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PUBLISHED FOR THE SOLDIERS’ TRACT ASSOCIATION, RV “ SUPERINTENDENT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH-WESI
YOL. 11.
JVvuut & ilanr Hicvaltl.
SO <» W VO
MACON, GA., MARCH 16, 1865.
gcjf The Herald is published weekly for
gratuitous circulation amongst the soldiers of
the army and navy, supported by voluntary
contributions of their friends at home.
All remittances of contributions should
be addressed to Rev. J. W. Burke, Treasurer
Soldiers’ Tract Association, Macon, Ga.
The Marriage Vow.
“ For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and health to love aud to cherish,
till death us do part, according to God’s holy
ordinances I plight my troth.”
Speak it net lightly— holy thing,
A bond enduring through long distant years,
When joy o’er thine abode is hovering,
Or when thine eye is wet with bitterest tears.
Recorded by an angel’s pen on high,
Aud must be questioned in eternity.
Love may not prove all sunshine; there may 7
come
Dark hours for all! 0, will ye, when the
night
Os sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love as ye did in time when calm and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod untouched by
care.
And deemed the future like the present, fair ?
Should fortune frown on your defenceless head,
Should storms o'ertake your bark on life’s
dark sea,
Fierce tempests rend the sail so gaily spread,
When Hope her syreu strain sang joyfully—
Will ye look tip, through clouds your sky
o’ercast,
And say, “ Together we will bide the blast ?”
Age. with its silvery locks, comes stealing on,
And brings the tottering steps, the furrowed
cheek,
The eye from whence each lustrous gleam hath
gone,
And the pale 1 ip3, with accents low and weak.
Will ye then think upon your life’s gay prime,
And smiling, bid Love triumph over lime ?
Speak it not lightly ! 0 beware, beware,
’Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word —
So men and angels list the faith ye swear,
And by the High and Holy One ’tis heard:
0 then kneel humbly at his altjir now,
Aud pray for grace to keep your marriage vow.
*».—
Silence.
In silence mighty things are wrought—
Silently builded, thought on thought,
Truth’s temple greets the sky,
And like a citadel with towers,
The souhwith her subservient powers
Is strengthened silently.
Soundless as chariots on the snow
The saplings of the forest grow
To trees of mighty girth ;
Each mighty star in silem e burns,
And every day in silence turns
The axle of the earth.
The silent frost, with mighty hand,
Fetters the river and the land
With universal chain;
And smitten by the silent sun,
The chain is loosed, the rivers run,
The lands are free again.
Lights and Shadows.
The gloomiest day hath gleams of light,
The darkest wave hath bright foam near it,
And twinkles through the cloudiest night
Some solitary star to cheer it.
The gloomiest soul is not all gloom;
The saddest heart is not all sadness;
And sweetly o’er the darkest doom
There shinos some lingering beam of glad
ness.
Despair is. never quite despair,
Nor life nor death the future closes;
And round the shadowy brow of care,
Will Hope and fancy twine their roses.
>V#rldlt Pleasure Siiortlsved.—A great
monarch being asked by a courtier in the midst
of a splendid festival what more was wanting,
replied, “ Permanence.”
MACON, GEORGIA, MARCH 16, 1805.
Message of Governor of Louisiana.
We take the following extrac u °fGov. Allen e
Message from the Argus and < riais :
FINAKCEN.
At your last session vou appropriated the ■
sum of 11,042,030 dollar-. T t' l *'* drawn from
the Treasury 6,247,‘J7'. 1 J-.'iars, leaviug a bal- j
ance of appropriate- 7 unexpended ot 4,704,-
651 dollars. You *>R see that there is in the
Treasury, of all muds, 3,227,35$ dollars.
•1 ANUFACT»RIKS.
Having fouu ! the State destitute of Manufac
tories of all ki-ids. 1 am pleased to inform you
that there a l '- now in successful operation, the
followini works :
y W o turpentine distilleries, one castor oil
f.jct.ry, one establishment for making carbo
na e of soda, two distilleries for pure medical
alcohol, one rope walk for cotton cordage, one
foundarv for cooking utensils, machinery aud
agricultural implements, two cotton cloth man
ufactories, two laboratories for indigenous
medicines.
COTTON ANI) WOOL CARDS.
I have imported and distributed in the State,
fifteen thousand pairs of Cotton Cards—selling
them to the soldiers families at ten dollars per
pair.
At the factory in Minden, there are three
machines which will soon be in successful oper
ation, with the capacity for makiug one thous
and pairs of cards per month. As these ma
chines cannot supply the demand, I shall con
tinue to import cotton and wool cards.
The Governor, in this connection, relates the
following touching incident, indicative of the
spirit of the Ladies of Louisiana.
I promised every lady in Louisiana a pair of
cotton cards. This promise is nearly fulfilled.
The cards will soon be delivered. There are to
day no fair hands in the State idle. All are
busily engaged in making cloth, first, for the
soldiers in the field, then for themselves. * The
music of the spinning wheel and loom is to be
heard in every farm-house from early morn till
dewy eve. It is a glorious sight and cheering
to the patriot’s heart when the nged mother,
with silvered locks, sits by the.fireside, lighted
by the brightly blazing native pine, (candles
being no longer in use,) her fair daughters as
semble around her, some carding, some knit
ting, while others are engaged in that truly
graceful task of spinning; till cheerful and all
happy ; though a tear may steal from the moth
er's-ye. is .-hnlhiiikapf her dear bov far away,
fighting the battles of his country, on the banks
of the James or the Tennessee. God bless the
noble mothers of Louisiana ! I was called on
by an nged matron, who said to me with tear
ful eyes : “ Governor, 1 have eight sons in the
army; I have but one more, my darling little
Benjamin, lie is just, seventeen, and now the
Captain of the Reserve Corps has sent for him.
lie wants to go Governor, but I want him-so
stay and take care of me in my old age. Rut
God’s will be done ! I love my children much,
hut I love my Country more. He shall go!
He is young and tender—my last hope—but he
shall go !he shall go !” Gentlemen, with such
mothers as these, we must, we will triumph.
In other lands ,there may be women equal to
those of Louisiana, but I cannot believe it.
Throughout the State, the ladies have not only
clothed our troops, hut have given great assis
tance to other Confederate soldiers. Sewing
societies, concerts, tableaux and banquets have
all been brought in requisit ion ; and many a
brave soldier has reaped the fiuits of these pat
riotic exertions. One venerable lady, seventy
seven years old, in the parish of DeSoto, has,
knit with her own hands, one hundred and
twenty pairs of socks for Missouri soldiers.
ranks’ raid.
Gen. Banks had emhlasoned upon his banners
“Shreveport or Hell.” He did not reach
Shreveport. Ilia'leg3 saved him from hell. It
is believed, however, that he will reach the lat
ter place—for it is prepared for those who have
shed their brother's blood—for the “ Devil and
his angels.”
If the “dark and sulphurous pit” was paved
with cotton bales, I verily believe that N. P.
Banks with his co-partners in trade, Messrs.
Mansfield & Cos., of New Orleans, would get up
an expedition with government transportation
in order to beg, buy or steal from the devil the
aforesaid cotton. The disgraceful overtures
which they have made, and which they are
now making for cotton, are disgusting to fevery
honorable man.
And now the country presents the appear
ance of the Carnatic as described by Edmund
Burke, after the Terrible raid of Hyder Ali upon
its plains. You can travel for miles in many
portions of Louisiana, through a once thickly
settled country, and not see a man or woman,
nor child, nor a four-footed beast. The farm-
Htouses have been burned—the plantations de
serted —the once smiling fields are now grown
up in briars and brakes, in parasites and poi
sonous vines—a painful melancholy broods over
the land and desolation reigns supreme.
IVhat the Governor is doing for the soldiers
he tells us in the following paragraphs:
MISSOURI SOLDIERS.
I am glad to state, that our patriotic people,
and especially the ladies, have taken a deep in
terest in the Missouri soldiers. Our country
women have labored unceasingly for the relief
of these brave and veteran troops. I have
thought it to be my interest to give liberally to
these “orphans of the army,” without homes, i
without friends, but who always tight on every j
field with distinguished valor. 1 deemed it pro
per to issue a circular letter in ilieir behalf.
It was promptly responded to, and the monies
and clothing collected, have been forwarded to
these gallant patriots.
God bless them ! The citizens of Louisiana
have adopted them. They shall share alike
with our own soldiers.
LOUISIANA SOLDIERS.
It fills the heart of every Louisianian with
pleasure and pride, to see how well our truops
have acted. In Virginia, in Georgia, in 'Ten
nessee Mississippi, iu East Louisiana, iu whiis
Department., everywhere, they have nobly done
their duty, and won fresh laurels upon many a
bloody battlefield. The early regiments that
went to the armies of Virginia and Tennessee,
have been most terribly decimated, leaving but
a few small brigades of that gallant host, who
went forth with strong arms and stout hearts,
to battle for their country’s cause. The regi
ments in this department have sutTered nearly
as much in battle and by disease, hut have been
more fortunate in recruiting.
I have appointed as agents, Moses Green
wood aud George W. Ward, to act in conjunc
tion with Dr. E. D. Fenuer and Mr. T. 0. Sully
in visiting the armies of Virginia and Tennes
see. Ample means have been fimiished them
for the relief of every sick and destitute soldier
from Louisiana, iu these armies. Through my
agent, IV. 1). Winter, Esq., $5,000 was given
to our returning prisoners at Savannah, and
$5,000 to the Louisiana Relief Committee, at
Columbus, Ga. I also gave to the, Richmond
Association for furnishing artificial limbs, the
sum of SIO,OOO. The Soldiers’ Home and Lou
isiana Hospital, at Richmond, have been fur
nished wit It funds, and the destitute sick and
wounded soldiers at Mobile have not been for
gotten.
1 have appointed Col. 11. M. Favrot, Keeper
of the Military Records of the State, and have
sent him to-the armies of Virginia and Tennes
see to enter upon the responsible duties of his
office.
When the armies of France returned from
the late Italian campaign, all Paris received
them with that pomp and circumstance, which
can only be display'd in that brilliant capital.
All that wealth and taste, and art could do,
was brought into requisition. Wit and beauty’
and fashion were there, for this was the proud
est day that, France ever saw. The triumphal
procession of returning columns, was headed
!fl jr.cn'oTm A . tL» -
and successful monarch that over reigned over
any people. Soldiers of Louisiana ! when this
war shall end, and you shall return to your
homes, a greater triumph awaits you than that
of Paris. Each man, the humblest private in
the ranks, will he a hero. The garland and the
wreath shall be prepared—flowers shall strew
your paths, and lovely women shall shed tears
for you of joy. Soldiers! my heart warms to
you all. 1 have had the proud privilege of
sharing your privations and hardships in camp,
and your dangers on the battle-field. You shall
never, never be forgotten.
EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES IN THE ARMY.
Governor Allen expresses great confidence in
an early tcrminatityi of the war. Nevertheless
he urges the employment of able-bodied slaves
to “make assurance doubly sure.” They
should do the labor (says the Governer,) now
imposed up,on soldiers, mobilized and used to
military disipline to be employed as an armed
force whenever necessary.
A Rational Skeptic.—Air. H , an em
inent lawyer, who died a few years since iu the
triumphs of Christian faith, was inclined to
skeptical views, when a studenf in the office of
Judge . His moral character was unsul
lied, hut in his ambitious aspirations he cher
ished that dislike to the gospel which is the hid
den source of nearly all infidelity. The eloquent
ministrations of the sanctuary failed t« remove
the deepening gloom of unbelief.
One day while absorbed in the study of law,
his eyes rested upon a copy of the Bible lying
ou the table before him. He paused, .and the
thought came like the voice of an invisible
spectator into his soul—“ What if that book is
the Word of God!” Then his conscience inqui
red if he had, with the earnestness and hones
ty becoming the momentous question, axamin
ed its claims to his faith. lie was condemned
at the bar of that inward judge and monitor,
and he resolved to begin a careful perusal of
the sacred volume. The duty and propriety of
prayer to the “Father of Lights,” for illumi
nation, were impressed on his mind, and for the
first time in bis life, he solemnly entered on the
reading of the Scriptures and on closet commu
nion with God. In a few days he became an
anxious sinner, and lie very soon rejoiced in
the love of Christ. He made a full consecra
tion of himself to the Redeemer, in a written
covenant copied from Dodifridge, and found
among his papers after his death, and for more
than twenty years was an active growing Chris
tian. In the court-room and social circle, his
consistent piety’ revealed itself, calm and clear,
beneath the excitements and pleasures of life.
Truly “ atheism is a crime, rather than a
mere intellectual error,” and so is all fatal un
belief. The heart is wrong, and the head re
fuses to receive or seek the light of the cross.
This view of the skeptical and scornful, gives
fearful import to the prophet’s question—“ What
wilt thou say when He shall punish thee ?”
The Burning Bush.
There is no waste or profusion of miraculous
powers in the wonders wrought by augels,
prophets, and apostles, in confirmation of the
<ruth which they taught. The Scriptures teach
that God governs both the naturtfl and moral
world by general laws, and that his superinten
ding providence directs all events, even to the
falling of a sparrow. We may speak of many
things as fortuitous, or as happening by chance
—for so they appear to us—but according to
the philosophy of the Bible, there is in reality’
no such thing as chance , and no room for it, iu
the universe. Not only the changes of day and
night, winter and summer, seed time and har
vest, life and death, and the rise and fall of
States and nations, but till other events are di
rected by the hand of Godin harmony with the
general laws by which He administers the gov
ernment of the world.
A miracle is a sign or prodigy.aiorc these gen
eral laws —calledthe laws of nature. It is some
times defined as a prodigy contrary to the laws
of nature; because it appears so to us. These
laws seem to us to be suspended for a time by
the miracle. Rut our knowledge of nature
is too imperfect to justify the assumption that
her laws are violated or suspended by the inter
vention of miracles. They are wonderful pro
digies in harmony perhaps with a higher law,
not revealed to us.
Tite burning bush.is the first miracle record
ed in the life of Moses. It is strikingly remarka
ble even among miracles. There is nothing
else like it in all the wonders recorded in the •
Bible. No magician could imitate it; no impos
ter could invent it; for no one ever imagined
that ait angel would appear to nten in the form
of a bush burning, yet not consumed ! Impos
ters have pretended that angels have appeared
to them, and that God has spoken to them in
visions, or dreams, by night. Dreams and vis
ions are phenomena within the circle of human
experience. They are not necessarily miricles.
There may be nothing suprnatural in the most
wonderful dreams ever reported. They may
result from some law of association, unknown
to philosophy, by which certain thoughts and
images follow each other iu the mind when the
sense's tire locked up in sleep. But what im
poster or dreamer e.ver pretended that he saw
ail angel in the form of a burningbush ? Awe
struck by the wonderful prodigy, Moses said,
“1 will now turn aside and see this great sight,
why the bush is not burned. And... .God edi
ted to him out of the bush, and said “Moses,
Moses;” he said, here ami.” Aud He said,
♦ draw bpl- nigh hither : put off thy .-hoes -from
off thy feel;' ids Hi"e place whereon thou stan i
est is holy ground.’ Moreover, He said 1 1 am
the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And
Moses hid his face, for lie was afraid to look
upon God.” The voice that spoke from the
fire, filled him with holy fear and dread. It
commands him, in token of his verieration, to
put off his shoes; the ground on which he stood
was holy, on account of the Divine manifesta
tion.
In regard to the person who made this reve
lation. the history in Exodus says, “ the angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of tire
out of the midst of a bush.”—“The angel of
the Lord”—a messenger sent from God. But
the voice which spoke affirms the presence of
the Great I AM, the self-existent eternal Jeho
vah. In revealing Himself the God of Abraham,
lie reminds Moses of.his promise to bring his
people out of Egypt. Many suppose that the
speaker was the Angel of Covenant, the Lord
Jesus Christ. But Stephen calls him “the an
gel of the Lord,” and Jerome, Augustine aud
Gregory adopt this view. The message
brought to Moses is equally valid whether ut
tered by God Ilimseli, or by the ministry of
angel.
The angels which came to Abraham, and Lot,
and Joshua, and others, appear to have come
in the forms of men. If any ask, why this won
derful change in the form of this angelic or Di
vine manifestation ? we answer, it is not for us
to solve the mysterious problem presented by
the inquiry. But. a notable coincidence is sug
gested bet ween the great Apostles of the Jewish
and the Christian Church. When the time had
come for the deliverance of the Israelites, the
Lord J esus Christ thus appears to Meses, while
an exile from the people of God, and he is or
dained to his great work ; when, in the fullness
of time, the world was to be delivered from the
bondage of sin, He agaiu appears, yet more
gloriously, to Paul, while not only an exile, but
a bitter enemy of His people, and ordains him
as the great Apostle of the Gentiles. Both are
called while exiles so to speak. Both arc com
missioned by Christ himself. To both He ap
pears in a form more glorious than to their pre
decessors. But as the elevation of Paul from
the office of persecutor to that of Apostle, is
greater than that of Moses from a shepherd to
a leader—as the light of the miraculous bright
ness that appeared to Saul is more brilliant
than the flame of the hush, —as the heavens in
which the former was exhibited are higher than
the earth, so is the Gospel with its gracious of
fers of mercy, peace and love, which Paul un
folds, more glorious than the dispensation of
works of which Moses was the inspired apostle.
Dew Drops.—He that riseth with the sun
shall be warmed by its beams. He is well
| learned who has learned to do good. Faith is
the cable and Hope the sheet anchor of the
soul. Truth is the highway over which the
righteous pass to a land of promise.
NO. 1!.