take the oath of allegiance, by a prompt refusal--falling
back 'for reasons' on State rights. There should be, in these times, but
one way of dealing with all such State rights gentlemen--arrest as
traitors, and trial under military law. This is no day for
dilly-dallying and quibbling about 'State rights.' There is only one
right in such cases--the right of the Union, and fidelity to it. This
rebuff is generally spoken of by the press as 'the Nashville Snag.'
There be such things as snag-extractors, and we trust that our
Government is free enough from red-tape do-nothingism and
circumlocution, to make short work of these insolent rebels, whatever
they be.

_Boston, April 1st._

DEAR EDITOR: I jot down the following as one of the most
melancholy results of this wicked and cruel war:

The Captain at our house believes in General Butler. The Lawyer
don't. Such is the state of parties at our table. As I said
before, the hand of brother is uplifted against brother, and
either may become a fratri-cider--as the fellow did when he
squeezed his brother to death in the press, among the apples.

The captain said, the other day, that Butler had a great deal of
dash.

'U--m!' growled the lawyer; 'one kind of dash he certainly has--to
perfection.'

'And what is that?'

'Balder-dash!' was the annihilating reply.

I report this for the special consideration of Governor Andrew.

Nor less illustrative of the terrible tendencies of civil war, is
the following:

'We have a whole navy of gun-boats at Island Number Ten,' said the
Colonel, reflectively.

'Yes,' was the unwary reply.

'Then how comes it that if the knave can take the Ten, a navy
can't?'

Yours in grief,

CONSTANT READER.

* * * * *

The Legislature of Kentucky has, probably, by this time, made it a
criminal offence for any person to join the K.G.C. As soon as the lists
shall have been published of all those Northern men who have belonged to
the order, the traitors will find themselves in quite as enviable a
situation as though 'escaped convict' were branded on their foreheads.

* * * * *
From one now far away in the South--albeit
not on the Southern side--we have
an ornithological reminiscence which
may be of interest to those who endeavor
to solve the problem, whether
animals ever rise to reas