Upton received an immense accession of professional reputation. All this took place, it must be remembered, by the time General Upton was twenty-eight years old.

General Upton's married life was a brief dream of happiness. On February 19, 1868, he married Miss Emily Norwood Martin, a native of Central New York. On the 30th of March, 1870, she expired at Nassau, whither she had gone in the vain hope of recovering her health. She was a young lady of extraordinary grace, sweetness, intelligence, and piety. Her influence over Upton always had in view his highest spiritual well-being. He deeply felt that influence; it enriched his character, and he was a better man for it to the end of his days. Her death was a terrible blow to him; but at last he hid his grief in his own bosom and attended to his daily duties. Yet to the last his beautiful wife remained in his heart as the most sacred memory of his life.

General Upton's next service was as commandant of cadets at West Point. It is a position of great importance and responsibility. The commandant has charge of the instruction at the academy in the three branches of the service, and in military police, discipline, administration, etc. He should be an example to the cadets of the gentleman and the soldier. His duties are exacting and incessant, and it is no place for a lazy or inefficient officer. In military drill and discipline, in the inspiration of truth and honor, and in the inculcation of the higher influences of religion, General Upton was equal to the high standards of the position.

In July, 1875, in company with Major George A. Forsyth and Captain J. P. Sanger, General Upton started on an official tour to inspect the military systems of Asia and Europe. The appointment was a high compliment, and it was well deserved. Upton's letters while abroad show that, while he attended assiduously to his professional work, he was interested in beautiful scenery, in historical memorials, in architecture, manners, customs, etc., and these letters are delightfully written, and draw us to the writer in the strongest way. Through them all he shows that intense attachment to friends and home which so strongly characterized him, and his religious principles were not forgotten in his absence from home, and he often complains of the interruptions of his devotions from the exigencies of travel. The result of his tour was his report on "The Armies of Europe and Asia," a book of four hundred pages, showing the keenest and most careful study of the military systems of the countries he visited, and filled with the most valuable lessons for the armies of the United States.

Out of these studies grew his last work, "The Military Policy of the United States," which was left incomplete. Professor Michie gives, from an examination of the manuscript, an analysis of the work, and shows that it is marked by the same thoroughness of study, honesty, impartiality, and wisdom which belong to his previous professional labors.

The end of Upton's life came with appalling suddenness. After serving at the artillery school, Fortress Monroe, he had been ordered to join his regiment at Presidio, California, December 23, 1880. On the 15th of March, 1881, the telegraph flashed forth the news that General Upton had taken his own life. It was equally a shock and surprise, for, from his character and disposition, he was thought to be the last man who would be likely to be guilty of such an act. Professor Michie goes into a careful examination of everything that bears upon his death, and his conclusion is that General Upton's mind was undoubtedly unbalanced when the dreadful deed was done. He had suffered from a trouble in the head as far back as when he was commandant at West Point. It was of a catarrhal nature, and at times had given him intense pain. He had been repeatedly cauterized without any relief. The disease crept inward and clouded his mind; he fell into deep dejection; he thought he had lost the respect of his fellow-officers, and had ceased to be of any value to the government. On the 14th of March he penned his resignation as colonel of the Fourth Artillery; on the 15th he was no more.

Professor Michie modestly furnishes little more than the information necessary

to connect the letters together, and the explanations requisite for the non-professional reader. The great body of the work is made up of the letters which admirably show the life and character of the distinguished subject of this biography. It is an excellent addition to our military history and a valuable lesson in character. As we close this book we cannot but feel how many are gone who served the republic in its sorest need, and we are sure that among the noblest of them all is Emory Upton. W. C. M.

LITERARY NOTES.

On the 15th of July Niagara Falls were thrown open to the public, and the redemption of the great cataract from the vulgarity, greed, and rapacity which had so long environed it was begun. Dr. Chapin, in a lecture which he delivered many years ago on the Ideal and the Actual, attacking the utilitarians in a burst of scornful eloquence that would have delighted the soul of Ruskin himself, rose to a climax when he said that such men would "convert Niagara into a washing-machine and split the cedars of Lebanon into clothes-pins." What seemed then a figure of rhetoric has been realized, and worse, in our later days. And the slow process by which public sentiment has been worked up to the point of efficient action has been an interesting one. It has been a contest between the higher and the lower elements of our citizenship; between the worship of the beautiful and the sublime and the utilitarianism of business and the greed of gain. The result is gratifying as a memorable triumph of enlightened public opinion. The great State of New York has listened to the voice of the mighty cataract, has driven the money-changers from that august presence, and has shown herself a worthy guardian of the matchless wonder which has been intrusted to her hands.

FLORENCE MARRYATT has lately said that the word "rare," as used for "underdone," is an Americanism which had given her the most trouble while visiting this country. Everywhere she had met it; every where it annoyed her; she had made repeated efforts to get it explained, but no one had been able to help her. It is remarkable what philological distresses people will undergo before they will look into that useful but neglected book-the dictionary! Had Miss Marryatt turned the pages of any good English dictionary, she would have found that the word "rare" is not from the Latin rarus, as is hastily assumed by our English friends, from mere literal identity with the familiar derivative of that word, meaning "scarce," not easily obtained, but is a Saxon word, meaning "rawish," and as such was in use among English writers as late as Charles Lamb. The word which Miss Marryatt and others have charged upon us as an Americanism turns out, like many others, the purest possible English.

BUT we think there is a real verbal grievance in the monstrous abuse of the word "antagonize." A large number of writers and speakers seem to think that "to oppose," "to object to," "to resist," "to withstand," and the like, are not sufficiently expressive or impressive, but that the long Greek “antagonize" must be dragged in to do duty in the place of these more familiar words. "The Hon. Mr. A. antagonizes the Hon. Mr. B." "The two great political parties antagonize each other on this question," etc. It is another evidence of that ineradicable illusion that commonplace thoughts are made imposing by the use of big words.

THE telegraph brings the news of the death of Lord Houghton. He was known to the last generation as Richard Monckton Milnes. He was a native of, Yorkshire, and a graduate of Cambridge, and represented the borough of Pontefract in Parliament for many years. He was known as the writer of pleasing and tasteful verses, mostly historical, legendary, and memorial; but we question whether anything he ever wrote is now remembered. Disappearing as Mr. Milnes, he reappeared as Lord Houghton, and as such has been known to the present generation. It is neither as a poet nor as a member of Parliament that he has been

celebrated for many years, but as an eminently kind-hearted and agreeable man. His chief success has been in making other people happy, and in that character he will be long and kindly remembered.

MRS. HELEN HUNT JACKSON, known by her signature "H. H.," must be added to the literary necrology of the year. She died in San Francisco, on the 12th of August, after a long and painful illness. Her poems have long been known to appreciative readers for remarkable sweetness and subtilty, and for these qualities secured the commendation of Mr. Emerson. Her "Bits of Talk" and "Bits of Travel" have been great favorites for their descriptive excellence, and their wit ⚫ and good sense. "Ramona" was her last important work, and had in view the

amelioration of the condition of the Indians.

She was a brilliant talker, a most charming woman, a single-hearted philanthropist, and a strong and steadfast friend. W. C. M.

SERVICE LITERATURE.

HOLDING THE ALAMO.1

THE famous struggle for the Alamo (cotton-wood), of San Antonio is not forgotten by the American, especially the Texan-American. And are its heroes remembered also?

Colonel Bowie's death was as heroic as his life had been lawless and daring. When the war of Texan independence broke out, he joined the patriots and became one of their ablest leaders. Retreating with one hundred and eighty men, before an overwhelming force of Mexicans, commanded by General Santa Anna, he made his way to San Antonio de Bexar, and took up a position behind the walls of the Alamo, a fort of considerable strength, and which commanded the city. The Mexicans, five thousand strong, laid siege to the place, constructed batteries, and began to play away against the fort, while masses of infantry rushed forward to scale the wall. Many a daring feat was performed by Bowie and his men, who, surrounded on all sides, neither thought of capitulating nor asking for quarters in any extremity.

Such was the extent of the fort that it required the incessant vigilance of all the besieged at the different points of attack. There was no time for sleeping. The night was dark, and the exhausted patriots sought to obtain a few hours' sleep. "The Mexicans are upon the wall!" were the startling words which caused every Texan to spring to his feet and grasp his rifle. The enemy, taking advantage of the darkness, had crept up to the fort unperceived by the drowsy sentinel, and were in possession of the wall. The struggle was desperate. The patriots had no choice between death and victory. Hundreds of the enemy were either pitched from the wall or put to death by the bowie-knife or bayonet. At last the Mexicans rushed forward, and surrounding the patriots on all sides, cut them to pieces. Not a man escaped.

ness.

ment.

On the night of the attack, Colonel Bowie was confined to his room by sickWhen the Mexicans broke over the wall, some of them rushed to his apartHe was up in time to take his stand at the door, and with his terrible knife he for some time kept the enemy at bay. When his mighty arm grew tired with the work of death, he fell upon the heaps of the slain which he had piled up around him, and was instantly hacked and stabbed to death.

Colonel Bowie's second in command at the massacre of the Alamo was Colonel David Crockett, many of whose quaint sayings are household words in this country. As a hunter and backwoodsman he had no equal. He served one term in Congress, and was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated. He then emigrated to Texas and joined the patriot army. He escaped from the massacre of Colonel Farrin's command, and reported to Colonel Bowie for orders. He was with the little army during the retreat to San Antonio, and with it entered the Alamo, which became the grave of the entire command. The only persons in the fort who escaped were a servant woman and her child, which was afterward adopted by the Republic of Texas and educated at the public cost. That Crockett fell when the Mexicans rushed over the wall is all that is known; by whom or how, no one was left to tell. But the imagination can well picture him hurling whole squadrons from the wall, or heaping up pyramids of the slain where the struggle was most desperate.

1 Washington, D. C., Republic, July 19, 1885.

Another noted duelist, Colonel Travis, who was admitted to be the best pistolshot in the United States, also fell at the massacre of the Alamo, but how he met his fate is unknown. His body was found under a heap of Mexican dead, showing that he had fought with desperate courage until overpowered by numbers. Next day the bodies of the fallen patriots were collected and reduced to ashes.

This wholesale butchery sent a thrill of horror throughout Texas. General Sam Houston issued a stirring call for volunteers. He took the field at the head of a small but gallant army. Santa Anna, with a greatly superior force, marched against the patriots. Houston retreated to San Jacinto, where he determined to make a stand. The two armies met, and victory declared for the Texans. Santa Anna lost a leg and was taken prisoner. This battle ended the war and secured the independence of Texas.

THE MILITARY FORCES OF BULGARIA AND EASTERN ROUMELIA.-A correspondent of the London Times writes: "Although there is every prospect of the consequences of the revolutionary movement in Eastern Roumelia being smoothed over by diplomatic means, and à peaceable settlement obtained, a review of the military forces at the disposal of the two rebellious provinces will be read at this moment not without some amount of interest, especially as reliable information on the subject has not hitherto been forthcoming, or, if published at all, has appeared