he that dares to sit by the fireside from which he has never stirred and prate his malign insinuations?

They have come back to us, but not as they went away. For boys tenderly reared and carefully watched, for men with soft hands and sheltered lives, we have a band of bronzed and scarred, warworn and weather-beaten veterans. Two years may have been twenty for the sinewy manliness to which they have grown. We hoped that on their return we should

"hear the bells of cheer

Ring peace and freedom in,"

but it was not to be. Their feet are shod only with the preparations of the gospel of peace: still. the trumpet sounds to arms, but they are undismayed. They have come back only for one breathing-space, and they will rally yet again around the dear old flag. Let their home-sojourn be filled to the brim with pleasant things, and their after-life crowded with pleasant memories. Give, first of all, thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Let the voice of social love greet them, and the hand of friendship clasp theirs. O maidens, bring to them your sweetest smiles; mothers, unfold your deepest tenderness; and crow your lustiest, round-eyed babies, voicing a joy you do not understand. Spread, blue and clear above their heads, ye

2

feet, hills of snow. ye

wintry skies. Lie white and hard beneath their Let sleigh-bells jingle merrily, let the lamp be brightly trimmed, and the red firelight dance. Let friends and neighbors meet to give them hearty welcome. Bring down to the spit the king of the turkeys, cram the puddings with pulpy plums. Marshal the pumpkins and the cranberries, and the spicy, multifarious mixtures for all manner of unwholesome edibles that men delight in; they can stand it for a month, and on distant camping-grounds, when hard-tack shall have resumed its sway, it may delight them to remember these things.

They have come back to us, but not all. The still deadliness of malaria and "the thunder-storm of battle" have made sad havoc here. We have but thinned and shattered ranks for the gallant regiments that went

"Marching along, fifty score strong,
Great-hearted gentlemen."

They come back tens, who went out hundreds. Their graves are green in many a valley, and the breezes whisper softly where they lie. Under the waters and above the clouds they rest in dreamless slumber. Some sleep among their kindred, in the shade of marble monuments, and some sleep just as peacefully whose sepulchres no man shall ever know. God help the hearts whose wounds will this day bleed afresh.

The sounds have ceased. The cannon's low

roll is hushed, and the bells are still. Now the crowds are dispersing, the civic greeting is over, and the doors of happy homes open, and close again. The angel of the Lord descend and crown them with his blessing.

T is right and fitting that this nation should cherish a peculiar gratitude and render especial thanksgiving to the Most High. Through all its existence it has rejoiced in the sunshine of Divine favor; but never has that favor been so benignly and bountifully bestowed as in these latter days. For the unexampled material prosperity which has waited upon our steps, - for blessings in city and field, in basket and store, in all that we have set our hand unto, it is meet that we should render thanks to the Good Giver; but for the especial blessings of these last four years, - for the sudden uprising of manhood, for the great revival of justice, and truth, and love, without which material prosperity is but a second death, for the wisdom to do, the courage to dare, the patience to endure, and the godlike strength to sacrifice all in a righteous cause, let us give thanks; for in these consists a people's life.

То every nation there comes an hour whereon hang trembling the issues of its fate. Has it vitality to withstand the shock of conflict and the turmoil of surprise? Will it slowly gather itself up for victorious onset? or will it sink unresisting into darkness and the grave?

To this nation, as to all, the question came : Ease or honor, death or life? Subtle and savage, with a bribe in his hand, and a threat on his tongue, the tempter stood. Let it be remembered with lasting gratitude that there was neither pause nor parley when once his purpose was revealed. The answer came, the voice of millions like the

voice of one. From city and village, from mountain and prairie, from the granite coast of the Atlantic to the golden gate of the Pacific, the answer came. It roared from a thousand cannon, it flashed from a million muskets. The sudden gleam of uplifted swords revealed it, the quiver of bristling bayonets wrote it in blood. A knell to the despot, a pæan to the slave, it thundered round the world.

Then the thing which we had greatly feared came upon us, and that spectre which we had been afraid of came unto us, and, behold, length of days was in its right hand, and in its left hand riches and honor. What the lion-hearted warrior of England was to the children of the Saracens, that had the gaunt mystery of Secession been to the little ones of this generation, an evening phantom and a morning fear, at the mere mention of