and odd battle-fields, or bloody skirmishes of the war, and often was on hand when the medical stores of the army were lost or inaccessible. It had its nurses and relief agents, wherever they were needed, and in precise proportion to the need. It accepted volunteers, but preferred hired agents, selected for merit and skill, and under rigid discipline.

10. But whence came the money and stores to meet this tremendous outlay? From the home organization of the Sanitary Commission. It endeavored, and with almost perfect success, to bring all the States of the north into one fellowship of labor. Branches, like the original stock-the Women's Central Association of New York, which became a branch only, after the Sanitary Commission was started-were planted in all the loyal States, and over seven thousand local relief societies became tributaries to them. The fingers of all the homes in the north and west moved as with one motion, in preparing garments, food, and canned fruits; the farmers sent forward potatoes and onions; the local societies forwarded them to the branches.

11. These hundreds of boxes, containing the strangest collection of articles, dry-goods and groceries, books and clothing, were overhauled, assorted, marked, repacked, and forwarded to Louisville or Washington, the western and eastern centres of supply. Held there, catalogued and re-assorted, they furnished a never-failing reservoir of nameless articles of clothing, food, and comforts-which, under the direction of the Secretary-inchief (the admirable Frederick L. Olmsted, being the one who originally shaped the internal administration, which was never seriously changed), were sent out to the relief agents at their several stations, on or near the fields of coming battles. 12. The constancy, method, order, and business-like skill, with which these branches and local societies were conducted, not only redound to the patriotism and ability of the American people, but went far to develop unknown powers of usefulness, self-reliance, and administrative talent in thousands of women, and thus enriched the nation in all the departments of life. Nothing in the way of public reforms ever did as much to teach woman her rights and duties, her dignity, and her

capacity for the public service, as the Sanitary Commission. It was the spiritual birthplace to hundreds of women, who knew themselves and their dignity and duty in life from the awakening produced, and the opportunity afforded, by that service.

13. The money necessary to support this expensive arm of the public service,--the woman's arm, stretched out full of pity and help to the soldier in the field—her husband, brother, son— was supplied by the people, through great fairs, in Philadelphia, New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, and elsewhere; and through the spontaneous gifts of the people, who in all ways poured about five millions of dollars into the treasury of the Commission. Nearly a million and a half of this sum was the magnificent offering of the Pacific coast, and especially of California. To this, fifteen million dollars' worth of stores of all kinds, by a moderate estimate, entrusted to the Sanitary Commission, must be added. The Government probably furnished it in steamers, transportation, rent, rations, and facilities, five millions' worth more; so that twenty-five million dollars would not exceed the amount of which the Sanitary Commission were the trusted almoners in the war.

Johnson's Administration.-ANDREW JOHNSON of Tennessee, the vice-president, succeeded Abraham Lincoln, being inaugurated on the 15th of April. He retained, without change, the cabinet of his predecessor. The assassin of the lamented president eluded pursuit until the 26th, when, having been tracked to his hiding-place and refusing to surrender, he was shot. Jefferson Davis, after abandoning Richmond, fled to Georgia, where he was captured. He was then conveyed a prisoner to Fortress Monroe; but, after a long confinement, was released (1867).

Amnesty.-Abolition of Slavery.—On the 29th of April, President Johnson issued a proclamation removing restrictions on commerce in the South; and, a month later, he addressed a proclamation of amnesty to all those who had been concerned in the war against the Union, excepting certain specified classes of persons. A resolution of Congress, proposing an amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, having been approved by threefourths of the States, slavery was declared constitutionally abolished on the 18th of December.

Reconstruction.—A Reconstruction Act was passed by Congress, notwithstanding the veto of the President, March 2d, 1867, and two Supplementary Reconstruction Acts were also passed, in like manner. Under these acts, the

states recently at war with the general government were, one after another, restored to their original positions in the Union.

New State and Territory.-During the year 1867, Nebraska* was admitted into the Union, and the territorial possessions of the United States were very much enlarged by the addition of Alas'ka, formerly known as Russian America. This vast tract of land was purchased of Russia, the price paid being $7,200,000, in gold.

Impeachment of the President.—The President having removed Edwin M. Stanton from his position as Secretary of War, without the consent of the Senate, that body passed a resolution notifying the president "that, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, he had no power to remove the Secretary of War and designate any other officer to perform the duties of that office." On the 24th of February, a resolution impeaching the president was adopted by the House of Representatives, and articles of impeachment were subsequently presented to the Senate. The trial was long and tedious, and resulted in the acquittal of the accused, although only one vote was wanting to complete the two-thirds majority required to convict him.

Amendment to the Constitution.—The Fourteenth Amendment, which had been proposed by Congress, guaranteeing equal civil rights to all persons, born or naturalized in the United States, was declared adopted on the 28th of July, 1868, having been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of all the States.

Grant's Administration.-ULYSSES S. GRANT, of Illinois, having been duly elected, was inaugurated as president on the 4th of March, 1869. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, became, at the same time, vice-president. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, not having complied with the "reconstruction " requirements of Congress, did not participate in the presidential election.

Reconstruction Completed.—During the first year, however, of the administration, these three States, having finally complied with the requirements of Congress, were restored to all their rights as States, and the "Reconstruction of the Union" was thus fully consummated.

Amendment to the Constitution.—The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing to all citizens of the United States the right of suffrage, without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude," was declared adopted, March 30, 1870.

Chicago Fire.-In October of the following year (1871), the most destructive fire in the history of this country occurred at Chicago. About eighteen thousand buildings were destroyed, and over one hundred thousand persons were, in consequence, rendered homeless and destitute. Within ten days after the conflagration, more than five million dollars were subscribed, in this country and Europe, for the relief of the sufferers.

*The word is of Indian origin, ne, signifying water, and braska, wide or shallow; and, being at first applied to the Platte River (which runs through the State), was afterward used as the name of the territory, and subsequently of the state.

Chicago. Whittier.

MEN said at vespers : "All is well!"
In one wild night the city fell;

Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain
Before the fiery hurricane.

On threescore spires had sunset shone,
Where ghastly sunrise looked on none.
Men clasped each others' hands, and said,
"The City of the West is dead!"

Brave hearts who fought, in slow retreat,
The fiends of fire from street to street,
Turned powerless to the blinding glare,
The dumb defiance of despair.

A sudden impulse thrilled each wire
That signalled round that sea of fire;

Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs came;
In tears of pity died the flame.

From East, from West, from South and North,

The messages of hope shot forth,

And underneath the severing wave

The world, full-handed, reached to save.
Fair seemed the old, but fairer still

The new, the dreary void shall fill

With dearer homes than those o'erthrown,
For love shall lay each corner-stone.

Rise, stricken city! From thee throw
The ashen sackcloths of thy woe;
And build, as to Amphion's strain,
To songs of cheer, thy walls again!
How shrivelled in thy hot distress
The primal sin of selfishness!
How instant rose, to take thy part,

The angel in the human heart!

Ah! not in vain the flames that tossed

Above thy dreadful holocaust;

The Christ again has preached through the

The Gospel of humanity!

Then lift once more thy towers on high,

And fret with spires the western sky,

To tell that God is yet with us,

And love is still miraculous!

The Future of the Republic.—Story.

1. WHEN we reflect on what has been, and is, how is it possible not to feel a profound sense of the responsibilities of this Republic to all future ages? What vast motives press upon us for lofty efforts! What brilliant prospects invite our enthu siasm! What solemn warnings at once demand our vigilance, and moderate our confidence!

2. The Old World has already revealed to us, in its unsealed books, the beginning and end of all its own marvellous struggles in the cause of liberty. Greece, lovely Greece, "the land of scholars and the nurse of arts," where sister republics, in fair processions, chanted the praises of liberty and the godswhere, and what is she? For two thousand years the oppressor has bound her to the earth. Her arts are no more. The last sad relics of her temple are but the barracks of a ruthless soldiery: the fragments of her columns and her palaces are in the dust, yet beautiful in ruin.

3. Where are the republics of modern times, which clustered around immortal Italy? Venice and Genoa exist but in name. The Alps, indeed, look down upon the brave and peaceful Swiss in their native fastnesses; but the guaranty of their freedom is in their weakness, and not in their strength. The mountains are not easily crossed, and the valleys are not easily retained. The country is too poor for plunder, and too rough for valuable conquest.

4. We stand, the latest, and, if we fail, probably the last, experiment of self-government by the people. We have begun it under circumstances of the most auspicious nature. We are in the vigor of youth. Our growth has never been checked by the oppressions of tyranny. Our constitutions have never been enfeebled by the vices or luxuries of the Old World. Such as we are, we have been from the beginning-simple, hardy, intelligent, accustomed to self-government and self-respect.

5. The Atlantic rolls between us and any formidable foe. Within our own territory, stretching through many degrees of latitude and longitude, we have the choice of many products,