dened, and, spreading from feature to
feature, ended at last in a fit of the most immoderate and
uncontrollable laughter.

Astounded beyond words, and indignant beyond measure at such a
reception, it was some time before General Wise could demand an
explanation. During all this time General Lee laughed as a mature man
rarely ever laughs.

The explanation, given through tears of laughter not yet dried, was
simple enough. General Lee had mistaken the general for a Comanche
Indian. He had lost his hat or cap, a dirty blanket was thrown over his
shoulders to protect him from the keen morning air, and his face, washed
in a mud-puddle and hastily wiped, retained a ring of red mud around the
borders, which made the resemblance to an Indian as exact as well could
be--all the more so in consequence of Wise's strong features.

Barely sufficient at the time (so incensed was Wise), the explanation
eventually proved ample, for General Wise now laughs at this incident as
heartily as any one, and often relates it himself, while it may well be
doubted whether ever again in life General Lee found either the occasion
or the disposition to relax his wonted gravity.

FUNERALS vs. PARTIES.

A Southern correspondent sends the following incident from real life,
which illustrates the well-known negro fondness for so-called lugubrious
festivals:

A lady friend of mine was much beset a few days ago by her cook for
permission to attend the funeral of some relative. The _res angustae_
forbade her leaving just at that time, but, to compensate her for the
deprivation, her mistress said, "Rose, I really feel very sorry for you,
but you shall lose nothing by staying at home. I promise that you shall
go to the first party that is given by any of your friends, and stay all
night long."

Rose, tossing her head, replied, "Law! Miss Susan, how kin you talk like
dat? You know I don't set no vally on parties. _Forty parties couldn't
pay me for de sight of one corp!_" She saw the "corp."

FOOTNOTES:

[M] The origin of the name of Bacon is thus explained by Richard
Verstegan, famous for Saxon lore and historical research:

"Bacon, that is, 'of the beechen tree,' anciently called Bucon; and
whereas swines' flesh is now called by the name of bacon, it grew only
at the first unto such as were fatted with Bucon or beech-mast."

It is, as a writer in _Notes and Queries_ points out, a curious
authentication of this derivation that Collins, in his _Ba