The good old lady was awaked from her slumbers by the trampling of horses, and found on reaching the door that a troop of cavalry were sweeping by, as if fleeing before a threatening enemy. She found by their noise that this army halted, and was soon stationed on a distant ele vation. She thought the army was of course that of the patriots, as she knew of no other in the immediate vicinity. But fearing that the opposite party might be in pursuit, she left her defenceless dwelling, and hastened over the dark valley to seek protection among the troops on the ridge, expressing to them her gratitude, on arrival, that she had not been overtaken by the vile Godos, (old Spaniards,) and their brutal leader, Osorio.

"O Señor, Señor," said she, "what do you think were my feelings when an officer cried out with a voice of thunder, Silence, old woman, be careful what you say; you are not in company of the rebels, as you suppose, but among the troops of his majesty Ferdinand the VIIth-not another word against the royal vete

rans."""

Panic struck at her situation, and incapable of reasoning, the aged matron instinctively fled from the Spanish camp; and after wandering several hours over fields and swamps, arrived just before the dawn of day at the station of the patriot army, and gave the surprising intelligence of the proximity of their foes.

The battle soon commenced, and obliged her again to flee from both the contending parties, and to seek shelter among the rocks of a neighboring hill until the bloody struggle was ended.

This story concluded, which occupied from ten to fifteen minutes, we galloped over the remaining six leagues, and reached the chacra of Peña Flor before the hour of ten. Riding after the fashion of the country, we were but about three and a half hours in passing over the twelve

leagues, including our stop on the field of Maypo.

This chacra, which is a sample of many in Chile, contains thirty squares of ground, (squares of 450 feet,) a large house made of sun-burned bricks, a small tannery, grist mill, wine press and cellar, brandy distillery, a good vineyard and fruit orchard, together with a portion of arable land, and is offered to those whom I accompanied for fourteen thousand dollars. It is true that these buildings, mills, &c., are not of the class of those in our older states, yet the whole property is placed at a much lower estimate than I had anticipated. The property is claimed by two contending parties, and is consequently in a neglected state, and must be sold for ready money. This must account for its cheapness, as an intelligent citizen, who is familiar with the place, told me, that, with moderate repairs, it would yield an income of four thousand dollars per annum.

After my friends had finished this survey of the chacra, we returned about half a league towards Santiago, to a village of Christian Indians, when as the sun had become oppressive, we halted under a cluster of figtrees, in the garden of one of these natives, and gave ourselves to repose, until the heat of the day was passed.

As this was the first considerable body of Aborigines which I had met in Chile, I was anxious to learn their history and present condition. Our host, if so he may be called, under whose figtrees we were lounging, being of a loquacious turn, soon gave me all he knew of his village.

Of its origin he could not speak farther, than that his ancestors, so far as he knew had always lived there. From other sources I learned that they had resided there ever since the conquest, and that the place has now about two thousand inhabitants, and who, though the most devoted of catholics, are still unmixed American blood. Their dress is almost wholly conform

ed to that of the white Chilian peasantry, as is their employment and mode of living. They raise besides Indian corn, a variety of fruits and vegetables, which give them a bountiful subsistence, and a surplus of which, carried to the market of Santiago, procures them bridle ornaments, red shawls, ribbands and calicoes, rosaries, wax candles, and other articles which they may need for luxury or devotion. They have a chapel for worship, and as I was told, one of the most consistent and faithful chaplains of the country, as their spiritual guide. No one sufiers a Sabbath to pass without attending mass, and no year without auricular confession.

I wish I could say that they added to these outward observances, a thorough knowledge of the Bible and a disposition to obey its precepts, But it is far otherwise. When the morning mass is ended the remainder of the Sabbath is given to amusements, and apparently without a suspicion of its impropriety. The family where we stopped were not only without a Bible, but had never seen it, and seemed not to know distinctly what it was, farther than that it was some good book belonging to the church. Not one of its numerous members could read a syllable, and such is, with few exceptions, the situation of every individual in the village.-I was happy to see, however, what I witnessed in every part of South America, that parents seem deeply anxious to have their children taught to read and write. They every where speak of this subject with an earnestness and sincerity which induces the hope, that, with their new system of government, schools will ere long be generally established among them.

As we had now travelled nearly forty miles since morning, and had most of the distance to re-travel in the evening, we felt that the mid-day meal would be desirable if it could be obtained. This subject was laid before our host. He seemed to doubt

his capacity of preparing a meal suitable for cavalleros, but yet kindly consented to do the best he could, advising us, in the mean time, to give ourselves to rest.

In the course of two hours our dinner was ready, and we were awaked and summoned with great modesty, to its participation. A strong bench about two feet square, and as many in height, was placed in the shade of an adjoining olive, and sustained a huge rough platter, containing a smoking assemblage of beef, pork, chicken, beans, cabbage, corn, onions, indeed every thing, nearly, which the animal and vegetable kingdoms of Chile afforded.

By the side of our table were placed three enormous pumpkins evidently intended as a substitue for chairs. A long butcher knife for our mutual accommodation, together with a wooden fork and a horn spoon for each were also provided. With appetites too keen to regard outward appearances, we soon gave our anxious host evidence that he and his companion had succeeded in preparing a dish highly acceptable to us, however ignorant we might be of its mysterious combinations. The dish on acquaintance, proved to be an imitation in fact of the famous Spanish olla, but with many additional ingredients, derived from the systems of Indian cookery. A portion of caldo, (broth) was next furnished to each in brown bowls of their own manufacture, then succeeded a variety of rich, melons and fruits so that we had no cause or wish to complain of our rural repast.

After remunerating these friendly natives for their kindness, though contrary to their wishes, we saddled our fleet animals at four, and when the sun went down were near the environs of Santiago. I had before heard of the speed and power of the Chilian horse, and knew that they were taken hence to the other republics for the use of San Martin and Bolivar in the field. I had now evi

dence that they could gallop over a distance of twenty-four leagues in a single day, and apparently without fatigue.

For the Christian Spectator.
"C'est l'amour qui a fait ça"*
SHE wore a sweetly pensive mien,
She had a wildness in her eye,
Her words were few with sighs between,
Awaking deepest sympathy.

She cast a fitful, withering glance
On all that met her tearless eye;
As starting from a fearful trance,
Or dark perplexing mystery.

Her smiles were joyless, and no tear
Yielded the breaking heart relief;
Unmoved alike by hope, or fear,
She smiled alike at joy and grief.
She heeded not that she was fair,
Her robes unheeded loosely hung;
The tresses of her auburn hair

Were o'er her shoulders careless flung.

She wandered through the wood-land bower,

She sought alone the flowery glen, A nosegay cull'd of every flower,

And cast it to the earth again.

Her wild notes through the vacant air,
Floating in sweetest minstrelsy,
Betray'd no sorrow, no despair,
But seemed like angel notes on high.
She sung of blissful scenes-the hour

That first she struck the bright guitar, And dreamed of love, and trod the bower When evening lit her first bright star.

The brave, the generous, the sincere,

Her lost heart tried to win in vain: She gave to love no listening ear, Tho' woo'd in love's enchanting strain. She sighed, but never would unfold

The secrets of her tronbled breast; She chose-but why she never toldTo tread life's lonely way unblest.

She breathed alone to ONE above

The sorrows of her care-worn breastShe breathed the tale of blighted love To him who gives the weary rest. Her blue eye sank, her heart was sere; She lingered beautiful and pale,She fell as falls the dying year, Its red leaves floating on the gale, CLIFTON,

HOURS IN A LIBRARY.

EVERY visitor of a public library turns over authors, and meets with ingenious passages, which are not likely to be familiar to readers in general. In the hours I occasionally spend in this way, I am accustomed to transcribe such passages into a pocket album for the fireside entertainment of my younger friends. The leisure thus spent I consider not idly employed. Select fragments and mottos embody beautiful sentiments in beautiful language. As the novelist hunts after them to set off his fictions, so the young mind may make them gems among its treasures. Desultory reading, moreover, though pernicious as a habit, is profitable as a relief from severer application. It mingles in the flow of easy conversation: it elicits remark, and enlivens the circle around the family astral, when otherwise it might be silent from lassitude or vacancy. Andto give a reason more-there are "odds and ends of time" which, too brief for more serious employment, may be gratefully filled up with the culled beauties of authors.

If, therefore, selections from my light miscellany be deemed admissible among the graver productions of the Christian Spectator, I shall, as I have leisure, cheerfully furnish them. They will cost me no labor except to transcribe them, and may at least make a serious magazine more welcomed and more read by the young, or the thoughtless, of the families it GLEANER.

enters.

The Miser Demar. "He walked the streets and wore a threadbare cloak,

And dined and supped at charge of other folk;

And by his looks, had he held out his palms,

He might be thought an object fit for

alms.

So, to the poor if he refused his pelf,

Love has done that.

self.

*

*

*

would strive

defame :

To show that the weak performance of prayer is better than none at all, an old author tells the following story of "an ignorant papist dwelling in Spain.".

"He perceived a necessity of his the Pater nosters, ave Marias, &c., own private prayers to God, besides used in the Romish church. But so

simple was he, that how to pray he knew not; only every morning, humbly bending his knees, and lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven, he would deliberately repeat the alphabet. And now," said he, 'O good God, put these letters together to spell syllables, to spell words, to thy glory and my good." And so make such sense, as may be most to if we cannot pray as we would, or as [says the old writer] let us do too: we ought, let us fall to this poor man's alphabet."