — sickened over it; 
 there seemed nothing more worth saying in 
 this world. We had read the morning \p&"~ 
 per — the pathetic, courageous, half-printed, 
 poor little brown sheet — which exhorted 
 everybody to constancy, and to constant faith 
 in the final triumph of right and reason — that 
 meant the Confederacy, of course ; and we 
 had understood the sinking heart which beat 
 in the editor's bosom, under all his brave 
 show of confident fortitude. (We all knew 
 him well, poor little man ! I see him now, in 
 his worn-out suit of homespun and home- 
 made jeans. He had ten children and a sick- 
 ly wife; and, I should think, would have 
 found a hard-enough struggle of life, leaving 
 Sherman out of the question.) Well, the 
 news, magnified by flying scouts to excuse 
 their own terror, informed us that Sherman's 
 advance was within ten miles of the town; 
 stated further that the general himself had 
 intended passing it, leaving it unmolested; 
 but that the unappeasable wrath of his men 
 against it and its inhabitants — there was a Con>- 
 federate prison within its limits — had turned 
 him from his course direct to Goldsborough, 
 determining him to come hither to wreak 
 his reddest vengeance upon the people ; and, 
 of the town, to leave not one stone standing 
 upon another! This was false, of course. 
 The town was taken, and in part burned. 
 But not by Sherman. 
 
 Here was the realization of all our terrors 
 indeed ! And knowing no better — having no 
 possible means of knowing better — we be- 
 lieved it. 
 
 At first, as I said, there was unbroken, 
 heavy-hearted silence around the table. Un- 
 touched the coffee — made of parched pota- 
 toes — untasted the corn-bread and hominy. 
 But the miserable, unspoken heart-sickness 
 was broken by a sudden dictum from my dear 
 godmother, a small, nervous woman, with a 
 keen eye of the color, and a true heart of the 
 temper, of Damascus steel. She turned with 
 her accustomed decision to Mrs. P : 
 
 " Whatever happens, Caroline," she said, 
 " these girls must not stay here. There is 
 not a man about the place to even attempt 
 their defence if it should be necessary. They 
 must go, and you must take them, and you 
 must take them at once — now. I am an old 
 woman, and have not much to fear ; I shall 
 stay where I am, and do what I can to take 
 care of my home." 
 
 Mrs. P answered quietly, but she was 
 
 very pale : 
 
 " One place is as safe as another, my 
 friend. We will remain together." 
 
 " We will do nothing of the sort," said 
 my godmother, rising. " The Western Kail- 
 road is open yet. Every one who can go, is 
 leaving town, and you ought to be among 
 
 them. If you can reach S " (a village 
 
 some thirty miles distant), " you will be com- 
 paratively safe. It is a poor place, and hid- 
 den among the hills. There is nothing there 
 to tempt the soldiers, and no cause for ven- 
 geance. Go there, if you can get there. Make 
 
 1 
 
\ 
 
 GIRLS AND GANNON. 
 
 | JUIT Su 
 
 the attempt, at any rate. You cannot be 
 worse off than here, and you may be better. 
 And may the Lord speed you ! " 
 
 There was no withstanding my godmoth- 
 er's determination. There rarely was, in- 
 deed. God bless her, and send her length of 
 happy days ! She is to-day, as she long has 
 :— been, one of the noblest of serene - souled, 
 high-hearted women. God bless her, from my 
 heart, I pray — the heart that she has com- 
 forted in sore affliction many a time, and that 
 has seldom known a deeper sorrow than in 
 its long exile from her ! 
 
 So well did her resolution work, that in 
 ten minutes more we were as busy with our 
 hasty preparations for flight as if we had 
 looked forward to it for a week. We were 
 excited to the point of absolute quietude. 
 But, in spite of steady nerves, our packing 
 was a curious specimen of that difficult art. 
 We simplified it exceedingly, tossing our 
 treasures in piles into trunks, and then totter- 
 ing on the perilous apex, standing on them, 
 and stamping on them, until they consolidated 
 themselves sufficiently to allow the lid to fit 
 in its place, and the key to turn in the lock. 
 It was next to impossible to get any thing to 
 wear in those days — black particularly ; the 
 --demand for it far exceeding any possible sup- 
 ply. In spite of difficulties, however, I — I 
 was in deep mourning — had lately succeeded 
 in procuring two new dresses, and, oh, how 
 dearly precious they were in my eyes ! — one 
 being a sort of brownish-black serge, quite 
 coarse enough to shoot straws through with- 
 out injuring the texture, which I had thought 
 deliriously cheap at three hundred dollars a 
 yard ; the other an alpaca, almost decent, at 
 the very moderate charge of three thousand 
 two hundred for the pattern. The vendor 
 had taken care to let me know it was sold 
 thus cheaply because one end was not per- 
 fect, having been wet with salt-water during 
 its passage through the underground railroad. 
 Even these invaluable toilets shared the 
 universal fate. But France, and Carrie, and 
 I, had each some valuable jewels, souvenirs 
 of other days, and we wasted some precious 
 minutes considering what to do with them. 
 Should we divide the chances, and leave 
 them? No, said my godmother, emphatical- 
 ly. Her house was the handsomest in the 
 town, and in case of a general pillage it would 
 go among the first. Should we secure them 
 in " pads," and wear them ourselves ?, By 
 no means ! If we fell into the hands of any 
 of the roving bands belonging to the main 
 army, the most trivial cause for suspicion 
 would result in the insult of a personal search. 
 Alas ! with many a prophetic sigh, we put 
 them into our trunks with the rest. 
 
 The trunks themselves were presently 
 tossed into the baggage - cart, and we and 
 they were at the nearest station within an 
 hour from the time that the council of war 
 had hastily approved a retreat. 
 
 There somebody in authority informed us 
 that the last train had left ten minutes before. 
 
 I can see Mrs. P 's pale, noble face at 
 
 this moment. The mere fact of deciding to 
 leave had impressed us all with its absolute 
 necessity. We three girls looked each at the 
 other, and then, dismayed, at our conductress. 
 Mrs. !?■ wrung her hands. 
 
 " My God ! " she cried ; " what shall we 
 do?" 
 
 " It ain't no sort of use your trying to get 
 away, ma'am," said the station-master, kindly. 
 He was well frightened himself, by-the-way. 
 " If there was fifty trains leaving, you couldn't 
 get far. Listen to that ! " 
 
 Ah ! we heard it at last ! The sound we 
 had imagined and dreamed of so long fell 
 upon our ears at last, verified in an instant 
 — the distant, dull roar that seemed to rise 
 from some unimagined depth beneath our 
 very feet. It was the cannonading at last. 
 Every cheek blanched, though three of us 
 had been under fire before. 
 
 "Where is it?" Mrs. P asked, al- 
 most whispering. 
 
 "There's no telling, ma'am. It comes 
 from the south, of course — the way Sherman 
 is coming. But how near, or how far, there 
 is no telling. The wind is very still to-day, 
 and in a calm like this you can hear a long 
 way." 
 
 Mrs. P considered a minute in silence, 
 
 the station-master eying her with eyes en- 
 larged by a vision of balls, and chewing a 
 straw, we girls holding our dresses from off 
 the damp, dirty floor, and waiting. 
 
 " The sound of the firing comes from the 
 south, and may come from a great distance," 
 she said, with sudden decision. "We are 
 going west, if we can go at all. — Mr. Brown, 
 if there is any thing still to have — fiats, bag- 
 gage-cars, freight-cars, any thing — we will go. 
 See, if you please, and let us know." 
 
 He went, and returned in five minutes. 
 
 " There is the last freight-train just leav- 
 ing, madam. But my advice, such as it is, 
 is, stay where you are. That there train is 
 just as sure to be took and burnt as this 
 world is at the day of judgment. They'll 
 take the town, too ; I know that. But it'll 
 be better for you — you are four women, all 
 alone, ain't you ? " he interrupted himself, as 
 this appalling fact thrust itself upon his ob- 
 servation. 
 
 " Yes, we are," said Mrs. P , almost 
 
 laughing even at that minute — the man looked 
 so ludicrously dismayed. "But what of 
 that ? " 
 
 " What of that ? Good God ! Pour wom- 
 en rushing out to meet an army, and asking 
 me, ' What of that ? ' But they'll do what 
 they've a mind, in spite of the. devil himself." 
 
 At this he seemed to despair of the power 
 of argument. He shook his head with slow 
 despondency, and walked off, muttering. 
 
 In perhaps ten minutes after this we found 
 ourselves placed oddly enough. The train 
 was a freight-train, as I said. There were no 
 more passenger-cars, every one having been 
 called into requisition hours before. Into a 
 freight-car it was impossible we could bestow 
 ourselves, unless we could do without air as 
 well as light. Accordingly, we were placed 
 in a nondescript, attached for our especial 
 behoof, whoso ordinary purpose was carrying 
 live-stock — but not of our sort, as a rule — 
 and which looked a good deal like a square 
 chicken-coop on wheels. We seated ourselves 
 on some canvas bags that the courtesy of 
 the engineer had fished up from some un- 
 imagined storehouse of bags, and spread 
 upon the dirty floor for our convenience, the 
 
 boards in the said floor being so far aparl 
 by-the-way, that we had to use a great des 
 of diplomacy to prevent our feet being caugb 
 in the crevices. Thus, on the floor, our knee 
 drawn up under our chins, and our arm 
 around them the better to support ourselvei 
 we sat and stared at each other. Then, bein 
 neither heroines nor angels, but only girl: 
 with the inherent weaknesses thereof, th 
 ridiculousness of our position set us gigglinj 
 
 " Upon my word, this is funny," crie 
 France. "I wonder if I look most like 
 duck or a turkey ? " 
 
 " You behave much more like a goose, 
 said Carrie, reproachfully. " To be sayin 
 such things, with sounds like that in yoi 
 ears ! " 
 
 For all this time the voice of the canno 
 pursued us ; and, as the cars ran very muc 
 at their leisure — rotten ties and Federal bayi 
 nets presenting a delicately-balanced altemi 
 tive — the noise of the train did little to mil 
 gate the long, slow, thunderous sound, whicl 
 in spite of our increasing distance, seemed 1 
 grow more and more distinct every minute. 
 
 " Girls, pray don't laugh so ! " said Mr 
 
 P directly. " You know nothing of tl 
 
 danger into which we may be going- 
 
 cannot tell — and such levity distresses m 
 
 ' Oh, thank Heaven ! we are away in time ! " 
 
 She uttered this ejaculation fervently, ; 
 a loud report, followed immediately by 
 sharp volley from small-arms, arrested 01 
 foolish talking. 
 
 For one moment longer we thought tl 
 firing was at the town we had just left, on 
 heard with wonderful distinctness. Our excl 
 mations were hardly uttered when the trai 
 which had been running with constantl, 
 decreasing speed, came to a sudden stan 
 still. Instantly our hearts were in 01 
 mouths ; we turned simultaneously to loc 
 out between the loosely-boarded sides of tl 
 cage that held us. 
 
 In the low, marshy green field lying b 
 low the high embankment — it was a hill 
 country, and there were many such — we 
 breastworks, hastily thrown up; two or thr 
 small field-pieces, unlimbered and ready f 
 action ; and a hundred or two men in Co 
 federate gray. What they were put there f 
 remains as much a mystery to the prese 
 hour as it was at that minute. 
 
 Somebody in a lieutenant's uniform car 
 forward and spoke to the engineer. Listenii 
 with eyes and heart and ears, we heard, ala 
 
 "Don't go any farther," said the he 
 tenant. " Yanks are ahead — ten thousai 
 strong." 
 
 " Goin' back, then," calmly said the e 
 gineer, who practised at least one Spart; 
 virtue — brevity. 
 
 " Better stay where you are," said t' 
 lieutenant, argumentatively. " They are 
 front and rear — Stoneman's raid from Te 
 nessee ! " 
 
 That was it, you see. We had fled fr. 
 Sherman, who was not coming at all, and h 
 thrown ourselves into Stoneman's arms ! 
 
 Well, I am glad to remember that, wh 
 the moment finally came which we had »| 
 long anticipated with such bitter dread, tj 
 found us very quiet and sensible. Afteij^ 
 few moments of helpless expectancy on ct 
 
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 •£72.] 
 
 aiBLS AND GANNON. 
 
 67 
 
 part, somebody came to the door, or rather 
 to the open space at the end of the arrange- 
 ment in which we were, and told us that we 
 must descend the embankment, our position 
 being one of peril in case of sudden firing, 
 , adding that an attack was momently expected, 
 and that there had been desultory firing all 
 the morning. 
 
 Whoever he was, this man was a gentle- 
 man by nature. I shall never forget his kind- 
 ness. It was not much, indeed, that he 
 could do ; but that he did. 
 
 " I'm sorry for the chance that brings you 
 here, ladies," said he, helping us down from 
 the car. " Tou see we can't make much of a 
 fight, our men can't; there ain't enough of 
 us. I fear you will be prisoners before long. 
 But take things quietly, and you'll get through 
 all right, no doubt." 
 
 " What are the men here for, if they can't 
 make much of a fight ? " France asked, per- 
 tinently, and impertinently, too, I fear. " If 
 they defend themselves, they will protect us." 
 
 "They'll hardly do either, miss," said the 
 man, quietly touching his cap. " We are just 
 put here as a sort of sop for a half-hour or 
 so. The general hopes to get off with the 
 ammunition-wagons, if we can stop the ad- 
 vance of the Yankees long enough. Most of 
 us are standing on our own graves to-day, 
 Miss." 
 
 Then we began the descent. We did not 
 talk much. There was an ache in our throats, 
 I think, that would have made crying easier 
 than talking, after that last simple phrase of 
 the man who was helping us. 
 
 That embankment was three hundred feet 
 high ; at least, / am firmly persuaded that it 
 was ; red clay on the surface — oh, the dear 
 old Carolina clay ! how my eyes and my heart 
 have ached for a sight of you ! — and, as it 
 had been raining for three days, and was still 
 drizzling, it was now red mud through to 
 level ground. For once in my life, I was or- 
 thodox in regard to the material of which I 
 was made. By the time we reached the bot- 
 tom of the hill, it was patent to every sense 
 that we were but " children of clay." 
 
 Once there, our kind conductor found 
 some tolerably clean stones for us to sit 
 upon; and, duty calling him, he touched his 
 shabby gray cap with grave respect, and went 
 his way. Duty called him a long distance 
 that day. Two hours after, I saw that poorly- 
 clad, weather-beaten figure lying prone upon 
 the grass — very still. A red gash was across 
 the temples; and the honest, brown face — 
 grown strangely pallid — was turned toward 
 the sky, whither his soul had fled, pray God ! 
 
 It was heavy work, meantime, waiting, out 
 there in the rain, for whatever allotment the 
 future might have in store. And though, as 
 I said, we were very quiet and well behaved, 
 all things considered, I was glad when the 
 unmistakable signs of action began to appear 
 about us. 
 
 We were seated immediately at the foot, 
 and to the right of the embankment, and 
 were, of course, to some extent, protected by 
 it. Just in front of us was a deep ravine, 
 spanned by a stone bridge with three arches 
 — the skirmish following was afterward called 
 locally the battle of Stone Bridge— and the 
 Confederate troops, not more than two or 
 
 three hundred in number, were posted a very 
 considerable distance behind us, quite at the 
 head of the rise from the ravine, the ascent 
 being crowned by a masked battery of eight 
 or ten pieces. Our position was a singularly 
 unfortunate one. But, in the confusion and 
 hurry, I suppose, very little was thought 
 about us; and we, like Moore's oak, were 
 "left where we lay." Nobody knew until 
 
 afterward that Mrs. General P (a person 
 
 of much consideration in those clays) was one 
 of the ladies thus singularly situated. 
 
 Suddenly — " Look yonder ! " whispered 
 France, her eyes intent, and her lips white. 
 
 It was the Federal cavalry appearing on 
 the ridge on the other side of the ravine. 
 
 At first there was a little desultory firing, 
 which, to our untutored eyes, appeared to 
 have no especial purpose, and to accomplish 
 none. • 
 
 Then there was silence — a breathless si- 
 lence to us— for a few minutes ; for, by the 
 thrill in the air, the hush of expectancy be- 
 hind us, the movements — ordered, no doubt, 
 but not understood among us — of excitement 
 in front, we knew that the stillness was preg- 
 nant with fate. A yell from the Federal lines 
 broke it. 
 
 Then there followed a glorious and a fear- 
 ful sight. If, when I reach the golden rest of 
 heaven, no other sight or sound remains with 
 me from these misty flats of earth, that will ! 
 The might and the power of it entered into 
 my soul. 
 
 The Federal cavalry formed, and charged 
 the battery. 
 
 Like a fierce and furious torrent they 
 swept, yelling, down the hill-side, and, borne 
 up again by the impetus of their descent, the 
 thunders of the horses feet, the lightning of 
 their flashing sabres, the storm-cloud of war 
 swirled past us up the hill. 
 
 Then the cannon woke. For a moment 
 the charge faltered. The officer leading it 
 half turned, rallying his men. He rose in his 
 stirrups, waving his sabre about his head, 
 cheering his men on — magnificent wrath in 
 his eyes and in his ringing voice. At the in- 
 stant the warm words fell from dead lips ; the 
 sabre flashed, and dropped heavily from dead 
 hands. The officer reeled and fell like a log ; 
 his foot caught in the stirrup. 
 
 Then a sound, such as may be heard in 
 hell, perhaps, but has no other echo on earth, 
 sprang with one impulse from all those brazen 
 throats. The fury of death and vengeance 
 was in it. The cavalry tore forward, heedless 
 of the thundering cannon. They reached the 
 battery in a moment more. 
 
 I covered my face with my hands, and my 
 sick heart tried to pray. 
 
 In five minutes the work was done. The 
 guns were spiked, the position taken, the 
 hundred or two, put there as a sop, had ful- 
 filled their mission, and were either dead or 
 prisoners. 
 
 We were of the latter. For perhaps fifteen 
 minutes nobody took any especial notice of 
 us; only some German soldiers strolled up, 
 and walked around us, regarding us curiously, 
 and making now and then short ejaculations 
 in the honeyed accents of their native tongue. 
 They appeared to regard us as curiosities in- 
 digenous to the country, made to be stared at. 
 
 Presently an officer came up, saluted us very - 
 politely, and inquired what we were doing 
 
 there. Mrs. P informed him, told him 
 
 who we were, and said, smilingly, that, en- 
 deavoring to escape Sherman, we had unin- 
 tentionally thown ourselves upon Stoneman's 
 protection. 
 
 The officer said, " Yes ? hum ! " and looked 
 at us scrutinizingly. We were very mud\ty— : " 
 we girls — and we may have blushed, vfie 
 smiled. 
 
 Presently he remarked that we had better 
 come " farther up," and he would see what 
 provision could be made for us. We followed 
 him very meekly, and, arriving " farther up," 
 found the said provision to consist of the 
 soaked trunk of a fallen tree, and an um- 
 brella ; we were politely requested to seat 
 ourselves upon the tree — which we did with 
 what grace was possible under the circum- 
 stances — and a soldier was stationed behind 
 us to hold the umbrella. Upon consideration, 
 I think this umbrella must have been intro- 
 duced principally to suggest the large re- 
 sources of the Federal army. A nation which 
 provided such superfluities as this for its 
 troops, would indubitably supply them well 
 with every imaginative requisite. The um- 
 brella was certainly superfluous, possessing, 
 as it did, the unusual property of distributing 
 more rain to those beneath its protection than 
 was the portion of outsiders. 
 
 Two or three other officers now gathered 
 about us, and began a conversation which 
 was, on their part, chiefly interrogatory. They 
 were evidently suspicious of us. They did 
 
 not believe Mrs. P was Mrs. P . They 
 
 could not credit that we were mere foolish 
 refugees rushing from one danger into an- 
 other; or, as I heard an honest Georgia 
 "cracker" express it afterward, "jumpin' 
 outen one ash-corner into another wus' ash- 
 corner ! " I don't know whether they sus- 
 pected masked batteries in our pockets, or 
 concealed dispatches in our hair, but evident- 
 ly they were quite persuaded of something in 
 Denmark very rotten indeed. However, by 
 dint of simple and truthful answers, I think 
 our cross-questioners were finally persuaded 
 that we might perhaps be what we represented 
 ourselves. And, finally, leaving a guard for 
 us— think how honored we felt, with drawn 
 bayonets on each side of us ! — they busied 
 themselves about more important matters. 
 
 The freight-train had, of course, by this 
 time, been ransacked, and partly burned. And, 
 throwing my disconsolate eyes around, what 
 did I now behold ? Half-way down the hill, 
 upside down,were my beloved trunks, the bot- 
 toms ruthlessly pierced with bayonets, and 
 thus broken and torn off; their spotless (once, 
 alas !) contents strewed over the muddy grass, 
 while a disorderly group of Germans and 
 common Boldiers examined the various arti- 
 cles, grinning over some, appropriating others, 
 and destroying what they did not want. My 
 serge — my brown-black three-hundred-dollars- 
 a-yard beauty — my sweet alpaca, dirt cheap at 
 three thousand! My heart bleeds to recall 
 their fate. First, two miscreants triad them 
 on, amid uproars of applause ; and, not find- 
 ing the fit perfect, they then deliberately tore 
 them in strips from the hem to the waist, and 
 walked about with a hundred broad, black 
 
 // 
 
68 
 
 MONTE CITORIO.— THE HIDDEN TREASURE. 
 
 strings dangling and flying around their army 
 trousers. I hare lived through a great deal 
 of pain and bitterness, but I don't know that 
 I can recall a more poignant moment than that. 
 
 Meantime the greater part of Stoneman's 
 command pushed forward and entered the 
 town we had left — where, fortunately, no re- 
 sistance was attempted — at about two o'clock 
 ' in the afternoon. 
 
 It was nearly four, perhaps, when an officer 
 in major's uniform rode up and informed us 
 that, inquiries regarding us having resulted 
 satisfactorily, we were graciously permitted to 
 go home again. 
 
 Finally, minus every thing — serge, alpaca, 
 underclothes, clothes, and jewels — minus all 
 save mud, that dismal quartet was crowded 
 upon a hand-car, and two brawny contrabands 
 patiently turned the crank for the refugee 
 prisoners — and for a consideration — until we 
 reached the captured town; then, through 
 the alien blue-dotted streets we wended our 
 way back to my godmother's, no way sadder 
 nor wiser, but considerably worse off than 
 when we left her doors. 
 
 MONTE CITORIO. 
 
 THE Italian Parliament, since its. removal 
 to Rome last year, holds its sessions in 
 the Palazzo di Monte Citorio. This Monte 
 Citorio is not one of the natural hills of 
 Rome, but a small elevation created by the 
 debris of an ancient amphitheatre. It is just 
 in the rear of the Piazza Colonna, on the 
 Corso. 
 
 The word Citorio is an abbreviation of Ac- 
 ceptorio, by which, for some not clearly under- 
 stood reason, the hill was formerly called. 
 On the summit of the gentle elevation is the 
 Piazza Citorio, a small, open space, in the 
 centre of which stands an Egyptian obelisk, 
 brought to Rome by the Emperor Augustus, 
 and erected at first in the Campo Mazzo. 
 Here it was overthrown, and got buried and 
 forgotten. It was discovered in 1748, and 
 was afterward placed where it now stands. 
 
 It is of red granite, sixty-eight feet high, 
 covered with hieroglyphics that are wonder- 
 fully distinct, considering that they, were cut 
 three thousand years ago, in the reign of 
 Psammetichus I. 
 
 On the north side of this piazza stands the 
 palazzo. It is an immense and imposing edi- 
 fice, begun in 1742, from the designs of the 
 famous Bernini, who has left so many archi- 
 tectural monuments in Rome. This palace 
 has long been appropriated as the seat of the 
 higher courts of law. Here also were the 
 offices of the papal notaries, auditors, cham- 
 berlains, and treasurers. A large court, or- 
 namented with a fountain, is in the rear of the 
 spacious building, and its lofty stories, its 
 central, light, and airy situation, marked it 
 out as a fit place for the halls of the Italian 
 Parliament. 
 
 To prepare it for this purpose, large as- 
 sembly and senate rooms have been made, 
 with appropriate offices and committee apart- 
 ments. Here the king, Victor Emmanuel, pro- 
 nounced his first address in Rome, amid an 
 enthusiasm which fitly signalizes one of the 
 most memorable epochs in Italian history. 
 
 In the choice of a location for the assem- 
 bling of the first Italian Parliament, doubtless 
 there was a wish with some to go to the old 
 Roman capitol, on the top of the Capitoline 
 Hill. What associations throng around that 
 spot ! Here victorious generals were received 
 in triumph, and orators like Cicero poured 
 forth their immortal eloquence, and the Cssars 
 governed the whole world. 
 
 But the edifices which now crown tnat 
 summit are comparatively small. They are 
 museums of art, and are crowded with statues 
 and paintings. The present Italian Govern- 
 ment wastes nothing on mere sentiment. It 
 is inspired by that Tuscan mind which is to 
 Italy what New England is to the United 
 States. It moves forward to its proposed 
 ends with the most direct, practical common- 
 sense. The time may come when a new Par- 
 liament-house, erected on the Capitoline Hill, 
 may connect a great modern kingdom with 
 the ancient glories of empire. 
 
 THE HIDDEN TREASURE. 
 
 I IN the early dawn did idly stand — 
 Lord of the harvest came, and, in my hand 
 Placing this lamp, said : " Lo, within the land 
 A lavish treasure seek, and thou shalt find." 
 With trembling hand the little lamp I shield, 
 Searching with eager eyes through all the 
 
 field— 
 The task seems hopeless. Will it ever yield 
 The looked-for treasure to my heart and 
 mind? 
 
 The reapers, singing, press on either side, 
 The fields of golden grain spread broad and 
 
 wide. 
 "We feed the hungry!" that one passing 
 
 cried. 
 I shield my little lamp and trembling stand ; 
 I dare not think of those that cry for bread — 
 From gleaming of the scythes I turn my 
 
 head. 
 They mock me now, but shall be glad instead 
 When I the treasure find hid in the land. 
 
 Some sport upon the borders of the- field, 
 Plucking the flowers their sunny path doth 
 
 yield ; 
 They strive, in sport, to break the lamp I 
 
 shield, 
 Laughing with 'sunny eyes and dimpling 
 
 cheek. 
 And now again I hear the reapers' song ; 
 With glowing eyes they bear their grain 
 
 along, 
 Bound up in sheaves. Their work is brave 
 
 and strong. 
 With downcast eyes the treasure hid I 
 
 seek. 
 
 "Where are your fruits? Behold our sheaves 
 
 of grain. 
 Why seek ye that which ye shall seek in 
 
 vain?" 
 I only turn my head away in pain, 
 
 To hear the words the passing reaper 
 
 saith. 
 I have no answer, hut still dumbly stand, 
 Shielding the little lamp with trembling hand, 
 And seek the treasure hidden in the land. 
 Lord of the harvest, give Thy servant faith. 
 
 Maeia R. Oaxey. 
 
I 
 
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