n, and blessed peace brooded over a
reunited nation, which shall endure through the coming ages to the end
of time.

It was only the faint echoes of the mighty struggle that, faintly
reverberating across prairie and mountain, reached the little mining
settlement nestling among the solitudes of the Sierras. Vose Adams
made more frequent journeys to Sacramento, in order to gather news of
the terrific events, which were making history at an appalling rate.
Upon his return, the miners gathered round Parson Brush, or some other
one with a good voice, who stood up, with every eye centred on him and
every ear keyed to the highest point and they listened with breathless
interest until the thrilling story was read through to the end.

The same diversity of sentiment that appeared at first continued to
the last, but the parson's earnest words and his insistence that no
quarrels should take place among the neighbors prevented any
outbreak, though more than once the point was perilously near.

"If your sympathies are with the Union or with the South," he said
impressively, "there is nothing to prevent your taking up arms, but it
must be on the battle field and not here."

And this wise counsel prevailed. Now and then some ardent partisan
shouldered his rifle, bade his friends a hasty good-by and hurried
away. One by one, they went until the new recruits numbered five. Thus
the population of New Constantinople dwindled to about one-half, and
retaining its exclusive tastes, permitted no new comers to join them,
so that the boom which in its early days was so confidently looked for
sank to zero and vanished. In truth it looked as if New Constantinople
was doomed to die of dry rot.

Strange news came now and then from the men who had gone to the war.
Maurice Dawson wrote often to his daughter Nellie, whose letters, it
can well be understood were the bright spots in his life of adventure
and danger. She had improved wonderfully under the careful tuition of
Parson Brush, who, gaining experience, as he saw the brightness of her
mind, found his work of the most pleasant nature conceivable. She
displayed a thirst for knowledge and made advances which astonished
him. The books needed for her instruction were procured by Vose Adams
in Sacramento, and she valued such presents more than anything else.
The teacher declared many a time, with a certain pride, that she put
him upon his mettle to make clear the abstruse problems with which he