fashion too,
In patriotic colors--the red, the white, the blue.
If he should never wear them, a _charity_ 'twill be
To give them to some soldier-lad as brave and good as he.
They're dreadful homely stockings; one can not well say less,
But whosoever wears 'em--why, may he have _success_!

Here are samples of the charades referred to by Miss Morse:

ON RETURNING A LOST GLOVE TO A FRIEND.

MARCH, 1873.

A hand I am not, yet have fingers five;
Alive I am not, yet was once alive.
Am found in every house and by the dozen,
And am of flesh and blood a sort of cousin.
Now cut my head off. See what I become!
No longer am I lifeless, dead, and dumb.
I am the very sweetest thing on earth;
Royal in power and of royal birth.
I in the palace reign and in the cot--
There is no place where man is and I'm not.
I am too costly to be bought and sold;
I can not be enticed by piles of gold.
And yet I am so lowly that a smile
Can woo and win me--and so free from guile,
That I look forth from many a gentle face
In tenderness and truthfulness and grace.
Say, do you know me? Have you known my reign?
My joy, my rapture, and my silent pain?
Beneath your pillow have I roses placed--
Your heart's glad festival have I not graced?
Ah me! To mother, lover, husband, wife
I am the oil and I the wine of life.
With you, my dear, I have been hand and _glove_.
Shall I return the first and keep the _Love_?

CHARADE.

My _first_ was born to rule; before him stand
The potentates and nobles of the land.
He loves his grandeur--hopes to be more grand.

My second you will find in every lass--
Both in the highest and the lowest class,
And even in a simple blade of grass.

But add it to my _first_, and straightway he
Becomes my _whole_--loses identity;
Parts with his manhood and becomes a _She_.

(Prince, _ss.,_ Princess).

* * * * *

F.

Here is another extract from the same letter:

J'ai peine a me mettre a l'oraison, et quelquefois quand j'y suis il me
tarde d'en sortir. Je n'y fais, ce me semble, presque rien. Je me trouve
meme dans une certaine tiedeur et une tachete pour toutes sortes de
biens. Je n'ai aucune peine considerable ni dans mon interieur, ni dans
mon exterieur, ainsi je ne saurois dire que je passe par aucune epreuve.
Il me semble que c'est un songe, ou que je me moque quand je cherche mon
etat tant je