"And you persist in saying that you are” "Hush, Giles, repeat not the name-walls, they say, have ears; therefore, I will not persist; the fact is, perhaps, I was to blame in confessing it."

"Then, young man, upon your own confession, I apprehend you as Robinson, the bank robber."

"Good! This looks well! But, my dear friend, I have here a little the advantage of you. In the first place, do you see this? One motion, one step to approach me, and I will blow your brains out. Secondly, Giles, if I were disposed to turn informer, I would denounce you, my good Giles, as a-murderer! Nay, start not-it is nothing-a mere word-murder professionally, you know; but yet, when I reflect, that little affair of yours was somewhat out of the regular order a sort of"

"Hold, sir, hold! If you are Robinson, I am" "Yes, yes, I know-Wilson-Dick Wilson, the murderer of his wife! But now to business. Do not droop, Giles. By the way, Giles is a good name-a rural, innocent name; I like it."

Their conference was long, and evidently of a very exciting character, for occasionally Giles would exclaim"She is so young, so innocent and then her adopted mother is so kind-I cannot indeed I cannot." The result, however, was that Giles pledged himself to do a deed which was to sink him still lower in iniquity. There are crimes of such a character which make those generally called great ones appear small, as the performance of some juvenile act dwells upon the mind, and growing into consequence, forms, as it were, an era in life, which is only effaced by some more manly one, totally eclipsing the other by its magnitude and greatness.

The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise
To what we fear of death."-SHAKSPEARE.

Our readers are already aware, from what has been said, that the time of our story was during the yellow fever in the year 1793-a period to which many still living can refer with feelings of deep and sorrowful emotion. It has been a question, and one of some doubt, whether this fearful epidemic was imported from the West Indies, or whether it did not originate in the city from local causes or the influence of a tropical season, which in the excitement at the time were overlooked. The general impression was, however, that it was brought amongst us from the West India Islands, where, long before it had appeared here, it raged to a fearful extent. The latter conclusion, therefore, in the absence of other proof, was a very reasonable one. A vessel left Cape Françoise in July, bound for Philadelphia, having on board six or seven persons sick of the fever. Two other vessels arrived at the same time, infected with the effluvia of the sick and dead, and which came freely to our wharves, and particularly to that very one where the disorder first made its appearance. As these facts were fully authenticated and named in the report of the committee, there can be no longer a doubt of its foreign origin.

The health of the city of Philadelphia, from its foundation as one, up to this period, was such that no alarm was created in the public mind, even after several persons

had died, under circumstances which led to some public notice of the fact. But when the death of Peter Aston, on he 19th of August, after a few days' illness, was followed by that of Mrs. Lemaigre and Thomas Miller, universal terror spread over the city, and the awful intelligence went forth that the yellow fever was in their midst. It would be impossible to describe the consternation which followed this announcement. The Mayor's first official notice of the existence of the fever was on the 22d of August, 1793. If the city had been an unhealthy one, and subject, like some of our Southern ones, to periodical epidemics, the excitement which followed would not have been so great. Scenes of great distress ensued. Houses were closed; the streets were crowded with wagons, carts and carriages, conveying whole families and their furniture into the country. All along the Ridge Road, extending as far as Norristown, encampments were seen of families who were unable to find shelter in dwellings, as many of the country people refused them admittance, although large sums were offered. In many instances, barns and other out-houses were rented to the fugitives. Here were seen several families in one barn, all huddled together-children, palsied age-and the robust found, however, the salubrious air of the country, though inhaled through the open windows of a barn, far preferable to the tainted atmosphere of an infected city. Many of these families having ample means, soon rendered their country abode far more comfortable by erecting temporary dwellings; but the poor in the city were compelled to remain, and the few that did leave found themselves even worse off in the country than they would have been at home, though death was staring them in the face. In every place, on every spot of this beauteous earth, poverty falls as a blight: even the human heart chills at its

approach, and the doors of the rich are closed against it. Poverty is also an epidemic!

Many of the houses that were closed in town contained their inmates, who, having laid in a store of provisions, imagined themselves safe. This plan, if properly pursued, might have proved effectual; but, alas! they neglected the means, the most important, that of breaking off entirely a communication from the street. At every sound some window would be raised, and a faint voice ask the news of the day; hence, when the dead-cart passed, from many of these closed houses dark forms would issue, carrying some one who had fallen a victim to their curiosity. Business of all kinds was dull; many of the stores were entirely closed, and those that remained open presented a gloomy and tradeless appearance. The manufacturing establishments were also closed, the men discharged, who returned at night to their poor dwellings, to find death and starvation awaiting them at the threshold. All those indications of trade which opened the season so prosperous were gone; the rank grass was coming up in the streets, and stagnated water engendered the obnoxious reptiles.* The number of deaths now gradually increased: in fact, the number was truly alarming. Nurses could not be had for love or money; coffin-makers were at work night and day; and the fearful cry of "Bring out your dead!" struck terror to the stoutest heart. The hospitals were soon filled, temporary ones erected, and old out-houses rented for that purpose. Rickett's Circus, situated in Chesnut street, above Sixth, was hired by the committee; but its being in the heart of the city, much opposition was

made against it. At one time, there were seven persons carried hither, and laid in the ring on the saw-dust; no one came near them; nurses were not to be procured on the instant, and these poor wretches were left to die. One of them became delirious, and crawled out on the commons, where he died. The alms-house, at the breaking out of the fever, was full, and the managers, apprehensive of spreading the disorder among its inmates, refused to admit those afflicted. Bush Hill hospital was also crowded, but all the patients there were down with yellow fever. Here death was busy at work - no one to attend - no one to render assistance but the few who were placed there at the commencement of the disease. The barn and all the out-houses were used, as also a large frame house which stood at a short distance from the main building. Here the coffins were placed, and the dead stored, until they could be interred.

Among those who volunteered their medical services were Dr. Deveze, a respectable French physician, and Dr. Benjamin Duffield, of Philadelphia. Other private citizens tendered their services to act as managers to superintend the hospital. The most important, and at that time, in point of wealth and influence, the most prominent, was STEPHEN GIRARD, whose offer to superintend the interior department was gratefully acknowledged and immediately accepted. The example was followed by others; among whom was Mr. Peter Helm, a native of Pennsylvania, and at the time a member of the sick committee. Mr. Helm took charge of the exterior department.

The condition of the hospital at the time these two distinguished citizens assumed their duties was truly deplorable. "It exhibited," says a writer of that period, "as wretched a picture of human misery as ever existed. A profligate,