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SEPTEMBER 24, 1864.] HARPER'S WEEKLY. PARIS FASHIONS FOR SEPTEMBER, 1864.CROW'S-NEST SIGNAL-STATION.IN the sketch given below the reader will get a very good idea of the manner in which signal-stations are constructed. In an opening in the forest, on an elevation, some strong, lofty tree is selected. At the top of a ladder-a scaffolding is placed ; upon this scaffolding another ladder rests, and so on till the summit is reached. Here in the top of the tree a platform is built, affording a commodious look-out. PRIVATE MILES O'REILLY.THE accompanying portrait is a very exact reproduction of a daguerreotype taken by Mr. BRADY of this city, who assures us that its original was no other than Private MILES O'REILLY, formerly of the 47th Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, but now serving as a re-enlisted veteran in some regiment belonging to the Irish brigade. Mr. BRADY says that, in spite of every remonstrance he could offer, Private MILES insisted on " bein' sot for his picture" in a coat borrowed for the occasion from some friendly field officer of his regiment —the reason he assigned for not appearing in his proper uniform being, that he wanted the picture for his sweet-heart, and therefore it must be " look-in' the purtiest he knew how." Not wishing to cast any doubt upon Mr. BRADY'S statement, we can only say that the annexed portrait does not at all tally with the elaborate personal description of Private MILES given in that veracious chronicle of passing events, the New York Herald. We therefore append the pen-and-ink sketch and biography of the "Bard of the 10th Army Corps," as we find it reproduced in " MILES O'REILLY, Book"—leaving such of our readers as may be curious in this kind of controversy to decide the authenticity of the portrait for themselves. From the Herald's stenographic report of the interview between his Excellency the President, the foreign diplomatic body, the members of Mr. LINCOLN'S Cabinet, and Private MILES O'REILLY, held at the White House on last Thanksgiving day, we make the subjoined extract; and, without expressing any decided opinion ourselves, the matter is now remitted to the consideration and judgment of an enlightened public. "Private O'REILLY is a brawny, largeboned, rather good looking young Milesian, with curly reddish hair, gray eyes, one of which has a blemish upon it, high cheek bones, a cocked nose, square lower jaws, and the usual strong type of Irish forehead—the perceptive bumps, immediately above the eyes, being extremely prominent. A more good humored or radiantly expressive face it is impossible to con- ceive. The whole countenance beams with a candor and unreserve equal to that of a mealy potato which has burst its skin or jacket by too rapid boiling. He stands about six feet three inches, is broad-chested, barrel-bodied, firm on his pins, and with sinewy, knotted fists of a hardness and heaviness seldom equaled. On the whole, he reminds one very much of Ensign O'DOHERTY'S ideal picture of the Milesian hero : " One of his eyes was bottle-green, And the other eye was out, ray dear ; And the calves of his wicked-looking legs Were more than two feet about, my dear! 0, the lump of an Irishman, The nasty, ugly Irishman, The great he-rogue, with his wonderful brogue, The leathering swash of an Irishman. " Private O'REILLY says that he was born at a place they call Ouldcastle, in Ireland ; that he picked up what little of the humanities and rudiments he possesses under one Father Thomas MAGUIRE, of Cavan--'him that was O'CONNELL'S frind, rest their sowls;' and he is emphatic in declaring that he and seventeen of his O'REILLY cousins, sixty- (Next Page) CROW'S-NEST SIGNAL STATION.—[SKETCHED BY WILLIAM WAUD.]PRIVATE MILES O'REILLY.--[PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRADY.]621 |
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