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Savannah Hath; JUvaliL
BY 8. W. MASON AND CO.
SAVANNAH, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1365.
PRIZE MONEY TO SOLDIERS.
In our late article on the subject of
giving Prize Money to soldiers as well as
to sailors, we were, for lack of space, not
■able to present a number of considera
tions which may be further adduced in
support of our argument in behalf of
such a measure.
The sailor who' receives Prize Money
while the soldier doe3 not, is compara
tively free from many of the hardships
which beset a soldier's life at every turn.
The soldier must make his day's march,
through mud aud sand, exposed to the
heat of the sun in summer, and to the
iro3ty winds in winter—tormented by
flying dust, by driving rain, by whirling
snow and sleet, or perhaps in summer by
-clouds of annoying insects—he has at'
•times to make his own roads, over
•swamps, across rivers, and through dense
.forests—and then at nightfall often
die finds himself far in advance of the
toaggage train, with nothing to eat, save
what he may possibly have remaining in
his haversack. If in an enemy's coun
try he may not light a fire to heat even
his meagre cup of coffee, but must gnaw
his hard-tack and turn in as best he may,
and make his bed on the “cold, cold
ground.”
ohould he, when on the advance, chance
to be taken sick, the Doctor and the
Medicine chest are far in the rear, and
the soldier must suffer for lack of proper
medical attendance, before the trains
come up.
Before our soldier can lie down in com
fort and security, he must lay down his
musket, take up his pick or spade aud
“intrench himself.” He has no comfort
able “bunk” in a snug, dry forecastle to
go to, but, no matter how hard and te
dious has heen the march, or how tired
and weary may be the man, there is no
asleep for him until he has thrown up his
share of the earthwork that is to
protect himself and comrades from the
- AfftyrKe, ever bent on achieving a sur
prise. .And even when he does lie down
to snatch-ilia few hours’ slumber, it is not
under shelter ot a deck, between com
fortable blankets, but with no bed but
the ditch he has himself just dug, and
with no intervening shelter between
himself and the far-off canopy of Heaven,
but his single blanket, the Soldier-Boy
lies down to such slumbers as he may.
How, we don't set these down as
hardships they are a part
of the bargain—they are what he en
listed for; he doesn't grumble at it,
no more do we, but what we do say,
is, that the soldier should, in return
for these labors, and for the dangers
he meets, be entitled to at least equal
rewaifl with his friend of the salt water,
who certainly is exempt from many of
the hardships the soldier has to meet.
Now for the contrast. Our friend the
jolly Blue Jacket has no long marches;
liis ship carries him blithely from one
point to another, and there are for Jack
no long journeys, with a torty-pound
. load on his back; he has no day after
day of the tiring “knapsack drill” which
wears down so many of our best and
bravest soldiers. The sailor, from this
very fact, always, save in a very few in
. stances, comes fresh into the actioo, and
not being wearied out by the fatigue or
along march, or weakened by going
without food tor many hours, can go
into the fight with a better spirit, with
greater strength, and naturally, with a
- better promise of a victorious result.
Jack lias his clean drj r quarters —
his “bunk.” with its comfortable mat
| tress, ard its warm blankets, ever clean
and dry, for even if he chose to be dirty
the discipline ot his ship will not permit
it—he has his rations, invariably at the
proper hour, and his hot coffee, or his
| grog is always forthcomtng at the very
i minute, for on ship-board there are no
Quartermaster and Commissary wagons
! to fall behind, and be twenty miles in the
j rear when all the men are hungry.
| Should Jack be sick, the hospital aud
| the doctor are always ready, and the
j latter has ever his medicine chest at his
elbow, and the needs of the sailor are at
once attended to. Jack knows nothing
I of the delights of wading mid leg deep
in a slimy swamp to build a “corduroy”,
road—he has no personal appreciation of
the keen pleasure of hauling heavy artil
lery along miles and miles of said “cor-f
duroy” road—he has no occasion to chop
trees down, or to build bridges up—he
doesn't have to take a two-hour’s spell at
the spade-and-piek cotiliion before he
can go to bed—he never is compelled to
learn by bis own individual experience,
all the inexpressible delights of going out
“on picket.” Jack know3 nothing of
‘ surprises" and midnight sorties, and
though he has to keep his watch, he does
it on a clean ship s deck, and not up to
his ankles in the slush and slime of some
Southern swamp, as the picket soldier
often has to do-
Now, understand, as before, we don't
wish to disparage the services, or the
labors, or the dangers of honest Jack,
but surely it can never be injustice to
one man to demand justice for another.
We don't want the sailors to have any
less, but we do want the soldiers to have
something more.
Now please, Messrs. War Gentlemen,
stir in this matter, and give us a speedy
result. For many years the sailors have
rallied under the cry of “Free Trade and
Sailors’ Rights,”now let the soldiers in
scribe on their banner, “Fair Play aud
Soldiers’ Rights.”
Dish-Cloth Soldiers. —ln view of the
coming struggle in North Carolina, for
which the Rebels are concentrating all
their forces and impressing every avail
able man into their ranks, it would seem
policy that our Generals should prepare
to meet them with all the strength in
their power. The Rebel policy has been
very shrewd. Every one of the cities
they have lately evacuated has released
a garrison of veteran soldiers, who have
been at once ordered to join their main
army. We have been compelled to
weaken our forces, to a certain extent,
by leaving men to protect and occupy
these same towns. There can be no
doubt that the impending battle will be
the great and probably the decisive fight
of the war.
Knowing this, it seems strange to see
so many healthy veteran soldiers re
tained as servants and orderlies by offi
cers who by sickness or special detail,
are not likely to be in the battle. It
would seem that ever}' private soldier
who is proud of his business, who loves
his country, and *who appreciates the
tremendous importance of the coining
clash of arms, would be impatient to be
there. It would seem as if every sol
dier would want to have a heavy hand
in this last stern struggle which is to beat
the traitors forever to the earth, or to
resuit is a mo3t disastrous detent to the
Union arms.
It is at no lime a sign of a good sol
dier to see him anxious or willing to lay
aside his musket even to assist in an of
fice as a clerk; provided he is in health
and able to do field work, and it certain
ly looks much worse to see a soldier anx
ious to quit the rauks to do duty in the
stable as a hostler, or in the kitchen as a
cook or scullion. No officer will insist
on keeping a man/as his servant who is
really desirous of doing his duty with his
comrades ia the field. Let the soldier
but make known his wish to wield the
cannon-rammer rather than the pitch
fork—to handle the musket, rather thau
to swing the dish-clout—to scour his
bayonet and clean his musket, instead of
boiling potatoes » and frying salt pork.
\nd no officer will refuse the desired
permission. It may be all very well in
a peaceful camp for a soldier to add to
his pay by aiding to make and keep his
officer comfortable, but “when the blast
of war blows in his ears,” it is surely
time for the camp-kettle and the broom
to be discarded for the sabre and the
bayonet.
If all the able men now doing duty as
servants were at once added to our
armies, Grant and Sherman would be
the stronger by several thousand men,
and that too at a time and in a figlU when
every mau is needed, when every arm
should strike. Think of it, Orderlies and
servants, and think how much nobler to
be able to tell your children that you
used a musket in the great battle of all,
instead of being compelled to confess
that you were on special duty in the
dish -cloth hrhfo.de.
Opening of the Theatre. —We con
gratulate the Savannah public on the
prospect of a continuous series of enter
tainments of a high class, by artists of
acknowledged talent and of long ex
perience.
The Theatre is to be opened on Mon
day evening, when a performance will
be given bv the “Swetman and Scott
Combination Company, ” a well-organized
troupe, just arrived from New York.
These gentlemen have taken, we under
stand, a permanent lease of the house,
and will continue their performances as
long as warranted by the patronage of
the public.
The leading members of the Troupe
are Mr. W. P. Swetman, Mr. M. Ainsley
Scott, Miss Lottie Howland and Miss"
Sailie Swetman. They will be assisted
by a full aud excellent company, and we
think we can fairly promise that their
patrons will be well satisfied.
The entertainment on Monday eve
ning will be varied, and will comprise
two popular farces, songs, dances, etc.
The band will be under the direction of
Mr. Freeberthyser, the well-known mu
sician of this city. The scheme promises
well, aud has our best wishes for its full
est success.
Not Bad —The New York Sun pub
lishes a map showing the entire field of
the late military operations, with a dia
gram of the Union successes gained
during the last month and calls it a view
of “ The Grave Yard of the Rebellion."
The Weather. —March, which is said
to “Come in like a Lion, and go out like
a Lamb,” has come in like a wet blanket
and seem disposed to go out like a show
er-bath. It has rained almost con
tinually ever since Spring set in—a moist,
damp, wet rain. There's one comfort
however, it's a warm rain, not a snowy,
sleety, freezy rain, such as they have
up North.
A man being asked, as he lay sunning himself
on the grass, what was the height of his ambi
tion, replied, “To axarry a rich widow with a
baa cough.”’
The reason women so seldom stammer is be
cause they talk so tad—a stammer has got no
chance to get in. People “stutter,” because
they hesitate. But who ever knew a woman to
hes Lite about anythin.:?
Arrival of a Steamer from Augusta.
—This morning the people on board the
gunboat Pontiac, were somewhat as
tonished to observe a high pressure river
boat, rounding the curve above her, and
on her way to the city. A blank guu
was at once fired by the Pontiac, but it
did not have its natural effect of stopping
the stranger. A shotted gun was then
fired, and a shell was exploded ahead of
the curious craft, and she quickly turned
around and heading up stream, stopped
her engines, and awaited the approach of
a small boat from the Pontiac, which, on
boarding her, found her to be the old
steamboat Amazon, owned by Captain
David Dillon.
He had his family and house furniiure
on board, and had escaped with his ves
sel from Augusta, aud by displaying a
flag of truce escaped all detention from
the rebel pickets on the river. His boat
and cargo, consisting of about seventy
bales of cotton, are held for examination
by the Pontiac. What will be done with
them has not been decided upon, Mr.
Dillon is an old citizen of this city, acd
will doubtless retain possession of his
property.
Theatre. —ln our hurried notice of
the entertainment at the Theatre on
Tuesday night, we were., unable yester
day to give full mention of the deserts of
all the members of the Company, We
had made a memorandum for our gui
dance but had mislaid it, aud were there
fore at the moment of writing, at a loss
for data on which to found our remarks.
Though it may seem late in the day to
undertake to remedy such an omission,
we desire to mention favorably the
names of Mr.Shawser, Mr.Peters and Mr.
McAuiey, who performed respectively
the characters of “Bullfrog,” “Silver
Jack,” and “Okl Crumbs.” These char
acters were given with spirit and anima
tion, and if at times not rendered with
all the e!ab®rate finish of the profession
al artist, were acted in such a manner as
to prove that the gentlemen read aud
conceived the parts correctly and with
a thorough appreciation of the meaning
of the author.
Josh Billings on Shanghais. —The
shanghai reuster is a gentile, and speaks
in a iorin tuna He is bilt on piles like
our Sandy Hill crane. If he had bin
bilt with legs he wud resembul the
Peruvian lama. He is not a game ani
mal, but Quite often comes off sekond
best in a ruff and tumble fito; like the
injins that kant stand civilization* and
are fast disappearing. Tha roost on the
ground similar tew the mud turkle. Tha
often go to sleep standing, and sum
times pitch, over, aud when they dew
they enter the ground like a pick-axe.—
There feed consists ur kora in the ear.
Tha crow like a jackass, troubled with
broukeeslcks. Tha will eat as much to
oast az & district skule master, and gen
erally sit down rite oph tew keep from
tippiu over. Tha are dreadful unhandy
to kook, you have to bile one end uv
them to a time, you kant git them awl
into a potash kittie tu oust.
The female reuster lays an egg as big
as kakec-aut, and is sick for a week
afterwards, and when she hatch
es out a litter of young she
has tew brood over them standing, and
then cant cuver but o uv them, the rest
stand around on the outside, like boys
around a sirkus tent, gitting a peek un
der the kanvass wheu ever tha can. The
man who fust brought the breed into
this country ought to own them ail and
be obliged tew feed them on grasshop
pers caught bi hand. I never owned
but one, and he got choked to death by
a kink in a clothes line, but not till he
had swallowed 18 feet ov it. Not enny
shanghai for me, if you pleze ; I would
rather board a traveling colporter, ami
az for eating one, give me a biled owl
rare dun, or a , turkee buzzard, roasted
hole, and stuffed with a pair of injuu
rubber boots, but not enuy shanghai for
aie, not a shanghai. — Poughk&psion.
