his sash, similar in form, was used as a hammock to bear him from the field, and that in it he was carried several miles, his body swaying to and fro between the horses, to which the ends of the sash were securely fastened. To a wounded soldier, no conveyance could be more grateful, or more appropriate.

Gen. Taylor broke the silent admiration, by saying he would not receive the sash. Upon our expressing surprise, he continued, that he did not think he should receive presents until the campaign, so far as he was concerned, was finished. He elaborated on the impropriety of naming children after living men, fearing lest the thus honored might disgrace their namesakes. We urged his acceptance of the present; and he said, finally, that he would put it carefully away in his military chest, and if he thought he deserved so great a compliment, at the end of the campaign, he would acknowledge the receipt."

The stirring events that have transpired since he made that remark, have added the laurels of Monterey to those he then wore; and the world, as well as the donors of that sash, will insist upon his acceptance of it.

Since writing the above, the old chieftain himself has passed from the living to the dead. He died-a singular coincidence, on the anniversary of that terrible event-the defeat of Braddock. But a few weeks previous to his death, the author, then on a visit to Washington, freely conversed with the distinguished chieftain upon the very subject about which we have been writing. He said, that the sash referred to, was still in his possession, and at any time we desired it, would have it shown. Knowing that matters of state pressed heavily upon him, we did not ask it at that time; and thus, perhaps, the opportunity has been lost forever; certainly deprived of one of its most interesting features to be seen in the hands of General Taylor. Dur

ing the interview referred to, he spoke much and frequently of Washington's early operations in the west, and inquired whether any of the remains of Fort Necessity could be

seen.

SKETCHES OF STAUNTON AND LEXINGTON.

[We take the following light and graphical sketches of two of our most interesting towns-Staunton and Lexington—from some pleasant papers entitled "Wayside Sketches from Virginia,” which have recently appeared in the New York Observer, and which we should like to transfer entire to our pages;— but these extracts must suffice.]

STAUNTON.

Having been long a thoroughfare for travel, Staunton is the most prominent point in a journey through central Virginia. It is a convenient resting-place, and offers the attractions of an excellent hotel, under the management of those who know how to show to strangers a kind hand, and a warm heart. A day or two may be spent with great interest here, in visiting the Western Lunatic Asylum, one of the most comfortable and best ordered establishments of the kind in the country; or in witnessing the very entertaining and affecting exhibitions at the Institutions for the Blind, and Deaf and Dumb, which are also situated here. Among all the similar Institutions, it has been my privilege to witness in other portions of the country, I have seen none under better management, or apparently more efficiently doing their heaven-like work for the relief of the most afflicted members of our common humanity. Dr. Stribling, Dr. Merrilat, and the Rev. Mr. Tyler, the gentle

men respectively in charge of these invaluable Institutions, deserve well of the people of this great State, and of their race, for the skill, industry, and success with which they have devoted themselves to the important interests of which they are in charge. Who could have looked upon the many victims of insanity who have returned from that Asylum in their right minds; or upon the sparkling faces of those who with finger and gesture, are speaking a language their ears refuse to hear, and their lips to utter, or upon those others who with sightless orbs must wander in darkness through the world, but yet who can touch their ponderous tomes, and tell the story recorded on their pages, or pour from those instruments and voices such delicious music, who can look on such triumphs of humanity as this, and not thank the Providence who has so kindly provided for the relief to these afflicted ones, and thank the men who have been made the instruments of such blessed results?

Here too in Staunton are fine schools; a stately Female Academy under Episcopal patronage, stands on an eminence at one extent of the town, and alongside the Presbyterian church is another under the care of Presbyterians; and not far off is the handsome parsonage belonging to the same denomination, and inhabited by the pastor, the Rev. Benjamin M. Smith, one of the most prominent ministers in the Synod. If there were time too, we might make the acquaintance of some of the gentlemen at the bar for whom Staunton has so long been celebrated,-one of the most distinguished of whom now holds a seat in the cabinet, as Secretary of the Interior; or if more at leisure, we might go a few miles into the country to gather up some of the many traditions about the Rev. Conrad Speece, D. D., that giant in frame and in theology, who so often entertained. and delighted Virginians by his great thoughts poured forth

in deep, ponderous tones, and whose dust now sleeps be side that rural stone church where he so long labored for his Master; but we must bid adieu to this town of asylums, and pursue our journey to Lexington, "the Athens of Western Virginia," lying some thirty-five miles distant.

LEXINGTON.

Few strangers, who have tarried even for a day in Lexington, have failed to carry away vivid and pleasant remembrances of its picturesque situation, and its intelligent and hospitable society. Had its early settlers made broad its main street, and arranged the lots so that trees and shrubbery might have embosomed its houses, Lexington would, indeed, have been a gem in this great Valley of Virginia. As it is, the fine hills which rise on every hand, and sweep away so gracefully, are adorned by modern taste and architecture beyond most villages. Looking from the heights near Governor McDowell's, few finer subjects can be found for an artist's pencil than the well built village. The long, graceful crescent of hills, topped with handsome private residences, a fine Female Academy, the colomades of Washington College, and the castle like Military Institute, with the Jump, North, and House Mountains as a background, and in the intermining forests the ivy-covered ruin of "Liberty Hall Academy." Standing on this same spot a few years since just after having finished a European tour, with a friend who had recently returned from the Mediterranean, we both concluded that this beautiful panorama lacked nothing but a sheet of water to make it compare favorably with the most renowned scenes we had met with in our foreign travels.

That old, ivy-covered stone ruin is not only a most striking feature in this picture, but has associated with it much

that is interesting, because of its connection with names honored in the church and the country. Liberty Hall Academy-now Washington College-was established in the early settlement of this Valley, by the substantial Scotch Irish population, who had brought hither with them their love of education as well as their devotion to their peculiar religious principles. Here the excellent and too little remembered William Graham taught. Here Drs. Baxter, Speece, Alexander and others, whom the church has delighted to honor, received the training whieh fitted them for their subsequent eminence and usefulness. More imposing structures have succeeded this old Academy, whose walls alone were left from the ravages of the fire by which it was consumed, but nobler names will never be given to the church than those furnished by Liberty Hall.

Washington College, which has grown from this scion derives its present name from the illustrious father of his country, from whom it received a liberal donation. Subsequent gifts from an eccentric bachelor, who resided in the vicinity, and from the Cincinnati Society of the Revolution, have made this one of the best endowed institutions in the South. Dr. Baxter, Dr. Marshall, brother of the late eminent Chief Justice, Prof. Vethake, Dr. Ruffner, and Dr. Junkin have successively occupied the Presidential chair. The prospects of the College are now encouraging, and with the various Presbyterial and Parochial Schools, as feeders, a large accession to its number of students is anticipated. It has done a most important work for the people of this Valley, and for the Presbyterian Church, and deserves to be liberally sustained by all Western Virginia.

The Military Institute, originally a State Arsenal, with a few soldiers to take charge of the arms there deposited, has within a few years been changed into a literary institution under military discipline, on the model of West Point,