Down, down, as headlong through the waves,
Our gallant vessel rushed;

A thousand gurgling watery sounds
Around my senses gushed.

Then I remember little more;
One look to heaven I gave,
Where, like an angel's wing, I saw
Our spotless ensign wave.

I tried to cheer. I cannot say
Whether I swam or sank;

A blue mist closed around my eyes,
And every thing was blank.

When I awoke, a soldier lad,
All dripping from the sea,

With two great tears upon his cheeks,
Was bending over me.

I tried to speak. He understood
The wish I could not speak.

He turned me. There, thank God! the flag
Still fluttered at the peak!

And there, while thread shall hang to thread,
Oh, let that ensign fly!

The noblest constellation set

Against the northern sky,

A sign that we who live may claim
The peerage of the brave;

A monument that needs no scroll,
For those beneath the wave.

SHERIDAN'S RIDE.-THOMAS BUCHANAN READ.

Up from the South at break of day,
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,

The affrighted air with a shudder bore,

Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain's door,
The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.

And wider still those billows of war
Thundered along the horizon's bar;
And louder yet into Winchester rolled
The roar of that red sea uncontrolled,
Making the blood of the listener cold,
As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.

But there is a road from Winchester town,

A good, broad highway leading down;

And there through the flush of the morning light,
A steed as black as the steeds of night,
Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight.
As if he knew the terrible need,

He stretched away with his utmost speed;
Hills rose and fell; but his heart was gay,
With Sheridan fifteen miles away.

Still sprung from those swift hoofs, thundering South,
The dust, like smoke from the cannon's mouth;
Or the trail of a comet, sweeping faster and faster,
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster.

The heart of the steed, and the heart of the master
Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,
Impatient to be where the battle-field calls;
Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play,
With Sheridan only ten miles away.

Under his spurning feet, the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed,
And the landscape sped away behind
Like an ocean flying before the wind,

And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace ire,
Swept on, with his wild eye full of fire.
But lo! he is nearing his heart's desire;

He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,

With Sheridan only five miles away.

The first that the General saw were the groups

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops;

What was done,-what to do,-a glance told him both,

And striking his spurs, with a terrible oath,

He dashed down the line, 'mid a storm of huzzas,

And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because

The sight of the master compelled it to pause,

With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;

By the flash of his eye, and his red nostril's play,

He seemed to the whole great army to say,

"I have brought you Sheridan all the way, From Winchester down, to save the day.""

Hurrah, hurrah for Sheridan!

Hurrah, hurrah for horse and man!
And when their statues are placed on high,
Under the dome of the Union sky,-
The American soldiers' Temple of Fame,
There with the glorious General's name
Be it said in letters both bold and bright :
"Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the fight,
From Winchester,-twenty miles away!"

NUMBER ONE.

COURTIN' IN THE COUNTRY.-H. ELLIOTT MCBRIDE.

Zekiel gets the "chores" done,
He feeds the hens and pigs,
Tends to the cows and calves,
Then he gets on his " rigs."
Young tow-heads around him
Shouting to the old 'un,
Saying they'll bet a cent

That Zeke's gettin' on his Sunday
go-to-meetins just to go a holdin'.

Zeke marches to the place;

He knocks and hears "Come in!"
They're all glad to see him,

They take his shawl and pin.

Zeke, after looking round,

Squats on the proffered seat;
He hasn't much to say,

Consequently he doesn't say much:

but all the time he keeps a lookin' at his feet.

The old gentleman talks

Of horses and the crops;

And the old lady asks

About his mother's hops.

She also friendly asks

What butter they have churned?

Zekiel gets uneasy,

And he mentally ejaculates;

Hops, butter and things be derned!"

Old folks keep a talkin'
Crickets keep a buzzin',

Sally looks at Zekiel,

Zekiel keeps a fussin';

Sally thinks it's bedtime,

And Zekiel thinks so too;

Old folks seem tickled

And keep a looking at each other,

and then at Zekie and Sally, as if they knew a thing or two.

The old man pulls his boots

And travels off to bed,

The old lady's yawning
And tying up her head.
Zekiel's feeling tickled,
Feeling kinder funny:
He thinks the time has come

For him to pop the question, get a wife, and

commence a layin' up the money.

2

Now the old folks are gone,

But Sal is still a knittin';
Zeke fidgets all around

And steps on a kitten.

She asks him why so mum?

And Zekiel hems and haws:

He gives an awful cough,

Then he crosses his legs, than he uncrosses them,

and then he says, "Because!"

Zekiel clears his throat,

Then hitches up his chair;

Sally looks slantin' like

As if she didn't care.

Zeke clears his throat again,

Again he hitches near;

And Sal, the little pet,

After knitting to the "middle of the needle," lays

away her stocking and looks as if she wouldn't "skeer."

Zeke at once "pitched right in,"

Flung his arms around her:

Said that she must be his,

She'd not get a sounder.

Zeke kept a holdin' on

And swore his fate he'd know;

While Sal could but utter,

"Zeke Jones, I'll tell you what it is, I can't

stand it, and I won't let you hug me so!"

But Zeke vowed and declared,
By all things good and bad,

He never would "leave go,"
Till an answer he had:

He declared he loved her,

And his love was growin';

She modestly replied:

"Zeke Jones, I would like mighty well to be

lieve you; but I'm most awfully afraid you're blowin'!"

"I'll be dogged if I am!"
Shouts Zekiel, all in joy;

"Do you think I would lie-
Think I'm a lyin' boy?
Oh, won't you have me, Sal,
I'll tell you what it is-

If you won't have me, Sal,

I'll go right off to the wars, and some day there will a big cannon ball come along and take off my head, cher biz!"

"Oh, yes, I'll have you Zeke,

Can't let you go away;

But, Zeke, you'll have to see
What pa and ma will say."
When Zeke this answer got,
He trotted off" to hum,'
And tickled was so much,

He couldn't sleep a wink that night, without dreaming of the good time to come.

EXTRACT FROM SENATOR BAKER'S SPEECH AT UNION SQUARE, N. Y., April 20, 1861.

FELLOW-CITIZENS, what is this country? Is it the soil on which we tread? Is it the gathering of familiar faces? Is it our luxury, and pomp, and pride? Nay, more than these, is it power, and might, and majesty alone? No, our country is more, far more than all these. The country which demands our love, our courage, our devotion, our heart's blood, is more than all these. Our country is the history of our fathers—our country is the tradition of our mothers-our country is past renown-our country is present pride and power-our country is future hope and destiny-our country is greatness, glory, truth, constitutional liberty-above all, freedom forever! These are the watchwords under which we fight; and we will shout them out till the stars appear in the sky, in the stormiest hour of battle. Young men of New York! Young men of the United States! you are told this is not to be a war of aggression. In one sense that is true; in another, not. We have committed aggression upon no man. In all the broad land, in their rebel nest, in their traitor's camp, no truthful man can rise and say that he has ever been disturbed, though it be but for a single moment, in life, liberty, estate, character, or honor. The day they began this unnatural, false, wicked, rebellious warfare, their lives were more secure, their property more secure, by us- not by themselves, but by us-guarded far more securely than any people ever have had their lives and property secured from the beginning of the world. We have committed no oppression, have broken no compact, have exercised no unholy power; have been loyal, moderate, constitutional, and just. We are a majority of the Union, and we will govern our own Union, within our own Constitution, in our own way. We are all democrats. We are all republicans. We acknowledge the sovereignty of the people within the rule of the Constitution; and under that Constitution and beneath that flag, let traitors beware. I would meet them