[iiuiiniiiiniiijiiii 
iMurfKiuuiuwiiiiiUiimiun ' 
-\y 
IAMM 'lk\ 
©ur $torg-®$tyr. 
BEFORE AND AFTER. 
A THRILLING- ROMANCE OF THE 
WAR FOR THE UNION. 
Written Expressly for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, 
IIY TWO WELL-KNOWN AUTHORS. 
very night was leaping high against the 
cause which her brothers stood ready tode 
fend with their lives. Yet they were her 
friends. Hho could not, she would not try 
to uutangle this terrible web of circum¬ 
stances, but she was sure that North and 
South alike were held in God’s merciful 
hand, and that only Tlis will would be 
worked by both. Nobody should cull the 
Hkatheuston'f.s traitors. They would all 
be true to the best that was in them—she 
was sure of that, and there the matter should 
rest. 
MARCH 2 
These hills abound in quartz and in stone 
suitable for paving and whetstoues. A num¬ 
ber of streams flow from these mountains; 
trees, chiotiy the red willow, and a tangled 
mass of grasses and creepers grow on the 
banks; the Pampas grass here grows luxu¬ 
riantly, attaining a bight of from ten to fif- 
teou feet. The water of these streams is of 
excellent quality, being pure, sweet, and 
very soft. In the streams running South 
no lish exist, while in those taking a North¬ 
erly course they are to bo found iu abund¬ 
ance. 
The sketch on the left represents the 
house of Messrs. Mildred & Co., the first 
English settlers iu the neighborhood, who 
possess twelve square leagues of land, upon 
which they are establishing sheep runs, out- 
The accompanying charming picture is 
from the Illustrated London News, which 
comments upon it in this wise: this is 
properly a sentimental business; but the 
gravity here is, if we judge only by outward 
gesture and expression, entirely on the gen¬ 
tleman’s side. *’ Gentleman ” we may safe¬ 
ly call the good-looking admirer of this 
pretty girl; for let but a peasant be pos¬ 
sessed with true love—let him but be so 
deeply enamored as this young fellow evi¬ 
dently is—and no prince of the land will be 
more chivalrous towards at least one of the 
fair sex. But does the girl herself, with all 
her apparent light-hoarteduoss, and the 
arch gaiety of her whining smile, really re- 
“ MAKING LOVE.” 
MAKING 
gard the love-making as a loss serious busi¬ 
ness than her suitor? Very probably not; 
know all ye young men in similar case that 
most young ladies are adepts in the art of 
concealment! Iu this instance the girl is 
lending a willing ear, which Is one pi’eat 
point gained. And more of her secret may 
be discoverable in the flaxen thread which, 
we venture to say. is being wound from the 
distaff much less speedily and regularly than 
usual. But—like, perchance, the girl her¬ 
self we arc getting to a knotty point, and 
must leave pretty Marguerite's secret to 
be discovered by her wooer—who is assured¬ 
ly no Faust; with the hope that, the course 
of true love may for once run smooth. Wo 
have only to add that this charming picture 
is by the distinguished German artist, Herr 
C. L.vscii, and that it is very popular in 
Germany through the medium of photo¬ 
graphy. 
-- 
A SOUTH AMERICAN FARM. 
O v our first page we give a view of a South 
American Farm in the district of Bahia 
Blanca, Buenos Ayres, where is found a col¬ 
ony of English farmers—men of capital and 
education. The climate is mild, dry, and 
windy, the temperature resembling that of 
Lisbon and Naples. The soil is fertile and 
the land covered with a hard, coarse grass, 
on the hills, and a finer one in the low-lands 
and valleys. The upper sketch iu our illus¬ 
tration represents the highest points of 
Sierra Ventana. 
farms, and leasing to tenants. They have 
improved agricultural implements, gardens, 
lucerne fields, 400 acres in wheat, which this 
region produces at an average of 22 to 25 
bushels per acre, of excellent quality. Bar¬ 
ley does well, also, but does not pay as well 
as wheat. The climate is too cool and dry 
for Indian corn, but oats, beaus, See., are 
grown. Lucerne, however, is a most profit¬ 
able forage crop, since on the lowlands it 
yields several cuttings in the year. The 
sketches in the centre of the picture illus¬ 
trate features of life on these farms—the 
herdsman with his lasso, in full chase, and 
characters that belong to the farms. 
Below is a view of the farm as a whole, 
with its background of hills, and the beauti¬ 
ful valley, as seen from an elevation, in front. 
Life here is healthy, happy, and free and in¬ 
dependent. Englishmen accustomed to the 
comforts aud luxuries of an English home, 
turn out at sunrise, take a cup of tea, coffee, 
or mate, a mouthful of biscuit and cold 
meat, gallop to the river, and indulge In a 
bath, aud then plow until eleven o'clock, 
when they breakfast upon roast or boiled 
meat, vegetables, tea aud biscuit, which \s 
followed by a pipe, a chat and a siesta in 
summer time till 2 P, M„ when plowing or 
Other work is resumed till time for another 
swim, the gathering up of sheep, horses, 
etc., before supper. 
Many more would have settled in this 
country had the Buenos Ayres Government 
granted greater facilities foraequiring land ; 
as it is, numbers are steadily added to the 
colonists, and they are said to be contented 
and happy. 
LOVE.”-Gy <J. LA.SCll. 
They have I room, In her father's house on Madison ave¬ 
nue, in the great, city of Now York. She 
was alone, as Bhe often was iu these twilight 
days preceding the night of war. Society 
and gayetiesof all kinds had lost all charms 
for her. She craved solitude; time to think 
of the new and strangu forces that hud en¬ 
tered her life. On this January evening 
she sat before the open fire and watched the 
pictures that formed themselves in the. 
plowing coals, — pictures of the pleasant, 
hospitable, Southern life that she had so 
lately left. She lived over in memory the 
past few weeks, aud all around her were the 
faces of the friends that she might never see 
again. She saw the genial, affectionate host, 
her father's old-time friend aud college 
chum; dear, bright, willful, loving Maggie ; 
impulsive, joyous, fresh-hearted George ; 
Alfred, her own good, touder-hearted boy, 
and reliant, thorough gentlemau, iu one; old 
Hannibal, with the tears running down 
his black face at the thought of losing her; 
Mrs. IlEATHF.nsTONB on her sofa; Susan 
ministering to her mistress; Mr. Bkayton 
restless and anxious, yet, trying to make 
everybody as happy as possible. What, were 
they all doing? Were they in the warm, 
bright library, grouped about, reading the 
newspapers and talking about the war? The 
war! Ah, that hurt! She had been think¬ 
ing of this family as friends, and yet the 
war that was surely coming would separate 
them as fatally as death. What had she to 
do with meu and women whose blood that 
" Yes, James, thank you,” said she, with 
a warm flush iu her cheek as she recognized 
Alfred's handwriting. In a moment more 
she had taken iu all the dreadful news. Col. 
Heathekktone was dead --Alfred's father, 
Maggie’s father—her dear, good friend, was 
dead! The circle was broken. The desola¬ 
tion was begun. Why had she come away 
bo soon? She might have comforted them. 
What, would they all do?—and Hop*, no 
longer able to strive against the sensitive¬ 
ness of her highly-wrought condition, gave 
way to the only consolat ion that would avail 
her—the consolation of tears. 
Hope's father was a Yankee. The word 
Yankee has different meanings to different 
ears. To some it means shrewdness, sharp¬ 
ness, thrift, and little else. To others these 
qualities are but the incidents of the Yan¬ 
kee character, the base of which is strength, 
and the proportions broad and high, if not 
entirely harmonious. In estimating the 
New England character, men have largely 
left out of account the fact that it takes 
time to make anything worth having. They 
have not valued at its worth the granite, 
which after all is capable of a higher polish 
than most materials, but which needs many 
strokes of the chisel to fashion it into 
beauty. When the reorganization of ele¬ 
ments, now going on in America, has 
reached a result, we shall find that the pu¬ 
ritan is the base of the new combination. 
The metaphysical insight of the German, 
the fineness and sensitiveness of the French- 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
[Continued from page loS.J 
VII. Hope's Home. 
“ A letter for you, Miss Hope.” 
Hope Anver ) was in her own pretty 
“A letter for you, Miss Hope.” 
Twice had the servant made this an¬ 
nouncement before Hope realized hi pies- 
