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CAVALRY MARCHES.
The United States Soldiers Su
perior to Any Other.
Wonderful Feats of Marching
Sometimes Accomplished.
Owing to the peculiar nature of the
service demanded of tho cavalry force
of our army'—service for the greater
part in a new and unsettled country,
and against the most wily and expert of
savage enemies—the experience gained
in the moving of mounted troops has
been of such a varied nature that proba
bly no other army can boast of supe
riority over our troopers in this respect,
and the proper conduct of the marches
of cavalry commands requires experience
and judgment, intelligence, activity,
and endurance of a peculiar nature on
the part of both officers and men. Or
dinary marches arc generally made at
the rate of about twenty to twenty
five miles a day, this being accom
plished in from five to six hours, al
though there are times when the day’s
journey may be shorter or longer, owing
to the distance from one another of de
sirable cam ping-places, tha importance
of good grazing and sweet water being
evident. The start from the previous
sight’s camp i? usually made between 6
and 7 o’clock, although in some of the
hotter parts of the country an earlier
time of day is considered advisable by
many cavalrymen, and the first halt i?
made after the column had been an hour
or so on the road. Thi? is geneially
the longest halt of the day, when sad
dles are adjusted, and the horses al
lowed to graze and rest for a few- mo
ments. Once every hour after that a
short pause of about five miuutes, the
men invariably dismounting, is made.
The gait is, as far as the writer’s ex
perience goes, habitually a rapid walk,
although General Merritt recommend? a
trot for 10 or 15 minutes after each halt,
when practicable, which appears to be
the custom in most of the European ser
vices. In a country where the near
presence of an enemy is known or sus
pected, marches are conducted with
great caution, and every precaution tak
en by careful soldiers to guard against
surprise. Advance guards and flankers
are thrown out in the front and on the
sides of the column, and every raviue,
coulee, or canon, every rock and bush,
or group of trees large enough to con
ceal a lurking foe, is carefully exam
ined. It is while making a forced
march, when perhaps the safety of some
little community of settlers or detach
ment of comrades, cut off and sur
rounded by savage foes, depends upon
the speedy arrival of the relieving col
umn, that the training, the pluck, the
perseverance and endurance of tho
American cavalry are shown to the great
est advantage.
In the rapidity with which such
marches have been made, the distances
that have been traversed, the rough and
inhospitable country—often swarming
with savago foes—over which the jour
neys have been accomplished, it has
proved itself the equal, if not the supe
rior, to any troops of the kind in the
civilized world. A column of the Fifth
Cavalry, under the command of Gen
eral Wcsly Merritt, marching co the re
lief of Thornburgh’s brave fellows in
the Ute campaign of 1879, made one
hundred and seventy miles from 11
a. in. October 2d to 5.30 a. m. on
October 5th, without losing or disabling
a horse, and was in good fighting trim
on its arrival at its objective point.
Among many instances of the kind that
have come under the knowledge of the
writer, the following cases of hard and
long marches by iuiividuals may be
quete 1 to show tho sterling qualities
often exhibited by our troopers.
In 1870 the present commauder of
the troop of cavalry attached to the
brigade of the national guard in New
York city—at that time a lieutenant in
the First United States Cavalry—rode
with despatches over a rough brokeu
country one hundred and forty miles in
twenty-two hours, including halts for
rest and refreshment, lie was accom
panied by a sergeant and one man of
his own troop. After resting one day,
the journey back to his post was male
in a lit tie over two days, the marches
being from fifty-five to sixty miles a
day. This feat was accomplished with
out any preparation whatever, the offi
cer and his men being ordered out with
out any warning. Ten years afterward,
Lieutenant Robertson of tho same regi
ment, with Sergeants Lynch and Price,
SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS.
it>de one hundred and two miles in pur
suit of a deserter, through snow an4
ice, between 10 o’clock one night and
9 30 the next. On the next day they
started on their return journey from
Fort W r alla W r alla, "Washington Terri
tory, to Fort Lapway, Idaho, which
was reached in two days.— Harper's
Weekly.
Growing Old Throngh Worry.
No doubt much is gained on the score
of longevity from inheritance. Ances
tors who have attained long life for
many generations hand down the gift
to their successors. But while this may
be the greatest fortune which an ances
tor can leave, it may be dissipated like
any other inheritance. No one can
count upon life long without a reasona
ble conformity to the laws of health.
There are a few prodigies that survive
who have never observed any laws. For
one dissipated person who reaches ex
treme old age, there are a thousand who
die in the prime of their years. Physi
ologists have argued, with a great deal
of force, that the duration of human life
should be a hundred years. But it is
far short of it. So few round up the
century that every instance attracts spe
cial attention. The dream of perpetual
you'll is constantly repeated. Dr.
Holmes at eighty is as frisky asakitten.
He learned the art of carrying burden?
lightly. Most people do not wear out.
They worry themselves out of life.
They are always old because they have
carried so much dead weight. No doubt
the cultivation of a youthful feeling is
one of the arts of prolonging life.
When people, through the indulgence
of a morbid feeling, get the impression
that they are too old for this world, it
is a pretty sure indication that they are
loosing their grip. The grace anc
beauty of age is to keep in touch with
the world, to know how its pulse beats
from day to diy, and to be alive to all
human interests and sympathies. Age
in such a life never wholly crowds out
the buoyancy of youth. The spring
and elasticity survive. In most instan
ces the long life ha? been a good life.
The world ha? been better that the in
dividual ha? lived in it. He ha? been
looking more for the good than the evil
things of the world. Grace and beauty
have come to him with the fulness
of years.
One-Legged Congressmen.
Senator Berry lost his lug at Corinth;
Senator Butler, of South Carolina, lost
his at Brandy Station, and over in the
House there are three one-legged men,
or were during the last Congress. Rep
resentative Henderson, of Iowa, is one
of them, though you’d never suspect it
to see him moving about. He is as
spry as a boy with his cork leg. Con
gressmen Brown and Boothman, of
Ohio, used to say they were in hard
luck became each had lost a left leg.
If one had lost a right they could make
one pair of shoes do for both. Senator
Hampton had hard luck, too. He
fought like a tiger on the Confederata
side and came out without a scratch,
only to be thrown from a mule a few
years after the war and have a leg so
badly hurt that it had to be amputated.
The only one-armed men in the last
C o gross, I believe, were General
Hooker, of Mississippi, and Congress
man Oates, of Alabama. They were
both mighty bravo men in battle, but
I’ve heard they never shook hands but
Ance, refusing to do so again because it
is the hoodoo or left-handed shake.
Rather Mixed.
In an English country church the
curate had to give out two notices, the
first of which was about baptisms and
the latter hal to do with a new hymn
book. Owing to an accident he in
verted the order and gave out as fol
lows:
“I am requested to announce that tht
new hymn book wi^l bo used for the
first time in this church on Sunday next,
and I am also requested to call attention
to tho delay which often takes place in
bringing children to be baptized; they
should be brought on the earliest day
possible. This is particularly pressed
on mothers who have young babies.”
“And for the information of those
who have none,” added the rector in
gentle, kindly tones, and who being
deaf had not heard what had been pre
viously said— “and for the informa
tion of those who havo none, I may
state if wished they can be obtaiued on
application in the vestry immediately
after service to-day. Limp ones, one
shilling each; with stiff back?, two
shillings. ”
GREAT SALT LAKE.
Wonders of the Big Inland Sea
in Utah.
A Bathing Place Where You
Cannot Sink.
A correspondent of the New York
Times , describing a visit to Great Salt
Lake in Utah, says:
When the lake comes in sight it is at
the right, stretching away as inimitably
as either of the great oceans that it lies
between. But the Atlantic never looks
as the Great Salt Lake did on this
afternoon. It was a vast expanse of
pale turquois, broken into patches of
white here and there where the waves
combed over in foam. The train drops
you alongside the handsome station and
pavilion, with bathing houses to the
right and left, put up at the only sand
beach on the lake by tho Union Pacific
Railroad, which runs the entire estab
lishment. The pavilion is at a good
distance from the shore, built over the
lake, mid the usual shore band begins
to play as the excursionists flock upon
the platform or rush ior the dressing
rooms. Almost everybody bathes.
When the stranger goes upon the pier
he is apt to consider the bath -with
seme misgivings, for the aroma from
the beach is unpleasantly suggestive of
a very rank pickle barrel. Once be
yond the shore line, however, and the
breeze that comes off the water is sweet
and reassuring. It lacks the fragrance
of the ocean, and there is absolutely
none of the exquisite ocean smell that
is only found with marine vegetation.
Look out over the lake from Black
Rock, that stands boldly forth half a
mile to the east, and sweep the horizon
clear round to the southwest. You see
nothing but water, brilliantly blue until
it flashes like gold under the sun. There
is a haze hanging about the horizon,
thick enough to shut out Antelope and
Stansbury Islands that lie off to the east
and west. The water seems to rise up
in the distance like the edge of a sau
cer. The view of the ocean from the
shores of Mount Desert is not more ex
tensive. Garfield Beach recalls Bar
Harbor in one respect. The Oquirrh
Mountains rise almost from the lake
shore to a height greater than that of
Green Mountains. But the Oquirrlis are
bolder and more destitute of timber.
When the grass has grown upon their
sloping sides, or in the strongly indent
ed gulches, it is dry and brown, and
there are many tufts of sage brush, with
occasional dark cedars, rooted in niches
that give them but a precarious hold
and the minimum of nutrition. These
mountains rise so abruptly as to furnish
a broad background for the group of
buildings on the shore.
You get a bathing suit of heavy knit
wool, just like that issued to the China
man who stood in line ahead of you. It
is very thick and has a startling ten
dency to sag down that is increased
with wetting. When you have tied
youtself up in it and joined the throng
that wades out through the coarse sand
to deep water you notice that the waves
do not come in with the high, proud
arch of those at Long Branch, Nor do
they break with the roar of the ocean
waves. They come in with a long, low
sweep and curl over in foam with a
strong hiss. One could hardly expect
anything else. This pond is of salt, pretty
thoroughly saturate!, and that is about
all. It- is four times as salt as the ocean.
The Dead Sea is not much salter. You
find it out to your discomfort if you ne
glect to read and follow the instructions
posted upon the platform and in the
bathing houses to avoid swallowing or
getting the water in your eyes, You
wet your head in the dressing room and
then you make an effort to keep your
head out of the water.
The lake is low now. This is ac
counted for, as is the scarcity of water
everywhere about the mountains, by
the fact that the snows of last Winter
were very light. It is necessary to go
out two hundred feet to get beyond
your depth. Then you are beyond the
low breakers, and only have to look out
that thewhitecaps do not dash in your
eyes. There is no undertow. As soon
as you have reached a point where you
can no longer hold on to the bottom
with your feet, your feet will come up
and you will find yourself involuntarily
in the attitude of observing your toes
as they stick out of the water. Try to
turn over, and you have only lifted your
arm to make an effort when you pop
over like a lop-sided cork. If you keep
one arns down and lift the other, over
you go; and you find that by repeating
the process you can get up a speed of
about forty revolutions a minute. Make
the usual motions to swim and your feet
will kick in the air. Your best efforts
will be wasted in attempting to keep
them in the water, whether you are
back down or up. If you get a little
water in your mouth you do not need
to be told why there are patches of
glistening white along the shore, where
the sun has been. It is not a good
place for swimming. The best use you
can make of the opportunity is to try
the capacity of the densely salt water
for flotation. When you have spent
half an hour in the warm waves, and
have trken the fresh-water shower pro
vided in each dressing room, and a
brisk rub, you are ready to admit that
there are worse things to take in this
world than a bath in the Great Salt
Lake.
There are large birds swooping over
head in long, graceful curves and slides.
Occasionally they light upon the ground,
and the children fee l them with bits of
cake. They are not demestic fowls,
cither, but young sea gulls, quite a9
tame as the most domestic of pigeons.
The men who have been at the lake
shore year after year say that the old sea
gulls come in the Spring and raise their
young and then fly away. Next year
the young of this Summer follow the
same programme. The lake is without
fish, and the gulls get nothing from it
but flies that skim the waters. They
find this rather a poor supply of food,
and the entire brood of young depend
in part upon the charity of excursionists
for a living. When the last afternoon
train leaves the lake these young gulls,
to the number of fifteen or twenty at a
time, sit in a row on the ridge of the
lunch pavilion, and watch its departure
with melancholy wistfulness.
Spanish Women.
The Spanish eye, large, humid, ten
der, grand, languishing, furnished with
lashes so long, so curling and so beauti
ful that the pencil of the artists falls to
despair; the black pupil, the white sea,
in which the lustriou? orb sails—all is
indescribable! Spanish women when
they are coquettish and laughing have
a sad expression.
Next to the beauty of the hair and
eyes comes the beauty of the flashing
teeth. These are so universally perfect
that the student of dentistry should go
to Spain to find out how they manage
it. There is very little good eating in
Spain. Perhaps these faultless teeth
are not spoiled by cakes and pastry and
sweets in childhood. But the careless
traveler expects to be rewarded when
the Spanish woman smiles with a row of
pearls, and he is almost never disap.
pointed,
Alas! here comes in the one note of
disappointment. Just above the teeth
is a little mustache, sometime? a very
big mu?tache. Nature, in being so
generous of her gift of hair, in a mo
ment of forgetfulness added one dash
of her brush too many on some of these
beautiful faces. It is not universal, it
is not inevitable, but it is common.
The Portuguese women accept the mus
tache and cultivate it, as young men do,
curling tho eud?. On a very delicate
face the little feminine mustache is not
always disagreeable, but to one who
has passed the blossoming hour this
heavy, dark, masculine belonging be
comes an almost offensive feature, to
foreign eye? at least. But it is said to
be agreeable to native eyes.
An Impressive Sight on a Manor-War.
I happened to be on board a United
States man-of-war at sundown during
the call for colors. When the bugle
sounded the first call the band gathered
at the stern of the vessel on deck, and
at the second call the officers stood with
their off facing (
caps the flag as it flut
tered down into the hands of the sailor
who manned the halyards, while the
band played “Hail Columbia.” The
gathering shades of evening, the mar
tial surroundings, the attitudes of re
spect and the stirring strains of the mu
sic combined to make it a beautiful and
impressive sight.— Neus York Star.
The Age for Consumption.
Consumption is rare in childhood, but
increases rapidly after the age of 15,
and is most common between the
of 25 and 30. Those ages
who escape it till
the latter ago are less and less prone to
^ 83 ^hey advance in years, and may
es
cape it entirely, even though they may
have a hereditary predisposition to it.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
Excellent brown paper can oo;r be
■aade, it seems, ont of peat fibre.
The doctors of Seville, Spain.
proclaiming the discovery ^
of a most ef.
ficacious cure for hyprophobia.
Experiments by a Parisian sciehtisi
have proved that daylight entirely
ceases in the waters of the Mediterranean
»t a depth of 1518 feet.
An Austrian railway official has i
vented ci
a portable telephone forspeakiiK
from a railway train at any point st
ping to the nearest station. op
The railway from Buenos Ayres to the
foot of the Andes, a distance of about
275 miles, is as straight as an arrow It
forms the largest stretch of “bee line”
road in the wofld.
Some of he electric cooking appirat
as
contain German silver coils, which are
brought to red heat by the electric cur
rent, and the cooking is done on a
range fitted with these coils.
There are many simple rules of
health violated because it is consid
ered incovenient to obey them, but
it is a violation of these same simple
rules that burdens life with that
greater inconvenience ill-health. The
busy man .will find that it takes far
less time to comply with hygienic
laws than it does to suffer the s tk
ness resulting from their violation
As a general result of numerous ex
periments, caudle power, as determined
by means of the Bunsen photometer,
affords no correct measurement either
of light-giving energy or of the lumi
nosity of the source of light, the direc
tion of the error always being such as
to favor sources of a low degree of in
candescence when compared with those
of higher temperature.
Carefully repeated experiments made
by an experienced English navigator at
Santander, on the north coast of Spain,
showed the crest of the sea waves in a
prolonged and heavy gale of wind to be
42 feet high, and allowing the same for
the depth between the wave\ would
make a height of 84 feet from crest to
base. The length from crest to crest
was found to be 386 feet.
While the deepest tone that our ears
are capable of recognizing is one con
taining sixteen vibrations a second, the
phonograph will record ten vibrations
or less, and can then raise the- pitch un
til we hear a reproduction from them.
Similarly, vibrations above the highest
rate audible to the ear can be recorded
on the phonograph, and then re- 1
produced by lowering the pitch until
we actually hear the record of those
inaudible pulsations.
The Moors are said to have mad i ra
,
per from linen in the thirteenth century, -
all paper known before that being ap- ■
parently made from cotton. In the
British Museum are some specimens of '
linen paper from the fourteenth century.
Recently Professor Church has discov
ered an Episcopal Register of 1273 |
from Auvergne, in which paper some
strands remaining show to have been
linen. This carriei linen paper back
further than was supposed.
Professor E. Hall, in a recent paper,
thinks the phenomenon of terrestrial
magnetism can be explained by the ex- j
istence of a concentric zone of rock
filled with magnetic iron, situated about ]
100 miles below the surface of the
earth. If only fifteen per ceut. of iron
were present, this zone need not ex
ceed three miles in thickness. The ex
istence of the magnetic poles at the
north would be due to protuberances o'
the magnetic mass into the exterio*
non-magnotic shell.
A Peculiar Anniversary,
A curious celebration occurred receB'
lv in the City of Mexico. It wa? th*
38th anniversary of the punishment ia*
flicted upon Emperor Cuauhtemoc by
Cortez to induce him to reveal the hid'
ing place of the Montezuma treasure.
The meeting was held around the statue
of Cuauhtemoc, and' was attended by
Indians from tho most distant village?,
dressed in the ancient dress, who exe
cuted dances of the time of the con
quest. An address in the Indian ^ 30 '
guage was delivered by the governor ^
Tlaxcal a.— Ch icago Herald.
It Was a Tongh Bird.
Defining tho Species.—Jonc? (strug
gling with a tough morsel)—Wai*^
what do you call this bird?
Waiter—Woodcock, sail.
Jones—Ah! basswood!— Bwlityl**
Free Press.