outh in a foreign prison while his wife and children were wanting
bread to eat in our very midst?"

"It will indeed be a sad commentary on our patriotism," remarked Dr.
Humphries. "God only knows how willing I should have been to serve the
poor woman and her children had they applied to me for assistance."

"And I fervently wish that every heart in the State beat with the same
feeling of benevolence that yours does," replied Harry. "However, this
is no time to lament or regret what is inexorable; we must see the
child, and afterwards the mother, for, no matter whether they are the
family of Alfred Wentworth or not, the fact of their being the wife
and child of a soldier entitles them to our assistance, and it is a
debt we should always willingly pay to those who are defending our
country."

"You are right, Harry, you are right," observed the Doctor, "and it is
a debt that we will pay, if no one else does it. Do you return to
Emma, now," he continued, "while I order the buggy to take us to the
cabin."

Leaving Harry, Dr. Humphries went to the stable and ordered the groom
to put the horse in the buggy. He was very much moved at the idea of a
friendless woman being necessitated to steal for the purpose of
feeding her children, and in his heart he sincerely wished she would
not prove to be the wife of Alfred Wentworth. Harry's story of his
friend's chivalrous conduct to him at Fort Donelson, as well as the
high toned character evinced by Alfred during the few days
acquaintance he had with him, had combined to procure a favorable
opinion of the soldier by Dr. Humphries; at the same time, he could
not conceive how any one could be so friendless in a land famed for
the generous hospitalities of its people, as the South is; but he knew
not, or rather he had never observed, that there were times when the
eye of benevolence and the hand of charity were strangers to the
unfortunate.

There are no people on the face of the earth so justly famed for their
charitable actions as that of the Confederate States.--Before the
unfortunate war for separation commenced, every stranger who visited
their shores was received with a cordial welcome. The exile who had
been driven from his home on account of the tyranny of the rulers of
his native land, always found a shelter and protection from the warm
hearts and liberal hands of the people of this sunny land; and though
often times those who have received the aid and comfort of the South,