ects of this town, having been
raised by voluntary subscriptions made among the numerous congregations
of the place.

It is a grateful task to record such evidences of the existence of true
Christian charity; they reconcile one to one's fellows, and serve to
balance the barbarous acts of bigotry and blindness which yet
occasionally disgrace the age and degrade humanity. This edifice, when
completed, will be an attractive object, both from its commanding site
and the character of its architecture, which is of the florid Gothic,
tastefully sustained throughout.

Descending the steep bluff of Grant's Hill, I entered the theatre, which
lies within its shadow. This building was not yet a year old, and
offered one of the neatest-formed interiors possible, calculated to
contain about one thousand persons. It had all the offices and
appointments of such an establishment, well and conveniently arranged;
and in this respect might serve as a model to more important-looking
houses. The ornamental parts of the interior were already disfigured by
the smoke which fills this atmosphere day and night, and fully
exonerates the people from the charge of being wilfully regardless of
neatness and _proprete_ in the arrangement of their dwellings.

I found the manager, Mr. Wemyss, at his post, and all things in
tolerable order. At night the house was filled; though how the people
made their way home again I do not know: even the short distance I had
to explore on the line of the principal street, I found beset with
perils; loose pavement, scaffold-poles, rubbish, and building materials
of all kinds blocked up the _trottoir_ in several places, which were to
be avoided by instinct, for light here was none, natural or artificial.
At length, after a few stumbles, I was securely housed in a small room,
which I was promised the exclusive use of, and wherein the cheerful
light of the bituminous coal, that blazed like pitch-pine, in my mind
made ample amends for the dust it created, and of this, the amount was
by no means trifling.

The next day I was joined by Lieutenant I----d, of the cavalry corps
about to advance on an expedition through the prairies, and across the
hunting-grounds of the Nomade tribes, ranging over the still
slightly-explored regions lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky
Mountains. We were ancient comrades of the spur and snaffle, having
harried the low country in company far and wide; and, the morning being
fine, we