between Buenos Ayres and San Juan frequently carry barrels of rum from the latter, where it is manufactured, to the former; and as the barrels are valuable, they are preserved, and returned by taking them carefully to pieces and tying the parts of each barrel in a bundle by itself. Some of these bundles were found in one of the carts, and our captors supposed that we had money concealed in them. They asked us if there was money in the bundles, and were answered in the negative; when we were ordered by the leader to stand up in a row. "Now," said he, "I shall open the bundles, and if money is found in them, you shall all be shot for telling me a lie." Poor Walker, not knowing whether there was money concealed or not, fell upon his knees, exclaiming, "Por Dios, no me mátar !" (For God's sake, don't kill me!) This only confirmed their suspicion, and the cords were cut, but no money was found in the bundles. Each man then took what he could carry about him; but, as they were unable to take every thing, they selected such as would be most convenient to carry, and destroyed most of what remained. They then renewed their march, compelling the prisoners to follow on foot; but after some two hours' travel, finding that the sick and wounded were an incumbrance, they selected six of our number, who were ordered to follow them, and the remainder were left behind. Young Walker was one of those whom they took with them, and I never heard of him afterwards. Crasey and myself, with others, were set at liberty. Not knowing what course to pursue, Crasey proposed to me that we should first return to the carros, and see if any thing had been left that could be made useful. I agreed; but the rest of our company determined to take the route towards San Augustin, and run the risk of being taken prisoners. Crasey and myself returned to the spot where the carros had been destroyed, and among the rubbish, half burned, he found a blanket and a hat almost rimless; and I found a remnant of scorched calico, of which we made coverings for our bodies. Crasey also found a box containing a magic lantern, which had belonged to his own stock of valuables; whereupon he uttered an exclamation of joy. "Here is a prize worth its weight in gold," said he; "with this we can pay our way and be independent, if we ever come where there are any people." "That may be true," said I; "but go where we may, I shall be likely to find enemies; my name and person are too well known to pass current among the enemies of the republic, who are swarming in this region." "As for your name, you are not obliged to tell that," he replied; "and your person is, I think, sufficiently disguised to evade the scrutiny either of friend or foe; so you have little to fear on that score." me. "Very well, we must go somewhere, for I have no idea of finishing my days on the pampas, with nothing but a cotton rag about If Bustes has not been beaten, he will continue about the Rio Quarto; and by moving in that direction, we may meet with him, or some of his scouts; or, if we fail in that, we may keep on to the Punta de San Luis, which, to the best of my knowledge, is the nearest point of any note after we have reached the Quarto." We accordingly determined to take that course, and, in case we missed our friends, to reach if possible that place, and hope for the best; but in what direction it lay, neither of us could with certainty tell. We had found among the ruins a remnant of salt beef, from which we made a supper; and, tying the remainder in a rag, determined to spend the night where we were. On the next morning we commenced our journey westward, and somewhat at random. We crossed the Rio Quarto, but saw nothing of troops; and in the course of the day we came upon a settlement of three chózas, (huts.) To the people we represented ourselves as travelers, who had been stripped of every thing by banditti. They gave us food, but were too poor to help our wardrobe. From them, however, we learned the direction to the Punta; also, that it lay at a distance of at least fifteen leagues. We continued our route for several days, occasionally meeting wish an isolated chóza; at the last of which, we learned that Carrere had some time since left the Punta de San Luis; and that the place was then in the command of Lieut. Col. Sautus Ortis, an officer with whom I had become acquainted at Santa Fé, and who, though opposed to the confederation, I believed to be personally my friend. I determined, however, to use precaution and disguise. As we approached the town, a slight shudder came irrepressibly over my frame: we were traversing the very road by which Ramarez had a short time before led us to the disastrous onslaught of our last campaign. This I mentioned to my companion, and pointed out to him such points of interest as came to my mind. There was the hill, occupied by Carrere's army when he first discovered us; there were the streets, where stood the barricades, and through which our squadrons rushed like a whirlwind, scattering blood; yonder fought the brave Boedo; in that avenue, Ramarez, fighting like a lion, was unhorsed by a fall, but recovered in an instant; and near the same spot, at the corner of yon chóza, I received this cut upon my wrist. How different were my sensations from those with which I, on the second time, approached the city of Buenos Ayres! My first visit to this place was in a moment of pride and panoply; now I drew towards it with a calico rag about my person, scarce sufficient to cover my nakedness, and with sense of reluctance that would have better become a thief on his way to the justice. I thought, by way of consolation, of the necessary and natural "ups and downs" of life; but, after all my philosophy, I could not resist the conclusion that I was getting my share of the "downs" in a lump. I was, however, but a novice as yet. a habiliments, I agreed to join with Crasey in the exhibition of his magic-lantern; partly from necessity, but mostly as a means of concealing my true character, until I should know better what course to pursue, and whether it would be safe to make myself known to Col. Ortis. We accordingly took lodgings, and announced our exhibition to take place on the next evening. The time arrived; and Crasey having borrowed a sheet for the purpose, placed it against the wall of a room, and while he made a display of his fantastic figures, I was stationed at the door of entrance to receive un medio chelin entrado, or sixpence, as the price of admission. Our audience quite equaled our expectations; and from the receipts of the evening, we realized a profit of about three dollars. The next evening we again exhibited, with like success; but at this exhibition came Col. Ortis himself, who, notwithstanding my disguise, recognized me. "What!" he exclaimed, "my old friend!" then, checking himself, he added in an under-tone: "Call at my house when your exhibition is over;" and without saying more, he passed into the apartment. His tone and manner gave me an assurance of safety, and, without imparting my object to Crasey, I followed the Colonel to his residence. As soon as we were alone, he said: "How came you here, and why are you so employed? Have you so soon got tired of the army?" to I related to him all that had passed up the time of our meeting, when he said than your present employment, you can at the same time insure concealment and obtain subsistence, by exhibiting your lantern in the villages through which you pass." It may be well to state here what occurred with Bustes and Carrere after my last capture. As before stated, the two generals separated without coming to a decisive en I promised to take his advice, and left him.gagement. Bustes received dispatches from Returned to our lodgings, I communicated all that had transpired to Crasey; and after some hesitation, he consented to go, although the distance before us would be about one hundred and fifty leagues, most of which must undoubtedly be traveled on foot. The country through which we were to pass was, however, far different from the dreary and uninhabited pampas which we had traversed during the greater part of our late journey. Our route would now lie along the range of the Cordilleras, with numerous villas in the way, and water and provisions abundant; besides, I had great hopes of falling in with some detachment of the army of the republic. But little preparation was necessary for the journey; and after three or four days of rest, we turned our backs upon the city where I had suffered my first military disaster-a disaster that had seemingly paved the way to a long series of evils and privations. Cordova which called for his immediate return; and after dispatching messengers to Mendoza and San Juan, advising the commanding officers of those provinces of the advance of Carrere towards Chili, and urging them to be prepared to intercept his march, he returned again to Cordova. Carrere moved on, crossing the Rio Quarto and entering the province of Mendoza; but before he had reached the foot of the mountains which lie along the western termination of that province, and which divide it from Chili, he was met by a powerful force; and after one of the best-contested battles ever fought in the country-a battle which lasted during the whole of one day and a part of the next-his army of renegades was beaten, and himself taken prisoner and shot, at a small village near the town of Mendoza, where his brothers had met a similar death some years before. WASHINGTON'S BIRTH-DA Y. DEDICATED TO THE ORDER OF UNITED AMERICANS. BY MRS. ANNA L. SNELLING. ONCE more the annual tribute bring, A nation's grateful offering- To celebrate the day! An offering, not of gathered spoil, Of battle won with blood and toil; Bring forth in bright array The glorious deeds your sires have dared, SOLDIER! the great example view STATESMAN! observe his precepts wise, That she alone maintains her stand, CHRISTIAN! an humble path he trod, He knew that honors, wealth, and fame, And good as WASHINGTON. FASHION. BY C. D. STUART. "COMMERCE is king," said a clever Eng- | san's, the mechanic's, and the trader's golden lish poet, in a fierce song for liberty. He was wrong. Fashion is sovereign over the tastes, whims, and caprices of our race. Fashion moulds the habits, the manners, and the public opinion of the world. Society knows no other temporal guide. It is the wind that fills every sail, the magnet that attracts every compass. Is not the palace, the temple, the cottage, the house-furnishing, the apparel, food, drink, amusements, and all, even to the handling of a fork, and the tip of a shirt-collar, but a universal weathercock, showing whither way the breath of fashion moves Else whence the rage at epochs for Greek, Moorish, Gothic, Norman, Elizabethan, or other styles in architecture among a single people? Else whence the interminable changes of costume, from hoops and trails to "Bloomers;" from fig-leaves to velvet boddices; from breeches to pants, mantles to paletots, and Phrygian caps to Rocky Mountain beavers ? Else whence this perpetual, untiring rage for new modes; this ransacking human ingenuity and taxing human enterprise and skill to further satisfy and delight mankind, "Still bent on fashions in eternal change?" Fashion dictates the watering-place, the color of skirt and glove, the walk, talk, and companionship one shall have; and still the fashion is, that "Birds of a feather Flock together." And a right good thing is this restless fashion. How it urges on the wheels of progress; how it spurs the hand and brain to vast and varied activity; how it diverts mankind and employs them! Fashion! she is the arti winged angel. She, and not Necessity, is the greater mother of invention. Forget history and experience, and contrast the fashions of our day, in any and every thing, with those of a century gone, or ten centuries, and we have the surest guage of relative civilizations. As man rises in just self-appreciation, so do his wants rise and become refined; and fashion is the mode by which they are answered. Thus fashion interprets the intelligence, the taste, the morals, and in no small degree the politics and religion of the age. Her transformations are continual and interminable; always pointing in the aggregate up and on; always consulting more and more the convenience, comfort, and luxury of man. The exquisite of "Brummel's" day, stumbling into a modern bazaar, in a forecast of dream even, with his cumbrous uncouth rig, would have fancied he had dropped upon the "outfitting" corner of Paradise. Imagine him the possessor of hat, cap, cane, and umbrella of our latest nineteenth century style, cheap, beautiful, and enduring, and you imagine what would have been a marvel and a fashion over Europe, swift as couriers could have flown. Some lament the omnipotence of fashion, as fostering waste and extravagance. It is not so. Fashion gives labor, bread, and livelihood to ten where it harms one. Break its empire, and what would become of the millions of mechanics, artisans, and operatives? What would become of the shops and factories? Where would commerce repose its wings, and civilization its endeavors? Long as the earth lasts and man progresses, fashion will sway the world. It will shape literature, art, invention, and toil, and, while beautifying, will bless the human race. CICERO JUNIUS, LAWYER: HIS SPEECH, IN WHICH WE SEE THE SKELETON, WITH AN OCCASIONAL STREAK OF THE FAT AND THE LEAN, OF A MODERN POLITICAL ORATION AND ITS AUDITORY. REPORTED BY CRITICUS. "Are you certain he can raise one's spirits?" inquired Lethargy. Oh, bosh!" exclaimed Ignorance; "who cares to hear speeches every day of one's life? Raise the spirits, indeed! Humph!" "Well, I've heard him frequently," cried Conceited Opinion, "and I know he is a man endowed with a force of subtle reasoning not commonly met with in our day; a fact to which I can testify with assurance! My mind never deceives me." SAID Enthusiast, "Let us go to Political | justice to the theme whose principles we Hall this evening, and hear that modern have gathered together to hear discussed. Demosthenes who is to speak there. He is Yet you will bear with me when I say that a political moralist, and wonderful in every modesty must be put away when the nation faculty and talent which give power to the is to be benefited." ["Why don't he wake mind, and are capable of stupendous effects up?" yawns Lethargy.] "Benefited? Ay, through their workings upon genius." fellow-countrymen, every thing militating against the good of our land should be thrust aside at such times, when she calls for redress of her grievances. Our land! Why, Americans, the golden orb of day never shed his brilliant beams on another such; never did the silvery smile of his mate, in all her vivid yet delicate beauty and purity, light up with equally ecstatic chasteness the peaceful slumbers of the material and immaterial of a nation like our own." [Immense approbation. "Glorious!" cries Enthusiast. "Delicious! su- -perb!" exclaims Conceited-Opinion.] "But, my friends, I see by your approval, that any such eulogistic remark of mine is superfluous; you all know the greatness of, and lofty ends to be accomplished by, our common country; therefore, I shall dispense with other similar remarks, and proceed immediately to the subject we are to consider, and endeavor to entertain you with my views thereon. "Shall we go, gentlemen ?" "Yes." At the hour appointed, our colloquialists were at the hall, and not detained long before the speaker presented himself. He commenced: "Fellow-citizens !" ["Ah! he opens richly!" cries Enthusiast to his friends, which observation, however, is hardly audible from the din of applause following the words of the orator.] "The occasion which has brought this multitude together is one calculated to inspire more than mortal with a sentiment of glory. As I scan the countenances before me, each and every bear the impress of that radiance which is the fruit of intellectual cultivation." [Tremendous applause, during which Conceited Opinion stands very erect.] "And, gentlemen, convinced by this conception of the mass of mind to which I am to address myself this evening, I cannot but feel my inability to do "It has long been the desire of our Federal Congress to have its printing done by a party or parties to its satisfaction, both in regard to correctness and cheapness. Now, it will be acknowledged that a thing, to be correctly done, must be done with accuracy in respect to correctness.' ["Subtle reasoning," says Conceited Opinion.] "And it is equally true that a matter, to be done cheaply, must be secured against the encroachments of dearness. Assuming these arguments as truisms-which I hope you will do-it is |