Rebels.

The last and greatest alarm we had was after we had removed from
Oaklands to another plantation. I woke about two o'clock in the morning,
hearing the tramp of many feet in the yard below,--the steady tramp of
soldiers' feet. "The Rebels! they have come at last! all is over with us
now!" I thought at once, with a desperate kind of resignation. And I lay
still, waiting and listening. Soon I heard footsteps on the piazza;
then the hall-door was opened, and steps were heard distinctly in the
hall beneath; finally, I heard some one coming up the stairs. Then I
grasped my revolver, rose, and woke the other ladies.

"There are soldiers in the yard! Somebody has opened the hall-door, and
is coming up-stairs!"

Poor L., but half awakened, stared at me in speechless terror. The same
thought filled our minds. But Mrs. B., after listening for a moment,
exclaimed,--

"Why, that is my husband! I know his footsteps. He is coming up-stairs
to call me."

And so it proved. Her husband, who was a lieutenant in Colonel
Montgomery's regiment, had come up from camp with some of his men to
look after deserters. The door had been unfastened by a servant who on
that night happened to sleep in the house. I shall never forget the
delightful sensation of relief that came over me when the whole matter
was explained. It was almost overpowering; for, although I had made up
my mind to bear the worst, and bear it bravely, the thought of falling
into the hands of the Rebels was horrible in the extreme. A year of
intense mental suffering seemed to have been compressed into those few
moments.

* * * * *

GOLD HAIR.

A LEGEND OF PORNIC.

Oh, the beautiful girl, too white,
Who lived at Pornic, down by the sea,
Just where the sea and the Loire unite!
And a boasted name in Brittany
She bore, which I will not write.

Too white, for the flower of life is red;
Her flesh was the soft, seraphic screen
Of a soul that is meant (her parents said)
To just see earth, and hardly be seen,
And blossom in heaven instead.

Yet earth saw one thing, one how fair!
One grace that grew to its full on earth:
Smiles might be sparse on her cheek so spare,
And her waist want half a girdle's girth,
But she had her great gold hair:

Hair, such a wonder of flix and floss,
Freshness and fragrance,--floods of it, too!
Gold did