been thoroughly cleaned,--the barrel wiped first with a wet rag,
(cotton-flannel is best,) then rubbed dry, then well oiled, and then
again wiped with a dry rag. In England this work may be left to a
servant, but with us the servants are so rare to whom such work can be
intrusted that the only safe course is to see to it yourself; and if you
have a true sportsman's love for a gun, you will not find the duty a
disagreeable one.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION.

In so many arid forms which States incrust themselves with, once in a
century, if so often, a poetic act and record occur. These are the jets
of thought into affairs, when, roused by danger or inspired by genius,
the political leaders of the day break the else insurmountable routine
of class and local legislation, and take a step forward in the direction
of catholic and universal interests. Every step in the history of
political liberty is a sally of the human mind into the untried future,
and has the interest of genius, and is fruitful in heroic anecdotes.
Liberty is a slow fruit. It comes, like religion, for short periods, and
in rare conditions, as if awaiting a culture of the race which shall
make it organic and permanent. Such moments of expansion in modern
history were the Confession of Augsburg, the plantation of America, the
English Commonwealth of 1648, the Declaration of American Independence
in 1776, the British emancipation of slaves in the West Indies, the
passage of the Reform Bill, the repeal of the Corn-Laws, the Magnetic
Ocean-Telegraph, though yet imperfect, the passage of the Homestead
Bill in the last Congress, and now, eminently, President Lincoln's
Proclamation on the twenty-second of September. These are acts of
great scope, working on a long future, and on permanent interests, and
honoring alike those who initiate and those who receive them. These
measures provoke no noisy joy, but are received into a sympathy so deep
as to apprise us that mankind are greater and better than we know. At
such times it appears as if a new public were created to greet the
new event. It is as when an orator, having ended the compliments and
pleasantries with which he conciliated attention, and having run over
the superficial fitness and commodities of the measure he urges,
suddenly, lending himself to some happy inspiration, announces with
vibrating voice the grand human principles involved,--the bravoes and
wits