"ripe Old Age."

Tbe Kan thit dies youngost, as might be expected, prehaps, is the Jíail way Brakeman. His averago age is only '27. Yet this must be tnken vih soine ullowance, frotn the foct that ha'dly iiiiy but young and active uien are omployed in ihe capacity. At the same age dies lbo factory wnrkman, through tho combined influence of coiifined air, sedentary pcsture, suünt wuiíes, and unremiuing toil, Then comea the rai!ay büggíigeman, who is srmifhed PU ari average, at 30. Milliners and dressmnki'ig live but Hule loDger. Tbe averago of tho one íh 32, and the other 38. The ngineer, the fireman, the conductor, tiie powder maker; lho wuí digger, and the factory operativo nll nfwhotn are exposad lo endden Hnd violent deathf, die on an average luider the ige of 35. The cuiler, the dyer, the leather dreHgei'jthe opothecary, ihecoüfectioner, the ciyar maker, the PÜverainitti, the painier, the she cutler, the ongraver and the machinist, all of whoni lend confined üveg in an urivholesone atuiosphfre, none of them reuch the average of 40, The musfciun blows his breath all out of his body at 40. The editor knocks hiniself into pi at ihe -ame age. JST " Bill, did ynu ever go to sen ?'' " I gtiess I did, Last Vear, or in. stanee, I went to bl-c a red-headed girl, but I only went once." " Why ko V" Because her brotber hnd an unpleasant way of throwing boot-jaok and Bniootbingiron atpeo{Ia.f' From the Richmond Wliig. Dec. 7. Lees Opinión of the EnemyWhen Meado crossed tbo liapidan, with the view, t was supposed, of making another "Ou to Richiuond," Gen. Lee isíued a battl order, the following extract froiu which is worthy of preservation: "A cruel eneroy seeks to reduce our fatkera and our uiothsrs, our wives and our chitaron, to abjoct slavery ; to strip theui of their property and drive theui from their homes Upon you these helplesí ones rely to aveit these terrible calamities and secure to them the blessiug of libei ty aud safety. Y our past liistory gives tbem the assurance tbat their trust will not bc iu vain. Let every man renicinber that all be kolds dear depend? upon the faithful discharge of bis duty, and resolve to fight, and if need be, to die, in defeuse of a caune so sacred, and worthy the name won by this anny on so many bloody fields." Every Southerner, and especially every Virgiuian, should elierish these températe but powerful, sentenoéi in his heart of hearts. ïhey come from a mau who is accu8tomed to weigh his words well beforc using tbem, and who disdains bombast as he does cant or bravudo. He biliuves what he says and his habit is tu erron the safe side - tu understate rather than to overs'ate anything. In bis te'egrams, in his orders to his troops, in bis couversation, be is ever the saine dignified, eautious, moderate, :ruthful gentleman. His word is, indeed, as goud as bis bond. When be tells us that the enemy is ''cruel," aud that he ' seeks to reduce our fatheis and inother?, our wives and children, to abject slavery; to strip them of their property and drive them trom their homes," we may rely upmi it. hu means what lie says and is willing that ibis, bis delibérate opinión fchould go forth to the world. Abject hlavery! Tbink of it. Eight millions of people stripped of every vestige of propei ty, without a home on e.irth driven into the uiountains and foresta, hunted down like wild beasts, kept in subjection by armed negroes, made washer-women and boot-blaeks to Yaukee Btraps, foreed to perish as outcasts and vagibonds or to perjure their souls by aa oath of allegiance, and then iloomed to draw Yankee rations precisely as runaway negroes now do in the Fedeml barracoons - tbiuk of tbis, Southeruers aud know that the lialf bas uot been told. - But the two simple words choseu by Kobert E, Lee teil it all - abject slavery - and a volume of superlatives could teil no inore. llow brief and guarded the words, yet how strong the aieaning - That 'noble atiuy of martyra" whioh ileeps nader our blood dreuebed soit, from the Potomac to t he confines of Mexico, and that scarcely less noble army of refugees now toiüng teasek-ssly, but without murmur or repiniug, in the Confedérate capital, and in all the towns, eities, and country homes throughout the South attest the solemu trutbfulness of Lee's simple assertion. Amt yet these myriads of corpses and this bost of old men and maideiis, dospoiled of their once hap py homes, and earning a bare subsistenee by hard labor, do uot realizo in their own persons, or convoy to those who have not been detpoiled, the fullncss of meuning couveyed Lu Lee's terse langnage, - ïhe dead lie peacefully under the sod, and their enfranchised souls lie forever done witli the cares aud sorrows of' this life ; the refUgecs liave found teinporary liomps ami.dst kindrcd. and friends; neither of them know what unbjec4 slavc-ry" is' The dead are free ; the retuerces are free; we are all free as yet ; but, if we are recreant to that cause which Lee calis saercd, we shall all know the unspcakable horrors of abject shivery. Gen Lee is no politician - no ranter. - He is a soldier - was euiinetitly honored by the old governinent - had a soldier's devotion to the flag under which his lirst laurels were won, and only yielded his position and his splendid pvotpects because of bis great luve for Virginia and his sense of the superior allegiunce due to his native State. Whtn, at the request of ttie conventiou he drew ,bis sword for the old Oomnionwealtb, be made no demagogue declaration against the North, for the North had not rcvealëd its detestable features to bim, and the justiee of the cause in behaif of which he bad pledgod bis life and fortune did not of itself warrant the expectat on of such atrocities as he has witncssed, and his family have 8uffei'ed,so much Evo now, after nearly tbree vears of terrible war, in which the enemy have oowmuted every barbarity, and viobited alike the laws of humaaity, civilization. and Christianity. he assonts to none f the hyperbole of (he politician. He does not waste his breath in high flown diatribes. He reviles not again. He says iu plain, calm words, "The eiumy is cruel, and he seeks to rciiuce our fathera und taother, our wives and ohildren, to abject slavery, to strip them of their property, :md drive them from thtir li"mcs " He states fac-ts ; be tells simply frath ; that is all. It is well for the Confedtraey, and es pecially well for us m Virginia, that this straighdorward soldier canie to our side. We know not what we should luive dono without him. He is tin; only renlly great military man iu the Confedérate army who lias not fallen under the ban of the authorities. W'liy this is 80, it boots not to inquire. Had it been otherwise, tbc Army of Northern Virginia would long i'ince have lost its unity and efficacy, the wave of invasión would have swept over the capital of tbo Confedcracy, and the hope of iudependence would, in all probability, have diud out in every i heart. Thank heaven there is one truly ab!e General who is not distrusted by big superiors Tbat General tells us the cause in whieh we are engaged is " sa1 cred, and worthy the name won on eo maDy bloody fields." Is tbero a man, woman, or ohild in tha Confederacy irbo will bfl rooreant to tlnö aupa ?