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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1869, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia Vol. 111-— No. 42. THE NUT-CRACKERS. Friskey were two little nut-crackers who lived in an out-house in the midst of a great forest. It wasn't such a house as we live in, with steps, and floors, and ceilings, and shutters, though it had a window in it, and instead of doors, two of the cunningest little holes'to creep in and out at that you ever did see. It was a two-story house also, but without a bit of a staircase in it. I pre sume you would think this very funny, but Chip and Friskey didn’t. In fact, I don’t suppose they would have used it if there had been one, because they could scamper up and down inside or outside a great deal easier and quicker than we go up and down our stairways. To tell the truth, I doubt if you would have called it a all, for it was only a tree, just a hollow old oak tree ; but it made a very handsome home for nut-crackers, and was thought to be the most stylish dwelling in the whole for est. For you must know, there were a great many of these little people besides Chip and Friskey, who lived in this for est. There was scarcely a tree that hadn’t a family in it somewhere , either stowed away in a sly nook among the branches, or in a cosy knot-hole or de cayed place in the trunk. But there was no one beside wdio had a tw r o-story house; and on this fact, Chip, who was very much given to the vanity of this wicked world, prided him self not a little. When these young people •were look ing about for a home, before they had fairly set up housekeeping, and Chip brought Friskey to look at this dwel ling, she had objected very strongly to taking it. I don’t think she was quite as proud, naturally, as Chip, and be sides she had been used to a very plain kind of life ; her father’s family had all been brought up in only one room, and that was down at the very root of an old chestnut tree; in fact, on what might really be called the “ground floor.” She was not accustomed to such a pre- MACON, GEORGIA, APRIL 16, 1870. tentious style of living, but she did not mention this ; she only said, as any sen sible housekeeper would have done, that “ there would be too much running up and down stairs.” But Chip was like other persons of his sex, and had set his heart upon the two-story dwelling, and urged his wishes with so much earnestness that I pre sume an older head and a harder heart than Friskey’s might have yielded to him. But she was naturally very soft and loving, and besides she had not been married a great while, and so of course she did exactly what he wished her to. And then Chip was very cunning and persuasive. He declared that he would carry up all the heavy nuts, and bun dles, and leaves to the upper story him self ; that Friskey never should hurt her dear little soft paws with any kind of work; that he would bring in all the nice warm hay and moss to make a bed in winter time, and she never should go above the first story at all unless she wished to do so. Yes, even more than this that he would crack all her nuts for her with his own strong jaws, so that she should not spoil either her teeth or her beauty, but keep them both to a green old age. This he said to her one day in early summer-time, as they sat close together on the bough of an old tree, stripping the rough husks off from some green young hazel nuts, and cracking the shells to get at the tender kernels inside. An old mother bird, perched on a twig close by, who had known much of care and trouble in her day, and whose do mestic life had not been very happy, looked sideways at this young couple, and thought how pleasant the world might be if all the husbands in it were as thoughtful, and tender, and atten tive as this young nut-cracker. And Friskey, though she had a good deal of wisdom for one so young, and knew that very much of what Chip was saying was only “talk,” still looked very much pleased as she listened and rubbed her soft little head against his shoulder, but went on cracking her own hazel nuts as before, and didn’t ask him to commence now to do it for her. Wise little Fris key ! Well, the summer-time went on gaily in the new home when once they got accustomed to the ways of the house. Whole No. 146. As for running up and down stairs, Friskey didn't mind that at all. In fact, during the whole summer, while there were plenty of roots and tender herbs about, and it wasn’t much trouble to get meals, she and Chip used to run up and down inside and outside all day long “just for the fun of the thing.” You would have laughed to see them. Starting from the upper door which was right in the crotch where the lowest large limb joined the trunk, they would race down to the very roots, where the other door was, Friskey usually taking the inside, while Chip came down the outer bark. Whether Friskey’s way was a little bit nearer, or whether, as her name implied, she was uncommonly sprjq I can’t say; but certain it is, she would almost always get down first, so that wlen Chip reached the lower door there wereher sharp little nose and saucy brown eyes poked out at him as cunning as could be. Then, as soon as she saw him, whisk! she went back again, and he alter her as fast as he could go. I think that through the summer they both preferred the upper story. It w r as cooler aud more airy up there, and out on the landing, in the crotch of which I told you there was almost always a fine breeze, so that when of an evening they sat out there to enjoy the sunset for a little while before going to bed, they found the place very delightful indeed. Well, the summer went by at length, and then came the merriest season of the year, for the fall is the nut-crackers’ feast-time. Walnuts and butternuts, chestnuts and beechnuts loaded down the trees in the forest where our little friends lived, and the way they ate them would have deen a marvel to most boys and girls, I think. They didn’t crack the shells with a hammer on a stone ; nor they didn’t get their grandfather, as we used to in the winter evenings, to crack them on the edge of a flat-iron, which he held between his knees ; and they didn’t have patent iron nut-crack ers, such as you find in almost every house now-a-days. They always open ed them with their teeth. No matter how hard the shell, the sharp little ivo-