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1.5.
THE COUNTRYMAN.
Judge A. R. Wright.—“Jnd A ; J
Wright, of Georgia, formerly a mem
ber of the United States congress,
and recently a member of the Rich
mond congress, has passed through
Nashville to Washington, to see what
can be done toward bringing about a
peace. He reports the common peo
ple as tor peace. The Georgia legis
lature convenes, in a few days, when
efforts will be made to save the state,
by coming back into the Union.”
The above is an extract from some
northern journal, that is going the
rounds of the southern press, and we
copy it that we may do the gentle
man referred to simple justice. We
learn, from a citizen lroin Judge
Wright’s section, that his sole object
in visiting Washington, was to en
deavor to procure a parole for his St n
—Capt. Miller A. Wright—now con
fined in Gamp Chase.—Southern Con
federacy.
The Game of Chess.—“Chess is
said to have been invented by a Brah
min, for the purpose of reforming an
Indian king ; but, instructed by those
who had gone before him, he was sen
sible his lesson would not prove of
any service, until the prince shoulu
make the application of it to himself,
and not think it was done by another.
With this view, he invented the game
of chess, where the king, though the
most considerable of all the pieces, is
impotent to attack, as well as defend
himself against his enemies, without
tlie assistance of his subjects, and sol
diers. The game became famous;
the king would learn it; the Brahmin
was pitched upon to teach it to him ;
and, under the pretence of explaining
to him the rules of the game, and
showing him the skill required to
make iTse of the other pieces for the
king’s defence, he made him perceive
truths, which he had hitherto refused
to hear. He made an application,
himself, of the Brahmin’s lessons;
and now, convinced that in the peo
ple’s love of their king, consisted all
bis strength, lie altered his conduct,
and, by that, prevented the misfor
tunes that threatened him. The
Brahmin was left to the choice of his
reward, and he desired that the num
ber of grains of corn, wlncii the num
ber of squares on the chess-board
should produce, might be given him—
one for the first, two for the second,
four for the third, and so on—doubling
alwa}s—to the sixty-fourth. But
when the calculation was made, it was
found that the king had engaged him
self in a grant, for the performance
of which, neither all bis treasures, nor
his vast, dominions were sufficient.
The Brahmin laid hold of this oppor
tunity to convince him of what im
portance it was for kings to he on
their guaid against those who are al
ways about them. From India, the
game passed into Persia, where it re
ceived the name scliertengi; or game
of the king, or shah. The piece now
called the queen, was the vizier, which
was corrupted to vierge-virga, and af
terwards to lady, and queen. This
piece, at first, could move only like
the pawns. French gallantry, it is
said, extended the prerogatives of
the ladv, and made her the most con>
siderable piece in the game. The
bishop, in India, was an elephant.
The knight has the same name, and
tfiguie, everywhere. The fifth piece,
which we call the castle, or rook, was
originally a camel, which they used
in war. The pav n, or common sol
dier has suffered no change.”
Old Abe’s Last Joke.—The fol
lowing is told as old Abe’s ‘last joke:’
It is said that a few nights since,
a party of his friends, during a social
call, interrogatively expressed the
hope, that the war was progressing to
his satisfaction. ‘Ah,’ s^id Lincoln,
‘I don’t know sir : my condition re
minds me of the story of one of our
Illinois country schoolmasters, who
gave one of his pupils the third chap-
to: of Daniel as a reading lesson.
The boy began, but when he came
to the names of Shadrack, Meshack,
and Abednego, they were unpronoun
ceable.
The master required the boy to
proceed, but be failed again. He
tried a flogging; but still no go. Re
lenting, be told the boy to pass that
chapter, and read the preceding one.
Brightening up, the little fellow got
on famously, until he reached the last
verse, when, pausing with a look of
dismay, he closed the book, saying,
‘It’s no use, sir; here are them three
rascally fellows again ; and thus,'
said the great joker to his friends,
‘am I situated, gentlemen, iu regard
to thiee rebel generals.”
Kentucky.—We conversed, yes
terday, with a gentleman, who lias
lately been in Kentucky, which state
he has frequently visited, during the
progress of the war, who represents
the condition of things there as more
favorable to the eonfedeiate cause,
♦ ban at any previous period. The
people are determined, as with one
mind, uot to submit to a draft, and, if
there is any attempt to enforce it, they
will fight, if fight they must, foi the
south—not for the north. A great
many yankees, it is true, have intru
ded, in the Inst few years, and tiu -
are abolitionists, of course, but tue
real Kentuckians are as one man, u
their sentiments, and, draft, or no 'draft,
the presence of our army, in the state,
will bring thousands of recruits to the
southern standard.
Mean while, there is much prosperi
ty in the state, the negroes, in many
cases working quietly on the plant;
tions, while, elsewhere, everyth:
devastated, and deserted. T ' '
is rather hazardous, owing to A
gangs of banditti who infest the i
plundering indiscriminately.—Mobde
Advertiser.
Gil lam’s Defeat.—“The corres
pondent of the New York Times,
writing under date of Nashville, Nov,
18th, thus refers to the terrible panic,
that overtook Gillain’s forces, in their
late defeat, by Gen. Breckinridge, at
Bull’s Gap :
Gen. Gillam, in his despatch to the
government, states that the st impede
was the most frightful exhibition of
panic-stricken soldiers, he bad evei"
seen. Twenty-four hundred cavalry,
a battery of artillery, wagon trains,,
and a number of hundred head of
cattle, and mules, were one inextrica
ble mass, with the enemy pouring
down on all sides. The description-
of such a sight cannot urge the imag
ination to the slightest conception of
the terror of such a scene.”
The Savans to Mr. Lincoln.—
“ On the 1st Nov., the following ad
dress, bearing the signatures of one
hundred and sixty members of ‘The
International Association, for the Ad
vancement of Social Sciences/ lately
in session, at' Amsterdam, was pre
sented to the United States consul, at
that place, for transmission to Mr.
Lincoln:
To Abraham Lincoln, President. of
the United'• States: — We have follow
ed, wiili profound interest, from its
origin, the struggle between the ener
getic citizens of the north, and the
slaveholders of the south. While re
gretting the bloodshed, and the evils
resulting from war, we congratulate
you upon the constant firmness wire
which you, and tbe great nation which
elected you, have defended justice,,
and humanity. Convinced that the
United Stales nation will issue from
this trial stronger than ever, with a
future definitely separated from every
servile institution, we await the speedy
triumph of the holy cause of liberty.
We are sure that the destinies of the
great republic will never be eornpro**
noised by you,”