Lafayette's 'possums

Ïh6 Now York Citmn tclls a good story of Gen. Lafayette and the opossun), Co!. Skinuer, wjio is mencionad in thia sulvjoined urtioie,' ís still in the land nf the Pharaohs : W'Leu Gen. Lafayctte paid a vieit to this country after it attsined itii independence, ho expressed a desire to take homo with bini a specimen of that esscutia ly Lfttive animal, the opossum. Au ubiuiate fiieuU if his, who was editing a paper at the time iu Baltimore, a oear relaiive of {jol: Skihnér,lt'ely ou ihe Turf, Fidd and Farm, hearing of ibis Jesire on Lis part, iuserled a noticc lo that otfuct n llie coIuuids of his jourual. Now, Lafayette has ulways been greatly and dewervedly loved aud respected by Amerioans. Ilis name is a bousohold word with us. Every resident of our country ai that time pould , baye been oased to tostify apprëcia-' tion of th .eervijes iie had jundered our kolonies when struggliug Lqr their iudependenco. ïbere waa a detcrmiuation iü tbe couimuiiity to prove to him that república aro aot vngrateful, aod no sooner had it beconie gcuerally known that Gen. Lafayette wanted u 'poBsum than ;t waa ■ uDaDimoüsly re-' solved tliat a 'poescim he sbould have at any cosi of labor aud expense of uioney. iïeuee the editor ot the puper wu have referred to was not inuch surprisod when the coach rom Pawtuxeat urrived, and he was ínformed that it coutained a box for him with an opossum. He saui to himself that tbis is only as it should be, aud feit gratified that Gen. Lufayett's wishes had beeu complied with. Our readers must reoolleot that in tuose days Btage-coaches were all the go, and that railroaa were not in vogue. Heneo it tpok news and 'possums all the I longer to travel. Wbeo, howovef, the" iJhiladelphia coach appearedaud brought two more boxes of possums, each contaiuiug two lively speoimens, the editor was satisfied that the country had done its duty ; so thai riext day, whon the regular pls.ga fróm the Eastern Shore eame iu aud brougbt him six additipnal 'possums the editor Jfolt that he had euough ; but wheu the Chesapeake boat landed at the wharf at Baltiniore aud presented him vvilh one hundred aud twenty fresh and vigorous specimens, he began to think that they yee' getting" too mauy for bina. Our people are a grateful people., Thoy provüd thomselvc eo conspiouously on this occasion. Ac for the 'possoms the cry was "etill they come." From North, from Eat, from South, from West ; by coach, by stage, by carriage, by private and public conveyance, by steamboa.t, by rowboat, by sailboat ; from Maryhind, from Virginia, from tlm Alleghany Mountains, aud possibly even from the Kocky Mountains, they poured on in ono steady stroam. Tn the oourse of two weeks the enthusiastic friend and adinirer bad accumulated twenty-two huudred 'possums. What to do with them ho did not kcow. Ile could not store them separately, and ypt it scemod equally imposeiblo to storo-them together, and iiu:tlly lio turned them all looeo in Monument Square, ia Baltimoro. Next day the hearts of the darkey resideuts in that noighborhood were delighted. Colored i gentlemen love the oily animal, and 'possums wero abundant, almost too abuudaut ; they wauderod through the juare, they cümbod to the Btoops of the houses, tiiey bang on the enves, p.erched on Iho peaks, mounted the chimnoys, gathered cq the Monumeut, and every place wliero it J was possible for a 'possum to cling, and ! there they remaiuod, elowly dbperïiog themselves throiiqh the city, a lasting cvidenco of tho high cluiracter of our peoplo in tlieir devotion to those public meu who are fcruo to tliem aud help j thoni iu tirao of national distress. Lafayj ette never wanted for a 'poseum aitcrward, and liaUimore ediiorb have uo ailmimtiut) ior them.