80      THE WISCONSIN FARME'R.



S. B. Welch, C. S. Walker, 11. Thomas, Uri
Carruth, M. H. Howard, John Davis, Executive
Committee.
  A. D. Gray, Esq., writes that at the annual
meeting of the St. Croix Co. Ag. Society, the
following persons were duly chosen officers for
the year 1803: J. N. Van Slyke, President;
Geo. Spaulding, Wm. L. Perrin, Geo. W. Mar-
tin, V. Presidents; A. F. Gallop, Rec. Sec'y;
A. D. Gray, Cor. Sec'y; A. J. Goss, Treasu-
rer; A. II. Weld, Ira Parke, T. Dwight Hall,
Executive Committee.
      NATIONAL AFFAIRS.



  On the 31st of December the President sign-
ed the bill admitting "West Virginia" into
the Union. The new state embraces 48 coun-
ties and has a population of some 390,000.
  On New Years day G.en. I'osecranx won a
victory at '.Irfreesboro. recapturing that place
from the enemy: on the -th of January Gen.
McClernand fought a great battle at Arkansas
Post (near the mouth of Arkansas river), slaugh-
tering great numbers of the enemy and taking
some 7,000 prisoners: on the 11th Gen. Sum-
ner attacked Vicksburg, but after a gallant
fight of two days, without the aid of the fleet
which failed t9 come to tune, was repulsed with
considerable loss; and on the 2'th Gen. Burn-
side resigned his command of the Army
of the Potomac, and has been sueceeded
by Gen. Hooker; such are the important news
items of the past month. Two tremendous
battles-one for Vicksburg, the other for Rich-
mond-impend; when they will be fought it is
impossible to predict, though they cannot be
long postponed.



EDITORIAL MISCELLANY.

  A Large number of brief and interesting
communications intended for this No are
crowded over to next month.
  See Publishers' Notices under Contents.

  Editorial Notes of European Travel
-Crossing the Alps.-The Retroapect.-FOIrT DU
TxiENT, May 30, 1862.-" Love in a cottage"
was never sweeter than the rest and sleep I
enjoyed in the humble Savoyard home where
my last letter left me, at the foot of the moun-
tain. My bed was of straw, but no down was
ever softer; supper and breakfast of bread and
milk, yet better relished than ever the richest
repast of kings.
  At the village of Argentieres, which lies at
the head of the lovely vale of Chamouni. and
bravely confronts a grand old glacier, large
enough to wash it from its place and submerge
the entire valley, should. It suanyDcm  1



quid, the way I had designed to take leads me
upward toward the snow-mantled peak of
L'Aigouillet, on whose top rest portentous
clouds of the morning Already a sprinkle of
rain begins to fall, and I must avail myself, for
the first time since leaving Versailles, of my
umbrella, which has so faithfully served me as
a staff. But a clever goatherd tells me it is not
'to be a rainy day, and so at this sublime eleva-
tion I may halt a moment and look backward.
Farewell, fairy vale! Farewell, milky Arve,
along whose wild and beautiful banks 1 have
these three days wandered in dreamy .~cstsey
Farewell, U king of the Alps, whose presence
still sublimely overshadows me, and whose ma-
jestic form of all the works of God shall ever
stand fast and first in the soul of memory!
   The rain has stopped; the clouds break, and
 the genial face of the sun looks kindly over the
 tops of the mountains. The rough and wind-
 ing path descends again and my feet now walk
 upon the brink of a little stream, source of the
 river Eau Noire, which, though parallel in Its
 course, flows in a direction exactly opposite to
 tha t of the Arve, and empties into the Rhone
 on the further aide of the mountains whose
 snows and ice supply them both.



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