Where Poverty, so gaunt and worn,
Sits ever waiting and forlorn;
Where no strange perfumes fill the gloom;
Where no buds tremble into bloom;
Where no songs ring, but tears and sighs;
And little children's hungry cries
Make terrible the echoes there,
Already burdened with despair;

Where mothers, mad with woes like these,
Watch their young children starve and freeze,
And pray that Death would bear them far
To realms beyond the morning star;
Where, in the heavenly courts above,
Their voices, loud in songs of love,
By grief and woe no more controlled,
Will say no longer, "I am cold!"

"O wonder strange !" the old man cries,
"A riddle for the learned and wise,
That for the lack of bread and wine,
God's image, likeness so divine,
Should find on this broad earth He gave,
His only heritage-a grave!
The sick pray loud with fast-closed palms,
For added wealth and soothing balms-
They drink rare wines from cups of gold,
And yet their neighbor dies of cold!
Oh! when will Charity anointed be?
Greatest of all the blessings three !"

The old man's words are faint and low-
His failing voice is trembling so-
And mystic names and low sweet calls
Drop from his lips at intervals,
As if some long-forgotten thought
Stirred in its channels all unsought.
How pale he seems-oh! very pale;
How suddenly his pulses fail!

But, more distinct these last words come From lips fast growing white and dumb: "Though death and darkness o'er me fall, God's blessing shineth over all !"

What ho, without! bring in your shroud and pall,
And cover up the glare of these dead eyes!
Fold closely o'er the breast the meek, still hands,
And scatter incense where the pale corpse lies;
And as you carry out your precious dead,

Soft let the censer o'er him swing and wave, And lay him where the flowers will soonest bloom In fragrant beauty, o'er the Old Year's grave.

With joyful peals of melody and song,

The blessed chimes ring out, with sudden start; Alike on high and low their music falls,

And some sweet promise bear to every heart; Some precious hope they breathe of wrongs redressed, Of sunbeams that shall lighten sorrow's glooms;

Of violets that yet may blush and grow,

In modest fragrance, o'er some barren tomb.

INVOCATION.

O New Year! radiant One!

Come with the trembling of the morning light Through the vast portals, glittering and white, That open to the Sun,

And glorious in the promise of thy youth Scatter the seeds of light and truth!

Oh! let thy coming prove

A resurrection to our buried hopes,
That we may raise again on sun-barred slopes
The altars of our love,

And the quenched fires revive, though spent and cold,
With offerings manifold.

Oh! glide on, snowy ships,

Down the broad rivers reaching to the sea; And bear a message to the bond and free: That the long-mourned eclipse

Of peace shall with thy dawning pass away,
Ne'er to resume its sway.

And as (foreshadowed fate!)
The blessed Saviour came upon the earth
To bring the promise of a second birth
To man regenerate;

So, like a bow of promise, wilt thou rise,
Within our troubled skies!

O happy New Year! go
From lands of shade to lands of sun;
And count thy victory duly won

If tears have ceased to flow, And mourners shout from bloody graves that yawned: "A better day hath dawned!"

AFTER THE FIGHT.

One of the boys lies dead in his tent, All alone.

Soldier, go in, go in,

And smooth back his hair,
And close the dead eyes,

So dreamily blue,

That are staring straight through

The night, toward the skies,

Where his soul has gone!

Ay, and we made a desperate charge
Through the smoke,

And the terrible roar, for the guns
That had growled all day
From the rebel right-

Rank after rank,
On our wearied flank,
Had gone down in the fight,

When those cannons spoke.

Scorching hot, from their grinning jaws,
With a shout,

Came the whirling shot
And the bursting shell,
And the air grew gray

With the drifting smoke,
That quivered and broke
And heaved and fell,

When the roar burst out.

And Death rode over the battle-field,
Through the storm,

Like the withering breath of a curse;
And his voice rang out,
With a shrill report,

When the rifles flashed
And the bayonet gashed

The quivering heart,

And the knife struck home.

A SOLDIER slept, as the morning uprolled

O'er the white tents pitched on the pleasant plain.
The bayonets' gleam was the gleam of gold,
Where the sunlight poured on the height and the wold,
And the fields of yellow grain.

Then the soldier arose, when his rest was done,
And he merrily sang in his joyous glee;

He sharpened his sword and he brightened his gun,
And he smiled, as he thought of the laurels won,
That yet on his brow would be.

The couriers rode when the noontide came,
And told of grim lines advancing fast,
So the camp was filled with a wild acclaim,
And the soldier's heart was kindled with flame
As the hurrying squadron passed.

But the glen full soon was the place of blood,
With the hissing of shot and the clang of steel
And men lay dabbled and stained in the wood,
Though the soldier's comrades in valor stood
Till they made the foemen reel.

When the night came down the corses were strewn,
And the soft dews fell on the face of the dead;
But the soldier's song had changed to a moan,
As, faint and pale, where the sad moon shone,
He lay with his bleeding head.

'Tis morning again on the tents and the spears, But the soldier's voice is for ever still; There's a form that's missed from the cavaliers, There's a sweet face blurred with bitter tearsThere's a nameless grave on the hill.

CAMP CHASE, Oно, October, 1864.

GEN. BUTLER AND THE "PERFECTIONISTS."

IN Norfolk there is a society called "Perfectionists," and in their behalf some ten or twelve of this number addressed a letter to the Commanding General of that department, setting forth their objections to swearing allegiance to any earthly government. The subject was disposed of by General Butler in the following characteristic manner:

"HEADQUARTERS OF EIGHTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
FORT MONROE, VA., January 13, 1564.

"J. F. Dozier, E. H. Beaseley, and others:

"GENTLEMEN: I have read your petition to General Barnes, setting forth your objections to swearing allegiance to any earthly government.

"The first reason which you set forth is that 'all human governments are a necessary evil, and are continued in existence only by the permission of Jehovah until the time arrives for the establishment of his kingdom, and in the establishment of which all others will be subdued unto it, thus fulfilling that declaration in the eighth of Daniel, fourteenth verse,' etc.

"You therein establish to your own satisfaction three points:

"First. The government, although an evil, is a nocessary one. Second. That for a time it is permitted to exist by the wisdom of Jehovah. Third. That the time at which a period is to be put to its existence is not come.

"Therefore you ought to swear allegiance to the government of the United States:

"First. Because, though an evil, you admit it to be necessary. Second. Although an evil, you admit that it is permitted by the wisdom of Jehovah, and that it is not for his creatures to question the wisdom of his acts. Third. You only claim to be excused when Jehovah's government is substituted, which period, you admit, has not yet arrived. Your obedient servant, "BENJ. F. BUTLER."

LETTER FROM THREE GOOD LITTLE BOYS.

THE Richmond Whig of the twenty-ninth of January, published the following "Letter from Three Good Little Boys," in which, under cover of a facetious style, the desperation of the rebel army was disclosed, and the "government" condemned for its inefficiency and retention of incompetent agents:

"OUT IN THE FIELD, January 26, 1864.

"DEAR PA: We take our Pen in Hand to write You a letter. We have Got something to say to You. It is Bad News, and we are sorry to say it. But it is the Fact. And we Hope You won't get Very Madd with us for telling it, for It is the Real Truth, and we don't mean to Hert your Feelings by telling it. Because, if we could help telling It, we wouldn't Tell It. Dear Pa, the truth is this. Us Boys that You sent into the Field to Fight the Yankees are getting Mighty Hungry, and the Reason of it All is that we don't get Enough to Eat.

"Now You Know that Boys that don't get a Plenty to Eat can't Fight. They can Fight some. But

they can't Fight Good. Because It takes Strength to Fight, and No Man is Strong that Don't get Enough to Eat. We All are willing not to Eat as Much as You All at Home, and we All Don't never get as Good Vittles as You All do, but we Enjoy what we do Get more than You All do, just Because we are so Plegtaked Hungry All the Time, but we have Got to Fight, and Fiting is Hard Work, and them that have to Fite are obliged to Eat. If they don't they Can't Fite Hard.

"We know that You Love us as Much as any Pa ever loved any Boys. And we know it Herts You to Hear that we are Suffering. We would knot say Anything about it, but we have kept it Back until we Can't keep it Back any longer. If we Did, we would soon get so Poor and Lean that the Yankees would Run Over us like a Big Fat Horse running over Timmid little Gearls, and Dog on 'em they Shan't Do it if we can help it, which we can if you will give us Enough to Eat. Because if the Yankees run Over us, what will Be come of You and the Balance of the Fokes at Hoam? This is a Important Question, don't You think so, Pa?

"Dear Pa, Please don't get Fretted with us for telling you the Reason we don't get Enough to Eat. You have got a Great Deal more Wisdom than we all Have, but then You have not Got a Bad Pane in Your stummack because it is Empty, and Consequently Your Mind ain't turned to the Subject All the time like Ours is. You have got so Many things to attend to that You can't be Expected to Think on this Subject as Often as we do, this is the Reason we make Bold to tell you something which perhaps you Don't Know, and we Beg you to pardon and Forgive us for Writing you a letter about it. Indeed, indeed we don't mean any Harm by it, or to Go out of our Place by Doing it. "Dear Pa, the Cause why we don't get Enough to Eat is that old man, Mr. Northup. They say He Ain't Got Good sense. We don't say it, but Everybody says it. You told him to Feed us Well, and we Ain't Well Fed, that is certain. He is to blame for it. Now if you was to get Another Man and tell him to Feed us Well, may be He would Do it. If he did not Do it, then nobody can Blame You for keeping a Man in office that has not Got Good sense. We feel sorry for that Old Man, and wish he had his Right Mind and Enough sense to do the Bisness you told him to do. But we cant wait any longer, the Pane in our Stummack is so Bad and we are getting so Weak in our Joynts.

We know that the Fellows in old Mr. Northup's office says the People is to Blame. But that is the way all fellows do that Neglect their Bisness. They try to throw the Blame on somebody Else, Because if they did not throw the Blame on somebody Else, they would have to be Punished for their Faults and at the same time to confess that their Punishment was Just. But this Goes Against the Grain, especially of the Fellows that Does Wrong. Either old Mr. Northup and his fellows aint got the sense to Manage their bisness or else they have neglected it. Any way, they Ought to Quit and Make room for a New Sett. If they dont, us Boys will Starve, the Yankees will whip us, and then You all Hoam Fokes will Ketch the Verry Devil. "Hoping, dearest Pa, that you will Atend to this Right Away, we sign our names, with all love and Duty. Your affectionate sons,

"SCYUGLE."-While artillery thunders all along the front, and the line closes hard up against the enemy, while the minutes are hours, for fatal musketry may break out at any moment and open the battle of Richmond, to kill the time and relieve the terrible suspense that wears on a man more than work or danger, permit me to write a general, gossipy letter, on all sorts of topics-a letter that shall waive the situation," and deal with things other than "the latest from the front." A Sixth corps staff-officer dismounted near me a moment ago. I inquired where he had been riding. He informed me that he had been sent out on a general scyugle;" that he had "scyugled" along the front, where the Johnnies scyugled" a bullet through his clothes; that on his return he "scyugled" an ice-house; that he should scyugle" his servant, who, by the way, had just scyugled" three fat chickens for a supply of ice; that after he had "scyugled" his dinner he proposed to "scyugle" a nap-and closed by asking me how I scyugled." The word originated at these headquarters, and is supposed to be derived from two Greek words. Army libraries do not contain "Liddell and Scott," or I should endeavor to ascertain what the two words are. The word " scyugle," it will be perceived, has any meaning any one chooses to attach to it; has not only a variety, but a contrariety of meanings. It is synonymous with "gobble" and with "skedaddle;" it is used for any other word and for want of any other word. To fully define it would require the thirty-nine volumes the German savant gave to a discussion of Greek particles.

"YANKEE" ATROCITIES IN NORTH-ALABAMA.—A colonel, and for the last campaign a brigade commander, furnishes the following facts, which stamp with eternal infamy the atrocious conduct of the enemy in North-Alabama. About twenty-five Yankees, headed by one Ben Harris, a Tory from Madison County, crossed the Tennessee River into Beech Island, and captured Benjamin Raden—an old man—his son, his nephew James Raden, and his son, and another man whose name is forgotten-all private citizensand shot them, killing four, and threw them into the river, three of whose bodies were afterward found. The fifth caught hold of some bushes, when Harris ordered them to cut his head off with their sabres, which they attempted, but could not reach him; he then ordered them to knock his brains out with a fence-rail; and failing in this, they fired two guns, and he dropped his head in the water as if dead, and the fiends, supposing him dead, departed. The same crowd went to the house of Madison Ritchie, the conscripting officer, and took him out of his bed and drove him in front of them some two or three miles to Paint Rach River, and made him wade in about midway, and shot him, putting seven balls through his body. These were all unoffending citizens. Benjamin Raden was an old man, sixty-three years old. They hung an overseer-who had formerly taken the oath to Lincoln-his sole offence consisting in assisting his employer to get his stock across the river. They put a notice on the tree, that it would be death for any one

to take his body down. They went to P. Rallins, formerly a captain in Colonel Hale's regiment, who had resigned in consequence of ill-health, and robbed him of several thousand dollars, giving him ten minutes to cross the Tennessee River, and threatening to hang him, and leave him hanging till the buzzards should pick his eyes out, if he ever returned. They have issued an order for all to take the oath or leave their lines. Such are a few of the many atrocities these Yankee fiends-the representatives of "the best government the world ever saw"-are inflicting on the people of North-Alabama.-Richmond Whig, January 27.

GENERAL GRANTA "LITTLE" INCIDENT.-The Nashville correspondent of the Chicago Journal relates the following:

Speaking of Grant's campaign, I wish here to put on record a little incident, which I have never yet seen in print, and which was communicated to me by an officer some time since, and which might have been contraband once, but is not now, since the plans of the Eastern campaign have been developed.

While General Grant was in front of Vicksburgh, he was conversing with several officers on the subject of the capture of Richmond. "Can it be taken, General?" asked one of these." With ease," was the response. "By the Peninsula ?" continued the querist. "No," replied the General. "If I had charge of the matter, I would want two large armies; one to move directly on Lee, and the other to land at City Point, and cut communications to the southward. Lee would be then compelled to fall back, and the army from the North could press, and, if possible, defeat him.

"If he would open up communications again with the Cotton States, he must fight the army south of the James; and to do this, he must cross his whole force, otherwise he could be defeated in detail. If he did so cross, the Northern army could take Richmond; if he did not, that from the South could move up the heights south of the James, and shell and destroy the city."

I communicated this fact to two confidential friends the day Grant was first called to Washington, and now for the first time make it public. At the time the remarks were made, the General had no thought of being called to the position he now occupies.

REBEL TERMS OF PEACE.-Save on our terms, we can accept no peace whatever, and must fight till doomsday rather than yield an iota of them; and our terms

are:

Recognition by the enemy of the independence of the confederate States.

Withdrawal of the Yankee forces from every foot of confederate ground, including Kentucky and Missouri.

Withdrawal of the Yankee soldiers from Maryland, until that State shall decide, by a free vote, whether she shall remain in the old Union or ask admission into the Confederacy.

Consent on the part of the Federal Government to give up to the Confederacy its proportion of the navy as it stood at the time of secession, or to pay for the

same.

Yielding up of all pretensions on the part of the Federal Government to that portion of the old territories which lies west of the confederate States.

An equitable settlement, on the basis of our absolute independence and equal rights, of all accounts of the public debt and public lands, and the advantages accruing from foreign treaties.

These provisions, we apprehend, comprise the minimum of what we must require before we lay down our arms; that is to say, the North must yield all-we nothing.-Richmond Examiner.

SECRET ADDRESS TO REBEL SOLDIERS.-The following address was procured from some rebel soldiers in Calhoun County, Alabama, a few days past. I was on secret service for the Government, and was therefore in disguise, and the rebels gave me the address, supposing me to be a rebel soldier. There is no mistake as to its genuineness, and I know that it has circulated to a considerable extent among the dissatisfied rebel soldiers. The following is the address :

"FELLOW-SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE! Three years ago we were called upon to volunteer in the confederate army for a term of three years; and we all nobly responded to the call, with the express understanding that we were to be discharged as soon as our term of service expired. Indeed, we were faithfully assured by all of our officials that such a course would be pursued. The Secretary of War pro. claimed that those who volunteered for three years or during the war would have to be discharged from the army at the end of three years. But to our utter surprise, we are now told that we must be CONSCRIPTED and FORCED to enter the army for another term of three years! Our feelings are not to be consulted-WE MUST BE CONSCRIPTED!

"Was such a thing ever heard of before? Do the annals of war furnish a single instance of volunteer soldiers being forced to continue in the service after the expiration of their term of service? Surely not. If we search the history of the world from the days of Adam down to the present, we will find that in every instance a volunteer soldier was discharged as soon as his term of service expired, unless he, of his own accord, reënlisted as a volunteer. And are we Americans, once the boast and pride of the world, ARE WE to be treated worse than the heathens of the dark ages of the world treated their soldiers? Are we to be made the worst slaves ever known to the world? And are we to become the laughing-stock of the world?

"FELLOW-SOLDIERS! Is it not clear to every rational mind that our pompous and merciless rulers are daily stealing away our rights and liberties, and reducing us to the most abject slavery ever known to the world? And shall we cowardly submit to this palpable infringement upon our most sacred rights? We were told that we must come out to fight for our rights; yet our inhuman leaders are gradually robbing us of every right inherited by nature or transmitted to us by our predecessors!

The Federals did not hesitate to discharge all their nine months' troops whose term of service expired last summer-they were promptly discharged, and their places filled up by new levies; and shall we suffer ourselves to be treated worse than our enemies are treated? No, brave comrades; let us assert our rights, and unflinchingly maintain them! show our beastly rulers that they cannot thus enslave us because we are private soldiers. They have already cunningly led us to the very threshold of destruction; they have practised one deception after another upon

Let us