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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!.