'Wonders will never cease!' Of course they will not, so long as there are so many persons engaged in providing the aliment for their sustenance; so long as the demand exceeds the supply; so long as mankind are more disposed to listen to exaggeration rather than to simple truths, and so long as they shall tolerate the race of _wonder-mongers_, giving them 'aid and comfort,' regardless of their being enemies of our peace, and the pests of our social community. THE RETURN. July,--what is the news they tell? A battle won: our eyes are dim, And sad forbodings press the heart Anxious, awaiting news from him. Hour drags on hour: fond heart, be still, Shall evil tidings break the spell? A word at last!--they found him dead; He fought in the advance, and fell. Oh aloes of affliction poured Into the wine cup of the soul! Oh bitterness of anguish stored To fill our grief beyond control! At last he comes, awaited long, Not to home welcomes warm and loud, Not to the voice of mirth and song, Pale featured, cold, beneath a shroud. Oh from the morrow of our lives A glowing hope has stolen away, A something from the sun has fled, That dims the glory of the day. More earnestly we look beyond The present life to that to be; Another influence draws the soul To long for that futurity. Pardon if anguished souls refrain Too little, grieving for the lost, From thinking dearly bought the gain Of victory at such fearful cost. Teach us as dearest gain to prize The glory crown he early won; Forever shall his requiem rise: Rest thee in peace, thy duty done. THE UNION. VI. VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA COMPARED. Virginia was a considerable colony, when Pennsylvania was occupied only by Indian tribes. In 1790, Virginia was first in rank of all the States, her number of inhabitants being 748,308. (Census Rep., 120,121.) Pennsylvania then ranked the second, numbering 434,373 persons. (Ib.) In 1860 the population of Virginia was 1,596,318, ranking the fifth; Pennsylvania still remaining the second, and numbering 2,905,115. (Ib.) In 1790 the population of Virginia exceeded that of Pennsylvania 313,925; in 1860 the excess in favor of Pennsylvania was 1,308,797. The ratio of increase of population of Virginia from 1790 to 1860 was 113.32 per cent., and of Pennsylvania in the same period, 569.03. At the same relative ratio of increase for the next seventy years, Virginia would contain a population of 3,405,265 in 1930; and Pennsylvania 19,443,934, exceeding that of England. Such has been and would continue to be the effect of slavery in retarding the progress of Virginia, and such the influence of freedom in the rapid advance of Pennsylvania. Indeed, with the maintenance and perpetuity of the Union in all its integrity, the destiny of Pennsylvania will surpass the most sanguine expectations.