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The Poor Robin.
A^ IIERE came to lny window
qfjl One morning in Spring,
A sweet little Robin,
She came there to sing ;
And the song which she sung
It was sweeter by far
Than ever I heard
On the flute or guitar.
She raised her light wing
And flew far away,
Then resting awhile,
Seemed quietly to say:
Oh, happy 1 oh, happy!
In this bright world to be,
Awake little girl,
And be happy with me!
But while she was singing
Her beautiful song,
A thoughtless young man
With his gun came along—
He shot and he carried
My poor bird away,
And she ne’er will sing more
On the dawn of the day !
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
ELLEN HUNTER:
A STORY OF THE WAR.
DEDICATED TO THE CHILDREN OF THE SOUTH BY OXE
WHO HAS BEEN AX EYE-WITXESS TO THEIR
SORROWS AXI) THEIR SUFFERINGS.
BY BYRD LYTTLE, OF VIRGINIA.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ENEMY COMING.
BHE winter passed rapid
ly away, and the leaves
were just budding out
on the trees, when our
array commenced falling
irds Richmond. Dr. Hun
iliged to leave his family
y were, as his movements
uncertain for them to at
tempt to follow him, and he also thought
it would be much better for Mrs. Hunter
and George to be in the country during
the summer months. Harry had kept
his promise, and captured a horse for
Ellen. She had become quite a good
rider, but as her father never allowed her
to go out alone, she thought, now that he
and the boys were going away, that all
her nice rides were at an end. She called
her horse “ Dixie.”
Dr. Hunter hoped that he might re
main at Orange Court House even after
the army had left; but he received orders
one morning to report in Richmond the
following day, so he could only take a
hurried leave of his family. He prom
ised to come back in a week or two, to
make arrangements for their leaving the
“Home,” if the enemy should have pos
session of that part of the country.
Ellen saw him leave with a sad heart.
She felt as if it would be a long time be
fore she should see him again. It was
well for her, poor child, that the future
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
was hidden from her sight; for her young
heart would have given up in despair,
could she have known all that was to
happen before she saw her dear father
again.
Mrs. Hunter was so opposed to moving
again, that she w T as perfectly satisfied to
remain where she was, particularly as
George seemed more comfortable and
better than he had ever been before. Dr.
Hunter had laid in a good supply of pro
visions for them, and there was no pros
pect of their wanting anything for some
time. Ellen had become quite a good
house-keeper, and though the responsi
bility resting on her did make her face
less bright, and give it sometimes when
alone a care-worn look, it was all good
for her in the end.
Our army had only been gone a short
time, when there were rumors that the
enemy were advancing. The family at
the “Home” paid little attention to the
reports at first, but it soon proved to be
true. One of the neighbors, an old gen
tleman, who was a friend of Dr. Hunter,
rode over one morning, and asked to see
George. Ellen was not surprised at this,
as he had been to see George very often
before, but she was surprised, when, after
sitting a few minutes in George’s room,
he turned to her and said :
“ Miss Ellen, I wish you would leave
me alone with your brother for a little
while; I wish to see him on some busi
ness.”
Ellen rose from her seat,
and saying, “I hope you have no bad
news to tell him; if you have, you must
let me know it too,” she left the room.
She felt so anxious that she could not
keep still, so she walked up and down
the porch until the gentleman left. She
then w T ent directly into George’s room,
and found him looking very much excited
and worried.
“Now, George,” said Ellen, “you must
tell me what is the matter, for I see from
your looks that Mr. Owens has told you
some bad news.”
“He has only told me this, Ellie : He
says the whole Yankee army is encamped
about ten miles the other side of the
Court-House, and will probably pass by
here to-morrow ; but we may expect raid
ing parties every moment. If it was not
for this confounded wound, I might be
able to do something, but as it is you will
have to see after everything.”
Ellen turned pale as she thought of
what was before her, but she said di
rectly, “ I can manage very well, George,
if you will only tell me what to do.”
“ The first thing,” said George, “is to
hide everything valuable in the shape of
silver and jewelry. Now, where can you
put that ? ”
Ellen thought for a moment, and then
said,
“I think I know of a nice place; but
perhaps I had better not tell you, so if
they ask you, you can say you don’t
know where anything is.”
George could not help smiling as Ellen
said this, knowing as he did how little
difference it would make to a Yankee
what he told him, for he would not be
believed, no matter what he said. But
there was no time to be lost; and sending
Ellen out to collect everything together
he arranged the most valuable things in
small packages, and gave them to her
to dispose of. She had to be very quiet
in her movements, so as not to be noticed
by the servants. She had found a fire
place in the basement of the house that
was almost built up, and she put her little
bundles in there, and then covered up the
opening with rubbish. It was a fine hi
ding place, and Ellie was congratulating
herself on having thought of it.
When she returned to George, after
she had finished, he said :
“Ellie, do you think we can trust any
of these servants here ? ”
“ I am afraid not,” said Ellen, “ that is,
any besides Aunt Polly. I know we can
trust her.”
“Yery well,” said George, “you send
the children up stairs to stay with mother,
and then bring Aunt Polly to me.”
As soon as Aunt Polly came into the
room, she said,
“Here I is, Mass George. What’s dat
you want me to do ? ”
“I sent for you, Aunt Polly, to tell you
that the Yankee army will pass by here
to-morrow, and some of them may be
here at any moment.”
“ Bless my soul, Mass George! llow
cum Mass Gen. Lee let ’em cum here?”
“Haven’t time to talk about that now,
Aunt Polly. I wish you to help Ellie
hide all the provisions you can. You
had better put the meat in different
places, so if they only find one hiding
place, we will still have some left; and
mind you, don’t let any of the servants
see you.”
“ Trus me for dat, Mass George. I’se
dun hid things afore now ; and if deni
Yankee varmints gits all oh our meat,
you may jes hah old Aunt Polly’s head,
wool and all.”
George wheeled his chair up to the
window, so that he could have a good
view of the road, but as the day wore on
he became so nervous that he called Bes
sie and Charlie to him, and told them to
play in front of the house, where they