And a thousand recollections weave their bright hues into woof,

As I listen to the patter of the soft rain on the roof.

There in fancy comes my mother, as she used to years agone, To survey the infant sleepers ere she left them till the dawn. I can see her bending o'er me, as I listen to the strain. Which is played upon the shingles by the patter of the rain.

Then my little seraph sister, with her wings and waving hair,

And her bright-eyed, cherub brother-a serene, angelic pair

Glide around my wakeful pillow with their praise or mild reproof,

As I listen to the murmur of the soft rain on the roof.

And another comes to thrill me with her eyes' delicious blue.
I forget, as gazing on her, that her heart was all untrue.
I remember that I loved her as I ne'er may love again,
And my heart's quick pulses vibrate to the patter of the
rain.

There is naught in art's bravuras that can work with such a spell,

In the spirit's pure, deep fountains, whence the holy passions swell,

As that melody of nature, that subdued, subduing strain, Which is played upon the shingles by the patter of the rain!

STAND BY THE FLAG.-JOSEPH HOLт.

Letter to Kentuckians, written from Washington, May 31, 1861.

Let us twine each thread of the glorious tissue of our country's flag about our heart strings, and looking upon our homes and catching the spirit that breathes upon us from the battle-fields of our fathers, let us resolve that, come weal or woe, we will in life and in death, now and forever, stand by the Stars and Stripes. They have floated over our cradles; let it be our prayer and our struggle that they shall float over our graves. They have been unfurled from the snows of Canada to the plains of New Orleans, to the halls of the Montezumas, and amid the solitude of every sea, and everywhere, as the luminous symbol of resistless and benef icent power, they have led the brave and the free to victory and to glory.

It has been my fortune to look upon this flag in foreign lands, and amid the gloom of an Oriental despotism, and right well do I know, by contrast, how bright are its stars and how sublime its inspirations! If this banner, the emblem for us of all that is grand in human history, and of all that is transporting in human hope, is to be sacrificed on the altars of a satanic ambition, and thus disappear forever amid the night and tempest of revolution, then will I feeland who shall estimate the desolation of that feeling?— that the sun has indeed been stricken from the sky of our lives, and that henceforth we shall be wanderers and outcasts, with naught but the bread of sorrow and of penury for our lips, and with hands ever outstretched in feebleness and supplication, on which, in any hour, a military tyrant may rivet the fetters of a despairing bondage. May God in his infinite mercy save you and me, and the land we so much love, from the doom of such a degradation.

No contest so momentous as this has arisen in human history, for, amid all the conflicts of men and of nations, the life of no such government as ours has ever been at stake. Our fathers won our independence by the blood and sacrifice of a seven years' war, and we have maintained it against the assaults of the greatest power upon the earth; and the question now is whether we are to perish by our own hands, and have the epitaph of suicide written upon our tomb. The ordeal through which we are passing must involve immense suffering and losses for us all, but the expenditure of not merely hundreds of millions, but of billions, will be well made, if the result shall be the preservation of our institutions.

Could my voice reach every dwelling in Kentucky, I would implore its inmates-if they would not have the rivers of their prosperity shrink away, as do unfed streams beneath the summer heats-to rouse themselves from their lethargy, and fly to the rescue of their country before it is everlastingly too late. Man should appeal to man, and neighborhood to neighborhood, until the electric fires of patriotism shall flash from heart to heart in one unbroken current throughout the land. It is a time in which the workshop, the office, the counting-house and the field may

N*

well be abandoned for the solemn duty that is upon us, for all these toils will but bring treasure, not for ourselves, but for the spoiler, if this revolution is not arrested. We are all, with our every earthly interest, embarked in mid-ocean on the same common deck. The howl of the storm is in our ears, and "the lightning's red glare is painting hell on the sky," and while the noble ship pitches and rolls under the lashings of the waves, the cry is heard that she has sprung aleak at many points, that the rushing waters are mounting rapidly in the hold. The man who, at such an hour, will not work at the pumps, is either a maniac or a

inonster.

A FRENCHMAN'S DINNER.

A Monsieur from the Gallic shore,

Who, though not over rich, wished to appear so;
Came over in a ship with friends a score-

Poor emigrants, whose wealth, good lack!

Dwelt only on their ragged backs

Who thought him rich, they'd heard him oft declare so
For he was proud as Satan's self,

And often bragged about his pelt.

And as a proof-the least

That he could give-he promised when on land,
At the first inn, in style so grand,

To give a feast!

The Frenchmen jumped at such an offer,
Monsieur did not forget his proffer;
But at the first hotel, on shore,

They stopped to lodge and board,
The Frenchman ordered in his way,
A dinner to be done that day.

But here occurred a grievous bore;
Monsieur of English knew but little,
Of French, the host knew not a tittle;
In ordering dinner, therefore, 'tis no wonder.

That they both should make a blunder.

For, all that from the order he could trace,
Was-"Monsieur Bull, you lette me have, I say.

Vich for vid money, I shall you pay :

Fifteen of those vid vich de sheep do run!”

From which old Tapps could only understand,
What Monsieur desired with air so grand,
Was, fifteen legs of mutton!

They seemed a set of hungry curs,

And so without more bother or demurs,
Tapps to his cook his orders soon expressed,
And fifteen legs of mutton soon were dressed;
And now around the table all elate,

The Frenchman's friends the dinner doth await;
Joy sparkled in each hungry urchin's eyes,
When they beheld, with glad surprise,
Tapps quick appear with leg of mutton hot,
Smoking and just ejected from the pot!
Laughed, stared, and chuckled more and more,
When two they saw, then three, then four!
And then a fifth! their eager glances blessed,
And then a sixth! larger than all the rest!
"Mon Dieu! Monsieur, vy for you make
Dis vera great blundare and mistake?

Vy for you bring to me so several mouton legs?"
Tapps, with a bow, his pardon begs—
"I've done as you have ordered, sir,” said he,
"Did you not order fifteen legs of me?

Six of which before your eyes appear,

And nine besides are nearly done down-stairs!
Here, John!"

"Sacre! You Jean! you fool! you ass!

You one great clown to bring me to dis pass;
Take vay dis meat for vich I shall no pay,

I did no order dat!"

"What's that you say?"

Tapps answered with a frown and with a stare,
"You ordered fifteen legs of me, I'll swear,

Or fifteen things with which the sheep do run,
Which means the same; I'm not so easy done!"
"Parbleu! Monsieur, vy you no comprehend?
You may take back de legs unto de pot;

I tell you, sare, 'tis not de legs I vant

But dese here littel tings vid which de sheep do trot!" "Why hang it!” cried the landlord in a rage,

Which Monsieur vainly tried to assuage,
"Hang it!" said he, as to the door he totters:
"Now after all the trouble that I took,

These legs of mutton, both to buy and cook,

It seems, instead of fifteen legs,

You merely wanted fifteen poor sheep's trotters!"
"Oui, Monsieur!" the Frenchman quickly said,
At which John seemed very much dismayed,
And to the kitchen, he with horror totters,
To blow up cook about the fifteen trotters.

UNION AND LIBERTY.-O. W. HOLMES.

Flag of the heroes who left us their glory,

Borne through their battle-fields' thunder and flame, Blazoned in song and illumined in story,

Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame!

Up with our banner bright,

Sprinkled with starry light,

Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore,
While through the sounding sky
Loud rings the Nation's cry-
UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE EVERMORE!

Light of our firmament, guide of our Nation,
Pride of her children, and honored afar,
Let the wide beams of thy full constellation
Scatter each cloud that would darken a star!

Empire unsceptred! what foe shall assail thee,
Bearing the standard of liberty's van?
Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee,
Striving with men for the birthright of man!

Yet if, by madness and treachery blighted,

Dawns the dark hour when the sword thou must draw, Then with the arms to thy millions united,

Smite the bold traitors to freedom and law!

Lord of the universe! shield us and guide us,

Trusting Thee always, through shadow and sun!

Thou hast united us, who shall divide us?

Keep us, oh keep us the MANY IN ONE!
Up with our banner bright,

Sprinkled with starry light,

Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore,
While through the sounding sky

Loud rings the Nation's cry

UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE EVERMORE!