Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, November 01, 1866, Image 1
lewis m. grist, proprietor.! Jitbepntbent JfamiljT ^tttospaper: Jor fjje |romotion of tfje |oIifical, .Social, Agricultural anb Commercial Jitfcrrsfs of % Sent]). j teems-^so a year, ut^mivasce.
70LUMEXIL YORKVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY MORNING, 1ST NOVEMBER, 1866. NUMBER 28.
IJJkellaneiras.
The Genius, Character and Organization
of the Confederate Army.
From ao interesting and spirited article
in the September Crescent Monthly, by J.
Quitman Moore, of Mississippi, we make
the following extracts, treating of the genius,
character and general organization of
the late Confederate army :
The army of the late "Confederate States
of America" (the glorious name of that
bright, meteor power, now quenched, that
shook its radiant splendors on the flaming
crest of Mars !) was an eeleotic, or excerpted
system from the high military models of
Austria. Prussia, France and the United
States. It was a beautiful and complete
model of thorough scientific organization,
full of interest and instruction to those who
wish to learn how to make war terrible and
destructive, and above all things else, that
sprang from the master hand of that directing
and all-informing mind that stood at
the bead of the Southern revolution, attested
its commanding genius. From Austria
was taken the admirable organization of the
grand field staff; from Prussia the firm and
oompact general military anatomy; from
France the model of its field ordnance and
scientific artillery theory and practice; and
from tne United States its tactical economy, j
its infantry equipment and drill, its army
regulations and its theory of military manoeuvre
and stragetic praotioe. West Point
confronted West Point, and accounts in
e great measure for that phenomenon so inexplicable
to the criticism of the foreign
lookers on?great battles fought, with no
marked or decisive results attained. Gen.
Lee and his adversaries made the same
moves on the hostile field that they learned
to make on the chess-board of the common
parent academy. Jackson, alone, repudiated
West Point, studied Frederiok and Napoleon,
and as a consequence, achieved more
brilliant results in a brief career of twenty
months, than the whole army of eminent
nnmmanders. Federal and Confederate, com
billed, accomplished in four years of war.
The organization of the Confederate army
was a oomplete piece of military mechanism
methodical, harmonious, composite in all
pertainiag to its exterior, practical arrange
meat; bat there was a fatal defeot in its
interior, vital economy, a morbid, organic
derangement, that defeated every hope of
healthy bodily action, preyed upon the seat
of life, and causea its altimate dissolution.
That disease was the absence of a rigid discipline.
If it had possessed this one important
quality the battle of Sharpsburg
would have declared the independence of
the South. General Lee crossed over into
Maryland a fortnight before the happening
of that battle, with eighty thousand troops;
but on that field he could only put his hand
on thirty-five thousand of that number.?
Not that this more than moiety of his army
had wilfully deserted their colors; but allared
from their commands by the profuse
hospitality of the people of Maryland, they
lingered behind the advancing army, thinking
to rejoin it in time to share io its lau
rels. Such conduct the systems of Frederick
and Napoleon pronounced desertion,
and inflexibly punished with death. The
great body of the rank and file of the South
em army was composed of a social element
that, in the armies of other countries, is
seen only in positions of command and au
thority ; and the officers elected from among
themselves, and often their social and intellectual
inferiors, left matters of authority
and subordination to take care of themselves
while their only oare was to make their reports
correspond Irom day to day; and
grave delinquencies were connived at in the
same way that college students deem it a i
badge of dishonor to act the part of inform |
er against their associates. Under such a ;
general relaxation of authority, discipline
was impossible; and the Southern army was
DOthing more than an association of patriotic
gentlemen, animated by the enthusiasm
of a oommon cause, and regarding discipline
and army regulations as designed only
for a race of slaves When once in battle,
they fought with a dash, spirit, resolution
aud desperation of valor such as has never
been excelled by any soldiery in the world,
ancient or modern. In the European sense
of the word, there was no such thing known
to the Confederate army as discipline. The
punishment of desertion by death was the
exception, rather than the rule ; and the
band of the commander-in-chief was weakened
jast in proportion as the severity of
the discipline was relaxed. Jackson was
the only geueral officer in the Confederate
service, who applied the rigid discipline of
the European armies to that under his own
command; and in proportion to its numbers,
and in view of the brief period within
which its splendid operations were performed,
no army in the world ever accomplished
such brilliant results. His severe discipline
held his troops firm, close, compact, in
hand, and when he struck, it was with a
full strength of his arm, and victory was
the result Bragg made some ineffectual
attempts to discipline the army of the West;
U..* 5,-?Mthorn klnrifl mno tnr\ hicrh f.nhpnd
UUt cue yjyuiu51u u.w- b?
to what it oonceivod to be a degradation,
and could not then realize that it was better
than the eternal degradation that followed
The infantry service of the Confederate
army was the finest body of light foot, bating
the discipline, the world ever saw. It
possessed all the tenacity in line of the
Austrians; all the confidence in column,
boldness in attack, and cool self possession
in defeat, of the British, and all the dariug
intrepidity and fearless dash of the French
Corps d' Afriqiie; while the deliberateness
and precision with which it delivered its
deadly rifle fire, inflicting nearly a double
loss on the enemy in almost every engagement,
attested its vast superiority over that
of the enemy. The Confederate skirmishers
were the terror of the Federal army ;
and in all combined movements in the open
field, and with numbers always inferior to
: the enemy, the Southern infantry has never
' failed to win the field. This superiority
' prooeeded not from the greater bravery of
; the Confederate troops, but from their
greater combined skill and intelligence,
i flowing from that larger latitude given to
! individual aotion. Without their offioers to
! guide and direct them, the Federal troops
were little better than an armed mob. The
Confederate troops acted generally as well
without as with their officers, whose superiority
was only the temporary distinction of
rank. There were men in the ranks of the
Southern army, who could have supplied
the places of their general officers. Gen.
Roger A. Pryor, after gallantly serving his
country as commander of a brigade, tendered
his resignation, and fought totheend
of the war in the capacity of a gallant private
of the famous 9th Virginia cavalry.
The English refer with just pride and
enthusiastic praise, to the solid tenacity and
/iAnwa/?A r\f fV?r* RrifioK infanfru ut
C31UUUU! U VUUIO^o Ut buv JL/ltviou iu?uuv>j ?...
tbe battle of Inkerman, where 8,000 British
(ightfoot held ia check and finally repulsed
15,000 Russian infantry, but it cannot
compare with tbe brilliant and spirited
infantry charges of Ewell's and Longstreet's
corps upon the fortified position,of the enemy
at Gettysburg, on the evening of the
second day's battle, where the Southern infantry
moved to tbe assault under a withering
artillery fire, and swept before it three
heavy lines of battle. And nothing is so
forcibly illustrative of that high intelligence
that was the distinguishing characteristic of
tbe Southern army, than the fact that it saw
and felt, before tbe attack was made, that
tbe assault of the third must prove a failure.
The cavalry braich of the Confederate
army was, strictly speaking, only a part of
its infantry arm, clothed with equestrian
powers and offices. It was only a superior
body of mounted infantry that, as advanced
videttes and daring scouts, formed the ears
and eyes of that army that was never but
once taken by surprise. The mounted force
of the Confederate army resembled tbe
Russian Cossack, whose office is to harass
aud threaten, not to attack; and as guerillas,
they beoame as renowned as the famous
knights of the Cid Ashby, and Stuart,
an/} T?,-vrrnaf on/} Humntiin on/} Miish?. and
- "* ?j ??r?> j i
Fitz Lee, recall memories of Villars and
Fitz James?of Tanored and Alva?never
of Rupert and Marat.
But the essential pride and glory of the
Southern army, particularly of that portion
of it that was known as the "Army of
Northern Virginia," was its matchless artillery
arm. The world might have been
confidently challenged to produce such a
splendid array of high intelligence, practiced
skill and discipline, as was centered
in that renowned artillery corps that was
wielded by that eminent patriot chief, Maj.
General William H Pendleton. As a
body it was composed of the very pride and
flower of Southern chivalry, and fully attested
its lofty claims to distinction on all
those bloody fields, stretching from Manassas
to Petersburg, and it is the especial
glory of the famous Washington Artillery
to have first wreathed the Confederate banner
with the smoke of its guns on the field
of Bull Run, and boomed the last hostile
defiance on mournful Appomattox Walton,
Walker and Long; Poague, Carter'and
Haskell; Pegram, Mcintosh and Nelson,
are names that will ever be honored in the
proud pantheon of Southern heroism and
devotion, aud will live as long as the fame
of that immortal struggle which they so
brilliantly signalized by their own lofty endeavor.
The original organization of the Confed
erate artillery was into companies, attached
each to its infantry brigade, and subject to
the orders of the brigadier; but it was soon
discovered that commanders of brigades, the
great majority of whom were from the walks
of civil life, were not the class of officers
to give the artillery arm that power and effectiveness
which, under skilful, scientific
direction, it was so emineutly susceptible.
Thorpf^rp hefnre the onenine of the SDrioir
' -r o - - - ? t,
campaign of 1863, a regular artillery aud
ordoaDce staff was organized in the Army of
Northern Virginia, with General Pendleton
at its head. Battalions were formed,
1 numbering from sixteen to twenty guns
! each, and operating in the field with its respective
iufantry division, and each under
the immediate command of its own artillery
chief, who had beeu assigned or promoted
to it by reason of his distinguished fitness
and qualification, as indicated by former
tests of high excellence in the practice of
I the field. And under the direotion of this !
able corps of artillery officers, the grand !
Southern field park, both mounted and horse, j
! proudly asserted its claim to a place in the
very front rank of the artillery armament
of the world. Pelham's and McGregor's
famous cavalry batteries that operated with
the dashing troopers of Stuart, won a distinction
second not even to the celebrity of
the famous flying artillery of Austria.
For the first two years of the war the field 1
j metal of the Confederate park was greatly |
iuferior to that of the enemy. The bat- !
ties of Bull Run, Manassas and the Seven
Pines were fought with six pounder guns, i
twelve-pounder howitzers and a few threeinch
rifles; and it was not until the battle
of Chanoellorsville that the Confederate ar-1
tillery armament was of sufficiently heavy
metal to cope successfully wjth the formid- j
able Federal field ordnance. By capture \
and foreign purchase the artillery of the !
Army of Northern Virginia was strengthened
by a full field complement of ten and j
twenty.pounder Parrotts, the twelve pounder
Napoleon gun-howitzer, aud a few Whit- j
worth and Armstrong rifles; but the twen-1
ty-pouoder Carrotts, and ttie twelve-pounder
Napoleons were the weapons with which
' the Confederate artillerists chiefly won their
bloody trophies, and wrote such a brilliant
chapter in the records of high artillery per- !
foruiance In nothing was the Southern '
artillery inferior to that of the Federal, save
in the matter of ammunition ; in ever^
other particular it was decidedly superior,
as attested on every field where the two
arms were brought in direct collision.
The army of the United States, whether
regarded in the light of its scientific theory
or practical arrangement, stands conspicuously
among the very highest models of
modern military organization It stood
confessedly high even before the opening of
the late bloody drama, and has since added
the fruits of a large and profitable practical
experience to its former high theoretical institutes,
making it a complete and finished
specimen of scientific military arrangement
and can be studied to eminent advautage by
oil fVio mnrWn war.hnreans that wish to
profit by the experienced results of novel
military formularities and appliances.
Secession North and South.
In the coarse of an interview that we
had with Jeff. Davis in January, 1865, the
subject of the terms of peace was introduced.
Mr. Davis asked us what was the
chief objection of the North to the recognition
of Southern independence We answered
that the North knew perfectly well,
as unquestionably he did, that if she should
lay down her arms, and consent to a division
of the Union into two Confederacies,
she herself wonld very soon be dissolved?
that State after State, States singly and
States combinedly, would secede, and the
whole North be split up into petty powers
or no powers, all of them contemptible in
the eyes of mankind, and not one of them
willing or able to contribute to the payment
of the national debt. Mr Davis replied,
with his characteristic calmness, that this
was certainly true, but that the same thing
would happen, and probably happen all the
sooner, if the North should continue to prosecute
the war.
We thought at the time that Mr. Davis
was greatly mistaken, and told him so. We
still trust that we were correct in our esti
mate of the character of his opinion, but
just now we can indulge no over-confidence
that we were. The North continued to
prosecute the war, and the South, after the
bravest and must desperate resistance known
in war's annals, was conquered. But now
come the North's trials. Now we are to
see the test of her internal strength. If,
out of the dreadful war betweeu the North
and the South, a Northern civil war arises,
it JMorthem armies marcn against eacn ocner,
vengeance before them aDd blood and
death and desert behind, many Northern
States will very soon weary aod sicken of
the horrid work, and will probably adopt
secession as the quickest and surest remedy,
fully relying upon the mighty troubles
aod perils of the Federal Government as a
perfect security against coercion. Most
likely the Northwestern States will go off
first, repudiating, of course, their proportion
of the public debt, and thus piling higher
the monstrous financial burden upon the
shoulders of the remaining States. These
will have neither the will nor the ability
to bear up under the crushing weight, and
so others will secede, and then others, till
the whole North shall be divided up into
such poor little non debt-paying, feeble,
mock-nationalities as a citizen of one of the
Mexican States or of the South American
republics or one of the petty, miserable
German principalities might look upon with
contempt and scorn Jeff Davis's declaration
to us as to the consequences of the war
to the North, if proseouted, will be amply
vindicated, and whatever resentments, if
any, he cherishes against the North, will be
abundantly satisfied. We tell tho Northern
fanatics, as a lover of our whole country we
solemnly tell them, that, unless madness
has seized upon their hearts aod brains,
they will not insist on pushing the dissensions
between the President and Congress
to the fighting point. They may rest as
sured, that, if the fight comes, it will be,
to them, such a ooc as the; have no account
of cither in history or tradition. They will
find it an infinitely different thing from the
war of the rebellion, dreadful as that was
throughout all its annals They will find
themselves a divided people, divided almost
equally, divided and mutually hostile,
whilst the whole population of the South
will be a unit, able to strike for their friends
or to stand afar from the flash, the crack,
and the roar of war, as may seem best to
them. The thick cloud now enveloping
the South maybe partially lifted ; but night
and storm, surcharged with bloody rain,
will close over the North We say to the
people of the North that a very large pro- j
portiou of them have acted and are acting j
most unwisely, most madly. Theirs is "tbe |
very error of the moon." They seem in- j
capable of profiting either by the South's i
experience or theirown. They imitate and j
follow tbe South in the most unhappy acts j
she ever committed. The South, in 1861, I
undertook to break up and destroy the Fed- j
eral Constitution She rebelled against it. !
Sheset at naught its provisions, and attompt-)
ed to maintain her attitude of hostility to it
by force of arms. She failed. As graciously
as she could, she recognized the result.?
She bowed to tbe arbitrament of war, and
has boen usiog whatever power and influence
she possesses in support of tho Cqqstitution
she strove so fiercely and desparately
to subvert and annihilate. But lo! the
Radical party of the North, claiming to bo
an overwhelming majority of that great section,
are uow violating and denying the
.L. n__.i .. j I
Uonsti tutioo even as me ooacn vioiaieu auu
defied it. No sooner does the South give
up rebellion, than the Northern fanatics inagurate
it. It is as true that there is a
Northern rebellion now, as that there was
a Southern rebellion five years ago. Rebellion
has simply changed its locality. But
just as it failed in one section, it will inevitably
fail in the other. It can have no
other future than a future like its past?a
future of blood, and humiliation and misery.
For years we invoked all the patriots of the
whole country to put down rebellion in the
South?we now invoke them to quellrebellion
in the North.
Prentice, Louisville Journal.
From the Georgia Citizen.
A Precious Document.
The following letter was found in the
streets of Camden immediately after the
army of General Sherman had left. The
original is still preserved and can be shown
and substantiated, if anybody desires, We
can add nothing in the way of comment
on such a document. It speaks for
itself:
Camp Near Camden, S. C., 1
February 26,1865 J
My Dear Wife: I have no time for particulars.
We have had a glorious time in
this State. Unrestricted license to burn
and pluoder was the order of the day.
The chivalry have beeD etript of moat of
theii valuables. Gold watches, silver pitchers,
cups, spoons, forks, etc., are as common
iu camp as blackberries. The terms of
plunder are as follows: The valuables procured
are estimated by companies. Each
compaoy is required to exhibit the result
of its operations at any given place?onefifth
and first choice falls to the share of
the commander-in Chief and staff, one-fifth
to the corps commander and staff, one-fifth
to field offioers of regiments and two fifths
to the company.
Officers are not allowed to join in these
expeditions without disguising themselves
as privates One of our corps commanders
borrowed a suit of rough clothes from one j
of my men and was successful in this place.
He got a large quaotity of silver (among
other things an old time silver milk pitcher)
and a very fine gold watch from a Mr.
DeSaussure at this place. DeSaussure is
one of the F F. V.'s of S. C , and was
made to fork out liberally. Officers over
the rank of captain are not made to put
their plunder in the estimato for distribu
tion. This is very unfair and for that reas
on, in order to protect themselves, subordinate
offioers and privates keep back everything
that they can carry about their
persons?suoh as riogs, ear rings, breast
pins, etc., cto., of which, if I ever live to
get home, I have about a quart I am not
joking?I have at least a quart of jewelry
for you and all tbo girls?and some No 1
diamond riogs and pins among them. Gen.
eral Sherman has silver and gold enough
to start a bank. His share in gold watches
and chains alone, at Columbia, was two hundred
and seventy-five (275).
But 1 said I could not go into particulars.
All the general officers and many
besides, have valuables of every description
down to embroidered ladies' pooket handkerchiefs
(I have my share of them too)
We took gold and silver enough from the
d?d rebels to have redeemed their infernal
currency twioe over. This (the currency)
when ever we came across it, we burned as
we considered it utterly worthless
I wish all the jewelry this army has could
bo oarried to the "Old Bay State." It
would dock her out in glorious style ; but
alas 1 it will be scattered all over the North
and Middle States. The damned niggere,
as a general rule, preferred to stay at home?
particularly after they found out that we
only wanted the able bodied men, (and, to
tell the truth, the youngest and best looking
women). Sometimes we took off whole
families and plantations of niggers, by way
of repaying the secessionists. But the
useless part of these we soon manage to lose
?sometimes in crossing rivers?sometimes
by other ways.
I shall write to you again from Wilmington,
Goldsboro,' or some place in North
Carolina. The order to march has arrived,
and I must close hurriedly. Love to grandmother
and aunt Charlotte. Take care of
yourself and the children. Don't show
this letter out of the family.
Your affeotionate husband,
Thos. J. Myers, Lieut, eto.
P. S ?I will send this by the first flag
of truce to be mailed, unless I have an opportunity
of sending it to Hilton Head.
Tell Sallie I am saving a pearl bracelet and
ear-ring for her. But Lambert got the
. . 1 ? . /?.! T
necklace and breast pin or tne same set. i
am trying to trade him out of them. These
were taken from the Misses Jamison, daughters
of the President of the South Carolina
Secession Convention. We found iheso on
our trip through Georgia."
This letter was addressed to "Mrs. Thos.
S- Myers, Boston, Mass "
A great many aneodotes are related of
personal bravery. We would like to see
that man who would deliberately allow a
woman to catch him making mouth's at her
babe.
Wrecking in the Mississippi ?The
Cairo (Illinois) Democrat relates that nearly
forty years ago the steamer Neptune sunk
in the bend below Cairo, and it was reported
that she bad a large amount of silver on
board. As there were no Western bell or
wrecking boats in those days, no efforts to
save any part of her cargo was made, until ,
twenty or twenty-five years afterward, when
a bell-boat, after long search, succeeded in
finding the wreck, well buried in the sand.
A large quantity of lead was recovered,
and among other articles brought to the surface
was a keg of butter, which, for a short
time after being opened, was apparently as
fresh and as sweet as when it left the upper
air so many years before. But by the time
all bands had examined it the delicious butter
began to show signs of decay, and in a
few minutes emitted such a detestable odor
that the bystanders were glad to push it
overboard with long poles, while their noses
were tightly compressed by their fingers
and thumbs. A carpenters' tool-chest was
also found, the tools in which, when opened,
seemed to be in a remarkably fine state
of preservation, the wooden handles and the
plane9 appearing almost uninjured, while
the iron seemed to have only a small coating
of rust. In a few hours, however, after
being exposed to the air the entire wood
work crumbled into dust, and the iron became
so thickly ooated or eaten up with
rust that it could be broken in pieces by the
fingers. It was never known, publicly,
whether any of the silver was recovered,
but many persons thought that the divers
could tell more about it than ever they did.
If none of the silver was recovered, the own- e;
ers of the bell-boat were nevertheless paid ii
for their enterprise by the recovery of lead
and other articles from the wreck. I
n
The Idiosyncracies of N. York Misers. t<
It is not generally known that New York tl
at the present time contains a large number n
of misers as inveterate and degraded as any 1<
on record, and if we had space we could tl
give a series of portraits of avarice and p
wealth whiob would make the reader shud- Ci
der. Many of these misers are old business ii
men, who have withdrawn from active life is
and Still koop op their faded and waathor ?i
worn signs, and beneath thegarbof trade, ply c
their money-saving habits. These men ri
will be found sitting solitary, in dingy offi- h
ces filled with cobwebs, and thick with the w
dust of years. Money borrowers know si
where to go, and here these pale and thread- li
bare fossils receive their best securities for
daily loans. Some of these half starved e<
wretches, whose trembling hands can hard- tl
ly sign a check, can draw for sums that n
would Bhake a bank. One of the richest si
men in the city is now to be found in just ai
such a dingy hole as we have described, d
where he loans enormous sums daily. He r
was a merchant once, and his old sign is u
still up; and inside, all things remain as C
they were half a century ago. He suffers si
daily for the comforts of life, but all this is si
compensated for by the pleasure of aocumu s<
lation. "They come to me to beg," said r<
the old man to an acquaintance, "and there p
is not a beggar in New York that doesn't is
live as I do," a statement which was quite a
true u
A specimen of the better class of this o1
genus was given in the late Exchange
Place robbery, were Rufus Lord, a man up- P
ward of fourscore, was the solitary occupant P
of an office, which contained between 81,- a
000,000 and 82,000,000 in stocks and securities,
all his own. Here this old man ai
sat, day after day, accumulating at the rate te
of 82,000 per week, no doubt hoping in 01
due time to get rich. Such a hord was
worth tapping, and tho job was odo of the u
neatest and most successful ever done in
New York. "
The late Stephen Whitney was a striking
instance of the commercial miser. When
we knew him he had made about $10,000,- ^
000, and at the age of seventy five was trying
hard to get rich. The person and courf- g
tcnance of this wretched man were a study.
The tremulous form, the sharpened features '^
and the solioitous eye told of the one idea
which mastered the soul. Mr. Whitney
was in his day to be seen habitually in Wall
street, picking his way along among the
brokers and sharpers, and buying notes, of
whioh he was a good judge His son in- ^
law was in a heavy business, but his paper
was not considered first rate; the only
chances of his success being that the old
man would keep him up. This chance we
used to hear often discussed, and on its ^
probability his paper found a market. But
the old man did not keep him up, and he
showed himself too sharp to be gulled by so
near a relative. Mr. Whitney was some- ^
thing of a politician ; on one ocoasioti the
leaders of his party came with an applica- ^
tion for funds for electioneering purposes.
"Gentlemen," was the reply, "I am with
you, heart and body. As for money, I have
none; but to help along, I will come and
sit up all night and fold ballots "
Some of these New York misers are utterly
recluse, while others are social and of- e<
ten meet to discuss methods of money ma- n
king The group occasionally seen in a T
certain old rookery; where a few millions tv
are represented in hungry form and seedy 01
raiment, would be a study for an artist.? si
The great complaint with this class is that ze
"interest is down, money is cheap, and the id
country is going to ruin Only tive per ti<
cent, on good paper, and sis on bond and ry
mortgage j and a9 for seven-thirties they ly
pay well enough, but one may get his throat pi
cut taking care of them. "The world's made w
of thieves and beggars, and there's no use n<
trying to get along."?N. Y. Citizen or
Curious Facts About Water. hi
The extent to which waters mingle with ar
bodies apparently the most solid, is very of
wonderful. The glittering opal, which at
beauty wears as an ornament, is only flint pi
and water. Of every 1200 tons of earth or
which a land holder has in his estate, 400 ~~
are water. The snow-capped summits of tu
Snowden and lien Nevis have many million ca
tons of water in a solidified form. In every t"a
plaster of Paris statue which an Italian to
carries through our streets for sale, there is di
one pound of water to four pounds of chalk. a
The air wo breathe oontains five grains of
water to each cubie foot of its bulk. The wi
potatoes and turnips which are boiled for be
our dinner have, in their raw state, the one
seventy-five per cent and the other ninety
per cent of water. If a man weighing ten P<
stones, were squeezed in a hydraulic pres9, of
seven and a half stone of water would run th
out, and only two and a balf of dry residue ati
remain. A man is, ohemioally speaking, all
forty-five pounds of carbon and nitrogen, tai
diffused through five and a half pailfuls of bi<
water. In plants we find water thus ming- po
ling no less wonderfully. A sunflower ar|
evaporates one and a quarter pints of water dii
a day, and a cabbage about the same quan- Sc
tity. A wheat plant exhales, in 172 days, th
ak/Mif inn nnn nroino nf tvafor An nfl
of growing wheat, on this calculation, ly
draws aod passes out about ten tons of wa- T1
ter per day. The sap of plants is the of
medium through which this mass of fluid tu
is oonveyed. It forms a delicate pump, up Ai
which the watery particles run with the in
rapidity of a swift stream. By the aotion lai
of the sap, various properties may be com- th
municated to the growing plant. Timber an
in France is, for instance, dyed by various pe
colors being mixed with water, and sprinkled tal
over the root of the tree. Dahlias are also er
colored by a similar process. bl
"Never Had a Quarrel."
Saoh is the remark of England's greatst
General, and the following story may
38trnot and profit other persons:
At a very late period of the life of the
>uke of Wellington be wrote thns: "I am
ot in the habit of deciding npon each mat
>rs hastily or in anger; and the proof of
bis is, that I never had a quarrel with any
ian in my life.' Let any one consider the
)ng and varied civil and military career of
ae iron Dnke; the innumerable olasses of
ersons with whom be was brought into
ontact; his constant vexations in the Penisular,
with red tapeism at home and Spanih
pride and suspicions abroad; bis diffinlties
in political lift*; thn habit* and
haracter of the army, especially at that peiod,
and then let him repress, if he can,
iB wonder at this great Captain being able,
hen quite over sixty years of age, to make
rch a broad declaration as to his past
te.
It is very evident that be who oommandd
others began by commanding himself;
iat the coolness, self-possession and sharpess
of view which were, perhaps, bis most
ilient traits in a campaign, were, in part,
t least, the fruits of a constant and careful
iscipline of his own feelings under ordinap
circumstances, "Never had a quarrel in
ly life !" How many civilians, how many
ihristians?aye I how many olergymen, can
ly the same thing. Yet it is certainly posble
to pass through life without quarrels,
jeing the old proverb holds good, that it
squires two to consummate any suoh unleasant
business. A quarrels with B That
i a misfortune whioh possibly A may not
void. A may want to pick a quarrel for
Iterior purposes, or he may be insolent or
ffensive without knowing it, or he may
ike a perverse delight in wounding other
eople's feelings. But in any case, it deends
upon B alone, whether there is to be
mutual quarrel.
If, like Wellington, he avoided acting in
Dger or haste?always the two great foments
of trouble?he will almost invariably
3me to despise the affront, if intended, or
> overlook it, if not At all events he will
ot "quarrel."
He may give the offender a wide berth
1 the future; he may shun association with
im, but he will have no altercation and he
ill nurse no grudge. If required to make
personal statement, oral or written, he will
o it with judicial calmness aod coolness,
voiding a reflection with others, and conning
himself simply to the facts If these
re questions he makes no reply, but leaves
ie issue to Time, to Truth, and to God.
The man who settles in his mind that,
ith God's help, he will never quarrel with
cy man, will almost certainly succeed.?
he very resolution would out off ninesnths
of the provocation of strife ; and any
T >. r..tici ?iJ J: a. ?.i
-IUIC IU IUIIUI iu wuuiu uiapuae ui IUC utuci
nth.
A Wonderful .Railroad Invention.
The London Ucralda&ya: It is a curious
ict that for the last four years au invention
hich tray prove ooe of the most useful as
ell as the most wooderful of this wonderorkiug
age has been on view within an
our's drive of Paris. The general public
*c at this moment unaware that a La Jou
iere, close to the pretty village of Bougial,
they have an opportunity of witnessing
very Sunday the extraordinary sight of a
til way train ascending a steep gradient
ithout the aid of- steam the carriages of
hich are destitute of wheels.
The invention is due to a French enginjr,
M. L. D. Girard It is found on a
ew application of an old principal, viz :?
hat a layer of water introduced between
vo metal surfaces, enables them to glide
i each other with as little friction as a 1
ab of ice on the polished surface of a fro;n
lake. M. Girard has conoeived the 1
lea of applying this principle to locomo- I
on, and the experiment he has been carding
on for the last four years, successful 1
demonstrates that it is applicable to the I
opelling of railway trains. Io his system j
heels are dispensed with, aod there can be
) doubt that were his invention applied to |
dinary railways, an engine which is now }
lly able to draw a train weighing, say five (
jndred tons, at the rate of twenty miles (
i hour, would with the same expenditure 1
' fuel, be able to draw double the weight
double the speed M. Girard, however, (
irposea to discard steam as a motive pow |
. This is the weak part of his inveotion
-the value of which consists in the substi- t
tion of sledge carriages for wheels. These
.rriages are fitted ou slides, which fit upon
ils of a peculiar construction , by simply
roiug a cock, a stream of water is intro (
iced between the slide and the rail, and ?
gentle motive power being applied, the
rriage mounted on the slide, shoots forird
with a speed which really has no limit (
yond the consideration of safety.
Southern Influence on National j
3litics. ? We notice that a great many
the Southern newspapers are advertising s
e people of the South to pay no further
tention to political affairs, but to give up a
1 care as to whether or not their represen- a
o? orlmittorl tn flnnm-oaa ftnH f.r? a. e
ll?v.a ?.v ?? O 7 X
de patiently the development of the par- ^
ses of their "Northern masters." They
gut* that the appearanoe of affairs is so f
scoaraging, and that the position of the a
iuth is one of saoh utter helplessness, that ^
e best thing its people can do is to let
litios drift, and devote themselves entire- fl
to improving their material fortunes.?
le advice, in a broad and prominent point a
view is bad. It woald be a most unfornate
thing that such a vast body of the
merican people should settle down into
difference upon suoh vital matters of popu- j
r concern. It is absolutely essential to J
e proper working and permament continuce
of our free institutions that the whole n
oplo of the country should at all times D
ke an active interest in them. Our Southn
fellow-citizens may, and uncjuestiooay
do, feel greatly disoomflfted in their re- t
cent political hopes; bat it oiaaot and will
not be long until they are enabled to renew
their activity upon a field in whioh, while
tbey have made several terrible blunders,
they have also taught the country some of
its most valuable lessons.?N. Y. Times.
A Touohing Incident.
A young maD and his wife were preparing
to attend a Christmas party at the bouse
of a friend, some miles distant. "Henry,
my dear husband, don't drink too much at
the party to-day; yon will promise me,
won't you ?" said she putting her hand upon
his brow, aud raising her eyes to his
# * ? ? M ..\T W11* .
lace witu a pleading smile, "no, mime,
I will aot; you may trust me," and she
wrapped ber infant in a soft blanket, and
they descended. The horses were soon
prancing over the tarf, and a pleasant conversation
beguiled the way. "Now don't
forget your promise," whispered the young
wife, as they passed up the steps. Poor
thing ! she was the wife of a man who loved
to look upon the wine when red. The party
passed pleasantly; the time for departure
drew near; the wife descended from the
upper chamber to join her husband. A pang
shot through her beating heart as she met
him, for be was intoxicated; he had broken
his promise. Silently they rode homeward,
save when the drunken man broke into
snatches of a song, or unmeaning laughter.
But the wife rode on, her babe pressed
closely to her grieved heart. "Give me the
baby, Millie; I can't trust you with him,"
he said, as they approached a dark and
swollen stream. After some hesitation she
resigned her Srst born?ber darling babe,
closely wrapped in a great blanket?to bis
arms. Over the dark waters the noble
steed safely bore them; and when they
reached the bank, the mother asked for her
child. With much oare and tenderness he
placed the bundle in ber arms; but when
she clasped it to her heart no babe was
there; it had slipped from the blanket, and
the drunken father knew it not. A wild
shriek from the mother aroused him, and
he turned round just in time to see the
little rosy face rise one moment" above the
dark waters, then sink forever, and that by
his own intemperance ! The anguish ot the
mother and remorse of the father are better
imagined than described Crlascow flews.
Prussia.?The London Times gives the
following as the solution of the remarkable
military strength of Prussia. The seoret is
that her system makes more soldiers in
proportion to population than any other:
Sixty yean since, after the famous battle
of Jena, Napoleon imposed on the defeated
Prussians the obligation to limit their
military establishments to a strength of 42,000
men. It was impossible to oontradiot
the Emperor, and not easy as might be
thought, to deceive him, but the device
was accomplished by Scharohort, the War
Minister of the time, who not only evaded
the deoree of Napoleon, but laid the foundations
of that military strength which has
just been displayed in a oareer of unexampled
triumph. Soharnhorst did restrict the
actual or visible army of Prussia to the specified
numbers, but he kept his army in a
state of perpetual change. Its constitution
never remained the same for twelve months
together, but resembled the waters of a lake
which receives a river at one end and dis
charges it at the other. As soon as a recruit
was thoroughly drilled and had become an
effective soldier he was dismissed to his
home and a fresh reoruit was received in
his plaoe, to be again disciplined and again
dismissed. The result of this system was
that the standing army beoame but a specimen
corps of a nation of soldiers. For
every soldier in the ranks there were five as
good as he in the body of the people, all
ready at the first call of the trumpet to reenter
the line of the army. When therefore,
seven years after her great defeat,
Prussia once more rose, a force of 200,000
men, admirably disciplined, appeared in the
place of an army which Napoleon believed
he had cut down to a fifth of that number.
T*he Prussians were not ungrateful to their
benefactor. To this day the statute of
Scharnborst, in white marble, stands by the
side of the great guard-house in the great
thoroughfare of Berlin, a reoord of military
lagacity as well as national fame.
Courage in Every-Day Life ?Have
the courage to discharge a debt while you
lave money in your pocket.
Have the courage to do without that
ivhioh you do not need, however much your
iyes may covet it.
Have the oourage to speak your mind
vhen it is necessary you should do so, and
,o hold your tongue when it is prudent you
should do so.
Have the courage to speak to a friend in
i "seedy coat," even though you are in
sompany with a rich one, and richly attirid.
Have the oourage to make a will, and a
net one.
Have the courage to tell a man why you
vill not lend him your money.
Have the courage to "cut" the most
igreeable acquaintance you have when you
,re convinced that he lacks principle. "A
fiend should bear with a friend's infirmiies,"
but not with his vices.
Have the courage to show your respect
or honesty, in whatever guise it appears ;
nd your coDtempt for dishonest duplicity,
iy whomsoever exhibited.
Have the oourage to* wear your old
lothes until you pay for your new ones.
Have the oourage to obey your Maker,
t the riBk of beine ridiculed by man.
Have the oourage to prefer comfort and
iropriety to fashion, in all things.
Have the courage to acknowledge your
gnorance, rather than to seek credit for
:nowledge under false pretences.
Have the courage to provide entertainaent
for your friends within your means?
lot beyondtfSf
Oregon has shipped 85,169,500 in
rcasure in the last eight months.