roadway from Trinity as far as St. Paul's; houses and
shops crumbled before them; a long array of buildings seem to have fed
the raging fires, until at last they reached the walls of the great
church itself, and were about to envelop it in ruins. But here, it is
said, the zeal of the people checked their progress. They mounted the
roof of the church, covered it with streams of water, put out the sparks
that fell on it, until at last the building was saved, the flames died
out, and St. Paul's stands to-day almost as it stood in 1776, the
monument of the close of the great fire.

It is not difficult to imagine the melancholy change wrought in the
appearance of the city. Broadway, once so beautiful, remained until the
end of the war in great part a street of ruins. From Wall Street to the
Battery, from St. Paul's Church to the Bowling Green, the miserable
waste was never repaired. Up its desolate track paraded each morning the
British officers and their followers, shining in red and gold, to the
sound of martial music; but they had no leisure nor wish to repair the
ravages of war. On the wasted district arose a collection of tents and
hovels, called "Canvas Town." Here lived the miserable poor, the
wretched, the vile; robbers who at night made the ruins unsafe, and
incendiaries who never ceased to terrify the unlucky city. The British
garrison was never suffered to remain long at ease.

It was said that the great fire of 1776 was the work of the patriots,
who had resolved to burn New York, and drive the invaders from their
safe resting-place. The question of its origin has never been decided.
It may have been altogether accidental, or possibly the work of design.
But it was followed by a singular succession of other fires, during the
period of the British ascendency, that seem to show some settled plan to
annoy and discourage the invaders. The newspapers of the time are filled
with accounts of the misfortunes of the garrison and the royalists.

TO MY VALENTINE.

BY M. M.

In love and hope
These blossoms fair
I lay at your dear feet!

[Illustration]

Deep-folded
In the rose's heart
You'll find my secret, sweet!

[Illustration]

OUR POST-OFFICE BOX.

LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

I would like to know how old is the festival of St. Valentine's
Day. I have painted some little cards myself, and am going to send
them to my school-mates. I think that is better than b