lighter gallantries with which the genial old soldier loved to season his intercourse with the wives and daughters of his fellow-citizens. As the years passed away, Duponceau himself became a celebrated man, and loved to tell the story of those checkered days. Washington, too, and his wife were often seen in this evening circle-not the grave, cold Washington of some books, but a human being, who knew how to laugh heartily and smile genially. And the courtly Morris and the brilliant Reed were there, and Charles Carroll, who was to outlive them nearly all; and Knox, whom Greene loved as a brother; and Hamilton and Laurens, as often as their duty would permit; and Wayne and Varnum and Sullivan, and many others of whom history tells, with some of whom she has kept no record - all equally glad to escape for awhile from stern duties and grave cares to a cheerful fireside and genial company. There was no room for dancing in these narrow quarters: but next winter at Morristown we shall find a good deal of it, and see Washington dancing for hours with Mrs. Greene without once sitting down. There were no cards either. All games of chance had been prohibited early in the war; and American officers, even if they had had the means and inclination, had no opportunity to ruin themselves, as the officers of Howe's army were ruining themselves at Philadelphia this very winter. But there was tea or coffee, and pleasant conversation always, and music often - no one who had a good voice being allowed to refuse a song. Few could give more interest to a story or life to an anecdote than Mrs. Greene; and no one in those evening circles could excel her in adapting her subject and manner to the taste and manner of the immediate listener. And thus again somewhat of the gentleness of domestic life was shed over those stern scenes of war, and somewhat of its cheerfulness brought into these narrow dwellings — of themselves no gayer," writes Lafayette, "than a dungeon." Out of doors all was more like a dungeon still; for the bleak hills shut them in on one side, the frozen river on the other. Out of the cold white snow rose the leafless forest, dark and spectral; and the wind swept in fierce gusts down the valley, or sighed and moaned around the thatched roofs of the huts. From the huts themselves came few signs of life, but the smoke that swayed to and fro over the chimneys at the will of the blast; and the shivering sentinels at the officers' doors; and now and then, as you passed along, a halfnaked soldier peering from a door, and muttering in an ominous undertone, "No bread, no soldier." If you ventured within, hungry nakedness met you on the threshold, or a foul and diseased air repelled you from it. In the streets you would meet parties of soldiers yoked together to little carriages of their own contriving, and dragging their wood and provisions from the storehouses to their huts. There were regular parades, too, at guard-mounting; and sometimes grand parades, in which you could see men half-naked holding their rusty fire-locks with hands stiffened with cold, and officers shielding themselves from the cold in a kind of dressing-gown made out of an old blanket or faded bedquilt. There were many things to talk about in this dreary camp. There were rumors again of a French war. Burgoyne's defeat, perhaps, might turn the trembling scale of European diplomacy; and then how easy it would be to put an end to the war with England. There as that never-failing subject of discussion, the currency also long since rapidly depreciating, and now hanging apparently upon the verge of bankruptcy. The Congress have at least agreed upon Articles of Conferation; will the States adopt them, and submit to a uniform system of taxation as the only sure basis of national credit? The Congress committee was in camp; seeing with their own eyes what the soldiers suffered; would they have the courage to follow up the evil to its source and heal it? Congress was discussing the question of half-pay; did they did the country even see it in its true light? This year, too, there was a new army to raise.- Life of Nathanael Greene. REENE, HOMER, an American lawyer and poet; born at Ariel, Pa., January 10, 1853. He was graduated from Union College in 1876, and from the Albany Law School in 1878. In 1879 he was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania and entered practice at Honesdale in that State. He has long been active as a Republican in politics. He has contributed much in prose and verse to the magazines and periodicals. His published works include The Blind Brother; Burnham Breaker; Coal and Coal Mines; and The Riverpark Rebellion, in prose; and What My Lover Said and Other Poems; and The Banner of the Sea, and Other Poems. WHAT MY LOVER SAID. By the merest chance, in the twilight gloom, In the tall wet grass with its faint perfume, And I tried to pass but he made no room, Oh, I tried, but he would not let me. So I stood and blushed till the grass grew red While he took my hand as he whispering said- Oh, the clover in bloom,- how I love it! In the high wet grass went the path to hide; But I could not pass on either side, For I found myself when I vainly tried. In the arms of my steadfast lover. And he looked down into my eyes and said - Oh, the leaves hanging lowly o'er me! Had he moved aside but a little way I could surely then have passed him; And he knew I never could wish to stay, And would not have heard what he had to say Could I only aside have cast him. It was almost dark and the moments sped, Oh, the whispering wind around us! I am sure he knew when he held me fast For I tried to go and would have passed, And the sky with its stars was filling; But he clasped me close when I would have fled, And his soul came out from his lips and said —- Oh, the moon and stars in glory! I know that the grass and the leaves will not tell; And the moon and the stars that look over Shall never reveal what a fairy-like spell REENE, ROBERT, an English dramatist and poet; born at Norwich in 1560; died at Lon don, September 3, 1592. His life was in every way an unfortunate one, ending at the age of thirty-two in extreme poverty and distress. He was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he took his Master's degree in 1583. Five dramas are extant, besides many poems, tales, and pamphlets. An edition of his works, in two volumes, edited by the Rev. A. Dyce, was published in 1831. Of his prose-writings the most interesting are those in which he acknowledges his transgressions and shortcomings, and professes his deep repentence. Among his plays are Orlando Furioso; The Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay; and Alphonsus, King of Aragon. GREENE'S CONFESSIONS. Being at the University of Cambridge, I light among wags as lewd as myself, with whom I consumed the flower of my youth, who drew me to travel into Italy and Spain, in which places I saw and practiced such villainy as is abominable to declare. Thus by their counsel I sought to furnish myself with coin, which I procured by cunning sleights from my father and my friends, and my mother pampered me so long, and secretly helped me to the oil of angels; so that being |