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?fl / lewis m. grist, proprietor, j Sn Jnkpcitbenf ^faiitilj Hetuspaper: Jfor % |)rom3tiori of the political, Social, t^iriraitnral artb Commercial Interests if t|e Surf{}. |TERMS?$2.50 A TEAR, IX ADVANCE. "VOL. 28. YOBKYILLE, S. C., THTJBSDAY, APRIL 2Q, 1882. NO. 16. Ihc Jforg Idler. MARRYING AGAIN. "Janie," said Squire Marden, "have you fed the young turkeys ?" "Yes, John," Jauie answered. "And looked after the calves, and turned the cheeses, and aired the featlier-beds, and cleaned the cellar, and sorted over the russet apples ?" "Yes, cousin John." "Ah J" said Squire Marden, "it's a heavy - responsibility to put upon one person, all these daily duties, Janie, eh?" "I hope to do everything to please you, John,"faltered the quiet girl, who sat picking over beans in a huge four quart pan. "Yes, Janie?yes, I've no cause to complain," said the Squire, thoughtfully feeling of his handsome, smooth-shaven chin, as he sat looking at the slender, pretty girl. While Janie Lee, conscious that his eyes were upon her, changed from pink to pale and then back iigain, and worked more steadfastly than ever. "Janie," said the squire, suddenly, "I've something to say to you, and there is no use in putting it off." Janie glanced up, more agitated than ever. "I'm thinking of marrying again," said the squire, abruptly. Janie tried to say, "Are you ?" but her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth. Poor, nine, iiuiternig, say uimg?ul uihi uiuwciu a Hood o? indescribable happiness seemed to overflow her soul. Ever since her cousin (Mrs. Marden) had died, four years ago, and she, a girl of sixteen, had taken the helm of house-keeping into her strong, young hands, she had been learning to worship the stately, handsome, noble-natured squire. Nothing was too much for her, when it was done for him. Full of CarlyleV'Hero Worship" Janie Lee could have written half a dozen volumes on the subject, and taken Squire John Marden for the central point of every one of them. Now and then, spurred by a kindly word, a gentle tone, she had ventured to hoi>e she knew not what. Oftener still, she had fallen into the deeps of despondency?until, at hist, she had resolved to spend her quiet and uneventful life in Squire Marden's service, whether or not her efforts were rewarded by the guerdon she so craved. But now?now that he looked at her with those kindly pleasant eyes?now that he spoke of "Marrying again"?her heart leaped high in her bosom. Were those long years of conscientious toil appreciated at last ? Was he, indeed, about to ask her to be his wife ? "Marrying again!" the squire repeated, slowly. You wouldn't object, eh, Janie ?" "I V" she faltered. "Your position, you see, would remain just the same," said he. "Matilda is a perfect child about the cares of housekeeping, and T /IrtnKf llZl nloodQil frt rnfQin Vfkll llprp y\ iii) -A- uuuuu uv- wv AV?M?M jw*?.-w?w ;is her right hand in the house : for, as you may perhaps have guessed, I have proposed to Matilda Kerr." Janie's heart seemed turning to ice within her. Matilda Kerr, the dashing city beauty who had been spending the summer at Mrs. Waller's?the handsome, dark-eyed I)i Vernon of a girl, who had made fun of farms and farmers, avowed her ignorance of all domestic details as if it were a merit, and dawdled away her time in croquet, lawn-ten nits and novelredding?Matilda, who dressed in the very extreme of fashion, with frizzed hair, stilt-heel French boots, pullback dresses, elbow sleeves and long, wrinkle-twisted kid gloves?who declared that life wasn't worth having without archery-parties, charades and chocolate caramels ! The last person in the world whom one could have imagined John Maiden to fancy ! "Don't fret, Janie !" said the squire kindly. "Your home is here always, wife or no wife. I haven't forgotten all that you were to poor Mary, before she died !" The touch of his hand upon her drooping head seemed to loose the fountain of her tears, and flinging away her work, Janie darted, sobbing, from the room. Squire Harden looked after her, in slow, scarcely-comprehending surprise. "Of all enigmas," he said aloud, "women are the least comprehensible. One would think she would have been delighted at the prospect of some one to keep her company in the house. Hut perhaps she prefers being alone. Janie always was a quiet little thing." Hut when she came to call him to tea, Janie Lee was quite calm and composed again?a little pale, perhaps, but otherwise entirelv herself. "Mr. Marden," said she, with downcast eyes, "I am sorry I behaved so foolishly, this afternoon ; but I was so taken by surprise. I?I am sure I hope that you wil l be happy !" "You are always a kind little darling, Janie," said Mr. Harden, with a smile. "And I j am sure you and Tillie will get along nicely \ together." .Tunie did not reply ; but after tlie housework was all (lone, that evening, and she was in her own room, she set herself diligently to work, writing out an advertisement?'' Wanted, a Situation." "For I never can live in the same house with the haughty beauty who has stolen John Marden's love away from me," she thought, with a cruel pang at her heart. So the lovely September days went by, and the colored leaves began to fall, and the nuts to drop softly in the woods at night; and when October reigned it royally over hill and mountain, the wedding-day drew near. Tillie Kerr had been to visit the farm-house. A hard, hard duy it was for Janie when she came with her black silk dress, with its fanshaped train and plumed ltubens hat, and white blonde scarf, wrapped like a fringe of sea foam around her neck, to criticise and find fault, and stare in a curious, listless way at the rooms which had been Janie's pride and care so long. "This hall is so ridiculously narrow," said the bride elect; "and the idea of such funny little winding stairs! Why, they make me think of a cork-screw !" John Marden looked at the staircase down which he had been carried a baby. It had never struck him as incongruous before. "And, of course," rattled on Miss Kerr, "you will have the partition between these two rooms taken down, and an archery put up ?" "Of course," echoed Squire Marden. x Rut he didn't know why he said it. Janie was looking on, and there was a pained look in her face. She was thinking how poor Mary's corpse, crowned with white dowers, had lain there so short a time ago?how the dear old mother whose memory John still so tenderly revered, died in the sunny backroom, just when the March snow-drops were bursting through the frozen ground. 1. r J ?u A "XllOllgu I uun t Miinvy iumni uic unur, playing with the ivory top of her parasol, "but that it would really be cheaper in the end to pull the whole thing down, and build something to suit one's self exactly." "The house is over a hundred years old," said Squire Marden, gravely. "There is no other house in the country so old." "Oh, horrid!" cried Matilda, recoiling with a little theatrical cry. "The idea of living in a house that is?a hundred years old!" And she laughed and rustled away with her jet chains sparkling, her presence leaving a faint perfume behind her of patchouly ; and .lanie had secretly felt that, if she saw much more of Miss Kerr, she should learn to hate her cordially. The wedding evening came and all the country people, high and low, were invited to participate in the festivities. Mrs. Waller, from whose house the bridal ceremony was to be celebrated, had done her best to give her friend what she called "a tip-top wedding." The village band was engaged ; the walls were decked with autumn leaves, scarlet nerries and evergreens ; the bridal-cake was a mountain of snowy perfection ; and the old clergyman, in his robes* stood at the door, when Mrs. Waller came hurriedly in, with a pale, frightened face, N to where the bridegroom stood, stalwart and handsome, with his "best man" at bis side. "There's no use trying to hide matters any longer," said she, hysterically?"Tillie has gone ! Gone with Captain Swedenborg ! She went riding with him this afternoon, and I j made sure she'd come back. But she hasn't: I and here's the telegram from New York, j Read it, some one. I haven't the face to ! do it," Judge Toucey, who stood next to her, put on his spectacles and leisurely jierused the telegram: "Good-by, everybody !" it Raid saucily. "I am married to Captain Swedenborg, and sail for ! Europe to-morrow. Every woman lias a right ! to change her mind, and I have changed mine. "Tillik Swkdenbohg." There was a brief silence of a second or tivo, | and then Squire Maiden spoke out. "Changed her mind, has she!" he said in a clear ringing voice. "Well, I haven't changed mine. I came here to be married, and married I intend to be ! If it is not to one bride, it shall be to another. Little Janie," to the pale girl in the dove-colored silk dress, who stood at his side, "will you take the place, in my love and home, which this heartless woman has left vacant ? Will you be rny wife ?" To the day of her death, Janie never Knew exactly what she answered. She only knew that she was gently led to the bride's place; that Squire John's strong hand held hers; that his clear voice spoke the responses ; that she murmured her share, feeling, all the while, as if she were in a dream. But when the ceremony was over, and the guests crowded around to offer their congratulations, the mists all cleared away from her heart and brain, and the tranquil light came back to her eye. L* John Maiden's wife! What higher happiness had life to offer to her ? And when they were driving home, in the soft autumnal moonlight, she looked wistfully into his face. ' John," said she, "are you sure that yon do not regret this sudden step of yours V" "Regret it, sweetheart V" he said, tenderly pressing her hand. "Regret that I have discovered, ere it is too late, that false, fair woman's crafty nature? Regret that I have found my sweet guardian angel at last ?" And so the nine days' wonder of Squire Maiden's manage died away. Mrs. Swedenborg never returned from Europe?and Janie and her husband live happily in the old farmhouse, which never has been altered, and never will be. "It is good enough for us," says Squire Marden, when people talk about "modernizing the place." "It is home!" Janie adds, softly. "Our home!" And the words are full of the sweet happiness of her heart. THE FIFTY-DOLLAR BILL. Mrs. Dean sat alone in her little kitchen. She never used her parlor. There was the extravagance of an extra tire to be considered? the fact that the best rag carpet, woven by her own skillful hands, must not be worn out too recklessly, the dread possibility of sunshine fading out those chair covers. Mrs. Dean was an economist. She believed in making everything last as long as it jiossibly could. And so she made the kitchen her headquarters, and sat there knitting, with her feet comfortably balanced on the stone hearth, the saucepan of apples bubbling softly away at the back, and the sound of her husband's "axe ringing from the back shed as he cut and split the kindling wood piled up there in well-seasoned logs.She was a little, wrinkled-faced woman of fifty, with stiff ribbon bows to her cap, hair that seemed dried up instead of silvered, and Keen Diue eves mac iwmKiea as 11 uiey imu discovered the secret of perpetual motion. To save money was her chief end and aim in life. The very mittens she was knitting were to be sold at the village store in exchange for tea, sugar spices, and all necessary groceries. "A penny saved is as good as a penny earned," was the golden rule by which she shaped her life. "I'm glad I took the money out of the savings bank yesterday," said Mrs. Dean to herself, as the bright needles clicked merrily away. "People say it ain't quite safe. And one can't be too careful. But then, again, there's the danger of burglars?though, to be sure, no burglar," she added, with a complacent inward chuckle, "would ever think of looking bettwen the fold of the old 'Clinkerville Clarion' in the wall pocket. It's the bureau drawers, and the trunks and locked-up chests that they aim for. A fifty-dollar bill! A clean, crisp, new fifty-dollar bill! And all savings, too, out of the house money !" Just then there sounded a knock at the door, and in came old Dr. Bridgman, rubicund with the touch of the March whul, and muffled up in the furs of the wild animals which, from time to time, he himself had shot. "Good-day Mrs. Dean, good day 1" said he. "Xo, thank you ; I can't sit down. I'm a deal too busy for that. But I heard yesterday that you took fifty dollars out of the savings bank." "Yes," said Mrs. Dean, her face involuntarily hardening, "I did." "We are taking up a subscription to get little lame Dick Bodley a cart and a donkey to go around peddling tin-ware," said the doctor. "It's pretty hard for anyone afflicted as he is to get along, and if vou can help us a little?" "But I can't," interposed Mrs. Dean, breathlessly. "The money was an investment. I don't propose to cut it up into little bits." "It's a deed of charity, Mrs. Dean," said the good old man, "to help lame Dick Bodley." "I dare say," said Mrs. Dean, a little irritably. "But I never pretended to be a charitable character." The old doctor went away, and the next visitor was Helen llurst, a rosy girl of eighteen. "Excuse me for interrupting you, Mi's. Dean," said she, "but Larry .Johnson was at the bank yesterday, ana lie tens me mat yon drew out your money.'' "Was all creation there ?" thought Mrs. Dean. But she said nothing, only knit away until her needles seemed to glance and glitter like points of tire. "I am trying to get a boarding place at Mrs. Swipes'," said Helen, coloring, "so as to be near the district school, where I am to teach this spring. But Mrs. Swipes requires payment in advance by the month, and unfortunately we have used all our small means in providing my outfit. A teacher, you know, must be dressed decently to command the respect of her pupils. But if you would kindly lend me te^i dollars?" "I never lend," said Mrs. Dean, curtly. "I will be sure to pay it up when I receive my first quarter's salary," pleaded Helen. "And 1 don't know of any one else to go to." "It's altogether against mv principles," said Mi's. Dean, with her face as hard as if it had been carved out of hickory. Helen Hurst crept out, feeling humiliated and disappointed beyond all expression. Mrs. Dean chuckled at her own shrewdness; but she had hardly time to stir up the apples in tiie saucepan, before Mrs. Graham entered with a little leather-covered memorandum book and pencil. "I am looking for charitable people, Mrs. ! Dean," said the squire's wife, with a laugh, j "Then you've come to the wrong place," j said Mrs. Dean, frigidly. "Boor 1'atrick O'Jlura was killed yesterday in the machinery of the rolling-mills," said Mrs. Graham, ignoring her neighbor's response. "Helms left a wife and eight children, totally destitute." "And whose fault is that V" said Mrs. Dean. "Will you not contribute something toward i relieving their destitute condition ?" urged | Mrs. Graham, opening the book and holding : the pencil ready for use. "Certainly not," said Mrs. Dean. "I've no j money to spare." "But I was told?" ! "Oh, yes?about the money that was drawn i out of the savings bank !" said Mrs. Dean. I "But I intend to keep that money for myself, i Mrs. Graham." " 'He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the ! Lord,'" softly spoke Mrs. Graham. "Yes, yes?I know," said Mrs. Dean. "But ! nobody interprets the Bible literally nowadays. Mrs. Graham took her departure, cknowledging within herself that her errand was a failure; and Mrs. Dean, left to herself, indulged in a nap, with the knitting-work in her lap?a nap wherein she dreamed that the I fifty-dollar bill had taken to itself legs and was running away from a crowd of pursuers, i herself tunong the niunber. When she waked up, roused by the noise of i coal being poured upon the stove, a candle i was burning and Mr. Dean was laughing at her. "Why, Betsey," said he, "I thought you never were going to wake again. Here you silt, with the fire dead out, and I've had to kindle it up again," "Bless me !" said Mrs. Dean. "I must have been asleep quite a while. But"?as she started up she saw that the old wall pocket opposite was empty?"where is that old number of the 'Clinkerville Clarion ?'" "It was last week's paper," said Mr. Dean, calmly. "We had both of us read it, so I just took it to kindle the fire." "You burned it up V" "Yes, I burned it up. Why shouldn't I ?" For half ail hour Mrs. Dean sat silent. Her first utterance was,? "It's the Lord's judgment upon me I" Mrs. Dean was a resolute woman, full of character. She went to her table drawer, took out a sheet of paper and wrote to Dr. Bridgman, inclosing a dollar toward lame Dick Bodley's cart. She sent another dollar to Mrs. Graham for the O'Haras, and promised to do, nate a barrel of russets, a bushel of potatoes, and some of her husband's cast-off clothes to cut over for the children. And she sent for Helen Hurst to come and see her. "I can't lend you ten dollars, my dear," said she, "because I haven't got it. But I'll let you make your home here as long as you ! wish. There's a,nice spare room, and it's an 1 eighth of a mile nearer than Mrs. Swipes' to 1 the district school." J "Oh, how very good you are !" said Helen, j her eyes swimming with grateful tears. "Good !" cried Mrs. Dean. "I'm just beginning to see what a selfish, greedy creature ( I've been all my life. But you're welcome, 1 my dear, and your board sha'n't cost you a ; cent." ; She opened her parlor, shook out the curtains, and built a fire in the air-tight stove. ' "Dean likes the parlor," said she, "because it has such nice south windows, and I don't ' see why we shouldn't enjoy it." She baked a fresh batcli of gingerbread and ! sent a loaf to old Mrs. Mudge; she took out a J basket of hickory nuts for little Harry Jones, ' who was trying to crack dried-up pignuts on a stone by the roadside. She renewed her subscription to the church charities. "I can't be very liberal," she said, "but I j am determined to'do what I can." ] "That's right, my dear?that's rignt i" saiu : her husband. "We shall be prosperous, nev- ] er fear. I'm awfully sorry about burning up your fifty-dollar bill; but if it's going to ] open your heart like this, it's the best thing that could have happened to us " Mrs. Dean was sweeping out the kitchen. She looked around with a smile as she took down the wall pocket, a rude structure of splints lined with red cambric and tied with cords and tassels of red worsted, to dust it out. "Yes." she said, "I am afraid I was getting a little miserly, and?why, what's this ?" "Mr. Dean stooped and picked up a slip of crumpled green paper, which had fallen out of the wall-pocket as his wife turned it upside down and tapi>ed her finger against it to remove all possible dust. "It's the fifty dollar bill!" said he, with mouth and eyes opening in unison. "It must have slipped down from the folds of the newspaper and lodged here." "The l^ord has sent it back to us," said Mrs. Dean, reverently; "and he has sent a lesson, wise and merciful, with it." "Well," said )lr. Dean, after a moment or iwo of silence, "there's a lesson in almost everything He does, if we did but know it." And all the theologians in the world could not have improved upon the faith of this simple, unlettered old farmer. Left-IIandedness.?Why a man should strike with his left hand when unarmed, but ? should use his sword or lance with the right, t is a difficult question to answer. That there is no innate disposition to prefer the one or the i other hand for any purpose, is abundantly ( proved by the fact that out of a dozen young 1 children, half will show a preference for the t one and half for the other. In some cases the ( partiality for the left is so strong as to tri- I umph even over the persistent attempts of c parents and nurses to "break" their charges of what they consider a bad habit. These obsti- l nate youngsters grow up left-handed, and are c lifo mnftli nvoroic?o/l fn I'nnw f Ul ten 111 (UttL 11JLO U1UUI WAUJViOVU WW i\nvii whether, after all, their peculiarity is an ad- i vantage or the reverse. Certainly, to a man e who becomes good at cricket, it adds much to 1 his efficiency as a bowler, he is able to deliver { his ball from the left, and thus puzzles the i batsman, whose experience leads him to calcu- t late upon a twist in the opposite direction, c Left handed swordsmen and boxers are also < specially difficult to encounter, and the same t thing may be said of racquet or tennis players, a and many other proficients in out-door exer- t cises, who have the use of the left hand either i by preference or concurrently with the right. ( It is, however, plain that in all times and ( places the right has had the preference, and i has been armed with the engine of attack, so t much so that amongst the Greeks a favorite t expression for "by the left" was the phrase < "toward the shield side." The Romans had t a term which shows still more strongly the t comparative uselessness of the left hand?for i in their language "left-handed" means clumsy, i and is almost identical with the similar word < yam-lie in modern French?borrowed by some i of oiu- own writers as a convenient and useful 1 metaphor. Madame de Remusat relates that t Napoleon, who was at first extremely remiss f in matters of etiqutte, displayed at one of his entertainments the utmost perplexity^at find- ( ing himself unaware which arm he ought to f offer to a great lady of the court. ( The Care of Our Eyes.?When so much 1 is being said and written every day concerning 1 improved methods of illumination, the follow- ] ing observations on "The Care of Our Eyes," by Professor Thomson, in "Our Continent," < will be found interesting: 1 "To care for our eyes is to be aware that 1 any symptoms of fatigue or pain maybe due 1 to mechanical causes, which may lead to change < r\f fnrm i\r etriiftt.lirft iinH whiftll shnillfl lift ftOl' rected by the use of glasses selected with the 1 greatest care, to obviate any individual peeu- i liarities of form, either congenital or acquired, 1 and to be used even in childhood. No pro- ] longed near work should be done in a light, < either natural or artilieial, which is felt to be too feeble, nor in badly ventilated or close rooms. "Since fatigue is usually due to the strain i upon the muscular apparatus, and as this is < greater in proportion to the nearness of the > work from the eye, care should be used to ] avoid bending over or placing the head nearer to the work than is requisite for clear vision, i "The early use of glasses for persons passing 1 beyond middle life, and their increase in i>ower i ; as it may be needed, is also strongly advised. : "The avoidance of all irritating gases, dust ' or smoke, which are felt to produce pain, and : the suspension of near work when it gives its danger signal of fatigue are self-evident. "Assuming the fact now admitted that the I most educated nations present the highest av: erage of diseased eyes, and that the cause and I etfect are now clearly perceived in the overi tasking of the visual apparatus during the ed- : ! ucational period of life, it becomes requisite j to consider how instruction may be as efficient- < ! ly transmitted to the brain through the organs I of bearing as by those of vision." Ox the IIlue Danuhe.?'The floating grain ' lVninho urfl lfa ninuf. mirimw "fpn- I j 1111113 VII IIIC X/CWJU??V IflV IWU ntvuv V....VMU 1.V,. . | ture. Fancy two canal boats moored parallel j to each other in mid-river, about fifteen or I twenty feet apart, and supi>orting between them the crank of a gigantic mill-wheel, turn11 ed by the current of the stream. Fancy, morej over, the sides of one of those boats carried up , | one story higher than the other, then roofed i over a hi Noah's ark, with windows and doors ] i as needed, and you will have a fair idea of these j Dauul>e grain mills, some four or live thousand i , of which, in groups of ten or twelve together, .are scattered along this watery highway, all the way from Vienna to Belgrave. Each mill i is inscribed with its owner's name. j?fi$ttilaM0tt5 fUadinij. From Southern Historical Papora for March. BATTLE OF THE CRATER, JULY 80, 1864. Columbia, S. C., February 25th, 1882. Mr. Editor: I have observedreports of Die above-named battle, published in your journal, very imperfect and erroneous. I commanded Elliott's brigade that day, the line on which was the scene of the battle, and am presumed to know something about it. In justice to the brigade, I have thought of giving you a sketch of the services of the brigade on that occasion, but have been unable to fulfill my desire. The best I can do at present is to give you the following two papers on the subject: First, an extract of a speech made by me before my regiment, Seventeenth South Carolina volunteers, at their reunion at Chester Courthouse, S. C., August 13th, 1879. This, of course, lacks detail of other commands, which would add to its value. Second, a full report made me by M-.iinr _T r fViif. wlin emnmnmlpd some bn.tf.p ries that day. This will ampiy repay perusal from its accurate account of the batteries north of the crater, which has never yet been published in your jourhaL Very respectfully, &c., F. W. McMaster. extract from a speech of col. m'master. I will, with some care, describe this terrific battle, for it seldom falls to the lot of a regiment to act such a conspicuous part in saving an army. The Seventeenth, with the assistance of a small number of the Twenty-sixth regiment, with the cooperation of Wright's battery, prevented Grant from entering Petersburg that day and capturing the whole of Beauregard's army. Pegram's salient, where four guns, under Uaptain Pegnim, of Richmond, forming part uf Major Coit's battalion, was in the centre of Elliott's brigade. The brigade was arranged in the following order, from left to light? Twenty-sixth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-second and Twenty-third regiments. " Grant had massed 05,000 men opposite this brigade. Beauregard's whole force in the line was only three-and-a-half brigades. The theory of the assault, as stated by General Meade, in the Court of Enquiry, held by the Federals soon after, was for General Burnside, with 15,000 men, to rush in the opening made by the explosion, and dash over to Cemetery Hill, ive hundred or six hundred yards to the rear ; diis corps to be followed by General Ord with 10,000 men. He states that he had 40,000 to 50,000 for the attack of the place, and to rush n the rear of the Confederate lines. The mine was exploded one-quarter of 5 A. VI., 30th July, 1804, with eight thousand rounds of powder. It overwhelmed the bat;ery, the whole of the Eighteenth, three comlanies of the Twenty-third and part of compary A, Seventeenth regiment. For some minltes there was the utmost consternation among iur men. Some scampered out of the lines ; some, paralyzed with fear, vaguely scratched it the counter-scarp as if trying to escape. Smoke and dust filled the air. A few minutes ifterwards General Ledlie's division began to jharge. This aroused our officers; they Degan ;o cneer, ana our men uounuea on uie uanjuette and commenced firing on the ranks of nen who were rushing in without firing a gun. [3y this time some of the men of the gallant Eighteenth, who extricated themselves from ;he bank which covered them, came rushing lown the trenches, and iis many as could picked ip guns and began firing. For a considerable ;inie the firing was done entirely by the infant y. In a few minutes afte: the explosion Maj. Jo\t, who commanded the most effective artilery on our side, came up to see if any of his juns were uninjured. As soon as he could each Wright's battery of four guns, in the avine to the rear of liansom's brigade, which ,vas at least half an hour after the explosion, le began to fire, and shot six hundred balls ino the divisions of Potter, Wilcox and Ferrero, vliich succeeded Ledlie's division. These juns were the only ones on our lines which, belides enfilading the enemy at close range, could ilso/re on the crater and part of our lines. Major Gibbes, who had only one gun on the ight of the Confederate line capable of enfilaling the enemy, began with this gun about one lour after the explosion, and killed many of he enemy. One or two hours later, Major Jibbes and Major Ilaskell moved their mortar latteries and dropped a number of balls in the uater and lines. In fifteen or twenty minutes after the ex>losion General Elliott came up through the :rowded ditch, followed by Colonel Smith of he Twenty-sixth regiment, with a few of his nen, and ordered the Twenty-sixth and Sevmteenth to form a line on the crest of the fill, and charge the crater. lie and a few men gallantly jumped up 011 the crest of the hill, ibout fifty yards of the crater, he pointed out he line, and Wiis in less than five minutes shot lown and brought back. The command then levolved on your Colonel, who countermanded -he order to form 011 the crest of the hill, which ,vas utterly impracticable, and formed some of ;he men in the ditches, which went to the rear md commanded some yards in the rear of the :rater. Courier after courier was sent to the livision commander, and one courier to the egiments on the right of the crater. I ordered Colonel Smith to take his regiment, with -lnee companies of the Seventeenth, under Captain Crawford (which then were larger ban the Twenty-sixth regiment) to form in ;he ravine in the rear of the crater, and cover ip the g.ap, there to lie down and to rise up md fire when necessary, so as to prevent the nemy from rushing down the hill and getting 11 the rear of our lines. This order was >romptly executed, and gave the remainder of be Seventeenth in the main trench more room ;o use their guns. The damage done?let the enemy tell. General Meade says the assault came principally !rom his riijht (our left) of the crater. The unemy brought guns from all points and threw ihells into the crater. General Potter began lis movement towards the crest, and was met ay another force of the enemy, and was compelled to fall back. General Potter says : "The next fire I saw caine from the right; there was a battery bebnd some timber, which it was very difficult for our batteries to reach. I ordered my own Catteries to turn their whole attention to that cne, but they apparently produced no effect." Many officers testify that repeated assaults were made to secure the crest ; some say they jaw them make two distinct charges early in the morning, but were repelled by men who rose up in the ravine. One fixes the number if these men at 200, some as high as 500. These vien who repelled these charges were the Seventeenth and part of the Twenty-sixth. The negroes, numbering 4,300 muskets, un- . ier General Ferrero, rushed to the mine at 8 o'clock, and one distinct charge, as alleged, occurred soon after. Some of the officers allege their men got 200 yards towards the crest, which was 500 yards to the rear, but this is a clear mistake. None ever advanced 50 yards beyond, for I watched their efforts with great anxiety up to about 0 o'clock, as 1 believed the fate of Petersburg defended on it. The officers frequently attempted to urge their men forward, and some would rush across a few yards and then run back. Colonel Smith informed me after the battle, that the enemy made a charge, aud upon his uien rising and pouring in a volley, they did not make the attempt again. Captain Crawford, who commanded the detachment of the Seventeenth, says, the Federal officers succeeded in getting about 2(J0 men, three different times, outside of the crater, and they never advanced more than 30 yards before his men drove them back. AYe saw at one time fourteen beautiful banners waving in the crater and gallant officers, trying'to urge their men on in the direction of f lenieterv Tlill. Tint all efforts tn reach this point, from the rear of the crater, failed by 9 o'clock. And they then attempted to effect their purpose by taking the lines north of the crater, which would secure them a chance to reach the point of their destination, by the ravine which passed through Ransom's lines. This, together with the conformation of the ground necessarily forced the burden of the battle on the Confederate line, north of the crater and in close proximity to it. And es|)ecially on Elliott's brigade ; the right of Ransom's brigade and the artillery under the command of Major Coit. The enemy, tlmS having changed their tac tics, would occasionally rush on our rigli flank. "We made barricades to oppose then Then they would rundown the front of the lin and jump over and were met with the bayone and clubbed with the musket. Generally the were repelled; occasionally they succeeded an captured some men. Private Hoke, of Compj ny A, was thus cut off, and refused to surrer der, and struck down several of the enemy lx fore he was bayoneted. Few battles coul show more bayonet wounds than this. After a severe hand to hand light, disputin every inch, and losing the gallant Lieutenant Lowry, Pratt, McCorwell, and Captain I)unc I vant, whose aim was shot off, and many brav men, we were driven down the hill to Rar sorn's brigade, which at this time was pourin in an enfllading Are. The fourth division, in front of the lines c Elliott's brigade, must have numbered 16,0(X Besides this. General Turner with 4,000 me charged Ransom's brigade on our left, au< was driven back. At 10 o'clock I was ordered to the brigad head-quarters to see General Bushrod Johnson our division commander. Sometime after Ma hone came up, the Seventeenth under Captai Steele, the ranking officer present, was turne over to him by order of General Johnson Mahone's troops were formed in the lire a] ready there. It took probably two hours la fore Mahone's men all came and then a splen did charge was made. The final charge which catured the work was made about 1 o'clock P. M. Thetestimc ny of the enemy is that the troops retreated a 2 o'clock, but this refers to the many wli ran back before our men got the prisoners ou of the crater. Our dutiful Lieutenant-Colone was on the brink of the crater and came fron the hospspital, when he was ill, in time to join in the charge, when the prisoners surren dered, and had the opportunity of receivini a number of banners, but cared not for sue! honors. Our adjutant more ambitiously re ceived two of them, but subsequently allows some of Mahone's men to spirit them away. Elliott's brigade lost 1577 men that day, ac cording to the estimate made by Adjutan Fant a few days after the battle. This wa more than half the Confederate loss on thi day: The 18th South Carolina Volunteers lost 205 men " 22nd " " " " 216 " " 23rd " " " " 49 " " 20th " " " " 72 " " 17th w ? " " 135 " 677 The enemy's loss, acording to Genera Grant's estimate a short time afterwards, wa above 5,000 men, including 23 commanders o regiments and two commanders of brigades These desperate trenches became the abode o the Seventeenth for the rest of the war. LETTER FROil J. C. COIT. Cher aw, S. C., August 2, 1879. Col. F. W. Mc Muster, Columbia S. C.: Deai Colonel.?Yours of the 29th ultimo received In giving yon an account of the part taken b] the artillery under my command, and my ob nervations ot tue conduct or tne otner troop! engaged at the battle of the crater in front o1 Petersburg, on July 30th, 18G4, you will ex cuse me for going somewhat into details, as il seemed to me that I could not give an iutel ligent account of that engagement withoul doing so. I would state in the beginning thai my camp-desk and all official papers of ni] command were captured when the eneiny'i cavalry made an attack on the artillery train near Appomattox station, on the night o] April 8th, 1865. What I state, therefore h from recollection without reference to officia documents. My immediate command consisted of fom batteries of artillery, of four guns each, to-wit Bradford's, of Mississippi, four 20-pouudei Parrots : Wright's, of Halifax, "Virginia, foui 1'2-ponnaer Napoleons; Pegram's, of Peters burg, Virginia, four 12-pounder Napoleons Kelly's of Chesterfield, South Carolina, (mj old battery,) four 12-pounder Napoleons. At the time of the explosion of the min< Kelly's Battery was on detached service ir North Carolina. When General Grant crossed to the south side of the James River my battalion was ir position in front of General Butler at Ber muda Hundreds, and was moved upon the lines in front of Petersburg, when Grant made his fir9t attack upon that place from Citj Point. In the defence of Petersburg, there fore, my command occupied the front froir the beginning until the close of the siege During the ten months of that siege, while the infantry were shifted from point to point, my artillery, except for a short time, occupier the same position. While my recollectioi: therefore as to the position of brigades at certain dates (owing to the frequent changes may not always be correct, still I was perfectlj familiar with the general topography of tin country and location of troops upon the part of the line occupied by my command. Tin same may be said in reference to artillery upor the Jerusalem plank road. These guns beinj some distance from the front line could tx easily removed, and frequent changes wen made. There were some mortars on the plan! road near the covered way, and some gum near the Gee house on the morning of the ex plosion, but I do not recollect who command ed them that dav. Of these I will speal hereafter. I enclose herewith a sketch froir memory of the lines and the position of the troops. Batteries, covered ways, and impor tant points adjacent to the crater. This sketch will probably aid you more in under standing1 the position of the troops as I recollect than any written description I could give The sulient marked A, when the mine was exploded, was occupied by Pegram's battery four guns. The battery to the left of the crater, marked B, was "Wright's of Halifax, Va. four guns. The battery marked C, on nortl side of Appomattox, was Bradford's, of Mis sissippi, four 20-pounder Parrotts. The battery was opposite the enemy's batter] Xo. 1, and was intended to enfilade their lines as far sis the Hare house and beyond. These were the batteries under my command on tin 30th Julyv 1804. Elliott's brigade occupied the position marked A, the right being in z gorge line in rear of Pegram's battery, anc the left extending to or near the ravine ii; front of Wright's battery. My recollection is that Hansom's brigade occupied the line oi Elliott's left, and Grace's brigade on Ransom's left. I have no distinct recollection wind troops were to Elliott's right and beyond the centre; I think Wise's brigade. I do notknovt who commanded the one-gun battery to the right of the crater. This gun was in a ravine or hollow ; was intended to sweep the space ir front of the salient on the right, but I am sure could not reach the enemy after they occupied our works. I understood at the time the as sault was made that this gun was aDanaonet by those having it in charge, but was at'ter wards effectively served ; Captain McCabe, ir his account of the defence of Petersburg, says by Hampton Gibbs and Lieutenant Chamber layne. This also is the gun alluded to by Gem eral nunt as being the only gun on the righl of the crater that he did not silence. Tin truth is, it was the only gun on the right thai could reach the assaulting columns, and ii could not reach them after they entered oui works. As to the guns in position on the Je rusalem plank road, in rear of the crater, 1 have no certain recollection. I remember thai a section of Garden's, South Carolina battery, was there a few days before the battle, bul whether it was there on the 30th I do nol know. I see by the May No., 1878, Southern IIiSTORrcAL Papers that Captain Flanner's North Carolina battery occupied that position, General Bushrod Johnson's headquarters was upon the Jerusalem plank road, near the cem etery, and is marked in the sketch, Genera Elliott's and my own near the spring on tin covered way, in rear of his brigade. The artillery to the left of Wright's battery, and to the right of the one gun battery on tin right of the crater, may have thrown a few shot into the enemy's lines in the front, bul took no part in the engagement at the crater, During the day some artillery was broughl from the right or rear and placed in position on Cemetery hill, hut took no part in the engagement. The only artillery actually engaged was Wright's battery, the battery al the Gee house, and the two mortar batteries marked on sketch M, and the one gun batter} to the right of the crater (F C). The ravine in which Gen Mahone formed his division, hekJ it fore making the charge upon the crater, is i. shown in the sketch to the rear of Eliott's ie headquarters, and extending out from the it covered way in a direction between the crater y and the Flank road. d The night before the explosion I remained i- in Pegram's battery until 12 o'clock, at which i- time all was quiet on the lines, the men being 5- in remarkably good spirits, singing songs &c., d all unconscious of the fate that awaited them with the dawn, g At 12 o'clock I returned to my head quarts ters at the spring and slept soundly until >- awakened by daylight by the dull heavy sound e of the explosion and by a sensation as of being i- rocked in a Cradle. In a moment I suspectg ed what had occurred and ran up the line in the direction of Pegram's battery. When 'f within a few yards of the crater, I was met by the few men of the battery that sur11 vived the explosion, and the fate of the rert mainder was fully revealed. At this time the euemy were pouring over our works into the e crater. Immediately after the explosion the i? enemy opened upon our lines with all the artili lery concentrated in our front. The roar of n the enemy's gunB, . e bursting of shells and il rattle of musketry was deafening; yet with all ' I found the men of Eliott's brigade bravely I- I mnnnlnn +I10 Wnrlra lift tft fllQ hnr^HIM ftf t.h? UiailliUi^ biig ituiao U|' vv vuv v* *.*v >- crater, leaving no front for the entrance of the i- enemy except such as had been made vacant by the up heavel of the earth. I immediately s made my way down the lines, to the left, to >- Wright's battery. The battery was not in the t main line, but a few yards in the rear; it bore o directly on the salient at very close range, and t was erected for the purpose of defending that (1 front of our works. It was upon the hill to d the left of and very near the ravine or covered 0 way, in rear of Hansom's right. The position, i- was a very elevated one (more elevated than % the salient) and as there was a gradual h ascent from the ravine to Pegram'* battery, i- Wright's guns were enabled to sweep the 3 front of our works over the heads of our men in the line occupied by Eliott's brigade. From the moment of the explosion, until t my arrival in Wright's battery, could not s have exceeded twenty or twenty-five minutes, s Up to this time no artillery had opened from our lines that I know of. I immediately . ordered the battery to open with shrapnell and canister, first sweeping the ground in front of Eliott's line and salient. At this time the enemy were still pressing their columns from their lines over the intervening space to the crater. This fire, together with . the musketry from Eliott's brigade and other troops along the line within reach, soon check? ed the advance of the enemy from their own lines. The crater could not contain the mass: es that had already been hurried into the breach, so that thousands were crowded over its interior rim, and stood in its rear without apparent organization in one immense crowd. Having checked the advance of the enemy r from their lines, Wright's guns were turned directly upon the crater, and the masses assem) bled in its rear. The fire from this battery . was unremitting from the time it opened until 5 the close of the engagement by the surrender [ of the crater, having thrown during the time . from five to six hundred shell and canister. Anticipating a large expenditure of ammuni. tion, additional supplies were ordered from t the rear and brought in wagons from Ceme[ tery Hill as near our lines as it was safe to do ] so in rear of Grade's right, from which point j it was borne by details of men appointed for 1 that purpose. From my position in this batf tery I had a complete view of all the moves ments in front and rear of the crater and 1 ground within our lines from the ravine to the plank road. Feeling that our safety depended on our success in preventing the formation of . the enemy, I watched their movements closely, j! and redoubled the fire when I saw any indlcar tion of formation or attempt to advance in the direction of the plank road. During the engagement, Bradford opened a ' heavy fire with his 20-pounder Parrots enfilading the enemy's lines $s far as the Hare . house and beyond. I cannot speak in too high D 1L. J---i- nn V. io | prUlHC UI l/UV UU1IUUUU UJL, vapuaui YTiigut) mo officers and men during this engagement. The i day was excessively hot, and the labor of serv, ing the guns so rapidly and bearing ammuni. tion from the rear was very exhausting. So . busy were we, that though conscious of the I continual bursting of shells over us, I was not r aware until after the firing ceased, to what a . cannonade we had been subjected. Our works , were literally battered, and the ground around us and in our rear was so honey-combed by > the explosion of mortar shells that you could have walked all over it by stepping from hole | to hole. Notwithstanding this heavy fire, the , casualties were not great, owing to the fact . that the enemy could only obtain an obliqne \ fire upon the front of the battery, and the gunr ners were protected by heavy traverses between ; each gun. I may state here that owing to the I nearness of the enemy's lines to the salient, ? the gun detachments of Pegram's battery were \ required to be awake and ready for an asr sault at all hours of the night and day. > This necessitated the relief of the officers ? and men each day; two officers and sufficient men to man the guns being on duty, the re5 mainder being in the rear. On the morningof . the explosion, Lieutenants Hamlim and Chan. dler being on duty, were both, with twenty : men killed. Three or four only of tnose on | duty escaped. ! Now, Colonel, I have stated all that I think - necessary in reference to the part taken by the i artillery under my command in the engage roent of July 30tli, 1864. It is not for me to say whose artillery did most effective service , on that day. I think, however, I have cause 3 to complain of the slight praise bestowed upon , Wright's battery by Captain McCabe in his - account of the defence of Petersburg, (pub, lished in the Southern Historical Society Pai pers). Captain McCabe was Adjutant of Po gram's battalion of artillery, and probably not upon the scene until the arrival of Pegram's j artillery, which was brought from the right of j our lines, and I presume was the artillery that 5 took position on Cemetery hill. I am willing ? to be judged by those who were present, and i in position to be best able to decide. The i enemy certainly were in no position to know i ti-nm urliat nninf. namA flip dpshriip.tivfl i fire. General Potter, of Burnside's corps, says j in the court of inquiry, "The worst fire I saw , came from the right (his right). There was a i battery there behind some timber, whieh it was very difficult for our batteries to reach, j I ordered my batteries to turn their whole att tention to that one, but apparently produced . no effect." I have no criticisms to make upon ? Captain McCabe's account of what was done [ by others, but I do claim for the men under . my command that they merited, and should [ lrnve the meed of praise due to those most . prominent in the defence of Petersburg on I that day. Without intimating that Captain McCabe's l sources of information were unreliable, I will i state here that an army correspondent of the - Richmond papers, in a letter published a day or two after the battle, gave the credit of re; pelling the enemy to Major Caskie's battalion, ? of Virginia. The account was never publicly ; corrected, and I suppose some future historian ; will seize upon the files of papers containing - that letter as the best evidence to be obtained - as to the artillery engaged. The truth is [ Major Caskie's battalion of artillery was to t tlie left of Wright's battery; it could not reach , the attacking columns of the enemy, and did i not fire a single gun that I know of. I know i that Major Caskie, having nothing to do in ' - a A?TU^{/?Kt?o i 1119 rruilt, spent auLLlc time mmme jii it iigiib o 5 battery, as being the best position for obtain, ing a view of the battle. So much for the 5 material out of which history is made up. I - think Wright's battery did most effectual ! work, for the following reasons: 1st, it was 5 erected for the special purpose of defending the salient; 2d, it was nearest the crater ; 3d, , the men were well protected from the enemy's ; fire, and the gunners fired with deliberation; r 4th, tlie men were inspired to avenge the death ; of thpir comrades. Two of the guns of Pe, gram's battery were by the explosion thrown ; over between the hostile lines, one of them l nearly half way to the enemy's lines. We re covered both by undermining and drtrwing them through a ditch into our HneS. They ; were all remounted and plaoed in battery at i the Gee house, where they remained until r the evacuation of Petersburg. Oniy one gun i was afterwards placed at the salient. This was a 24 pounder howitzer, and manned by a detachment of Kelly's South Carolina battery under Lieutenant Race. This gun was brought out at the evacuation, being too h?avy. The orders were to stand by it until the last moment after all the troops were withdrawn, and then to spike it. After sending out the other artillery, and when the troops weie all gone I personally attended to the execution of the order. With that gun detachment 1! was the last to leave that part of the line, made so famous in the defence of Petersburg; Not a Confederate was to be seen as we marched down the line and through the covered way to Petersburg. Captain McCabe, in the same account, has failed to do justice to the men of Elliott's brigade ; for on page 284, Southern Eietin-ical Papers, (December, 1876) he says: "The dread upheaval has rent in twain Elliott's brigade, and the men to the right and left of the huge abyss i-ecoil in terror and dismay. Nor shall we censure them, * * etc." Now I have already stated that when I reached the crater, which could not have exceeded ten minutes after the explosion, I found Elliott's men slanding firm and undaunted, almost up to the very borders of the crater. From my position in Wright's battery, the whole of the line from the ravine to the crater was exposed -to my view, and I witnessed the hand-to-hand engagement in each successive charge made b> the enemy, and i venture to say that more men were then killed with bayonets and clubbed guns than in any other engagement during the war. The only thing separating our men and the enemy in the same ditch were hastily thrown up traverses, over the tops of vhich the op]X)Sing forces crossed their bayonets and delivered their fire. So stubbornly did Elliott's men contest every inch of ground, that the enemy failing to press them down the line ifrom the direction of the crater, resorted to tha expedient of rushing from the crater dowi: the front of our works, and then by a flank movement mounting the works and jumping pellmell upon Elliott's men in the tranche*. I witnessed this manoeuvre executed several times, sometimes with success, but oftener v they were repulsed or bayoneted as they leaped from the works. In this manner did they gain the little ground they held of our lines to the left of the crater. All beyond the crater was hid from my view by the rim of the crater and intervening ridge. The only mistaken movement I noticed was when one of our regiments, the Twenty-sixth South Carolina Yoluntaers, I think Smith's, attempted to* leave the line and occupy the open ground between the crater and Elliott's headquarters. It was an effort, gjillantly made, to interpose and prevent the advance of the enemy in the direction of Cemetery Hill and the plank road. The liole of this ground was swept by the enemy's i artillery and musketry, from their main line, not to speak of the Are from those within our works. No troops could stand a moment exposed to such a fire, and such as did not fall were immediately withdrawn. 1 think it was at this time Elliott was wounded. The sadest sight I saw was the wounded left in this exposed position appealing for help until they sank down in death. Any attempt to remove them would have been vain under that fire. It was thus the battle raged from daylight until the arrival of Mahone's division, which, I think, was near 11 o'clock. The troops under Mahone were formed in the ravine in rear of Elliott's headquarters, extending from the covered way in a direction between the crater and the plank road. New hope was inspired by the arrival of reinforcements, and not without good cause, for no sooner did Mahene's men emerge from that ravine at a double-qtlick than did the immense mass in rear of the crater break, and, without standing upon the order of their going, sought shelter in the caver of their main line. The fire of the arti'.lery was increased, and as Mahone's men neared the crater, Wright's guns were turned upon the flying masses in front of the salient. The slaughter was terrific, and probably more men were killed in the retreat than in the advance. The victory was virtually won, but thoai of the enemy within the crater continued for some time the desperate contest. In my opinion they remained in the crater more from fear of running the gauntlet to their own lines than from any hope of holding their position. At 1 o'clock, P. M., the white flag was raised and the final surrender of the crater made From the time of the explosion until t e charge of Mahone's division, the men of Elliott's brigade bore the brunt of the battle, and with a portion of Ransom's, were the only infantry troops that I saw opposing the advance cf the enemy to Cemetery Hill and the plank road, at least to the left of the crater. To the bravery and skillful handling of the brigade is due, more than to all other infantry troops, the credit of savirig Petersburg on hat day. This account has been so hastily written, and is so disjointed that I fear it will not be very intelligible. Perhaps, however, you may extract a few grains of wheat from the chaff, and if anything I have said will aid yoii in giving a more correct account of that batfcfc, I shall be amply compensated for the time it has taken to scratch it off. I am, Colonel, very respectfully yours, James C. Coir. Bad Manners.?No girl can be a lady who affects anything she is not or has not; yet this fussiness and pretence, the absence of "modest stillness and humility," are, all over the country the curse of girls' schools, reaches its last limits in the city high schools; a streetcar full of the older girls of one of these institutions, overdressed, eager for the notice of one of the passengers, talking in a loud "hollerin'," confident to the last degree in the power of their own attractiveness, ignorant of what reserve means, and anxious that every word they say should be heard by everybody within ten rods, is perhaps a3 disheartening a spectacle of the kind as our civilization presents, because it; indicates the absence of all moral and social training from the most important seats of education we have. When these girls marry, they still continue to live in an atmosphere of sham, and are victims to a sort of false shune about their mode of life. Not one in a hundred of them has been prepared by training to meet anything in the shape of an unexpected visit or intrusion,, with cheerful courtesy or even calm fortitude. On the contrary, the school influences, in nine cases out of ten, have helped to give to the discovery by a stranger that they do not always dress and eat as they seem to do on gala days, the air of a calamity which the strongest natures cannot be expected to resist. The result has been l>oth in the United States and in England, almost to extinguish simple and informal hospital ity. An average woman, among plain people, is crushed by a friend dropping unexpectedly infn a meal. and sits at the table in silent and flustered pain, whereas her education ought to have prepared her to meet such crises with a smiling front, if not with a positive enjoyment. Part of the drill of every school ought to be the reception by a wife in an old gown, to a dinner of corned beef and cabbage, of an unlooked-for guest, thoughtlessly brought in by a reckless husbsnd. Perils of Ridicule.?I know of no principle which it is of more importance to flu: in the minds of young than that of the most determined resistance to the encroachment of ridicule. Give up to the world, and to the ridicule with which the world enforces its dominion, every trifling question of manner and appearance ; it is to toss courage and firmness to the winds,* to combat with the mass upon such subjects as these. Rut learn from the earliest days to insure your principles against the perils of ridicule ; you can no more exercise your reason, if you live in the constant dread of laughter, than you can enjoy your life, if you are in the constant dread o? de itli. If you tliink it right to differ from the tines, and to make a stand for any valuable point of morals, do it, however rustic, however antique, however pedantic it may appear, do it, not for insolence, but seriously and grandly? as a man who wore a soul of his own in his bosom, and did not wait until it was breathed into him by the breath of fashion. Let men <?11 you mean, you know you are just; hypocritical, if you are honestly religious ; pusillanimous, if you feel that you are firm ; resistance soon converts unprincipled wit into sincere respect; and no aftertune can tear from you these feelings which every iuau carries with him who Las made a noble and successful exertion in a virtuous cause.