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WEEKLY 1NTELLICENCER.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA,
Wednesday. September 13. 1865.
the state road.
Preliminary to the reception of the State,
or “Western & Atlantic Railroad,” by Gov-
xhkob Johnson from the Military Au
thorities who have had, and still have
charge of it, in accordance with negotiations
still pending between the Governor, on the
part ol the State, and Major Gen. Thomas,
on the part of the Government, the follow
ing appointments have been made by Gov.
Johnson:
DIRECTORS.
Richard Peters, of '.. .Atlanta.
Robert M. Goodman, of Marietta.
J. R. Parrott, of Cartersville.
Robert Batey, of. Dalton.
W. L. Whitman, of. Ringgold.
SUPERINTENDENT.
Robert Bangb, of. Atlanta.
TREASURER.
Miles G. Dobbins, of Griffin.
Should the Road, which has not yet been
turned over to the State, but which it is be
lieved will be,then the foregoing named gen
tlemen will constitute the principal officers
to whom its conduct will be entrusted. Most
of them are widely and favorably known to
the .people of Georgia—all of them are enti
tled to public confidence. Governor John
son has been fortunate in these trying times
to secure the services, for the State, of gen
tlemen, who are “without fear, and beyond
reproach.”
Major Gen. Thomas, under directions
from the War Department, has proposed to
turn the Road over to a “Board” composed
of “true and loyal Directors,” whom he can
conscientiously approve of, and accept, and
upon the further conditions that bond shall
be given,, and an account shall be taken of
expendimres, receipts, &c. These terms
have been complied with by the Governor,
and the Board is now proceeding to com
ply therewith—when consummated, the
Road will again be under the control of the
State, and not until then.
To satisfy the natural curiosity, or anx
iety of the people of this State, who stand
in relation to it, as the stockholders of any
other Road do to theirs, we make, by author
ity, the foregoing statement. In a day or two,
we may be able to go further into particulars
connected with the restoration to Georgia of
her great “internal improvement work,”
and of the appointed officials into whose
hands and to whose management, the Road
will be entrusted. Possibly ere we go to
press, we may have more to say, connected
with this important transaction.
Macon & Western Railroad.—The
Macon Journal & Messenger contains the
following change, of schedule in the running
of this Road. This is indeed a great con
venience to the travelling public. Passen
gen may now leave Atlanta, jgy the night
train, on Sundays, Tuesday^ Van d Thurs
days, and reach Milledgevf 6 # the next
morning, and Eatonton at about; midday.—
We hope soon to hear of the trains running
daily from Macon to the last named places.
Leave Huon .... 7 60 A. M.
Arrive at Atlanta 4 05 P. M.
Leave Atlanta 7 20 A. 11
Arrive at Macon 8 20 P. M.
NIGHT TRAIN.
Leave Macon 6 80 P. M.
Arrive at Atlanta 8 28 A. M
Leave Atlanta - 8 10 P. M.
Arrive at Maoon 8 30 A. M.
Since writing the foregoing, an official
notification of the foregoing change of sched
ule has been received from its efficient Su
perintendent, Mr. E. B. Walker,which may
be found in another column.
We also notice says thejJournal & Mes
senger that “our old friend Carson Cox has
again taken his old position of Conductor
on the Macon & Western Road. The trav
elling public, especially the lady portion of
it, will receive this intelligence with pleas
ure, for Cox is one of the model Con
ductors.”
“Carson” is our old friend too. A more
efficient and gentlemanly conductor, trav
ellers will never find. This, with exceed
ingly rare exceptions, may be said of the
Macon & Western Railroad—it has always
had gentlemen engaged asconductors, who,
while efficient, give satisfaction to the trav
elling public. The same we are pleased to
•ay of the gentlemen who now have.charge,
as conductors, of the Georgia Railroad, over
which we have recently passed two or three
times. Attentive and polite—accommoda
ting to all who are seated in the cars—one
feels at home while under their charge. In
this new era of railroads and railroad travel,
we are pieased to make this early record of
the faithfulness and gentlemanly bearing of
the conductors on these two important
roads.
To all Whom it Concerns.—Mr. Watson,
the United States Assessor for this, the
“Fourth District of Georgia,” whose office
is in “No. 2 Engine House,” is required by
the law and by instructions from the
Treasury Department at Washington, to is
sue licenses to all Merchants, Billiard or
other Saloon Keepers, Hotels, Carpenters,
Blacksmiths, Brick Masons, Manufacturers of
every description, Salesmen also of any and
every description, and all persons doing busi
ness in the city of Atlanta. All these there
fore are required by the Assessor to come
forward at once and take out their licenses.
The penalty tor not doing so, is a severe
one. This penalty, Mr. Watson requests us
to say, however disagreeable it may be
personally to him, and severs upon delin
quents, he will enforce without respect to
individuals.
We give this information to our readers,
that they may be saved trouble and much
loss. Ignorance of the law, they must re
member, is no excuse for its violation, or
non-compliance with it. It is easy to apply
for, and get a license.
A gentleman who was iond of wine said
it had two bad qualities: “If I pat water
to it" says he, “it spoils it, and if I don’t it
spoils me.”
On Friday Last we 84* in our city Col.
B. F. McDonald, who informed us'that he
was here shipping the necessary implements
and supplies for the purpose of resuming
operations on his mining grounds in the
county of Fannin, formerly known as the
“Lovinggood Mine.” We have in years
past heard this property spoken of as valua
ble, and we trust that the efforts of ColoDel
McDonald to fully develope its hidden trea
sures will be crowned with success. It is
gratifying to us to hear that efforts are ma
king in the mineral region of our State to
revive its business. The prosperity of all
our people can be greatly promoted by a
proper development of the rich and produc
tive mines that abound within onr limits,
needing but the energizing hand of capital
and labor to bring forth the treasures that
have so long been concealed from the view
of man. Nerer has there been a time when
these rich products could have afforded so
much comfort or been so promotive of the
general happiness of the community, as the
present, when all the industrial pursuits of
the country have been so utterly prostrated,
and its material interests so completely par
alyzed by the untoward events of the last
few years.
Let the proper and necessary efforts be
made to bring forth the mineral wealth of
this highly favored region, and soon its in
fluence will be felt in all the diversified ranks
of society, and an impetus will be imparted
to every branch of industry, that speedily
would restore to our people much of our
former prosperity, if indeed it should not
place us on vantage-ground .far ahead of
anything we have realized in the past.
When the gold and copper mines, and iron
ore and coal .beds, of Georgia, shall be ,
placed under a proper system ot develop
ment, and the immense water-power, which
we possess, shall be made to perform its
proper part in laboring for the good of mtm,
then will the sun not shine upon any portion
earth containing a happier, more thrifty,
or a more prosperous population. If this be
true, then it is the duty of every one in our
midst to labor for its consummation.
EX-GOV. BROWN PARDONED. *
Among the telegraphic items which we
publish to-day, we are gratified to see one
containing the'pleasing intelligence that the
President has granted pardon “to Ex-Gov.
Brown, of Georgia.” The great mass of
the people of this State, will, as we do, re
joice at this magnanimous exhibition of cle
mency on the part of the Chief Executive of
the Natfod. We congratulate them upon it.
The programme laid down by the Ra
leigh (N. C.) Standard, Governor Holden’s
organ, for that State to adopt, on her way to
restoration, is embraced in the following:
1. Unconditional, cheerful submission to
the national authority.
2. The prompt insertion in the State Con
stitution by the approaching Convention, of
the ordinance of ’87, forever abolishing
slavery;or involuntary servitude in this State.
8. The prompt non-recognition of debts
contracted by the State in aid of the war
but an equally prompt determination to
pay every cent of the State debt contracted
previous to the war.
4. The inviolability of private contracts,
and such action by the convention as will
cure all defects in the bargains and titles
since May 20, 1861, and provide lor the pay
ment of private debts contracted since that
date on a just basis.
5. The right of the States to determine
the question of suffrage for themselves.
6. Unqualified opposition to whatiscalled
negro suffrage.
The Cincinnati Commercial publishes
lengthy article reviewing the “First West
ern Campaign” of the Federal army, in
which we notice the following singular re
ference to Gen. Sherman, made by Gen. D.
C. Buell:
“When more responsible persons than
General Sherman shall avow those imputa
tions of delay, I shall have further to say on
the subject.”
It will be hard to find, in the opinion ot
the public, a more responsible man than
Gen. Sherman, though General’Bueil may
think otherwise.
Three hundred and sixty of the citizens
of Augusta and of Richmond county, have,
in a letter addressed to the Hons. C. J. Jen
kins, Jno. P. King, and A. C. Walker, re
quested those gentlemen to represent that
county in the approaching State Conven
tion. Should they consent to do so, we
agree with the Constitutionalist, that the
county and State would profit largely by
their experience, wisdom, and modera
tion.
Vandalism at the White House.—An
other instance of vandalism occurred at the
White House on Friday. A well dressed
and apparently respectable woman, accom
panied by her little daughter, was arrested
in the act of cutting a piece from one of the
curtains of the east room, which she said she
wished to send to her mother as a curiosity.
Her terror on being detected was pitiable,
and so affected one ot the officers of the
Executive Mansion that he ordered her un
conditional release.
STAGE COACHES VS. RAILROAD CARS.
The slow speed of travel over the railroad
lines from here to the Atlantic coast, the
long steps at stations, and the inconveoieat
time tables, have induced a former proprie
tor of the stage coach line to re-establish it
in opposition to the railroad. Certain it is
that travellers would lose no time, and add
to their cumtort, by patronizing a stage line.
Any one who has travelled over the rail
road more than once will attest to this state
ment.
Death of J. M. Brown.—This gentle
man, who was a merchant of this place, for
the last eight years, died on Friday the 1st
instant. Re was a man ot pare and elevat
ed character, without enemies, and his
death was a source of gi ief to all who knew
him.—Neuman Herald.
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Tria New York Tribune thu3 introdu
ces the letter of our fellow-citizen, Col. R.
A. Alston, addressed to its Editor, which
we publish below. Mb. Greeley is right
when he awards to Mr. Alton sincerity
and honesty, with not the “ skeleton of a
doubt” resting upon his mind, that “he
truly expresses his own thorough opposition
to any repetition of Secession or Civil War.”
CoL AL Tvfa is one of the yonng and prom
ising men of Georgia who thoroughly ap
preciates the condition of the South, its
relative position to the Union, and by whom
the future of this State is destined to be
shaped. The old are fast passing away, and
the yonng must soon take their places. To
the new order of things they will doubtless
accommodate themselves, preserving their
own and the State’s integrity to the Amen-
ican Union, and piomoting the happiness
of its people. We who are fast passing
away, derive consolation ia the reflection
that we shall leave behind us those, who,
having realized the horrors of war, will live
to promote peace:
From the New York Tribune.
In printing herewith the letter ot Mr. R
A. Alston, formerly of South Carolina, now
of Georgia, who was an ardent Nullifier,
then an active Secessionist, aud who fought
through the late war on the side of the Con
federacy, we take pleasure in saying that we
know Mr. A. to be sincere and honor&lA#,
and hay$ no shadow of doubt that he trul*
expresses ,his own thorough opposition £>
any repetition of Secession or Civil War.-**
Many others, we doubt not, are fully in ac
cord with him. He .is simply mistaken in
his averment that certain States, ia acceding
to the Union, “ reserved the right to amt
the firm.” This has beeu repeatedly as
serted, but it ia not trne, and its reiteratiop,
however bones’, is mischievous. Other
points in Mr. A’s letter invite comment;
but we forbear.
Mr. Alston is mistaken, we venture (though
it may seem impoliti) to assure him, in his
belief that everybody at the South ha9 al
ways believed in State Sovereignty and the
Right of Secession, according to “ the R if)
lutions of ’98 ” Not to insist on the fact
that a majority of the Southern electors
voted for Bell and Douglas against Bieck
inridge in 1860, as a similar majority had
voted for Harrison against Van Bureu and
Taylor against Cass, we will instance bare
ly two Southerners and slaveholders, widely
known and respected, whatever may have
been thought or heard of them in South
Carolina, who were conspicuous, determined
antagonists of the dogmas aforesaid. Their
names were George Washington and J*hn
Marshall.
letter from a southerner.
To the Editor of the N. Y. Tribune:
Sir : You will recollect, no doubt, the sur
prise I gave you in December, 1860, when,
a perfect stranger, I called upon you, and,
without even a friendly voucher from any
mutual acquaintance, obtruded upon your
valuable time, and asked an hour’s talk upon
the state of the country. Some few weeks
since, you were kind enough to say, when I
met you in New York, that the opinions I
then expressed in regard to our impending
troubles had been verified semewhat^too
literally, and, by your manner aud kind re
ception of what I had to say, I am embijld-
ended to address you this letter. I ardently
hope that my frankness and honesty of*pur-
pose to do good in what I have heretofore
said to you of my section of the Union* will
f insure on impartial hearing of what iUUtm
about to remark. J •
Very recently, 1 have passed through the
country from Southwestern Virginia, through
the States of North and South Carolina, to
this place, where I reside. I have spent
much of the last two years in Virginia—
lived for years in South Carolina, and Wave
numerous relations and innumerable
acquaintances in the “Old North State.”
If r then, in speaking of the people of t'kese
States and the tone of public sentiment in
reference to the state of the country, I do
not speak correctly, all I have to say isthat
I am either a man of feeble powers of ob
servation and induction, or that very great
deception has been practiced upon me. If
deceived, then has every grade of intelli
gence and respectability, every walk and
class, every outward, expressed desire of
heart, every phase of life, in these States,
conspired to mislead and betray me. I am
misled, too, after making a deliberate and
toilsome search after truth.
Two months ago, I left home to visit (he
North, that I might see for myself what was
the state of feeling there in regard to the
South and her future. I resolutely adjourn
ed every project ot a private and domestic
character till I should ascertain (if that were
possible) the animus of the States that
wielded the military and political power of
the country- toward my unhappy section.
Previously, I had (or thought I had) ob
tained full insight of the truest and deepest
seated feeling of our own people, which was
furnished, as I have intimated, by every
variety of character and position. Of your
section I take great pleasure in sayiDg that
I was agreeably surprised, and since my re
turn I have been more than gratified to
speak of it. Everywhere, and I may al
most say, among all classes of people, I
found a*universal feeling of conciliation. I
talked as freely and unreservedly as I could
do whenever the conversa* ion was intro
duced. I stated that I had been an easiest
rebel; that I thought I was right, and. had
no reason to change my opinion; un
der the same circumstances, would in
honor and duty bound to act as I had i&one.
That I had sacrificed my time, exposed my
life, and lost what property I had; but, now
that the matter which had been subntftted
to the sword, had been decided by tbe
sword, I regarded it as my duty to sufbmii
cheerfully and patiently, and to do . all I
could to restore peace and harmony to the
country. That I had taken the oath with
an honest purpose to keep it, and believed
that I was now as faithful and true to my
allegiance as any man either North or
South.
These, sir, are the honest sentiments of
every brave and true man who has done his
duty; and I take great satisfaction fa ac
knowledging that they met with a warm
and friendly response from every gentleman
to whom they were spoken. Among the
military men almost universally, a generous
sympathy was felt and expressed for the
sufferings of the South, at least where I
chanced to listen.' With your leading po
litical minds, I found clement and frate* nal
feeling predominating, and a very general
desire to promote any fair measures for
ameliorating our condition and healing eve
ry exacerbation of the public mind. Jlow,
this being the case among the soldiers who
have fought and won the fight, and the
earnest and true citizens of the North who
aided them to do it, it is painful, and I may
say disgusting, to permit a set oi scribbling
correspondents to- throw any obstacles in
the way of Peace. That the men who were
elected at the late election in Richmond
are true and loyal citizens, every honorable
man believes, the Herald’s correspondent to
the contrary notwithstanding. The faithful
discharge of duty to one side is tho surest
•ruarantee of integrity to the other.
° I feel, sir, the greatest importance in
bringing these matters to your attention,
and I sincerely hope that you will set them
before your readers in their true light, and.
not permit the hurtful and malicious mis
representations, which are being dropped
thick as hail stones all over the North by
wicked and designing men, to gain credit
Your paper, sir, is believed and respected,
no matter how wide the difference ot opin
ion, and you have it in yonr power to ac
complish great good.
These correspondents, because, forsooth,
seme lady drops her veil when she is stared
at on the street, or refuses to bow to one
with whom she is not acquainted, tell you
that the Rebellion is scotched, not killed ! —
that amnesty oaths are taken and pardons
accepted by the leading men of this coun
try for a “snare and delusion;” and they
influence the minds of good and v/ell-mean-
ing people throughout the North by hint9
of more bloodshed aud renewed terrors ol
civil war.
In reading these pernicious slanders, I am
filled with disgust, and stand overpowered
at the actual and possible turpitude and cru
elty of the human heart.
In the name of God, are not a million of
men lost to the peaceiul walks ot lile—are
not the crutches or crape in ten thousand
households all over this once blessed land,
a qua r ter ot a million of families with noth
ing over their heads for shelter but the blue
Heavens, silently gazing on the ashes and
crumbling foundations of what once used
to be “sweet home,” are not, I say, these
enough to make the chapter of terrors suf
ficiently spicy for these unchained demons
that they shouid desire to heap other hu
miliation upon u»?
Southern men, they say, are yet thinking
evil, are yet feeling quite too proudly tor
people that are whipped and have lost ev
erything. And as to their cheerfulness and
relief over the enfranchisement of their ne
groes, they solemnly warn the North that
there is nothing of it, depend upon it.
In the name of all that is just, is this to
be expected of us? I believe not.
I conless that we are not altogether hap
py over the state ot things existing at pres
ent; but 1 do say that we accept it as a fact.,
and are making the best of it with heroic
lortitude aud resignation ; and I appeal to
the magnanimous aud Cbr stian charity of
all large souled men who sit in judgment,
on us, if any more could be required—it
any more would be consistent with that,
self respect aud dignity which entitles us to
be a part of a great nation.
As to evil thinking, or sulking, or medi
tated outbreak, I indignantly and solemnly
deny them.
The Southern man who says it is true as
charged, is the basest of human kind, who
either states it to avenge the verdict, of hi a
own countrymen ou his own truthfulness,
or is prompted by a mean and m iligu&nt
spirit to see better men than himself hum
bled and brought to his own level. Tue
Northern man who testifies thus against ns
is either duped or hired, or has some petty
insult or slight to avenge.
I have taken uote3 of the state of feeling
all over this country, among high aud low,
and among all sorts of representative m* n.
These are the facts in the case, and I give
them to you upon my sacred honor.
Sou'hern people, as you well know, have
be in bred and born politically in the Jet
fersonian State Rights school.
More Jews can be found who suspect the
geuuiueness of the Ten Commandments,
than Southern men who doubted the truth
or tenableness ot Stale Sovereignty and the
undeniable aud irr< fragible strength of the
Kentucky and Virginia resolution* of 1798
and 99. A larger proportion even than
this iu the South believed that there was no
seat of power outside of the States that
could justly arraign or try an internal regu
lation and State Institution, much less over
turn one. The reservation of the right to
quit the firm made by certain States at the
very hour of giving in their adhesion to the
great co-partnership—the very oath that to
this hour every Massachusetts min who
holds office must take—the incessant teach
ings of Southern leaders for 60 years—the
unchallenging silence of the Northern lead
ers lor all that time—the struc ure and ge
nius of the Government, as we all under
stand—the spirit dealiug with the case ol
impending dissolution of the Union, by the
last Democratic Administration—the “God
speed you” of Mr. Stanton, (Who has been
rubbed with plentiful spittle in the eyes,)
the copious, sympathizing tears of poor old
Mr. Cass—all, all these should surely make
our blunder on a doctrinal point a venial
one, to say the least of it. Somehow or other
we can’t tor the life of us, help saying with
poor, old, overwhelmed Galileo, “It does
tarn round, though.”
We believed, tnen, in’61, and believe yet,
in ”65, that Gen. Banks was right, who said
in May, 1861, as he raised his sword over
Arlington Hights, “Never, never, shall we
see tbe old state of things,’’ unless the “old
state of things is re-established by a sincere
and unreserved acknowledgment of the sov
ereignty ol the States and rtc ignition of the
Federative structure of the Union.
But let all this pass, as most assuredly it
does seem that it has passed. We showed
our devotion to the principle; and, if it shall
forever perish, it will not be our fault.
Then, while it is true that we did go to the
war with a unanimity that the world’s his
tory cannot match, in maintenance of this
doctrine, and only incidentally in defense ot
property rights, it is absolutely and mali
ciously false to assert that anywhere, in all
these States, any set ot men dream of ris ng
again in arms against the Government for
this, or for anything else.
W>, made theS ; ates sovereign; we thought
negro property assured to ut by dted a*
solemu and act as august as human powers
could make them; we Went to war to main
tain what we thought was our right; you
opposed us; you tought u*; you whipped
us. B ood, you say, has cmceled the deed ;
*nd now the new rendering of the text ri
“the G >vernmeat is supreme, aud the slave
is free.” So let it l»e. Tki9 is not our deed,
our will, our belief; but, so help us God,
never, never again do we intend to disturb
this settlement. Never again do we mean
to offer one more life or shed one more dro;
of blood in deleave ol them. Secession is
obsolete; the matter i3 sealed now and tor
ever, so iar as we are concerned.
If you can live by it and with it, let the
Government be as strong andsupiema as
you can make it If 500,000 bales of cot
ton are enough for you, as we will get the
first shirts and petticoats, surely they will
be enough for us. If Petroleum, and bets
on what gold will be in the next twenty
minutes, will make us all rich and pay tax
es, we are content. No more war, if you
please, for King Cotton or State Sovereign
ty. If placed on my oath, I would solemn
ly declare that this is the universal feeling
and consent of the whole South.
The resignation and fortitude ot.our peo
ple, is to-day a standing miracle. If they
were proud and resolute in their prosperity,
they are grand iu their destitution. The
unanimity of their consent and resignation
exceeds their unanimity in going to war.
Just think ot it. To-day a Whole nation
in arms to defend what they believe to be
right; - to-morrow, convinced of the hope
lessness of the struggle, returning to the
peaceful pursuits of industry with a cheer
fulness and earnestness that can hardly be
realized, each one striving with the other
to restore peace and harmony, and carve
out of the future some consolation for the
past
And then, sir, picture our situation now
contrasted with that past. Whatever you
may say of Ohio, or the grand grain State
of Illinois, or (last, not least) the vine-clad
hills of sunny Cape Cod, you really, Mr.
Greeley, had no such country as ours once
was. What is it now ? What must it be
with $500,000,000 gone in the smoke and
fire ot houses, barns, and fences? What
must it be with over $1,500,000,000 gone
in the shape of contributions to the war ?
And shall we ask what can it ever be, it tfie
machinations of wicked and sanguinary
man are to be allowed to continue to create
a feeling of distrust, and envy, and jeal
ousy, on the part of those whose every care
and wish should be for a speedy restoration
to our position as equals in the participa
tion ot the Government.
With destitution and poverty everywhere,
fine gentlemen and delicate ladies milking,
aud scrubbing, and cooking, where there is
anything to milk, or scrub, or cook ; with
plantations and farms deserted by the labor
ers belore the first plowing; all over the
country are towns and villages filled by
freed men, who are not only not producing,
but are an expense to the Government—all
confusion, despondency aud fear. Why, sir,
the man who talks about our going to war
now is either a madman or a tool, or does it
from the basest and meanest of purposes —
Oh, shame on the domestic trai’or or hire
ling sc ibbler who could plot or connive
to have the last weight thrown on such a
people, and crush them to death ! No, sir,
there are ceriain base men, who have dis
covered in tbe policy of the President, and
tbe tone of the Northern people, a dispo
sition to act reasonably and justly with us,
and they are afraid that the opportunity to
wreak their spite and Iriumpn over men
wfco wear clean shirts, may pass away for
ever; aud it is more than they can stand.—
Hence these lying misrepresentations of us.
I said I never saw such fortitude. Take
my nearest neighbor as a sample. He was
bora to decent fortune, maintained always
the first rank in respectable society, and was
ultra pro-8)avcry, and (a9 I know) the kind
est of masttrs—an oui-and out Seces-ion-
is\
Ou the 25 h of last May, that man had 45
picked negroes about him; that night He
milked his own cow, and his wife cooked
supper ; anti from that day until now he has
not had money enough to hire a seivaof.—
In fact, he said to me the other day, “ If
there was a toll bridge between him and
Atlanta, he would have to swim the river
if he got to town.”
MaDy a merry laugh have 1 beard from
that family over reverses—untried menial
life, and awkward performai ce—but not
one word ot regret.
Men have gone to work every whi-re wk re
anything could be lound to do, with uo
1 >oking behind or v ndictive yearning. Lit
tle factories, once so well appointed, m>w
dismantled, are being put in operation
again wish a pertinacity that is amusing;
their ou fit of machinery little more than
a po ket-kuife and a whetstone.
Give us lime, sir, and a fiir trial—it is all
we ask. But suspicious, espionage—abuse
because our spirits are not reduced to the
level ot an Egyptian—inciting the negroes
to outrage and violence, and the happy do-
nothing—confiscation, beggary—we humbfy
submit is not giving us a lair trial.
We have differed from you, and how
widely ! You have established your posi
tions by something stronger than logic. We
submit. We accept the fact, and are earn
estly trying to make the best of it. What
more? Is it desired that we should “hum
ble ourselves to the earth, and with our
moo bs ia the dust and our hands upon our
mouth®, ciy; Peccavi, Peccavi?”
Remembei, Mr. Greeley, that we were
both mistaken. We thought you would not
fight; and you thought we were an effemi
nate, enervate race of people, that would
require to be carried on the march by our
negroes, aud whom your sewing societies
could sweep into the gulf. Four years of
terrible war have removed these delusions,
and convinced us both of our error. The
war has operated as. a mutual introduction
of the sections. Henceforth let us be friends.
Oh, for one hoar oi Daniel Webster 1 We
know what he would say—as we all have
erred, we all should confess our faults—a9
all have inflicted wrong, all should forgive.
The Northern statesman who really be-
lives that the South is worth having, has no
time to lose in his work of co-operation
and res’oratiou ; and rest assured, he has
less time to waste on imaginaiy terrors aud
dangers.
There is just a9 much probability of my
contemplating the murder of my wife—and
parricide is now as possible a crime in these
States -I again repeat, as war—and all we
ask, or hope is peace, and such fortunes as
we can rake from the embers left us.
Trusting that you may see fit to publish
this, as it is written, Swith a sincere desire
to accomplish good, I remain, very respect
fully, R. A. Al ton.
“Meadow Nook," near Atlanta, Ga., Au
gust 14, 1865.
The Fading Leaf.—We all do fade as a
leaf. Change, thank God, is the essence of
lite. “Passing away” is written on all
things, and passing away is passing on from
strength to strength, from glory to glory.—
Spring has its growth, summer its fiuiiagr,
and autumn its festive ingathering. The
spring of eager preparation waxes into the
summer of noble work, mellowing in its
turn into the serene autumn, the goldm
brown haze of October, when the soul may
robe itself in jubilant drapery, awaiting the
welcome command, “Come up higher,”
»here mortality shall be swallowed up in
life.
Why, then, should autumn tinge cur
thoughts with sadness? We fade as tbe
leaf fades, only to revivify. Though it fall,
it shall rise again. Does the bud fear to be
come a blossom, or the blossom shudder as
it swells into lruit, and shall the redeemed
weep that they must become glorified ?—
Strange inconsistei cy. We faint with the
burden and heat ot the day. We bow
down under ihe e.osses that are laid upon
our shoulders. We are bruised and torn by
the snares and pitfalls which beset our way,
and into which our unwary feet otien fall.
We are famished, and loot sore, and travel-
stained Irora our long journey, and yet we
are saddeued by tokens that we shall piss
away irom all these. Away lrom siu and
sorrow, from temptation and fall, from dis-
appoiuimerit and weary wailing, and a fear-
iul looking for of evi 1 , to purity and holi
ness, and the full Iruiiion of every hope—
bliss which eje hath not seen, nor ear
heard, nor heart conceived—to a woild
whence all that made this dreary is forever
banished, and wheie all that made this de-
lighttui is forever renewed and increased—
a'world where tbe activities and energies of
the soul shall have lull scope, aud love and
recognition wail upon its at* ps forever. %
“Po You keep rails litre ?” asked sleepy
looking tad, walking into'one of our stores
the other day.
“Yes,”replied the gentlemanly pr< prietor,
we keep all kinds ot nails. What kind will
you have, sir, aud how many ?’
‘ Well,’’said the boy, sliding to.vards the
door, “I’ll take a pound of finger nails, and
a pound and a half of toe nails.”
A PEBBLE.
BY MAY RIK.
This pebble came from foreign lands,
Where brightest sea-surfs curl.
And softly poll hed by the sands,
It shines as white as pearl.
It journey’d far through ocean dell—
It came by rock, It came by shell—
God knows, and He alone'ean tell
Whence came this shining pearl ?
For, journeying ’n that lovely land
Where palm and plantain grow,
A sailor found it on the sand,
Swept inla d by the flow.
Beyond the bine rid>e of the waves,
Like hermits in their quiet caves.
The vi lage dead within their graves
Were sleeping soft and.low.
•
But one in all that g e-n r. treat
Was alien born alone;
There, gleaming at his quiet feet,
The sailor found tills stone.
* tear fell on that shining sand :
“Oh, brother, from mine own (ar land,
I’ll bear this to that cherish’d strand
Which claims us both its own.”
I bartered for the sacred spoil—
A tear against the shell 1
For I have graves In foreign soil
More dear than tongues can te 1.
G 'd knows, and He alone can say
Who sheds a t ;ar, or stops to pray,
My country, near our sacred clay,
In that lone foreign dell 1
From the Christian Hera d.
THE OLD CLOCK.
It was the last night of the year. A ft w
more measured ticks of the clock, aud the
last moau of D<.ctmber, would have died ou
tbe wild winds ot the storm. Outside the
snow was tailing, white and soil, as if it
were weaving a winding sheet for the de
parting year, and the tempest was singing a
rtquiem. Inside, the fire burned up brigbtlv,
the cheerful gas light cast a spell oi beauty
about the cosy household room, aud the
curtains draping the windows, exc’uded the
cold that reigned without.
It was my duly to wind up the clock —
The tick was somewhat faster than usual,
and it seemed as it the faithful monitor,
whose voice had been so many years in
our house, was about to be silent. I wound
it up, and the voice gained new strength,
ticking, ticking, solemnly, as if it woubl say,*
“Time is flying—prepare to meet thy God.”
Seventy years ago, the dear old clock, then
fresh and new from the makei’s hands, had
begun its labor ot love. To thiee genera
tions it had ministered ; for a revered grand-
sire had < feu ghz d upon its face, and a
father aud mother now aged, had treasured
it among their earliest household effects —
The child! en had watched it many a time,
when its record was to tell ns how long we
must stay in-doors, and when wc must ruth
out into the glad free air and sunshine. It
had pointed to tbe hour of morning wor
ship, and of evening prayer. We went to
school when its warning finger pointed us
to the hour ot nine, and on the holy day,
its steady voice always kt pt time with the
silvery chime of the Church bells. It had
not forgotten to note the hours when a new
life had been added to our circle, and it had
marked the sad hours when the angel of
Death had darkened our hearih, and bore a
loved one from our band. Dtar old clock 1
How smilingly had it looked on the bridal
tcene; how cheerfully on the youthlul
merry-making9, or happy leetive gathering
i f friends. And now when the busy hand
ot change had taken away so many of our
idols, had wrought such mysterious things
in places where all had seemed clear and
bright, and written its record upon all that
was lovely, the old clock in the corner, v*.n
erable with age, but in all else unchanged,
still held its honored place in'our home.
The old clock taught me some lessons on
that night in December. One was the value
of constisiency. As the chronometer marks
the hours, not by fits and starts, but minute
,by minute, with unwearied patience year
after year, so should they who wait on the
Lord, be patient and constant in their ser
vice. Too many Christians serve earnestly
at first, in the glow of their new born love,
but. after awhile they become cold, and in
different. OtLers are fervent, and living as
it were spasmodic.-d y, a^.l for a sea on of
warm eft >rt, they inink iij~\ may n lsx
their vigilance. Ab, CLrisiiau irieud it is
while you sleep that ihe enemy enters to
sow taies.
Remember, that many eyes are upon you.
Christ from his throne of iuteicession looks
upon his friends with an eye of tenderness
and love. Angels are watching your course;
fellow Christians, behold you ; hosts of un
converted gaze upon you, anxiously, loving
ly. Be consistent.
The next lesson, was the value of steadi
ness.' Let your light shiue, not like an ignis
fatuas, flitting here and there, but like the
clear flame of a beacon, ever bright and in
the same place. “ Stand fast by the maid
ens of Boaz,” and glean in no strange fields.
Be found in your owu seat in the Sabbath
school, in your own congregation on tbe
Lora’s day, in your little circle at the week
ly prayer meeting. Do good in some sphere,
no matter how humble, but have it ior your
own. Our old clock stands iu tbfe corner,
but we know it none the less. Would you
be a useiul servant, be a steady one!
The last, lesson, was the value of time.—
The hours and days are gliding onward, O,
how swiftly, and on their ceaseless wings
they bear you to their eternal home. Say,
brother, sister, shall it be a home of singing,
or of weeping? With the saved, or with
the lost ? With the true, or with the false?
In the light everlasting, or in eternal night?
So live that daily you may utter—
“ One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o’er and o’er;
I’m nearer home to-day,
Than ever I was before.
Nearer t v e bounds of life,
Where I lay my burdens down ;
Nearer leaving my cross,
Nearer wearing my crown.”
M. E. M.
Cotton in California.—A San Francisco
paper says that on the alluvial bottom of
Kem river there is a field of one hundred
acres of cotton which looks fine and prom
ising. The land was all cleared of weeds
and willows, by Mexicans, Indians and Chi
namen. The latter are said to be the most
reliable help, very prudent and industrious.
The State of California offers a bounty of
$3,000 for the first hundred acres of cotton
also $3,000 for the first hundred bales of 300
pounds each. Tulare and Los Angeles
counties can, it is said, raise cotton success
fully.
Cotton can be raised iu many parts of the
world, but there is no country where so
good an article ot short staple cotton can be
so well raised as in our Southern and south
western States. India is too hot and dry
for a strong staple, and California will pro
bably be found too dry. In our Southern
Atlantic and south western Gulf States,
there is the requisite heat and moisture to
produce a prolific yield and a strong staple
which is enjoyed in no other part of the
world. The summer showers which there
prevail, when a long dry season in other
cotton growing regions shrinks the quantity
and injures the quality, gives the bouth its
superiority.
A leading Western merchant, addicted to
old Bourbon, was wont to shut himself up
in a room over his store “io sleep it off.”—
On one of these occasions he gave his part-
u<r special orders not to allow any oue to
go into his room. “But,” si d he, hesita
ting “if my wife comes down you may let
her in—she’s a particular friend of mine I”