holy war can be soon brought to a close, and the dove of peace unfolds its wings over a redeemed and consolidated republic. "I have seen great good done by our Soldiers' Relief Associations. The mere fact of their existence was a boon to the soldier: it was a fraternal response from Washington to the firesides of the East, the North, and the West; and I am sure that the clerks of Washington have done their full duty in these tender and generous services. But I am yet of the opinion that the contributions for the army which are sent to the United States Sanitary Commission are far more wisely bestowed than they have been or can be in any other way. I am sorry to say that so much unnecessary waste, delay, and expense are incurred by adopting any other mode.* * In speaking of this matter, the Sanitary Commission use the following language, chiefly to introduce an unpublished letter of General Washington: "It is hardly just to let this report go forth to the public without a more distinct reference to the deep and earnest, resolute and abiding spirit of patriotism in the women of the country of which the Commission daily receives more tangible evidence than can be conveyed in words. From a backwoods neighborhood, for instance, comes a box containing contributions of bedclothing and wearing-apparel from sixty women and children, the invoice running thus: One pair of stockings from the widow Barber; one quilt, two bottles currant wine, one cheese, Mrs. Barber; two pillowcases and one pair stockings, Jane Barber; one pair stockings and one handkerchief, Lucy Barber; one pair mittens and Robinson Crusoe, Jedediah Barber;' and then follows the list of contributions of another family. A few devout words only are commonly added to such a list, but they imply that the donors are ready to give all they possess if it shall be needed to maintain the inheritance of our fathers. Blankets worn in the Revolution, and others taken in the last war with England, heirloom linen, with great-grandmothers' hand-marks, and many family treasures, are sent as free-will offerings, with simple prayers that they may contribute to the comfort of some defender of liberty. To the same end, the first ladies of the land, if any are entitled to that appellation, have, without cessation, during all the hot summer, been engaged daily in dry, hard, plodding work, sorting, marking, packing goods, and carrying on extended and tedious accounts and correspondence with the precision, accuracy, and regularity of trained merchants. In all there is little of romantic enthusiasm, but much, and, as the months pass, more and more, of deepseated, abiding, self-sacrificing resolution. It seems as if the women were just now beginning to feel how much they love their country; and the inquiry, 'How can we best do something for the army?' is coming from every quarter,-from the border slave States as well as the free. That it is important that this desire should be gratified, and with judicious economy directed where it will most truly aid, however slightly, the strength and comfort of our soldiers, there can be no question. Although our volunteers are, as compared with the soldiers of other armies, generously paid, few large armies of modern times have been as little influenced by mercenary motives. The gifts which, especially when sick and wounded, the men have sent to them from the women at home, can but have an ennobling influence upon them; and the aid given in this manner to the army must create, in all those from whom it proceeds, an interest in and sympathy with the army and with its objects which will prepare them constantly for greater sacrifices and more resolute devotion to the Government, should it be needed. How well Washington understood this, the following letter, written by his own hand at a time when he must have been overloaded with business of the grandest importance, gives evidence. It has never before been published. "Copy of a Letter from General Washington to Mrs. Bache (Daughter of Franklin). "HEAD-QUARTERS IN BERGEN, N. J., 14th of July, 1780. "MADAM :-I have received with much pleasure-but not till last night— your favor of the 4th, specifying the amount of the subscriptions already collected for the use of the American soldiery. "This fresh mark of the patriotism of the ladies entitles them to the highest applause of their country. It is impossible for the army not to feel a superior gratitude on such an instance of goodness. If I am happy in having the concurrence of the ladies, would propose the purchasing of coarse linen, to be made into shirts, with the whole amount of their subscription. A shirt extraordinary to the soldier will be of more service to him than any other thing that could be procured him; while it is not intended to, nor shall, exclude him from the usual supply which he draws from the public. "This appears to me to be the best mode for its application, provided it is approved of by the ladies. I am happy to find you have been good enough to give us a claim on your endeavors to complete the execution of the design. An example so laudable will certainly be nurtured, and must be productive of a favorable issue in the bosoms of the fair, in the sister States. "Let me congratulate our benefactors on the arrival of the French fleet off the harbor of Newport on the afternoon of the 10th. It is this moment announced, but without any particulars, as an interchange of signals had only taken place. "I pray the ladies of your family to receive, with my compliments, my liveliest thanks for the interest they take in my favor. "With the most perfect respect and esteem, "I have the honor to be, madam, "Your obedient and humble servant, XX. The Dark in the White House. "WILLIE LINCOLN is dead!" Everybody in Washington knew Willie, and everybody was sad. Sad,-for it seemed hard for the noble and brilliant boy to be taken away so early, while the sun was just gilding the eastern mountains without a single cloud, and he could look down the sweet valley and see so far into the future. Sad for her who held him as one of the jewels of her homecoronet, dearer than all the insignia of this world's rank. That coronet was broken. It might still dazzle and grace, but it could never be the same coronet again. Sad for the master of the Executive Mansion. There was weight enough pressing on that tired brain,-sorrow enough pressing on that great heart. With the burden of a mighty republic on his shoulders,—a republic betrayed and wounded in the house of its friends,—a republic that had cost so much and become so dear to its own true children, and in whose prosperity the hopes of all men "who waited for the consolation" of the nations were bound up,-a republic for whose safety and triumph God, angels, and all good men would eternally hold him responsible, it seemed to us all, when we heard the news of the boy's death, that even Heaven's own sweet fountain of mercy had dried up. It was a wild winter night; but I desired once more to see how far the process of Willie's embalmment had gone; and, as Dr. Brown wished to make one more visit to the President's House that night, I took his arm at a late hour, and we walked up together. The wind howled desolately; angry gusts struck us at every corner; tempest-clouds were careering high up in the heavens. The dead leaves of the last half-peaceful year, as they flew cuttingly against our cheeks, seemed to have come out of their still graves to join in the dreadful revelry of the Death of the Republic of Washington on the very anniversary of his birth; for it was the eve of the 22d of February, the night in which he was born. "Is it not among the strangest of things that this event should have happened?" "No, doctor: I do not so regard it. You remember some very striking events that have happened in connection with the building we are approaching?-The White House has not been any more exempt from trouble than the other dwellings of America. Poor General Harrison entered it as a prince goes into his palace to rule a great people: in one month he was borne from it to his grave. "He who shall be with us and all loyal men hereafter an unmentioned name, the occupant of this house by accident, and, administering the government without honor, left none to regret his retirement, turned parricide, and now rots in a traitor's grave. "General Taylor, fresh from the fields of his fame as a patriot warrior, came here only to pass a few months of excited and troubled life and then surrender to the only enemy to whom he ever yielded. "Fillmore, who also was summoned here by the act of God, after acquitting himself most manfully and honorably of all his duties, had scarcely vacated this mansion before he was called on to entomb the wife of his youth and the mother of his children, of whom the one he loved best soon after went to the same repose. He descended from this high place to become the chief mourner; and his ovation was a funeral at Buffalo. "So, too, with his successor, who left the new-made grave |