"I ain' gwine keep you all long. 'Tain' no use. We can't do nothin' for Sis' Tildy. All is done fer her, an' she done preach her own fune'al sermon. Her name was on dis church book here, but dat warn' nothin'; no doubt 'twas on de Lamb book, too. "Now, whiles dey fillin' up her grave, I'd like you all to sing a hymn Sis' Tildy uster love, but you all know I bline in one eye, an' I dunno as any o' you all ken do it"--and the first thing I knew, the old man had passed his well-worn book to me, and there I stood at the foot of the grave, "lining out": "'Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, From which none ever wake to weep.'" Words of immortal comfort to the great throng of negro mourners who caught it up line after line, on an air of their own, full of tears and tenderness,--a strange, weird tune no white person's voice could ever follow. "ILLEGANT PAIR OF HANDS" [Phoebe Y. Pember.] A large number of the surgeons were absent, and the few left would not be able to attend to all the wounds at that late hour of the night. I proposed in reply that the convalescent men should be placed on the floor on blankets or bed-sacks filled with straw, and the wounded take their place, and, purposely construing his silence into consent, gave the necessary orders, eagerly offering my services to dress simple wounds, and extolling the strength of my nerves. He let me have my way (may his ways be of pleasantness and his paths of peace), and so, giving Miss G. orders to make an unlimited supply of coffee, tea, and stimulants, armed with lint, bandages, castile soap, and a basin of warm water, I made my first essay in the surgical line. I had been spectator often enough to be skilful. The first object that needed my care was an Irishman. He was seated upon a bed with his hands crossed, wounded in both arms by the same bullet. The blood was soon washed away, wet lint applied, and no bones being broken, the bandages easily arranged. "I hope that I have not hurt you much," I said with some trepidation. "These are the first wounds that I have ever dressed." "Sure, they be the most illegant pair of hands that ever touched me, and the lightest," he gallantly answered. "And I am all right now." THE GUN-BOAT "RICHMOND" [Scharf's Confederate Navy.]