_officially_ recognized
the truth of the theory of Emancipation, and thereby entitled itself to
the honor of having taken the greatest forward step in the glorious path
of Freedom ever made even in our history.

* * * * *

THE MOLLY O'MOLLY PAPERS.

NO. I.

In addressing you for the first time, you will perhaps expect me to give
some account of myself and my ancestry, as did the illustrious
_Spectator_.

My remote ancestors are Irish. From them I inherited enthusiasm, a
gun-powder temper, a propensity to blunder, and a name--Molly O'Molly.
The origin of this name I have in vain endeavored to trace in history,
perhaps because it belonged to a very old family, one of the
_prehistorics_. As such it might have been that of a demigod, or,
according to the development theory, of a _demi-man_. Or it might have
been that of an old Irish gentleman, _gentle_ in truth;--in the
formative stage of society it is the monster that leaves traces of
himself, as in an old geologic period the huge reptile left his tracks
in the plastic earth, which afterward hardened into rock.

Then, too, I have searched in vain for anything like it in ancient Irish
poetry, thinking that my progenitor's name might have been therein
embalmed. 'The stony science'--mind you--reveals to us the former
existence of the huge reptile, the fragmentary, mighty mastodon, and,
imperfect, the mail-clad fish. But, wonder of wonders, we find the whole
_insect_ preserved in that fossil gum amber. And even so in verse,
characters are preserved for all time, that could not make their mark in
history, and that had none of the elements of an earthly immortality.
Did I wish immortality I would choose a poet for my friend;--an _In
Memoriam_ is worth all the records of the dry chronicler.

But, it is not with the root of the family tree that you have to do, but
with the twig Myself.

As for my physique,--I am not like the scripture personage who beheld
his face in a glass, and straightway forgot what manner of man he was. I
have, on the contrary, a very distinct recollection of my face; suffice
it to say, that, had I Rafaelle's pencil, I would not, like him, employ
it on my own portrait.

And my life--the circumstances which have influenced, or rather created
its currents, have been trifling; not that it has had no powerful
currents; it is said that the equilibrium of the whole ocean could be
destroyed by a single mollusk or corallin