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L. T. BLOME & CO., . PUBLISHERS AND PROPRIETORS. AUGUSTA, GA., MARCH 28. 1868. ' PUBLISHERS’ DEPARTMENT^ TERMS: One Copy, one, year, invariably in advance... |3 00 “ “ aix montbfl, “ “ ... 150 Single Copies. 10 cts- To Ci.rßß.—To any pernon sending ub a Club of 15, one copy, one year, will be given. To Clubs of 20, o» more, Thk Bannki; will be furuished at the rate o 1 #2 50 per nmiuin. In all cases the names must be furnished at the same time, and the cash must accompany each order. Dealers will be supplied on liberal terms. #jjr All Communications, intended for publication, must be directed to the Editor, Rev. A. J. Rtan ; aud all Business Communications to the Publishers, L. T. BtiOME k Cos., Augusta, Ga. te" A few Advertisements will be received, and in serted on liberal terms. Vgcnts for The Banner of the South : General Traveling Agents.— Capt. M. .7. O’CONNOR and Lieut. W. A. WRIGHT. Savannah, Ga.—E. M. CONNER. Macon, Ga.—C. J. CAREY. Atlanta, Ga.—E. G. L. MOBLEY. Columbus, Ga.—JOEL T. SCOTT. General Agent for Florida.—J. EVANS FROST, Jack sonville, “ Mercury" office. The paper can also be obtained from news and periodical dealers everywhere. Specimen copies will be sent to any address, on application. Specimen copies of Tin? Banner of the South sent free to any address. Editorials.— The initials A. J. R. to an editorial indicate that it is from the pen of Father Ryan. This rule will be strictly followed. Our Terms.— We have placed the price for the Banner of the South as low as possible, in order that it may be within the reach of all who desire to 1 ecome subscribers. Agents Wanted.— We want Agents in all parts of the country—good, relia ble, active men, who will take an in terest in extending the circulation of The Banner of the South. Advertisements. —We shall publish but a very limited number of advertise ments in The Banner of the South. To those in the present number we invite especial attention. To Subscribers. —Subscribers in the city who are not served regularly with the paper should give us notice without delay. Those abroad should state their names, Postoffice, and State very dis tinctly. Confirmation. —Rt. Rev. Bishop Verot, of this Diocese, will administer the Sacra ment of Confirmation at the 7 o’clock Mass to-morrow (Sunday) morning. Quite a large number, we understand, have been prepared for the reception of this holy rite. Father Bazin. —lt is with sincere re gret that we chronicle the departure of Father Bazin from our city. By his zeal, unremitting kindness, and urbanity he had endeared himself to his congregation here, and all part with him with sorrow. He goes hence to Macon, Ga., carrying with him the prayers and good wishes of the Catholics of Augusta ; and to the ever kind and hospitable citizens of our sister city we warmly commend him. Quinn's Literary Depot. —An inte resting plaee is Quinn’s Literary Depot on Broad street, next door below the Con st'dulionolist office. There can be found all the latest publications of the day' be sides stationeary, etc. And then Mr. Quinn is so courteous and accommodating ... o that it is a pleasure to purchase from him. If he hasn't got a publication you want, be will order it for you, and get it out in the shortest possible time. So if you want anything in the literary line, reader, don't forget to call at or send to Quinn’s For the Banner of the South. LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. BY MRS. SUSAN H. WADDELL. I remember, when a little child, that I once was standing by a tall, uarrow, win nowing house, just above a rice yard. It was situated upon one of my father's country residences and farming estates. Just below was a large brick barn, built upon the very verge of a canal, which rolled its dark waters a little way, and then disappeared iuto the river. This barn, to all of the children, was a mys tery, for it possessed a voice that inim. icked ours. In vain was it that we ral lied our courage, holding each other securely by the hand, as we went forth in search of ,its mysterious arcana.— There was nothing to he heard, or seen, but the delicate blue-bell, the rustling of the wild rose, and quivering shadow of the vine, as it wrapt its green man* tie around the eold hard walls. As we approached the barn, our sense of hear ing became morbidly acute ; so much so, that we were frightened by the stirring of these beautiful creations of Nature, The innocent little blackbirds appeared of evil omen, as they sat looking down from the cornice upon us. Their sable dress and shoulders tipped with scarlet and gold, their quick bright eyes and the thunder of their wings, so soon as the cry of the hawk was heard, added to our dis may. We were almost afraid to breathe- Jupiter and Juno would never have in flicted a punishment for loquacity upon us, as was by them decreed to the luck less Echo. And after respectfully and in good order walking to the door, with out being able to discover anything, no winged zephyr, floating midst etherial blue, ever fled more fleetly, or with greater agility than did we to reach the mansion of our parents, that we might learn from them what that invisible, yet perceptible, Echo was. We were not sages in search of physical laws, groping in the darkness of sonorous pulses, investigating the the ories of sound, the concavity of surfaces, and such speculations ; no, we were wiser —children as we were—and desired to know if we were not in the strict path of philosophical truth, when we accorded this phenomena to an evil spirit, like “ Jack with a lantern," who desired to entice us into quagmires, or drown us in the river. For this last information, we were indebted to an old and valued servant, who sometimes enlightened us with these stories, when unexpectedly detained, by a wintry storm, from returning to her own domicile. Years have passed away, yet the appearance of an igms-fatuvs, flitting in a damp bay, with its lamp sometimes burning brightly, sometimes waning* away, and again, ns suddenly flashing into brilliancy, or the musical voice of an Echo, are sure to produce a Medea’s touch, and metamorphose us to childhood again. These are trifles; yet, this is a questionable term, for how often do we find that events of interest, and sometimes of importance, are derived from trifles . Can that be a trifle which in itself produces that which is impor tant ? We find this illustrated not only in association of ideas, but in the very crises of life itself. Mr. Locke has given us an example of the remarkable effect of association of ideas. He says a \*ung gentleman, having learned to dance, in an apartment where there was an old trunk, found upon the removal of it that his skill in dancing had left him. He danced badly until the trunk was replaced, when his agility returned, and he never danced well unless there was a trunk, or some thing resembling one, in the apartment. Sir Walter Scott relates a circumstance, which occurred when he was at a gram mar school in Edinhorough. There was a boy of remarkable precocity among the pupils. He was always head of the class. Sir W. Scott remarked that when in reci tation, he always twisted a particular button upon his jacket. This button Scott cut off, when the boy was not ob serving him. The ela.-s was called soon Mill® ©I m fOTHH. afterwards ; the hoy felt tor his button; it was gone. He missed his lesson, and continued to do so until he was foot of his class. Sir W. Scott remarks in his Diary that he had never forgiven himself, or ceased to regret this incident deeply. The boy's success in recitation was cer tainly associated with his button, and Scott thought his never having risen above mediocrity, in after life, was at tributable to its loss. From association of ideas, says Voltaire, Henry the 4th, of France, was always un easy when riding in a carriage, lest it should overturn. The gallant Charles the 12th, of Sweden, dreaded to cross a bridge, from a shock he received when a child ; and Peter the Great had always to strug gle with himself to conceal a shuddering, which he possessed whenever he was near a sheet of falling water. Rut some ethical writers have gone beyond the “ .sphen; terrestrial," for asso ciation of ideas, and maintain that many of them are derived from a pre-exuient state of the soul. Cicero, in his “ Vision of'Scipio'’ intro duces Africanus, as conversing with his son. He informs him that this life is the true Hades, or place of punishment, and that n pre-existence could he proved bv individuals being conscious of having' J Cs o been in the same position; although they had no recollection of having occupied such position previously ; as in conversa tion when some now incident is spoken of, perhaps by an entire stranger, we are impressed with the same surroundings. So much are we persuaded of this that we can anticipate what will he said before it is spoken. Cicero recurs also to the an cient belief that the facility with which children acquire their lessons is blit the effect of memory, derivable from a pre existent state of the soul. This was a favorite theory, in ancient days, for we find that a belief in a prior existence of the soul, was held by the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and. at one period, by the Grecians. The wise Einpydocles was a Pythagorean, and believed in his having personally undergone the change from animate to inanimate life: such as from a bird to a fish, from a fish to a bush, etc. This confession, however, was given in ver.sr, and we all acquiesce iu poetical license Our minds must ever be lost in specu lative conjecture when we attempt an an alysis of the soul, or the mysterious nature and union of matter and mind. Gro tius, in a dilemma of his bright intellect to account for the perceptive powers of brutes, alleged that man possessed, in his soul, an unknown property, similar to in telligence ; which created the difference between the human and brute creation. This the metaphysicians soon exploded, as his hypothesis inferred two souls to one being. Des Cartes denied perception to brutes, and maintained that they have no power of the will, and arc constructed as a musical instrument—the piano, for in stance —that will give out a tone if struck by the finger. So is it with a hound who mechanically follows the hare from the stimulus of the odor of its track. These wild vagaries do but furnish new proofs that the finest minds are unable to •upe with the difficulties which surround the subject of mental organization. These are, indeed, “the follies of the wise,” To turn over another leaf iu the book of Nature, and to observe die analogies between her laws, in respect to mind and matter, is scarcely less interesting, though more within our grasp. We find in this world of wonderful creations that there is a progressive law prevalent throughout nature. . A small winged seed dropped from the cone, or seed-vessel of the Abies, or fir-tree, pro duces by slow development the tall whis pering pine, so valuable to commerce and the arts. Au acorn contains the germ, or nucleus of the giant oak. The crocodile was once a round white egg, and so was the fleet ostrich of the desert. Man, upon whom it has pleased Omnipotence to be stow superior gifts to all other of his earth ly creations, commences life a helpless infant, with none of the perceptive faculties of the soul, and with but one instinct in common with other animals, that of im bibing nourishment. Thus he is but little superior to the young pine, as it vegetates upon the properties of the earth. But the great gift of the soul is developed, and he becomes wiser and wiser, greater and greater ; and, when he passes away into eternity, the thread of research left by him in the labyrinth of learning, wisdom, and piety, is taken up by his descendants who now explore yet more deeply into the mazes of its lettered chambers and subterranean mines of lore. Sleep, another of nature’s mysterie's, has been bestowed upon us iu common with the vegetable and animal world, and so nearly does it resemble death that Sir Thomas Brown in his lleligio Medico , says: “1 always pray before closing my eyes in sleep, so much does it appear like death.” Asleep and unconscious of all that surrounds us, the soul, or mind, is not only present, but is traveling the most distant countries, crossing rivers and oceans, and in the compass of a few min utes lives a lifetime from childhood to a<Te. O This soul and body, with all of their sym pathies and dependencies upon each other, are yet dividual. Let the mind he de mented. and we will find with it corporeal health, and vice the physical par lytic in possession of a sound mind. Thus the demented mind appears to he only a suspended intellect, as it lias been known to reappear and remain unclouded through life. And should it never return, the patient at the period of death under goes the same process of dissolution as though the mind had never been disturbed; \\ hy then should we deny that they are separate creations only for the reason that there is a depedence of one upon another, during this life. We can no more under stand their temporal union than we can their separation in dissolution. What affinity can there be between a turnip and beet, and the brain of the scientific and logical Newton? or, that a hunch of cool, given cresses and the muscular fi bres of a pugilist should be one and the same? or that the animal chyle, and the sap of vegetables should, in their constitu ent principles, resemble each other ? vet physiologists affirm these truths. We can know but little of the wonders ‘of the visible world around us, and mueh less of immaterial life. The latter spec ulations leave, many in the condition of Cicero’s Tusculan pupil, who, after read ing Plato, remarked : “When I read the book 1 am convinced, but as soon as I put it down T relapse again into doubt.” Such must ever be the condition of our reasoning faculties when we attempt to apply them to subjects beyond their reach. With hi the sphere of their proper action, our reasoning powers are doubt less our safest guides; bnt beyond and without that sphere, they can only mis lead us, and this may with sruth be said not only of our investigations of Nature’s laws, but of those of Revelation also. THE PAPAL VOLUNTEERS > ROM THE KATIIOUSCHE KIRCHENZIETUNG. Tiie Papal army has always consisted of volunteers, since the obligation of rendering military service has never been imposed on the people who inhabit the States of the Church ; but the world has never seen, from the days of Godfrey do Bouillon, so picked and chosen a corps of men as those who are at present so enthusiastically hastening on to Italy for the purpose of upholding and vindi cating the cause of Pius IX. and the Church of which he is the head. It was in 1859 that the Revolutionists, leagued with the King of Sardinia, be gan to despoil the Pope. In doing so, they hoped to attain a two-fold object: first, to gain possession of his territory, and, second, by withdrawing his reve nues, without assuming his debts, to force him into a financial capitulation. At the same time, an over-busy inter vention stood ready at band with various plans of relief. But the words of the Holy Father, T shall accept no favors from the great ones of earth ; if my children will give me alms I shall receive it most gratefully!” theu. and Hiere called the Peters-pence iuto life, which have ever since frustrated those plans of the enemy in a most signal manner. And thus again, in our own day and time, has the determination of the Holy Father to defend by force of arms, his rights and the peace of his subjects against armed antagonists, called out numbers of faithful sons in all countiies, who are ready and willing 1 to stake their fortunes and their lives in the defence of the Father of the Faithful. A special society, called “of St. Peter." has been organized in Paris for the pur pose of recruiting, fitting out, and main taining of Papal Soldiers, especially of Zouaves. At the head of this society stands Count Lemercier, while Count Latour, once an Austrian officer, is an other of its principal members. To ac complish their laudable object all the more effectually, and, at the same time, to give Catholics of all countries an op portunity of partaking in the good work, the Committee at Paris has joined hands with similar committees already existing in London and Belgium, so that even now the most intimate, active, and well organized communication exists between them. Austria, too, has lately been called upon to lend its aid in the holy cause. Count Latour wrote a letter to the Superiors of the “St. Michaels Asso ciation” in Vienna, asking them to inter est their countrymen, also, in the work, as France alone was no longer able to meet the demand. Simultaneously with this letter, other letters from different provinces of the Austrian empire, and containing the self-same request, were received by these gentlemen in Vienna. They, of course, as in duty bound, laid the matter before their Bishops. Some of these have already given iu their answer, that answer being in each case in the affirmative ; thus, for instance, the Bishops of Vienna, Olniutz, Brunn, Linz, St. Pollen, and Yeglia. Baron Stillfried, the President ot “St. Michael’s Association,” then went to Paris for the purpose of opening communications with the committee at that place, and, after his return, made his report at a called meeting on Dec. 28th. This meeting was, by invitation, attended by leading men from all parts of the Empire. Repre sentatives were also there from the Catholic societies of Bohemia, Moravia, the Tyrol, Turingia and other places. Baron Stillfried, while at Paris, lnid as- sisted at one of the meetings of the As sociation of St. Peter. There he met with a Mr. Keller, well known as a member of the former Corps Legislatif. Mr. Kel* !er, made a report on his late protracted stay in Rome and the notes he had taken while there. At his parting* au dience with the Holy Father, Pius JX hud declared to him that he was firmly resolved to defend his temporal power with the sword, it the Catholic world would only enable him to do so. The Holy Father also informed Mr. Keller, that the dangers to the Holy See were by no means passed and gone, but still looming up in closest proximity. “Day after day, 5 ' lie said, “Garibaldians are smuggled into Rome, and the secret so cieties are one and all making prepara tions for a general uprising* in flic Spring.” It is this impending and un avoidable conflict which fills the soul of Pius IXwith such deep sorrow. The Papal troops are to be armed in the most complete manner possible, that they may stand on the same vautage groundhxs their opponents. To and • his, 10,000 muskets, and the same n umber of revolvers are required. Just at pres ent the procuring ol these arms is very difficult, as all the European govern ments are taxing their armories to the very utmost for special purposes of their own. The committee at Paris was, however, fortunate enough to obtain 2,000 muskets from Louvain. Besides these there are 4,ooostand of arms said to be on sale, from America. Moreover there is a want of 8 field-guns light enough to be used in the mountain dis- 5