What a queer creature, to send
it by such a horrid fright of a man!' And Mrs. Meeker laughed.
The young clerical gentleman was thrown completely off the scent. He
bowed and hurried to the carriage, leaving Mrs. Meeker still at the
counter.
She looked carelessly over the different patterns, and said, in a
languid tone, 'I think I will not buy anything to-day,' to which the
clerk obsequiously assented--he well knew whom he was serving--and Mrs.
Meeker left the store.
Her carriage was out of sight; first she assured herself of that. Then
she called a hack, and ordered it to be driven to a distant quarter of
the city.
The carriage stopped at the number indicated in the note. Mrs. Meeker
was met at the door by her son, who conducted her to a back room in the
third story. It was dirty and in disorder. Bottles, wine glasses, and
tumblers were scattered around, and the atmosphere was full of the fumes
of whiskey and tobacco.
What a spot for the son of Hiram Meeker to select, in which to receive
his mother's visit!
What a place for the fastidious Arabella to enter!
THE GREAT AMERICAN CRISIS.
_PART TWO._
We come, in this paper, to the consideration of the possible results
which this war might have, viewed from the beginning; of the several
modes, in other words, in which it might terminate. The most distant
extremes of possible eventuality were the entire conquest of the North
by the South, and the entire conquest of the Southern rebellion by the
North, so as to secure the continuance of the old Union upon the old
basis; or with such modifications as the changed condition of things at
the South might require.
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