A Volunteer

Wesavv and conversed with amana shcrt time ngo, who had recently retunied from the battle fields oi" Mexico, hearing evidence by several wounds of having been engaged wi;h the cnemy in strenuous and deñthly comhat. He said, "when I first contemplated : the war ; the cause of its origin and its object, 1 was Ml ai'dent advocate of iu prosecution ; though few in the part wheiel resided wereof my views, and the efforts made to raise volunteers were of none avail. But so zealous was [, that I resolved to go if alon, and finallystarted from my home in the western part of N. Y. - paid the expen-e of my going - entercd the army in great engerness wilh the appellation of Captain. And soon, in the tmttle of Monterey,! had the gratification of serving ny ardent feelings. But as we enlered ihe city for the awful and deathly conflict, my feelings changed from the stern and darir.g, to a timid, light-wavering , and too 1 nopsessed a sluggish impulse, bearing me on to the abodes of devh, like a leaf drawn onword throiigh the aii by a passing hurncane. Several times 1 feit for n:y cap. fur my heati appeared uncovered, and my whole systcm appenred lïiled with gas, so mufh as nearlv to light me fiom the earth. Yet 1 was fu'ly conscipaa of nppronching a crisis fraüg'it with denth, misery. and blood, which cnused m' new, strango and horrified feelings. Üut amid them al!. 1 still desired the issue, and as we entered the street I could see the wotnen and boys, thronging round the windowa :n the seconH story of the buildings, with arms to repel the invaders ; and as we neared them, a volley of fire, smoke, nnd death, was plunged into our midst from their muskets. They displayed much courage - one lady rushed to the window in the face of my mtwket and in the attitude of leveling her piece a! me, feil and I saved my life by taking her's. This engagement in the streets soon banished my timidity,and I feltcomparaiively comjjosed, though the time was one of fright, dismay, and peril. But the interior of the fortification ; there was a s-nne I have no wish to witness again. We bounded at each other with the wild fury of beasis nnd demons ; with swords, knives, and bayonets, and musket barrels, and then the horriííic din, and incessant clnsh of knives and tlie mingled shrieks and groar.s of the dying, that clattered and moaned in our eTr, filled me with a sensalion of man's nhiimaniiy to man, deep and abiding. Vhen I reílect, as I often do upon this occurrence ; the blood stained visffges that 1 saw gasping in the dominions of ilenth, hurriedly rise to the view of my imagination,but a consciousness of wrong and high crime makes t a season of unpleasantness in my being. For no considerntion would I again engage in sich nu unrighteous and uncnlled forwarfare : and hundredfl and thousands I found who think wilh me ; and there is evidenoe from the fact of their leaving immediately hfter the expiraiion of tlw