The free South. (Beaufort, S.C.) 1863-1864, October 01, 1864, Image 1
\
1 ?
TlHIfr
VOLUME II.
THE FREE SOUTH.
PUBLISHED "WEEKLY
AT
EEAlTOr.T, SOl'TK CAROLINA.
WILKES & THOMPSON, Proprietors.
Jsmics G. Thompson - - - - - Editor.
TEEM S?Two Poi.i.atls per nnnnrn, in advance
The postage on the Ft.ee Sonii is twenty cents a year,
payable quarterly in advance--and may be pai l at this
office. Advertisements will be inserted at twenty cents
a line for each insertion.
3-0:33 ^z^xrsrezasrG-.
Having just received a large assortment of new type, I
borders, rale4, etc., we are now ready to execute orders '
for OFFICIAL BLANKS, of every description. Also !
alt kinds of mercantile printing, sr.ch as BILL HEALS, j
CARDS, CIKCi LAHS, HANDBILLS, INVOICES, etc.
Our facilities are snch that we arc able to All orders upon
the shortest notice.
ADVEXTU1B ON THE ATLANTIC.
rFront'Chamberb' Journal. 1
A singular adventure once befel me on 1
the wild coast of the north of Irelaud, j
when"! the Atlantic heaves its billows '
i
aga. ot that giant barrier of black rock,
which seems m stern defiance to say to
the invader : " Here shall rhy proud j
waves be stayed." It brings a shudder!
to my heart to reflect in calmness on the
only time in which I saw the threatening
coast. I Wits a total stranger in that part
of the world, and wanted to get to Scot ?
- 3 x i._i i ? ni.,?
ISDClt X WttS lUlU liittt & Uw |
called at a small town or tillage on the
coast; and I took an Irish car and set off
on a journey of abont twenty miles to
meet the said steamer. I am not going
to record any witty sayings of my droll
Irish driver; "they say wretchedness in '
Ireland lias greatly passed away, and
somehow it appears to me that Irish wit
and humor have greatly passed away
with it. Years ago, when the road I was
travelling over was very bad, and the
Irish miles were nearly half as long again
us they are made now to measure, an
.Englishman, borne on the same singular
kind of conveyance as I was, complained
to the driver most bitterly concerning
the state of the roads and the length of
the miles in his unfortunate country.
"Ah ! sure then, your honor, that's the
very reason the miles be so long," was
the ^answer, "because they're bad, we j
give you good measure." But now the j
roads are made better, and the miles j
shortened, so that travellers do not so ;
much require to be kt*pt in go od iiumor.
Arrived at a poor-looking small town, lying
fiat on the sea shore, my driver announced
the object of my arrival to a
man, who at once informed me I must
44go round the corner," in a boat, to get
to the steamer. Seeing a white wall in
the direction he pointed, I concluded I
that wall concealed the steamer from '
sight, and only took the precaution of
bargaining for the sura to be paid for j
putting me on board of it. That, indeed, j
was speedily settled ; it was not a great i
sum. An autumn afternoon was drawing j
on, and I had 110 inclination to check the i
hurried departure which the man seemed
anxious to make. Without entering a
house. I followed him to a boat, where he
left me, to hasten away in search of another
passenger. He secured two rather
young men, and an old widow; they
were all Scotch and strangers like myself.
W*hon we got "round the coruef," the
aspect of things began to look strange.
There was no steamer to be seen ; but on
went the boat out into the open sea ; on
and on it went; whither bound I knew
not; nor do J believe the man himself
<lid. The wind had been high all day,
though the suu was blight; it rose higher
nnd higher ; the black wall of rock wa3
1
i jl jl\} jla _
BEATTORT, SOUTH CARC
seen at a distance, Aafed by tho "white
surge that tossed against it. The waves
lifted up onr fragile ski if, and from their
sumi: it we looked into gulfs from which
it seemed impossible we could re-ascend.
Seriously alarmed, I called to the boatman,
entreating. him to put back. I
pointed landward?perhaps toward the i
rocks and the breakers?and begged him j
to land us over there. His answer was,
" We will keep her-afloat as long as we !
can." But. his perplexed look, his wand- j
ering, anxious eye frightened me more
than his words. The storm increased?
laud disappeared?the autumn afternoon
drew on. No sign of a steamer in sight.
Terror took hold of our souls : the men
we~e white with fear. Beside me was the
little old Scotch woman, her widow's cap
closely circling her small face, her hands 1
placed on her bosom, her eyes looking \
neither at the sea nor sky. but immovably j
directed straight before her ; her lips in- ;
cessantly repeating, in a clear steady j
voice, neard distinctly amiu rue roar ui
wind and waters, an accumulation of j
texts which it seems surprising that her j
mind could at once collect ou the same
subject. " The voice of the Lord is on
the deep; the voice of the Lord is oh
many waters." Such words came calmly
sounding out amid the roar of the elements
with a wonderful power, at least on
my own troubled mind. When our heaving
boat rode on the crest of a mighty
mighty billow, and the valley of the
shadow of death seemed to open to us
from below it, that calm, devout voice
brought mc that sense of relief which one
feels when knowing that you are net in
danger of meeting death in the midst of
godless companions. "He lioldeth the
winds in the hollow of his hand: Fear
not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. When thou
passeth through the waters, I will be with
thee."
There is something in the retrospect of
a storm at sea so terribly magnificent,
that those who Lave ever witnessed such
can imagine what a strange sublimity was
arl/lp.l hv snnh a visible cornmentarv. to !
words in themselves so sublime. Never
did I at all fully conceive the weight of
these expressions until, while our mortal
life seemed almost the plaything of the
raging ocean, I heard that quiet old '
widow, saying : "Fearful in praises ; doing
wonders. He *holdeth our soul in
life. He arose and rebuked the wind,
and said unto the sea, be still."
That our strange boatman was now ;
thoroughly terrified, aud, indeed, at his '
wits end (which, I believe, it was not j
very hard to reach,) became quite evi
dent; and his exclamation, after another
survey oi the dark horizon, gave an additional
cause oi fear, as we gathered
frpm it his own apprehension that the ;
steamer he had so madly vcoine out to
look for might have already passed on i
her way. A murmur of horror, and, ,
from the two male passengers, of rage, j
against him, broke- forth as the fearful j.
doubt arose ; but, on my part, it was
'somewhat quieted by the voice beside
me : "He maketh a path in the waters.
He rideth on the wings of the wind. His
fpotsteps are not known."
There was a short interval of deep
silence. Evening was fast closing in; the
sky was darkening and darkening. My
old comforter was, perhaps, silently praying
; for I could still see the hands clasped
on her black dress. The eyes were nov^
closed ; but, after some minutes of such
silence?whether it was the conclusion or
not of her prayer, I do not know?she
uttered the words, "For thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory forever
i
I
)LIXA, OCTOBER 1, 1SG-L
ami ever, Amen." How energetic, 1m\v
real, seome' such an ascription of p;-::i v,
such an achnowied<Teflment of IHv'oe
power ! But singular, almost simultaneously,
at least Before they were w./.l .
endel, ther^ was a cry from tho boat
man, " There she is! Praised be the
Lord!"
Poor "ellow ! he was en LNhmai, and
half-witted as he must" have been to have
brought himself and us into such immi
i
nent peril, lie ntterod a thanksgiving not j
so often heard from more enlightened ,
men among thc^e who go down to the
sea in ships.
Tiie men started up. In the twilight !
was seen a trail of smoke, then a white j
chimney, then the great dark hulk ; and
soon the stamping paddles, walking '
through the clashing billows, in which for
six hours we had been tossing, still
spared, while still almost ready to perish.
Now, all our fear was that we should not
be seen, be hidden in the trough of the \
sea just as our live-preserver passed us
bv. The men held red handkerchiefs
I
aloft, and the boatmen shouted. But the I
roar of the wind was louder than their
shouts ; and, as the means of safety ap- !
proaehed, so did the torments of fear and 1
suspense increase in intensity. I recol- I
lect holding up a white handkerchief, that 1
was soon rent from my feeble'liand, and ;
borne swiftly away on the wings of the (
wind ; and as I uttered a cry that had not
escaped me before, the old Scotch woman
murmured, "The Lord is my light and
my salvation ; whom, then, shall I fear ?
The Lord is the strength of my life ; of j
whom shall I be afraid ?"
On comes the great steamer ; her noise j
is heard, her paddles are seen ; but can ;
she see us ? Shout?shout louder still! j
We who cannot shout, cry to those who j
can. The shouts are not heard, the cries '
are borne away with the howling wind ; j
the waves appear to roll over and bury j
them. But mercy is around us. We are !
*
seen. The steamer sto*>s : aiid amid and j
above the roar of wind and wave, comes
the deep toned voice of the captain's j
speaking trumpet, in sailor fashion, de- '
manding, with the usual expletive, "Who '
the devil are you, and what are you doing j
there ?"
Our boat nears the vessel, that looks a
leviathan beside it; and a storm of furious i
abjurgations is shewered by the captain
on our luckless boatman. A rope-ladder
1 < *1 11 1 - At 1 1 1__ \ I
is nastiij iec ciown ; iue uiuwarss are j
lined by all on board, full of wond r and ,
compassion ; up jump our two male com- i
panions, and are the first eagerly to
ascend the ladder of safety, leaving the I
two womrn to follow if they please. I j
determined to follow the Scotch widow ;
though she was not the first to rise, I \
made her go before me. The pitching I
of the boat alongside of the steamer was '
frightful. Bat lod the c.Um, steadfast !
heart of the old widow fails at the final 1
moment; she has crept about half way !:
up the ladder, and there she sticks fiat .
against the side of ?the tossing steamer. I
In vain the captain commands, the mate I
entreats, the sailors encourage ; there she j ,
sticks, as if fastened to the ship's side. 1
Her hands have grasped, with a sort of j 1
x_ _ _j.? _e I.J I ne I (
tlCRtll CiUCCll, IU u 8l?[J ui tae hiuucj. ui
rope, and nothing can unclasp them, nor
can she be moved up or down. In vain j
I urged her to let me save myse'f. There
I am in the pitching boat, the unhappy
boatman from below, and the sailors
urging her from above. The men were
wise to save themselves first; they are
looking down on us now, perhaps, and I j
thinking what foolish, helpless creatures | y
women are. I (
At last the words, "haul up the lad- 11
, . f
4
m**rl
^: 1
NUMBER 36.
^
ilei*," ru*e jironouD^/Od by t'ao, wipta a;, -
comforted Ie? for me to hear, vat. nit
knowing If it will ever be lowered a wia. s
The smiling, good-natured sailors r peat
the order, ami up goes the rope ladder.
"Lay it Tat on the deck," ig the word,
ami the ladder and clinging Scot h woman
are laid prostrate there, she on her
face with hands closed in that doat i-clasp
round the rope, senseless and cold as if
life had indeed departed. If they cut that
step of the ladder away to which film dung,
or found some other meanscf extricating
it from her grasp, I know not, but just as
I was believing myself abandoned, I heard
a sailor's cheery voice, " an other woman
in the boat!" "Lower the ladder; and
as soon as she puts a foot on it, haul no
and lay it on deck," says the mate. Mow,
I had a small basket and an nmbi 11a in
the boat, and I wished to save them with
myself; so, when the hope of'doing so
revived, I took up my basket and umbrella,
and before I got well on the ladder,
I let the mate who gave these orders
see that 1 had them in charge, and then
said, " Will you be so good as to let mo
go up by myself, if you please ?"
They did so ; and the captain himself
gave me his hand and drew me up on
deck, saying "you are a brave woman ; .
your life is worth saving."
Ah, captain, you ought to be a good
judge; but not half so brave am I as that
good Scotch woman whom you Ijave jnst
hauled up/md laid on your deck, clinging
to a morsel of rope.
I did not say J these words; undeserved
praise perhaps overcame me, for I burst
into tears, and .showed tho stout captain I
was anything but a bravo woman or a
good sailor, or. indeed, at sill worth saving,
though I could climb up a ladder of
rope by a steomer lolling heavily in the
billows of the Atlantic.
Mierntau and Thomas.
A short time ago, while a regiment was
moving by Sherman's headquarters?a
tent rly and a fence corner near Kenesaw
mountains?one of the soldiers observed
a major general lying asleep by the roadside.
He spoke very loudly to his comrades,
saving: "There's the way we are
commanded?officered by major generals
who get hunk and lie in fence corners."
Sherman heard him and sprang to his
feet. "Xot drunk, boys," he said quietly,
" but I've been up all ni^ht, and I am
very tired and sleepy." He got on his
horse, and, followed by his staff, rode
away. I am forcibly reminded by this
incident of seeing General''i homas lying
in a fence corner near John Iioss's house,
at Itosville, on the night our forces retired
from Chickimanga to Bossville, his
features handsopie in their repose, but
looking old from the weariness of two
days sicopiess ngntmg, ag.o\v witn me
light of a gr**at fire which had been built
near by. " General, lie down ou my
blanket," Major F. II. Gross had said to
him: "you must bo weary." "I am
tired," said the old man, lying down and
falling asleep in a few moments. For
two days and three nights lie had not
slept; but during that sleepless labor lie
had saved a great army and won undying
r mown as the hero of Chickama igu, and
ho had doubly earned his right to sleep.
A few weeks since, an officer attached
to*tlie engineer bureau, who at one tiuie
served in the British army, was in Quebec,
Canada, visiting some cf his former
companions in the British army, and one
day in a reading room, an English officer
asked him i? it was true that northern
troops would run. aeiore our omoer
30iiIJ reply, a person at the opposite end
jf the room arose and exclaimed, " Whoever
says that northern soldiers win run
Ls a d- -d liar." The Englishman was immediately
ou his feet,, and running towards
the man, exclaimed, "Who are
pou, sir?" To which he replied, "I have
aeen a Major in the Confederate service,
3ut was discharged on account of being
wounded, and whatever is said against the
sourage of the northern troops is falsified
jy my own experience."