The individual of the hat had just said to the 
Major:—“Is that man in drab clothing, just out 
there under the tree, one of your pickets?” 
when the “man in drab clothing” brought his 
gun to his shouldier and shouted, “Say, you 
feller with the stove-pipe hat—ef you don’t 
take that hat off mighty suddent, I’ll shoot ye!” 
And he of the hat did take it off “ suddent,” and 
for the rest of the way carried it something 
nervously in his hand. 
Isthmus Correspondence of the Rural New-Yorker, 
A TRIP ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 
Having a desire to see something of Cen¬ 
tral America, a few of us left Panama on the 
Panama Railroad Company’s steamer “Guate¬ 
mala,” August 3d, tor a trip up the Pacific 
coast. Fifty-two hours' ride from Panama 
brought us to the first port, Punta Arenas, 
(Sandy Point,) the great coffee mart of Costa 
Itico, and the chief seaport town. In the coffee 
season—January and February—ox carts and 
mules, laden with sacks of coffee, come down 
from the mountains, from every direction, 
making the place appear very business like. 
Puuta Arenas, as you approach it from the sea, 
is low and sandy, having the appearance of an 
island. This, like all of the other ports on this 
coast, has no wharf for the steamers or other 
vessels to land at. Vessels anchor from a half 
mile to a mile from shore, and send their freight 
ashore in lighters of small size, so constructed 
as to pass t hrough the breakers, which roll very 
high at many of the ports. 
The Protection of a Stump. 
At the battle of Stone River, a young>man, 
a member of the Board of Trade .Battery, and 
also a member of the First Baptist‘church, 
Chicago, was detailed with others as a postil¬ 
ion, to take charge of the horses while detached 
from the guns. He sat down behind astump’, 
and presently the thought struck him, “ it looks 
cowardly for me to be sitting here while the 
rest of the] boys stand out there exposed and 
unconcerned,” and upon the impulse sprang up. 
He had scarcely gone a halter’s lengthlwhen 
a cannon ball struck the stump and shivered 
it to atoms, and would have killed him in¬ 
stantly had he remained in his seat two seconds 
longer! 
The place is very 
small, having frame houses and huts in about 
equal numbers. The Custom House, a weather¬ 
worn frame building, with a portico, very 
much resembles a country barn, while the 
American Hotel, a one-story building, looks as 
if it might accommodate twenty guests, on a 
pinch. Wo were not a little surprised, in pass¬ 
ing along one of the main streets, to see some 
largo lizards (of the iguana species) crawling 
out from under the houses and sheds, to sun 
themselves. One old fellow —about five feet 
long, more or less—scarcely noticed our ap¬ 
proach, but a small stone being thrown at 
him, he gave one look, and crowded off at his 
ease. Hideous looking objects as they are, the 
natives consider them good friends, and I am 
told that the presence of snakes about the huts 
is always made known by these lizards, who 
precede them, making a great noise and stir, a 
warning of danger. The eggs of the female are 
considered a fine dish for eating. 
Our stay here was but a few hours, when, up 
anchor, and wc were headed for Iiealejo or Co- 
rinto, which was reached in about six hours. 
Upon arrival, and soon after our anchor was 
dropped at this port, several canoes were seen 
approaching the steamer, and, half an hour 
later, there was a motley crowd of natives (men, 
women and boys,) walking about the steamer's 
deck, each one having something to barter oil’, 
or sell. Among the salable articles I noticed 
parrots in abundance, small and tame an treaters, 
parroquettes, mocking birds, small tiger cats, a 
young fawn, native baskets, and numerous other 
things, which were very interesting to lovers of 
Natural History. The natives, along the coast, 
seem to be rather of a copper color, much re¬ 
sembling the American Indian, and very quiet 
and peaceable. Our next stopping place was 
La Union, the chief seaport town of Salvador, 
and the largest port along the coast. The close 
proximity of a volcano rising up from the suburbs 
of the town, (which was active at one time,) 
would lead hie to select some other point for my 
residence; for, like the old lady on a steamboat 
which had burst its boiler at a previous time, I 
should be afraid that “the critter might burst up 
agin!” 
Not long hence, Salvador will be reckoned 
among the cotton raising States. No small 
amount of capital is now being expended in 
preparing and planting the lands with this ex¬ 
pensive staple, und even the present crop of 
cotton will be large. Cotton presses, gins and 
packers, aro carried there by every steamer, and 
such an increase of freight is expected that the 
Pacific Railroad Company have lately purchased 
and sent to Panama, via Cape Horn, an addi¬ 
tional steamer for that purpose. 
It was at this place that Mrs. Livingston, 
wife of the American Consul, secreted the 
fugitive President of Salvador—Gen. Barrios— 
in her house, and had him conveyed aboard the 
American man-of-war during the evening — 
although the streets wore filled with soldiers 
and police watching closely for him. Dr. Liv¬ 
ingston and lady have spent a great many 
years in Salvador, and aro so conversant with 
the manners, ways and language of the natives, 
that, but for their unmistakable Yankee coun¬ 
tenances. you would take them tor natives of the 
upper crust, Mrs. L. scorns to have a happy 
faculty of making herself agreeable and friendly 
— commanding respect alike from native or for¬ 
eign born. We shall long remember her kind 
hospitality, and only regret that our visit was 
so limited. 
In the evening we attended a “ ball ” in oue 
of the large rooms of the Custom House build¬ 
ing (a massive stonB structure)—said ball being 
tendered to Captain Douglas of the steamer 
Guatemala, and his friends, f we three, supposed 
to be the latter,) by the French Consul, and the 
Commandants of the Port The chamber was 
decorated with national flags, among which the 
Stars and Stripes bore a conspicuous position. 
The refreshment department bore ample testi¬ 
mony to the good taste displayed in its arrange¬ 
ment and variety. The occasion was a happy 
one for all—and it required but little observa¬ 
tion to convince one that Captain DOUGLAS was 
a very popular man here, as well as at all the 
other places visited. By the way, the Captain 
“learned his trade” on your northern lakes, 
and, though still a young man, he has gained a 
reputation which might well be envied by many 
who have seen much longer service on ship¬ 
board. Of our visit to Guatemala and the burn¬ 
ing volcanoes seen, 1 will speak another time. 
AspiirwaU, Sept 24, 186-1 Isthmus. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
ASTRONOMICAL ENIGMA 
I am composed of 56 letters. 
My 37, 40, IS, at, 31,4S, 40, 43 was a distinguished Eng¬ 
lish Astronomer. 
My 33,14, 41,60,13,19,14,56 is one of the classes into 
which the heavenly bodies are divided. 
My 24,14,52 is the center of the solar system. 
•.My 17, 82,51, 47, 89 Is an opaqne body revolving around 
the sun. 
My 15,19,10,13 is » secondary planet. 
My 54, 2,27, 31, 14,18,46 is one of the primary planets. 
My 1, 7, 51,31,14, 3, 4, 28 is one of the constellations. 
My 31,19,15,12,3 i3 a gaseous matter collected in the 
^'EF^y 
a bare space capable of considerable inflation. 
The plumage is covered with transverse bands 
of white on a brown ground, the latter nearly 
black, and the former with a rufous tinge, 
above; long feathers of the throat black; differ¬ 
ent specimens v ary much in color. The length 
is about IT inches, with an extent of wings of 28, 
and a weight of three pounds. 
“This species, once common in the Atlantic 
States, is now mostly confined to the Western 
prairies and plains; the old name in New York 
was healhhen. The food is acorns, bads, leaves, 
berries and grains. They do not migrate, but 
remain ail the year in their favorite and barren 
grounds: In the spring the males are in the habit 
of meeting at break of day in what are called 
‘ scratching places.’ where they swell and strut 
with great pomp, and engage in fierce contests, 
uttering a peculiar sound, rendered more intense 
by the large inflated sacs on the side-, of the 
neck. Their flesh is excellent food.” 
My 21, 29, 35, 45,42,52,28 were the first who cultivated 
Astronomy in Egypt 
My 20,19, 15, 26, 44, 23, 53,14, 8 i3 the principal star in 
the Southern fish. 
My 38, 27,42, 53,56, 5<\ 3b is the presage of a heavenly 
body across the meridian 
My 19, 51, IS, 23, 3TT, 50 , 83, 24 is a machine for repre¬ 
senting the order of the planets. 
My 0, 55,19 is a constellation of the zodiac. 
My 13, 7.16,14, 31, 32. 40 Is the name given to a cluster 
of stars. 
My 10,9,25, 6, 59, 32 is one of the Asteroids. 
My 26, 25, 44, 53, 56 is what the ancients supposed the 
earth to rest upon. 
My whole is a verse found in Psalms. 
Pleasant Prairie, Wis, 1864. Erista Osborx. 
ty Answer in two weeks. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
AN ANAGRAM. 
Sekso molbo nad neth yeth rethwi, 
S&eech rae gthrib heat dafe dna ide 
Smorf r'o ablit ear tawfed thireh, 
Heut kite sivsoai hyorr jb. 
Ciquk sa losduc ta egiunre vendir 
E'ro het aymn deldouc stew, 
Reasy rea ginreab su ot veenah, 
Meho fo pinesspak dan ster. 
Pent Water. Mich., 1864. F. J. Go 
EF" Answer in two weeks. 
were prepared for use in localities not yet so 
fully identified with the interests of treason. 
On the notes of lesser denomination was to be 
Introduced a feature of significant import- At 
one end of the bill the vignette was to consist of 
a colled rattlesnake La the act of striking, while 
at the opposite a copperhead snake, partially ob¬ 
scured by the folds of a Union flag where he had 
taken up his abode, was coiled, sporting the motto, 
“ In this is our hope.” It is perhaps unnecessary 
to add these uotes were designed for circulation 
in the immediate vicinity of the enemy's lines. 
Such, my reader, are some of the calamities 
I avoided when the ship Ruflin surrendered— 
the prize of a Union gun-boat—and this escape 
carried with it also a happy delivery from the 
polluting touch of traitors, through whose 
bloody fingers I should have been continually 
passing, only to become dingy, wrinkled and tat¬ 
tered in the service of treason. Those of my 
fellows who escaped a similar fate are and have 
been serving useful purposes In the U. S. Trea¬ 
sury Dept, while T. having discharged the duties 
they imposed upon me. await patiently those 
which time may develop in other channels. 
Awriley, Jr. 
Washington, Oct. 7,1863. 
traitors in America, ruled by Satan the 2d, so 
milled in contradistinction to that original seces¬ 
sionist described by Mr. Milton. Penetrating, 
however, as is this humiliation, it is as nothing 
compared with that to which I was to have been 
subjected, and while reflecting upon my escape 
therefrom I am tilled with a feeling of devout 
thankfulness that even gilds and radiates from 
my edges. 
Leaving the place of my nativity with several 
of my nearest of kin, I was placed on board 
ship Rutfi(a)n, (so called in honor of the white- 
headed old traitor of Virginia who fired at Sum¬ 
ter the first shot of tbo slaveholders’ rebellion,) 
destined for the realm of slavery’s chivalry, 
where the further humiliation to which I have 
alluded above was to have been imposed, the 
character of which 1 learned during the passage 
of the great waters. It had been determined 
that I should co-operate with the traitors in 
their hellish endeavors to destroy the glorious 
institutions of liberty by exercising a denomi¬ 
national influence in the mpnetary affairs of the 
Conthieveracy. By due process of disfigura¬ 
tion, I was to be transformed into treason’s 
“ sinews of war,” and while serving in the 
capacity of bonds and legal tenders, I was also 
to be conspicuous as a specimen of the profi¬ 
ciency to which the coarse arts had attained in 
the Confederacy. My pure and (spotless exterior 
was to be defaced past all remedy with represen¬ 
tations of some of the crude and ripened fruits of 
the “divine institution.” Faces of such distin¬ 
guished traitors as Quantrrl, Davis. Forrest 
and Floy d, and vignettes of promineut events of 
the earlier and later stages of the slaveholders’ 
conspiracy, were to beindeliblystamped thereon. 
The massacre at Lawrence; the butchery at Fort 
Pillow; the indiscriminate slaughter at Ply¬ 
mouth ; the nameless Atrocities practiced upon 
black soldiers and their subsequent burial alive; 
the exposure and starvation of Union soldiers at 
Bell Isle and AndersonvUle; the exhumation of 
skulls ami bones of Union soldiers for the manu¬ 
facture of trinkets and drinking cups; traitors 
in the act of poisoning springs and proffering 
poisoned food; black flags and clusters of the 
horrid devices (poisoned and explosive bullets) 
of treason were to be the subjects chosen for my 
face, while the earlier features of the “ peculiar 
institution” were to be wrought outupoumy 
reverse. There, the sale and separation, brand¬ 
ing, burning, shootiug, flogging, huuting, lacer¬ 
ating and capture by bloodhounds, of negroes, 
was to constitute a grand comprehensive view— 
the whole to be bordered with interwoven pis¬ 
tols, bowie knives and cat-o-uine-tails, and 
arched with the appropriate inscription “The 
civilizing influences of Slavery." Bonds and 
uotes covered with the above designs were di¬ 
ttoed for circulation where treason was boldest, 
while those representing a milder type of the 
ideas upon which the Confederacy was based 
nr phase: w. ubii.lt, surgeon 25tu Illinois 
Comradbs! Tried in camp and field— 
Soldiers! Sworn to Freedom’s standard 
Who, when dread from Sumter peal'd 
Tones, at which a nation reel’d— 
Fearless formed that cation’s vanguard. 
No cause more just. 
No holler trust 
Inspired the hearts and nerved the hand 
Of those brave sires 
Whose patriot fires 
Gave Freedom to our native land! 
Then shall we, midway, count the cost— 
Backward in ihe farrow turning! 
01 shall in vain their lives be lost— 
Our fallen brethren—hero host? 
Is not honor worth the earning ? 
Is not the flag 
Our fee would drag 
From Us proud place, as glorious now 
As when its light 
Dispelled the night 
Of bondage from our country's brow? 
Veterans! God to us hath left 
Choice of action that for ages 
Leaves the world of hope bereft 
If we falter! But the gift 
# Of our true manhood all the pages 
Of our history 
Elsewise mystery, 
Gilds with promise, great and grand, 
l.et war’s red brand 
In Freedom's bane 
Make this—our own—the promised land! 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
ALGEBRAICAL PROBLEM 
You that are skilled in mathematic's arts, 
Divide 100 into two such parts 
That when these parts each other hath divided, 
Their quotients make just 5, i f right decided. 
Castile, N. Y , 1864 w. i 
ILLUSTRATED REBUS 
[A young friend/who has long been an attentive 
reader of the Rural, asks us to resume the publica¬ 
tion of rebuses, etc., which were so popular when we 
gave them, some years ago. Well, we have thought of 
the same thing, but it is difficult to get the rebus ma¬ 
chine started—the copy, with proper drawings, engra 
rings, Ac —especially as our engraver is now absent 
on military duty, (as officer of a regimen; guarding 
rebel prisoners at El tnira ) Bat w e will soon see what 
can be done, and meantime re publish the following, 
which will be new to thousands of our readers, and 
may puzzle those who have seen It before.] 
The Petition for a Furlough. 
Norma in Doank, an Indiana soldier, has 
received a furlough from one of the Washington 
hospitals to visit his home and christen his twins 
—Abe and Andy. His application for the fur¬ 
lough causes a laugh even amid the sternness 
of the War Department: 
“ Dear Sir:—T he Union is saved. Hurrah! 
“ Make room in Abraham’s bosom! 
“ My wife has twius. Both boys! 
“ Please grant me a furlough for twenty or 
thirty days to go up to Fort Wayne. Ind.. to 
christen ’em Abe and Andy: and besides, I 
would like to know if they look like me. 
“ I am not too sick now. A few days at 
home will do me more good than six months 
iu the hospital. Should any references be re¬ 
quired on patriotism aud public services. Schuy¬ 
ler Colfax: on domestic relations. Mrs. Doane. 
Very respectfully, “ Norma in Doane. 
“ Private, signed Corporal. IT. S. A. 
“ P. s.—The little presents necessary upon 
such occasions need not be sent till after the 
ith of March next, wheu Andy will be present 
also. 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker 
MY HISTORY. 
I am one of the the numerous family of 
Sheets of whom there were several quires in 
my father’s household, which, I may add, was 
of the highest respectability, although de¬ 
scended from the lowly family of Raggs. 
Bom in an Knglish paper mill, my history fioin 
that to the present period is an eventful one, 
and chiefly interesting as that of an existence 
whose deliverance from impending calamities 
was the distinguishing feature. To this fact 
may be attributed that absence in my exterior 
of everything indicative of hardships, for to the 
superficial observer there is nothing iu my ap¬ 
pearance to excite commiseration, but place lue 
between your vision aud the light, and that 
w’hich is a source of exceeding discomfort and 
humiliation, is plainly visible. Worse than the 
first murderer, who was only marked externally, 
I am branded through and through with the 
hateful initials, C. S. A., of that habitation of 
rr Answer next week 
The Grey-Back ana the Hat. 
The humor that crops out between pickets 
furnishes a good mauy funny incidents. Major 
Ludlow, who superintends the digging of the 
Dutch Gap canal, was lately showing his lines 
to a party of civilians, one of whom was con¬ 
spicuous for his hat, a tall silk tile hat, new 
from an establishment beneath the Astor House. 
Answer to Military Euigrna:—Captain John T. Stand 
ring, Co. 51, Filth Heavy Artillery, New York Vofijiv 
teers. 
Answer !o Anagram: 
The masque is over, the dance is done, 
The lights, the music, the flirting, the fun, 
And, coming home, in the morning gray, 
One yawns out, sleepily, ’• did it pay?” 
May God grant us sometimes a hard nut to 
crack, for, after such nuts, the table-wine of 
life tastes deliciously. 
