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338 Written for Burke’s Weekly. The Sensitive Plant. t COTTAGER'S home, quite humble and rude, In the midst of a forest calmly . stood; And modestly rose broad spreading ■vr trees, (~p Whose foliage sang to the passing breeze. And there quietly played a laughing brook, Which darted away from the sun’s bright look. And hid itself ’mid the grass and fern To peep saucily out at the sun’s return. And all day long this frolicsome brook Mirrors the flowers that into it look ; And no wonder its heart is wild with delight, When their eyes are butchanged for the stars of night . And no wonder the envious flowers weep When the stars keep watch while the brook’s asleep, And with their own sweet smiling eyes Reflect the beauty of Paradise. But there was one, the sensitive plant, Which, from jealousy, grew so faint She certainly would one day have died But for a tulip's inordinate pride, Who, with gaudy head disdainfully raised, In pity on the poor little floweret gazed, And lifting it tenderly into her arms, Kissed it and told it of manifold charms Which none possessed but its own little self, And stroking it, called it a shy little elf, Whose modesty always would shield it from harm, Though ready to faint at the slightest alarm. A sweet blush-rose was blossoming near, Scenting with fragrance the amorous air, And gracefully bowing her noble head. Approved of all that the tulip said. The beautiful rose, not gaudy or vain, Was conscious of power that few can attain. Her candid approval is deemed of great worth By all the bright flowers that people the earth, And kissing its poor little quivering lips Till it trembled with delight to its fingertips, She bade the sensitive plant good night. Which gratefully smiled through a tear-drop bright. And folding her rose-tinted curtains, to keep Fresh her bright color, she sank to sleep, And dreamed beautiful dreams of sunlit bowers Where the sensitive plant was the queen of flowers. But others there were who heard all that was said, And they vowed that the brooklet never should wed So foolish a thing as the sensitive plnr t; Whose sensitiveness was nothing but cant; Whose modest demeanor was vanity’s garb, The honey with which she baited her barb ; And a feeling of envy ran through the crowd, And the clamor of voices grew very loud. Now a pretty brown butterfly, quite out of sight, Heard every word that was uttered that night, And dressing herself by the very first bcam3 That gilded the hills and crimsoned the streams, And taking a hurried breakfast of dew, On her mission of love she rapidly flew ; Till folding her wings, quite weary and faint She entered the door of the sensitive plant. BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. The poor little thing was trembling with fear, And the butterfly kissed away a bright tear As she fondly caressed her, and breathed in her ear The tale of vile slander which she chanc-cd to hear. And the sensitive plant, from that hapless day. Forever is trembling and turning away When approached by her friends, though ever so true — A mournful example of what slander may do 1 Mrs. Mary IVare. Columbiana , Ala. Written for Burke’s Weekly. THE ADVENTURES OF BIG-FOOT WALLACE, The Texas Ranger and Hunter. By the Author of u Jack Dobell; or , A Boy's Adventures in Texas." CHAPTER XLIII. SUDDEN CHANGE OF QUARTERS —RANCHO SOLADO ONCE MORE —BRUTAL ORDER — THE DRAWING OF THE BEANS —“ DIP DEEP, BOYS” —THE BABBOON-FACED MEXICAN OFFICER —INDIFFERENCE OF THE MEN —THE ONE EXCEPTION —WAL- LACE DRAWS A WHITE BEAN —“ OULD IRELAND FOREVER” —SPEEDY EXECU TION —MIRACULOUS ESCAPE AND SUB SEQUENT DEATH. jouru at Saltillo, we were 0 n e morning J|ll/vo roui?e d u p by 011 r guard, and told to ready to march, as we ivere to start that day to the P' c ity of Mexico. A few mo* "S[ ments afterwards the guard paraded in front of our quar ters. We were taken out and formed into line, and marched off on the road back towards Rancho Solado, where, some weeks previously, we had risen upon and surprised the guard under the command of Colonel Barragan. Hand cuffed and bound together in pairs, to cut off all chance of our escaping or making another attack upon the guard, we were driven along the road at a gait that would have been “ killing ” even to men that were not fettered as we were. On the evening of the fourth day, I think it was, after leaving Saltillo, we came in sight, once more, of the lonely desolate “ Rancho Solado.” The offi cer now in command of the guard, Col. Orlez, had spoken kindly to us fre quently during the day, telling us to “be cheerful and walk up fast, for that the sooner we arrived at the city of Mexico, the sooner we would be liber ated and sent back home.” Notwith standing such assurances, from the first moment the men caught sight of the dismal old ranch, whether it was the dreariness of the locality, or the recol lection of what had happened there when we rose on the guard, and of the sufferings and disasters that followed in the wake of that event, or whether it was some dim foreboding of the “bloody scene ” that was to be enacted there again so soon, that weighed upon the minds of the men, I know not; but not a word was uttered by any one, as we trudged along silent and depressed, un til we reached the hated spot, and were once more securely fastened up in the same corral we had occupied before. But a few moments elapsed when an officer, accompanied by an interpreter, entered the coral, and calling our at tention, proceeded to read to us from a paper he held in his hand, a mandate from the “Supreme Government of Mexico,” ordering the instant execu tion of every tenth man. Some of the more sanguine among us fully thought that the paper contained an order for our release, and eagerly crowded around the interpreter to hear the joy ful news, but when the purport of the writing was explained to us by the in terpreter, this barbarous decimation of our number came upon us. so unex pectedly that we stood for a moment stunned and confused by the sudden ness of the shock. Then a reaction took place, and if our hands had only been unshackled, unarmed as we were, the old Rancho Solado would have wit nessed another up-rising, ten times as bloody as the first; but when we look ed upon our manacled limbs, and the serried ranks and glittering bayonets of the large guard drawn up around us, we saw at once that any attempt at resist ance would be utter folly, and we quiet ly submitted to our fate. It was determined that the seventeen men to be executed should be selected by lottery, and in a little while a squad of Mexican officers came into the cor ral, preceeded by a soldier, bearing an earthen vessel, which he placed upon a low stone wall bounding the farther side of the corral, and which was in tended to hold a number of white and black beans, corresponding to the num ber of men and officers in our com mand. The Mexican officers stationed themselves near the earthen pot, to overlook and superintend the lottery, and see that everyone had a fair chance for his life. One of them then pro ceeded to count out so many white beans, which he poured into the vessel, and then dropped in the fatal seventeen black ones on top of them, covering the whole with a thick napkin or cloth. We were then formed into line and drawn up in front of the low wall on which the earthen pot had been placed. Before the drawing began, they in formed us that if any man drew out more than one bean, and either of them should prove a black one, he should be regarded as having drawn a black one solely, and be shot accordingly. Our commissioned officers were or dered to draw first. Captain Cameron stepped forward, and without the slight est visible trepidation put his hand un der the cloth and drew out a white bean. He had observed when the Mex ican officer put the beans in the pot lie poured the white in first and the black ones on top of them, and then set it down without shaking, possibly with the intention of forcing as large a number as possible of the black beans upon our commissioned officers, who were to have the first drawing. When he re turned to his place in the line, he whis pered to those nearest him, “Dip deep, boys,” and by following his advice all the officers drew whitebeans except Captain Eastland. After the officers had all drawn, the “ muster rolls” of the men were pro duced, and we were called forward as our names appeared upon them. Some of the Mexican officers present were evidently much affected by the courage and nonchalance manifested by the men in this fiery trial ; others, on the con trary, seemed to enjoy the whole pro ceedings hugely, particularly one little swarthy baboon-visaged chap that look ed as if he had subsisted all his life on a short allowance of red pepper and cigaritos. He appeared to take an es pecial delight in the hesitation of some of the men when they put their hands in the vessel, for even the bravest felt some reluctance to draw when he knew that life or certain death depended up on the color of the bean he might select. Whenever there was the slightest hesi tation, this officer would say, in appa rently the most commisserating tone: “ Take your time, ‘mi liino,’ (my child); don’t hurry yourself, ‘mi muchaco,’ (my boy) ; be careful, ‘mi pobrecito,’ (poor fellow) ; you know if you get a black bean you will be taken out and shot in ten a fact we had al ready been fully apprised of. “Ah! that’s unfortunate,” he would say when a poor fellow drew a black bean, “ but better luck to you the next time.” Yet all the while he was talking in this way, in the kindest accents, a devil ish grin on his baboon-face indicated the great pleasure he took in the anx iety and distress of these “poor fel lows.” I am not of a revengeful disposition, but if that Mexican had ever fallen into my power, his chances of living to a “good old age” would have been mis erably slim, and I could have recognized him among ten thousand, for his weazen features and his diabolical grin were in dellibly impressed upon my memory. I’ll tell you how I would have served him. I would have bought a bushel of black beans, cooked them about half done in a big pot, and made him set down upon it and eat until lie bursted. I’d have given him a dose that would have stretched his little tawny hide as tight as a bass drum. He should have