to be, and I think I was intended for one: don't them, a few frank words were sufficient, and you ?" "Yes, I think you were, Haydn." the next morning he was among the workmen, pigmy indeed, and already begrimed, but with "And if I ever should be, you would think a curious satisfaction in his eyes and the same as highly of me as-Tom Barrows?" resolve over all. It was all out now, and Third Ward found a place to laugh. He was a foolish boy. What put such a ridiculous notion as that in his head? Tom Barrows indeed! And then, with a sudden seriousness, she got up, approached him, and said, "I'm only a year older than you, Haydn, and don't know much more; but I think you are more of a man now than twenty Tom Barrows." That was all. She was gone. So he lay awake all night, and thought of a thousand new things that never occurred to him before; very many of which were rose tinted, and all of which sprang with a new vigor in his brain. When his uncle sent for him next day he marched boldly up to the room, and presented himself to that worthy with a great deal of latent defiance lurking in his face. "Well, young man, what's your prospects in life now? Can you sing a song of sixpence with your pockets full of rye? Are you ready to go to Europe? What's your forte now?" He had no prospects in life. He could not sing, for his heart was fuller than his pockets, and he would much rather go to work than to Europe. Something like it he said, and more. He would go to the city. His blood was stagnant, his muscles flaccid, his brain empty. Music was no achievement, only an accomplishment. With his father it was more violent. Disappointment and indignation found rough words. His son was a disgrace, and he would have nothing to do with him. The last words Mr. Brown said were, "Don't you come back here again!" Celia gave him her hand. "I understand you," she said. "I think you are right. If you understand me you will try to be." He understood her. After that there was a plunge into the great metropolis: an aimless drifting about in the maze of traffic and manufacture, full of uncertainty as to his own judgment, and doubt as to his purpose: a vagabond week among idlers and pedestrians swayed hither and thither by impulse, until he brought up in an immense structure where furnaces glowed and trip-hammers shook the earth, and swarthy men flitted in the red light, and ponderous machines rattled and clanked with a vitality and power that were new to him. There was something in this Titanic stir that woke a new feeling in him. There was a kindly aspect in the clumsy iron giants that he could not account for; he longed to handle and inspect them; to become intimate and friendly with them. Behind the lusty fellows who whistled in the smoke and chatted 'mid the clang of metal, he knew there were more intelligent brains guiding and directing the whole, animate and inanimate. He found Here was the divergence. She Nothing could be more widely separated than himself and the family at Slightington. Mr. Brown, incensed at the conduct of his son, proceeded openly to lavish his son's portion on The Third Ward. was to be the family musician and genius; and not only did he make this apparent in expenditure, but he invited musical celebrities from the city; threw open his house to routs and soirées, and from the brilliancy of his entertainments and the talents of his protégée soon succeeded in surrounding her with influences of the most dazzling and dangerous character. Matilda, being a young woman of no particular radiance of her own, made no objection to shining with borrowed light. It was her father who did it, that was enough for her; and the only persons who made open and secret protest were Uncle Tompkins and Tom Barrows: the former disliking very much to be kept awake by a "great thundering orchestra" from the city performing under his window, and the latter feeling that the new companions that surrounded Celia were far more attractive than himself or his Morgan stud. Mr. Brown, it must be confessed, had a foolish parvenu horror of the very world he sprang from, and that world his son had voluntarily entered, commencing at the bottom round, and might have been seen by the father any afternoon, in paper cap and overalls, with smutted face, among the common workmen, doing the meanest drudgery about the machines. That son boarded in a crowded house. He acquired books. He studied late and early; and as he himself afterward expressed it, he felt something commence to expand in him as soon as he had entered upon his homely duties. What was his surprise one evening on going to his room to receive a letter from his Uncle Tompkins. It ran as follows, and inclosed a check for a hundred dollars: "Young man, you are a brick. If I had a hundred such as you I'd build up the reputation of a good citizen. Keep on your own hook and let music alone. Here's a check; don't spend it for candy." 66 He kept it a week. One morning he took it to the office of the works, asked to see the superintendent, and showing it to him, inquired if he could not be given better employment. There was a conference, and he was set to work in the office, making copies of plans for machinery. So he sent the check back to Tompkins with many thanks, and the promise to stay on his own hook." A year rolled away. His eyes were sharp, his brain invigorated and quickened, and nothing in that smoky office had escaped him. He had mastered the rudiments of mechanics with wonderful alacrity. Men knew there was something in him now, for it began to show itself in little plans of his own; here a suggestion to improve a steam-gauge, there an THREE THREE YEARS. HREE autumn tides have browned the year And leaves thrice ripened to their fall, Since through our homesteads, far and near, In tones resonant, loud, and clear, Rang out the thrilling battle-call. Its echoes lingered on the hearth, It chilled us with its wild alarm, With haggard eye and lifted arm. A reddening glow from lurid skies, Grim rumors of the shock of war (As southward waned star after star) Filled all our hearts with sad surprise. And hands were loosed from hands. We sate The shadows of approaching fate Then manhood sternly rose, and bade Ye gave us, and we went. With sighs, With saddened hearts ye sent us forth; With faltering lips, with streaming eyes, Your firm-devoted sacrifice, O women of the loyal North! Ye pledged us-yours the hands that pressed Each hero of the martyr-band. And years have fled in strife and pain, The Southern summer burns again, Ye watch and wait, and hope the day That calls us from these fields of woe, O mother, sister, maid, and wife, Who hold our hearts in sorrow's thrall, Of her the mother of us all! THREE YEARS IN MONTGOMERY. FIVE IVE years ago, influenced by the logic of high wages, I went South to pursue my trade as a machinist. Knowing that in the Cotton States competent mechanics were comparatively few, I imagined that I would there I be able to make my way to fortune more certainly and easily than in the overcrowded North, where industry and genius characterized all departments of the mechanic arts. In the fall of 1860 I became foreman of the machine works of the Florida and Alabama Railroad Company, situated at Montgomery, Alabama. These works were among the most extensive in the Gulf States, and afforded me precisely the opportunity I wanted to demonstrate my capacity and achieve a competence. The opportunity, however, for which I had longed and waited, brought with it, when it came, possibilities of evil as well as promises of good. In November of that year, Mr. Lincoln having been elected President, secession began to be talked of. A feeling of uneasiness and distrust began to creep through society and to disturb the channels of business and trade. I soon felt that, as a Northern man, loyal in every throb of my heart to the Union, my position, in the event of actual separation, might become unpleasant if not dangerous; but I knew my value to my employers, and I determined to remain and trust to circumstances to deliver me from whatever perils might arise. The We who loved the Union of the fathers lived centuries of feeling in those first days of rebellion. Every where madness ruled the hour. Extravagant in hope, prodigal in promises of success, the movement swept on for a time with a vehemence which nothing could resist. whole city was ablaze with excitement. Troops coming and going; drums beating, trumpets snarling, flags flying, the populace thronging in holiday attire to reviews and parades; all this passed before our eyes and saluted our ears day and night. Yet few, if any, dreamed that war would actually come. Even the chief conspirators who, on the 4th of April, 1861, met in convention and a day or two after ordained a Provisional Government, imagined they would be permitted to achieve their ends without actual conflict. The popular enthusiasm would have been vastly abated had a suspicion of what was to follow illuminated for one moment the general understanding; one glimpse of the horrors of Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, would have been quite sufficient to cool the impetuous ardor of the most sanguine and arrogant; and the masses would have shrunk appalled from even the first Bull Run could a revelation of its pains and slaughter have been held before them in prophetic vision. But even we, Northern men as we were, believed that hostilities would not ensue, or if they did, that they would terminate with one or two engagements, and it was in that conviction chiefly we had determined to remain. When we, who ought to have known so much better, thus misinterpreted the temper of the North and the plain signs of the times, we can hardly wonder that the multitude at the South were swept away by the sudden tide of enthusiasm, and applauded what they did not comprehend? The storm deepened. State after State seceded. Jeff Davis was inaugurated-I remember well with what an indignant heart I stood by and witnessed the solemn mockery; and I was not long in learning that it would have been true wisdom in me to have quitted the Confederacy. We saw, from the day when the Government was formally installed, that it had the eyes of Argus and the arms of Briareus. The conspirators understood much better than the North has ever done their true dangers and real weakness. They knew that their only chance of success was in compelling universal acquiescence in their rule, in reducing the people to such complete subjection as to enable the usurping authority to seize, possess, and use, unopposed and unresisted, all the resources and energies of the revolted States in furtherance of their desperate enterprise. Hence personal liberty was restricted; spies were set at every corner; barrel-head inquisitions were instituted, and their summary edicts pitilessly enforced; in a hundred nameless ways we were made to feel that a harsh, vigilant despotism hedged us about on every side, lying in wait, as it were, with canning seines for every tripping foot. That thus menaced by a mysterious and sometimes impalpable oppression, we grew ourselves to be suspicions, to speak with bated breath, to walk to and fro with cautious steps, and eyes watchful and observant, was only a logical sequence -was necessary, indeed, to safety. There were, of course, some loyal men in Montgomery. I say of course, because there are Union men every where throughout the South. A stranger, indeed, would not discover the fact; they have learned that the stillest air may babble secrets in unfriendly ears, and that safety lies only in silence; but in retired places, among those whose fidelity is assured, they express freely their thoughts and the aspirations of their hearts. As a Northern man I naturally drifted into communication with these loyalists; and the rebellion was not a month old before I had a perfect understanding with them all, and knew my position exactly. In the fall of 1861, in order that we might enjoy as far as possible exemption from the prevalent espionage, five other young men and myself, all of Northern antecedents and sympathies, engaged a house, and fitting it up with necessary conveniences, placed it in charge of an old negro possessing superior qualifications as a cook. Here we lived until our escape was finally effected, subjected often to annoyance; but yet comparatively free to speak and act as our convictions inclined us. Our rooms became in time a favorite resort, at favorable opportunities, of the loyal men of the city, and more than one suffering and persecuted household was relieved through the charities there devised. I may as well say here that the loyalists of the city were united by the closest fellowship, holding frequent meetings in quiet places, and all co-operating for the help of each in every strait and emergency where help could be given. At these meetings such Northern papers and periodicals as by any means fell into our possession were passed from hand to hand, and their contents absorbed for future reflection and use. Frequently I have seen papers so worn and soiled by this wide circulation and perusal as to be almost illegible, and yet, even then, they were regarded as treasures of too great value to be lightly thrown aside. Considering that for two years our only communication from the North, and our only trust-worthy information as to the progress of events among our kindred, was obtained in this way, and that it was only at rare intervals such Northern papers came into our hands, it will not be difficult for any one to understand how absolutely we were in the dark as to the temper, hopes, and purposes of those whom we felt to be fighting for us, prisoners in the far South, as much as for themselves and their posterity. As time slipped on and the necessities of the conspirators became more urgent and imperative, it daily grew more certain that we were exposed to danger, and could not always expect to escape the chances of a call to the field. When at last a draft was ordered, our distress of mind was complete; we had resolved never to fight against the Government, but how to elude the clutch of the conscription was a question which caused us many a sleepless night. Providence, however, was on our side. The weeks ran into months, and the months rolled away, and still we escaped. One day the Superintendent of the Works called me to his office and informed me that in view of the importance of keeping the railroads in working order, it had been determined to exempt from the draft all the workmen employed by our Company ; and in confirmation of his statement, gave me the following certificate, duplicates of which were at once furnished to all the operatives: OFFICE OF ALABAMA AND FLORIDA RAILROAD CO. MONTGOMERY, Oct. 21, 1863 I certify that W. Hedges, aged 32 years, five feet five inches high, fair complexion, Company, and is, in the capacity of foreman in machineeyes, auburn hair, is engaged in the service of this blue shop, under the laws of the Confederate Congress, exempt from military duty. the enrolling officer the names of all men leaving the service of this Company. NOTE.-It is made the duty of the Superintendent to report to The Note embodied in this certificate had a significance which is hardly apparent to the casual observer. It had two objects; first, to prevent "strikes" among the operatives, and second, to simplify and facilitate the work of conscription whenever, for any cause, any of them might leave the establishment. It had occurred on one or two occasions that the workmen had combined to compel an increase of wages, and to that end had ceased work at critical moments when every man was particularly needed in his | Neither myself nor my room-mates, all of place. These proceedings had greatly embar- whom obtained similar permits, liked the limitrassed the Government, and summary correct-ation they contained as to time. We could reive measures were consequently adopted. Orders were issued that all operatives who might hereafter engage in "strikes" should be seized by the officers of conscription and placed in the ranks, whence they would be detailed to the machine-works for service. In this way the Government would secure their labor at thirteen dollars a month instead of fifty or sixty as before, and the spirit of disaffection would, moreover, be effectually crushed. The Note embodied in the exemption certificate was designed to remind the operatives of these facts, presenting distinctly the danger of insubordination, while at the same time it served as a perpetual warning to the Superintendent to report faithfully and promptly "the names of all men leaving the service of the Company." There was in this a spice of despotism; but then, despotism was every where, menacing every thing, and so inconsiderable a trifle as this scarcely occasioned a thought. Only once did my certificate fail to command respect. One night hurrying along the street, I was challenged by a sentinel. I stopped and exhibited my certificate, supposing he would be satisfied upon discovering my position. But I was mistaken; the fellow was resolute, declaring that his orders were imperative not to permit any person to pass his post, unless provided with a pass, after eight o'clock at night. A parley ensued, and angry at the detention, I was on the point of pronouncing my opinion of the Confederacy in no choice terms, when a gentleman who had come up interfered with the remark that it was "all right," and I was permitted to depart. I learned the next day that the person so befriending me was the chief of the Conscription Bureau in the city, and though obliged to him for his intercession, the knowledge as to his personality was by no means gratifying. It was obvious that he was intimately informed as to my occupation and relations; and the more I reflected upon the circumstance the more uneasy I became. About a fortnight after the adoption of the regulation in reference to exemptions, an order was received from Richmond directing that all persons holding exemption certificates should be required to obtain formal recognitions of the fact, or, in other words, safe-conducts from the Provost Marshal, and that all other persons liable to military duty should be immediately forced into the ranks. In compliance with this order, a week or so after its announcement, I called at the office of the Provost Marshal and there obtained the following: MILITARY POST, MONTGOMERY, ALA. main in the city for sixty days, but what was to come after that? Daily occurrences around us for some time had not been calculated to afford us any strong assurance of safety. Hourly, we had seen men seized and hurried to the conscription head-quarters. Daily, gangs of men from the surrounding country were brought in, often wearing handcuffs-sometimes resisting doggedly every step of the way toward the slavery that awaited them. In those days it had been no unusual occurrence to see men, who had driven loads of wood into the city for sale, taken from their wagons and carried away, in spite of protests, entreaties, and resistance, to fill places in the ranks. Then, next day, we had found in the daily papers notices to the families of the men thus abducted, advising them to come and take away the abandoned teams. All these things served to deepen and intensify the thought which had been lying so long in our minds. We must make our escape at once, if we would escape at all-that was at last too obvious to admit of question. For We acted instantly on this conviction. a year we had been awaiting an opportunity to escape, but it had never offered; every door seemed closed against us. One chief difficulty in the way had been our inability to procure a guide, upon whom we could depend, to pilot us through the mazes of outlying rebel pickets to a place of safety on the sea-board. The country to the south, toward the Gulf coast, off the main lines of travel, was entirely unknown to all of us; and to undertake to escape by interior routes to the North was only to expose ourselves to the risk of entanglement and almost certain capture. For a whole year, therefore, we had simply watched and waited. But at last, the very day before I obtained my safeconduct, I had received information that a guide was to be had near Pollard, a town one hundred miles southward on the line of the railroad to Pensacola. Having the freedom of the road I had at once satisfied myself that the person of whom we had heard was trust-worthy, had engaged him, through his agent, to undertake our deliverance, and within a few hours after visiting the office of the Provost Marshal had completed all arrangements for departure-the tenor of the permits there obtained tending greatly to accelerate our movements. Our party consisted of five persons in all-namely, George Folwell, Peter Martin, James Ward, John Pierce, and myself-William Hedges. The day preceding that on which we had engaged with the guide to meet him at Pollard Martin went down to that place on pretense of procuring lumber for a shop which the Company had in course of Permission is hereby granted to W. Hedges to remain erection, and did not return to Montgomery. in the city for sixty (60) days. The same day Pierce, who was running a locomotive on the road, managed to precipitate his train into another, crushing several cars and badly damaging the engine. Ward, who was also acting as engineer on another train, had met with a similar accident the week before, and both trains were still lying in their ruins. These circumstances were singularly favorable to our scheme! There being no engines to operate Folwell, Ward, and Pierce gave out that they would go down and ascertain what could be done toward repairing the damaged locomotives, intimating that, if their presence were not afterward required in the works, they might make an excursion to Mobile, as they had been in the habit of doing at intervals, when work was not pressing, during the past year. No objection was made to their proposition, and accordingly, on the morning of Saturday the 21st of November, 1863, taking the early train, they departed, not unprovided, however, for any emergencies that might arise in the course of their adventure. The day before I had purchased a ham-the last but one in the market as I discovered by visiting all the stores-for which I had paid thirty dollars; and this, having been cooked and boned, was smuggled in the night, together with bread and crackers, on board the tender of the engine, being safely hidden under the wood, where also two trusty shot-guns were snugly stowed away out of sight. It is possible that had the engineer of the train been aware of the nature of the luggage carried by the excursionists he might have objectedmight, indeed, have reported the singular circumstance to his superiors; but fortune was on our side, and so, amply provisioned, four of the party were started and out of reach, certain of not being expected, in any case, before the following Monday or Tuesday. At noon, putting an old pair of boots under my arm, I went to the Superintendent and told him that I would like to run down to Evergreen, seventy-five miles distant, where I could have my boots repaired much more cheaply than in Montgomery. This was true, and the Superintendent knew it. Citizens frequently went to the surrounding towns for repairing and to purchase the necessaries of life, owing to the extravagant prices demanded by the Montgomery dealers. The Superintendent at once consented to my request, remarking that business was slack, and I could as well as not have a day or two to myself. Thus I too, going on board the train just about to leave, got away unsuspected. It really seemed as if Providence were ordering every thing to our hands, and that thought comforted me as the wheezing engine dashed us slowly onward through the mellow afternoon into the solemn night. She at the station groggery, the removal being for- We At the house of the guide we found three other refugees seeking an opportunity to escape, who earnestly entreated that they might be permitted to join our party; but we did not know how far they could be trusted, and therefore declined the pleasure of their company. learned, in the conversation that ensued upon their request, that our guide had already piloted thirty-eight loyalists like ourselves across the enemy's lines; and all of us felt safer and more confident upon hearing that he had never yet failed in his undertakings. Shortly before two o'clock in the morning, having been refreshed by a substantial repast, with the guide in advance, we set out on our pilgrimage. We had nearly one hundred miles yet to travel. We knew the way was a difficult one; that the country was thronged by enemies; that there were dense, malarious swamps to cross, wide rivers to pass, great stretches of forest to penetrate; that, in a word, dangers would confront us at almost every step; but nothing we might meet could possibly equal in horror the sad, dismal life we were leaving, and so, making light of scratches, bruises, and the ghostly goblins of wood and thicket, we went courageously forward. After walking some three miles or more we encountered our first serious impediPassing Evergreen I reached Burnt Corn Sta- ment in a creek which it was necessary to cross, tion at midnight and found my comrades-who, and which, after some difficulty, was finally leaving the train at various points, had there passed in a boat which the guide found in the united - awaiting me. This station was ten darkness somewhere under the bank. From that miles from Pollard, to which place it had been time until ten o'clock the following morning we deemed unsafe to go, owing to the presence marched steadily onward, moving, after daythere of a considerable Confederate force. At light, with the utmost caution-keeping away Burnt Corn, Ward and Pierce had removed our from the main roads, and flanking, by circuitarms and provisions from the tender, while Fol-ous movements, the few houses lying along the well was entertaining the engineer and fireman route. The distance accomplished up to this |