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THE COUNTRYMAN.
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BY J. A. TURNER. “independent in everything—neutral in n^thino” $5 FOR 4 MONTHS.
VOL. XIX. TURNWOLD (NEAR EATONTON) GA. ( TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1864. NO. 18.
Napoleon and M’lle Lenorm/. nd.
—During the earlier part of the Em
pire, there lived in the city of Paris a
lady named Lenormand—a witch, or
fortune-teller. And she was a witch
indeed, for she bewitched alike the
young and old, the rich and poor,'the
high and low, the wise and ignorant.
Day after day the street before her
residence was obstructed by carriages,
and her sumptuous apartments were
thronged by all grades of society.
Being acquainted with nearly all Pa
ris, and possessing great powers of
mind, she could , easily surprise and
astonish the credulous, and very often
fortell things without the chance of a
failure. Those who came to consult
her were conducted alone into a cham
ber, and seated within a movable cir
cle, representing the zodiac. The
walls were hung in black, and all day
light was carefully excluded. The
paraphernalia of the trade—skulls and
bones,snakes., lizards, crocodiles,drag
ons, aud many other objects of bizarre
shapes—were arranged all about the
room. Incense ami strong perfumes
filled the air, and artificial fireworks—
colored to suit the occasion—threw a
mysterious light on all these fantastic
objects. All this would inflame the
imagination, even of those who were
unprejudiced and determined not to
be duped. Add to this that M’lle
Lenormand was grace personified,
and one of the most beautiful of wo
men, that she was gifted with extra
ordinary powers of conversation, and
who can wonder at the fascination
which she exercised over all who came
within the range of her magic influ
ence? The wisest statesmen and
greatest warriors, lay at her feet, but,
not content with this, she wished to
sec the great Napoleon among her
worshippers. But he, ever callous to
the influence of all women, save one,
aud revolving in his mind, just at this
time, the gigantic project of conquer
ing Russia, heeded not her oracles,
and treated all her invitations with
contempt. Incensed at this, she fore
told his downfall in the event of an
invasion, and tried to turn everybody
who camo to see her, from the Empe
ror.
This was too much for the lion to
bear, and M'lle Lenormand shared the
fate of Madame de 8>tael, who, like
M’llo, had presumed to lay her taper
fingers on his affaiis. She retired to
Mayence, on the Rhine, where she had
the satisfaction of seeing the fulfill
ment of her ardent wish. The disas
trous battle of Leipsic followed upon
the disastrous campaign of Russia, and
after the battle of Hauna.on the Main,
where the last forlorn hope of Napo
leon was shattered, he returned, weary
and dejected, by way of Mayence.
And here he was seen, at the dead of
night, attended by Bourrienne and
Savary, to enter a small postern gate
in the Baugassee, leading to the apart
ments of the renowned fortune teller,
and to remain for a long time closet
ed with her, thus, forming a striking
parallel to that King of the Israelites
who, in the .days of Ins prosperity, bad
cast out all the fortune-tellers and nec
romancers, but when adversity over
took him, the great King, of whom
we are told that ‘he was of a comely
countenance and of a tall body, but
his mind and his understanding was
preferable to what was visible in biin,’
lost his wits, and stooped to visit the
Witch of Endor, in order to have her
lift the veil from the Future, which
God in his wisdom has concealed from
all mortal eyes.—Faust.— Telegraph.
The Private Soldier.— The hero
of this war is the private soldiei—not
the officer whose dress is embroidered
with lace, and whose name garnishes
the gazette—but the humble and hon
est patriot of the South, in his dirt-
stained and sweat-stained clothes, who
toils through pain, aud hunger, and
peril*, who has no reward but in the
satisfaction of good deeds; who throws
his poor, unknown life away at the
cannon’s mouth, and dies in that sin
gle flash of glory 1 How many of
these heroes have been laid in un
marked ground—the nameless graves
of self devotion! But the ground
where they rest is in the sight of
Heaven. Nothing kisses their graves
but the sunlight ; nothing adorns tlieir
dust but the sobbing wind ; nothing
disturbs their dust but the wild flowers
that have grown on the blood-crust of
the battie field. But not a Southern
soldier has fallen in this war without
the account of Heaven, and death
makes its registry of the pure and the
brave on the silver pages of immortal
life.—Pollard's ‘ Two Nations,’
Big Words.—“Big words are great
favoiites with people of small ideas
and weak conceptions. They are of
ten employed by men of mind when
they wish to use language that may
best conceal their thoughts. With
few exceptions, however, illiterate aud
half educated persons use more big
words than people of thorough educa->
tion. It is a very common, but very
egregious mistake, to suppose the long
words aie more genteel than short
ones—just as the same figures improve
the style o# dress. They are the
kind of folks who don't begin, but are
always commencing. They don’t live,
but reside. They don’t go to bed, but
mysteriously ret ire. They are never
sick, bnt extremely indisposed. And
instead of dying, at last, they decease.
The strength of the English language
is in the short words—chiefly mono
syllables of Saxon derivation—and
people who are in earnest seldom use
any other. Love, hate, anger, giief
and joy, express themselves in short
words and direct sentences; while
cunning, falsehood, and affectation de
light in what Horace calls verba set-
quipedalia—words a foot and a half
long."
Rules f. r Study.—“Prof. Davies,
the eminent mathematician, in con-
versing with a young friend of bis up
on the importance of system in study
ing, as well as in everything else, took
a piece of paper, and wrote off for
him the following important rules :
1. Learn one thing at a time.
2. Learn that thing well. *
3. Learn its connections, as far as
possible, with all other things.
4. Believe that to know everything
of something, i« better than to know
something of everything.”
Letter from Hon. H. S. Footb,
—“Hon. H. S. Foote has written a
letter to the Richmond Whig in rela
tion to the rumor published in the
Rebel, that he, Foote, had gone over
to the yankees. In the letter, he
says :
‘ The villainous rumor which has
been given publicity in the columns
of the Rebel makes its appearance in
Richmond at a time when I am labor
ing night and day in the service of my
loved aud honored eoustitueuts, and
in support of a canse far more dear to
my heart than life itself. I have writ
ten to the editor of the Rebel, de
manding the author of this false and
dastardly calumny, and if I can fled
! him out, it is my firm intention to in-
I flict upon him the promptest and most
1 signal disgrace.’ ”
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