FORWARD WITH THE FLAG.

CHAPTER I.

COMMODORE FOOTE AT FORT HENRY.

"Now, papa, do! I think you might! Won't you, please? We haven't had any stories for ever and ever so long. Come, papa, now do;" exclaimed the Warren children, with many more urgent expressions that need not here be repeated; since most little girls and boys know quite well what is usually said on all occasions when the obtaining of a favor seems, to the pleaders at least, to depend on the persistence with which it is urged. The children clung to him, one by each arm, and one by his coat; so, though his hand was on the door-latch, it was evident that they were ready to resist any attempt he might make to escape.

"But I can't just now," said Mr. War

ren. "There's the team coming over the hill with a load of wood. I must go and help get it off. Then there are the cattle to feed. But you shall have a story soon, I promise you."

"That's what

"Soon!" echoed Roger. you've said for nobody knows how long; isn't it, Frank? and not one have we had since Daniel went away; now have we, Frank ?"

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'Say you'll tell us one to-night, father," added Frank, "and we'll let you off 'on parole.'"

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Well, well, perhaps so," said the father, hurrying away from their grasp. "Come, boys, run up to the barn and pitch me down some hay. You may put some through the cutter, too, if you wish."

Away raced Frank and Roger, each eager to outstrip the other, while Maedy picked up the work-basket they had turned over, and restored its scattered contents to their places. "It's just as Roger says," she exclaimed, in the playfully resisting tone that she had assumed with her

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Something's always happening; and always before our bed-time.

One

night it's a meeting; the next somebody comes in, or papa must read the paper, or he's tired, or there's an account to be figured up. I know what I mean to do. Where's the 'Farmer's Counsellor,' mamma? I'm going to hide it, and his slippers, too," she added, gaily, as if the plot for papa's discomfort was in the highest degree gratifying. When he came in

neither slippers nor newspaper were to be found; and the boys, perceiving what Maedy had done, renewed their attack upon him. In the midst of the clamor they were called to supper, and as papa had been brought to terms, the slippers were produced: the newspaper Maedy withheld, for prudential reasons, till later in the evening. At table, conversation turned, as in those days it was almost certain sooner or later to turn, upon public matters, and Franklin asked, "What has become of those rebels we caught, father, that were going to England?"

"We set them at liberty, and they're across the water now, making a sensation, and enjoying the hospitality of our enemies abroad."

"What rebels are they?" asked Roger.

"I know," said Frank. "They were messengers, going to Europe to get the Confederacy recognized as a new nation; and Captain Wilkes caught them on the way, and brought them to Boston as prisoners of war.”

"Their capture," said Mr. Warren, "was a matter of rejoicing to our enemies, who supposed that we should thereby be plunged into a war with Great Britain. A great deal was written on both sides about the law of the case. But I never heard that the Captain of the Trent, the steamer that was carrying Mason and Slidell-was punished, although the Queen's Proclamation of Neutrality gave due warning to those who should convey officers or dispatches of either party. President Lincoln, however, said, "One war at a time," and the people

agreed with him; so the rebel ambassadors were set at liberty last December. Slidell went to England, where he has been treated with distinction. I have heard that his companion, Mr. Mason, disliked the North so much that he used to wear a suit of Virginia homespun, as a protest against trading with the Yankees.. But the buttons on the suit were made in Connecticut; a fact which ought to have taught him that since not even his garments could be made without Northern help, the States were dependent on each other, and should exist in unity."

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"I read an account," said Mrs. Warren, "of a visit Slidell made to the English Parliament. The seat next to him was occupied by a negro, connected with the embassy from Hayti; and I thought the Southern minister must have felt rather fidgetty; for in England, you know, a man is not degraded because of the color of his skin." "But Slidell's pretended government recognizes slavery as its corner-stone,' added Mrs. Warren; "and one of its prin

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