flew to the anvils, which resounded from every street corner, and exemplified their determination to mould ammunition enough in one day, if necessary, to suppress rebellion. Women offered up their first-born as freely as would the Hindoo to appease the angry gods; and boys, impromptu, took the field, and fought miniature battles in the Sabbath streets. Ministers inspired the defence by burning words from the pulpit; lawyers and orators from every street, stand, and forum reiterated with stirring eloquence: On to the defence, or we perish! Capitalists, millionaires, offered all their hoarded wealth to sustain those who went forward, and many of them took oath to join the ranks then as privates. The insulted flag suddenly bloomed from every bosom. "Rally round the flag;" "Defend the flag;" "To arms for the flag;" "Avenge the stars and stripes," were mottoes accompanying the flag that flamed from every window, above every door, on gateways, street corners, house-tops, locomotives, steeples, church spires, until the very atmosphere was dimmed by innumerable banners. The rostrum was busy at work. Impromptu sermons were preached, that proved our land to be one established by Heaven for free speech, free press, liberty, and the free "pursuit of happiness;" while balconies, platforms, court-house steps, etc., resounded with oratory from men who had never spoken before; martial music resounded through the streets; the "Star-spangled Banner," taking the place of religious hymns, swelling from thousands of voices, drowned the Sabbath tones of choir and organ. Gentlemen's hats were

adorned with miniature flags, rosettes of "red, white, and blue" streamed from every lady's dress, and even bouquets for sweethearts were arranged in national colors. As I beheld the livid faces and stern features in which was condensed a terrible fervor of patriotic rage, I knew that the blood of the old Anglo-Saxon race was not subdued, but that it was as fierce, as invincible, as in the best days of British warfare. There was any thing but "peace on earth and good-will to man;" on that day rebellion was denounced with a heartiness that augured well for victory when the struggle at arms should come. As the troubled day began to close, a western sky sympathetically caught the national colors, and lingered for some moments above the scene. The phenomenon was taken as a happy omen, and from the thousands who witnessed it shouts went up, as under a common inspiration, for the "red, white, and blue." One thought, one determination, beneath this affluence of enthusiasm and energy, possessed all loyal hearts,that as slavery had taken up the sword against the nation, by the sword, in that nation's hand, it should perish. Thus closed the 14th day of April, 1861, in the city of Chicago.

On the 15th, Mr. Lincoln responded to the popular desire so far as to call for 75,000 volunteers-three months' men. Had it been 300,000, he would but have met the people half way. Congress was also summoned to meet on the 4th of July, but the people asked, Why not at once? The government having no authority to contract debts, tenders of aid came

from every section-from states and municipalities, which offered appropriations for every man that went. The North was alive with impromptu companies and regiments; old patriotic songs, and new ones born of the genius and spirit of the new epoch, filled the air. In every town, hamlet, and locality the display of flags, in the hands of aged men and wondering, excited children, draping streets and churches, halls of justice and legislation, was a scene truly inspiring. The women, not less loyal than the men, joined, so far as practicable, in these public demonstrations; and, instead of mourning over the departure of husband, brother, or son, set themselves earnestly to work to provide for the necessities and comforts of the march, the battle-field, and the hospitals. Every Northern State, and some of the Border States, responded instantly to the call; but Virginia, Kentucky, Louis iana, Tennessee, and Arkansas refused to honor it. Soon the Old Dominion, through mingled fraud and force, cut loose from the nation, in the unquestioned certainty of becoming the battle-ground of the conflict which her fatal pride and weakness would prolong-crushed and ground to powder between the upper and nether millstones of Union and Secession.

None of these things troubled the people, whose wisdom was for once equal to their zeal. They saw the great need, they realized the great danger, and were prepared to yield all, to brave all, to meet it. The government alone did not seemingly comprehend the crisis. It exhibited an indecision, a policy of temporizing and procrastination, which, along with the

treason that filled the Capitol and took advantage of every weakness in high places, brought the nation to the verge of ruin. A hesitating policy, divided counsels, half-hearted, uncertain, ill-directed activity, soon produced their sad fruits, in the destruction of the then priceless stores of the Norfolk navy-yard and the Harper's Ferry arsenal, and the evacuation of these important strongholds. Yet these disasters only served to more deeply fire the people and fuse them into one. Four days after the call for troops, Massachusetts regiments, on the way to the Capital, entered Baltimore, and met with indignities and violence at the hands of a rebel mob. Not even this stimulus was needed to more intensely arouse the nation, for Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were, along with Massachusetts, simultaneously in motion. New York sent her favorite holiday regiment, the noted Seventh; and Massachusetts, in ten days, followed up her pioneer regiment with the flower of her youth and manhood, gathered from every profession and pursuit in the highest class. 'Tis needless to recapitulate the Maryland troubles. Enough to recall that, through the decision and energy of Butler, Baltimore was "flanked;" and the President having "put his foot down," a sure and speedy path was opened to the Capital, over such "sacred soil" as Maryland could claim ownership in. The Capital was saved; but the popular excitement in no degree abated. Every voice throughout the North, of friend or foe of the administration, was "still for war." New York alone was held doubtful in public estimation. Fernando

Wood, its would-be autocrat, who had given the rebels more than sentimental aid and comfort, threatened to detach the metropolis of the country from its State and the government, and assert for it the rank of a "free city." But few there were who did not expect that a city so built up on commerce with the South, whose business men looked to Southern promises to pay as the chief source of their income, would long hesitate between certain bankruptcy and an uncertain hope of continued success, in placing the weight of wealth and its wisdom in the Southern scale. But such did not have long to wait. Responsive to the most earnest utterances of the population of the great Northwest, came the patriotic thunder of the glorious meeting in Union Square, "Down with the Rebellion!" This decisive step left the South utterly without hope of Northern help. But secession, now gone to the length of armed rebellion, could not or would not retreat. In the midst of the Rubicon, to return was more perilous than to go over. Every step taken by the North was o'ermatched by the South, which answered proclamation, and call, and levy, and armament with their like. State after State, stronghold after stronghold abandoned the Union, or was possessed by its foes. One officer high in rank followed another, until nearly all the military experience, if not the military science which the nation had conferred, was false to it in the hour of peril. Vessels were captured; cities fell; munitions of war, government mints, and custom-houses were seized. At length it dawned upon the government