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378 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