“Underground and Fresh Fish alike confirm our assurance that Vicksburg is not fallen! There is a rumour that provisions are becoming exhausted and that in Vicksburg, too, rats are speared. The Editors of The Pen heartily wish that we might send a grapevine to the beleaguered city, ‘Nothing is, but only thinking makes it so.’ Think of your rat in terms of grace and you will find him good as squirrel.”
“The above items exhaust the news of the outer world. The Pen turns to the world around which runs the Dead Line. Incense first to the Muses! Lieutenant Lamar, ——th Georgia, favours us as follows:—
“Oh, were I a boy in Georgia,
As now I am a man in Hell,
I would haste to the old school-house
With the ringing of the bell!
“Oh, were I a boy in Georgia
As now I am a man in jail,
To go to church on Sunday,
Be sure I would not fail!