You attached yourself, too, for the express purpose of giving aid and comfort to those who, for more than a year past, have been engaged in butchering our friends, our brothers and our fathers. Your family remained in this place, and, notwithstanding the presence of our troops, they have been treated with the utmost consideration and respect. You yourself, becoming tired of the rebel service, finally resigned; and knowing the clemency of the government against which you had been so long waging war, you unhesitatingly came into our midst. Instead of being at once arrested and hung as a traitor, you were cordially received, and treated in every respect like a gentleman. Were you not?"

"Oh, yes, general," stammered the rebel, "I have been treated very gentlemanly, indeed."

"You were not deprived of your liberty, were you?" "Oh, no, I wasn't even required to give any parole, except my word."

66

Certainly not," resumed the general; "notwithstanding your treason, we desired, if possible, to waken a sense of honor in your bosom, and consequently treated you as a man of honor, requiring you to give no bond for your good behavior, save your mere word. Freely as any loyal citizen you were permitted to go home, to enjoy the company of your family, and to mingle with your friends. And in return, how have you requited us? By using the most seditious and treasonable language; for some time, doubtless, within doors; until at last, insolently abusing your privileges, or wholly unable to appreciate the wonderful magnanimity of the government in giving you your freedom, you go upon the street, collect a crowd around you, preach your treason to them openly, and wind up by declaring that you would rather bury your wife and children than see the authority of the National Government again restored! Now tell me, did the government ever harm you in any way?"

"No," replied the guilty rebel, "I can't say that it ever did."

"And yet you made war upon it, and, even after it had given you blessings for cursings, sought to stir up the devil in your neighbors' hearts, by telling them you would rather bury your wife and children than see it resume its rightful authority over the rebellious States!"

During the entire castigation, the doctor writhed and twisted like a serpent in the talons of an eagle. Rallying himself somewhat at last, he made a feeble attempt at a denial, and said he could not remember having ever made use of such language. "My information," replied the general, "will not allow me to doubt your guilt. Consider yourself under arrest; but, as I have not time to investigate the matter more fully now, I will permit you to go home to your family and spend the night. Return to-morrow morning at nine o'clock, when you shall be confronted with the witnesses who accuse you." In consequence of the accusation not being as grave as was at first supposed, this rebellious subject was suffered to remain by taking the oath of allegiance.

THE EAGLE OF THE NORTHWEST

WHEN, in the year 1861, the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment marched from that State to the seat of war, it carried with it an eagle. From that time, through all the marches, battles, sieges and vicissitudes of war, this bird has remained with the command and shared its hardships, dangers and adventures. He is a great favorite with the soldiers, but scarcely so with the sutler, in whose tent he often makes predatory raids, carrying off live chickens, and anything good to eat that may be around loose. There is a dog in the regiment with whom the eagle is on good terms. He even suffers the animal to begin his meals with him; but, as the provender disappears, the appetite of the eagle commonly overcomes his affection,

and he drives his four-footed friend away. The eagle has a great fancy for rides on horseback. Whenever he sees an opportunity to do so, he springs to the back of a horse, and defies the utmost efforts of the quadruped to dislodge him. But it has been in action that the eagle has shown its strong points. Whenever the regiment has joined battle with the foe, the eagle has been at his post with the soldier who owns him, at the head of Company D. As the engagement waxed hot-as the roar of the heavy guns shook the earth, and the rattle of small arms pierced the dun and sulphurous cloud that hung about the line of battle-the eagle would flap his wings and mingle his voice with the tumult in the fiercest and wildest of his screams. Twice has he been wounded in action, one ball cutting away a great portion of his tail feathers. But he has never turned tail to the foe. He has gone with his regiment through seven States, a fit companion and emblem of the heroes of the Northwest. He is now at home with the veterans recruiting, and there is not a banner or a "broker" in the United States that brings men to the regimental flag as fast as the war-eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin. Thousands flock to see him, and his sharp, shrill cry is always heard, at morning and evening, with the fifes and drums of the guard. The people of Wisconsin are determined that when the war is over, and the eagle comes home again, he shall be kept in the Capitol grounds at Madison; so that their children and children's children, even when a hundred years have gone, shall see at least one living veteran who fought in the great war.

AN INCIDENT AT THE LATE BOSTON FAIR. 197

AN INCIDENT AT THE LATE BOSTON FAIR.

As I stood to-day looking at the bristling lines of bayonets that rise on either side of the great organ, and are surmounted by the blood-stained banners of the Massachusetts regiments, I was conscious of a stir and murmur in the crowd that caused me to turn and look behind me. A pale and haggard countenance, lit by eyes of wonderful power and expression, met me, and I drew back instinctively to make room for their posessor. He was "only a private," but had enlisted in the 6th Massachusetts the very next day after the President's call for troops in 1861-had been wounded in that ever-memorable passage through the city of Baltimore; but had continued in the service, until finally, at Fredericksburg, his leg was shot away, and his lower jaw was torn and horribly disfigured by a minie-ball. Now dying with consumption, he had come home, and "could not die in peace," he said, “until he had been carried to the hall to look at the tattered and bloody flag under which he had fought so long. He was supported by two men, and slowly and painfully made his way up to the platform where it hung, waving solemnly as if pronouncing a benediction on the poor pilgrim who had given his life in its holy service. As he reverently lifted his cap and saluted it, it required no prophetic vision to see the martyr's crown already descending on that young head; and many a heart in that vast crowd, was baptised anew in the flood of patriotic devotion that welled up into "eyes all unused to tears."

A few feet from him stood Edward Everett, the scholar, the statesman and the patriot, whom New England delights to honor; but in the great book of records who shall say that the name of this poor common soldier may not shine as brightly, if it cannot hold as lofty a place?

FEEDING THE WIVES AND CHILDREN OF
REBELS.

While the rebels half starve our men held by them as prisoners, the government is disbursing rations to the amount of thousands of dollars daily to the wives and children of rebel soldiers, coming within our lines. A correspondent of the New York World at Bridgeport, Alabama, gives an account of forty-four women who applied for help from the commissary there in a single day. They were all required to sign the oath, and of the forty-four, only three could write well and thirty-five could not sign their names. Twenty of the number had husbands in the rebel army, while the husband of only one was in the Union army; the rest were widows. One owned 400 acres of land, but her slaves were carried off by Bragg, and she had neither money nor provisions. One case is given as a sample of nearly all; Provost-Marshall.-Are you a widow? Mrs. Ricard.-No, sir.

P. M.-Where is your husband?

Mrs. R.-With Bragg, in the third Tennessee cavalry. P. M.-Your husband is in the rebel army; when did he join it?

Mrs. R. Two years since.

P. M.-Did he volunteer?

Mrs. M.-Yes, to keep from being conscripted.

P. M.-But the rebel conscription law was not then in force.

Mrs. R. But they told him that it would soon be, and he had better volunteer.

P. M.-Was he not a strong secessionist from the start? Mrs. R.-Yes; he thought you wanted to deprive us of our rights, and take all our slaves.

P. M.-How many slaves did he own?

Mrs. R.-None.