capable of assuming, and actually assuming, the character of a suit, the Supreme Court of the United States is the final interpreter.

"Fourth. That any attempt made by a State to abrogate, annul, or modify an Act of Congress, or to arrest its operation within her limits, on the ground that, in her opinion, such law is unconstitutional, is a direct usurpation on the just powers of the general Government, and on the equal rights of other States; a plain violation of the Constitution, and at proceeding essentially revolutionary in its character and tendency."

Mr. Webster, in discussing Mr. Calhoun's resolutions and his counter propositions, made, as I think the ablest speech of his life, as a legal argument on the Construction of the Constitution. It excels his speech in reply to Mr. Hayne, in 1830, but not perhaps in popular estimation and in rhetorical beauty. He gave his imagination more play in his debate with Mr. Hayne. In this speech in 1833 he confined himself mostly to the legal question of the construction of the Constitution, not only from the language used by its framers, but from the debate in Convention. His statements were so clear in lan

guage, plain and simple, and his inferences so logical, as to be within the comprehension of unlearned people, and every one not educated in the science of law, could comprehend the force of his argument. This great debate in the Senate in 1833,

originated by the opposition of South Carolina, to a tariff tax on imported. goods. That State in Convention November 24th, 1832, passed an ordinance, and the Legislature passed laws to carry it into effect. This ordinance declares all laws of the United States levying a tax on imported goods unconstitutional, and null and void, and makes it unlawful for the authorities of the United States to enforce the payment of such taxes. The law provides for the replevin of the goods without the payment of the duty or tax. The ordinance declares "that all judicial proceedings founded on the revenue laws shall be null and void, and declares that no appeal shall be allowed from the judgment of a State Court, to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the replevin law makes it an indictable offense for any clerk to furnish a copy of the record, for the purpose of such appeal." This was nullification, forcible nullification, and if carried out could but lead to revolution or secession. The character of this ordinance will appear in a short extract :

"The people of this State will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligations to maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of other States, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do."

THE following incident which I find recorded in some of the old histories, shows what need, in pioneer days, even boys had for courage and hardihood in the simplest incidents of their daily lives. There were two lads living in a fort in the part of the country now included in Bath County, near Slate creek, and not very far from Licking river. Yates, who was the older of the two, came one day to ask his friend to go with him in search of a horse which had strayed off the evening before.

They wandered back and forth in every direction through the woods. for the greater part of the day, but found no trace of the missing horse.

They came at last to a valley some distance from the fort. Here it was beautiful and picturesque, but wild and grewsome. Thickly wooded hills rose on either side, the giant trees on their summit almost shutting out the sun. Downing began to hear ominous sounds in the uncertain distance, -the smothered crunching of brittle twigs, as if under stealthy steps, and his imagination found a lurking danger behind every breeze-stirred bush. But his companion only laughed at his fears. Yates considered himself an experienced hunter, and had, per

haps, in his youthful confidence, grown too callous to danger, and needed yet to learn that cautionprudence, in a life like theirs, is always the highest wisdom. Downing was no coward; nevertheless he could not help keeping his ears anxiously alert, and his eyes wide open.

He soon discovered that turn which way they would, these ill-boding sounds followed them, as if some invisible foe were dogging their steps. This, of course, increased his alarm, but Yates still ridiculed his anxieties, and would ask laughingly, if his scalp was getting restless? and offer to insure its safe return to the fort for a sixpence, and further proved his reckless sense of security by singing at the top of his voice a boisterous camp song.

Downing at length determined to satisfy his own mind in the matter at any rate.

As they neared the brow of a gentle knoll, he stooped to drink from a clear spring that bubbled up at the foot of a beech tree, and as soon as Yates had gotten a few steps ahead, slipped quickly behind a large huckleberry bush, which completely hid him from view, and watched and listened intently for a moment. Imagine his

terror when he saw the cane cautiously part at no great distance from him and two Indian warriors step out, looking eagerly after the figure of his friend just disappearing down the slope.

Naturally his first thought was of himself. Had they seen him dodge behind the bush? if so, he would be their first victim, and he might as well sell his life for one of theirs and leave only one enemy for the unconscious Yates to manage.

With this thought he raised his gun, but his hand was palsied with fright, his nerves had not yet been steadied by frequent encounters with these wily foes; so he missed his aim, his load was lost, and as he had now betrayed his wherabouts, nothing was left for him but flight. Yates had heard the firing, and turned back immediately to see if harm had come to his young friend, and no words were needed in explation when they met, for the savages were now in full view. Yates might have outrun the younger lad, but would not leave him, and they ran abreast for some time, keeping well ahead of their pursuers until they came to a point where a diverging path branched off. Yates and Downing took the more beaten path, but the Indians, knowing the country better, took the other, and the lads soon found to their dismay their enemies had found the short cut across a kind of bend which would give them an immense advantage.

Nevertheless our young friends were fleet of foot, and were still in advance when they reached the junction of the two roads, but they had not gone much farther when they saw before them a wide deep gully extending too far in either. direction to offer any chance of getting round it, so their only hope was to make the leap. Yates with one powerful spring landed safely on the other side, but poor Downing struck his chest where he had aimed to plant his feet, and fell prone into the bottom of the gully. He thought his end had surely come, and exhausted and despairingly he lay per fectly still for an instant, awaiting his fate. But seeing both the Indians jump across lower down, apparently without seeing him at all, he picked up himself and his gun and crept along through the gully, entirely protected for some distance by its depth, and not daring to rear his head above the sides, lest the Indians, or one of them should be lying in wait to greet it with a bullet. But alas, it grew more and more shallow, until it no longer offered him any shelter. When at last obliged to emerge on open ground once more, he perceived one of the Indians returning from the pursuit of Yates, and evidently in quest of the companion whom they had missed. Unfortunately, Downing had neglected while under shelter of the gully, to reload his gun. Of course it could be of no further use to him, so he

threw it down and gave his whole strength to the race. He was no longer as fresh as when he started, and he was bitterly conscious that the Indian was gaining on him. However the race is not always to the swift.

An immense poplar tree had been blown down, and lay in their path, stretching out its long, lifeless branches to some distance, while the heavy roots stood up high in the air, all matted with earth and leaves, and clinging moss.

Downing turned to the right with scarce energy or hope enough left to look and see if there were any difference. A moment later the Indian darted around the other side, already quite confident of heading off his victim at the farther end.

Downing almost felt the fearful scalping knife scraping his skull as he watched the tireless steps of his foe, now so near him. The wild yell of victory seemed already in his ears. Now they were just opposite-now he was ahead-was there no way of escape?

A thunderous growl reaches Downing's ear-an Indian yell, but not of victory.

Right up in the roots of the fallen. tree a monstrous mother bear had made herself a bed and a home for her cubs, and as the Indian, elated with having gained the race, turned to meet the doomed white, two great strong, shaggy arms clasped him in murderous embrace, and the fierce. black mouth was ready with cruel greetings. It was It was a terrible sight. The Indian struggled desperately, stabbing right and left with his knife, but the ferocious beast still clutched him with unyielding grip. You may well believe Downing had no hestitation in leaving them to fight it out to their full satisfaction. Nor did he linger to gratify any curiosity as to the result of the tussle. He was only too well satisfied to leave his part of it to the bear, and made rapid march for the fort, to tell his tale. Yates also had outrun his Indian and reached the safety of the fort several hours before.

ANNIE E. WILSON.

THE history of Tacoma, the chief city of the new State of Washington, is passing strange. Truth being stranger than fiction, the story of Tacoma is more wonderful than those associated with Aladdin's lamp. There are, to-day, ten-year old children in this now splendid city who can remember when the greater part of its site was an unbroken wilderness on which mighty fir trees stood in dense forests amid almost unpenetrable undergrowth, seldom explored by even the native Indians, and which were the home of wild beasts and birds. Tacoma is to-day the metropolis of the Puget Sound region with the most flattering promise of being the greatest city on the Pacific coast. It now has a population of about 35,ooo, and is crowded with excellent buildings, many of which are of exceedingly attractive and imposing architecture, while the culture of its population is as great, proportionately, as that of the oldest and most cultivated cities of the Atlantic coast.

On the oth of Spetember, 1873, Judge R. D. Rice, of Maine, vicepresident of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and Captain J. C. Ainsworth, director for the Pacific coast, who had been commissioned to explore the eastern shore line of

Puget Sound, for the purpose of discovering the most eligible place for the location of the western terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad, then being constructed, filed their report with the Directory of the road, then in session in New York city. They recommended the southern side of Commencement bay, an arm of Puget Sound at the mouth of the Puyallup river, and the Board of Directors passed a resolution in accordance with the suggestions made by Rice and Ainsworth.

At the time mentioned there stood on the western shore of Commencement bay a saw-mill and a few wooden houses, the latter the abode of the men who worked at the mill, and a few other persons who carried on the small amount of merchandizing necessary to supply the workmen with the necessities of life, and a few of such luxuries as are peculiar to frontier settlements. This portion of the Tacoma of to-day, is now the First Ward of the city and is called "Old Town," in contradistinction to the present, or "New Tacoma," which occupies a great portion of the peninsula and promontory bounded on the east by Puyallup river and Commencement bay, on the north by Puget Sound, and on the west by "The Nar