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Southern Field and Fireside.
VOL. 1.
[For the Southern Field and Fireside.]
TO S. L. M.
Though this weary world be changeful,
Though each hour its changes see,
Let each year, as Time advances,
Bind us closer—thee and mo!
Hopes the heart so long hath cherished,
, Doubt should not too rudely blight;
Twilight shades of age may gather,
But our love must know no night 1
Dream no more of clouds and shadows!
Let the love-light of the heart
Chase away unkind suspicion;
’Tis the truest, kindest part!
Oh, the Future still bath for us
Hours as sweet as any past!
Let us down Life's stream be floating,
Trustful, loving to the last 1
May Myrtle.
—
[For the Southern Field and Fireside.]
FROM A TOURIST’S QUIVER;
• OR,
Scenes and Incidents of a Tour
From New Orleans to New Yorlt.
nv ONE OF THE PAKTY, *
ARROW IX*
Memphis thirty years ago and now—and what it's
going to bo—The party stop at the Gavoso—so does
the widow—The latter is on her way to Washington—
what widows and maidens go to Washington fop—
What they don't get there—and what they do get—
Two cases In point—All is not gold that glitters—How
women had best never marry—never—almost—Good
rule for choosing husband or wife —Mr. Mason of the
tiayoso a model clerk—splendid hotel, miserable
table—What “a Memphis slice" is—The registered
misnomers—the Major’s dlsapi>ointment thereat, and
Mr. Poyns’ philosophy.
Memphis, Tcnn., December, 1867.
Thirty years ago this city was a collection of
one-story ‘shanties,’surrounding an old field,
every other one a drinking house or a gambling
den. Now this old field is one of the most elegant
public squares any city can boast of; adorned
with statues, intersected by fine walks, and
shaded by noble trees; while edifices that rival
the handsomest in Broadway, rise around. From
a population of eight hundred adventurers, it
has now thirty thousand citizens, who enjoy all
the luxuries of wealth, and who are distin
guished for their intelligence and refinement.
Main street (the Broadway of the city,) boasts
structures equal to any on Chestnut street, and
a metropolitan air marks the dwellings and
bkicks of stores all over the city. The front
buildings of the town extend a mile and a half
parallel with the river, separated from it by a
broad esplanade, which, at this time, is literally
paved with cotton-bales for the space of half a
mile. Numerous steamers at the wharf, and
the constant coming and departing of others,
bear testimony to its great trade. The aspect
of the whole city is that of an immense “ busi
ness place.” It reminds me of New Orleans,
and promises one day, not remote, to become a
formidable rival ot St. Louis.
From the esplanade are visible the opposite
shores of Arkansas, (pronounced always without
the “ s” accented ou the final “a”,) with the De
pot of the great trunk railroad, which is daily
eating its way through the forests in the direc
tion of Little Rock, and so on and onward, until
ultimately an iron bond shall unite the Missis
sippi with the Pacific 1 and Memphis with St.
Francisco! This no visionary talk 1 Ten
years will see it more than half realized, and in
fifteen it will be accomplished.
Memphis is also connected with the Atlantic
by her noble railway to Charleston, along which
already she sends thousands of bales of cotton
to the sea. What a position for commanding
unbounded commerce this growing city occu
pies 1 With the Mississippi extending from her
piers its Northern and Southern arms, com
manding the treasures of the Rocky Mountains
equally with tho trado of the Gulf, with her iron
roads belting the continent like a parallel of lat
itude from East to West, she has a future before
her of commercial grandeur, which will surely
outgo the most ardent conceptions.
Her citizens seem to feel their responsibility
as founders of a vast metropolis. They build
- grand and solid edifices, as if resolved that
what was erected to-day should be worthy of
her coming greatness. As wo rambled over the
city, we were amazed at its extent and elegance
and its aspect of solidity and opulence. Its
chief hotel, the Uayoso, is on the St. Nicholas or
St. Charles plan, so far as the edifice is con
cerned, and its public buildings and churches
are worthy of Eastern cities.
We remained here a day and night, letting
our steamer go on. But it did not carry the
fair widow. She and her brother, a handsome,
bearded and cigar-smoking young Southern
planter, who seldom opened his lips to any one
except to talk to Tim, came on shore and put up
♦Errata.— ln Arrow VII., Field and Fireside, 19th
February, paste 1, col. 2, near top, read “ Parisian head,"
instead of Paratian. Same column, near bottom, read
“*anq froid." Col. 8, near bottom, read "he received
his fire," instead of he renewed, Ac.
I JAKES GARDNER, I
I Proprietor. |
at the Gayoso, for they were on* their way to
Washington City, as I learned, to pass the sea
son of gaiety there, while Congress is in session 1
—a time when not only young and rich and fair
widows assemble there from all parts of the
Union, under the wing of a brother or cousin or
relative, but where belles also “ with maiden
fancy free” seek in that field of ambition and
fashion desirable husbands. The widow was,
therefore, as well as-other ladies, going on to en
joy Washington life, and, perhaps, play her little
cards against the wisdom of diplomacy and poli
tics. In that game of hearts and diamonds, the
fair Winners are often the losers. Members of
Congress now-a-days, are not, per se as such, al
ways a good catch 1 I remember a beautiful and
showy girl, whose life and breath were in the
world of fashion and pleasure, who, after a long
chase, caught a dashing young Congressman.
He took her to the West, and to the obscure
village where he had his law-office. At first
they boarded at the poor tavern with all its dis
comforts. Congressmen dou’t mind these things I
But Congressmen’s fashionable brides suffer by
them! They went by and by to housekeeping
in a wretched tenement, for there are no fine
houses in the place. There was no congenial
' society, no railroad, no steamboat, to unite her
witli the rest of tho civilized world 1 The bride
was wholly unhappy. The next winter, at Wash
ington, she refused to return with him I They
separated! All looks gold and glitter at Wash
ington, but there is more tinsel than the pure
metal!
[ “ But I will make my husband do as 1 please!
He shall take me to the Springs, and the North,
ana amuse me as I wish, ” said to her companions
a handsome girl who was resolved to marry a
certain Representative, who had been won by
' her charms! She married him, and found be
j hind the smiling fare a stern and uncompromis
ing nature! In him she discovered a soul that
was wedded to money-getting, and full of aspi
ration for piace and power! Instead of taking
her to the Springs, and ‘amusing her,’ when she
found it dull at home, he was plodding in his
office, or attending to court, or busy with clients.
She had no power at all over him I Always
busy, he left her to herself all day and half the
night. Too late she saw that a husband is a
woman’s Power!—that where the betrothed
.can command, lo! the wife nlust obey! She
saw too late, that when a woman marries, she
surrenders all authority and dominion aud power
voluntarily to one man, who, if he return them
to her or share them with her in love and confi
dence, may make her happy, but who, if he
choose to retain them, can seal her misery! A
wife must obey, if the husband asserts his au
thority ! She may weep, she may break her
heart she may die 1 but vVhile she lives (if he is
stern and unyielding) she must submit! The
law has given her into his power! He becomes
her inexorable fate!
What a sacrifice, then, of self does a woman
make in marrying, if she marry not well! It
is like an abdication of an empire to a superior
sceptre. Let no woman, however fair and fas
cinating, trust to her beauty and her influence
to “ turn her lover about her finger” when he
becomes her husband! Do not say, dear
daughter of Eve, when you are warned before
hand of his ill-temper, “ He will be kind to me !
I can make him gentle as a lamb 1” You will
be sure to fail! Do not say of the intemperate
lover, “ Oh, lam not afraid to marry him; I will
reform him!” Be sure, dear, hopeful girl, you
will not reform him! A man who will not re
form before marriage for love of his betrothed,
will not reform afterwards, when all motive for
good behavior is gone! Never marry out of
kindness and pity a poor, dissipated wretch,
because he is a good fellow! Better, far, pur
chase a winding sheet than bridal robes, lady!
As a rule, a young man who is unkind or coarse
to his mother or sisters, will be so to his wife ;
but he who honors, loves, and tries to please
them, will make you a good husband! Also, I
have noticed that daughters who are impatient
i at a wise father’s rebuke, will not bear amiably
a husband’s! Show me how a son or a daugh
ter treats their parents, and I will (though I am
' neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet) tell
you how they will treat their wife or husband!
Upon reaching the Gayoso House, we were
politely and cordially spoken to by the chief
clerk, (whose name I was told afterwards was
; Mr. Mason,) and invited to enter our respective
' names on the register.
1 I will here remark that a stranger entering a
1 hotel or tavorn is always pleased to be met and
1 spoken to by ‘ mine host’ with hearty politeness.
‘ Lonely and knowing not a soul, the landlord is
' expected to be his first acquaintance in a strange
1 place. If the latter, however, scarcely glances
at him, or speaks grufHy, and seems wholly in
'< different to his presence, it makes a painful and
> disagreeable impression upon the traveler. He
i feels it. It prejudices him against the hotel in
1 a moment! It makes him cross, too! It pre
* pares him to dislike everything.
5 But if he is politely met with a smile—civilly
1 and in a friendly way spoken to by the clerk at
’ the desk, all his kindly feelings are awakened,
1 it makes him feel friendly and kindly, and at
1 home! Heme a polite, civil-spoken clerk is a
AUGUSTA. GA., SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1860.
treasure! He is worth thousands to a large
hotel! His obliging way, his courteous speech,
his evident interest in the comfort of the new
comer, win the latter as a visitor of that hotel
whenever he comes to the city! Mr. Mason
is just one of these pattern head clerks!
He speaks to a stranger as if he had known
him all his life, and liked him! He never for
gets a face ; and hence, when the guest of last
year returns and expects to be recognized, he is
not disappointed, as Mason’s hearty shake of the
hand agreeably proves to him! A dull, sour,
stiff clerk is enough to ruin a hotel. How often
have I gone into a tavern or a hotel in a small
town, wet and weary, receiving no welcome,
and at a loss among the people about in the
room, to guess who is the landlord! Steson’s
polite manners made the fortune of the Astor
House.
Having duly entered our names, we were
shown by a little yellow boy to our rooms, to
which we went through superbly decorated
halls.
At table we learned the sorrowful fact that a
fine house does not always imply fine condi
ments for the inner man. The bill of fare was
long, varied and imposing! The dining hall
was one of the most magnificent I ever beheld!
Fortunately for the Major, there was no private
table for families and ladies, and so he had the
gratification of feasting his eyes upon the widow
across the room! But he did not less feast his
body, or try to do so! Such wretched atten
dance of slaves, that looked and acted as if they
had just been caught with a lasso over in the
Arkansas swamps! Such 1 warm ’ dishes per
fectly cold when you get them! Such Lillipu
tian distributions! Turkey, the size of a hum
ming bird’s wing; beef as large as a baby’s
hand.; one small potatoe, one onion, a tea
spoonful of turnip, or cranberry sauce, each on a
separate plate! Then such minute bits of pie,
pudding, jelly, the si*e of two little fingers ! And
everything in proportion ! I never saw any
thing like it! It was short allowance all!
A gentleman opposite, seeing the Major’s sur
prise aud Tim’s indignant remonstrances to the
grinning darkies, said with a smile,
“If you have never heard, gentlemen, of
what the country people call * a Memphis slice,’
you see now what they are 1”
“Boy,” called the Major, “biw me five
pieces of turkey as big as this
your head off!”
Tim called for beef as large as three fingers
at least! In fact we could scarcely get any
thing to eat! Yet, there was a “head master
of the dining saloon ’’ walking up and down
complacently, and paid no sort of attention to
our wants. With such a fine hdlise and enor
mous prices, it is a shame such a table should be
put off upon guests. How we sighed for the
Eclipse and her bountiful table! It was was a
charming variety in miniature here, but nothing
to satisfy one’s appetite. The breakfast was bet
ter than the dinner, but we had great trouble to
get it properly served. We learn that a new
hotel is soon to ba»erected; and we trust that
they will put less money in the building decora
tions, and more on the table for the benefit of
travelers aid guests.
The next morning the Major took up the pa
per to look for his name “in print” among the
arrivals. To appear in print is one of his weak
nesses!
“See that, sir!” he came to mo saying, with
looks of disappointed ambition: “ I expected to
behold my name large as life among the arri
vals ! Read that! and yours and Tim’s!” -
I read as follows among the list of names:
“ Mary Bedad,
Tom Devil,
Mr. H. Pony.”
I laughed heartily. “So much for immortali
ty, Major!” I said.
“ Confound the reporter! What are the names
printed for in the papers ? Is’nt it to let folks
know what strangers are in town ; so that mer
chants and others can be notified of the arrival
of customers !and friends and call and see ’em?
Who would guess these names (Mary at that)
stood for
Major Bedott,
Tim Duval,
Mr. H. Poyns?
“ Confound the careless copiers and printers to
make a woman of me! It’s outrageous! I’ll
write to the editor and have it corrected!”
The Major, however, thought better of it, and
went into the sumptuous drawing’room to pay
his respects to the widow, and ask her sym
pathy in the case and obtain her consolations.
We leave at half past two to-day in the
Charleston train, for Nashville, Louisville, Cin
cinnati and so on. Au Revoir.
Goon Rules for All.—Profane swearing is
abominable. Vulgar language is disgusting.—
Loud laughing is impolite. Telling lies is con
temptible. Ignorance is disgraceful, and laziness
is shameful. Avoid all the above vices and aim
at usefulness. This is the road in which to be
come respectable. Walk in it. Never be asham
ed of honest labor. Never act the hyocrite.
Keep good company. Speak the truth at all
times. Never bo discouraged but persevere,
and mountains will become mole-hills.
THE NEW INFERIOR PLANET!
The existence of one or more planets within
the orbit of Mercury, is just now exciting great
interest in astronomical circles.
It was announced by the astronomer Lever
rier—to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, on
the 12th Sept, last, that he had discovered cer
tain perturbations in the movement of the plan
et Mercury, near its perihelion, which could be
accounted for only by the existence of another
body between that planet and the sun.
In the discussion of this startling announce
ment, not as a mere'conjecture, but a conclusion
based on the most careful induction, it was sug
gested that th 6 only probable method of actually
discovering such planet would be to examine
with great care all the small spots on the sun's
disc. To a practised eye, the difference in ap
pearance between an ordinary small spot and a
small planet making its transit across the,disc,
would be almost instantly detected. The per
fectly round shape of the planet, and the absence
of any penumbra, and the comparative rapidity
of its motion, would at once distinguish it from
an ordinary spot.
On the 26tb ol March, a Dr. Lescarbault, who
resided at Orgeres, near Chartres, France, and
had long been an attentive observer of the heav
ens, saw a small, black, round spot pass over
the sun’s disc. He calculates that its diameter
is 310 leagues; the inclination of its orbit to the
ecliptic 19 degrees; the period of its revolution
round the sun 19 days and II hours; while its
greatest apparent distance from the sun is seven
degrees or ten millions of miles, that of Mercury
being thirty-seven millions.
On seeing the announcement of Leverrier to
the Academy, he concluded that be had already
seen the new planet, and wrote to Leverrier to
inform him of the discovery. The latter, cagor
to learn all the particulars of the observation, re
paired to the spot
On arriving at Lescarbault’s abode, M. Lever
rier was astonished to find a regular observato
ry there, with rude instruments chiefly contrived
by the doctor himself, in consequence of his very
limited financial means. The worthy physician,
not having a chrorometer, has nevertheless
made himself a pendulum, striking seconds, by
means of an ivory ball and a bit of string.
The neighbors gave him the credit of a man
of great learning and universally respected, with
only one fault, that of “troubling himself too
much with the stars." Leverrier quickly satis
fied himseif that the star-gazing doctor of Orge
res w-asin truth the discoverer of a new planet,
and that in the absence of paper ha had actual
ly made a rough computation of the orbit, ma
king his figures with charcoal upon a deal board.
' “ This precious deal board,” says the reporter,
“charged with all the calculations relating to the
planet, has been obtained by Leverrier and
presented to the Academy."
It was lucky that M. Leverrier had resolved
upon going in person; for the doctor’s observa
tory being strangely deficient in paper, his cal
culations were generally written in charcoal on a
deal board, and when it was full the doctor used
to plane it down byway of cleaning it.
Attention having been drawn to this subject,
and the records of observations examined, it
now appears such round spots, moving rapidly
across the sun’s disc, have been seen at no less
than six or eight different times within the last
forty years. The presumption isthit more than
one planet revolves within the orbit of Mercury.
One vety remaakable circumstance is, that in
these observations three instances at least have
occurred in which two spots have been seen
crossing at the same time. This would clearly
indicate that there must be at least one planet
with a large satellite.
Astronomers with adequate means of investi
gation will lose no time in applying them to
the solution of these new and interesting prob
lems.
Mr. Benjamin Scott, Chamberlain of the city
of London, claims the honor of the discovery for
England. In a letter to the Times, he says:
“ The body alluded to was first seen by Mr.
Lloft (an Englishman, I believe,) on the 6th of
January, 1818, and by myself at or about mid
summer, in 1841: and, whenever since that date
I have publicly lectured on the solar system, I
have always asserted, as a fact known to my
self, that a third inferior planet existed in our
system.
“The circumstances of observation were
these: I was, at the period stated, testing the
power of a telescope which I had for a few weeks
on approval, when, just at sunset, I turned the
object glass upon the sun’s disc, and was aston
ished to observe what appeared to be a transit
of Venus or Mercury. The sun was rapidly
sinking, and I had time only to make a hasty
and, of course, insufficient measurement of the
bulk of the body, which appeared of nearly the
same diameter as Venus, and I estimated its di
i ameter roughly at about 4,000 miles. I had
never heard of any similar observation, and, in
my utter perplexity, I referred to the Ephome
ris to see if, by possibility, a transit of either Mer
cury or. Venus had been overlooked, but no
l such phenomenon was expectei I should state
that it was impossible to confound the body with
any spots upon th^sun; it was perfectly circu-
J Two Dollars Per AnMDt l
1 Always In Advauee. f
lar, and its outline was nearly defined as a blot
of the darkest ink on the whitest of paper.—
At sunrise it departed, and that from a position
on the sun’s face which would have required
from six to seven days for that purpose had it
passed out of vision by the rotation of the sun
on its axis.
“ I made known, the same evening, what I
had seen to Mr. Abbatt, Fellow of the Astro
nomical Society, but as he thought that I, as an
unpractised observer, had been deceived by one
of the spots on the sun, I bad not at that time
sucffiient self-reliance to induce me to make a
public announcement of this remarkable obser
vation, althouglM ftad never lost faith in that
which I had seeiE A year or two afterwards I
made the acquaintance of the celebrated observ
er, Dr. Dick, and told him the facts above rela
ted. He at once confirmed my convictions, and '
directed my attention to a passage in one of bis
works, informing me that other persons, at va
rious intervals of time, had observed the same
or similar planets when in transit across the
sun.”
- m
SCHOOL STATISTICS 07 GEORGIA.
One of the most interesting portions of the
recent message of the Governor of Georgia, is
that relating to the progress of education, and
particularly in regard to the operation of the
school law adopted by the preceding legislature. *
The body, says the Governor, took an important
step in the right direction in appropriating
SIOO,OOO of the income of the State Road to
Common School Education. Ho recommends
that the appropriation be increased to $150,000,
which, with other means, will make the com
mon school fowl about $200,000 per annum.
He also recommends tbeTippointment of a State
Superintendent of Education,to whom the county
ordinaries shall report. He makes some other
minor suggestions in regard to the school law,
but in general appears satisfied with the law, as
it now is.
Returns have only been received from 102
counties in the State, and those report the fol
lowing statistics:—“ Whole number of children
between the ages of 8 and 18, 107,825; number
between 8 and 18 taught in 1859, G 7,155; total
of all persons taught, 79,922 : of these, 44,000
are males, and 34,832 aro females. Wliolo num
ber of males taught in the higher branches
22,681. Whole number of females taught in
the higher branches, 8,022. Average tuition,
per annum, in the elementary branches, $26.00.
Whole number of school houses, 1,775; number
of schools, 1,775. Number of Methodist male
colleges, 4, pupils, 358; Methodist female col
leges, 4, pupils, 524; Baptist male colleges, 3, pu
pils, 207, Baptist female colleges, 4, pupils, 322;
Presbyterian male college, 1, pupils, 97; Pres
byterian female colleges, 3, pupils, 326; Col
leges and high schools not sectarian, male 16,
pupils 774; female 16, pupils 1,222; number of
academies, 57. Out of the 102 counties 99 have
appointed boards to examine teachers, and 129
teachers have passed an examination.”
Only eighty-four counties have levied and col
lected a county tax to be added to their school
fund. The aggregate amount raised thus by
the eighty-four counties is $63,997. The Gov
ernor recommends the withholding of its pro
portion of the State fund from each county
which fails to levy a tax of at least 45 per cent,
upon the State tax for educational purposes.
This uniform rate, he says, would increase the
entire edycational disbursement of the State to
$300,000 per annum:
—w- -♦»♦-
PARADISE-WHERE LOCATED.
The authorities usually quoted to sustain the
supposition that Paradise lay stretched in some
of the enchanting valleys of Hindostan are nu
merous and noted. Josephus, among the oldest
antiquarians, assents cheerfully to the opinion
that the Ganges was one of the four rivers as
signed to water the region of * ! perennial bliss. - ’
Becanus, another great authority, insists upon a
district more northern than any near the en
chanting vales through which the Ganges runs,
as the veritable spot on which Paradise stood.
The Acesinis ran its streams through this chosen
district of Becanus, and the Indian fig tree flour
ishes in its fields to support his affirmation that
the “ forbidden fruit" was the Ficus Indica. At
this day the Ficus Indica is commonly called
by the Maliommedans “ Adam's fruit,” and its ,
leaves are solemnly exhibited as specimens of
the material with which the Adam aud Eve of
Holy Writ made themselves aprons. The island
of Ceylon, too, has been pointed at as the site
of Paradise, and various tokens of Adam’s pres- *
ence are “ preserved” in the traditions of the
people. If Holy Writ had not decided for us
Christians that the Euphrates watered Paradise,
it would have been no difficulty to fancy that
part of India called Cashmere as the exact spot
in which Adam and Eve forfeited a right to live
“ blissfully as earth-made beings." But the In
dians have their Paradise. For an extent of
forty miles around the spot where the city of
Allahabad stands, at the confluence of the Gan
ges and Jumna, the Indian Eden is shown to
strangers, an# confidently pointed as the Sacred
Garden, in which man first grew from his
Maker’s hands.
NO. 41.