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Southern Field and Fireside.
VOL. 1.
[Written for the Southern Field and Flreelde.]
4 REMINISCENCE.
J The blissful hour when first we met,
V Steals sweetly o'er my mem’ry yet;
/ Beneath that friendly roof once more,
N I live those happy moments o'er.
m Our noble host again I sec—
A friend most dearly prized by me;
V Again, behold—crown of his iife—
l That gentle matron, tender wife.
* Lovely in feature, pure of mind—
In thought and manners most refined!
\j Bear, worthy friends, most kind of heart,
/ Far happiest when ye most impart
\ May no sharp thorns your |>athway strew,
A But roses fresh with early dew,
r Spring as each step through life ye move,
y Crowning your days with endless love!
L That blissful hour when first we met,
* Comes back like sweetest perfume yet;
? 'Twns beauty, wit, and worth combined—
Imbuing form ami heart and mind.
With every grace of womankind—
When this first vision o'er me stole,
tL What if I yielded heart and soul!
f The memory of that blissful ride,
o Through winding roads at eventide—
-1 L proudly seated at thy side ;
& What beauteous visions throng and glide
3 Now throngh my brain! Thy lightest word,
' I hear it now, as then I heard!
4 The music of thy “light guitar"
Steals o’er my fancy from afar 1
V And thy low voice in cadence sweet,
p My ravished senses seems to greet.
. In bride-like garments neat arrayed,
Again I see thee, lovely maid,
A Like some fair angel sent to guido
jV To Hymen’s altar a fair bride 1
i But mem’ry brings a sadder phase,
'U The ending of those blissful days:
Enough! I must avert my gaze!
Stanford.
P [Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.]
ft Entered according to the Act of Cong ret*, die., die.,
I by Oit Author.
f MASTER WILLIAM MITTEN;
L 0R
" A YOUTH OF BRILLIANT TALENTS,
P WHO WAS BUINED BY BAD LUCK.
y Er THE AUTHOR OF THE GEORGIA SCENES, ETC.
4 At Augusta, chance threw Captain Thompson
and Thomas M. Gilmer in the same room of a
\ public house, for two nights. They were made
V acquainted, and among various other topics of
, conversation, Doctor Waddel’s school camo up
on the tapis. “That school,'’ said Mr. Gilmer,
1 “just fills my notion of what a boys’ school
y ought to be. Plain dressing, plain eating, hard
working, close studying, close watching—and
4 when needful, good whipping.”
“You are well acquainted with the school,
\ then.”
V “ Well, not so much from my own observation
* as from what my boys and my neighbors' boys
tell me; for I’m so clumsy, as you see, that I
C go no where but where I’m obliged to; but
® every body says the same thing about the
school—that it is the best school in the United
4 States.”
“Mr. Waddel is said to be very severe with
\ his pupils..”
? “I reckon not. No doubt, if they don't walk
straight he gives them the timber as he ought
to do; but all his scholars that I know like him
t very much, and they seem to consider all other
a schools as very small affairs compared with
his.”
4 Captain Thompson after making a sufficient
apology for his inquisitiveness, fished out of Mr.
I Gilmer, that Governor Mathews had three or
y four grandsons at Doctor Waddel's. That Sen
, ator Bibb had two brothers-in-law there —that
Congressman Early had a brother there—that
& Judge Tait had a son there. That Congress-
C man Meriwether (David) had a son there. And
before the Captain left Augusta, he learned that
4 Senator, Governor Milledgo had a nephew there.
And last, (and best known of all, among men,
V women, and children, throughout the State,) that
V William J. Hobby had a son there. This gen
tleman was the editor of the Augusta Herald ,
and in the use of all the implements of editorial
jfi warfare unsurpassed by any journalist of his
y day. A story was current about this time, that
a lady, expressing a wish to a female friend to
4 have her infant daughter bear the greatest name
in the world—“name her,” said the friend,
y “ William, J. Hobby." Should the reader be
V disposed to enquire how Mr. Gilmer came to
know so many of the grandee patrons of Doctor
Waddel’s school, we answer, that he was con
& nected by blood or marriage with all but two of
" them; and one of the two lived in the same
county with him, was as intimate with him as a
4 connection, and had rescued his son George and
other boys of this very school from a falling
v house under which they had taken shelter in
v storm; and the other resided in an adjoiriin a
f JAMES GARDNER, >
( Proprietor. j
county, and was well known to him, and a
Judge of the circuit which embraced his county.
The Captain, fully charged with these woman
cooling facts, wended his way homeward in high
spirits, nis exultation was increased upon
reaching home by finding a letter waiting him
■from Doctor Waddel.
As soon as he reached his dwelling, and had
taken refreshment—come, said he, Mary, let’s go
over to Anna’s, and have our too long postponed
conference about Mr. Waddel’s.
“If you are going to talk seriously to your sis
ter, to relieve her from her anxiety about her
child, I'll go with you ; but if you are going to
run on with all that stuff about the whole breed
of Ramsays, who seem to have turned your head,
I will not go one foot.”
“Well, I am going to be serious, and to give
Anna a full statement of things at Mr. Waddel’s
as they are. I know it will distress her, and I
want you to help me reconcile her to them."
They went, and after the usual salutations, the
Captain l)egan :
“ Well, Anna, I have come over to tell you
fully how matters stand at Mr. Waddel’s. My
reason for postponing the disclosure was, that I
wa* ia hopes of receiving a letter from Mr. Wad
del that would help to rciwicile you to the state
of things at Willington. So brief was my
stay at that place, that I really learned but little
of the particulars in which you are most inter
, estot.; but I saw enough to satisfy me, that to all
who Would have their sons removed from vice,
well instructed, invigorated in mind and body,
and early taught self-reliance, that there was no
better school than this. But all things about it
are of the very cheapest, plainest, and roughest
kiud. There is one framed house in Willing
ton, and that is the head teacher’s ; all the rest
are of logs, and open at that" (Mrs. M. turned
pale.) “William’s study and bed-room are of
this kind. He occupies it with young Hay and
two others. Its only furniture is two mattrass
es, (on the floor,) a table, and four split bottom
ed chairs. The boys cut and haill their own
wood, and make their own fires.” (Mrs. T. turns
pale.) “The fare is very plain—necessarily so,
from the price of board. Mr. Waddel is a very
rigid disciplinarian," (they both turn paler,) “but
not tyrannical. Ilis government is strictly equi
table. Among all the boys that Fsaw at New
by’s and Waddel’s, I did not see one who was as
well dressed as your Tom. Even Doctor
Ram however, we’ll pass him over. This
is as it should be. Boys who cut wood and car
ry lightwood-knots have no use for fine clothes.
I need hardly tell you, that your boy, among
them, looks like a bird of Paradise among so
many crows. I wish you had taken my advice in
laying hi his wardrobe, for lam sure his finery
will bring upon him the taunts of his school-fel
lows. And now I have told you the worst —the
very worst. 1 But I have something to brighten
this picture a little. And first, read this letter
from Mr. Waddel.”
“You read it, brother,” said Mrs. Mitten, with
swimming eyes and tremulous voice.
The Captain reads:
“Willington, Ac., Ac.
"Dear Sir: On taking leave of me, you re
quested mo to give you early information of the
standing, conduct, and progress of your nephew;
and, as my letter will reach you through the kind
ness of Mr. Jones, the bearer, nearly or quite a
week sooner than it would by regular—or rather
vregular —course of mail, I avail myself of the
opportunity to comply with your request. Wil
liam has been under my instruction just a week
to-day ; and though I would not venture confi
dent predictions of him, upon so short an ac
quaintance, I will give you my present estimate
of him, for what it is worth. If lam not gross
ly deceived in him, he is destined to a most bril
liant future. He was a little rusty in the prin
ciples of construction at first—no, in the applica
tion of them —for of the principles themselves,
he is master, and he improves in tho application
of them with every lesson. His class was a
week ahead of him in the Greek grammar when
ho entered it. He has already made up the de
ficiency, and now stands fully equal to the best
in his class in this study—indeed, in all their
studies. He is moral, orderly, and studious, and
if he will only do half as much for himself as na
ture has done for him, he will be the pride of his
kindred and tho boast of his country. You
will not bo much more delighted at receiving this
intelligence, than I am in communicating it.
“Yours very respectfully,
Moses Waddel.”
“There,” said the Captain, bouncing up in
transports and throwing the letter in his sister’s
lap, “there, sis, what do you think of that ? Now,
as you are a good Christian, play Methodist for
one time, and go to shouting.” I begin to
believe in shouting, if religion is what it is
cracked up to be.”
“ Brother,” said she,, “ I am just as happy as
a mother can be at such tidings; but what do
they signify, when my poor child maybe brought
home to me in less than a month, a corpse ?
William’s constitution can never stand the hard
ships to which he is exposed. A hard mattress
on the floor, in an open hut, this bitter cold
weather 1 Cutting wood!—The boy never raised
an axe in his life—Carrying lightwood knots!
AUGUSTA. GA., SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1850.
He never brought a turn of wood in the house
in his life. Taunted by rude school-mates for
being decently dressed ! My child is worse off
than my negroes.” “ Don’t 3'ou suppose there
are fift}- in that school who have been brought
up as tenderly as your boy has ?”
“No, Ido not. They are all poor boys and
country boys who have beeij brought up to hard
work. I may have erred in bringing him up so
daintily; but it is done, aud he is now unable
to bear hard usage.”
“Do }'ou reckon General Senator Governor
Matthew's grand-children are poor boys ?—that
the Honorable Peter Early's brother is a poor
boy ?—that Senator Meriwether’s son is a poor
boy?—that Senator Bibb’s brothere-m-law are
poor boys—that Judge Tait’s son is a ;>oor boy ?
“ Is young Hay a poor bo} r ?”
“ How do you know that all these men have
sons there ?”
“ I learned it from a bigger man than any of
them, wh6 is kin to them, and knows all about
them, and there sons.”
“ Well, I suppose all their sons were raised in
the country and raised to work.”
“Do you suppose that Senator Governor
Milledge’s nephew was raised in tlie country aud
to work ? that William J. Hobby’s son was raised
in the country, and to work?—that Doctor
Ramsay’s son was raised in the country and to
work ? It is high time your dainty, cake-fed
boy was set to work, if 3 r ou expect him to live
out half his days. And when a better time
than now ? or where a better place, than among
bis school-mates of rank who all work ?
“He is under your control, brother;” said
Mrs. Mitteu, burying her face in her handker
chief ; “ but surely, surelg, he is the most unfor
tunate child that ever was born.”
“Y'es, he is one of tho most unfortunate
children ever born, in having a mother whose
sympathy for his body makes her forget the
interest of his soul—who to save his hide, will
ruin his head—However, what’s the use of talk
ing to a woman.”
“Husband,” said Mrs. Thompson, “3-ou don’t
know how to make the proper allowances for a
mother’s love. I’ve told you so a hundred times.
That is your greatest fault—almost your only
fault —that, and refusing your children little in
nocent indulgences that every other father al
lows to his children. I have been mortified to
death to see my children along side of their
cousins. Because men have no feelings them
selves, they think women have none—or ought
to have none—”
“ Ph-e-e-e-ew 1 what a gustl what did you
come over for, Mrs. Bildad ?
“ I came over to comfort sister Anna, who has
most as much to bear as Job had."
“ I don’t think Sarah suffers much by com
parison with Ann and Jane —at least if you’d
look at one of Sanford’s bills you’d think she
ought not to.”
Will, I manage to keep her a little decent by
enduring a month’s grumbling at the end of
every year; but compare George and William,
will you. Till last 3'ear and the year before,
when did he ever have a new coat—a decent
one—to his back? I’ve been cutting down
your old coats and pants for him ever since he
was bom ”
“He must have gone into pants early.”
“ That’s very witty, I confess; but you know
that every word I say is true. What pleasure
it can be to any one to be always mortifying
and cowing their children, I can’t conceive.—
You’re always talking about making boys work ,
work, and giving ’em fine constitutions, and
George has done no more work than William
has, and his constitution’s no better. Now, hus
band, what will the world say to see you send
ing off your sister’s child into slavery, and keep
ing your own son at home, with all the comforts
of life about him ?”
“ I thought lie was in a dreadful pickle at
home.”
Well, so far as his feelings—his sensibilities
are concerned he is; but he’s not a mean-fed,
mean-clothed, ridiculed slave; he’s not tumbled
down on a hard mattress, on the bare floor, in a
negro house, this pinching freezing weather.—
I wouldn't expose George to such hardships
and insults, if he never got an education during
ash and oak.”
“ I think that very likely."
“ Surely, upon the face of the whole earth
there can be found some school as good as old
Waddel’s, where boys can be taught without
being made niggers of.”
“Mr. Waddel is not old, precious; and it
would distress him mightily if he knew that
you didn’t like liis school.”
“ I don’t care whether he’s old or young, nor
what he likes or dislikes. One thing is certain,
and that is that George never goes to him
with my consent.”
Well, come darling, let’s go home 1 you have
comforted Anna more in a few minutes than I
could have done in a month; for you have dried
up her tears and actually drawn two or three
smiles from her. My purpose is fully answered.
'Old as I am, I uever knew how to comfort wo
men before.
“ Brother, I thought you said Willington was
a village!”
“So it is, but nobody lives in it but students
and one tavern-keeper.”
“ I sent my letter there.”
Well, maybs it vvi 1 get there. You should
have sent it to Vienna. Come, sweetest, let's
be going 1”
“Go on, sweetest; anil I'll eonie when I’m
ready I”
CHAPTER XI.
Consolations — Explanations — Vindication*—lies
olutions— Tribulations.
Few men living, have a higher respect for the
“American fair” than we have. We regard them
as a thousand times better than men, and do not
feel that we pay them a very extravagant com
pliment at that. Nor are we blind to the vir
tues of the men. There are many splendid spe
cimens of humanity among them; but, as a class,
they do not equal the other sex in any thing,
that tends to ennoble the human race. As good
as women are, they would be better still, if it
were not for the men ; and yet, with this con
fession on our lips, we are constrained to say,
that after all, woman is a very curious
thing. In proof of this assertion, “ let facts be
submitted to a candid world I”
The reader has seen with what spirit and dig
pity Mrs. Thompson reduced her husband to or
der as soon as he begau to cast reflections upon
wohien generally—how he opened a whole vol
ume of family sercets. that the world would have
never known hut for his ovor-lutudiuariau out
givings—with what independence she spoke of
“old Waddel," and his “likes, and his dislikes”
—how sweetl-y she dismissed her husband—and
how his sister was comforted by all these things.
Now, after the Captain had retired, and the two
Indies were left alone, what, think you, gentle
reader, was the strain in which she continued,
to her husband’s sister ? Why, of course : “Sis
ter, you are too patient—too weak—too sub
missive. Be independent. If we don’t show some
spirit, men will make slaves of us. Resume
your authority over your child, and take him
away from that horrible monster, old Waddel,
and his one hundred and fifty white slaves."—
You are mistaken, kind reader. After a pause,
long enough to let the Captain get out of hear
ing, thus it ran : '
“Sister, that is a sweet letter of Mr. Waddel’s.
How kind it was in him, to write so soon. How
ever severe he may be, my life on it, he is a kind
man at heart, and takes great pleasure in seeing
the advancement of his scholars. It is very
hard for a child raised as William has been to
be exposed to such rough usage; but, after all, it
may turn out for the best. Every day that I
live I become more and more satisfied that
after a certain age boys should be subjected en
tirely to a father’s government. As you know,
husband and I have had many disputes about
'the proper management of George, and I have
always found that in the end he was right and
I was wrong. We are too apt to let our love get
the better of our judgment in the management
of our children, especially our sons. I reckon
it is a wise arrangement of Providence, tiiat
men should not have much love and sympathy
—that is, as much as we have—that they may
not be led off by their affections into too much
indulgence. So much better satisfied am I with
David’s judgment, than I am in mine, in ruling
boys, that 1 don’t pretend to oppose him in any
thing concerning them, except in the little mat
ter of dress ; and, besides, you know him well
enough to know that when he once sets his head
upon a thing, and puts his foot down, you'd just
as well undertake to turn over the Court House
with your little finger, as to move him. Now, I
see he has made up his mind to keep William at
Waddel’s, and nowhere but Waddel’s, and hois
the more bent upon it, because he wants him to
contend with those —what was that biggest man
of all, that told him so much about Governor’s,
and Senators, and Judges, and all that ?”
“Gilmer ?”
“ I never heard of him; did you ?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s very strange that we never heard of
him—we’ve heard of all the rest of them. But,
as I was saying : David thinks there never was
such a bpy born for mind as William. I tell him
I think George has quite as good a mind as
William —not such a sprightly mind, but more
solid. Don’t you think so, sister ?”
“ George is a sweet, good boy, sister ; a boy
to be proud of, and of tine mind. I’ve no doubt
but that he will make a more solid, practical,
useful man than William ; but ”
“Well, I've told my husband so; buthesaysas
for talent, for genuine, native talent, George wont
do to be named in the samo year with William.
And that’s another very strange thing in men ;
have you never noticed it ? They always think
every body else’s children smarter and better
than their own. What was I saying? Oh—
David’s head is set upon showing off William to
those great folks, in ’.hat large school, and have
his way he will; so I think, my dear Anna,
you’d best try to reconcile yourself to it. Don’t
let it distress you. Surely, if other people’s
children, raised as tenderly as be has been, can
live through it, he can.”
“ Oh, I could bear it all with becoming forti
tude, my dear sister, if I could be sure that
j Two Dollars Per Annum, I
| Always In Advance. f ,
William would live through it—that his consti
tution would not be undermined by it. But
the change is so sudden—in everything! If he
lives through it, his spirit w'ill be broken down
—he will be cowed—his ambition will be otifled.
1 know William’s disposition better than any
body else in the world knows it. He can be
led by kindness, stimulated by praise, and won
by words; but he cannot bear linrshness, cen
sure, and, least of all, chastisement. Now, is it
not strange, my dear Mary—is it not unaccount
able, that of all the schools in the world that
is the one my poor child should be doomed to
dt last ? When, and where, will his misfortunes
end ? And now, what shall Ido ? What am I
to do? I have given my child up to brother
David’s control, and I know his inflexibility
where he thinks lie’s right. There is one thing
I know, and but one thing, that will overcome
him, and that is my grief; but Ido not wish to
afflict him with my anguish of heart. What
trouble have I given him! What brotherly
kindness has he shown me! How prophetic
has been his forecast! How proud ho is of my
son! How rejoiced when he does well! It is cru
el in me to pain him. And yet, when I think
of my poor boy, how can I help it ? Yes, I will,
sister Mary—l will strive to suppress my feel
ings ; at least, to hide them from brother David. .
1 am greatly delighted with Mr. Waddel’s letter.
I am sure he is not the cruel, merciless man he
has been represented to bo.”
•‘Well, that is right, sister Anna. You be
happy, and husband will be happy, and I will
bo liappy, and we’ll all be happy. At least,
hope for the nil you hear from William.
It will be time enough to grieve when you near
that William is tmhappy.” With theso words,
and two emphatic kisses, moistened with the
tears of both, the sisters parted.
Now, wo could moralize as long, and quite as
profitably, upoji the character of Mrs. Thompson,
as Dickens does upon the characters which he
dreams out; but, as we detest the repeated in
terruptions of a story by long dry homilies from
the author, we will take it for granted that when
we faithfully delineate a character, the reader
can draw his lessons of morality from it as well
as we can; but, as it would be doiDg great in
justice to the character of Mrs. Thompson to
rest it with the reader upon an occasional inter
view with her nearest and dearest friends, we
are sure that we will be indulged in a word ex
planatory of her seeming inconsistency iu the
conversations just detailed.
After long and careful observation of human
nature, in all its phases, we are strongly im
pressed with the idea that there are many wo
men in the world—good women, sensible women,
good wives, and good mothers, who are a little
impulsive—liable, under very trying circum
stances,'smell as masculine wit at feminine ex
pense, he slurs at she sense, man’s snuffing at
woman’s loving, and the like, to become slightly
excited; and then, as they feel themselves called
upon to extemporize without a moment’s prepara
tion, or a moment’s pause, they, of course, do
not deliver themselves with a due regard to logi
cal precision, or methodical arrangement. Con
strained in their hurry to snatch up any imple
ment of warfare that presents itself, they have
no time to consider its fitness, or unfitness, for
the contest; consequently, they sometimes seize
a battie-axe, with handle so long, that, while the
blade hits the enemy, the handle knocks down
two or three friends at the same time. They
send oft' a petard so mal-adroitly that, while it
only singes the foe, it Wows up whole platoons
of allies. It should be remembered, likewise,
that they fight only “to restore the equilibri
um ” —never for permanent conquest It would
be very strange, therefore, i£ under these cir
cumstances, they did not at times seem incon
sistent in their words and ways. Now, Mrs.
Thompson was one of this class, and one of the
very best of this class. While upon this head,
let me disabuse tho reader’s mind of another
false impression that he may, perchance, receive
from the scene of consolations which he has just
witnessed. He may suppose from the Captain’s
sudden ehange of note, as soon as his wife took
up the soothing harpsichord, that, except in the
matter of George, and upon a few very rare oc
casions, when “he put his foot down,” he was
under pretty rigid petticoat government Not
so. Foot down, or foot up, whenever a material
issue occurred between the heads of the family,
his judgment was final and conclusive; but in
matters of minor import both acted independently.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
A beautiful mmle 'is to The female counte
nance what the sunbeam is to the landscape. It
embellishes an inferior face, and redeems an ugly
one.
There are many kind of smiles, each having
a distinctive character—somo announce good
ness and sweetness, others betray sarcasm, bit
terness, and pride; somo soften the countenance
by their languising tenderness, others brighten
it up by their brilliaut and spiritual vivacity.
Gazing and poring before a mirror cannot aid
in acquiring beautiful smiles half as well as to
turn tho gaze inward to watch that the mind
continues unsullied, and constantly illuminated
by pure, kind, and cheerful thoughts.
Southern Homestead.
NO. 10.