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8 YOUTH'S DEPARTMENT. (Prom the N. O. Picayanc.] A Chirp from Mother Hobin. BY PEARL RJVJSBB. Hee you little Mother Robin, BitUntf on he* humble neat V Learn from her my poem legion, Nature's teachers are the beat. other neats are lined more aoftly— Larger neats than hers she eees . other flests are swinging higher, In the Summer’s gentle breeze. But th<‘ Robin is contented ; Mine is warm enough, she says : enough to hold my birdies Through their tender nestling day# Smaller i-radle, warmer cover! For my little onea, ghe sings ; Four there are, but see how snugly They are tucked beneath my wings. And I envy not my neighbors. Red bird, blue bird, lark, or thrush ; For the breeze that rocks the tree tops Rocks the cradle in the bush. And the same bright sunshine warms me— By ttie same kind hand I’m fed; With the same green earth around me. Ami the same sky overhead. ' ’ho’ ray dress is something plainer Than my cousin’s, Madame Red; Tho’ 1 have no vest of crimson. And no gay hood on my head— mill, my robe of graver colors Suits my station and my nest; And t he Master knows what costume Would become a robin best. Hobolochitto, Hancock Cos., Miss., February, 18)58 <rEOCiE APHIC AL ENHGMA. ACROSTICAL. l uin composed of 14 letter*. Mv 1. 11, .12, 6, 8. 0, is a village of France. * My 2, 18, 10, 5,6, is a river of Denmark. My 8,6, 11, 10, 5,7, is a small island of Brazil. My 4,5, 11. i*>. is a cape of North America. My 5, 0, 18, 2, is a lake of North America. My 6,8, 10, 11, is a small town of Germany. My 7,5, 9,0, -7, is a river of Belgium. My 8, 10.5, 14. 7. 11, is a Russian sea port. My 9,8, 14. 14, is one of the Shetland Islands. My 10, 8, 12. 5,0, is a port of England. My 11, 9, 10, 6, 18, 11, is a city of Naples. My 12, I!, 9, 11, is a mountain of Wales. My 18, 9,9, is a river of Central Europe. My 14, 5,6, 8. 9, is a town of Spain. My whole is the name of a distinguished Southern patriot. Auswer next.week. Answer to Last Week's Enigma.— Banner of the South : Bat—Seth—Ton —Too-- Neat—Sou—Hoe—Fort —Hare. Adapted from the German- A STORY FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS THK BLACK CAT AND THE SAILOItS. Seven years ago, a vessel hound for Smyrna, oil the shore of the Mediterra nean Sen, left Bremen. The captain, who was ne ding some more sailors for the voyage, went ashore at Gibraltar for the purpose of getting at least half a dozen more. At daybreak next morn ing. a. passv-nger came on hoard of the vessel, though he had broken the rules by bringing a large black cat on hoard with him. About nine o’clock in the morning, when the cat walked forward on deck with him, one of the sailors said to him : ‘‘.Friend, you don’t think of taking that animal to sea with you ?” “Os course I do,” said the passenger, a little roughly. “The cat is my old friend, .and 1 shall never separate from him. The sailor replied : “The captain will eornc on hoard about ten o’clock, and at twelve we shall set sail again. You had better dispose of your cat before the cap tain comes aboard, or else you will both have to go ashore—or, at least, your cat will have to go. We allow no cats on hoard our vessel, and we never allow a passenger to take an animal with him.” Another sailor said : “If that cat comes near me, f will lake a handspike ami knock it overboard." With that, the owner of the cat became quite angry, saving: “1 tell you to let my vat alone. If you do not do so you will dud it will be the worse for you. it is a tierce animal, and if any of you inter fen’ with it, it will be likely to scratch you pretty s erely for your impudence.’’ W hen the mate called all the sailors togethoi none part of the deck, the pas senger \ no owned the eat went off alone, but the animal itself crept into a dark corner, mewed violently, and rolled its eves as if they were cods of tire. “Never mind,” said the old sailors,” we will do nothing with the cat until the captain comes, but when he is on board, that will be the end of the affair.” run e mougli. when the captain came on board, one of the r tirst objects that at tracted his attention was the large black cat belonging to the traveller. Then the sailors related to him all that had occurred, when the captain told the man that his cat must be taken ashore, or else both he and his cat must land together. The man protested against the conduct of the cap tain and his sailors, but all that he said was of no avail. He would not consent to have his cat taken from him, so he deter mined to go ashore, aud his cat could be landed with him. But the great difficul ty now was to take the cat and put it iuto the small boat ; for it was very wild, and was angry enough to tear anybody’s eves out. * The mate said : “Now, since we cannot capture the cat, we can do something else. We can get it into a certain place, and knock it overboard into the sea.” But by this time night had come on, and it was very dark. The little boat was drawn closely up to the vessel, when the man and his baggage were lowered into it.— Then the mate, thinking he had a favora ble opportunity, struck the cat with a broom, and it fell overboard. Everybody heard it fall into the water, but it did not fall into the boat where the man who owned it was. The sailors, of course, supposed that the animal was drowned in a little while, but they were glad tc, get rid of it in any possible way. The owner of it complained bitterly as he was taken ashore, and he said : “You have thrown a black eat over board, and you will have a sad fate ! You will see the results of it all your life ! I would never sail iu a ship on which there could be one found who was williug to knock a black cat overboard ! Now, re member, though you are bound for Smyr na, and you arc on a strong vessel, you will never reach that harbor, for a black cat has been knocked from her deck !’’ The next morning the vessel was making her way rapidly eastward, and a number of the sailors began to talk over the circumstance that had happened on the previous day. Some of them were very superstitious, and had long had the notion —where they got it from I cannot tell—that anybody who takes a black cat from a vessel, whether easily or by force, will never prosper as long as be lives ; while the vessel itself will be wrecked in a short time. The remarks of those who were most superstitious had quite an effect on others who had paid no attention to the circumstance whatever; and in a cuople of days, or three at most, nearly all the sailors seemed to have a notion that the vessel was to be wrecked, and all ou board would be lost. About the close of the third day, the clouds darkened, the wind increased, and a furious storm arose. At onetime the wind became so violent that the main must broke, and as it fell it made a great crash. One sailor thought that he heard the mewing of a cat. ami no sooner was the deck ol the vessel cleared again tnan he told several of his companions that lie had seen the ghost of the black cat, and that the cat had pronounced a curse on the captain and all the sailors, aud that it had declared, like the master of the black cat had done, that the vessel would never reach Smyrna. The following afternoon, another sailor declared that he too had seen the ghost of the olack cat, aud that it had said to him that the vessel would certainly be ship wrecked, and that not a soul would es cape. The cat mewed violently, and said it was the greatest curse in the world to take a black one like it from a vessel. The sailors began to be very much dis couraged, and the captain saw the effect which their superstition had upon them. The captain told them it was all a foolish notion, and there was no cat at all on board, and, as to the ghost ol a cat, such a thing never existed. © The first night after the captain said these words, he thought that he heard a violent mewing in a certain part oi the vessel, and though he did not see any thing, he thought he eeuld hardly be mis taken as to its being that of a cat. So lie determined that lie would find out what made the noise, and he waited hour uttei hour, listening to tho mewing nearly all the time! But he did not move from the spot, for he was determined to wait, and see if it really was a cat or not. Sure enough, what should he see but a great black cat, though it was not a ghost, but a real cat. As soon as he saw it, and looked at it very carefully, he called the mate and showed it to him. Then he had a number of the sailers called, and as they stood before the cat, he said to them: “Now, do you sec what dunces you have made ot yourselves ? This is nothing else than the traveller s black cat itself, and no ghost of a cat. Look at it now, and believe your own eyes." " Remarkable as it may seem, this \va really the cat which belonged to the pass who was landed at Gibraltar. Though it had been knocked off the vessel by a broom, it nevertheless climbed up Mill® ©I TJSS S®Uf®. again by the ship’s ladder, which was hanging at tho side. It no sooner reached the deck than it made its way down into the hold of the vessel, which at that time was only half covered. So long as it could satisfy its hunger by catching mice and rats in the hold, it did not make any noise. But as soon as the storm came, I suppose it became sick a little, or else was hurt by something falling upon it, and it then commenced to make a violent mewing. It was alter the mast had fallen, and there was occasion to go into the hold of the vessel to get canvass for fixing up another sail, and timbers to rig up a tem porary mast, that the black cat found its way out again. Thus the whole thing be came as clear as noon-day. But did the vessel reaeh Smyrna ! A es, indeed ; there never was a more beautiful morning than the one when that noble ves sel from Bremen, with sails dying, and with as cheerful a ship’s crew as ever sang a boatman’s song, sailed into the harbor of Smyrna. The only accident which they met with on the voyage was the loss ot a mast in a sudden gale. All on board were well, and the voyage was made in an unu sually quick time, so you may judge for yourselves of the force there was in the superstitious notion of the skilors, that the vessel from which a black cat is taken will never reach the port, but that she aud all on board will perish in the waves. Now, let me say to the little readers of The Banner of the South, that when ever anybody wants them to believe some superstitious notion, it would be well for them to think of the black cat’s ghost on the ship that sailed from Bremen to Smyr na. A Spanish Anecdote. The following beautiful lines on ViUcie’s conversa tion with a Geronomite lriar iu some Spanish convent on the picture of the “Last Supper,” are from Moxon’a Selections from Lord Houghton’s Poems : It was a holy usage to record, Upon each Refectory’s side or end, This last mysterious Supper of our Lord. That meanest appetites might upward tend. Withiu the Convent Talaoe of old Spain- Rich with the gifts and monuments of kings. Hung such a picture, said by some to reign The sovereign glory' of these wondrous things. A painter of ftur-fame in deep delight Dwelt ou each beauty he so well discerned. While, in low tones, a gray Geronomite This answer to his eestacy returned : ‘Stranger! I have received my daily meal In this good company now three score years. And thou, who’er thou art, can’st hardly fed How time these lifeless images endears. “Lifeless—ah, no! both Faith and Art have given That passing hour a life of endless rest, And every soul wh > loves the food of Heaven May to that table come a welcome guest. “Lifeless—ah, no! while in mine heart are store.! Sad memories of my brethren dead and gone. Familiar places vacant round our board. And still that sil-Dt Supper lasting on. “While I review my youth—what I was then— What I am now, and ye, beloved ones all! It seems as if these were the living men, And we the colored shadows on the wall.' “ HOME, SWEET HOME" Night dropped her shadowy veil over London, and the mantle of mists that, all day long had enveloped the city, grew more dense and fell in beaded drops of rain. The gas lights burned brightly at the corners, but it was a dreary night to be out in. Yet crowds filled the streets, for even in night storms, the great thor oughfares are never deserted. Guilt and wretchedness arc always wakeful and abroad. To realize the desolation of loneliness, one must be a stranger in a crowded city, with a sensitive nature, and a refinement that sbrinks from rude ccm tacts, and uncongenial companionship. Alone in tho country, with the blue sky above us, and the green grass beneath our feet, there are charms that woo us to forgetfulness. There is much music in the running stream and beauty in tho flowers that grow upon its banks. Some German writer, I have forgotton who, calls flowers the stars of earth, and stars the flowers of heaven. Fair and radiant flowers they are and shed their brightness on the smoke-wreathed city, but in their matchless, softened and mellowed light seem to linger more pleasantly on green fields and waving corn. Alone in London ! Dreary aud deso late reality, that swelled almost, to burst ing a weary and aching heart. The stranger gathered his thin cloak around his shivering form, and drew bis hat over his face, with a sensitive shrinking from the crowd that rudely jostled past him. He was alone in London, and very poor, not even a shilling to procure a scanty supper. Somewhere in a dark part of the city, where the gas lights were few, up many pair of stairs, was the garret in which he slept, but in i t there was nothing save the darkness, one broken chair and a wretch ed bed with its scanty covering. When he entered this desolate chamber in nights like this, an unseen company surrounded him, the spirits of the view less air, and in the wailings of the wind, they told him strange mysterious tales of wretchedness and dread, until, half wild with dark imaginings, he rushed forth in the night and the pelting storm. Thus through the chilling sleet and rain he walked the streets, looking into the hard faces of the passers by and wondering if in all London there was another man who had no one to care for him, no one to love him. And then he thought how deliciously strange it would seem to him —a stranger and wanderer for many years—to be loved. He hoped the blessed light would dawu upon him, but iu the darkness of this night it seemed a great way off. The cloud of poverty and gloom that wrapped his heart was too cold and deep, he feared, for human sympathy aud love to pene trate. Hd seemed to see before him, Fate, with wierd fingers, weaving the mys tic web of his lonely destiny, and as he watched the phantom hands with feverish intensity, he wondered if at - some-time future day, that a mantle of brightness might fall upon him instead of a pall. A strain of sweet, sad music broke in upon his lonely musing**. Over all refined na tures music has an absorbing power, and though it often fills the soul with sadness, it casts upon it the spell of an irresistible fascination ; and the stranger paused in his desolate walk to listen to the song. The windows of the princely mansion were but half veiled, and he could see the happy group that surrounded the piano, and the fair girl that sang the soft minor air which sank into the listener’s heart. He was a poet, and had written songs of tenderness and love for others to sing. Himself, he could not sing with such a weight upon his heart. The light of ge nius was in the eye, and the imagery of a fervid imagination gathered round his braiu, and the poet’s native impulse, loving, warm and true, lived within his heart. In the sensitive and gifted the longiug for sympathy and love is far more iutense than in ruder natures, and in all his life long his heart had yea rned with passion ate eagerness for the pure delights of home and the bliss of sympathy aud love. The song was over but still he lingered, watching the firelight’s fitful glow, as it shed its ruddy sheen upon the changing group. Again the fair girl took her seat at the piano and sang with inimitable grace and beauty, “ Home, Sweet Home.” It was his song. He, the homeless wanderer, had written “ Home, Sweet Home.” He stood out in darkness and night, listening to his song, the child of his own heart and brain, and looking iu at the window of “ Home, .Sweet Home,” knew that in all the world there was no home for him. The song ended. He sit down on the stone steps of the stately mansion, with the rain beating heavily upon him, and burying his face in his hands, wept in the bitterness of his heart. Years passed away, and still lie was a homeless wanderer. Often in the streets of London, Berlin, and Paris, he heard “ Home, Sweet Home,” which in all lands and all hearts had become a household word. Later in life he became Consul to Tunis, and died a stranger iu a strange land. Never, save in his dreams, had lie known the bliss ol’ “ Home, Sweet Home!" Population or Rome.— The Roman Government have published the census of 1867, which is entitled. “Condition of Souls in the Town of Rome.” The total population numbers 216,573 souls. In 1866 the numbers were 210,701, while in 1867 they were 179,952 : so that the increase has been nearly 20 per cent, in the ten years. Besides these, the popula tion of what still remains outside Rome araouuts to 692,112 souls—making a total in the present Papal States of 906,685. The inhabitants ot Rome are thus classi fied : 30 Cardinals, 35 Bishops, 1,469 Priests and Clerks, 828 Seminarists making a total of regular clergv amount ing to 2,36)2. There are also 2,832 monks and 2.215 mins : and adding these to the regular clergy, we have a total number of 7,409. There are 1,642 girls in the pensioinuits, while the number of bo vs in the colleges is only 258 : 775 men and 1,088 woman tire supported in chari table institutions The remainder of the population consists of 42,313 families, numbering 98.176 males and 84,438 fe males, besides 7.360 soldiers, 320 persons in prison, 4,650 Jews, and 457 other dis senters from the Church of Rome. The monks established in Rome belong to sixty-one religious orders and twenty seminaries are established within its walls. There are also a great number of female orders. WIT AND HUMOR. A Boston teacher, who in a fit of vex ation, called her pupils a set of young adders, on being reproved for her lan guage, apologised by saying that she was speaking to those just commencing arith metic. A credulous man said to a wag, who had a wooden leg, “How can you have a, wooden leg ?” “Why,” said the wag, “my father had one, and so hod my grandfather. It runs in the blood.” Why is e lady’s dress like a roast goose ? Because it has been basted. © The Bishop of Oxford, irreverently nicknamed “Soapy Sam,” recently em ployed Mr. Alfred Pye to design a gate way for the Episcopal Palace at Cudde?>- den. The Bishop was so pleased with the design tlrat he suggested his own in itials being, placed over one pillar and those of..the architect over the other. But As hen it was proposed to put “S, 0.” on the left column and “A. P.” on the right, the Prelate objected that would never do, as it palpably spelt “Soap.” Hood, in describing the meeting of a mau and a lion, said, “the man ran off with all his might and the lion with all bis mane.” What is the difference between a bar ber and a mother ? One has razors to shave, and the other has shavers to raise “I never complained of my condition but once,” said an old man, “when my feet were hare and I had no money to buy shoes; but I met a man without feet, and became contented. Professor Agassiz told the Massachu setts Legislature, the other night that fish , as food, refreshes and quickens the intellect, on account of its large amount of phosphate. The Bostonians are great fish eaters. Hence, &c. A gentleman seeing an irishmau fenc ing in a very barren and desolate piece of land, said : “What are you fencing in that lot for, Pat ! a flock of sheep would starve to death on that land.” “And sure, wasn’t! fencing it in to kape the poor bastes out iv it ?” replied Pat. EPITAPH ON’ A dog. Paws ! stranger, paws! Here, lies poor .Tack, His case was truly har’L' ; A dog that over four feet stood, Hies buried in the yard. Why is a kiss like scandal ! Because it goes from mouth to mouth. How do you arrive at the height of a church steeple on a hot day ? Perspire. A fat candidate for office in Alabama asks the people of his district to try him. A critic speaks of the “rare” acting of a part at one of our theatres. I)oos he mean to say it was not well done ? “None but the brave deserve the fair." and none but the brave can live with some of them. “Boy, where does this road go to V “Nowhere, as T knows on. It's aliens been here. - There is a deacon in a neighboring* town named Day. One Sabbath morning he heard a number of boys playing in front of the house, and he went out to stop their Sabbath-breaking. Assuming a grave countenance, he said to them : “Boys, do you knew what day this is.'” “Yes.” replied an urchin, “it's Deacon Day. : An Arkansas negro expounding the Scriptures, had occasion to touch upon antedcluvian longevity, and in the course of his remarks said that in those days men didn’t marry before they were 200, and, in fact, were twenty-five years old be fore they were born. The chap deservedly won bis bet, who. in company, when every one was brag ging of his tall relations, wagered that he himself had a brother twelve feet high. He had, he said, “two half brothers, each measuring six feet ” Feet Satisfied. —A railroad engineer at Harrisburg, having been discharged, applied to be reinstated. “You are dis missed,’’ said the Superintendent austere ly, “for letting your train come twice into collision.” “The very reason,” -aid the other party, interrupting, “why L a>k to be restored.” “How so ?” Why, sir, is I had any doubt before as 1o whether two trains can pass each other on the same track, l am now entirely satisfied; T have tried it twice, sir, and it can’t be done, and 1 am not likely to trv it again.” He regained the situation. “I would not marry a Western man if 1 had to live an old maid all the days of my life,” exclaimed a buxom lass. “Why nut ?” demanded her astonished com panions.” “Because every paper von pickup contains an account of the fail ure of the Western mails.’’