everything was in confusion; Bloody Spur sprang from his horse to help his comrade's wife remove a few articles of value, and drive the cattle into the swamp. Meanwhile the marauders were heard laughing and rattling their sabers not far distant, just as Mildred was placed on her horse and, with Henry by her side, rode into the darkness in an opposite direction, followed by Isaac and Horse Shoe, the latter taking the precaution to learn of Bloody Spur that about a mile distant a path struck into the woods on the right; "it will lead you up the river to the falls of Pedee; if you should meet any of Marion's men, tell them what you have seen-and say Dick Peyton will be along close after you." They rode swiftly, and from the diverging road, through an opening in the trees, saw the cabin on fire from which they had just escaped. For an hour or more in the black darkness they hurried on, totally ignorant of the country through which they were passing, when suddenly they were challenged at one of the outposts of General Marion's camp. Horse Shoe asked to see the general himself, saying he had a report to make to him for Dick Peyton, and they were guided through several thickets and across a morass to a thinly timbered piece of woodland, where were encamped in the rudest fashion of the bivouac some two hundred cavalry. Sentinels were pacing their limits on the outskirts, and small bodies of patrols on horseback moved across the encampment with the regularity of military discipline. The strangers were conducted to a large tree, near which a group of officers were seated on the ground. "Make way for a squad of travelers picked up on the road; they wish to see General Marion," said the scout in a loud voice. Mildred alighted, and was conducted to a bank, where a few blankets were thrown down. "This is but an uncouth resting-place, though heartily at your service," said the officer in attendance. Presently Mildred observed an alert figure approaching with a quick step-a man who wore the blue and buff uniform of the staff, with a pair of epaulets, a buckskin belt, and a three-cornered hat. He was short, of delicate frame, with bright dark eyes and sharp, decided features. "General Marion, madam, is too happy to have his poor camp honored by the visit of a lady," was his courteous greeting. "They tell me the tories were so uncivil as to break in upon your slumbers to-night, and it adds greatly to my grudge against them." In the brief conversation that followed, Mildred told him her father's name and of her travels under the protection of her brother and servants. But General Marion recognized Horse Shoe, and asked him to step aside and relate the particulars of the attack upon Wingate's cabin.

(To be continued.)

THE UNITED STATES IN PARAGRAPHS

[Continued from page 225]

ARKANSAS

1810. Estimated population, 1,062, ernor. excluding Indians. 435,450.

1812. Missouri territory organized, including Arkansas as a county.

1819, March 2. Territory of Arkansas formed, with the seat of government at Arkansas Post; James Miller of New Hampshire as governor till 1825.

1820. Population by fourth United States census, 14,255.

1821. Seat of government removed to Little Rock (Le petit Rocher, as distinguished from Le Grand Rocher by the French).

"A Journal of Travels into Arkansas Territory during the year 1819." By Thomas Nutall, F.L.S. Published in Philadelphia.

Population by eighth census,

1853. Congressional grant of several million acres of government lands to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern railway, also to the Little Rock and Fort Smith railway.

1860, December 20. Address to the legislature by David Hubbard, commissioner from Alabama, advocating secession.

1860-1862. Henry M. Rector, gov

ernor.

1861, January 5. A large meeting at Van Buren favors co-operation rather than secession.

February 18. By a vote of 27,412 against 15,826 the state decides to hold 1824. Forty families living at Little a convention to consider the question of Rock.

1825-1829. George Izard, governor. 1829-1835. John Pope, governor. 1830. Population by fifth United States census, 30,388.

secession.

March 4-17. Meeting of the state convention; compromise measures adopted.

May 6. State convention reassembles, and passes an ordinance of seces

1835-1836. William S. Fulton, gov- sion by a vote of 69 to 1.

ernor.

1836, June 15. Admitted to the Union. James S. Conway, governor, till 1840. Population by sixth United States census, 97,574.

May 18. Arkansas admitted as one of the Confederate states.

June-July. Guerilla warfare begins in the northern counties.

December. By the end of the year

1840-1844. Archibald Yell, gov- the state had furnished 21,500 men for

ernor.

1844-1847. Thomas S. Drew, gov

ernor.

1847. Publication "The Arkansas Review." By J. Welch. Washington. 1849-1852. John S. Roane, governor. Population by seventh census, 209,897.

the Confederate service.

1862. Thomas Fletcher, acting governor; Harris Flanigen, governor till 1864.

February 18. All able-bodied men called out by the governor for military service under the Confederate flag. February 18. United States troops

1852. John R. Hampton, acting under General Samuel R. Curtis enter governor.

1852-1860. Elias N. Conway, gov

the state from Missouri.

February 19. Engagement near Su

gar creek crossing; General Curtis defeats the Confederates under Generals Price and McCullough.

March 6, 7, 8. Battle of Pea Ridge; General Curtis defeats the Confederates under Generals Van Dorn and Price.

May 19. Skirmish near Searcy.

1862, August. Destruction of Confederate ram "Arkansas" by the Federal gunboats under Captain (afterward Admiral) Porter.

August. John S. Phelps appointed military governor for the United States. September 22. Emancipation proc

lamation of President Lincoln.

October. Engagement at Cross Hollows; General Herron defeats Confed

erates.

November 28. General Blunt defeats Confederates under General Marmaduke. December 7. Battle of Prairie Grove ; Blunt and Herron defeat Confederates under Hindman; loss about 1,000 men on each side.

1863, January 1. Emancipation proclamation goes into effect; 111,104 slaves liberated in Arkansas.

January 11. Arkansas Post (Fort Hindman) captured by Federals under General McClernand, aided by gunboats under Commodore Porter. The fort was destroyed. July 4. Helena captured by United States troops under General Prentiss. July 31. General Steele assumes command of the military district.

September 10. Occupation of Little Rock by the Union forces under General Davidson.

1864-1868. Isaac Murphy, governor. 1864, January 1. Organized Confederate force 21,700 within the state.

January 8-22. Union convention at Little Rock; organization of a provisional government under Isaac Murphy. April 14. Adoption of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.

September 26. Meeting of rebel legislature with thirteen senators and forty representatives.

1865. Reorganization of the state. under national laws. About 50,000 men altogether served with the Confederate colors, and 13,000 with those of the United States.

1867. Major-General E. O. C. Ord, military governor for the United States. April 15. General Ord forbids the meeting of the legislature.

December 28. General Irwin McDowell becomes military governor of the district, with General Gillem in charge at Little Rock.

1868, January 7. Constitutional convention at Little Rock to adopt new constitution.

1868-1871. Powell Clayton, governor. Summary measure to repress lawlessness by Governor Clayton.

1869, May 30. Memorial Day observed for the first time.

1870. Development of the Arkansas Hot Springs as a resort for invalids.

Chas. Ledyard Norton.

(To be continued.)

MINOR TOPICS

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS

1824-1892

At all points where the man of letters might touch and influence the life of the day, for a long generation past the man of action has found George William Curtis either facing him or at his side to guide him. In moral reform, in social amelioration, in the very important task of sweetening the literary mood and elevating the literary tone of America, he has been a steady and always available worker; a friend to the painter and sculptor and architect, when these could be helped by the pen; to the scholarly traveler who carried our sunny American temperament to the old world and brought home to us the Italian and Spanish charm, the Mauritanian color, the Egyptian mystery, the culture of Germany. In his suburban home he stood at the harbor wharf, as it were, to welcome the masters of song, and no skilled instrument of music reached our shores which did not call him to the city. The actor who promised a refining touch to our stage found in him an entertainer and friend; the singer was sure of a welcome, and not only "first" nights, but great nights, at the opera or concert received inspiration from his presence.

It is rare, indeed, that half a world lies at a man's feet in its pioneer stage, with all its civilizing work to do. But this was true of America fifty years ago, when we get our first glimpse of Mr. Curtis. It was the period of rough slashing in the wilderness. No music, no song, no art but that which went to Europe for encouragement and came home to perish; no literature to criticise, no critics to establish a standard for every form of literature. There were omnivorous readers in every farmhouse, and dreamers of dreams on every log-wagon; and there were sons of clergymen in all the hamlets of New England prepared to live out those dreams in phalansteries. It is in one of those moral incubators that we first come upon Mr. Curtis-not yet a reformer himself, but, like Hawthorne, a near observer. Ripley was holding the goad to the most unruly ox-team that was ever set to drag the unhewn timber of this world; Margaret Fuller was rhapsodizing from the top of the ox-cart; Emerson was not far away-a good-natured and perhaps somewhat anxious watcher. Thoreau was in the woods chasing aboriginal ideas; Lowell in a corner of Concord, about that time, laughing. All were, at bottom, poets, or of the poetizing temperament, not then set apart as a class by themselves, but straining to finish the job of clearing the wilderness in time for the evening song; and that song has echoes of an amusing and exhilarating variety. Scarcely a man at Brook Farm, or in its neighborhood, did precisely what he thought himself born to do;