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BEY. A. J. RYAN, Editor
AUGUSTA, GA„ OCTOBER 10, 1868.
A FEW WORDS FOR FAULT-FINDERS.
A few of our subscribers have become
quite indignant with us on account ot a
short article, which lately appeared in the
Banner, in defence of our Church ; and
two of the indignant did us the distin
guished honor of writing us letters, in
which they took us to task for what we
wrote, and undertook to lecture us about
bigotry, intolerance, etc., closing their
singularly impertinent epistles with the
awful threat that, for having offended
them, they would refuse to patronise our
journal. In the opinion of these gentle
men, it is bigotry to defend our Church.
In the opinion of these gentlemen, it is
not bigotry to attack it. In our opinion,
their indignation proves their intoler
ance, and their letters are the best sam
ples of bigotry. We look with supreme
indifference upon such indignation. We
never pen a line or write a word for the
mere purpose of pleasing anybody ; nor
do we ever publish aught intending to
displease. When we have a duty to do
and the right to do it, we are not in the
habit of consulting anybody’s pleasure or
displeasure. We would not forego our
convictions, if, by so doing, we could
please anybody; nor would we hesitate to
speak them, or to write them, even though
we would be visited with the displeasure
of everybody. If the honest utterance
of an unpalatable truth would deprive
us of every single subscriber we have,
still would we utter it.
We cannot bear policy—when policy
means, as it frequently does, a renuncia
tion of principle ; we never • could en
dure human respect; we despise cowards;
and cowards we would be, if alraid to de
fend what we know to be truth, and
what, as such, we love with the whole
strength of our being. W<* ask no man’s
permission to defend our country; it is
our right and our duty; we crave no
man’s indulgence when we defend our
Religion; it is our right and our
duty. No matter who likes it, or dislikes
it; censured or flattered, wc care not; our
thoughts are our own; our words are our
own ; we hold them by the sufferance of
no man, or sect, and in the use of them
we accept no one's dictation.
Morally, os well as pecuniarily, the
Banner of the South must be taken, if
taken at all, upon our terms. We allow
none of our patrons to make terms for
us, and for all of them together, we
wyuld not modify our terms —the first of
which is our promise to defend our
Church and coumry against all who at
tack either. This promise we have kept,
and intend to keep, come pleasure or dis
pleasure. So we say to those few sub
scribers who waxed so wroth, just be
cause wc wrote a few words in defence
of our grand old Church ; and we say
especially to those two letter writers who
presumed to dictate to us, that we will
be very happy to do without their pa
tronage, and the sooner they tell us to
cross their distinguished names from our
list of subscribers, the better pleased
shall we be.
And, as wc are on the point, we have a
few more words of a general character to
say. It is fashionable to attack the Ca
tholic Church—the more violently the
better. It helps to keep Protestauism
alive. We know whereof wc speak, when
we assert that the act of Faith of many a
Protestant, when analyzed, runs thus:
“I believe in my own interpretation of
the Bible, and I hate the Roman Catholic
Church.” What is that but bigotry ?
what flows from such a narrow bigotry,
but intolerance ? “Let them who live in
glass houses beware of throwing stones.”
But when a Catholic attempts to vindi
cate his Religion, and to defend the
Church which is the guardian of his Re
ligion, be is straightway stigmatized as a
bigot—an intolerant, etc.
Is this honest ? Is it fair play ? Is it
really a supreme act of Religion to at
tack Catholicity ? Is it such a fearful
crime to defend it?
And the very men who do attack us ;
what know they of our Church ? Who
taught them our principles ? In what
books have they read our history ? Have
they not derived all the knowledge they
have of us from those who were and are
our enemies ? Is not such knowledge,
from such a source, suspicious ? Will the
lips of an enemy speak truth ? And,
when an enemy attacks, have we not the
right to defend ? And more—have we
not the right, if we wish to exercise it—
to attack in return ; for a counter attack
is the best mode of defence ? In the fu
ture, therefore, as in the past, Religion
and Country form our motto; and we
shall stand, to the last, among their de
fenders.
Letters from our Travelling Correspondent.
NO. I.
A. & G. R R, Sept. 29, 1868.
Dear Banner:
According to promise, I will date my
first letter from my first stopping place,
and, if it is not a merry one, you must
forgive me this time, and I hope nothing
so mournful will fill my mind at my next
resting place. I have just witnessed a
most mournful sight. Let me tell you
how it was : This morning, just as the
rosy clouds that herald the rising sun.
a Negro man came up to the house and
asked the mistress to send some break
fast to a man who was resting at one of
the Negro houses. The breakfast was
sent, and upon further enquiry, we learned
that the man, (who called himself Wm.
A. Graham, and said he was from Nor
folk, Va.,) was a gentleman in language
and appearance, but, that even while
speaking pleasantly and intelligently, he
would suddenly pause, and then com
mence an unmeaning harangue. They
told us he was a handsome man, but, alas!
his beauty and intelligence were ever
shadowed by a dark cloud. What great
grief may have made him so, of course
we can never know; but he was undoubt
edly a maniac. We left the house to go
to him, but, when we reached the group
of Negro houses, he was gone. About
half an hour afterwards, the passenger
train came rushing by. Suddenly the
shrill whistle of the engine burst on my
ear. On brakes!—alas, too late! the
mangled body of the poor unfortunate
lies helplessly beneath the iron wheels.
The cars passed on ; and then the lit
tle pole-car took up the bruised form of
the poor fellow, and laid it tenderly upon
their car. He was taken to the Railroad
station and a Doctor telegraphed foi' ; a
special train brought the physician to the
sufferer’s side. Rut all m vain. The
limb was amputated, and the man died.
The physician returned to the city, and
the unknown was left to the care, (tender
or not, as it might happen,) of the sec
tion overseer, and his hands.
Let it be recorded for the honor of
humanity, and let his name be known
wherever this awful accident may be
spoken of, never was corpse of dearly
loved brother more tenderly cared for,
than was the body of this poor man, by
Mr. Summer, the overseer. The coffin
was made, and, when, after ten o’clock
at night, the body was consigned to its
narrow house, Mr. Summer brought it to
the place where I am now, for burial.
The pole-car came slowly down the road,
the bright torch, held by one of the Ne
groes, lighting its way. The grave was
dug beneath an oak tree, and the coffin
lowered gently to its resting place. The
mistress of the house stood at the grave,
and I saw her lips move, as, with upturn
ed eyes, she extended her right hand,
and traced the sign of salvation over the
lonely grave. Let us hope that the
breathed prayer for the rest of the de
parted soul, was caught up by the attend
ant angels, and wafted to the throne of
the Most High.
Mr. Summer, one or two other white
meu, and some dozen negroes, stood rev
erently around the open grave, and I
heard Mr. Summer say : “Throw the
dirt in gently, boys until you get lid cov
ered.”
All honor to his tender, manly heart,
with its warm well-spring of love and
sympathy, ever gushing forth, even
sprinkling the grave of the stranger with
its holy drops.
I could wish that no winter of sorrow
might ever come to him, but that it
might be Summer—all to him.
The chilly moon, shining down upon
the new made grave; the rising wind
sighing mournfully among the tall pines;
and the dying light of the pine torches
made a most solemn a-nd impressive scene.
Do not wonder, now, that I have told
you this sorrowful tale, that I am sad.
Yours truly, dear Banner,
R. F.
QjHVIr. Pendleton, in one of his re
cent powerful, and convincing speeches,
presented the following picture of Radi
cal rule, and its consequences upon the
people and their interests. He said:
“ The Radicals have not only perverted
our Government, but have bankrupted
the country. During these three years
of peace, we have collected fifteen hun
dred and ninety-four millions of dollars.
One hundred and twenty-four millions of
this have been paid ou account of the
debt. What has become of the rest?
Fourteen hundred and x twenty millions
vanished, who knows where, in three
years ? It has gone, most of it, to the
“Freedmans Bureau,” and to the costly
military governments so needlessly kept
up in ten States. It has gone to support
the “ constitutional amendments” of
Congress, the scheme of negro suffrage,
and the insatiable carpet-baggers! Fif
teen hundred and ninety-four millio/i
dollars! That is more than one-tenth of
all the property in the country—money,
crops, houses, railroads, farms, tools, and
everything else! Great Britain, during
these same three years, spent one-thirtieth,
and France, one-fortieth of her resources
If you are assessed on all of it, it amounts
to $34.45 a head, for every one of us.
Our debt under Radical rule exceeds in
its burthen that of any other country.”
New Paper. —lt gives us great pleasure
to place upon our exchange list the “Ban
ner of the South,” published at Au
gusta, Georgia, by L. T. Blome & Cos.,
and edited by Rev. A. J. Ryan, and de
voted to the cause of the South and the
Catholic Religion. All who have read the
touching lines of Father Ryan’s “Con
quered Banner,” will readily appreciate
the literary ability of that distinguished
gentleman, and will, upon examining his
paper, agree with us, that the Banner is
entitled to rank with the best literary
journals of the day. Advocating the
cause of the Catholic Church, it is free
from bigotry or unjust criticism ; defend
ing a Lost Cause, it is able and dignified,
and free from prejudice ; cultivating and
teaching a high standard of morals, and a
refined and enlightened taste for litera
ture, it is eminently qualified to fill the
mission of a family newspaper of the
highest and best order; and, as such,
we cheerfully recommend it to the public,
and offer our prayers to a just and all
wise God in behalf of noble Father Ryan,
in his new mission of usefulness. —Los
Angeles {Cal.) News.
Memoir of Jenny White del Bal.—
The Home Journal , the leading fashion
able paper of New York, pays the follow
ing graceful tribute to the memory of the
subject of this interesting memoir:
“The memory of Jenny C. White del
Bal receives a fitting tribute in a volume
of ‘Memoirs and Letters,’ prepared by her
mother, Rhoda E. White, and published
by Patrick Donahoe, in Boston. The
noble woman, who is the subject of the
biography, will be remembered by many
as a bright ornament of the higher circles
of New York society. She was the
daughter of Judge Edward AYhite, of the
Superior Court of this city, and married
a gentleman of high social rank and
worth, Bernardino del Bal, of Santiago,
South America. The letters, which
make up a considerable portion of the
present volume, exhibit, in a very in
teresting light, the rare beauty and ex
cellence of Madame del Bal’s character,
and are, besides, of peculiar value and
attractiveness, as pictures of South
American life. Going among the people
of that country as one of their number,
naturalized, as it were, by the most sacred
of ties, she judged them from her own
standpoint, enjoying facilities for knowing
them intimately, which a traveller could
not have. During the prevalence of a
fearful epidemic in Santiago, she fell a
martyr to her heroic endeavors to alle
viate the sufferings and misfortunes of
others. Her conduct during the wars
which afflicted her adopted country, had
won for her the title of Florence Nightin
gale of South America, and, at her
death, the whole community was moved
to the most intense grief. She died still
young, but rarely is a life so nobly
crowned with beauty and accomplish
ment.”
Sent free, by mail, to every part of the
country, on the payment of $2.50.
FATHER SECCHI.
British Savans expected to make the
acquaintance of the illustrious Roman
Astronomer, Father Secehi, at the meet
ing of the British Association at Nor
wich, where, it appears, the Philosophers
were treated scurvily. Father Secchi was
unable to leave Rome, but a paper by him
which elicited great interest, was read in
the Mathematical and Physical Sciences
section. It was “on some meleorological re
sults obtained at Rome, and on the rela
tion between meteorological and magneti
cal phenomena.'’ It sets out with the
principle that meteorology is a local as
well as a general science, and, on a com
parison of what is going on in different
countries, we tied relations of opposition
and similarity, Cases of opposition are
very rare, but this year, while the sum
mer was hot and dry in the higher lati
tudes of Europe, it was unusually rainy
and stormy in Rome. Father Secchi
attributes these opposite results to the
same origin, that it is to a different limit
which has been reached by the mrial
currents. He thought the question wor
thy of investigation, whether certain
storms, which are said to be periodical, at
the same time of the year, are really so,
and, as these storms are generally ac
companied with a great variation of
temperature, this was taken as a base of
discussion. The temperature observa
tions made at Rome, for forty years,
were reduced, and tables extracted to give
the partial results for each four years.
We cannot enter into the learned Father’s
theoiy of curves, which philosophers will
appreciate. The barometer at Nairn, in
Scotland, is the best indication of the fu
ture state of the weather, in Rome, for
two days after. This station is always
kept as a most interesting land-mark for
a storm nearing Rome. The time em
ployed in the voyage is about two days,
of which a great deal is spent in travers
ing the Alps, thus diminishing the veloci
ty of the storm, and often dividing a
large into a number of partial storms.
An indication of approaching storms was
also ob tamed through magnetical in
struments. After much labor, Father
Secchi came to the conclusion that every
great storm, more or less, affected the
magnetical instruments, and that the mag
netical disturbances anticipated in Rome
the arrival of the storm commonly by
one day. This conclusion was not ac
cepted in England, because no similar
correspondence was found to take place
there. France, on the other hand, has ac
cepted and verified Father Seeciii’s theory.
His general conclusions are—l. That, at
certain periods of the year, a great
change of temperature is constantly
taking place. These changes are strictly
periodical and {sensible through a large
part of Europe, and the date of some of
them may be fixed within tolerable lim
its. 2. There exists a connection be
tween meteorological changes in the
weather and those of the magnetical
force of the earth, due to electrical cur
rents, which are set in motion during
the storms which effect magnetic needles.
3. Observation proves that storms
are propagated direct from the British
Islands to Italy, so that from the indica
tions transmitted hence, the Italians can
foresee a storm two days before it reaches
them, by a combination of the barometer
and telegraphic indications. This is
found so useful to Italian sailors, that a
regular service has been instituted be
tween Rome and Givita Vecchia, for giv
ing signals and notices to sailors. The
paper excited very great interest, which
would be enhanced if Father Secchi him
self were the reader.— Dublin Freeman.
THE DROWNED.
SOME SUGGESTIONS THAT MAY BE USEFUL.
A correspondent of the Alta Cali
fornia, alluding to paragraphs which
appear from time to time, of accidental
drowning, states :
It is proven by anatomical experi
ments that the weiglit of the human body
is about equal to the same bulk of salt,
or sea water, or, in other words the
amount of water displaced by the human
body when submerged is very nearly
equal in weight to the body so displac
ing it. A further proof of this, is the
fact that after a certain length of time, in
cases of drowning, the body rises to the
surface, and this, often when encumbered
with boots, clothing, or other matter
heavier than water. In cases of persons
who cannot swim, falling overboard en
cumbered with clothing, if they will
not attempt to struggle to keep more
than mouth out of water, at the same
time kicking downward with their feet,
and paddling with their hands under
water, they can sustain themselves for
a considerable length of time. Most
persons who fali overboard lose all
presence of mind, and either draw their
hands up, or dash them wildly through
the air and water. The moment the
weight of the arms is added to the weight
of the head above the water, the inevi.
table consequence is to submerge the
body. A few struggles of this character
closes the scene. The same struggle
with the arms and feet under the water
will certainly sustain the mouth above
the water, and could the senses control
the impulse to throw the arms up, and
keep them down, there would be less re
cording of “accidental drowning.” Our
correspondent cites the case of a man
who could not swim, falling overhead
from a sailing ship at sea, whose life was
saved by a surgeon on board, crying out
to the struggling man in authoritative
tones, to keep his hands uuder water.
Accustomed to obeying orders, his hands
went under water; but, as the ship re
ceded, the impulse to throw up his hands
overcame him, and down he went.
Seizing the speaking trumpet, the sur
geon ordered him as he rose to the surface
in his struggle, to down with his hands.
In the meantime, the sails were “hove
back,” a boat lowered, and the man
reached in time to save him. Obeying
orders was his safety. Our correspond
ent is correct in theory, and the practice
would almost invariably result as in the
case cited, if the shock on falling into the
water did not throw the straggler in
mortal terror, and involuntarily cause
the arms to be raised above the water.
The suggestion is worth stowing away
in one corner of the memory.
A Noble Deed.—The Sisters of
Mercy to the Rescue —Voluntary
Nurses. —One of the noblest deeds which
it has been the duty and pleasure of a
Journalist to record, has just come to
our knowledge, A day or two ago, the
Superioress of the Order of Sisters of
Mercy, having charge of St. Mary’s
Hospital, sent to Dr. R. Beverly 7 Cole,
Chairman of the Hospital Committee, in
the Board of Supervisors, a letter, every
word of which breathes a charity as
noble as is anywhere recorded in history;
a Christianity as self-sacrificing, as it is
pure and enduring. The substance of
the letter was, that the Sisters of Mer
cy deemed it their duty to aid suffering
humanity wherever found, and no matter
with what disease afflicted. That not
only was it a duty, but a Heavenly mis
sion, which they had to perform. They
knew that, with all the resources of this
great city applied to the object, the poor
sufferers in the Smallpox Hospitals could
not receive that attention from hired
uurses which could be bestowed by the
hand of Charity. They, therefore, aske!
that some of their Sisterhood might be
substituted for the nurses at present em
ployed in the Smallpox Hospitals. It
was added that none knew better than
Dr. Cole, that the requirements and wants
of the Sisters of Mercy were simple and
few, as -he, the Dr., had been some
years a visiting Physician of St. Mary >
Hospital, where their chief labor has
been done. One small room would suf
fice the Sisters, and in all else they would
supply themselves. Dr. Cole did a :
hesitate a moment, but sent a reply ac
cepting the services of the Sisters.
Already' these faithful followers <1
the “ man of many sorrows and acquaint
cd with grief” have gone out to the
Smallpox Hospital “A,” near the
ocean beach, and taking charge, their
noble Superioress is at their head, per
sonly aiding to heal the sick, and sooth
the afflicted. With them, they toot a
wagon load of linen bandages, and elotn,
to dress the poor sufferers as they
need. One of the hired nurses ha-'
already been discharged, and as soon g
the Sisters have become fully acquainted
with the formula of the pest house, th.
balance of the nurses under employing
will follow, save such as are nccessai.
for that work and nursing which woim
cannot do. The offer extends to bote
Hospitals, and, ere long, the Sisters
Mercy will bring their soothing influence
in to all the Smallpox Hospitals ot to
city. San Francisco, for this noble dei->
owes the fraternity which these Si"
represent a debt of gratitude which i “
never be paid. In the face ot sum
actions it may seem improper to
upon the pecuniary saving which v! -
accrue to the city treasury, but at e *
it is not improper to state that now,
need be no fear of a repetition ol a:.<v ‘
outrages at the pest houses: no lot
will the stimulants furnished to p* tieljl
be swallowed by the unfeeling nurse
no longer will the sick and dying 511 yg
and expire, alone and unattended, - u •
dark hours of night. God blofo g-
Sisters of Mercy!— San Francisco J/
patch.
Dangerous. —“Look a heah, T_ e! g
said a knowing darkey, “don t Yan g -
on de rail-road.” “Why, Joe ! ‘ -
it de cars see dat rnouf ot yourn
dey will tink it am de depot, and run i
into it.”