"It is a wonderfully pretty room, with a rich toned, Persian hued carpet on the floor, shades and delicate lace curtains at the four windows-two fronting to the east and two to the south. Pictures are on the walls and there are a lounge, easy Turkish chairs and pretty carved tables and a huge carved oak Victoria bedstead on which the ex-President of the Confederacy lies in the embrace of death.

"His constant attendant has been Mrs. Davis, who has never left his bedside since his illness began. In a comfortable home wrapper of gray and black this gentle ministrant was always at the invalid's side, and if she left him for a moment he asked for her, and was fretted or uneasy until she returned.

"Friends constantly sent beautiful flowers, of which Mr. Davis was very fond, but these were not allowed to remain in the sick room for any length of time. At the outset jellies, fruits and all manner of invalid's delicacies were proffered, until Mrs. Davis was compelled to decline them. The sick man's food was only milk, ice, beef tea, and rarely a broiled chop.

"Mr. Davis remained in bed all the time and was never left alone, being guarded lovingly by his wife and the capable quadroon hired nurse Lydia, and Mrs. Davis's own little brown-eyed handmaiden Betty, who at all times had entree to the sickroom. But little talking was allowed, and newspapers, letters and telegrams were tabooed.

"On Wednesday afternoon a reporter of the Picayune was fortunate enough to have a few moments' conversation with Mrs. Davis. She was worn and wearied with service at the sick bed, but which she would not allow to any other, and her step was lagging as she came into the dining-room. She was very hopeful, however, of her husband's ultimate recovery.

"Mr. Davis has always been an exceedingly temperate man,' said Mrs. Davis, he has never abused his physical body, and no one could have lived more moderately than he. Of course all this is in his favor. I do not mean to say that there would be no danger if a door were left open or the fire in his room allowed to go out. IIe is as frail as a lily, and requires the most exquisite care. That he has. I believe he would not be alive to-day had this illness come upon him at Beauvoir, where he could not possibly have had the constant care of such physicians as Dr. Bickham and Dr. Chaille, and the intelligent love, tenderness and luxury that surround him in this home.'

"Mr. Davis seemed much better during the early part of yesterday, and his improved condition was remarked by the doctors and his family. IIo had a pain in the bowels during the day, but the serious feature appeared just a few minutes before six o'clock. Then the illustrious patient was stricken with a severe congestive chill. The doctors were not present ab the time, but Judge Fenner's family and Mrs. Davis did everything to soothe the sufferer.

"He lost consciousness after the chill, and never sensibly recovered his faculties.

"It was 7 o'clock before Dr. C. J. Bickham, vice-President of the board of administrators of the charity hospital, and Dr. Stanford E. Chaille, Dean of the medical faculty of Tulane University, and two of the most famous practitioners in the South, arrived and consulted over the condition of the patient.

"His change was a surprise totally unexpected by even those in constant attendance, and the skilled eyes of the medical men saw in it the beginning of the end. They continued with the patient until his death, however, and made every possible effort to avoid the inevitable.

"Mr. Davis remained in a comatose condition, and the attendants could see no signs of consciousness. Mrs. Davis said she occasionally felt a return of the pressure of the hand she held, although he could neither speak nor make a sign.

This was the scene in the sick-chamber as the hours passed:

"At the bedside, when the end came, were Mrs. Davis, Mr. J. U. Payne, Mr. and Mrs. Judge Charles E. Fenner, Mr. E. H. Farrar, Miss Smith, a grandniece of Mr. Davis; Mr. E. D. Fenner, a son of the justice; Dr. C. J. Bickham, and Dr. S. E. Chaille.

"The lamp of life waned low as the hour of midnight arrived; nor did it flicker into the brightness of consciousness at any time. Eagerly, yet tenderly, the watchers gazed at the face of the dying chieftain. His face, always calm and pale, gained additional pellor, and at a quarter to 1 o'clock of the morning of the 6th day of December death came to the venerable leader.

"There was nothing remarkable about the death-bed scene. The depar ture of the spirit was gentle and utterly painless. There were no dry eyes in the little assembly about the bed, and every heart bled with the anguish which found vent in Mrs. Davis's sobs and cries.

"Immediately after the death Mrs. Davis was led up stairs to the bedroom of Mrs. Fenner, where the ladies tried to assuage her grief. She bore the awful blow bravely, but her breathing was labored, and her condition so weakened that the two doctors consulted her. They pronounced her weakness to be only that consequent on the strain and the grief, and said that nothing was to be feared.

"In the meanwhile, the body was being straightened and bathed. It will be embalmed early this morning.

"In the limited time of last night no arrangements for the funeral could be thought of. Mrs. Davis signified her wish that Judge Fenner and Mr. Farrar should take entire charge of all matters connected with the burial.”

The Times-Democrat gave the following account of the clos

ing scene:

"At 12:45 o'clock this morning Hon. Jefferson Davis, ex-President of the Confederate States, passed away at the residence of Associate Justice Charles E. Fenner.

"From the beginning of his fatal illness Mr. Davis had insisted that his case was nearly or quite hopeless, though the dread of pain or fear of death never appeared to take the slightest hold upon his spirits, which were brave and even buoyant from the beginning of his attack.

"In vain did the doctor strive to impress upon him that his health was improving. He steadily insisted that there was no improvement, but with Christian resignation he was content to accept whatever Providence had in store for him.

"Only once did he waver in his belief that his case showed no improvement, and that was at an early hour yesterday morning, when he playfully remarked to Mr. Payne: 'I am afraid that I shall be compelled to agree with the doctors for once, and admit that I am a little better.'

"All day long the favorable symptoms continued, and late in the afternoon, as late as 4 o'clock, Mrs. Davis sent a cheering message to Mrs. Stamps and Mr. and Mrs. Farrar.

"

At 6 o'clock last evening, without any assignable cause, Mr. Davis was seized with a congestive chill, which seemed to absolutely crush the vitality out of his already enfeebled body. So weak was Mr. Davis that the violence of the assault soon subsided for lack of vitality upon which to prey.

"From that mo:nent to the moment of his death the history of the case was that of a gradual sinking. At 7 o'clock Mrs. Davis administered some medicine, but the ex-President declined to receive the whole dose.

"She urged upon him the necessity of taking the remainder, but putting it aside, with the gentlest of gestures he whispered, 'Pray, excuse me.'

"These were his last words. Gradually he grew weaker and weaker, but never for an instant seemed to loso consciousness. Lying peacefully upon his bed and without a trace of pain in his look, he remained for hours. Silently clasping and tenderly caressing his wife's hand, with undaunted Christian spirit, he awaited the end.

"From the moment of the dread assault of the congestive chill those gathered around his bedside who had been watching and noting with painful interest every change of symptoms for the past month knew well that the dread messenger was even at the door.

"About 10:30 o'clock Associate Justice Fenner went to call to Mr. Davis's bedside Mr. and Mrs. Farrar and Mrs. Stamps. As soon as the message reached them they hurried to the bedside of the dying ex-President.

"By 11:30 o'clock there were assembled in the death chamber Mrs. Davis, Drs. Chaille and Bickham, Associate Justice and Mrs. Fenner, Miss Nannie Smith, grandniece of the dying ex-President, and Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Farrar.

"Finding that Mr. Davis was breathing somewhat heavily as he lay upon his back the doctors assisted him to turn upon his right side. With his cheek resting upon his right hand like a sleeping infant and with his left hand dropping across his chest, he lay for some fifteen minutes breathing softly but faintly. More and more feeble became his respirations till they passed into silence, and then the watchers knew that the silver cord had been loosed and the goluen bowl broken. The Father of the Confederacy had passed away

"As calmly as to a night's repose,

Or flowers at set of sun."

"PRAY, EXCUSE ME."

"Despite the fact that the end had come slowly and peacefully, and after she had been face to face for hours with the dread reality, the blow fell with crushing force upon the afflicted widow.

"As long as there had been work for either head or hand she had borne up bravely, and not until the sweet uses for her tender ministrations were lost did she seem to realize the terrible force of the blow that had fallen upon her.

Knowing of a predisposition to heart affection, the doctors were at once gravely alarmed for her, and they promptly administered a composing draught, and at a late hour this morning she was resting quietly.

"It is believed that the foundation of the ex-President's last illness was malaria, complicated with acute bronchitis.

"Careful nursing and skilled medical attention had mastered the latter, but it is supposed that the congestive chill, which was the immediate cause of death was attributable to a return of the malaria.

"After death the face of the deceased, though looking slightly emaciated, showed no trace of suffering more nearly resembling that of a peaceful sleeper than of the dead.

"When the family had partially recovered from the terrible shock, Mr. Farrar went to the Western Union telegraph office and sent dispatches to Miss Winnie Davis, who is in Paris with Mrs. Pulitzer, to Mr. Davis's son-in law in Colorado City, and also notified Governor Lowry, of Mississippi, as he deemed it but right that the Executive of the State should know of the death of one of its most distinguished sons.

"Senator Jones, who had started from Iowa some days ago to pay a visit to his old friend and comrade, did not arrive yesterday, as was expected, and when he reaches this city to-day will only behold the remains of him whom in life he esteemed and to see whom he travelled from far-off Iowa to the Sunny South.

"Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Davis's daughter, who was due here yesterday, was detained last night at Fort Worth, and is not expected to be in the city until Saturday morning."

The announcement of the death of our great chieftain excited the profoundest grief, and called forth the warmest expressions of sorrow, not only in New Orleans, but throughout the whole South, and among many at the North.

We could fill a volume much larger than this with editorials, telegrams and resolutions that voiced the feelings of the people, but we can only cull a few from the many.

The Daily States said in its editorial:

"Throughout all the South there are lamentations and tears; in every country on the globe where there are lovers of liberty there is mourning; wherever there are men who admire heroic patriotism, dauntless resolution, fortitude, or intellectual power and supremacy, there is sincere sorrowing. The beloved of our land, the unfaltering upholder of constitutional liberty, the typical hero and sage, is no more; the fearless heart that beat with sympathy for all mankind is stilled forever, a great light has gone outJefferson Davis is dead!

"A quarter of a century has elapsed since the last charge of the Confederates at Appomattox. The illustrious chief of the Confederacy now lies