namely, a number of Irishmen, a part of those of Sherman's troops he would not allow to enter Columbia; and this, as the men assured us, was to prevent them from protecting Roman Catholic property.

The men had lost their way, and fearing to fall into an ambush, they entreated us not to expose them to danger. This unexpected arrival was a great relief, and we assured them of perfect safety. We requested our faithful friend and housekeeper, Hannah, to give to them as substantial a supper as the stores permitted. The accounts of these men were really interesting, and as in such uncommon scenes of life the susceptibility of men finds ample scope, there was a declaration of love, of love at first sight, before supper was over-the subject of which was, of course, Miss Hannah.

Towards eleven we heard yells from the direction of Columbia, and through the woods advanced a crowd of soldiers towards our residence. We immediately called our new friends to our assistance. This startled the marauders, and they gradually slunk back in the shade of the forest.

This was the end of our dangers from Sherman's troops. We owed our safety, at least, to these warm-hearted Irishmen, and I think now without them our home would have shared that night the fate of all the residences for miles around us.

MADAME S. SOSNOWSKI.

A Confederate Girl's Diary.

Columbia, S. C., February 6, 1865.-This wild talk about the Federal Army and what it's going to do is all nonsense. Coming here! Sherman! Why not say he's going to Paramaribo? One is about as likely as the other, notwithstanding that papa shakes his head so solemnly over it, and mamma looks so grave. He is always shaking his head over something, it seems to me, and she forever looking grave. I do hope I shall be able to get around being old, somehow. Old people's weather is all bad weather; their horoscope all background; their expectation all disappointment; their probabilities all failures. No doubt I am foolish-mamma says I am-but there's a certain satisfaction in being young and foolish rather than old and

wise.

February 7.—While I cannot sign the bills as rapidly as Nannie Giles can, today I finished up four packages of the denomination of fifty dollars. Mr. Tellifiere says I am a treasury girl worth having, and that I did a big day's work, and a good day's work. Took my

vocal lesson and paid Signor Torriani for my last quarter. He is gloriously handsome in the Italian way, which is a very striking way. I also sent check to the milliner for the $200 due on my new bonnet, and paid $80 for the old lilac barege bought from Mary L—. Miss P- does not yet agree to let me have the congress gaiters for $75, and unless she does she may keep them herself, to the end of time! 'Tis a pretty come to pass when $75 of Confederate currency is not the equivalent of an ordinary pair of Massachusettsmade shoes! J. C. called this evening. He is pleasant, but stops right there, and that isn't the place to stop. A man must know how to be disagreeable to be dangerously attractive, I think.

February 8.-Saw that young Englishman again today. He isn't half the idle dreamer he pretends to be. In truth (but let me whisper it softly), I believe he's a spy! I can't see, otherwise, why he is so tremendously and eagerly interested in matters Confederate. Nor is he smart enough to make me believe it's me!

February 9.-Finished Les Miserables, Victor Hugo's grand work. What munificence of power! What eloquence! What strength! How sublime even its absurdities! A waggish acquaintance of mine calls it Lee's miserables. I must write a little note to James Wood Davidson and thank him for this treat. He is ever kind to think of me when it comes to a literary tid-bit.

Friday, February 10.-This being German day, I went as usual for my lesson. If I must say it, the old Frau's dressing is all top-dressing, and her conversation never more than a mild diversion. Its absorbing theme today was the same as with every one else—Sherman's movements; is he coming here? And what will he do when he does? These are the little questions which embody the vague forebodings, the monstrous prophecies that fill the air. I marvel at the ease with which some people lose their heads. You would think Sherman was a three-tailed bashaw, to hear some of them talk.

February 11. The dawning of a doubt is a troublesome thing, for if a doubt does not out and out destroy faith, it assuredly chastens it to an uncomfortable degree. Is he coming, that terrible Sherman, with all his legions? Well, and if he does, Beauregard is coming too, and Hampton and Butler are already here, so where's the sense of getting worried? I shall continue to possess my soul in peace.

February 12.-The situation becomes more alarming-that much I am fain to confess. My father's head is not the only one shaking now; they are all shaking—all the men's heads in town. No one can tell what a day will bring forth. Steady now, nerves! Courage

now, heart! My grandsires fought for liberty in the war of the Revolution; my great-grandmother faced the British, nor quailed so much as an eyelash before them! Is it for me to be afraid? I am not afraid.

Monday, February 13.—We were greatly startled yesterday by the firing of cannon in the upper part of the city. It proved to be a call for Colonel Thomas' Regiment of Reserves. I am sorry the weather is so cold. Our ill-clothed, ill-fed troops must suffer acutely in such bitter weather. Today I accompanied my mother to the Wayside Hospital, carrying some jelly and wafers for the sick. One of the inmates, a convalescent soldier, played with much taste and skill on the banjo. Came home to find my father much excited about me, having heard Mayor Goodwyn say that he has no hope at all of holding the city. And my father does not consider the track of a great army the safest place for young women; hence he wants me to leave; go; get out of the way! But where? Where shall I fly from Sherman's army?

Tuesday, February 14.-Such a day! It was like "a winnowing of chaos." Very little work was done at the Treasury Department in the midst of such excitement and confusion. We are to remove at once to Richmond, and I am told Colonel Joseph Daniel Pope, Mr. Jamison, and many of the employees of the printing establishment, have already departed. I do not know if this be true; I hear too many contradictory reports for all of them to be true. One thing, however, appears to be quite true-Sherman is coming! And I never believed it before. This afternoon, we could distinctly hear firing in the distance, and at this writing (8.30 p. m.) we can see the sky arched with fire in the direction of the Saluda factory. Must I go with the department to Richmond? In such case, my parents will be entirely alone, Johnny having gone, also, to the front. Does this not clearly show the dire extremity to which we are reduced, when boys of sixteen shoulder the musket? There are other reasons why I should like to remain here to receive Sherman: it is high time I was having some experiences out of the ordinary, and if anything remarkable is going to happen, I want to know something about it; it might be worth relating to my grandchildren! Anyhow, it is frightfully monotonous, just because you are a woman, to be always tucked away in the safe places. I want to stay. I want to have a taste of danger. Midnight.-But I am overruled; I must go. My father says so; my mother says so. Everything is in readiness-my trunks packed, my traveling clothes laid out upon the chair, and now

I must try to catch a little sleep. And then on the morrow-what? What will be the next stroke upon the Labensuhr? God only knows.

February 15.-(Waiting at the depot). Going as usual to the department this morning, I found orders had been issued for our immediate removal to Richmond. Barely had I time to run home, dash a few more articles into my trunk, say good-bye, and join the others here. We girls are all together-Elise, Ernestine, Sadie, Bet, and myself. We have been seated in the train for hours and hours. Oh! this long waiting; it is weary work! A reign of terror prevails in the city, and the scene about me will ever live in memory. Government employees are hastening to and fro, military stores are being packed, troops in motion, aids-de-camp flying hither and thither, and anxious fugitives crowding about the train, begging for transportation. All kinds of rumors are afloat, every newcomer bringing a new version. The latest is that Hardee has refused to evacuate Charleston, and will not combine forces with Hampton in order to save the capital. I am strangely laden; I feel weighted down. Six gold watches are secreted about my person, and more miscellaneous articles of jewelry than would fill a small jewelry shop-pins, rings, bracelets, etc. One of my trunks is packed with valuables and another with provisions. Shelling has begun from the Lexington heights, and under such conditions this waiting at the depot has a degree of nervousness mixed with impatience. We catch, now and again, peculiar whizzing sounds-shells, they say. Sherman has come; he is knocking at the gate. Oh, God! turn him back! Fight on our side, and turn Sherman back!

Charlotte, N. C.-We stopped in Winnsboro awhile, but at last came on here. That was a sad, sad parting! Shall I ever look into their dear faces again-my father and mother, and poor little Johnnie, wrested by the exigencies of war from his mother's knee? People who have never been through a war don't know anything about war. May I never pass through another. Why will men fight? Especially brothers? Why cannot they adjust their differences and redress their wrongs without the shedding of woman's tears and the spilling of each other's blood?

But I dare not write, nor even think much on this strain. My old friend J. B. L. is along. He is very kind. Think of his lifting our heavy trunks into the baggage car with his own hands! Otherwise they would be sitting on the railroad platform in Columbia yet. Say what you please, it is, after all, the men whom we women have to depend on in this world. J. B. L's. friend, whom he asked

permission to present to us, is a graduate of the Medical College of New York, a young Hippocrates of profoundly scientific attainments. Nor is that all—he is possessed of all that ease of manner and wellbred poise for which the F. F. V.'s are noted.

Saturday, February 18.-The people of Charlotte received us with unbounded kindness, and are treating us with royal hospitality. They met us in their carriages and, although utter strangers, conducted us, as honored guests, to their beautiful homes. How is that for Confederate Treasury girls? Bet has gone to General Young's, but the others of us have fallen to the lot of Mr. Davidson, and a very enviable lot it is for us, in a home so well ordered and abounding in plenty. I do not know how long we shall be here. Mr. Duncan, who has charge of our division, says until transportation can be secured. Tonight some troops were passing through the city, and I could hear in the far, faint distance, a band playing "Dixie" and "Old Folks at Home." It made me cry, the sound was so sweet, so mournful, so heart-breaking. How fare my old folks at home? Are there any old folks left at my home? Maybe not! Alas! we can hear nothing definite!

February 20.-The adulation we receive in this city is enough to turn our heads completely. But for this dreadful suspense I believe it would. The most appalling rumors reach us, but nothing more. Dr. S saw one of Wheeler's cavalrymen, who left Columbia on Friday morning, at which time Hampton had notified the Mayor that the Reserves could no longer hold the city. The South Carolina depot was already in ruins, and the Congaree bridge burned, while thousands of the inhabitants were flying from the enemy. On Friday night, at Winnsboro, this same soldier reports having seen a tremendous illumination in the sky, which all who saw believed to be Columbia in flames. My God! How terrible, if true! What has been the fate of my parents, and Johnnie! Despite this horrible uncertainty, we have been to church, and are trying to keep calm and hopeful. But why was I ever persuaded to leave my home and dear ones in this time of danger!

Greensboro, N. C., February 23.-We positively hated to leave Charlotte, so many friends did we make there. Howbeit, a Treasury signer, like a good soldier, must obey orders. At this place, we are not half so pleasantly situated, being all crowded together in one small room. But we are in no mood to cavil; our soldiers fare worse. We begin to realize, as we never before have done, their hardships, and the thankfulness which ought to fill the heart of each