s. There was
a general order last week for the seizure of all Southern songs and
photographs of Confederate celebrities. One convivial cheer for
Jefferson Davis brought the 'strayed reveler' the following morning into
the awful presence of Colonel Fish, there to be favored with one of his
characteristic diatribes. The duties of that truculent potentate are
doubtless both difficult and disagreeable, yet one would think, it
possible for an officer to act; energetically without ignoring the
common courtesies of life, and to maintain rigid discipline without
constantly emulating the army that swore terribly in Flanders. The oath
of allegiance--that is the touchstone whose mark gives everything its
marketable value. The Union flag must wave over every spot--chapel,
mart, institute, or ball-room--where two or three may meet together; and
beyond the shadow of the enforced ensign there is little safety or
comfort for man, woman, or child--for women least of all.

"During the past week two ladies of this city have been arraigned on the
charge of aiding and abetting deserters from the Federal army. In the
first case, the offense was having given a very trifling alms, after
much solicitation and many refusals, to a man who represented himself
and his family as literally starving. The fugitive made his way to
Canada, and thence wrote two begging letters, threatening, if money were
not sent, to denounce his benefactress. Eventually he did so. This lady
is to be separated from her husband and family, with whom she is now
residing, and sent across the lines in a few days. In the second case I
am justified in mentioning names, as from the peculiar circumstances it
will probably become more public. Mrs. Grace is the widow of a Havana
merchant, and a naturalized subject of Spain, to whose Minister she has
since appealed. She was summoned before the Provost Marshal on the same
charge, but was too ill to attend in person. Her daughter went to the
office, and found that the evidence against her mother was an
intercepted letter from some person (whose name was equally unknown to
Mrs. Grace as to the officials), telling his wife 'to go to that lady,
who would take care of her.' Miss Grace represented the extreme hardship
of the case; they had no friends or connections in the South, and her
mother's health was far from strong. Finally, she gave her own positive
assurance that there was not the faintest foundation for the charge.
Colonel Fish d