agons from
the town returning with loads of tents, boxes, trunks, packages, and all
sorts of military fixtures, and conveying them to the cars, in which they
were sent as far as Shippensburg, by military orders. As the militia
thought proper to hasten on farther to the north instead of protecting
their own property, the wary rebels took unmolested possession of the
whole of it on the same day!

I think you will agree with me in the remark that these men had not much
capital to boast of in the way of bravery, although Pennsylvanians should
not perhaps complain, when these "defenders" did no worse for _us_ than
they did for _themselves_, namely, beat a hasty retreat, and leave all
their valuables to the enemy, even before they had a sight of him.

I would not have troubled you with this unpleasant chapter, if it were not
necessary, in order to understand the animus of the splenetic course of
the papers referred to. These editors, under the pretext of "defending the
citizens of New York," have most unaccountably, unjustly, and without the
shadow of provocation, except it be the desolation and ruin of hundreds of
homes and hearths, assailed and sneered at a deeply afflicted community,
which has poured out of its former means to the soldiers of our armies at
home and abroad without stint and with cheerful alacrity, and by night
and by day watched and ministered at the sick and dying beds of our
soldiers without distinction of nation or State.

Yours, &c.

LETTER II.

MY DEAR FRIEND:

You are aware that the late incursion of the enemy was not the first visit
we had from our Southern "friends." In the fall of 1862 we had Stuart's
cavalry raid, and in 1863 the invasion by Lee's army. Since the first of
July of the present year, up to the time of McCausland's advent, the
entire community, especially the farmers, were kept in constant
uneasiness. Twice before had they been robbed of horses, wagons, and
grain. The wheat harvest had just commenced, and now the enemy was again
on the border. During the first three weeks of July, the farmers felt it
necessary to remove their most valuable personal property. Merchants
packed up and sent away, at least a portion of their goods, eastward. But
in each case the rebels did _not_ come, and some degree of apathy in the
community was the result. But this did not last long. On the morning of
July 29th, unmistakable evidence of the crossing of squads of rebel
cavalry over the Pot