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YOL. II.
SANDERSVULLE, GEORGIA, AUGUST 29, 1873.
NO. 9.
I. M. G. MEDLOCK. JETHBO ARLINE. B. L. BODGEES.
By yictlloclc, Arliue A Rodgers.
The Herald is published in Sandersville,
Ga.. every Friday morning. Subscription
price TWO DOLLARS per annum.
Advertisements inserted at the usual rates.
No charge for publishing marriages or
deaths.
POETRY.
Lines
Dedicated to one who can best understand.
ET C***” S. 8*****’*.
“And yet it is for gold I go,
And yet it is for fame,
That they may deck another brow,
And grace another name, darling.
And graco another name." ***
Ah ! little know you of my heart
To dream that wealth or fame
Could make me prouder of your love,
Or prouder of your name.
I’ve nothing but a faithful heart,
Dear one, to oiler thee,
And thine, with such a world of love,
Is wealth enough for me.
What care I for the heartless throng
Who bow at fashion’s shrine ?
I only ask thy love, dear one,
And well I know ’tis mine.
I do not usk for pomp or gold,
Nor do I seek for fame,—
I'm happy darling in thy love,
And proud to bear thy name.
0! bright would bo the rudest spot.
If vou were by my side;
Contented I would share my lot,
Should good or ill betide.
With hearts so worm, and love so true,
We’ll share life’s storms together;
’Twill be all sunshine in the heart,
No matter what the weather.
0! I would scorn a thousand worlds,
Such heartless ones as this,
To know and feel that thou art mine,
And I am thine—O, bliss !
And I would welcome any fate,
If you were by my side.
I'm happy, darling, in thy love,
And proud to be thy bride.
Ah. yes. “there are deep passions
Within this heaving breast,
To scorn their heartless fashions,
And wed whom I love best.”
Then, dearest, seek not pomp nor golp.
That they may grace my name;
I’m prouder of thy honest love,
’Tis more to me than fame !
Savannah, Ga.
SELECT MISCELLANY.
ADDRESS,
By Dr. II. N. HoUifidd, before the
Ohoopce.- Sabbath School, delivered
August 22,1873.
It is with pleasure that I greet the
children of the Ohoopie Sunday
School, and it is at the earnest re
quest of your esteemed and able
Pastor, Brother Hyman, that I have
consented to address you. And will,
for a little while, endeavor to inter
est, instruct, and amuse you, and if
I succeed in accomplishing either
the one or the other, I shall be
amply repaid. Your smiling, happy
faces betoken the joy that fills your
hearts, and carries me back to my
boyhood days, when, like you, I was
a Sunday School scholar. The
thoughts are pleasant ones, and I;
delight to dwell upon the happy re
miniscences of by-gone days.
Tis here in the Sunday school that
woman does so much, she who was
God’s last, but best gift to man.
Woman is not as a pretty figure,
placed on earth for ornament only,
as a lovely flower to heighten the
complexion of nature, and make her
charming to the eye, but she is here
to fill her own noble sphere as moth
er, and as wife, as sister, as daughter
and exerts upon man through life a
feeling of refinement. She softens
his heart, ennobles his soul, awakens
his finer emotions, and draws him
nearer to his God. Tis her presence
that makes our firesides cheerful,
and homes happy, and man content
ed. She is a kind and careful nurse,
a calm and judicous adviser, a re
liable friend, a sweet compaion, and
an efficient teacher in the Sunday
school where we always find her
ready, and willing, assisting in the
Delightful Avork, young souls to win,
And tin'll the rising race,
From the deceitful paths of sin;
To seek redeeming Grace.
Children, their kind protection claim;
And God will well approve,
When Infants, learn to lisp his name
&nd teachers their Redeemer’s love.
Be our’s the bliss in wisdoms ways
To guide untutored youth,
And show the mind which went astray;
The way, the light, the Truth.
I love the Sunday school. I love it
for it for itself. I love' it for the
good it does. I love it for the les
sons of virtue, of morality, and of re
ligion, which are there inculcated. I
love it because there we are instruct
ed in God’s Holy word. To “Re
member the Sabbath day, and keep
it Holy,” is one of the earliest les
sons taught, and our minds are con
tinually impressed with the first great
Commandment of promise, “Honor
thy Father, and thy Mother, that
thy days may be long in the land,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
Ye3 dear Sabbatli sebool I love tbee,
Here I meet with friends most dear,
None to scorn, or feel above me
None to dread with slavish fear.
It was at home I was first taught
to lo\e it, at home where we learn
to appreciate a mother’s sacred love
a father’s kind affection.
When we look back through the
dim vista of the past, it is an easy
matter for us to recall our sainted
mother. How she cared for us, when
we were unable to care for ourselves,
taught us to walk, and how to talk,
taught us to kneel, and our infant
lips to pray, and sought by precept,
and by example, to lead us in the
narrow way, in the straight path that
leads to life eternal, showed us that
true Religion was essential to man’s
happiness, and “never was designed
to make our pleasures less.”
My young friends you are wanting
in years, and in experience, but ere
long you will, by the lapse of time
and the changes which it brings, be
called upon to take your place upon
the stage of life, where every man is
an actor. You will have to partici
pate in all the strife incidental there
to. Your kind, and loving mother,
your affectionate and indulgent fath
er, and the kind friends who now
cluster around you, will all be gone.
Their souls will have been called to
the spirit world, and you will occu
py their positions.
While youth lasts, and opportuni
ties offer, you must endeavor to ob
tain knowledge. The positions of
honor, and of trust in the church, in
the State, and at home, now occu
pied by your seniors, will before
long be occupied by you. Upon
3'oui shoulders will rest all the res
ponsibility. Seek then every oppor
tunity for the acquirement of knowl
edge. Seek for that -wisdom, which
cometh from above, v’hich will ena
ble you to discharge the duties in
cumbent upon you, with honor to
yourselves, and to the advantage of
your fellow men. This is worthy of
every effort of your mind, of the
highest aspirations of your souls,
for our country is indeed a godly
soil.
t By deep study you mayipossibly
be able to avert some of the evils
with which our land is threatened.
By integrity of purpose and honest
intentions you may prevent her ruin,
and the foundations of our govern
ment from being broken up, as
was ancient Rome, W’hich was once
a mighty power, but her great men
have long since passed away, and
the ruins of her gorgeous palaces
only remain to remind the passing
traveller, that he stands upon the
spot where the world’s great Philos
ophers have trod. The place from
whence w T ent forth those deep cur
rents of ancient literature, that have
done so much to adorn and elevate
the character of man.
Were we there in that far-famed
country, perchance our eye might
rest upon the mouldering remains of
some magnificent temple, where once
was offered up the most devout in
cense, where the Gods of the idola-
tors were so often implored to save
the city. But these werejof no avail.
The necessities of her existence were
the elements of her decay, end she
has long since passed away. In the
height of her ambition her down
ward course was rapid and unavoid
able. The causes of her ruin will, I
hope, never cause the ruin of our
own happy land,
That land which we love, of every land the
pride,
Beloved by Heaven and all the world beside.
With its lofty mountains, its trees,
shrubs, its hills and vales, its broad
and placid streams, upon w’hose sur
face glide a thousand sails. A Mis
sissippi, winding on its devious way;
a Niagara’s foaming cataract,.rush
ing along with maddened speed,
pouring its waters, in a shapeless
mass, adown the rugged precipiece,
they all proclaim a mighty Master’s
hand. One, who can create, and
can destroy. Tis to Him we should
look in time of trouble, for He hath
said, “come unto me, all ye that are
weary and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.” We are placed
on earth for a special purpose, we
remain for a little while, and then
pass away like foot prints in the
sands of time; we fulfill our destiny,
then pay the debt of nature, and in
a few short years, we will have been
forgotten, scenes which once knew
us, will know us no more forever, we
go we know not where, we go to that
undiscovered country from whence
no traveller ever returns. Let us
then try to be ready to go, when we
are called. Let us have faith in God,
hope in immortality, and charity to
all mankind. Let Temperance, be
one of our cardinal virtues. Let
Truth mark every word, and act, and
thought of ours. Let Honesty be
the policy whieh shall guide us
through life. Let us do as we would
be done by, loving our neighbor as
ourselves. It is a difficult task ; but,
one if accomplished will result to
us in untold good; all this is taught us
in the Sunday school, where we con
gregate every Lord’s day. How pleas
ant it is to meet each other there. Tn
years gone by, how many happy-
hours have we spent there, and how
anxiously we looked forward to each
return, and if a seat in our class was
vacant, how anxiously would we in
quire the cause. If our class mate
was sick, how sorry we were. We
would visit him, wait upon him, min
ister to his necessities, and tell him
the news from the outside world in
which we knew he felt interested.
One, we remember well, the
brightest and most promising boy
among us. Consumption seized up
on, and death soon claimed him for
his own. We loved our friend, and
we cherish his memory. We saw
his bright eye grow dim, his cheek
become pale, we saw him die, his
body cold, stiff, and motionless. His
spirit left its frail tenement of clay,
and nothing remained behind but the
worthless casket, which mourning
friends consigned to the silent grave,
and the ominous, sad and awful sound
of the cold earth, as it rattled upon
the coffin lid, still rings in my ears,
together with the impressive words
of the officiating servant of the liv
ing God, “Earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust.” But we believe
our friend had put his house in or
der, was ready to give an account of
his stewardship, and was willing to
■go.
We are here to prepare ourselves
to die, to get ready to make the jour
ney across the river of life, to the
mansions of eternal rest, and in the
Sunday school we learn the lessons,
and receive the instruction that shall
he of service to us while on the jour
ney. Here we learn that
“Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long,”
For
“This world is all a fleeting show
For man’s illusion given
The smiles of joy, the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow,
There is nothing true but Heaven,
And false the light on glory plume,
As fading hues of even,
And love and hope and beauty’s bloom,
As blossoms gathered for the tomb,
There is nothing bright but heaven.”
The Holy Bible, which we study
in the Sunday school, is a his
tory, true and sacred. It teaches
much, for it is a history. How many
foolish tales, and idle dreams, mere
phantoms of the brain, would we
believe, if history did not open her
useful page, and sever truth from fic
tion. Oh, liow often would vain tradi
tion, with her hundred mouths, prate
forth her nonsense, giving the high
name of power divine, to senseless
blocks and stones.
How often would we bend, with zeal misplac’d,
To molten idols, as to Providence,or vainly
think,
That in the Empyreal Heaven gods lived,
Whose lives were patterns but of vice and folly
By our gross conceptions formed.
But thanks to History, we have a
sacred Book, which better points the
way to future bliss. "We have a book,
by inspration penned, which tells our
grevious fall, but tells us too the
clemency Divine, that raises man,
transgressing man, to realms of end
less joy, and names the easy terms,
a virtuous fife. This is the highest,
this the noblest good, we gain from
History.
The sacred Book we study in the
Sunday school, it is the best Histo
ry of the world in ages past, of its
creation, of its destruction by the
flood, of Noah’s preservation, and
the saving of his family, and two of
all the animals of the earth, and
birds of the air, in the Ark. In it
we learn of the birth of our Saviour,
of his life, of his crucifixion and
death, his resurrection and ascen
sion, and his promises to us in the
world to come.—Let us study it
and try to profit by its teachings.
It will teach us lessons in morality.
It will teach us what is due from man
to man. It will teach us to despise
all fortunes wrongs. It will teach
us how to five and how to die. It
will tend to meloriate both head and
heart, and make us hopeful candi
dates for a home in heaven, for a
home among the angels.
Sunday Schools, are of great im
portance in training the young, and
teaching them to avail themselves
of every opportunity that occurs of
honoring him to whom they are in
debted for all the noble faculties of
their nature. The sense of sight,
the sense of touch, the sense of hear
ing, the sense of tasting, the sense
of smelling, and the light of reason.
These all serve to render us happy,
and make us capable of enjoying the
good things of life, and the manifold
blessings which the Great Giver of
all things sees fit to bestow upon
man.
In the Sunday school is imparted
a virtuous and religious education,
and as Hilarius, the Hermit of the
Nare, writes in one of his letters.
“I am fully confident the divine law,
as promulgated by the doctrines our
blessed Redeemer, is deeply im
pressed in indellible characters on
your minds and hearts, for be as
sured, that without religion, and a
firm reliance on Divine Providence,
and the merits of our Redeemer, there
can be no virtue, and without virtue
there can be no true happiness, either
in this life, or the life that is to come.”
Let your first consideration there
fore, be to obtain virtue, and her
practice, and you will be truly good,
for believe me, a really virtuous man
will blush as much to commit sin in a
wilderness, as in a great city, and be
fore the whole world. It is easy to
continue good and virtuous, but very
hard to become so. You must there
fore strive hard to climb the hill on
the summit of which the Temple of
Virtue is placed, andremember, once
in possession of her she is yours for
ever. Virtue will make you noble,
without the aid of birth; it will give
you position, without the aid of
wealth; it is virtue only, that is true
nobility. Virtue stands in need of
nothing but herself, to render man
illustrious, in this life, and glorious
after death.
Gray hairs alone cannot procure
respect unless accompanied by a
well spent life.
An honest, virtuous man lives not
to the world, but to his own con
science. He, like the planets above,
frequently steers a course contrary
to that of the world, he looks upon
the whole earth as his country, the
people, as his Br -.t'irep, and God as
* the best Judge of his words, and
actions. He so governs his life, and
thoughts as though the whole human
race were to see the one, and read
the other.
Crimes, though they be secret, can
never be secure, nor does it avail the
offender to conceal from others what
he is unable to conceal from himself.
If I do nothing but what is honest,
let all the world know it; if otherwise,
what does it signify for no body to
know it, so long as I know it myself.
Sin is its own torment, and the fear
of vengeance pursues those who es
cape the stroke of it. So repugnant
is vice to nature, that she seems to
have erected in the conscience of
the wicked, punishments worse than
the rack or the gallows; for he who
is guilty of any enormous sin, lives
in perpetual terror, and while he ex
pects to be punished, really punishes
himself, and who ever is conscious of
having merited it, lives in continual
expectation of receiving his deserts;
though not detected, is apprehensive
of being so. True peace of mind,
therefore, which is the foundation of
all happiness, can only proceed from
an innocent and virtuous life. Look
into the state of vicious man, and
the canker of his heart will be visi
ble, through all the false and dazzling
splendor of greatness and foriune,
for a wicked man can never be hap
py, nor a virtuous man miserable.
Human nature is indeed depraved,
and mankind seems to have entered
into a sort of confederacy against
virtue; according to the commerce
of the world, it seems dangerous to
be honest, and only profitable to be
A’icious. We live, it is to be feared,
in the rust of an iron age. Piety and
religion are in exile, integrity gone,
and many other essential and flour
ishing virtues cut off.
It is virtue only that renders the
mind invincible, and, places us out
of the reach of fortune, though per
haps not out of the malice of it.
When Zeno was told that all his
goods were destroyed by water, he
said, “Fortune hath a mind to make
of me a Philosopher.” Nothing,
can be above him, who is above for
tune. No infelicity can make a wise
man quit his ground.
True happiness, so much desired
by all, and which the world is con
tinually in search of, is but seldom
obtained. It is not to be expected
always to follow worldly wealth and
honors, or to be found in the veins
of the earth, where we dig for gold,
or in the depths of the sea, where
we fish for pearis, but it is always
to be found in a pure and virtuous
mind.
True virtue pursues the same in
variable course in light and in dark
ness, in secret and in public, in pros
perity and in adversity, in riches
and in poverty, in the palatial
mansion and in the cottage.
Let, therefore, integrity be your
guide, and virtue the burden of your
soul. Life is short and transient,
the tenure we have of it, uncertain
and precarious, and the period will
shortly come, when perhaps we least
expect it, that will render all our
riches, honors, learning and abilities,
of no avail. Oar -best friends for
sake us, and the world, with all of
its glories vanish like a vapor.—
In that hour virtue alone can de
fend us. Obtain her for your friend,
for she will be a more powerful sup
port than an army with bankers,
and greater wealth than millions of
gold. Under her protection you
may be certain of eternal happiness,
here and hereafter, and bid defiance
to the crush of nature and the wreck
of worlds.
When the Inst Trumpet’s awful voice,
This Tending earth shall shake,—
When opening graves shall yield their charge
And dust to life awake.
Let virtue exert her joyful voice,
And then in triumph sing;
Oh grave, where is thy victory ?
And where, oh death! thy sting?
The largest farm in England is
3,000 acres in extent, and in its cul
tivation the “four course” system is
adopted, 750 acres being devoted to
wheat, 750 to barley and oats, 750 to
seeds, beans and peas, and 750 to
roots. The live stock is valued as
follows: Sheep, §35,000; horses,
$15,000 ; bullocks, $12,000, and pigs,
$2,500. The artificial fertilizers used
annually amounted to $8,000, and
the entire cost of manures is $15,-
000. The oil cake and com produced
annually amount to $20,000. The
yield of the sheep sells for $20,000
and this animal is the most profita
ble stock kept.
Letter from Imliau Springs.
Indian Springs, Aug. 18,1873.
Editors Herald: In accordance
with my promise, made in my last
communication, I again write you
from this pleasant retreat.
Leaving home on the morning of
the 6th inst., I arrived at station
No. 9|, C. R. R., about one o’clock,
P. M., where I had the pleasure of
waiting five long hours for the ar
rival of the up passenger train. The
Superintendent of the Central Rail
road, in order to more effectually
stop the train on his road, having
taken off both day trains.
At six o’clock I got aboard the
train, for Macon, and as long as day
light lasted, I saw along the road
better crops than I ever saw before
at the same time of the year, but
none better than the crops of my
own wire-grass county—in fact the
crops there average better than any
I have seen since I left home.
As night came on, I became anx
ious about my supper, and inquired
of the Conductor, at what point we
would find the supper house, when
he politely informed me that there
was no supper house on the road.
But his courteous answer did not
turn away my wrath, for the loss of
supper. As I arrived at Macon, at
II o’clock P. M., and found the Res
taurants all closed, and of course
got nothing to eat till 7 o’clock next
morning.
Now it seems to me that if the
Superintendent of this road had re
ally designed to cut off its trains
from his road, that he could not have
adopted a better course than this
outrageous schedule. The Agent at
informed me that he had resign
ed the agency of the Express Com
pany, on account of the present
schedule, as it required him to be
up nearly all night, and that many
other Agents on the road had also
resigned for the same reason. I de
sired to express a small sum of
money, but could not be accommo
dated, I then asked the Agent, who
is also Post Master, to register a
letter, and I would send the money
that way, but he said that he had no
registered envelopes and could not
do it, I then asked him to sell me
some postage stamps and I would
mail the letter, but he had no post
age stamps on hand—and this is a
common complaint, although the law
requires Post Masters to register
letters whenever requested to do so,
they refuse to order the envelopes
and seals, in order to have an ex
cuse that will save them from the
trouble of registering. But the old
idea, that office holders were the
servants of the people, is now fully
exploded, and from “United States”
Grant down to the Petty Post Mas
ters, they consider themselves our
masters.
On my arrival at Macon, I went
to the Brown House, where I re
ceived very polite attention from the
servants, but was ushered into the
most miserable room in the house,
where the musquitoes, too numerous
to mention, regaled me with their
incessant music and blood sucking
till morning, when the further pleas
ure of sitting down to a breakfast
table, minus the breakfast, awaited
me.
Leaving Macon at 9 o’clock A. M.
after a three hours ride on the Ma
con & Western R. R., I arrived at
Forsyth, distant thirty miles, where
I found the Hack waiting to take
me to the Springs, and at five o’clock
the driver drew up in front of the
“Elder House,” and George Elder,
with his ever present smile, gave mo
a cordial greeting. I have now been
here ten days, and feel that my
health is considerably improved.
Visitors are arriving and others de
parting daily, and there are at pres
ent about sixty at this house.
I shall leave here for home next
Friday, the 22nd inst.
Yours truly, C
Worth Knowing.
Few people perhaps are aware
that, by the law of the State a party
renting a house for twelve months is
compelled to pay the rent for that
entire time, although the house
should catch fire and burn to the
ground in a week after his taking
possession as tenant. We heard (3
two instances yesterday where the
question came up, a party in each
contending that the rent could not
be recovered under the circumstance
mentioned. In one the gentlemen
so holding was so satisfied in regard
to his position that he made a bet
of one hundred dollars to five that
he was right. The matter was re
ferred to a lawyer, and of course de
cided against the party betting the
hundred dollars. In the other a gen
tleman, while heartily admitting the
iapt, contended that if a note stipu
lated that it was given “for value re
ceived in house rent,” the amount
which it represented could not be
recovered if the house for the rent
of which it was given burned down
before the tenant had occupied it the
stipulated time. The bet in this in
stance was somewhat smaller than
the other, being only a couple of
watermelons. The question was re-
; ferred to a prominent lawyer, who
decided that under the law the ten
ant would have to pay the full
amount of the rent, notwithstanding
the clause in the note, above stated.
The language of the Code of Geor
gia is very plain upon the point. The
following is the section:
Sec. 2267. The destruction of a
tenement by fire, or the loss of pos
session by any casualty not caused
by the landlord, or from default of
his title, shall not abate the rent con
tracted to be paid.
The reports of the Supreme Court
of Georgia contain a number of de
cisions upon this point. In one case
carried up, a young man in Savan
nah had rented a room for a year in
a building which caught fire and was
destroyed. The young man was
very active in saving shelving and
other things attached to the freehold,
but his landlord, notwithstanding,
claimed the rent agreed to be paid
by him for the entire year. The
young man refused to pay it, was
sued by his landlord, the case tried
in the Superior Court, and after
wards carried up to the Supreme
Court, which rendered a decision in
the landlord’s favor.—Chron. & Sen.
Clay’s District.
Clay’s District, August 1873.
Editors Herald:—I notice in your
issue of August 1st, the opening of
“Pleasant Grove School,” and its
supension for the purpose of enlarg
ing the building. The addition to the
old building is now completed, and
the school in successful operation
under the tuition of Capt. D. A.
Green. There is at this time near
ly fifty pupils and more are expected.
The building is now sufficently large
to accommodate seventy or eighty
pupils. Too much praise can not
be given to the trustees and patrons
of Pleasant Grove for their prompt
and energetic action, who, seeingthe
great necessity of making further
additions to their building, went to
remedy the deficency at once,not with
standing the great pressure of farm
work which demanded all their time
and labor. I of course tip my hat,
and bid them God speed in their
noble work. Such a spirit will build
up institutions over the country, and
put within the reach of every man,
the facility of educating his sons
and daughters. All seem to have
awakened to the importance of estab
lishing and sustaining a first class
school in this vicinity. The trustees,
patrons, and friends of Pleasant
Grove will spare no time, energy, or
means in their power to make it a
first class school, and to merit a lib
eral patronage. They have long felt
the great necessity of establishing
such a school in this section, and
they have gone to work with a deter
mination to be no longer hewers of
wood, and drawers of water for other
sections and other institutions. There
is no section of country within the
scope of the writers knowledge, that
is better capacitated to sustain a
first class school than the neighbor
hood of Pleasant Grove. My friends
let me say to you, continue your exer
tions. May you never become luke
warm or indifferent in the cause of
education, but exert your every effort,
and the day will not be far distant
when you can boast of your insti
tution, and will be proud of your
efforts. Thereof course must be unity
of action and cooperation amongyour
selves. Work together, think for your
own and each others interest, for in
union there is strength, in separation
weakness and failure. Work togeth-
for the common good of all, and by
your united efforts and influence
you can and will make Pleasant
Grove an Institution worthy the pat
ronage of a generous and apprecia
tive public. Continue to roll the
ball my friends. Do not become
weary in well doing. Do not be
come discouraged. Dispise not the
days of small things, for great and
noble enterprises are not the results
of an hour’s or a day’s labor, but the
results of indomitable energy and
perseverence. Let the obligntion
which devolves upon you as parents,
guardians, and good citizens .sink
deep in your hearts. Your business
is improvement in all things, let this
age be an ageof improvement. And'
now while you are in the midst of
peace and prosperity may you ad
vance the cause of education. De-
velope the resources of your land,
call forth its powers, build up insti
tutions, and you will have the conso
lation of knowing that you have
done your duty to society, to pos
terity, to your country, and to your
God. Cultivate a spirit of harmony,
in pursuing the great object which
you%duty points out to you, and it
will prove to be like bread cast up
on the water, to be gathered up in
days to come.
But I am trespassing upon your
columns. More anon.
Brushy Creek.
Good character is like stock in
trade—the more a man has, the
greater his ficilities for adding to it.
The three things most difficult, are,
to keep a secret, to forget an injury,
and to make good use of leisure.
A Reminiscence at General Lee.
All the touching little incidents,
which perhaps as much as his glo
rious military reputation endeared
the grand Southern chieftain to his
army will probably never become
known to the world, but their mem
ory will ever remain green and hal
lowed in the hearts of those who
were directly interested in them.
One of these incidents which show-
ed conclusively the noble and unos
tentatious character of Lee and his
tender Jatherly solicitude for his men,
was related to us yesterday by a gen
tleman of this city, an officer in the
Virginia army during the war. A
soldier in the command of this offi
cer called on him one day and stated
that he had received a letter from
his wife, informing him of her illness
and that he desired, therefore, to go
home for a few days. He requested
the officer to make out an application
for furlough and send it up to the
proper quarters. The officer replied
that he felt assured that such an ap
plication w’ould be perfectly useless,
as peremptory orders declaring that
no more furloughs would be issued
at that juncture had been issued from
headquarters. The soldier, there
fore, gave up the idea of making ap
plication through the regular chan
nels, but announced his determina
tion to write a private letter to Gen.
Lee himself. This determination he
actually carried out. The letter was
written and sent through the medi
um of a negro to Gen. Lee. Next
day the soldier received a reply, a
letter written by the chieftain him
self, couched in simple but tender
and beautiful language. The grand
old hero wrote to the private soldier
altogether without restraint. He
expressed sympathy for him in re
gard to his wife’s sickness, and re
gretted that at that particular time
it would be impossible to grant the
furlough. As soon, however, as cir
cumstances would permit, an appli
cation from the soldier for leave of
absence would be approved.
The soldier carried the letter in
triumph to our informant, grasping
it with an air of indescribable pride:
“I would rather have that letter,”
said he, “than a thousand furloughs.”
We have no doubt that he has it
preserved to* this day, a precious
lieir-loom to be handed down to his
children.
Many men “clothed with a little brief
authority” would have treated the
poor soldier’s letter with disdain.
But Lee’s was a soul grand in all its
attributes, and a soldier fighting the
battles of his country, however low
might be his station, was “a man for
a’ that” in his eyes.
The incident we have narrated
above is a true one in all respects,
and came within the personal knowl
edge, as we stated in the premises,
of a gallant Confederate officer from
this city.—Ex.
The Stolen Batter.
In a village on the Lower Rhine,
one cold, snowy night, an innkeeper,
named Michel, saw the only custom
er who still remained in his house
approach the shelf on which the
butter was kept, take up rather more
than half a pound of it, and hide it
slyly in his cap.
“Stay a minute or two longer,
'Jacques,” said Michel.
The thief had not reckoned upon
this, but he thought a refusal might
excite suspicion. The innkeeper
forced him to sit down near the stove.
‘We will make a good fire, Jacques,’
he said, as he heaped the fagots in
to the stove. ‘Warm yourself well,/
my good fellow.’ /
The thief, already beginning to
feel the butter melt upon his hair,
got up quickly, saying that he was
obliged to return.
‘Nonsense! You are making such
a droll face, one would think you
were frightened at something,’ said
Michel. ‘Here is some bread,
Jacques; you can put some butter
to it yourself. It is quite fresh; I
have several pounds up there. How
do you generally melt your butter ?’
inquired Michel, in the most inno
cent way in the world.
Jacques began to perceive that he
■was caught. Drop by drop the melt
ed butter began to flow down from
underneath his cap, all along his
face, and his handkerchief was quite
soaked through with it.
‘It is icy cold to-night;’ observed
the innkeeper, ‘and yet you appear
to be hot. Why don’t you take off
your cap ? Come, let me hang it
up for you on this nail.’
‘No, no!’ cried the guilty fellow at
last—for his speech had suddenly
returned to him—as he held his cap
with both hands. ‘Let me go; I
must go, indeed. I do not feel at
all comfortable here.’
This pressing down of the soft,
melting butter, caused a greasy
stream to flow down the robber’s face.
‘Well, if you will go, I sha’n’t keep
you back any longer. Good-aight,
Jacques. I hope you will sleep
well,’ said Michel. When Jacques
Was outside, he added, ‘The fun you
have given me is well worth the but
ter you stole from me. This time we
are quits, neighbor; but learn to be
an honest man in future.”—Methodist