ny particulars concerning
them.

'Pray,' said Martin, 'who is that sickly little girl opposite, with the
tight round eyes? I don't see anybody here, who looks like her mother,
or who seems to have charge of her.'

'Do you mean the matron in blue, sir?' asked the colonel, with emphasis.
'That is Mrs Jefferson Brick, sir.'

'No, no,' said Martin, 'I mean the little girl, like a doll; directly
opposite.'

'Well, sir!' cried the colonel. 'THAT is Mrs Jefferson Brick.'

Martin glanced at the colonel's face, but he was quite serious.

'Bless my soul! I suppose there will be a young Brick then, one of these
days?' said Martin.

'There are two young Bricks already, sir,' returned the colonel.

The matron looked so uncommonly like a child herself, that Martin could
not help saying as much. 'Yes, sir,' returned the colonel, 'but some
institutions develop human natur; others re--tard it.'

'Jefferson Brick,' he observed after a short silence, in commendation
of his correspondent, 'is one of the most remarkable men in our country,
sir!'

This had passed almost in a whisper, for the distinguished gentleman
alluded to sat on Martin's other hand.

'Pray, Mr Brick,' said Martin, turning to him, and asking a question
more for conversation's sake than from any feeling of interest in its
subject, 'who is that;' he was going to say 'young' but thought it
prudent to eschew the word--'that very short gentleman yonder, with the
red nose?'

'That is Pro--fessor Mullit, sir,' replied Jefferson.

'May I ask what he is professor of?' asked Martin.

'Of education, sir,' said Jefferson Brick.

'A sort of schoolmaster, possibly?' Martin ventured to observe.

'He is a man of fine moral elements, sir, and not commonly endowed,'
said the war correspondent. 'He felt it necessary, at the last election
for President, to repudiate and denounce his father, who voted on the
wrong interest. He has since written some powerful pamphlets, under
the signature of "Suturb," or Brutus reversed. He is one of the most
remarkable men in our country, sir.'

'There seem to be plenty of 'em,' thought Martin, 'at any rate.'

Pursuing his inquiries Martin found that there were no fewer than four
majors present, two colonels, one general, and a captain, so that he
could not help thinking how strongly officered the American militia must
be; and wondering very much whether the officers commanded each other;
or if they did not, where on earth the privates