the chivalrous spirit of the middle ages, and the prudish, puritanical
code of morality that has superseded the simple manners of our
forefathers, render it hazardous to cast into the hands of the present
generation the thrilling records of sin and repentance such as they
were seen and recorded in days gone by.  Yet in the midst of a
literature professedly false, and which paints in fascinating colors
the various phases of unrepented vice and crime, without the redeeming
shadows of honor and Christian morality, our little volume must fall
a welcome sunbeam.  The strange career of our heroine constitutes a
sensational biography charming and beautiful in the moral it presents. 

The evils of mixed marriages, of secret societies, of intemperance,
and the indulgence of self-love in ardent and enthusiastic youth, find
here the record of their fatal influence on social life, reflected
through the medium of historical facts.  Therefore we present to the
young a chapter of warning--a tale of the past with a deep moral for
the present. 

The circumstances of our tale are extraordinary.  A young girl dresses
in male attire, murders her father, becmes an officer in the army,