Worthless waste and worn-out wool, Flung together--a specious _sham_! With just enough of the 'fleece' to pull Over the eyes of poor 'Uncle Sam.' Cunningly twisted through web and woof, Not 'shirt of Nessus' such power to kill. Look! how the prints of his hideous hoof Track the fiend of the shoddy-mill! A soldier lies on the frozen ground, While crack his joints with aches and ails; A 'shoddy' blanket wraps him round, His 'shoddy' garments the wind assails. His coat is 'shoddy,' well 'stuffed' with 'flocks'; He dreams of the flocks on his native hill, His feverish sense the demon mocks-- The demon that drives the shoddy-mill. Ay! pierce his tissues with shooting pains, Tear the muscles and rend the hone, Fire with frenzy the heart and brain; Old Rough-Shoddy! your work is done! Never again shall the bugle-blast Waken the sleeper that lies so still; His dream of home and glory's past: Fatal's the 'work' of the shoddy-mill. Struck by 'shoddy,' and not by 'shells,' And not by shot, our brave ones fall. Greed of gold the story tells. Drop the mantle and spread the pall. Out! on the vampires! out! on those Who of our life-blood take their fill. No _meaner_ 'traitor' the nation knows, Than the greedy ghoul of the shoddy-mill! * * * * * Some years ago, a German writer informed his astonished readers: 'Thieves are so rare in America, that I observe, from reading their journals, that those who are curious in such studies are obliged to offer a reward to find them.' To judge from a recent attempt at imposition in New-York, one might suppose that negroes were so rare in this country that we are obliged to imitate them, by way of keeping up the supply. Not long ago, a young woman, named Perry, and a Dr. Perkins, of Oneida county, engaged with a broker of the curb-stone persuasion to show off the lady as a case of gradual external carbonization; it being asserted that for four years her body had gradually been turning to charcoal! Examination by Dr. Mott and others revealed the fact that 'the supposed epidermis was made of woven cotton, into which charcoal mixed with gum had been worked.' This was tightly gummed to the fair dame, who was to have been exhibited 'in style' in a stylish house in Fourth street; but who was taken to Bellevue Hospital, to be 'ungummed,' as the French say of people who are turned out of place and lose their chances--as this damsel did. The incident will doubtless, at a future day, find a conspicuous place in the history of remarkable impostures. As it is, we conclude with the remark of a friend, to the effect that the lady, by putting the Coal On, had brought herself to a Full Stop! * * * * *