In one of the fierce engagements with the rebels near Mechanicsville, in May last, a young lieutenant of a Rhode Island battery had his right foot so shattered by a fragment of a shell that on reaching Washington he was obliged to undergo amputation of the leg. He telegraphed home, hundreds of miles away, that all was going well, and with a soldier's fortitude composed himself to bear his sufferings alone. Unknown to him, however, his mother, one of those dear reserves of the army, hastened up to join the main force. She reached the city at midnight, and the nurses would have kept her from him until the morning. One sat by his side fanning him as he slept, her hand on the feeble fluctuating pulsations which foreboded sad results. But what woman's heart could resist the pleadings of a mother then? In the darkness she was finally allowed to glide in and take the place at his side. She touched his pulse as the nurse had done, not a word had been spoken, but the sleeping boy opened his eyes and said, "That feels like my mother's hand; who is this beside me? It is my mother; turn up the gas and let me see mother!" The two dear faces met in one long, joyful, sobbing embrace, and the fondness pent up in each heart sobbed and panted and wept forth its expression. CANINE RESEMBLANCE.--180. A Boston paper says their townsman, Abel Sniggs, has a dog so closely resembling one belonging to Tom Clegg, that it often happens that Clegg's dog takes himself into Sniggs's house, and does not discover his mistake until informed by the _cat_. MARRIAGE AND SINGLE BLESSEDNESS.--181. We subjoin a curious specimen of verse, which is both ingenious and witty, and admits of being read in two ways. To suit the taste and inclinations of the married, or those who propose marriage, we transcribe it as follows; but to convey a directly opposite sentiment, for the benefit of the singly blessed, it will be necessary to alternate the lines, reading the first and third, then the second and fourth:-- "That man must lead a happy life Who is directed by a wife; Who's freed from matrimonial claims Is sure to suffer for his pains. "Adam could find no solid peace Till he beheld a woman's face; When Eve was given him for a mate, Adam was in a happy state. "In all the female race appear Truth, darling of a heart sincere, Hypocrisy, deceit, and pride, In woman never did reside. "What tongue is able to unfold The worth in woman we behold? The failings that in woman dwell Are almost imperceptible. "Confusion take the men, I say, Who no regard to women pay. Who make the women their delight Keep always reason in their sight." A "FOREST-BORN" ORATOR.--182.