m my eyes, before they could
extricate me. And when I was removed from _terra firma_, I resembled a
hickory stump dragged out by the roots, or a large cat-fish that had
left his native element, and, seized with a fit of science, had
endeavored to convert himself into a screw of the Artesian well.
Placed feet downward on the ground again, I could not thank my
deliverers or swear at the mule. I was dumb with astonishment and the
mud, having swallowed eighteen ounces avoirdupois weight of the sacred
soil of Mississippi while endeavoring to express my admiration of the
performance of the mule. When I had removed the mire from my optics,
in which cotton-seed would have grown freely, I beheld the mule in the
dim distance. I could not see the brute plainly, but I could determine
his course by the frequent falling of a human figure along the road. I
knew the figures were those of his enemies, the much-abused
Hebrews--that he was still wreaking his vengeance on the
representatives of Israel--that he was fulfilling the unfortunate
destiny of a misguided and merciless mule. Strange animal! Had the
honest tradesman ever sold his grandfather a bogus watch? or
inveigled his innocent sire into the mysterious precincts of a
mock-auction? Alas! history does not record, and intuition will not
reveal.

"My narrative is over. I did not go to Memphis. I returned, limping,
to town, mentally ejaculating, like many adventurous gentlemen who,
before me, have recklessly attempted to ride the peculiar beast,
'D----n a mule, any how!'"

LETTERS FROM KENTUCKY.

Early in September, 1862, I was sent by General Starbuck & Co.,
proprietors of the Cincinnati _Daily Times_, to reconnoiter in
Kentucky. My first stop was a very pleasant one--at the Galt House,
Louisville. From that place I wrote incident after incident concerning
the most inhuman barbarity that had been enacted by citizen guerrillas
and butternut soldiers. Louisville was in a foment of excitement, and
if the rebels had only possessed the dash, there was scarce a day but
they could have made a foray upon the "Galt," and captured from forty
to fifty nice-looking officers, from brigadier-generals down to
lieutenants.

It was supposed the Government could spare them; else why were they in
the North, when they should have been in the South?

While there, I met Lieutenant Thomas S. Pennington, of Columbus, Ohio,
a gentleman of intelligence, who told me HE SAW CITIZENS OF RICHMOND
(Kent