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Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 182, 9 August 1870, Page 2

A sailor calling upon a goldsmith, asked him what might be the value of a lump of gold tho size of his arm. The shopkeeper beckoned him into a buck roon , and primed him with grog, for the absorption of which (he sailor showed great capacity. He then usked to see the nugget. " Oh," said Jack, " I haven't got it yet; but I'm going to the diggings, and would like to know the value of such a lump before I start."

SAD ENDING OF A EOMANCE. To-DAT,just as the sun is afc meridian, just as with solemn sound the great bell of the old St Louis Cathedral tolls forth the hour ol noon, a soldier will pay the penalty of a crime for which military justice knows but one expiation. The United States Barracks, below the city, has been the place eelected where the execution is to take place, and the green sward of the parade ground will ere many hours be stained with the crimson life-blood of the unfortunate man. He was a member of one of the companies of United States troops stationed near a small Tillage in one of the interior parishes of Louisiana. Near the camp of the company was the plantation of a wealthy gentleman, who hq,d sympathized with the Union cause during the wai-, and who therefore was the object of special attention on the part of the officers of the command then performing provost duty. The planter had a large family, among whom was a daughter who possessed in a remarkable degree that rare type of beauty for which the women of the South are noted. She had imbibed the sentiments of her father, and therefore took great pleasure in entertaining the officers who frequently visited the house. The First Lieutenant of the company, Ambrose Black, at once conceived a warm attachment for the beautiful young Creole, and endeavoured in every way to induce her to share his feelings. Strange to say, however, the lady treated him with a peculiarly polite but formal manner, that proved -her heart was ice towards him. This was a great shock to his vanity, and lie was at a loss to understand it. Finally the explanation came when one of his companions playfully rallying him upon his ill success, stated that he had discovered why the lady refused to smile upon him. He had accidentally witnessed an interview between herself and Private Alfred Blake, the soldier who had been detailed to guard the house—an interview which proved conclusively that the heart of the young Creole was irrevocably the privatt's and not the officer's.

This intelligence was too much for Lieutenant Black, His pride was wounded in its most vital point. He had been forestalled whei'e his heart was most enlisted, and by one of his subordinates. Seeking Private Blake at once he poured out the vials of his wrath upon him, taunted him with his position, and declared that he would send him where he should have no more opportunities of dallying with a shameless girl while on duty. Alfred Blake had borne much, but this coarse allusion to the woman he loved b-tter than life, fired heart and brain, and with one blow he struck his officer prostrate upon the ground in the presence of his company. Then followed the trial—which was rendered inexpressibly touching by the presence of the woman'who had dared to love a private soldier—the sentence of death to be preceded by imprisonment in Ship's Island.