Search For Contraband Of

The oorrespondent of the Boston Journal relates ineidents attending the seareh f'or contraband at the llelay House. "We quote : You hcar tlie whistle of tbc train bound for Harper's Fetry. As it comes rounding the curve, the guard is drawn up on each side of the track. Soon as the train stops, a soldier hteps on eath platform of every car, and sees that no oue gets oif or on. The one whose business it is to ''develop" any cuutrabaud articles or persons enters the forvvard pas seiiger car. He looks on and under the rirst seat aud tinds nothing but a very suspieious femjle. Her hoops are very iare. umi n ■■" ■ ." ' - ' - : tliuugh she mdulged m a free uso ot cotton, or else is a walking train in the service of the rebels. ÏUo searcher looks, but doosn't kuow what to do. Ha canuot, of course, treat her as he would a man, for evcrybody would cali him a brute, and besides, he has uo taste for such thiugs. At last he timidly recuesta that she will rise, iu the hope that souie treasonable artiele uiay full aud discover her eharaot.er. Here is a aan wlio either looksalittle confused, or clse puts on a stol id expi'ession, as though he wcre utterly indifferent. After haviug carefully LuvestigateJ this seat, the searcher politely ast; a the individual 'to empty his pockets. Mind you, this is really done politely, and whiíe askiug a thousaud pardons for the demaad. All letters directed to individuáis south of the Potomac are confia cated. Oflontimes they have been found to contain va-luable iuformation. If the man is very suspicious the seareh is respondmgly rigid. hc bands are passou over his coat and iDside bis vost" and woe be to li i 111 is anythiug if discovered tliat stamps him as a spy. So the cars are looked through, one by one. , Some of the passengers laugli, some grow mad and swear, some seo tho roasoa of the thing and yield at once, others blustor and threaten, and have to be sluit up by the fear of immediate arrest if they open their moulhs again. ïhe seareher tben says : " All wlio havo baggage will ploase step into the forward'car." He theu asks each maa to open his tronk, aud passes his hand as caret'ully as may be through the bundies of varieties with which human beings iill their apparatus. One's luggage does not undergo ono half the dauger which it is subjected to in a Liverpool custom house. I have seen both classes of operators, and I would much prefer togo by the Kelay than to laud in Liverpool. Suddenly the seareher comes across a common-louking, red, wooden trunk. It is inai-ked Mary Birkitt, Wheeling, Virginia. Tlicre is notiiing suspicious about H. It looiio in kocjuig witb somo village aunt, vvho had fprsworu the company of the coarser sex, and had just returned from a visit to eome relations who had lately thrown themselves away by sweariug, in the preseuce of a parson, to keep house, neatly and econoniieally, for some one of those worthksá creatures caüed uien. The seareher calis out for Mary to come ind dipiay her dry goads, but no Mary is to bc found. He calis again, and with the game result. The conductor is questioued, but he kno-,vs nothing about the matter. The thing looked all right, but it wou't do to lat even Mary Birkitt's trunk go on without ËnoWtng wliat is iu it. So, after having sounded another cali for the spinster to maka her appearance, the searchcr calis íor a hamnier and cliisel, and opens the thing. - Nothiug alarming is presented. On the top ia a vcry whito, and niccly done up pair of sleeves. Thcn comes a chemisette, andthen a Jresand thcn --U-o Unit was a sorry dodge. No wonder you didu't answer when your name was cálled. Why, my doar Mary, you have here moro caps tlían you can wedr in a dozen lifetimes. 'l'he trunk is couñscated. . Col. Jones was once going through a train on tho scent of suspicious articles He saw befween two seats a small baakot. The top was partly raised and discovered some sandwiches, gingcrbread, &.O. lt was of course nothiug surprising to sce a lunohcon basket iu the cars. The 1 ductor camo up aud said, " Colouol, au old'woman owns that basket; I bohevo sho has stopped into the forward car." - Well, that was very reasonable. However, just as he was going to leave it the Colonol put his Httlo finger under the haudlo, to see how much a basket of luncheon wcighs, you know. But the thing didu't come up. Soinuhow it stuck to the floor. He thon applicd his whole hand, and aftor rumovhg the gingerbread; he discovcred about half a peck of bright brasa buttons, which were on their way to adorn the uuifonns of irginia rebels. fféT A ladj, paying a visit to her daughtc. n.o was a yuug widow, askoa her why Bhe wurc her widow's garbs so Ion.. "Dear mamma, dou't yeu soo, repTicd the daugl.tcr, It BiW me the expense of aivertising for a husband, as ovcry pne uaa see tot I am for sale by private contract. L2L" reieeverucco will accomplish great things.