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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.