the army. The Corps of Engineers was represented by Colonel S. M. Mansfield and Major Wm. Stanton.

The main charge upon which the courtmartial was held was that Captain Carter had entered into a conspiracy with members of the Atlantic Contracting Company, which had large contracts for jetty-work, etc., on the Savannah River and in Cumberland Sound, by which he was given a share in the profits of these contracts, in consideration of his aid in securing the contracts to this company at a high figure and in permitting them to do such inferior work that their profits were exorbitant. The total amount of the fraudulent claims which were allowed and paid by the Government through Captain Carter's unfaithfulness was set at about $2,500,000.

This court-martial continued from January 12 to April 30, 1898, finally adjourning just at the outbreak of the Spanish war. In the length of its proceedings, it far outranked any other court-martial ever held in the United States. The whole record of Captain Carter's work at Savannah was gone over in the most painstaking manner by the prosecution; and the defense, conducted by four of the ablest attorneys in the country, presented its side in equal detail.

The report of the court-martial was forwarded to Washington on April 30, 1898, and while no formal statement of its contents has ever been made public, it has become known that Captain Carter was found guilty on practically all the counts, was sentenced to dismissal from the army, a fine of $10,000, a term of five years in the penitentiary, and to have his disgrace and the circumstances of his crime publicly advertised in the newspapers at his home, while all officers of the army are to be forbidden to speak to him.

The record of this court-martial contained over 5,300 pages, or nearly 2,000,000 words; it was made up in 20 volumes of about 260 pages each, and besides this there were over 550 separate exhibits. It was, as the law requires, referred to the Judge-Advocate General of the Army for review, and he promptly transmitted it to the President with his approval of the findings. From here on the case begins to drag. Secretary Alger kept it pigeon-holed for some months. The papers were for a long time in the custody of the attorneys for Captain Carter. When they finally reached the President he asked exSenator Edmunds to review the case and give him an opinion upon it. This was done -at an expense of $5,000-and then the papers went to Attorney-General Griggs, in whose possession they still remain. He has recently announced that he is now waiting for Wayne MacVeagh, one of the attorneys for Captain Carter, to return from a European tour and make an oral plea before him. It may be remarked, parenthetically, that Mr. MacVeagh has already submitted, ac

cording to reports, three different formal briefs in this case before the President and the Attorney-General. When he returns and makes his oral plea-it will then be seen what further pretexts for delay may be found.

We have closely followed the course of this remarkable case from the outset. As stated near the beginning of this article, we earnestly hoped and confidently expected that Captain Carter would succeed in wholly exonerating himself from the charges against him. He has not done so, however, and from all the study we have given to the evidence, we see no reason whatever to question the correctness and justice of the court-martial's decision.

AS YOU CAME THRO' THE WOOD.
As you came thro' the wood, my lord,
(Oh, idle day o' June!),
Yours was a careless mood, my lord,
And merry was your tune.

The sun on spur and snaffle play'd,
Your black horse ling'ring in the shade,
You caught my furtive glance and stay'd,
(Oh, reckless day o' June!).

You spoke me very fair, my lord,

(Ah, me, the skies were blue!) For me strange worlds were there, my lord, And pleasant sport for you. Love's eagerness brooks no denay, Light love, that tarries but a day, At set of sun you rode away,

And gaily call'd adieu.

When Autumn glories fill the land,
(Paid promises of Spring),

I meet you here with gracious hand,
But you stand wondering!
Tho' I'll not go your way again,
Here's thanks for sadder heart and mien,
My lord, 't is earnest for my pain

Amid the woods o' Spring.

Elsie Stewart.

A Great American Novel BY the side of Dr. Weir Mitchell's "Hugh Wynne and Thackeray's "Virginians," the romance of Richard Carvel must take its place. The young author, Winston Churchill, made a hit last year with "The Celebrity; but clever as this book is, it will not compare with his later romance of Maryland. could not have chosen a more picturesque setting for his brilliant novel than Old Annapolis, which is still beautiful in decay; nor could greater harmony exist between the characters of a story and their environment than is here presented in this picture of co lonial life in Maryland.

He

The story has a value besides that which is due to its high literary quality; it repeats with frequency and emphasizes a truth which is too often overlooked in histories of the American Revolution, namely, that it was a king's and not a people's folly which brought about the rupture and final separation of the colonies and the motherland. And in giving prominence to this fact, Mr. Churchill is giving material aid to the praiseworthy movement for a better understanding with the parent stem of our race. His book is, therefore, doubly welcome: it has distinct literary merit, and a true historic value. It is a mater for congratulation that these qualities have given it wide popularity.

The Story of the British Race2 APPLETONS have started a new series of books under the suggestive title "Library of Useful Stories." The first of these is John Munroe's Story of the British Race-small but valuable. There are chapters on The European Race," "The Pioneers of Britain," "The English and Welsh," "The Scotch," "The Irish," "The Celtic Fringe," 66 The Celtic Renaissance," etc., and five maps. The book is unpretentious, and will receive attention where a larger and more technical volume would be laid aside.

1 Richard Carvei. By Winstan Churchill. York: The Macmillan Company. 1899.

New

2 The Story of the British Race. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 40c.

Never did I complain of the chances of fortune, nor make a wry face at the resolution of fate, but once, when I was brought to the pass of going barefooted, and had nothing with which to buy shoes. Just then I entered the mosque at Kusa with a heavy heart, and there I observed a person who had no feet at all. At this I offered up praise and thanks to the Almighty God, and gladly submitted to this accident of being shoeless.

3 The Gulistan. Being the Rose-Garden of Shaikh Sa'di. Translated in prose and verse by Sir Edwin Arnold. Ha per & Brothers. $1.00.

VOL. XXXIV

LL the world over, since the beginnings of human society, roads and roadmakers have been necessary. Seriousminded volumes have been written by the score, giving the history of famous roads. Men have spent years in studying ancient lines of communication across Asia, Africa, and Europe; caravan routes that built up Tadmor in the wilderness, and Petra in its steep-walled cañon; roadways of hewn stones that slaves and captives laid for conquerors, crossing deserts, and piercing mountain ranges. Everywhere, since human existence began, so philosophers tell us, the maker of roads has been the prophet and forerunner of civilization.

There are great and living highways which have grown from mere cattle-trails to arteries of the commerce of mighty nations. There are others, like some of the Roman roads, or the highways of the '60's to the Comstock, whose glories have forever departed; their moss-grown fragments cling to torrent-swept cliffs of Alp and Sierra, and they already seem as old as Stonehenge. Some day those Sierra highways, once so full of wild pioneer life, will have their story fitly told with pen and pencil, as Colonel Inman has told the tale of the Santa Fé trail. Until then, they lie half-forgotten, like a thousand others of the years before the railroad.

There is one of the lesser roads of the Sierra, seldom named now, and certainly

No. 203

seldom traversed, which has a story of its own, and is likely to become more widely known, because it leads to a wonderfully beautiful mountain-land, and because it is to be a link in one of the most important transmontane routes. That road, "The Old Tioga," is dear to the heart of many pioneers, and its beginnings carry one back to heroic Comstock days.

Every old Californian knows about the rush to the Mono diggings discovered in 1857. They were about six miles north of Mono Lake and seven miles northeast of the mouth of Mill Creek Cañon. Extensive prospecting followed, and a few years later quartz of more or less value was found over a large area. Many districts, such as Homer, Bodie, Tioga, and Lake, were organized, and such notable mines as the Standard, May Lundy, and Mammoth began to pour out their bullion and rejoice the bulls of Pine Street.

It was in 1874 that an unknown sheepherder found a promising lode in what became the Tioga District, and three mines, the Great Sierra, Golden Crown, and Sheepherder, were located. An old location monument was found, however, that bore the date of 1860, and beside it were a rusty pick and shovel. The ubiquitous and all-prospecting Comstocker had been there nearly fifteen years before.

Several parties of prospectors are on record as having worked into this region in 1858, 1859, and 1860. One of the most noted was led by the late Dan DeQuille, and its story has been told by that genial and lovable writer in his "Perils of the Sierras." He was prospecting around Big Oak Flat, in Tuolumne, when he heard of the Mono placers, and with one fellow