WASHINGTON COLLEGE—LEXINGTON—VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE At the age of eighteen I was a member of the Junior Class at Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, during the session of 1860-61, and with the rest of the students was more interested in the foreshadowings of that ominous period than in the teachings of the professors. Among our number there were a few from the States farther south who... more...

CHAPTER I BROTHER JOHN I do not suppose that anyone who knows the name of Allan Quatermain would be likely to associate it with flowers, and especially with orchids. Yet as it happens it was once my lot to take part in an orchid hunt of so remarkable a character that I think its details should not be lost. At least I will set them down, and if in the after days anyone cares to publish them, well—he... more...

In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie,In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours... more...

INTRODUCTION. Undoubtedly every human being is fitted for some sphere of usefulnesssome industry by which he can benefit mankind and support himself in comfort. Just what we are fitted for must, almost invariably, be decided by ourselves; and the sooner the better, else we may plod among the thousands whose lives are miserable failures for the reason that "they have missed their calling." In... more...

AN ALLEGORY."Thou that hast given so much to me,Give one thing more—a grateful heart."George Herbert. "Well, father, I don't believe the Browns are a bit better off than we are; and yet when I spent the day with young Brown, we cooked all sorts of messes in the afternoon; and he wasted twice as much rum and brandy and lemons in his trash, as I should want to make good punch of. He... more...

DUBLIN POST OFFICE. The general post-office, Dublin, was at first held in a small building on the site of the Commercial Buildings, and was afterwards removed to a larger house opposite the bank on College Green (since converted into the Royal Arcade;) and on January 6, 1818, the new post-office in Sackville-street was opened for business. The foundation-stone of this magnificent building, which is... more...

CHAPTER I THE SEED Il faut se garder des premiers mouvements, parce qu'ils sont presque toujours honnétes. "Dearest Anna,—I see from the newspaper before me of March 13, that I am reported dead. Before attempting to investigate the origin of this mistake, I hasten to write to you, knowing, dearest, what a shock this must have been to you. It is true that I was in the Makar Akool affair, and... more...

WHAT IS ‘POPULAR POETRY’? I think it was a Young Ireland Society that set my mind running on ‘popular poetry.’ We used to discuss everything that was known to us about Ireland, and especially Irish literature and Irish history. We had no Gaelic, but paid great honour to the Irish poets who wrote in English, and quoted them in our speeches. I could have told you at that time the dates of the... more...

CHAPTER I. Confession, or The Blind Heart.   "Who dares bestow the infant his true name?  The few who felt and knew, but blindly gave  Their knowledge to the multitude—they fell  Incapable to keep their full hearts in,  They, from the first of immemorial time,  Were crucified or burnt."—Goethe's "Faust." The pains and penalties of folly are not necessarily death.... more...

A NEW HOCHELAGAN BURYING-GROUND BY W.D. LIGHTHALL The above title is provisional as respects the term "Hochelagan." All those who are interested in the Indians of old Hochelaga, or in the Mohawks with whom they seem to have had a close and not yet fully ascertained race relationship, will be pleased to learn of the discovery of a prehistoric burying-ground which is probably one of their race,... more...