Very truly yours, EDMOND REDMOND. Mr. O’Connor was the author of many poems, and in 1895 the Putnams brought out a little volume of his modestly entitled “Poems.” Many of the shorter poems in the book are characterized by delicate fancy and graceful rhyming; such poems as “Her Hands,” “Water Lilies,” and the “Wine Song.” He favored these smaller, slighter children of his fancy. He thought the best poem he ever wrote was “The Cavalier Sword,” and next in order he placed “The Fount of Castaly.” In our opinion “Her Hands” is the sweetest and most graceful of them all, and we print it herewith: HER HANDS. Sometimes I sit and try to trace In memory’s records dim and faint, The features of my mother’s face, With the calm look of gentle grace That marked our house’s quiet saint. The innocence of her blue eyes, The winning smile about her lips, Child-simple and yet woman-wise, Her shining hair, her modest guise, All come in turn; each fades and slips. I try to fix them, but in vain; They waver, and yet will not fuse, Howe’er imagination strain, To form the face that it would feign— Till on a sudden, as I muse There comes a thought of her dear hands, All wrinkled, tanned and labor-worn— And there the simple woman stands, To meet her duty’s hard demands, Among the children she has borne. No work nor written word remains, Nor picture worthy to approve; But read in knotted joints and veins, And tendons strong, and honest stains, The tale of service and of love. O hands of ministry, that wrought In constant care, through weal and woe, Nor rest by crib or coffin caught, This pang is mine—I never thought To kiss your fingers long ago. CHIEF EGAN’S WAR RECORD WRITTEN FOR STATE ARCHIVES FROM PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. David Irwin of San Francisco, an Irishman, formerly First Lieutenant of Company F, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, who served under Gen. Charles R. Brayton, a guest and speaker at the dedication of the Society of the Sullivan Memorial December 16, 1908, has recently written a sketch of his service in the Army, and while compiling the story ran across several notes of incidents in Army life which directly concern Chief of Police Patrick Egan, of Providence, R. I.