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THE LAND WE LOVE. Ko. V. MARCH, 1869. Vol. VI. SKETCH OF GENERAL W. Y. SLACK, OF MISSOURI. Mr. A. Slack, of Booneville, Missouri, has kindly furnished us with the following obituary notices of his heroic brother, Gen. W. T. Slack, who fell in the struggle for Constitutional freedom, at the battle of Elk Horn, Missouri, on the 7th March, 1862: From tlie Memphis Avalanche, May 8th, 1862. Brigadier Gen. William Yarnel Slack, was born in Kentucky; when three years of age, his father, John Slack, emigrated to Boone county, Missouri, and set-tled near Columbia, where young Slack, on completing his education, studied law. When a young man, he went to Livingston county, Mo., and commenced practicing law at Chillicothe. Soon after, he mar-ried the daughter of Maj. Wood-ward, of Bichmond, Ray county, Missouri, with whom he lived happily, until her death, which occurred in January, 1856. The issue of this marriage was six VOL. VI.—NO. V. children, only two of whom are living, a daughter, and a son but seventeen years of age, who has been in the service as a private, since the commencement of the war, and who has done his duty as a soldier. On the 2nd of De-cember, 1857, General Slack was again married to a daughter of Hon. Gustavus Bower, of Paris, Missouri, by whom he had two children; the youngest being born after the second retreat from Livingston, he was never permit-ted to see. As captain of a company of cavalry. Gen. Slack served with distinction in the Mexican war, under Col. Sterling Price, who then commanded a regiment of Missourians, with as much ability, courage and success, as he now leads armies to battle and victory. At the well contested battles of Canada, Embudo and Taos, where the enemy number-ed three to one, all who saw him, agree in saying that none con- 25 358 Sketch of General W. Y. Slack, of Missouri. [March, ducted themselves with greater coolness, courage and gallantry, than Capt. Slack. He remained in this service about fourteen months, having volunteered for twelve. "When his country no longer needed his services, he re-sumed the practice of law, at Chillicothe, which he continued to pursue until he received from Crov. Jackson, the appointment of Brigadier General of the 4th Military District, when he turned his attention to the organization of troops, according to the mili-tary law of the State of Missouri. He had mustered in but a few companies, and these far apart, at different points in the district, when eight hundred Federals were landed from the cars, on the night of the 14th of June, 186 L, at Chillicothe, and he was forced to ieave his home and family, to which he was destined never to return. From this time, until his death, he was constantly in the field, using every effort and energy in the cause of Southern independ-ence. During the fatiguing and harassing marches of the State Guard, /le u'fis ahcays at his 2^ost, and shared the fare, the dangers, and the hardships of his men. He participated and contributed largely to the success of the bat-tles of Carthage and Oak Hill ; at the latter he was dangerously wounded in the hip, which, at first was thought to be mortal, but by the strict attention of Dr. Iveith, his family physician, and the careful nursing of his faithful and atfectionate wife, who en-countered every danger and came to him, he at last recovered, and again took command of his di-vision, the 11th of October follow-ing. When the troops,belonging to the Missouri State Guard, were being mustered into the Confederate States service, last winter. Gen. Slack used every effort to induce the men under his command to join it, nearly all of whom took his advice, and are still in the service. A short time before the com-mencement of the retreat from Springfield, Gen. Slack was ap-pointed by Gen. Price to command the second brigade of Missouri Confederates, a body consisting of companies which had not been organized into regiments or bat-talions, in all about fifteen hun-dred men. It was with these men and the 4th division Missouri State Guard, that Gen. Van Dorn,in his re-port of the battle of Elk Horn, speaks of Gen. Slack as " gallant-ly maintaining a continued and successful attack." At this battle, on March the 7th, Gen. Slack was mortally wounded—the ball entering an inch above the old wound he re-ceived at Oak Hill, ranging down-wards, and which, wounding (Sa-cra? Plexus of nerves, produced paralysis of the urinary organs, which resulted in inflammation and gangrene. He was caught by Col. Scott, his Aid-de-camp, when about to fall from his horse, and with the assistance of others care-fully conveyed in an ambulance to a house in Sugar Hollow, where his wound was skilfully dressed by Dr. Austin, the division sur-geon. 1869. Sketch of General W. Y. Slack, of Missouri. 359 The next day, when the order was given to fall back, he was placed in an ambulance and con-veyed to Andrew Eallet's east of the battle ground, accompanied by Col. Cravens and Dr. Keith, of the 4th division, and Sergeant Street of the 2nd brigade; here he remained until the 16th, and seemed to be doing well, when be-coming apprehensive of being captured by the Federals, he de-sired his attendants to take him further away; they accordingly removed him seven miles further, to Moses Mills', where he rapidly grew worse, and on Thursday, March 20th, at a quarter past 3 o'clock, a. m., quietly breathed his last; the next morning he was buried eight miles east of the bat-tle ground, by his faithful friends and companions, all of whom re-turned safely to the army. When told his end was ap-proaching, he expressed no re-grets, nor gave any evidence of alarm, but calmly awaited its ar-rival; his request to Dr. Keith, to give his watch to his son, if he ever had an opportunity, was the only mention he made of his family or property. None familiar with the capaci-ties of Gen. Slack will deny that he possessed many of the combi-nations requisite to constitute an efficient commander of volunteers. Temperate and abstemious in his habits, impetuous, daring and courageous, yet prudent,wary and cautious, he was well calculated for skirmishing, or as leader in a charge. But these are not the qualities which alone distinguished him. His mind was bold, clear and vigorous, and altogether practical, which, added to a sound and penetrating judgment, gave his opinions no ordinary weight in council, while his business and orderly habits enabled him to conduct with ease and accuracy, the affairs of his command. He was affable and courteous in his manners, generous and unselfish in his disposition, and kind and indulgent in his nature; his age was about 45 years. But that which most distinguished him, was his earnest devotion to the cause in which he fell. It was for this he gave up his beautiful home, its enjoyments and associations, it was for this he encountered with the fortitude of a soldier and patriot, the frost and snow of winter, and the heat and dust of summer; it was for this he en-dured the hardships, toils and privations of one of the longest and most active and bloodiest campaigns recorded, or to be re-corded, on the pages of history; it was for this he sufiered long and painfully ; it was for this he look-ed death in the face in many shapes and forms ; it was for this he died. Many others of the great and noble of our land did the same, but none endured all more patiently, suffered all more gladly, or gave up their lives more freely. And of all the offerings yet laid upon the altar of State Sovereignty and Constitutional Liberty, there is none purer or nobler than that offered by Gen. W. Y. Slack. From tlie Army Argus. We publish to-day, Maj. Gen, 360 The Burial and Eesurrection of Love. [March , Van Dorn's Keport of the battle of Elk Horn : The Report refers in handsome terms to Gen. Slack, and express-es the hope that he may recover. "We are pained to announce that Gen. Slack's wound proved mor-tal. He died as a brave man and a Christian, his loss is almost irrep-arable. It is generally conceded that Gen. Slack was the ablest of our Missouri brigadiers. He com-manded a company in the Mexi-can war, under Gen. Price, where he rendered effective service, and won a name for coolness and dar-ing. After the Mexican war, he resumed the practice of the law, and ranked among the foremost members of the bar. On the occurrence of the recent hostilities between the oSTorth and South, he received from Governor Jackson, the appointment of brig-adier general. He fought gallantly at Spring-field, receiving a wound which many of his friends, for a long time, thought would prove mortal. But, strange to say, he recovered, and again led his division. He was in most of the other battles fought in Missouri, and always endeared himself to his command by his bravery and great pru-dence. At Elk Horn, he was wounded within an inch of the same spot in which he had been wounded at Springfield, but this time the wound proved mortal. Earewell, brave man! Your name is em-balmed in the hearts of the peo-ple of Missouri, and by your cour-age and devotion, you have be-queathed to your children a lega-cy of more value than millions of gold and silver. THE BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF LOVE. BY " PEARL RITERS." Deep, deep, deep, Quickly so none should know, I buried my warm love silently Under the winter snow. For you had coldly said , Coldly, and carelessly: 1869.] Tlie Burial and Eesurrection of Love. 361 " Bury your love, or let it live, It is all the same to me." I tore it out of my heart, I crushed it within my hand ; It called to you in its agony, For help, but you came not, and It struggled within my grasp. It fought with my woman's will. And kneeled to my woman's pride with tears, Then silent it lay and still. I knew that it was not dead, But I said it soon will die, Baried under the winter snow Under the winter sky. I kissed it tenderly Just once for the long ago. Then shrouded it with your cold white words. Colder than all the snow. Deep, deep, deep. Quickly, so none should know, I buried my warm love silently Under the winter snow. I laughed when it was done, For why should a woman cry When love is buried? O'er its grave Why should a woman sigh? I thought when I turned away Some day he may see this grave And say—''the woman I thought so weak How strong she was, and brave!" Throb, throb, throb, Under the light spring snow. Buried long, can my love still live? Kneeling I said, when lo! TJie Burial and Hesurrection of Love. [March, My love looked up at me Straight out of daisy's eyes, Warmed to life by the balmy air And the tender azure skies. It sighed to me with the breeze It sang to me with the birds, And every note was an echo sweet Of your olden loving words. It smiled on me with the rose It murmured to me with the bee, And came to my heart as naturally As comes the leaf to the tree. And bowing my head I wept, Wept o'er my vision love. And touching my harp strings sad and low, I told my grief to the dove. Why should you live, poor love Slighted, and scorned, and sore To trail your pain through my future life And poison my young heart's core? Alas! when a woman loves Her strength is too small and slight To dig a grave that is deep enough To bury it out of sight. Habolochitto, Miss. 1869.] All About It. 363 ALL ABOUT IT. A Lecture Delivered before the Young Hen of Bcdeigk, N'. C. January, 1867. BY GOV. Z. B. VANCE My kind auditory will, I trust , pardon me, should my talk prove rambling and disconnected to-night, for the sake of my theme. I promise them that it shall be one worthy of them and of the occasion; and have only to regret that the speaker is no more wor-thy of it, for my theme shall be of North Carolina : All about North Carolina. Of what else should the humble individual be-fore you speak, or who has a bet-ter right.? Upon whom has she more undeservedly lavished her richest honors, or who repays these obligations with a more sincere and abiding love? Who, during those ever-to-be-remem-l) ered years of alternate triumph Lnd despair, anguish and desola-tion, watched her with a closer scrutiny, or obtained a clearer in-sight of the depth of the hidden s:reams of her noble nature and solid worth? Nor is it without interest for all. There are none here but will, doubtless, feel that al the topics of my discourse, whether touched with gravity, humor or sarcasm, are well de-serving of their earnest attention. And particularly all those who sincerely desire the welfare of our State, and watch, prayerfully, to behold in the changes of these changeful times, that working to-gether of all things for good, and that turning of the wrath of man into praise, wherein the wise can see the mercy and goodness of God to those who suffer. There is a natural law which regulates the attraction and re-pulsion of bodies; and morally also, that the more powerful com-munities tend to absorb and swal-low up the weaker, with whom they are in contact; and that a conquering people impress their habits, manners, laws and insti-tutions upon the conquered. — Though it may be painful and humiliating in the extreme, it is nevertheless a fact, that we in the South are to all intents and pur-poses, a conquered people, since we are declared to be without rights in, and absolutely at the mercy of, the government of our conquerors. The changes, there-fore, to which we are subject, in consequence of this condition, will gradually steal in upon vis. 364 All About It. [March, It is time we were considering them, and making up our minds as to those which we should wel-come and those we should reject. I propose to look at some of them to-night. Of course, on an oc-casion like the present, it is proper for me to consider only such as eflfect us socially, leaving those greater political changes to be discussed in a different forum. — And as the exposition of no man's views is of value unless he speaks honestly and boldly, I shall do both, and only trust that any dis-senting hearer may give full weight to everything which goes to rebut the presumption of malice in the speaker. We shall then, for a brief space, speak of North Carolina, her past, present and future, her people, her society, institutions, manners; in short—"All about it" as near as may be. Virginia to the north of us, was settled by English Cavaliers; South Carolina, mainly by French Huguenots; both among the no-blest stocks of Western Europe. Korth Carolina, with but a slight infusion of each, was settled by a sturdier—and in some respectsr-a better race than either. She was emphatically the offspring of religious and political persecution , and the vital stream of her infant life, was of Scotch-Irish origin. A cross of those two noble races has produced a breed of men as renowned for great deeds and modest worth as, perhaps, any other in this world. Two in-stances will suffice for this. Per-haps, the most manly and glori-ous feat of arms in modern times, was the defence of Londonderry, as the boldest and most remarka-ble State paper was the Mecklen-burg Declaration ofIndependence. Both were the work, mainly, of men such as settled ISTorth Caro-lina. If possible, they have clung closer to the manners and opin-ions of their British ancestors than any other communities on the continent. The novelties of Democracy, and the wild theories of Kepublicanism, have made less progress, and moved more slowly, here, than in any other State. We are far more like the England of William and Mary, and Queen Anne, to-day, than is England her-self, whilst both Irishisms and Scotticisms are abundant. This resemblance is traceable in many things. The landed gentlemen, their tenantry and yeomanry, the profuse hospitality of country homes, the hardy field sports and out-door diversions, personal in-dependence, pride of family and opinion, and a hundred other things, mark unmistakably our descent. Our pronunciation among the educated classes is said to be, perhaps, more purely En-glish than is spoken in the precincts of Saint James; whilst our laws both within themselves and in the manner of their administration, contain still more ineffaceable land-marks of the great people from whose loins we sprang. Thai branch of our Legislature whick is the peculiar voice of the peo-ple, is with us, and with us onlj, still termed the " Commons " — x name pregnant with the destinies of civilization. We still whip for stealing— to the great disgust of reflned and elegant thieves—crop and stand in the pillory for per- 1869.] All About It. 365 jury, brand for bigamy and man-slaughter, and hang for murder! Ko mawkish sympathy for crime, or maudlin philanthropy over the hard fate of a scoundrel, has yet crept into our good old English criminal code; but with halter and rod the Sheriff still stands among us, the fearful Nemesis of society, avenging her wrongs upon all evil-doers with most distress-ing impartiality!* On the civil side of the docket, that most ubiquitous and immortal litigant, John Doe, continues to complain of his equally immortal colitigant, Kichard Doe, " for that, whereas, heretofore to wit;" and the said Richard , having, by his most unjustifiable behavior, got his loving friend, the tenant in possession, into a scrape, con-tinues still, as in the days of Sergeant Bolle quietly to back down, like some fiery war men of the present age, and leave his peaceable neighbor to fight it out " to the last man "—or at least "to the last dollar." Were my Lord Coke to arise from his grave now, and search for his glorious common law, "ever approved by these two faithful witnesses, au-thority and reason," he would find it flourishing, perhaps, bright-est and and purest in that very strange and far oS land first visited by the ships, and planted by the colonies, of that splendid genius whose untimely and un-just death damns with an adher-ing infamy his own claims to the highest place in the temple of English law. These characteristics, fed and supported by the system of Afri-can slavery, served for more than a century to divide the Conserva-tive from the Puritan elements in American society. Nor would there soon have been any change in the peculiar customs and man-nerisms of our people, had not the rude shock of, war tumbled down this great middle wall of partition, which separated us from the saints. Perhaps, one of the most mark-ed of the changes which we may expect, is one that will soon be apparent on the face of our coun-try society. The abolition of slavery will do wonders here. It puts an end to the reign of those lordly, landed proprietors, plant-ers and farmers, who constituted so striking and so pleasant a feat-ure in our rural population. No longer the masters of hundreds of slaves wherewith to cultivate their thousands of acres, the general cheapness of lands in the South will prevent their forming around them a system of dependent ten-antry, since every industrious man will be able to plough his own farm. They will, therefore, gradually sell off their paternal acres, no longer within the scope of prudent management, and seek homes in the towns and villages, or contract their establishments to their means and altered condi-tion. Agriculture will then pass gradually into the hands of small farmers, and the great farms will, forever, disappear. In all this there is much good to be seen. * The loyal Fetich have altered, all this, from prudential considerations for themselves and friends. 366 All About It. [March^ An improved system of cultiva-tion, an enlarged quantity and quality of production, greatly en-hanced value of real estate, and a rapid increase of the aggregate public wealth will most assuredly be the result. But even this change will not be one of un-mixed benefit, nor will it be view-ed by all—your humble speaker for one at least—without emotions of regret. I can scarcely imagine it possible for any one to view the steady disappearance of the race of Southern country gentlemen, without genuine sorrow. They are not the peers of the stupid beef-eating English Squire, re-nowned in British history and in comedy, for loyalty to the King, ignorance, prejudice and drunk-enness: not the Westerns and Hardcastles, but the high-toned, educated, chivalrous, intelligent and hospitable Southern gentle-men , of whom each one who hears me, has at least a dozen in his mind's eye, in Virginia and the Carolinas. Whose broad fields were cultivated by their own faith-ful and devoted slaves, whose rudely splendid mansions stand where their fathers reared them, among the oaks and the pines which greeted the canoe of John Smith, welcomed the ships of Raleigh, and sheltered the wild cavaliers of De Soto; whose hall doors stood wide open, and were never shut except against a re-treating guest; whose cellar and table abounded with the richest products of the richest lands in the world, and whose hospitality was yet unstained by unrefined excess; whose parlors and fire-sides were adorned by a courtly female grace which might vie with any that ever lighted and blessed the home of man; whose hands were taught from infancy to fly open to every generous and charitable appeal, and whose minds were enured to all self-respect and toleration, and whose strong brains were sudden death to humbuggery, all the isms, and the whole family of mean and pestilential fanaticism. Can you see these strong men, so armed at all points for the common good, holding all their wealth as hos-tages for the public peace, torn from their ancestral seats, and swept away in the current of progress, without feeling the whole edifice of good government reel beneath our feet like a drunken man? I confess to my honest conviction, that when this sturdy dynasty of democratic kings shall be overthrown, that the cause of virtue in society and of Constitu-tional liberty in politics, will each have lost a stalwart right arm, which will,I fear,be but poorly sup-plied in the class which may succeed them! Peace to the memory of the Southern country gentlemen! To them were we indebted for the foundation of our once free gov-ernment, and for its preservation against the assaults of democratic anarchy for more than three-fourths of a century! An immediate consequence of this disturbance in our country society will be a tendency—al-ready perceptible— of our popula-tion towards towns and villages. It has been a matter of remark, and with some, of congratulation heretofore, that having fewer and smaller cities and towns, we had 1869.] All About It. 367 also, the most law-abiding and virtuous x)opulation in the United States. The census returns, to a great extent, sustained this as-sertion; but the obverse showed a considerable deficiency in national wealth. We may now look for a rapid increase in the population of our towns and cities; real es-tate there, will far out-grow in value, that of the country; vice, crime and pauperism will grow with them as manufactures and wealth increase. "With the good we must also take the evil; the tares must needs come with the wheat. "With new kinds of ma-chinery, will come new kinds of rascality; with new kinds of in-dustry and means ,of wealth, will come a new species of robbery, entirely strange to our honest old-fashioned thieves ; and with 2^'>'og-ress in the arts and sciences, will come, also, a fantastic variety of philanthropy, religion, politics and morals, alike wondrous and edifying; of which, more here-after. There is also a great change at hand for the negro, a taste of which he is already enjoying. This great problem is about reaching its final solution. The fate of the African slave in the Southern States is at last about to be sealed, for good or for evil. His real, or imagined woes hav-ing so long moved the cheap tears of Ctiristendom, and his hard lot having engaged the Jellabys of two centuries, and formed the burden of the press, the rostrum and the pulpit, to the shame and perversion of each, through pol-iticians without statesmanship, and preachers without religion; now, that a great country has beea drenched in fraternal blood, one-half of it buried in the ashes of its own desolation and strewn with graves and bleaching bones of slaughtered men, and that fires of hatred have been kindled that years of peace and good will shall scarce be able to smother—all for his sake—how is he to be affected by this great, blood-bought change? Has the result been adequate to the cost? Or ivill it be? Have the cruel wheels of this blessed philanthropy, dragging axle-deep in a heroic nation's blood, spared him for whose sake they were mainly set in motion ? Alas, alas! A wise Humanity already weeps at the crimes committed in her name! And over the dead carcasses of these simple, and— so lately—happy children of bond-age, and the ragged and perishing survivors, pompously called, "Freedmen," she is ready to exclaim, " Oh, Freedom, there is no curse like unto thine, when thou art forced upon men whose souls are not educated to receive thee!" What was the negro before the war? A simple, happy and af-fectionate bondsman. What is he now? Fast merging into a rag-ged, starving, dangerous vaga-bond. What will he be? In time—and that time is not long — nothing ; non-existent, an extinct race, over whose untimely perish-ing the good of all the earth will mourn, and from whose sad story the philosophic historian will point a maxim, and illustrate that godly philanthropy which propa-gates its heavenly tenets by fire and sword! Though from the 368 All About It. [March, earliest times recorded in history, to this day, the negro has been in close contact with every promi-nent civilization, I imagine it will not be denied, but that his de-velopment, as a Southern slave,far exceeds that of any other condi-tion. There was no laboring class on earth with which his condition would not compare advantageous-ly, physically and morally. Who that has ever enjoyed the pleas-ure of our Southern homes, has not been convinced of this? Or who that knew him as a contented, well-treated slave, did not learn to love and admire the negro char-acter? For one, I confess to al-most an enthusiasm on the sub-ject. The cheerful ring of their songs at their daily tasks, their love for their masters and their families, their politeness and good manners, their easily bought, but sincere gratitude, their deep-seat-ed aristocracy—for your genuine negro was a terrible aristocrat, — their pride in their own, and their master's dignity, together with their over-flowing and never-fail-ing animal spirits, both during hours of labor and leisure, alto-gether, made up an aggregation of joyous simplicity and lidelity when not perverted by harsh treatment—that to me was ir-resistible! A remembrance of the seasons spent among them will perish only with life. From the time of the ingathering of the crops, until after the ushering in of the new year, was wont to be with them a season of greater joy and festivity than with any other peo-ple on earth, of whom it has been my lot to hear. In the glorious November nights of our benefi-cent clime, after the first frosts had given a bracing sharpness and a ringing clearness to the air, and lent that transparent blue to the heavens through which the stars gleam like globes of sapphire, when I have seen a hundred or more of them around the swelling piles of corn, and heard their tuneful voices ringing with the chorus of some wild re-frain, I have thought I would rather, far, listen to them than to any music ever sang to mortal ears; for it was the outpouring of the hearts of happy and content-ed men, rejoicing over that abundance which rewarded the labor of the closing year! And the listening, too , has many a time and oft, filled my bosom with emotions, and opened my heart with charity and love toward this subject and dependent race, such as no ora-tory, no rhetoric or minstrelsy in all this wide earth could impart! Nature ceased almost to feel fatigue in the joyous scenes which followed. The fiddle and the banjo, animated as it would seem like living things, literally knew no rest, night or day ; whilst Terpsichore covered her face in absolute despair in the presence of that famous double-shvffle with which the long nights and " master's shoes " were worn^ away together! Amid all these teeming associations, connected with the abolished system , there come also a thousand memories of childhood's experience, ditfer-ing in my individual case, I will venture to say, scarcely an hair's breadth from that of scores who listen to me to-night. I can see now, through memory's 1869.] All About It. 369 faithful mirror, the boy who tirst taught me to twist a rabbit from a hollow tree, with whom I have had many a boyish struggle , and for whom I have many a time, and oft, rob-bed the pantry of its choicest treasures! Who can forget the cook by whom his youthful ap-petite was fed? The fussy, con-sequential old lady to whom I now refer, has often, during my vagrant inroads into her rightful domains, boxed my infant jaws with an imperious, " Bress de Lord, git out of de way; dat chile never kin get enufi','' and as often relenting at sight of my hungry tears, has fairly bribed me into her love again with the very choicest bits of the savory messes of her art. She was haughty as Juno, and aristocratic as though her naked ancestors had come over with the conqueror, or " drawn a good bow at Hastings," instead of having been purchased by deacon Tribulation Small-soul from Cape Cod, for forty gal-lons of New England rum, per head, whilst roasting charcoal babies for dinner; and yet her pride invariably melted at the sight of certain surreptitious quantities of tobacco, with which I made my court to this high priestess of the region, sacred to the stomach. And there too, plainest of all, I can see the fat and chubby form of my dear old nurse, whose encircling arms of love, fondled and supported me from the time whereof the memo-ry of this man runneth not to the contrary. All the strong love of her simple and faithful nature seemed bestowed on her mistress' children, which she was not per-mitted to give to her own, long, long ago, left behind, and dead in ' ole Varginney!' Oh I the won-derful and the touching stories of them and a hundred other things which she has poured into my infant ears! How well do I re-member the marvelous story of the manner in which she obtain-ed religion, of her many and sore conflicts with the powers of dark-ness and of her first dawning hopes in that blessed gospel whose richest glory is, that it is preach-ed to the poor, such as she was! From her lips, too, I heard my first ghost story ! Think of that ! None of your feeble, make-be-lieves of a ghost story either, car-rying infidelity on its face; but a real bona-fide narrative, witnessed by herself, and told with the earnestness of truth itself. How my knees smote together, and my hair stood on end, " so-called " — as I stared and startled, and de-clared again and again with quite a sickly manhood indeed, that I toasn^ scared a hit 1 Perhaps, the proudest day of my boyhood was when I was able to present her with a large and flaming red cot-ton handkerchief, wherewith, in turban style she adorned her head. And my satisfaction was complete when my profound erudition en-abled me to read for her on Sab-bath afternoons, that most won-derful of all stories. The Pilgrim's Progress. Nor was it uninstruct-ive, or a slight tribute to the genius of the immortal tinker could I but have appreciated it to observe the varied emotions ex-cited within her breast, by the re-cital of those fearful conflicts by 370 All About It. [March, the way, and of the unspeakable glories of the celestial City, with-in whose portals of pearl, I trust her faithful soul has long since entered! Nor must the old uncle be for-gotten; the trusted and conse-quential right-hand man of the household , first lieutenant or ser-geant major of the whole estab-lishment at the least. Though hard and high, uncompromising in all things, and especially as to the family dignity, of whom all urchins, both white and black, stood in wholesome awe, I shall never cease thinking of him with genuine respect. With him too is connected a problem in morals that was wont to puzzle much my juvenile logic, and I have not un-til this day been able to make it out quite right, that certain ur-chins at and in the county afore-said, with force and arms, not hav-ing the fear of the rod before their eyes, but being thereunto moved and seduced by the cravings of juvenile appetite, did, &c., &c., &c., certain water-melons of him, the said "uncle," &c., &c., &c. With these associations, so well calculated to make their former masters the fast friends of their late servants, come some also of a darker and less pleasing hue. — There were cases of harsh and cruel treatment of these simple minded people. Truthful men have often blushed at but never denied the fact, that mean and tyrannical masters now and then outraged humanity and furnished our enemies with occasion of of-fence against us all. But no com-munity ever has been or ever will be free from that despicable class of men who abuse the trust which God and society have reposed in them, by ill-treating those who are necessarily subject to and de-pendent upon them. But, on the whole, history must say that our rule was a mild one, that our slaves loved us and were happy, and that is the end of the contro-versy. They have themselves fur-nished, unconsciously, proofwhich will amply satisfy the impartial of the truth of this, in the faith-fulness with which they served us, and the loving care which they took of our helpless families during the long years of war, and in the sound of that conflict which they knew was waging for their deliverance. Having referred to what his condition was, let us glance brief-ly to what it is now. The real genuine negro, such as I have tried to sketch, has disappeared. We have some colored freedmen here but not any negroes. His joy and simplicity have departed. The ringing song of his daily work no longer awakens the echoes of his native plains; the boisterous laugh is hushed; the fiddle, without strings, hangs in silence on the cabin wall; the voice of the insphing banjo is heard no more, and the ever fa-mous dance—the double-shuffle — is about to be numbered with the lost arts. Forsaking the old plant-ation, he wanders over the coun-try, living upon freedom, crowd-ing into filthy hovels, feeding upon insufficient food, diseased, hungry, and in rags, without that l^rudent foresight which charac-terizes most of the animals, he is dying and passing away with a 1869.] All About It. 371 rapidity that is shocking to hu-manity. His whole condition now thunders the lie to all the de-nunciations which religious fanat-icism and political juggling have so long heaped upon their former masters, in tones so loud that all the world must know, when too late, upon whom is the blame for the perishing of a whole people! And worse than all, as if mis-chief enough has not been already done, special pains are taken to sow the seeds of hatred between the races, and to make the negro believe that his old master, be-cause he resisted emancipation, is his natural enemy ! Notwith-standing all these associations to which I have referred, and which bind every good-feeling man in the country to his former slaves with love and charity, there are men who thrust us aside, claim-ing to know more of the negro's nature and capacities, and to be animated with greater zeal for his welfare than we! May God for-give all such, for their second sin is like to be greater than the first! For, having torn him by violence, and against his wish, from a state of mild and humane servitude, where his physical and moral con-dition was superior to that which ever befell him since the curse of Ham, and placed him in the high road to extinction, beneath the tread of a dominant race ; should they also succeed in destroying that ancient love between master and slave, and filling the heart of one with bitterness, and the other with jealous fear, and inaugura-ting a war of races, then no man can mistake the doom of the weaker. Oh, woeful times! May God preserve us from them! I believe it is generally conceded that, so far, the emancipation of the negro has made his condition worse, but it is not in the course ofhuman nature to repair an error by acknowledging it and turning back from the path that led to it. The course is to devise another remedy, still deeper in the er-roneous direction. As the scorn of the world begins to gather around those who waded through the blood and ashes of a noble country and over the prostrate columns of constitutional liberty, to create four million vagabonds, they endeavor to stay that world's judgment by a strange remedy. Seeing that the negro is utterly unable to endure the freedom of his own labor and locomotion, they propose to give him the over-sight of the freedom of others! Since his absolute incapacity to take care of his few bodily wants has been conclusively shown, it is solemnly proposed to give him charge of a great Republic. — Since he has failed to exhibit the sagacity and industry of an animal in providing against the commonest wants, the ir-resistible conclusion—i/ie logical ergo—is, that he is fully com-petent to solve that greatest of all problems which has vexed the genius of man — self-govern-ment !! ! This process much re-sembles that by which a logican would undertake to derive shoe-pegs from the rings of Saturn. To illustrate, if illustration can render more absurd such an utter absurdity—if a negro is found un-able to drive one mule in a cart, the remedy is to give him, imme- 372 All About It. [March,. diately, the reins of a coach and six, wherein is all the family and crockery ! ! Such is negro suffrage, the sup-porting idea of which is, of course, negro equality, social and po-litical. Now, hereupon, I beg leave to remark that I don't feel as much shocked at this asserted equality of the races as some people seem to be. I recognize in it, on the contrary, a considerable infusion of that which, that immortal philosopher Square, termed "the eternal fitness of things;" subject to a modification. One Mr. Josh Billings, a gentleman who has managed to get off much senten-tious philosophy, in very bad En-glish indeed, once said in reply to the question, did he believe in the final salvation of men, " Yes, but let me pick the men." So, if allowed to pick the men, I shall announce myself as a believer in the equality of whites and blacks; and my selection should not over-look the merits of those who preach the doctrine. Thus, when I hear a man assert that, a negro is his equal, I take it for granted, sure enough that he is. For, al-though, to all outward seeming, he might be a little better than a half- reclaimed savage, yet, as he must, of necessity, know his own meanness better than I can, I take his word for it readily. The only danger is of doing the negro injustice by the comparison. For to my seeming, that soul, however lowly, that looks up and strives to get higher, is infinitely superior to that which, however high, looks down and strives to get lower I The process of going down hill is both easy and inglorious. A brick-bat can do that much. Be all this as it may, I trust that the'~^ good people of the South will ,' strive earnestly to keep friends with the negro, under all the changes which may be forced upon both. He served us well and faithfully, and left us not of his own accord. Let us, in all things which are best for both, requite this service. As he must remain our neighbor, let us give him, if permitted, a home, wages, educa-tion, morality and religion. And now as the negro will not leave us, let us for a moment leave him. Suffrage for him is a step toward that great progf-ress which is to renovate the South; and although it is amus-ing to watch the effort to prove the perfect equality of the wild ass of Assyria and the war horse of Job, let us leave the name-sakes— wild and domestic—to rec-oncile the incongruities which God has placed between his laws and the theories of men, whilst we look at some other changes about to come upon our beloved land. Having noticed the alteration, perfected and prospective, in our country society, towns and vil-lages, and in our system of labor, we may contemplate a serious change in our clergymen and our system of theology. There Will be a great pressure here, for in the opinion of our ISTorthern friends, the reforming hand of Progress is badly needed among the dry bones of Southern reli-gionists. It is certainly a matter of reproach that our preachers are fully as old-fashioned as their theology, and Si j^rogressive clergy- 1869.] All About It. 373 man of the new faith, whilst be-holding their sincere efforts to save sinners, might say of them as it is reported that Senator Hale ofKew Hampshire once said of Giddings when the latter intro-duced a bill in the House looking to a practical abolition of slavery: " The cussed old fool I he thinks we are in earnest!" Surely, no reasonable man could now think that a system of religion and mor-als which answered for Moses and the miserable secessionists who left Egypt with him, would do for the improved and revised saints of the present day and of this great Eepublic! Certainly not! — Moses was a slaveholder, up to his eyes in the " sum of all villainy," and sanctioned iniquity by a law, wherein he laid down rules and regulations for the gov-ernment of these slaves bought with his money! What did he know about religion by the side of the modern saints whose grand-fathers made their fortunes in the horrors of the "middle passage?" Neither he nor any of the motley crowd which followed him ever dreamed of the steam engine, lucifer matches, the At-lantic cable or the Howard Amendment! And yet our de-luded preachers cite him as au-thority in morals I All his crude and ignorant notions have long since been superseded—except polygamy, indeed, which, under the fostering care of the Govern-ment, is doing smartlj'—and it should not be expected that a re-ligion laid down under such cir-cumstances by such a people could stand in the blaze of light which streams over the land from the VOL. VI. NO. V. saintly theology of John Brown and Lucy Stone! Nor, in the es-timation of the progressive theo-logians, does the church of the new dispensation much improve upon the old, since it abolishes polygamy which they loved, and failed to rebuke slavery which they hated; and since Christ, its divine head, declared that the kingdom which he founded was not of this world. As He there-fore failed to rebuke the greatest sin known to man, slavery, and disconnected his church from pol-itics and the things of this world, in their estimation his mission was but half fulfilled after all. — Progressive theology has there-fore supplied the mission, and has kindly added such conditions as render the salvation of the sin-ner — or at least the success of the 2oarty—more secure. In addition to the old tests it is now necessary to swear to the sinfulness of slave-ry and the divine right of our government (for this principle is local) to do precisely whatever it pleases. Now, it is necessary to preach a kingdom of this vrorld, (or a lower one,) politics, litera-ture, and the family of isms—any thing, in short, but the plain, old-fashioned bread of life to perish-ing sinners—Christ and him cru-cified! The great Apostle Paul, with a soul rejoicing in the en-larged and universal salvation of his Master, thrusting the sickle of his mighty genius into the whiten-ing harvest of a world, preached of righteousness, temperance and a judgment to come: his more pre-tentious and enlightened follow-ers confine their savory ministra-tions to rebellion, confiscation and 26 374 All About It. [March, negro suffrage! Jesus Christ taught servants to be obedient unto their masters; these im-proved moralists teach them to cut their masters' throats! Ab-horrence of rebellion against the government—for any cause what-ever — whilst they hold the reins,— and a firm adherence to the doc-trine of passive obedience is now declared to be the only road to heaven—at least by way of Eich-mond and New Orleans! One hundred and eighty years ago, English cavaliers were shamed out of this base doctrine by the Puritans and were forced to join them in hurling a tyrant from his tlirone; now the Puritans, with lire and sword, preach damna-tion to all who resist the powers that be—whichpoicers they now are! Circumstances alter cases. [See Parmer vs. Lawyer, Webster's Spelling Book; The Colonies vs. King George III. ; Jefferson's Ee-ports, 4th July, '7G; United States vs. Hartford Convention; Sal-mon P. Chase on the relation of the Ohio Legislature vs. The Fu-gitive Slave Law and various other cases familiar to the pro-fession!] A drunken wag in the mountains of North Carolina once resolved himself into a political meeting to consider the state of the country, and as President, Secretary and Chairman of the committee reported and adopted unanimously quite a series of resolutions, two of which bear upon the subject before us, and were as follows: ^^ Besolved, That in a general way there is a good deal of human nature in man-kind. Eesolved, That we don't care what in the thunder happens provided it don't happen to us!'''' That which was perfectly right in 1688 and in 1776 has a perfect right to be wrong in 1861, provid-ed the pressure is changed ! of course! Though Kero was a great scoundrel for two hundred years or more, whilst Nero was on the other side, it is gratifying to know that an enlightened cler-gy have preached him into quite a respectable old gentleman. — Some in fact prefer him to Wash-ington, but I can't say that my prejudices extend quite so far. After all, Nero's respectability depends much on the side he hap-pens to take in politics. And herein, of obedience to Nero from the pulpit, and of those who preach such doctrine, let an an-ecdote give my opinion. In obe-dience to that spirit of mischief which induced our soldiers to "jaw" every stranger out of uni-form (and many in it) whom they met, a saucy private once bawled out to a rather daintily dressed stranger passing by, who chanced to be a chaplain, ' '• Halloo, Mister, what army do you belong to?" " To the army of the Lord," rath-er sanctimoniously said the chap-lain; whereupon the soldier re-sponds, " Well then, old hoss, you'd better spur up, for you're a darned long ways from your head-quarters." Will our pulpit be able to resist such changes as these, the most ruinous and dangerous of all? As teachers not only of a pure and undefiled religion, but of manners and morals, and princi-pally the disseminators of general education throughout our great land , will this vast band of guard- 1869.] All About it. 375 ians of our civilization give way before the erroneous, but bolder and more energetic teachings of their Korthern brethren? Much of their energy, their industry, their thrift, their means of wealth and such characteristics wherein they are our confessed superiors, we should gladly seek to learn; but may God preserve us from their peculiar religious civiliza-tion! May our pious clergy resist to the last extremity—and only death is that last extremity—the introduction here of their politi-cal preaching ; their Millerism, Mormonism, Spiritualism, Free-love- ism, Miscegenation, Material-ism, and Radicalism, with all the thousand and one morbid senti-mentalities and false teachings which mark, lamentably, the decay of public virtue and evangelical re-ligion! And though this tide has begun to roll in, and some even of the weaker sort among ourselves have begun to yield, may the angel of the Lord, repenting Him of the evils we have suffered, jet show us the threshing floor of another Oman, the Jebusite, at which the pestilence may be stayed, ere it destroy our Israel, though we should sacrifice all the oxen of our wealth! When religion becomes corrupt, referring principally to the things of this world—requiring even al-legiance to a party, as a test of orthodoxy, the road to national and social ruin is short and easy. For I am convinced that even the wisest statesmen err, in under-standing the part which learned and pious clergymen bear in the government and civilization of the world. A comparison of the wordly great, with the successful teachers of Christianity will il-lustrate my meaning. Ca?sar and Cicero are known to scholars. Luther and Wesley are known to, and govern, all classes and condi-tions of men. Shakspeare is read and admired by millions of men; but John Bunyan is loved and admired by hundreds of millions of human souls! The sublime song of the Paradise Lost even may perish, and the Elegy in a country church-yard be forgotten; but the North star ceasing to guide the pilots of the sea, shall, following in the track of the con-stellation of the Cross, disappear from the gaze of men beyond the everlasting ices of the Pole, and the Bedouin of the desert shall halt his camels upon the disinte-grated dust of the loftiest Pyra-mid, ere little children in every part of the wide earth shall cease to repeat, before going to rest, that simple prayer of some for-gotten Christian poet, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." These dangerous influences which threaten to overwhelm our clergymen, are but old forms .of human vice; old foes in new faces. As Sir Edward Coke observes of copy-hold tenures, though they come of a mean house they are yet of a very ancient descent. — Most of them are of unmistakably Puritan origin, and the ancestors of Puritanism were distinguished even so long ago as the sojourn of our Saviour on earth, when they were represented as giving alms to the sound of the trumpet, as making long prayers in the mar-ket places, and the motto on their 376 All About It. [Marchy coat of arms was " Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other peo-ple!" Let us resist this change Avith our united power, and pray that our clergymen may adhere — even through martyrdom if need be—to their old-fashioned religion. We shall he pressed, too, to change the manner of bringing up our children if we would become rich and great like our conquerors. In addition to the catechism and a love for the cardinal virtues and proprieties generally, we have heretofore endeavored to teach our children unsellishness, liber-ality, and what the Irish call "the open hand." This is a great mistake, progrressit'eZy speak-ing. Too strict a reverence for all the members of the "noble family of Truth," unfits the mind of the boy for the sharp substi-tutes and ingenious devices, which are the life of individual and na-tional wealth. He must be made to read the sublime apothegms of that light of the eighteenth cen-tury, B. Franklin, and his juve-nile heart must be fired — or pre-cipitated, by the studies of the wise glories of such immortal ut-terances as "Time is money," " Money saved is money made," " Take care of the dimes and the dollars will take care of them-selves," " He that would thrive must rise at five," " He that hath thriven may lie till seven," "A stitch in time saves nine," with much other wondrous philosophy of like nature. The boy must be taught that the chief end of man is—to make money! and the greatest sin (next to slaveholding) is to enjoy it! He must be taught not to fox-hunt because, on a cal-culation of the time, that the men, the horses and dogs occupy ia catching it, 'tis cheaper to buy the skin ready caught! Bird shooting must be abjured for a similar reason, and an old horse or an old dog must be killed immediately to save forage! His infant lips must be made to lisp the price of onions, and his nostrils made to delight in and revere the smell of cod-fish, if you would have him be-come a great and glorious pillar of the State! In connection herewith, we are iqjon the sJcirts of another great change, in the habits and man-ners of the mothers of these children. In the new state of progress into which we are like to enter, under Jacobin auspices, we shall, doubtless, incur the risk of having some strong-minded women I Perhaps this term does not suf-ficiently convey our meaning. The intellects of our women are sufficiently strong—in the right direction—already. We mean, simply, those women who, drop-ping the' characteristics of their own sex, are constantly raiding into the dominions of the other for the purpose, it would seem — of capturing pantaloons I Like a forlorn hope, they are constantly trying to storm and ^ ; carry the hreeches. They are women com-pounded— not to say confounded English grog-fashion, " 'alf and 'alf," who, somehow or another have got mixed up, strangely enough, with the progress and pe-culiar civilization of our enter-prising brethren of the North. A school-boy who prayed that to-morrow, "it might rain just a leetle too hard to go to school and- 1869.] All About It. 377 not quite hard enough to prevent going a fishin' " hit upon a dis-tinction that eminently applies to these fungi of a superior mental culture, since any one of them might be described as a little too much of a woman to be a man, and a little too much of a man to be a woman! What useful pur-pose in social or political economy, these aviphihia serve, I really can-not see; but some how they are either cause or effect of wealth and greatness, and I warn my unfortunate male friends to look for them as we progress! A col-porteur traveling once upon one of our noble Southern rivers, stepped ashore, when the boat stopped at a wharf where there had been great excitement about the small pox. Everybody fled as the boat drew near, except one old woman, and thinking to dis-tribute more books, he approach-ed her and said, " my good wo-man have you the scriptures about here?" "Kot gist yet, thank the Lord," was the reply, "but the way they've got it down to Nor-folk is a sin!" So, we have not this social pestilence amongst us yet, but the way they have it up Korth, is terrible, and it will spread this way if we are not careful. The preventive is alone in the hands of our blessed countrywomen. We can only beg and implore them to resist the temptation , and by all the glori-ous associations of the most noble womanhood the world ever saw, to drive back this most odious, vicious and contemptible innova-tion; and to preserve for their sake and ours, the modesty and purity of their mothers. In this case, boasted man cannot help; he can only grasp his pantaloons and pray! We can innoculate against small-pox, we can clean up our streets and fumigate against the yellow- fever; we can even diet ourselves against cholera, but there is no relief in the ingenuity of man against the tide of strong-minded womanism which threat-ens us ! The only possible allevia-tion ever yet discovered—and which I cordially recommend to all single males present to-night — is to marry as quick as possible, and then it may take you only in varioloid form! Thus I have glanced—and scarcely glanced—at a few of the prominent changes likely to be impressed upon our people as a result of the Great Eevolution in which we have fought and lost. A hundred others might be noticed, if time permitted. Change is all around us, and pervades the atmosphere. As our cities grow, our literature will improve, for somehow great cities are favor-able to the culture and develop-ment, though not to the birth, of genius. But as it improves, it will not purify, especially our newspaper literature. History, poetry, fiction, will intermin-gle with fulsome biography and miscellaneous criticism; whilst Pill advertisements, Ead-way's Ready Relief and the Fra-grant Sozodont will attain their maximum glory and struggle for the mastery. Even our pronun-ciation will change, more or less, with our style, as may be already seen in the strange accentuation given to many familiar objects, so as almost to disguise them from 378 All About It. [March, us. For instance our Capital city is known as Baw-la^ without the ' click ' by which it was wont to be known to both citizens and politicians; the most lively and ambitious little city in the interior of the State, is called Shar-lott ; whilst that goodly city wljich com-mands so pleasing a prospect over the mingling floods of the Neuse and the Trent—ignoring its famed mother—that glorious home of liberty and nursling of the Alps—has become simply Nuh-hurn ! Dear, native land! All these things and many more are to <3ome upon thy children, sweep-ing away the land-marks of our early love, and many of the simple and happy ways which our fathers taught us, so that we shall enjoy them no more forever! Her very faults are endeared to us, and her short-comings even awak-en the liveliest emotions in the bosoms of all who love her well. With the captive of Chillon, I can say: " To such a long communion tends, My very chains and I grew friends, To make us what we are. Even I Kegained my freedom with a sigh !" During all the sad years that tried the souls of men I was a close observer, and participated in all that concerned the State of North Carolina, and I say, with truth, that not only am I proud of the glorious manner in which she came through the fiery ordeal but that even my opinion of the nobility of human nature has been improved. Time will not permit me to speak now—as it should be spoken—of the many claims of her people to the respect and con-fidence of the world. Other and abler hands must do that. I will therefore close this sketch by re-lating two or three incidents— and those not the most striking—of the hundreds I could relate illus-trating the true nobleness of her people, and the gallantry and steadfastness of her soldiers dur-ing the late war. ~^ One cold and frosty Decem-ber morning, a poor but neatly clad woman stepped timidly into the Executive chamber whilst I was its occupant, leading a rag-ged and barefoot boy. With many tears she told her story and his; she was a widow with five little children, this, her eldest and only support, was but 17 years old, had been in the army since he was 15, had served honorably those two years and bore the manly scars of battle upon his body, but in an evil hour had de-serted. Then when he got home, hungry and almost naked, she had kept him only long enough to make him one shirt, to hide his nakedness, and had then started immediately to Raleigh—a dis-tance of sixty miles—to deliver him to me. I asked her if she knew that the punishment for de-sertion was death. She said she did, but she wanted him to do his duty to his country be the conse-quences what they might, and begged me to send him to his reg-iment and write to General Lee to be merciful! Knowing thus all the possible consequences, this brave and noble widow yet brought forward her first born — the Isaac of her hopes— and gave him to her country, either to per-ish in the ranks of its defenders or 1869.J All About It. 379 to die the ignominious death of a felon, as that country might think best! Think of that, oh ye rich and mighty dames and matrons who boast of giving your jewels, and even your children to die no-ble deaths! and say within your hearts did not this poor widow's offering exceed all of yours? Suf-fice it to say that the boy was not punished. Again: in passing through the mountains once, some soldiers stopped at an humble cabin and asked for something to eat. (By the way, what soldier ever did pass a house without asking for something to eat? or that, hadn't had a bite in three days?) The poor woman, who was its proprie-tor, kindly invited them in, and began to tell them her distresses and how she had been treated. That she had been a widow pretty well to do, and her three grown boys had been in the army ever since the war begun, that as the scene of war came nearer and nearer to her, the soldiers began to pass by and consume her substance. — First, they had destroyed all her provender, then her chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, then all her hogs, then her cattle, and lastly, they had killed and eaten before her eyes, her last milk cow, and had' otherwise preyed upon her, until, said she, " I've got nothing in this world for you to eat, boys, except that one little piece of bacon you see hanging up there!" As she rose up to pre-pare even it for them, they began to feel somewhat ashamed— a rather uncommon virtue with a hungry soldier—declared they would not intrude on a woman who had suffered so, and got up to go. " Ko," said she, as she sharpened her knife on the bricks of the chimney jam and gave it a murderous flourish at the piece of bacon, " you just sit still; ifs all right; as like as any way my three boys have helped to eat up your mammy's old cow, or some body else's; so I'll divide!" And she did divide; and if the territo-ry of the late Confederate States had only been as big as that old woman's heart, Sherman's great army would have perished of sheer old age before it had finished its march to the sea! During the last fatal retreat from the blood-stained ramparts of Eichmond and Petersburg, to the memorable spot which wit-nessed the final scenes of that once splendid army of IsTorthern Virginia, everything of course was in the utmost confusion. The old campaigners in the ranks knew quite as well as their offi-cers that the war was over and whilst those who kept their ranks fought with but little heart, or straggled carelessly and hope-lessly along, thousands deliberate-ly walked off" to their homes. With lessening rations and for-age, and a routed and melting army (vhose demoralization was increasing every moment, it be-came every hour more and more difficult to check the flushed and swarming enemy sufficiently, to save the trains upon which all depended. It had become truly a rout, " With many a weary league to go With every now and then a blow And ten to one at least, the foe," When on one occasion, a spot 380 All About It. [March, having been chosen for a stand, some artillery placed in position and Gen. Lee, sitting his horse on a commanding knoll, sent his staff and all about him to rally the stragglers behind a certain line and beg them to give one more fire and hold the enemy at bay, until the slowly struggling trains could be got forward out of the way. Mournfully he beholds his once splendid warriors, broken and scattered, come straggling loosely along — saddest of sights to a sol-dier's eye—by twos and threes, here a squad, there the remnant of a company, parts of regiments, brigades and divisions, without drums or colors, mixed in hope-less, careless, and inextricable confusion, and rallying but slow-ly and unwillingly on the ap-pointed line. But presently the roll of a drum is heard, a pennon flashes in the sunlight, the head of an orderly column comes into view, then emerges a small but entire brigade, "Alasliow few! Since but the fleeting of a day Had thinned it ! But the wreck was true, and with arms at will, with mar-tial tread and serried ranks, its commander at its head, and every living subaltern at his post, it comes, files promptly to the left along its appointed position ; the sharp commands, "halt, front, dress" ring upon the air, and they are ready once more for the deadly and hopeless struggle! A smile of momentary joy plays over the distressed features of that illustrious chieftain, he calls out to an Aid, "what troops are those?" "Coxe's North Caro-lina brigade" was the reply. — Then it was that, taking off his hat and bowing his head with the goodly courtesy and kindly feel-ing of a gentleman, which are so pleasant to see in misfortune, he said, " May God bless gallant old Korth Carolina!" Kot long since, I was invited to deliver an address at Winchester, Virginia, on the occasion of con-secrating the Stonewall Cemetery there, filled as it is with Confed-erate dead, gathered up from the battle-fields of the valley, by the loving patriotism of that people. The reason given for selecting me, was because the North Carolina dead far exceeded those from Vir-ginia herself or any other State represented there! So it is on all the battle-fields from Charleston to Gettysburg; and so it is like-wise among all the rude and un-tended graves around the North-ern prisons. Considering all that is com-mendable in the character of our people, as illustrated by their bearing in adversity as well as in prosperity, and these changes to which she is subject, my object has been to urge you to be cau-tious in choosing those things which we should welcome and those we should reject. " Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." We know that our institutions and customs have been favorable to the formation of a people en-dowed with the noblest character-istics of fallen human nature. Let us be sure, whatever we do, that we barter nothing of this for wealth and power. 1869.] All About It, 381 There is very much that we can learn from the people of the Korth, and I hope, sincerely, that we shall not be ashamed to learn it. Their physical energy, their inventive and mechanical genius, their thrift, economy and industry far surpass ours. In-dividual thrift makes aggregate wealth, this wealth, in turn , builds cities, ships, rail-roads, canals, churches, and endows colleges, schools, and spreads intelligence. In laboring for all these, I only beg my countrymen to preserve, as far as possible, their time-honored institutions, their old-fashioned hospitality, their hon-esty, public and private, the sim-plicity of their manners, the modest purity of their women, and their evangelical religion ! The way is open for us to make Korth Carolina all we should wish her to be in material prosperity, without sacrificing one jot or tittle of those good qualities which we esteem her pride and her glory. We must complete as rapidly as possible our noble system of in-ternal improvements until every section is linked with the other; we must prepare to dig up the inexhaustible mineral riches of her bosom; we must induce the inflow of population, and stimu-late the agricultural interests un-til one continuous system of well cultivated and smiling farms shall cover the whole land from the low country of the east, across the rolling champaign hills of the interior, to the feet of the great western highlands. Those mag-nificent " pastures of the sky " should not only enrapture the eye of the traveler, and fill the hearts of their dwellers with adoration and praise with their inimita-ble scenes of glorious beauty, but should be made to gladden the hearts of their tillers with the sight of unnumbered thousands of lowing herds and feeding flocks ; whilst their frostless steppes—as well as the Eastern plains— should teem with those native vines, now famous through the enterprise of strangers—and rejoice their owners with vintages rivalling the glories of Eshcol! All this, and more, we can do, if we will labor and be patient. But we must first he true to our-selves. We must aid each other, and patronize our own I We must patronize our own university,* colleges and schools ; we must buy of our own manufactories, support our own newspapers and stimulate and foster the genius of our own young men. Amid all these changes and revolutions, it is pleasant to know that there is one thing, at least, which knoweth neither variable-ness nor shadow of turning—the kindly love and devoted patriot-ism of the women of North Caro-lina, for all who have suffered in her behalf. Especially, during the season of despair and gloom which has so long paralyzed the strong arms of men, has it been refreshing to our souls to witness their unceasing and pious eflbrts in behalf of our dead heroes. — Even if their own great deeds were not—as they are—amply sufiicient to redeem an unfortu- * When its FeticMsm shall be removed. 382 All About It. [March, nate cause, and to fill the world with their splendid fame, the ef-forts of their devoted country-women would alone redeem their names from perishing. Erom the sea- shore to the mountains they are all at work—striving to feed the poor, to shelter the orphan and to bless the memories of their dead defenders. ISTo adversity discourages them; and there is no spot so remote, but they may be found " working diligently with their hands.'' Not long since, I had occasion to visit again that prettiest nursling of the Allegha-nies— my native town of Ashe-ville. Crossing the Blue Kidge on horse-back, and winding my way down that loveliest of all the valleys, I ever beheld, which nestles under the shadow of Mt. Mitchell and his gigantic confreres, I stood at length upon the sum-mit of that sharp spur which, leading directly from the highest peaks of the Black Mountain, guides the limpid waters of the Swannanoa into those of the French Broad. Beneath my feet lay my native town—quiet enough now, though torn, despoiled and blackened by the flames of war — whilst straight before me, and on either hand lay, tranquilly sleep-ing in the evening sunbeams, two-thirds of my native county, taken in at one sweeping glance I In-voluntarily I paused, and in-stantly, faithful memory filled my soul with the scenes and incidents, joys and sorrows of years. It was in the earlier part of that most delightful season in our Alpine land, when summer pre-paring to die, decks herself as for a festival in her most srorgeous robes, and blazing in the mellow autumnal sunlight with the thousand hues of the forest, makes earth quite as beauteous, and al-most as glorious "as the o'er-arching firmament, fretted with golden fire." The distant mount-ain peaks were bathing joyfully in the rich tide of outflowing light, the valleys seemed slumber-ing in real and grateful peace, and the quiet village wrapped in such fresh and soothing verdure, as al-most to make its blackened ruins appear beautiful. The scene too, was that of my youthful hopes, sorrows and triumphs; where I had placed my young feet on the first round in the ladder of am-bition, had tasted first of its waters and found them, even then, mingled with bitterness. My gazing was long, and my emotions were many. Drawing my feast-ing eyes at length slowly away from the magnificent panorama of mountain, hill and dale, and shining waters, and gazing eager-ly upon every recognized house and familiar object, it fell at last upon the final earthly home of man—the village church-yard. There among the tombs of peace-ful citizens, gleamed also, in the soft light, the white tablets which marked the resting-places of many who had given their young blood in defence of that goodly land, in whose bosom they slept so well. Then I thought sadly of the many, who were sleeping on wild and distant battle-fields, and wondered if there were any who would think to seek out and adorn their bloody beds! How could I, for a moment, have wondered thus? For, after gazing and 1869.] Dead— Very Dead. 383 gazing, and thinking and think-ing, until my eyes were moist with the teeming memories of the past, what time the " herd winds slowly o'er the lea," I spurred down into the village, and almost the first thing which greeted me was the din of the preparation my lovely townswomen were mak-ins: to raise the means wherewith to re-inter and adorn the graves of those very slaughtered boys of whom I had been thinking! With a proud and grateful heart, I said then, as I know you will all join me in saying to-night. May God bless the women of North Carolina! And let him that says not amen, be anathema, maranalha I DEAD—VERY DEAD. [Sketch from a Bomance of I860.] BY L. YIRGIKIA FRENCH. Precisely so. In pummelling and pulverizing to annihilation the black body of "Southern slavery," the stony spirit of Plymouth Eock has pounded the life out of a most beautiful and sacred social relation:—the hand of "Progress" (so-called) has wiped out, forever, the peculiar Southern "institution " of "Black Mammy." But, in 1860--61, it was not so. That institution, now buried deep in the ' ' dead past," was then part and parcel of the "living Present." At all events, you would have thought so, had you, for a moment, be-held " Jfmn????/," the most notable in position, and elephantine in size of the "ebony idols" of "An-dalusia." She was a matron of some fifty summers and winters , — most generally " girt about with growing infancy " and the amplest of all ample aprons, either of checkered homespun or snowy linen, as duty or leisure predomi-nated 2^i'o ^€"'" Her usual cos-tume was, like herself, more com-fortable than classic,—nothing stifi" about her, save her neck and her well-ironed head-kerchief, which she persisted in wearing after an odd fashion of her own inventing, and which "Mas' Syd" styled "a la Havelock." The circumference being about equal, it was difficult to deter-mine where the dame's shoulders ended and the waist began, in-deed, had it not been for the voluminous strings of the omni-present apron, which encircled her like a belt of drift, marking 384 Dead—Very Bead. [March, high tide upon some giant syca-more, the beholder might have been left in a painful state of sus-pense as to the fact whether or not she possessed a waist at all. Her hair, (it must be called so by compliment, and from fear of a applying any sheepish term to so stately a dame;) was iron-gray but concealed under the white 'kerchief,—her eyes small, with the kindliest twinkle in them, — her complexion a brown ma-hogany, sleek and shining, and her large mouth expressive of great good humor. Her features were high and prominent, more like those of an Indian than an individual of " African descent " her manner was of the most un-equivocal and uncompromising dignity: and she was given, at times, to speaking of people as being " of no force," with quite a grand air. As to temperament, good "Mammy" had nearly, if not quite, as much spirit as body, which is saying a great deal when one pauses to contemplate her number of pounds avoirdupois. She stood in no great awe of any earthly power whatever, though she had an affectionate reverence for "old Master" and "Madame;" but she was sufficient in herself to hold the entire " army of Africa " on that plantation in a state of wholesome subjection. In kitch-en and cabin an autocrat—a veri-table ' ' monarch of all she sur-veyed;" taking a general super-vision of men and boys, keeping a rigid look-out over the women, and reprimanding at large the troops of juvenile ebony; which, regarded as a natural sequence to their mothers, danced and tum-bled about in the sunshine, or, when "weather-bound," toddled and capered through their kitten-like divertisements over the cabin floor. So supreme was her rule throughout the " quarters," that she always knew before-hand the exact opinion of " them niggers," upon any given subject,—they never daring openly to differ from her views, or dispute her man-dates upon any occasion. Her denunciations of their divers der-ilictions from duty, were often furious, her gesticulation stormy in the extreme,—her threatening thunderous,—her temper torna-dic, and, at such tempestuous times, very serious indeed were the sharp lightenings of her " coups de langue.''^ The " boys," when they, individually, did not happen to be the culprits, de-lighted to get her upon what they rather quaintly termed " a tali horse," and when once fairly seated upon that imaginary steed, she was never known to abate from want of words, but simply and solely from lack of breath. Yet, from the fact that her wrath was of the loquacious species, — her ire of the imprecatory sort, arose the consequent fact that, though her bursts of righteous in-dignation frequently assumed a sublime stage of x^assion, they seldom proceeded to serious ex-tremities. On the whole, then, when good "Mammy's" heart was well understood, (for she had a heart "as big as a meetin'- house," more or less) she was comprehended to be more amiable and less formidable than a first view, of her lofty bearing and 1869.] Dead—Very Dead. 385 physical force, would warrant one in supposing. To every member of the Yert-ner family she was devotedly at-tached, having been all her life one of their retainers, as her pa-rents were before her; she con-sidered herself as one of them — making it a strictly personal mat-ter, their family was hers— no more, no less. Her especial ado-ration was "de childun," her young mistresses, she regarded as a pair of moat uncommon angels, with black eyes and rose-colored dresses,—Sydney she doted on the "Master " she loved sincerely, and Madame Komayne, she ad-mired to the deep extent of imi-tating her in every possible way, and saying often with an imperial air; " Madame and me," did thus and so! This, in itself was the profoundest compliment possible —flattery, with " Mammy " could no farther go. This good old family servant had one distinctive peculiarity— direct consequence of her force of character and independent habit of thought. Being herself of a most substantial constitution— a kind of feminine Colossus, combin-ing physical abundance and mus-cular force, with a heart at times the tenderest, and hands at times the gentlest. She had been ap-pointed to nurse and watch over the late Mrs. Yertner, during the last five years of her life, and she had, almost literally, (as she ex-pressed it,) "carried her in dese arms." Such was the tender ad-oration with which this gentlest of gentle-women had inspired her faithful nurse, during these long years of patience and of pain, that "Mammy " could form no higher idea of the heavenly beatitudes than that of still " tendin' on poor dear Miss Lily," listening to her as she read the Bible promises, and carrying her golden harp for her amid the splendors of the Kew Jerusalem! She entertained an abiding faith that this was one day to be her happy and enviable lot;—and woe to any imprudent Ethiopian who, unadvisedly dared intimate a doubt of this, (to her,) most consoling and comfortable theory. An irreverent grandson of her own—a sort of " Imp of the Perverse "—once had the ill-judg-ed temerity to venture the query. " Ehl an' who's gwine fur to tote your gold harp, granny, while you's a totinov Miss Lily's?" TJghl the resources of the English lan-guage are quite inadequate to a description of the "length and the breadth, the depth and the height" of the "ducking," re-ceived by this " noble Eoman," Julius, upon that unfortunate oc-casion; it can only be expressed in his own peculiar lingo, when he sputteringly asserted that he was—" a dem-dem-demol-obolish-ed nigger!" " Poor dear Miss Lily!" Mam-my would soliloquize, as she pen-sively leaned her Havelock upon a colossal hand—" poor dear Mis-sus— I trus' in the Lord she's got her strength. Harps o' gold mus' in reason be heavy, hit will be too great an ondertakin' for /ler, poor baby—an' crowns o' gold is heavy likewise—too burdensome I'm mis-trustin' for that little pale head that used to lean back onto my busom so faint like, as she said — 'Oh! mammy—my head aches so, 386 Dead—Very Dead. [March , mammy!' Lord love it! hit 91 ever was strong. Kow, hit's a pleas-ant place thar—an' so 'twas a pleasant place here, for Mas' Caroll, God bless 'im, (that's ole master I mean,) made her way mighty easy,—ef crowns 0' gold an' harps o' gold could a' saved her precious life, he'd a' had 'em fixed up right centre, shure! But she never got no strength for all Ms lovin' of her, an' my nussin' of her,—an' though I reckon the Good Master above 'ill make it all mighty pleasant for her; the main question is—will hit gin her the strength? I often wonders—to meself like, jis' as I'm a doin' now—ef hit will be easier an' plainer, walkin' on them streets o' gold in the New Jerusalem she used to read to me about, than 'twas on all these purty paths as was made roun' an' roun' this big house jis' a purpose for her tired little feet? I reckon 'twill, I reckon 'twill, be all springy and velvety like. Poor Miss Lily—she was one o' the chosen,— s/ie was. That good man, Bruther Sanford, is often a tellin' of us, ' As thy days is, so shall thy strength be,' but 'twasn't so with that sweet creature—no 't wasn't. Tbemore days she had the weaker she got, an' at last she jis' naterally faded away like a lily—as she was. I hopes the Good Master 'ill ar-range it so as to make the harps, an' the crowns, an' things easy, an' the burden light, or else that he'll arrange it so as to gin her the strength:—'t any rate, ontil I gets thar to 'sist her—poor ba-by!" The idea that she, herself, would ever miss the golden gates of the Celestial City, had never once intruded upon good Mam-my's brain; she was just as cer-tain that her "calling and elec-tion " was made sure, as that her beloved Miss Lily had gone on before, and was even now waiting for her. If she endeavored to fol-low the kindly teachings of her Mistress and Brother Sanford, it was not so much as a means of at-taining heaven—but rather that one who was so sure of going there, ought, in reason, to con-duct herself here in a manner consistent with so happy and re-spectalde a destiny ! From Mammy's attendance on her lovely mistress arose another marked peculiarity. It so hap-pened that upon two occasions, Mrs. Vertner had visited a "Water-cure," in search of her lost health, and "Mammy" of course, as an indispensable req-uisite, accompanied her. Here she was bitten by the "Cure" and became an almost fanatical disciple of Pressnitz. Mrs. Vert-ner being, for a time as it seemed, benefited by the treatment ad-ministered in her nurse's tender way, the said nurse , to the last, maintained that ' ' ef poor, dear Miss Lily could only a made out to live long enough to a tried hit all on complete, hit would, in the Good Master's time, a giu her the strength." Mammy, from that time forward, constituted herself an entire "corps d'Afrique," un-der especial orders to administer " the treat?7je?if" to all diseases, moral, mental and physical, which appeared upon that plantation. Water was the universal pana-cea for all ' ' the ills that flesh is heir to." Madame Komayne fre- 1869.] Dead—Very Dead. 387 quently observed that it was a blessing the river was so con-venient, as without it, Mammy would have been to all everlasting in a fever of dread, lest the sup-ply springs and cisterns should sink, Ariel-like, into the "middle earth " and leave her without the slightest amelioration, either for moral or physical evil. Evidently her direst idea of the horrors of a hell, arose from her belief that in such a sphere existed nothing of her favorite element—but on the contrary, that Fire , its antagonist-ic principle, reigned supreme. " Plenty o' water in Heaven," —she would forcibly announce, " the Good Master knows what he's about. Four big shinin' rivers into the Paradise aint all for nothin':—an' then thar's that 'sea o' glass like onto a crystal,' — that's water too. 'Taint glass, no how,—what would folks want wi' glass in heaven? Cheap, brickly stuff—an' them a walkin' onto dimonds and all sich! Ko—bless the Lord ! that sea's water — hit is!" And then she would go on to argue, (not without some show of reason it must be confessed;) '•"What would be the sense o' havin' a hell-fire an' plenty o' water right on hand? Water'' s Jire^s master ^ an' with hit we could cure hell an' drown the devil—or i-quench ''im out, one. Only give me grace for to pour rivers enough down that sink-hole, an' I'll 'range hit all about centre. I'd engage to git all the meanness outen' ole Sam himself, by proper an' jew-dishus treatme?i^. I'd pack 'im, an' douche 'im, an' plunge 'im: or I'd drownd 'im, an'' squench 'im, an' naturally put his pipe out for 'im, bodily; 1 would, the owdashus ole fiery flyin' cuss! Hear me now?" In pursuance, therefore, of the idea that water was nothing less than a sort of liquid "philoso-pher's stone," by contact with which all things evil were to be transmuted into the purest possi-ble good. Mammy had established a certain regimen for not only routing disease from the ebony body, physical, but of driving the " often infirmity " of " badness'''' out of the juvenile ebony body, moral. She had imbibed in copi-ous draughts, the principle that water is a purifying, refreshing and ultimately regenerating agent, and she was not an individual to think a thing, and then allow it to remain xQuietly laid up in laven-der in tne regions of thought. Like a woman of will, as she was, she was for putting all such think-ings into vigorous, not to say rigorous, practice. Holding it firmly as one of the " thirty-nine articles " of her faith, that Afri-can childhood and youth de-mand nothing less than the ex-igent watchfulness of dragons, gorgons, etc., she constituted her-self a guardian of that type to such an unlimited extent, that the horrified juveniles considered her no less than an entire brigade of the aforesaid monsters. But no one could doubt the fact that her regimen had its advantages. The little urchins verily improved un-der it,—they were sleek, shining and"soasie,"—the consequences of scrubbing off, and rubbing out the "badness " inherent in youth-ful Ebony. They improved vast-ly under her superhuman efforts 338 " J/amm?/." [March, towards bringing the blood into a them. It was related of her, that state of healthful circulation , upon one occasion, when Brother after a fit of that chilly and sul- Sanford was holding forth, elo-len iniquity denominated "the quently, in the chapel, upon this, sulks:" a searching attrition of her favorite Scripture subject and their ears with rasping hucka- depicting the Creator's stern pun-back after a fibbing style of con- ishment of an evil world ; her versation: and a series of super- irrepressible enthusiasm got the erogatory slaps in connection with better of her discretion, and she a douche (vulgarly styled a "duck- electrified both minister and audi-ing,") when the harmony of the ence by springing to her feet, infantile corps had been disturbed clapping her colossal hands with by that domestic enormity, "a the emphasis of a pistol-shot, and free fight all round." exclaiming in a triumphal shout — The Deluge met with "Mam- '< Glory to God I he had ^em thar ! my's " most unqualified approval, he had -em thar /" She regarded it as a master-stroke, ^. ^ ^;. * ^ a splendid comjj d'etat of the Good Master for getting " the bad " out Dead-very dead. Forever past of " a world lying in wickedness," away is this Boanerges type of the one gone to the unmitigated good family nurse and foster "bad," so to speak. To be sure, mother. Gone too-to come again the experiment resulted in the no more, is the softer image of the destruction of a world of people, same extinct "institution " which but that, in her opinion, was a l^^s gladdened the homes of hun-matter of secondary consequence, ^reds of us in days gone by, and since their " owdashus badness " whose portrait is hastily sketched went down to destruction with ^elow. Gone—all gone. "MAMSIY." {A Home Picture of 1800. Where the broad mulberry branches hang a canopy of leaves Like an avalanche of verdure, drooping o'er the kitchen eaves, And the sunshine and the shadow dainty arabesques have made On the quaint, old oaken settle, standing in the pleasant shade; Sits good "Mammy " with " the child'un " while the summer after-noon Wears the dewy veil of April, o'er the brilliancy of June. 1869.] " Mammy.'' 389^ Smooth and snowy is the 'kerchief, lying folded with an air Of matron dignity above her silver-sprinkled hair; Blue and white the beaded necklace used " of Sundays " to bedeck (A dearly cherished amulet,) her plump and dusky neck; Dark her neatly ironed apron, of a broad and ample size, Spreading o'er the dress of "homespun " with its many colored dyes. True, her lips are all untutored, yet how genially they smile, And how eloquent their fervor, praying, " Jesus bless de chile!" True, her voice is hoarse and broken, but how tender its replies; True, her hands are brown and withered, yet how loving are her eyes; She has thoughts both high and holy tho' her brow is dark and low; And her face is dusk and wrinkled but her soul as white as snow! An aristocrat is "Mammy "—in her dignity sedate, " Haught as Lucifer " to " white trash " whom she cannot tolerate; Patronizing too, to " Master " for she " nussed 'im when a boy;" Familiar, yet respectful, to "the Mistis "—but the joy Of her bosom is " de child'un," and delightedly she'll boast Of the " born blood " of her darlings—"good as kings and queens a'most." There she sits beneath the shadow, crooning o'er some olden hymn, Watching earnestly and willingly, altho' her eyes are dim; Laughing in her heart sincerely, yet with countenance demure Holding out before "her babies " every tempting little lure, — Koting all their merry frolics with a quiet, loving gaze, Telling o'er at night to "Mistis " all their " cunnin' little ways." Kow and then her glance will wander o'er the pastures far away Where the tasselled corn-fields waving, to the breezes rock and sway, To the river's gleaming silver, and the hazy distance where Giant mountain-peaks are peering thro' an azure veil of air; But the thrill of baby voices—baby laughter, low and sweet, Recall her in a moment to the treasures at her feet. So " rascally," so rollicking, our bold and sturdy boy In all his tricksy way-wardness is still her boast and joy. She'll chase him thro' the shrubberies—his mischief-mood to cure, " Hi! whar dat little rascal now?—de b'ars will git 'im shure!" When caught she'll stoutly swing him to her shoulder, and in pride Go marching round the pathways—" 'jus to see how gran' he ride." YOL. VI.—NO. V. 30 390 Bee Culture. [March, And the "Birdie " of our bosoms—Ah! how soft and tenderly Bows good " Mammy's" mother-spirit to her baby witchery I { All io her is dear devotion whom the angels bend to bless, All our thoughts of her are blended with a holy tenderness;) Coaxing now, and now caressing—saying with a smile and kiss — "Jus' for Mammy—dat's a lady—will it now?" do that, or this. On the sweet white-tufted clover, worn and weary with their play, Toying with the creamy blossoms, now my little children lay; Harnessed up with crimson ribbons, wooden horses side by side ^ '• Make believe ' ' to eat their ' ' fodder ' '—(blossoms to their noses tied ! ) iNear them stands the willow wagon—in it ' 'Birdie's " mammoth doll. And our faithful " Brave " beside them, noble guardian over all. Above them tloat the butterflies, around them hum the bees, And birdlings warble, darting in and out among the trees ; The kitten sleeps at "Mammy's " side, and two brown rabbits pass Hopping close along the paling, stealing thro' the waving grass ; —G-ladsome tears blue eyes are filling and a watching mother prays — ' 'God bless 'Mammy' and my children, in these happy, halcyon days!" BEE CULTURE. When so many people of the as a science in the European col- South are struggling for life, like leges of agriculture, and in 1857, ship-wrecked mariners, no float- the yield of honey and wax in ing plank should be allowed to Austria, was estimated at seven drift uselessly past them. If " fig- millions of dollars." Almost ev-ures do not lie," bee-keeping is ery Southern plantation has a few one of these unnoticed planks, neglected bee hives, which would and if we may trust enthusiastic perish altogether, were they in a apiarians, it is no despicable one. less favored land ; but our mild Nay, in their estimation it is far winters, and blossom laden sum-more than a mere floating plank — mers are so favorable to their ex-it is a taut, capacious, sea-worthy istence, that they yield a fair re-vessel. It is a business which, turn of wax and honey, in spite of however, neglected at the South, the ravages of their great destroy-has kept pace in other lands, with er, the bee moth. Formerly, we other improvements in this age of were obliged to say of bee culture so-called progress. It is taught as Bacon said of agriculture. 1869.] Bee Culture. 391 when he made a bon-fire of his agricultural books, " These books contain no principles." We pla-ced our wee brown-coated laborers in a hive many times larger than they required, and however anx-ious for their welfare, were oblig-ed to look helplessly on, while the brave little fellows battled with the moths, who to them, are "mighty sons of Anak, giants in their land." Now, we have learn-ed so to dispose their forces that the enemy is beaten every time. The moth is a cowardly fellow, and never contests the field when opposed by anything like equal powers. The bees, themselves, must do the fighting—our inter-ference is useless when it comes to hard blows—but it is our part to see that each division of the Lili-putian army is well recruited—no gaps in their ranks—and that their commissariat is well sup-plied. The mode of doing this has now been ascertained with accu-racy, and bee-keeping is no lon-ger a hap-hazard sort of business, without any "principles." More-over, bee-keeping is a beautiful business. We confess to a weak-ness for the beautiful even in busi- -ness ; and a probably unorthodox suspicion that everything ugly is ^n ' ' evil invention of the enemy." A poet may be a bee-keeper. He may sit down amidst his blos-som- embowered apiary, und com-mune with Aristotle and Virgil about his busy little charge while their musical hum fills his ears, and he may even come to the conclusion that the golden age of the classic poets was not all a myth, and that we have gradually progressed downward instead of upward—downward through the silver and the brazen ages, until we have reached this hard iron one, ruled by the iron-handed sons of Cain. He may also dream, that as there is !:c coarser metal than iron, and we can go no farther in this down-ward course, we may hope to com-mence, by the "law of circulari-ty," to rise upward again, and emerge, in our orbit, from the iron age into the golden one. The entering wedges to this gold-en age are occupations which re-quire little labor and produce great abundance, and may be more easily managed than we think for, and our present object is to show how profitable the golden age oc-cupation of bee-keeping may be made, even in this the age of iron. The Eev. L. L. Langstroth tells us that in a favorable season, he has obtained from a single hive over one hundred pounds of surplus honey. And we are fur-ther told in the Patent Office Re-port for 1863, that it is not unusual under the most favorable circum-stances, for single hives to pro-duce two hundred pounds in a season. In East Friesland, Hol-land, bees are maintained at the rate of two thousand hives to a square mile. Two thousand colo-nies therefore, under the inost fa-vorable circumstances would yield from 200,000 to 400,000 pounds of honey. At 25 cents per lb., this amount of comb honey would be worth from $50,000 to S100,000. Does any planter make as much from a square mile, or six hun-dred acres of cotton? The reply will be, "Yes, under the most favorable circumstances we can." 392 Bee Culture. [March, But it is at the cost of the labor of Sisyphus, each day repeating the labor of the former, each year repeating the toil of the preceding. In the one case the laborers are human beings—in the other they are hees. Bees delight in labor — human beings do not. It is the highest good of bees to labor— it is the highest good of human beings to have time for mental and moral cultivation and for re-creation. In bee-keeping, all you have to do is to provide hives and keep your colonies strong, about the same amount of trouble as providing bagging and rope for, and ginning,your twelve or fifteen hundred bales of cotton, which you have produced from your six hundred acres, under the most favorable circumstances. Ko apiary can be counted on for this amount of honey, however. But we are told in the same Patent Office Keport, that it is "en-couraging to know that already there are a few extensive apiaries in our country, which, under en-lightened cultivation, produce an-nually, from five to fifty dollars worth of honey and wax to each colony." We are told also, by another writer, that one parish priest in Spain, (which like the South, is a tine country for bees) possesses five thousand hives or colonies. Taking five dollars as the minimum profit of each hive, and this parish priest would realize ^25 ,000 annually. The ob-jection may be raised to all this, that where honey is produced in very large quantities, there is danger of the supply exceeding the demand, and therefore it will become unsalable. We think there is but little danger of the demand exceeding the supply for many years to come, and when we remember how easily honey may be converted into that much demanded article, sugar, we doubt if this danger will ever occur. To convert honey into sugar, nothing more is necessary than to expose it to the light. Men of science tell us that this is the reason why it is necessary for bees to work in the dark—the honey for their purposes must be in a liquid state, and exposure to the light always candies or crystal-lizes it. The reason for this sin-gular transformation is a very curious one. The following ac-count of it is given in the Quar-terly Hevieio of Science. " Every one knows what honey fresh from the comb is like. It is a clear, yellow syrup, without a trace of solid sugar in it. Upon straining, however, it gradually assumes a crystalline appearance—it can-dies, as the saying is, and ulti-mately becomes a solid lump of sugar. It has not been suspected that this change is due to a photo-graphic action; that the same agent which alters the molecular arrangement of the iodine of silver in the excited collodion plate, and determines the forma-tion of camphor and iodine crys-tals in a bottle, causes the sj-rup honey to assume a crystalline form. This, however, is the case. M. Scheilber has enclosed honey in stoppered flasks, some of which he has kept in perfect darkness, whilst others have been exposed to the light. The invariable re-sults have been, that the sunned portion rapidly crystallizes, whilst 1869.] Bee Culture. 393 that kept in the dark remains per-fectly liquid. We now see why-bees are so careful to work in darkness—the existence of their young depends on the liquidity of the saccharine food presented to them." Honey can also be trans-formed into sugar of a solid white concrete form, by boiling until it is reduced to a certain consistence and then "treating with moist clay, as practised by the sugar-baker for purifying sugar from its unctuous, treacly matter." — (Bees' Cyclopedia.) In the United States, Lang-stroth and Quinby are our chief authorities in bee-culture. They agree in all essential particulars, and the former is the inventor, or rather perfector, of the hive which enables us to obtain a knowledge of the exact condition of each colony, at all times, and which supplies, therefore, the one thing needed for complete success in bee-keeping. They each obtain their profits from the surplus boxes or caps, placed upon the hive, and which the bees general-ly fill as soon as their own com-missary stores are attended to. Quinby was very successful with the common box hive, taking care to make them of the right size, viz: to contain 2,000 cubic inches. The caps, or boxes, for surplus honey should fit on the top, and should be exactly the same size, except in height, which should not be more than seven inches. One side, or the two opposite sides of the honey box should be of glass, in order that the bee-keeper may see when they are filled with honey. These glass sides should be covered to exclude the lisht. For a description of Langstroth's hive, the reader is referred to his work on the honey bee. The hives and honey boxes should all be made in the winter, in order to be ready for the swarming season, which usually begins here in April and continues for two months. The apiary should not be so situated as to receive the full rays of the sun during the heat of the day. A few hours of morning sun to dry the moisture around is quite sufficient. Dark colored comb and honey are al-ways the result of two much heat and light. In South America, where the bees build on trees in the open air, the comb is as black as jet. If there are no low-grow-ing trees near the apiary, it will be necessary to plant some bushes six or eight feet in height, for the swarms to settle upon. In hiving a swarm, the inexperi-enced bee-keeper should protect himself from stings, by wearing a broad brimmed straw hat, over which a bag made of two yards of mosquito netting should be drawn and tied securely under the arms. The hands should be shielded by India rubber, or thick buckskin gloves with gauntlets. Mr. Langstroth uses a bee-hat, made of a piece of wire-cloth, one foot wide and two and a half feet long, sewed to a circular piece of leather at the top, and with a frill of cotton cloth at the bottom, to be tucked under the coat, to pro-tect the neck. Old apiarians handle their bees without any of these lorecautions and incur no risk. When there is danger of a swarm running ofl', they may be arrested by throwing water, or 394 Bee Culture. [March, even earth amongst them, but no ringing of bells, or beating of pans has the slightest effect. — After the swarm has settled, the usual plan is to saw off the limb and lay it upon a table under-neath, upon which a white sheet has been spread, and place an empty hive over them. When it is not desirable to saw off the limb, they may be shaken into the hive, (inverting it for the purpose) by giving a quick jarring motion to the limb. Then turn the hive on the bottom board and place it where you wish it to stand. In using Langstroth's hive, the bees should be shaken into a basket and carried to the hive and turned out upon a sheet, fastened over the alighting board. If they show any reluctance to enter, sprinkle them with water. Only one swarm should be allowed to leave each hive. By using Lang-stroth's hive, all after swarms which weaken the parent colony, may be prevented. His hives are so constructed that each comb is built upon a separate frame which may be taken out at pleasure. About a week after the first swarm has issued, take out all the frames and look them over carefully until you find the queen cells, which are easily distinguished by their large size, and cut out all but one. The old queen always leaves with the first swarm, leaving her suc-cessors in the unhatched condi-tion in the queen cells. If all these unhatched queens, except-ing one, are destroyed, there will be no more swarming, for bees never swarm unless led by a queen. The Golden Rule in bee-keeping is to KEEP STKO^TG COLONIES, and one of the means of doing this, is to prevent all after-swarming. When the colo-nies grow feeble from other causes than over-swarming, they are to be recruited in the following sim-ple manner. Take brood combs from strong colonies, containing a sufficient number of bees in the pupte state, and place them in the hives containing the weak colo-nies. An experienced bee-keeper can tell from the weight of the hives whether the colonies are strong enough. Each hive should contain at least thirty lbs. of bees. Orchard and forest trees are most important auxiliaries to an apiary. All fruit blossoms furnish deli-cious honey, but none supplies it in such quantity as the blossoms of the apple. The raspberry also furnishes most delicious honey. The catkins of the chestnut and chinquapin are also very valuable, and the blossoms of the persim-mon are often seen covered with bees. White clover is one of the most important plants from which bees derive their supplies. It is in the Spring when fruit blossoms fill our orchards and forests, that honey is gathered in the greatest abundance. A week or ten days of favorable weather will enable a strong colony to lay up an am-ple supply for the year, if they have a suflicient quantity of fruit blossoms to gather from. And instead of injuring the coming crop of fruit by robbing their blos-soms, they bestow a great benefit upon them. In proof of this fact, the American Bee Journal makes the following statement: " At the Apiarian General Con-vention held at Stutgard in Wirt- 1869.] Bee CaJture. 395 emburg, in September, 1858, the celebrated pomologist, Professor Lucas, one of the directors of the Hohenheim Institute, said: 'The interests of the horticulturist and bee-keeper combine and run paral-lel. A judicious pruning of our fruit-trees will cause them to blos-som more freely and yield honey more plentifully. I would urge attention to this on those who are both fruit-growers and bee-keep-ers. A careful and observant bee-keeper at Potsdam writes to me that his trees yield decidedly larger crops since he has estab-lished an apiary in his orchard, and the annual product is now more certain and regular than be-fore, though his trees had always received due attention. Some years ago, a wealthy lady in Germany established a green-house at considerable cost, and stocked it with a great variety of choice native and exotic fruit trees—expecting in due time to have remunerating crops. Time passed, and annually there was a super-abundance of blossoms, with only a very little fruit. — Various plans were devised and adopted to bring the trees into bearing, but without success, till it was suggested that the blos-soms needed fertilization, and that by means of bees the work could be effected. A hive of busy honey-gatherers was introduced next season; the remedy was effectual there was no longer any difficulty iu producing crops there. The bees distributed the pollen, and the setting of the fruit followed naturally.' " There are four occupations which we believe could be com-bined most profitably and beauti-fully in this climate. In truth, they "dove-tail" into each other so exquisitely that they seem but different parts of one charmed whole. These occupations are bee-keeping, orcharding, wool-growing aud landsGaxie gardening^ the last being but the golden cord which binds the three first to-gether. By orcharding, we must not be understood to mean the ownership of a patch of crooked moss-grown and canker-worm-eaten apple trees, but the careful cultivation of every variety of fruit-bearing tree which belongs to our latitude, from the massive chestnut, which tosses its giant branches to the sky, to the light and graceful amelanchier, with its-crimson, currant-like fruit. The landscape gardener furnishes the rich turf upon which the sheep feed—the sheep enrich the soil and keep down the weeds around the orchard trees, and the or-chard trees furnish the blossoms of which the bees make their honey, and the bees in their turQ fertilize the blossoms of the or-chard, thus completing the circle of mutual benefits. Then the owner finds them " dove-tailing "" into each other, with equal har-mony, in the claims upon his at-tention. The lambing season is over just before the swarming season commences—then comes sheep-shearing—then the hay-making, and then the gathering, boxing and marketing of summer fruits—then the vintage and gath-ering of nuts and winter stores of fruit, and then the landscape gardener may take up his pruning knife and spade, planting and trimming during our mild winter months, until January comes again with its fleecy treasures. We have said that landscape-gar-dening is but the golden cord which binds the other occupations 396 Bee Culture. [March, together. That is, the turf, trees, sheep and bees should, and could, form one beautiful whole, ar-ranged by the artistic taste of a landscape-gardener. Let heavy masses of wood, dense enough for Druids' homes and temples, crown the hills and be composed of chest-nuts, black and Persian walnuts, shell-bark hickory nuts, Swiss and Italian pines, salisburias and araucarias, persimmons and mul-berries, and let the usual orchard fruits mingle their exquisite odors and blossoms on the outskirts of the heavier trees, catching the sun-light, and strewing the eme-rald sod with their pearly white and rose-tinted petals, while the bees give a murmuring chorus to songs of the nest-building birds. Let the copse wood be composed of filberts, chinquapins and hazle-nuts, and let the blackberries, " Black as beauty's tresses And sweet as love's caresses " grow, not in straight lines, but in masses not too tangled for the gardener to enter with his prun-ing- knife occasionally. The sheep are good pruners as well as mow-ers, and a thicket of Chickasaw plums assumes a miniature or-chard look, whenever they have access to it. They clear out noxious weeds and hiding-places for snakes, spiders, &c., as if by magic. By the employment of hurdle fences, these gentle labor-ers will fertilize, mow and weed your land whenever you desire it; growing at the same time wool for your raiment and mutton for your table, and pets for your children. Poet and philosopher, what more could you ask? But to return to our proper sub-ject, bee-culture. Our purpose in the foregoing remarks is not to induce young enthusiasts to in-vest money in bees, but merely to persuade the present owners of bees to take care of them and make the most of them. A single colony sending out one swarm, or " doubling every year, would, in ten years, increase to 1,024: stocks, and in twenty years, to over a million. At this rate, our whole country might, in a few years, be stocked with bees. It is not easy to overstock any country with bees. On this subject, Lang-stroth remarks: " It is difficult to repress a smile when the owner of a few hives, in a district where as many hundreds might be made to pros-per, graveljj- imputes his ill- suc-cess to the fact, that too many bees are kept in his vicinity. If, in the spring, a colony of bees is prosperous and healthy, it will gather abundant stores, in a favorable season, even if hun-dreds equally strong are in its immediate vicinity; while, if it is feeble, it will be of little or no value, even if it is in 'a land flowing with milk and honey ' and there is not another stock within a dozen miles of it. There is probably not a square mile in this whole countrj^ which is over-stocked with bees, unless it is so unsuitable for bee-keeping as to make it unprofitable to keep them at all." Mr. Langstroth's work should be read by every bee-keeper. It is written in an entertaining style, but rather too difluse for the ordi-nary reader. It would be an ad-vantage to have a condensed edi-tion for practical people who are not fond of general literature. 18G9.] John C. Calhoun. 397 Yirgil, Aristotle and Columellus are very well ia their proper places, but when the bees are swarming, we haven't time to attend to them. Quinby's Mys-teries of Bee Keeping, also, con-tains much valuable information, but Langstroth's hive is admitted by Quinby to be the last improve-ment in bee-keeping. It is an art which cannot be taught in a magazine article, but many farm-ers, at the South, are very suc-cessful, who have no guides but their own good sense. Keep YOUR COLOKIES STRONG is the golden rule. There may be as many modes of doing this, as there are modes of enriching the soil. The " principles " of agri-culture are now thought to be well understood, but Mr. Dickson places his dependence upon com-mercial fertilizers; Mr. Gift upon home-made fertilizers, and Mr. Howard upon sheep. Mr. Quin-by was very successful with com-mon box hives, but admits that he is more successful with mov-able comb hives, and we know a mountain farmer who has sold hundreds of pounds of honej" from hives made of sections of hollow trees. JOHX C. CALHOUN. I will commence my reminis-cences of public men , with Mr. Calhoun, who stood pre-eminent-ly above all others, in South Car-olina, of my day and time. In early life, I had a most exalted opinion of this distinguished Carolinian, his talents, patriot-ism and purity of character. — This opinion was formed from his general course in public life, his speeches in Congress, and his ad-ministration of the War Depart-ment, under President Monroe. Whilst going to school, at Ashe-ville, IST. C, in 1822, I remember writing an article advocating his claims to the Presidency over those of Adams, Jackson, Clay and Crawford. In the summer of 1825, there was a public dinner given Mr. Calhoun, at Greenville, S. C. I was one of the committee who extended him the invitation, and prepared the toasts drank, one of which pointed to the Presidency as the crowning re-ward of his public life. This was the first time, I ever had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Calhoun, and I was then a student of law in Judge Earle's office. The speech he made, on that occasion, was a very brief one, and the company was not large. General Thompson, afterwards Minister to Mexico, presided at the dinner. Judge Earle, who was never an admirer of Mr. Calhoun, was not present, and left the village in order to avoid the dinner. He had been a Crawford man, and belonged to the political school of Judge William Smith, of South 398 John C. Calhoun, [March, Carolina. In the Presidential canvass of 1824, Judge Earle sup-ported John Quincy Adams. He had no very high opinion of Gen. Jackson, as a statesman, but was never very decided in his poli-tics. The next time I saw Mr. Cal-houn, was at Pendleton Court, and it was the last time I spoke to him for many years. During our political excitement, in 1832, in South Carolina, I became very strongly prejudiced against Mr. Calhoun, and it was not in my nature to seek the company of those I did not like. The total abandonment, by Mr. Calhoun, of his early national principles and his zealous espousal of what he had once repudiated as " The Virginia abstractions," shook my contidence in his wisdom and steadfastness of purpose in poli-tics. I did not see how a great statesman could radically change his political principles, and be both wise and sincere. In 1845, I met Mr. Calhoun at the anniversary of the Pendleton Agricultural Society. I had been invited by the President of the Society, Major George Seaborn, to deliver the anniversary address on that occasion. After it was over, Mr. Calhoun came up and com-plimented the effort I had made in the cause of agriculture. He was then starting to Alabama, to look after his planting interest in that State, and expressed his regret at not being able to have me at his house, near the village of Pendleton. Mr. Calhoun was, at that time, very much interested in farming, and he always made good crops. He paid great at-tention to the preservation and improvement of his lands. Hill-side ditching was introduced by him in this section of the State, and after completing this labor, on his farm, he then turned his attention to manuring his fields. He wisely remarked that it was of little value to manure, till the land was prepared to retain it. Nullification had passed over in South Carolina, and was an obso-lete idea, with all thinking and reflecting men. The aspirations ofparty had subsided, and I ceased to think of Mr. Calhoun's incon-sistency and tergiversations in poli-tics. I began, once more, to ad-mire his brilliant genius and ap-preciate his public services in many respects. In the summer of 184G, I met Mr. Calhoun in "Washington, and had the pleasure of hearing him address the Senate on several occasions. I was very much struck with his earnest and ardent manner in debate. He spoke with great ease and fluency, his sentences were terse, and his conclusions rapid. He seemed to regard more the idea expressed, than the language in which it was uttered. His style of speaking pleased me more than the grand, solemn manner of Mr. Webster. He had all the feeling and fire of the orator, which I thought Mr. Webster wanted in some measure. I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. Calhoun, during my stay in Washington, with Gov. McDuflie, Judge Butler and Mr. Burt, of South Carolina. At the table there was an amusing dis-cussion between him and Judge Butler, on the location of nation-al capitals. Mr. Calhoun re- 1869.] John C. Calhoun. 399 marked that the Capital of a na-tion was always on one side, and never in the centre of a kingdom, or empire. Judge Butler con-troverted this assertion and in-stanced Spain and Jerusalem. Mr. Calhoun explained by stating that Madrid was a Moorish city, and not originally the Capital of Spain. What he said in regard to Jerusalem, I do not now remem-ber, with sufficient accuracy to state. But Mr. Calhoun was al-ways well posted in reference to any theory which he advanced. If facts failed him, he would, nevertheless, support his theory with the most urgent argument and reasoning. I remember hear-ing Warren E.. Davis give an ac-count of a discussion at a dinner table, between Mr. Calhoun and an English Captain , in reference to the Trade Winds. The Cap-tain listened very attentively to the theory, but said he had often crossed the Equator, and his ob-servation did not sustain Mr. Cal-houn's theory. Nevertheless, Mr. Calhoun's argument satisfied the party that he was correct, in op-position to the positive experience and observation of the English Captain. In other words, the Captain's facts were of less weight than Mr. Calhoun's argument. After the adjournment of Con-gress, I traveled to the Virginia Springs in company with Mr. Calhoun, Gov. McDuffle and Mr. Burt. We were all in the same stage coach. Mr. Calhoun spoke of Clay's and Webster's manner in debate. He said when Webster was worsted in argument, he felt it, and you saw that he did feel it and know it. But Clay would never give any such manifesta-tions. He never acknowledged that he was worsted in debate, and would never let you see that he thought so. Mr. Calhoun said Col. Benton was the greatest of humbugs, and could make more out of nothing than any other man in the world. " He ought," said Mr. Calhoun, '' to have gone about all his life with quack doc-tors and written pufis for their medicines. Had he done so, he might have made a fortune!" — There was no kind feeling be-tween Mr. Calhoun and Col. Ben-ton. Throughout life, they were bitter personal enemies. Mr. Cal-houn had a bad opinion of the Colonel, and he reciprocated it most cordially. When I left the Springs to re-turn home, by the way of Abing-don, Ya., and Greenville, Tenn., Mr. Calhoun requested me to write him as to the condition of the roads and staging through the mountains. He and Mrs. Cal-houn intended returning to South Carolina over that route. He was anxious to visit Wythe county, where his ancestors had lived some time after their removal from Pennsylvania, and before they finally settled in Abbeville district. South Carolina. The roads and staging I found bad enough, and so reported to Mr. Calhoun. On their arrival in Greenville, S. C, Mrs. Calhoun said to me as soon as I saw her, " did you ever expect to see me alive, after passing over those roads in Virginia and Tennes-see?" Whilst I was a candidate for Congress, in opposition to Gov. 400 John C. Calhoun. [March, Orr, I visited Mr. Calhoun twice in my electioneering tours through Pickens district. I never found any where, a kinder man, or one more plain and unassuming in his manners than Mr. Calhoun; but I was particularly struck with his kindness and winning man-ners at his own house. How true it is that greatness is never pre-tending or assuming. It is only " the would be great man," who has to assume and pretend to what he has not. The first visit I paid Mr. Calhoun, we were alone the whole day, and from ten o'clock till dinner was an-nounced, I do not think either of us left our seats for a moment, nor was there scarcely a pause in conversation. He was in fine spirits, and his conversation was truly fascinating. It was not that of a studied speech or lecture, in which Mr. Calhoun too often indulged with his admiring listen-ers. It was natural and simple, cordial and cheerful, amusing and instructive, giving and taking, calling in the whole range of his life's experience, thought and learning. He spoke of his course in Congress, described his con-temporaries, told anecdotes of Kandolph, Lowndes, Jackson, Polk, Benton and others. He did not admire President Polk, and spoke of the Mexican war as most unfortunate. He did not believe that our armies could capture the city of Mexico, or hold the coun-try if we conquered it. He spoke in high terms of the officers of the United States army, and said he knew thirty of those officers, who were capable of commanding the largest armies of Europe. When the Missouri question was on the tapis, in Congress, Mr. Calhoun said he suggested to Mr. Lowndes, that Congress having authorized the formation of a State Constitution, the people of Missouri, if not admitted into the Union, would be a legal, inde-pendent State, out of the L'nion, and beyond the control of the United States. In speaking of the Federal Union, he said the love of it, with the American peo-ple, was stronger than their love of liberty! I w^as greatly shocked, as a Union man, with this idea, and did not assent to it. I con-tended that the love of the Union with the American people, was only for the purpose of maintain-ing their liberty and independ-ence. But it would seem from our present political condition, that Mr. Calhoun was right, and I was wrong. A large portion of the Northern people seem willing to establish a military despotism to preserve the Union, and I am extremely mortified to see that a portion of the Southern people are willing to acquiesce in this disposi-tion to get back into the Union. I have always said that all great men were egotists. Cicero and Demosthenes were eminently so. Mr. Calhoun was not without this foible of greatness, any more than he was of one other infirmity, which it is said belongs to all great men — ambition. He liked very much to talk of himself, and he always had the good fortune to make the subject exceedingly interesting and captivating to his hearers. Mr. Calhoun was a man of the very highest mental energy and activity. In this respect, no 18G9.] John C. Calhoun. 401 one surpassed him. But he was unfortunate in always having the great powers of his mind con-centrated on one subject at a time. He thought and reasoned so rapidly and directly, and was so absorbed by the one subject for the time being, that he pursued the argument without considering how the question would affect something else. This was too much bis character to be a wise statesman or a safe counselor. Whilst the advocate of a great system of Internal Improvement, he thought of nothing but the social and commercial blessings which it would bestow upon the country. He did not stop to con-sider, or turn to right or left, to see how such a system would strengthen the powers of the National Government, and crush those of the States. When he became the advocate of a tariff for protection, he thought only of building up the jSTational Inde-pendence and encouraging Ameri-can labor. He did not reflect on its sectional bearing, or stop to consider that one portion of the United States would not find it profitable to engage in manufac-tures. When he became the champion of Xulliflcation, if not its author, he saw in it nothing more than a remedy for getting rid of the onerous exactions of the tariff system for protection, which he himself had formerly advocated through the highest and most patriotic motives. He did not consider whether or not Nullification would make our ]^}'ational Union a rope of sand. This did not make an objection to the one idea which had possessed his great mind, and that was to break down the system of pro-tection. In pursuing one ques-tion, he lost sight of all others. Plow many thousands of such men of smaller minds do we not meet in ordinary life. They are forever wrong, and always changing their opinions, because they are always on the extreme, and never right. Philosophy teaches us that extremes are al-ways dangerous, and that the path of wisdom and safety is ever a middle course. Unfortunately, Mr. Calhoun, throughout his brilliant career as an American statesman, was jumping from one extreme to another, in politics. From the
Object Description
Title | Land we love, a monthly magazine devoted to literature, military history, and agriculture. |
Date | 1866; 1867; 1868; 1869 |
Subjects |
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Periodicals Confederate States of America--Periodicals United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Veterans |
Place | North Carolina, United States |
Time Period | (1860-1876) Civil War and Reconstruction |
Description | Merged into the New eclectic magazine of Baltimore (called later The Southern magazine).; Title from cover. |
Publisher | J. P. Irwin, D. H. Hill |
Rights | Public Domain see http://digital.ncdcr.gov/u?/p249901coll22,63753 |
Collection |
General Collection. State Library of North Carolina |
Type | text |
Language | English |
Format | Periodicals |
Digital Characteristics-A | 5713 KB; 82 p. |
Digital Collection | General collection |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Title Replaced By | New eclectic |
Audience | All |
Pres File Name-M | gen_bm_serial_landwelove186605.pdf |
Capture Tools-M | scribe4.indiana.archive.org |
Description
Title | Land we love,a monthly magazine devoted to literature, military history, and agriculture. |
Date | 1868 |
Subjects |
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Periodicals Confederate States of America--Periodicals |
Place | North Carolina, United States |
Time Period | (1860-1876) Civil War and Reconstruction |
Description | Vol. 6 of 6; Merged into the New eclectic magazine of Baltimore (called later The Southern magazine). |
Publisher | Charlotte,J. P. Irwin,D. H. Hill [etc.]. |
Rights | Public Domain see http://digital.ncdcr.gov/u?/p249901coll22,63753 |
Collection |
General Collection. State Library of North Carolina |
Type | text |
Language | English |
Format | Periodicals |
Digital Characteristics-A | 5055 KB; 82 p. |
Digital Collection | General collection |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Title Replaced By | New eclectic |
Audience | All |
Pres File Name-M | gen_bm_serial_landwelove186903.pdf |
Full Text | THE LAND WE LOVE. Ko. V. MARCH, 1869. Vol. VI. SKETCH OF GENERAL W. Y. SLACK, OF MISSOURI. Mr. A. Slack, of Booneville, Missouri, has kindly furnished us with the following obituary notices of his heroic brother, Gen. W. T. Slack, who fell in the struggle for Constitutional freedom, at the battle of Elk Horn, Missouri, on the 7th March, 1862: From tlie Memphis Avalanche, May 8th, 1862. Brigadier Gen. William Yarnel Slack, was born in Kentucky; when three years of age, his father, John Slack, emigrated to Boone county, Missouri, and set-tled near Columbia, where young Slack, on completing his education, studied law. When a young man, he went to Livingston county, Mo., and commenced practicing law at Chillicothe. Soon after, he mar-ried the daughter of Maj. Wood-ward, of Bichmond, Ray county, Missouri, with whom he lived happily, until her death, which occurred in January, 1856. The issue of this marriage was six VOL. VI.—NO. V. children, only two of whom are living, a daughter, and a son but seventeen years of age, who has been in the service as a private, since the commencement of the war, and who has done his duty as a soldier. On the 2nd of De-cember, 1857, General Slack was again married to a daughter of Hon. Gustavus Bower, of Paris, Missouri, by whom he had two children; the youngest being born after the second retreat from Livingston, he was never permit-ted to see. As captain of a company of cavalry. Gen. Slack served with distinction in the Mexican war, under Col. Sterling Price, who then commanded a regiment of Missourians, with as much ability, courage and success, as he now leads armies to battle and victory. At the well contested battles of Canada, Embudo and Taos, where the enemy number-ed three to one, all who saw him, agree in saying that none con- 25 358 Sketch of General W. Y. Slack, of Missouri. [March, ducted themselves with greater coolness, courage and gallantry, than Capt. Slack. He remained in this service about fourteen months, having volunteered for twelve. "When his country no longer needed his services, he re-sumed the practice of law, at Chillicothe, which he continued to pursue until he received from Crov. Jackson, the appointment of Brigadier General of the 4th Military District, when he turned his attention to the organization of troops, according to the mili-tary law of the State of Missouri. He had mustered in but a few companies, and these far apart, at different points in the district, when eight hundred Federals were landed from the cars, on the night of the 14th of June, 186 L, at Chillicothe, and he was forced to ieave his home and family, to which he was destined never to return. From this time, until his death, he was constantly in the field, using every effort and energy in the cause of Southern independ-ence. During the fatiguing and harassing marches of the State Guard, /le u'fis ahcays at his 2^ost, and shared the fare, the dangers, and the hardships of his men. He participated and contributed largely to the success of the bat-tles of Carthage and Oak Hill ; at the latter he was dangerously wounded in the hip, which, at first was thought to be mortal, but by the strict attention of Dr. Iveith, his family physician, and the careful nursing of his faithful and atfectionate wife, who en-countered every danger and came to him, he at last recovered, and again took command of his di-vision, the 11th of October follow-ing. When the troops,belonging to the Missouri State Guard, were being mustered into the Confederate States service, last winter. Gen. Slack used every effort to induce the men under his command to join it, nearly all of whom took his advice, and are still in the service. A short time before the com-mencement of the retreat from Springfield, Gen. Slack was ap-pointed by Gen. Price to command the second brigade of Missouri Confederates, a body consisting of companies which had not been organized into regiments or bat-talions, in all about fifteen hun-dred men. It was with these men and the 4th division Missouri State Guard, that Gen. Van Dorn,in his re-port of the battle of Elk Horn, speaks of Gen. Slack as " gallant-ly maintaining a continued and successful attack." At this battle, on March the 7th, Gen. Slack was mortally wounded—the ball entering an inch above the old wound he re-ceived at Oak Hill, ranging down-wards, and which, wounding (Sa-cra? Plexus of nerves, produced paralysis of the urinary organs, which resulted in inflammation and gangrene. He was caught by Col. Scott, his Aid-de-camp, when about to fall from his horse, and with the assistance of others care-fully conveyed in an ambulance to a house in Sugar Hollow, where his wound was skilfully dressed by Dr. Austin, the division sur-geon. 1869. Sketch of General W. Y. Slack, of Missouri. 359 The next day, when the order was given to fall back, he was placed in an ambulance and con-veyed to Andrew Eallet's east of the battle ground, accompanied by Col. Cravens and Dr. Keith, of the 4th division, and Sergeant Street of the 2nd brigade; here he remained until the 16th, and seemed to be doing well, when be-coming apprehensive of being captured by the Federals, he de-sired his attendants to take him further away; they accordingly removed him seven miles further, to Moses Mills', where he rapidly grew worse, and on Thursday, March 20th, at a quarter past 3 o'clock, a. m., quietly breathed his last; the next morning he was buried eight miles east of the bat-tle ground, by his faithful friends and companions, all of whom re-turned safely to the army. When told his end was ap-proaching, he expressed no re-grets, nor gave any evidence of alarm, but calmly awaited its ar-rival; his request to Dr. Keith, to give his watch to his son, if he ever had an opportunity, was the only mention he made of his family or property. None familiar with the capaci-ties of Gen. Slack will deny that he possessed many of the combi-nations requisite to constitute an efficient commander of volunteers. Temperate and abstemious in his habits, impetuous, daring and courageous, yet prudent,wary and cautious, he was well calculated for skirmishing, or as leader in a charge. But these are not the qualities which alone distinguished him. His mind was bold, clear and vigorous, and altogether practical, which, added to a sound and penetrating judgment, gave his opinions no ordinary weight in council, while his business and orderly habits enabled him to conduct with ease and accuracy, the affairs of his command. He was affable and courteous in his manners, generous and unselfish in his disposition, and kind and indulgent in his nature; his age was about 45 years. But that which most distinguished him, was his earnest devotion to the cause in which he fell. It was for this he gave up his beautiful home, its enjoyments and associations, it was for this he encountered with the fortitude of a soldier and patriot, the frost and snow of winter, and the heat and dust of summer; it was for this he en-dured the hardships, toils and privations of one of the longest and most active and bloodiest campaigns recorded, or to be re-corded, on the pages of history; it was for this he sufiered long and painfully ; it was for this he look-ed death in the face in many shapes and forms ; it was for this he died. Many others of the great and noble of our land did the same, but none endured all more patiently, suffered all more gladly, or gave up their lives more freely. And of all the offerings yet laid upon the altar of State Sovereignty and Constitutional Liberty, there is none purer or nobler than that offered by Gen. W. Y. Slack. From tlie Army Argus. We publish to-day, Maj. Gen, 360 The Burial and Eesurrection of Love. [March , Van Dorn's Keport of the battle of Elk Horn : The Report refers in handsome terms to Gen. Slack, and express-es the hope that he may recover. "We are pained to announce that Gen. Slack's wound proved mor-tal. He died as a brave man and a Christian, his loss is almost irrep-arable. It is generally conceded that Gen. Slack was the ablest of our Missouri brigadiers. He com-manded a company in the Mexi-can war, under Gen. Price, where he rendered effective service, and won a name for coolness and dar-ing. After the Mexican war, he resumed the practice of the law, and ranked among the foremost members of the bar. On the occurrence of the recent hostilities between the oSTorth and South, he received from Governor Jackson, the appointment of brig-adier general. He fought gallantly at Spring-field, receiving a wound which many of his friends, for a long time, thought would prove mortal. But, strange to say, he recovered, and again led his division. He was in most of the other battles fought in Missouri, and always endeared himself to his command by his bravery and great pru-dence. At Elk Horn, he was wounded within an inch of the same spot in which he had been wounded at Springfield, but this time the wound proved mortal. Earewell, brave man! Your name is em-balmed in the hearts of the peo-ple of Missouri, and by your cour-age and devotion, you have be-queathed to your children a lega-cy of more value than millions of gold and silver. THE BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF LOVE. BY " PEARL RITERS." Deep, deep, deep, Quickly so none should know, I buried my warm love silently Under the winter snow. For you had coldly said , Coldly, and carelessly: 1869.] Tlie Burial and Eesurrection of Love. 361 " Bury your love, or let it live, It is all the same to me." I tore it out of my heart, I crushed it within my hand ; It called to you in its agony, For help, but you came not, and It struggled within my grasp. It fought with my woman's will. And kneeled to my woman's pride with tears, Then silent it lay and still. I knew that it was not dead, But I said it soon will die, Baried under the winter snow Under the winter sky. I kissed it tenderly Just once for the long ago. Then shrouded it with your cold white words. Colder than all the snow. Deep, deep, deep. Quickly, so none should know, I buried my warm love silently Under the winter snow. I laughed when it was done, For why should a woman cry When love is buried? O'er its grave Why should a woman sigh? I thought when I turned away Some day he may see this grave And say—''the woman I thought so weak How strong she was, and brave!" Throb, throb, throb, Under the light spring snow. Buried long, can my love still live? Kneeling I said, when lo! TJie Burial and Hesurrection of Love. [March, My love looked up at me Straight out of daisy's eyes, Warmed to life by the balmy air And the tender azure skies. It sighed to me with the breeze It sang to me with the birds, And every note was an echo sweet Of your olden loving words. It smiled on me with the rose It murmured to me with the bee, And came to my heart as naturally As comes the leaf to the tree. And bowing my head I wept, Wept o'er my vision love. And touching my harp strings sad and low, I told my grief to the dove. Why should you live, poor love Slighted, and scorned, and sore To trail your pain through my future life And poison my young heart's core? Alas! when a woman loves Her strength is too small and slight To dig a grave that is deep enough To bury it out of sight. Habolochitto, Miss. 1869.] All About It. 363 ALL ABOUT IT. A Lecture Delivered before the Young Hen of Bcdeigk, N'. C. January, 1867. BY GOV. Z. B. VANCE My kind auditory will, I trust , pardon me, should my talk prove rambling and disconnected to-night, for the sake of my theme. I promise them that it shall be one worthy of them and of the occasion; and have only to regret that the speaker is no more wor-thy of it, for my theme shall be of North Carolina : All about North Carolina. Of what else should the humble individual be-fore you speak, or who has a bet-ter right.? Upon whom has she more undeservedly lavished her richest honors, or who repays these obligations with a more sincere and abiding love? Who, during those ever-to-be-remem-l) ered years of alternate triumph Lnd despair, anguish and desola-tion, watched her with a closer scrutiny, or obtained a clearer in-sight of the depth of the hidden s:reams of her noble nature and solid worth? Nor is it without interest for all. There are none here but will, doubtless, feel that al the topics of my discourse, whether touched with gravity, humor or sarcasm, are well de-serving of their earnest attention. And particularly all those who sincerely desire the welfare of our State, and watch, prayerfully, to behold in the changes of these changeful times, that working to-gether of all things for good, and that turning of the wrath of man into praise, wherein the wise can see the mercy and goodness of God to those who suffer. There is a natural law which regulates the attraction and re-pulsion of bodies; and morally also, that the more powerful com-munities tend to absorb and swal-low up the weaker, with whom they are in contact; and that a conquering people impress their habits, manners, laws and insti-tutions upon the conquered. — Though it may be painful and humiliating in the extreme, it is nevertheless a fact, that we in the South are to all intents and pur-poses, a conquered people, since we are declared to be without rights in, and absolutely at the mercy of, the government of our conquerors. The changes, there-fore, to which we are subject, in consequence of this condition, will gradually steal in upon vis. 364 All About It. [March, It is time we were considering them, and making up our minds as to those which we should wel-come and those we should reject. I propose to look at some of them to-night. Of course, on an oc-casion like the present, it is proper for me to consider only such as eflfect us socially, leaving those greater political changes to be discussed in a different forum. — And as the exposition of no man's views is of value unless he speaks honestly and boldly, I shall do both, and only trust that any dis-senting hearer may give full weight to everything which goes to rebut the presumption of malice in the speaker. We shall then, for a brief space, speak of North Carolina, her past, present and future, her people, her society, institutions, manners; in short—"All about it" as near as may be. Virginia to the north of us, was settled by English Cavaliers; South Carolina, mainly by French Huguenots; both among the no-blest stocks of Western Europe. Korth Carolina, with but a slight infusion of each, was settled by a sturdier—and in some respectsr-a better race than either. She was emphatically the offspring of religious and political persecution , and the vital stream of her infant life, was of Scotch-Irish origin. A cross of those two noble races has produced a breed of men as renowned for great deeds and modest worth as, perhaps, any other in this world. Two in-stances will suffice for this. Per-haps, the most manly and glori-ous feat of arms in modern times, was the defence of Londonderry, as the boldest and most remarka-ble State paper was the Mecklen-burg Declaration ofIndependence. Both were the work, mainly, of men such as settled ISTorth Caro-lina. If possible, they have clung closer to the manners and opin-ions of their British ancestors than any other communities on the continent. The novelties of Democracy, and the wild theories of Kepublicanism, have made less progress, and moved more slowly, here, than in any other State. We are far more like the England of William and Mary, and Queen Anne, to-day, than is England her-self, whilst both Irishisms and Scotticisms are abundant. This resemblance is traceable in many things. The landed gentlemen, their tenantry and yeomanry, the profuse hospitality of country homes, the hardy field sports and out-door diversions, personal in-dependence, pride of family and opinion, and a hundred other things, mark unmistakably our descent. Our pronunciation among the educated classes is said to be, perhaps, more purely En-glish than is spoken in the precincts of Saint James; whilst our laws both within themselves and in the manner of their administration, contain still more ineffaceable land-marks of the great people from whose loins we sprang. Thai branch of our Legislature whick is the peculiar voice of the peo-ple, is with us, and with us onlj, still termed the " Commons " — x name pregnant with the destinies of civilization. We still whip for stealing— to the great disgust of reflned and elegant thieves—crop and stand in the pillory for per- 1869.] All About It. 365 jury, brand for bigamy and man-slaughter, and hang for murder! Ko mawkish sympathy for crime, or maudlin philanthropy over the hard fate of a scoundrel, has yet crept into our good old English criminal code; but with halter and rod the Sheriff still stands among us, the fearful Nemesis of society, avenging her wrongs upon all evil-doers with most distress-ing impartiality!* On the civil side of the docket, that most ubiquitous and immortal litigant, John Doe, continues to complain of his equally immortal colitigant, Kichard Doe, " for that, whereas, heretofore to wit;" and the said Richard , having, by his most unjustifiable behavior, got his loving friend, the tenant in possession, into a scrape, con-tinues still, as in the days of Sergeant Bolle quietly to back down, like some fiery war men of the present age, and leave his peaceable neighbor to fight it out " to the last man "—or at least "to the last dollar." Were my Lord Coke to arise from his grave now, and search for his glorious common law, "ever approved by these two faithful witnesses, au-thority and reason," he would find it flourishing, perhaps, bright-est and and purest in that very strange and far oS land first visited by the ships, and planted by the colonies, of that splendid genius whose untimely and un-just death damns with an adher-ing infamy his own claims to the highest place in the temple of English law. These characteristics, fed and supported by the system of Afri-can slavery, served for more than a century to divide the Conserva-tive from the Puritan elements in American society. Nor would there soon have been any change in the peculiar customs and man-nerisms of our people, had not the rude shock of, war tumbled down this great middle wall of partition, which separated us from the saints. Perhaps, one of the most mark-ed of the changes which we may expect, is one that will soon be apparent on the face of our coun-try society. The abolition of slavery will do wonders here. It puts an end to the reign of those lordly, landed proprietors, plant-ers and farmers, who constituted so striking and so pleasant a feat-ure in our rural population. No longer the masters of hundreds of slaves wherewith to cultivate their thousands of acres, the general cheapness of lands in the South will prevent their forming around them a system of dependent ten-antry, since every industrious man will be able to plough his own farm. They will, therefore, gradually sell off their paternal acres, no longer within the scope of prudent management, and seek homes in the towns and villages, or contract their establishments to their means and altered condi-tion. Agriculture will then pass gradually into the hands of small farmers, and the great farms will, forever, disappear. In all this there is much good to be seen. * The loyal Fetich have altered, all this, from prudential considerations for themselves and friends. 366 All About It. [March^ An improved system of cultiva-tion, an enlarged quantity and quality of production, greatly en-hanced value of real estate, and a rapid increase of the aggregate public wealth will most assuredly be the result. But even this change will not be one of un-mixed benefit, nor will it be view-ed by all—your humble speaker for one at least—without emotions of regret. I can scarcely imagine it possible for any one to view the steady disappearance of the race of Southern country gentlemen, without genuine sorrow. They are not the peers of the stupid beef-eating English Squire, re-nowned in British history and in comedy, for loyalty to the King, ignorance, prejudice and drunk-enness: not the Westerns and Hardcastles, but the high-toned, educated, chivalrous, intelligent and hospitable Southern gentle-men , of whom each one who hears me, has at least a dozen in his mind's eye, in Virginia and the Carolinas. Whose broad fields were cultivated by their own faith-ful and devoted slaves, whose rudely splendid mansions stand where their fathers reared them, among the oaks and the pines which greeted the canoe of John Smith, welcomed the ships of Raleigh, and sheltered the wild cavaliers of De Soto; whose hall doors stood wide open, and were never shut except against a re-treating guest; whose cellar and table abounded with the richest products of the richest lands in the world, and whose hospitality was yet unstained by unrefined excess; whose parlors and fire-sides were adorned by a courtly female grace which might vie with any that ever lighted and blessed the home of man; whose hands were taught from infancy to fly open to every generous and charitable appeal, and whose minds were enured to all self-respect and toleration, and whose strong brains were sudden death to humbuggery, all the isms, and the whole family of mean and pestilential fanaticism. Can you see these strong men, so armed at all points for the common good, holding all their wealth as hos-tages for the public peace, torn from their ancestral seats, and swept away in the current of progress, without feeling the whole edifice of good government reel beneath our feet like a drunken man? I confess to my honest conviction, that when this sturdy dynasty of democratic kings shall be overthrown, that the cause of virtue in society and of Constitu-tional liberty in politics, will each have lost a stalwart right arm, which will,I fear,be but poorly sup-plied in the class which may succeed them! Peace to the memory of the Southern country gentlemen! To them were we indebted for the foundation of our once free gov-ernment, and for its preservation against the assaults of democratic anarchy for more than three-fourths of a century! An immediate consequence of this disturbance in our country society will be a tendency—al-ready perceptible— of our popula-tion towards towns and villages. It has been a matter of remark, and with some, of congratulation heretofore, that having fewer and smaller cities and towns, we had 1869.] All About It. 367 also, the most law-abiding and virtuous x)opulation in the United States. The census returns, to a great extent, sustained this as-sertion; but the obverse showed a considerable deficiency in national wealth. We may now look for a rapid increase in the population of our towns and cities; real es-tate there, will far out-grow in value, that of the country; vice, crime and pauperism will grow with them as manufactures and wealth increase. "With the good we must also take the evil; the tares must needs come with the wheat. "With new kinds of ma-chinery, will come new kinds of rascality; with new kinds of in-dustry and means ,of wealth, will come a new species of robbery, entirely strange to our honest old-fashioned thieves ; and with 2^'>'og-ress in the arts and sciences, will come, also, a fantastic variety of philanthropy, religion, politics and morals, alike wondrous and edifying; of which, more here-after. There is also a great change at hand for the negro, a taste of which he is already enjoying. This great problem is about reaching its final solution. The fate of the African slave in the Southern States is at last about to be sealed, for good or for evil. His real, or imagined woes hav-ing so long moved the cheap tears of Ctiristendom, and his hard lot having engaged the Jellabys of two centuries, and formed the burden of the press, the rostrum and the pulpit, to the shame and perversion of each, through pol-iticians without statesmanship, and preachers without religion; now, that a great country has beea drenched in fraternal blood, one-half of it buried in the ashes of its own desolation and strewn with graves and bleaching bones of slaughtered men, and that fires of hatred have been kindled that years of peace and good will shall scarce be able to smother—all for his sake—how is he to be affected by this great, blood-bought change? Has the result been adequate to the cost? Or ivill it be? Have the cruel wheels of this blessed philanthropy, dragging axle-deep in a heroic nation's blood, spared him for whose sake they were mainly set in motion ? Alas, alas! A wise Humanity already weeps at the crimes committed in her name! And over the dead carcasses of these simple, and— so lately—happy children of bond-age, and the ragged and perishing survivors, pompously called, "Freedmen," she is ready to exclaim, " Oh, Freedom, there is no curse like unto thine, when thou art forced upon men whose souls are not educated to receive thee!" What was the negro before the war? A simple, happy and af-fectionate bondsman. What is he now? Fast merging into a rag-ged, starving, dangerous vaga-bond. What will he be? In time—and that time is not long — nothing ; non-existent, an extinct race, over whose untimely perish-ing the good of all the earth will mourn, and from whose sad story the philosophic historian will point a maxim, and illustrate that godly philanthropy which propa-gates its heavenly tenets by fire and sword! Though from the 368 All About It. [March, earliest times recorded in history, to this day, the negro has been in close contact with every promi-nent civilization, I imagine it will not be denied, but that his de-velopment, as a Southern slave,far exceeds that of any other condi-tion. There was no laboring class on earth with which his condition would not compare advantageous-ly, physically and morally. Who that has ever enjoyed the pleas-ure of our Southern homes, has not been convinced of this? Or who that knew him as a contented, well-treated slave, did not learn to love and admire the negro char-acter? For one, I confess to al-most an enthusiasm on the sub-ject. The cheerful ring of their songs at their daily tasks, their love for their masters and their families, their politeness and good manners, their easily bought, but sincere gratitude, their deep-seat-ed aristocracy—for your genuine negro was a terrible aristocrat, — their pride in their own, and their master's dignity, together with their over-flowing and never-fail-ing animal spirits, both during hours of labor and leisure, alto-gether, made up an aggregation of joyous simplicity and lidelity when not perverted by harsh treatment—that to me was ir-resistible! A remembrance of the seasons spent among them will perish only with life. From the time of the ingathering of the crops, until after the ushering in of the new year, was wont to be with them a season of greater joy and festivity than with any other peo-ple on earth, of whom it has been my lot to hear. In the glorious November nights of our benefi-cent clime, after the first frosts had given a bracing sharpness and a ringing clearness to the air, and lent that transparent blue to the heavens through which the stars gleam like globes of sapphire, when I have seen a hundred or more of them around the swelling piles of corn, and heard their tuneful voices ringing with the chorus of some wild re-frain, I have thought I would rather, far, listen to them than to any music ever sang to mortal ears; for it was the outpouring of the hearts of happy and content-ed men, rejoicing over that abundance which rewarded the labor of the closing year! And the listening, too , has many a time and oft, filled my bosom with emotions, and opened my heart with charity and love toward this subject and dependent race, such as no ora-tory, no rhetoric or minstrelsy in all this wide earth could impart! Nature ceased almost to feel fatigue in the joyous scenes which followed. The fiddle and the banjo, animated as it would seem like living things, literally knew no rest, night or day ; whilst Terpsichore covered her face in absolute despair in the presence of that famous double-shvffle with which the long nights and " master's shoes " were worn^ away together! Amid all these teeming associations, connected with the abolished system , there come also a thousand memories of childhood's experience, ditfer-ing in my individual case, I will venture to say, scarcely an hair's breadth from that of scores who listen to me to-night. I can see now, through memory's 1869.] All About It. 369 faithful mirror, the boy who tirst taught me to twist a rabbit from a hollow tree, with whom I have had many a boyish struggle , and for whom I have many a time, and oft, rob-bed the pantry of its choicest treasures! Who can forget the cook by whom his youthful ap-petite was fed? The fussy, con-sequential old lady to whom I now refer, has often, during my vagrant inroads into her rightful domains, boxed my infant jaws with an imperious, " Bress de Lord, git out of de way; dat chile never kin get enufi','' and as often relenting at sight of my hungry tears, has fairly bribed me into her love again with the very choicest bits of the savory messes of her art. She was haughty as Juno, and aristocratic as though her naked ancestors had come over with the conqueror, or " drawn a good bow at Hastings," instead of having been purchased by deacon Tribulation Small-soul from Cape Cod, for forty gal-lons of New England rum, per head, whilst roasting charcoal babies for dinner; and yet her pride invariably melted at the sight of certain surreptitious quantities of tobacco, with which I made my court to this high priestess of the region, sacred to the stomach. And there too, plainest of all, I can see the fat and chubby form of my dear old nurse, whose encircling arms of love, fondled and supported me from the time whereof the memo-ry of this man runneth not to the contrary. All the strong love of her simple and faithful nature seemed bestowed on her mistress' children, which she was not per-mitted to give to her own, long, long ago, left behind, and dead in ' ole Varginney!' Oh I the won-derful and the touching stories of them and a hundred other things which she has poured into my infant ears! How well do I re-member the marvelous story of the manner in which she obtain-ed religion, of her many and sore conflicts with the powers of dark-ness and of her first dawning hopes in that blessed gospel whose richest glory is, that it is preach-ed to the poor, such as she was! From her lips, too, I heard my first ghost story ! Think of that ! None of your feeble, make-be-lieves of a ghost story either, car-rying infidelity on its face; but a real bona-fide narrative, witnessed by herself, and told with the earnestness of truth itself. How my knees smote together, and my hair stood on end, " so-called " — as I stared and startled, and de-clared again and again with quite a sickly manhood indeed, that I toasn^ scared a hit 1 Perhaps, the proudest day of my boyhood was when I was able to present her with a large and flaming red cot-ton handkerchief, wherewith, in turban style she adorned her head. And my satisfaction was complete when my profound erudition en-abled me to read for her on Sab-bath afternoons, that most won-derful of all stories. The Pilgrim's Progress. Nor was it uninstruct-ive, or a slight tribute to the genius of the immortal tinker could I but have appreciated it to observe the varied emotions ex-cited within her breast, by the re-cital of those fearful conflicts by 370 All About It. [March, the way, and of the unspeakable glories of the celestial City, with-in whose portals of pearl, I trust her faithful soul has long since entered! Nor must the old uncle be for-gotten; the trusted and conse-quential right-hand man of the household , first lieutenant or ser-geant major of the whole estab-lishment at the least. Though hard and high, uncompromising in all things, and especially as to the family dignity, of whom all urchins, both white and black, stood in wholesome awe, I shall never cease thinking of him with genuine respect. With him too is connected a problem in morals that was wont to puzzle much my juvenile logic, and I have not un-til this day been able to make it out quite right, that certain ur-chins at and in the county afore-said, with force and arms, not hav-ing the fear of the rod before their eyes, but being thereunto moved and seduced by the cravings of juvenile appetite, did, &c., &c., &c., certain water-melons of him, the said "uncle," &c., &c., &c. With these associations, so well calculated to make their former masters the fast friends of their late servants, come some also of a darker and less pleasing hue. — There were cases of harsh and cruel treatment of these simple minded people. Truthful men have often blushed at but never denied the fact, that mean and tyrannical masters now and then outraged humanity and furnished our enemies with occasion of of-fence against us all. But no com-munity ever has been or ever will be free from that despicable class of men who abuse the trust which God and society have reposed in them, by ill-treating those who are necessarily subject to and de-pendent upon them. But, on the whole, history must say that our rule was a mild one, that our slaves loved us and were happy, and that is the end of the contro-versy. They have themselves fur-nished, unconsciously, proofwhich will amply satisfy the impartial of the truth of this, in the faith-fulness with which they served us, and the loving care which they took of our helpless families during the long years of war, and in the sound of that conflict which they knew was waging for their deliverance. Having referred to what his condition was, let us glance brief-ly to what it is now. The real genuine negro, such as I have tried to sketch, has disappeared. We have some colored freedmen here but not any negroes. His joy and simplicity have departed. The ringing song of his daily work no longer awakens the echoes of his native plains; the boisterous laugh is hushed; the fiddle, without strings, hangs in silence on the cabin wall; the voice of the insphing banjo is heard no more, and the ever fa-mous dance—the double-shuffle — is about to be numbered with the lost arts. Forsaking the old plant-ation, he wanders over the coun-try, living upon freedom, crowd-ing into filthy hovels, feeding upon insufficient food, diseased, hungry, and in rags, without that l^rudent foresight which charac-terizes most of the animals, he is dying and passing away with a 1869.] All About It. 371 rapidity that is shocking to hu-manity. His whole condition now thunders the lie to all the de-nunciations which religious fanat-icism and political juggling have so long heaped upon their former masters, in tones so loud that all the world must know, when too late, upon whom is the blame for the perishing of a whole people! And worse than all, as if mis-chief enough has not been already done, special pains are taken to sow the seeds of hatred between the races, and to make the negro believe that his old master, be-cause he resisted emancipation, is his natural enemy ! Notwith-standing all these associations to which I have referred, and which bind every good-feeling man in the country to his former slaves with love and charity, there are men who thrust us aside, claim-ing to know more of the negro's nature and capacities, and to be animated with greater zeal for his welfare than we! May God for-give all such, for their second sin is like to be greater than the first! For, having torn him by violence, and against his wish, from a state of mild and humane servitude, where his physical and moral con-dition was superior to that which ever befell him since the curse of Ham, and placed him in the high road to extinction, beneath the tread of a dominant race ; should they also succeed in destroying that ancient love between master and slave, and filling the heart of one with bitterness, and the other with jealous fear, and inaugura-ting a war of races, then no man can mistake the doom of the weaker. Oh, woeful times! May God preserve us from them! I believe it is generally conceded that, so far, the emancipation of the negro has made his condition worse, but it is not in the course ofhuman nature to repair an error by acknowledging it and turning back from the path that led to it. The course is to devise another remedy, still deeper in the er-roneous direction. As the scorn of the world begins to gather around those who waded through the blood and ashes of a noble country and over the prostrate columns of constitutional liberty, to create four million vagabonds, they endeavor to stay that world's judgment by a strange remedy. Seeing that the negro is utterly unable to endure the freedom of his own labor and locomotion, they propose to give him the over-sight of the freedom of others! Since his absolute incapacity to take care of his few bodily wants has been conclusively shown, it is solemnly proposed to give him charge of a great Republic. — Since he has failed to exhibit the sagacity and industry of an animal in providing against the commonest wants, the ir-resistible conclusion—i/ie logical ergo—is, that he is fully com-petent to solve that greatest of all problems which has vexed the genius of man — self-govern-ment !! ! This process much re-sembles that by which a logican would undertake to derive shoe-pegs from the rings of Saturn. To illustrate, if illustration can render more absurd such an utter absurdity—if a negro is found un-able to drive one mule in a cart, the remedy is to give him, imme- 372 All About It. [March,. diately, the reins of a coach and six, wherein is all the family and crockery ! ! Such is negro suffrage, the sup-porting idea of which is, of course, negro equality, social and po-litical. Now, hereupon, I beg leave to remark that I don't feel as much shocked at this asserted equality of the races as some people seem to be. I recognize in it, on the contrary, a considerable infusion of that which, that immortal philosopher Square, termed "the eternal fitness of things;" subject to a modification. One Mr. Josh Billings, a gentleman who has managed to get off much senten-tious philosophy, in very bad En-glish indeed, once said in reply to the question, did he believe in the final salvation of men, " Yes, but let me pick the men." So, if allowed to pick the men, I shall announce myself as a believer in the equality of whites and blacks; and my selection should not over-look the merits of those who preach the doctrine. Thus, when I hear a man assert that, a negro is his equal, I take it for granted, sure enough that he is. For, al-though, to all outward seeming, he might be a little better than a half- reclaimed savage, yet, as he must, of necessity, know his own meanness better than I can, I take his word for it readily. The only danger is of doing the negro injustice by the comparison. For to my seeming, that soul, however lowly, that looks up and strives to get higher, is infinitely superior to that which, however high, looks down and strives to get lower I The process of going down hill is both easy and inglorious. A brick-bat can do that much. Be all this as it may, I trust that the'~^ good people of the South will ,' strive earnestly to keep friends with the negro, under all the changes which may be forced upon both. He served us well and faithfully, and left us not of his own accord. Let us, in all things which are best for both, requite this service. As he must remain our neighbor, let us give him, if permitted, a home, wages, educa-tion, morality and religion. And now as the negro will not leave us, let us for a moment leave him. Suffrage for him is a step toward that great progf-ress which is to renovate the South; and although it is amus-ing to watch the effort to prove the perfect equality of the wild ass of Assyria and the war horse of Job, let us leave the name-sakes— wild and domestic—to rec-oncile the incongruities which God has placed between his laws and the theories of men, whilst we look at some other changes about to come upon our beloved land. Having noticed the alteration, perfected and prospective, in our country society, towns and vil-lages, and in our system of labor, we may contemplate a serious change in our clergymen and our system of theology. There Will be a great pressure here, for in the opinion of our ISTorthern friends, the reforming hand of Progress is badly needed among the dry bones of Southern reli-gionists. It is certainly a matter of reproach that our preachers are fully as old-fashioned as their theology, and Si j^rogressive clergy- 1869.] All About It. 373 man of the new faith, whilst be-holding their sincere efforts to save sinners, might say of them as it is reported that Senator Hale ofKew Hampshire once said of Giddings when the latter intro-duced a bill in the House looking to a practical abolition of slavery: " The cussed old fool I he thinks we are in earnest!" Surely, no reasonable man could now think that a system of religion and mor-als which answered for Moses and the miserable secessionists who left Egypt with him, would do for the improved and revised saints of the present day and of this great Eepublic! Certainly not! — Moses was a slaveholder, up to his eyes in the " sum of all villainy," and sanctioned iniquity by a law, wherein he laid down rules and regulations for the gov-ernment of these slaves bought with his money! What did he know about religion by the side of the modern saints whose grand-fathers made their fortunes in the horrors of the "middle passage?" Neither he nor any of the motley crowd which followed him ever dreamed of the steam engine, lucifer matches, the At-lantic cable or the Howard Amendment! And yet our de-luded preachers cite him as au-thority in morals I All his crude and ignorant notions have long since been superseded—except polygamy, indeed, which, under the fostering care of the Govern-ment, is doing smartlj'—and it should not be expected that a re-ligion laid down under such cir-cumstances by such a people could stand in the blaze of light which streams over the land from the VOL. VI. NO. V. saintly theology of John Brown and Lucy Stone! Nor, in the es-timation of the progressive theo-logians, does the church of the new dispensation much improve upon the old, since it abolishes polygamy which they loved, and failed to rebuke slavery which they hated; and since Christ, its divine head, declared that the kingdom which he founded was not of this world. As He there-fore failed to rebuke the greatest sin known to man, slavery, and disconnected his church from pol-itics and the things of this world, in their estimation his mission was but half fulfilled after all. — Progressive theology has there-fore supplied the mission, and has kindly added such conditions as render the salvation of the sin-ner — or at least the success of the 2oarty—more secure. In addition to the old tests it is now necessary to swear to the sinfulness of slave-ry and the divine right of our government (for this principle is local) to do precisely whatever it pleases. Now, it is necessary to preach a kingdom of this vrorld, (or a lower one,) politics, litera-ture, and the family of isms—any thing, in short, but the plain, old-fashioned bread of life to perish-ing sinners—Christ and him cru-cified! The great Apostle Paul, with a soul rejoicing in the en-larged and universal salvation of his Master, thrusting the sickle of his mighty genius into the whiten-ing harvest of a world, preached of righteousness, temperance and a judgment to come: his more pre-tentious and enlightened follow-ers confine their savory ministra-tions to rebellion, confiscation and 26 374 All About It. [March, negro suffrage! Jesus Christ taught servants to be obedient unto their masters; these im-proved moralists teach them to cut their masters' throats! Ab-horrence of rebellion against the government—for any cause what-ever — whilst they hold the reins,— and a firm adherence to the doc-trine of passive obedience is now declared to be the only road to heaven—at least by way of Eich-mond and New Orleans! One hundred and eighty years ago, English cavaliers were shamed out of this base doctrine by the Puritans and were forced to join them in hurling a tyrant from his tlirone; now the Puritans, with lire and sword, preach damna-tion to all who resist the powers that be—whichpoicers they now are! Circumstances alter cases. [See Parmer vs. Lawyer, Webster's Spelling Book; The Colonies vs. King George III. ; Jefferson's Ee-ports, 4th July, '7G; United States vs. Hartford Convention; Sal-mon P. Chase on the relation of the Ohio Legislature vs. The Fu-gitive Slave Law and various other cases familiar to the pro-fession!] A drunken wag in the mountains of North Carolina once resolved himself into a political meeting to consider the state of the country, and as President, Secretary and Chairman of the committee reported and adopted unanimously quite a series of resolutions, two of which bear upon the subject before us, and were as follows: ^^ Besolved, That in a general way there is a good deal of human nature in man-kind. Eesolved, That we don't care what in the thunder happens provided it don't happen to us!'''' That which was perfectly right in 1688 and in 1776 has a perfect right to be wrong in 1861, provid-ed the pressure is changed ! of course! Though Kero was a great scoundrel for two hundred years or more, whilst Nero was on the other side, it is gratifying to know that an enlightened cler-gy have preached him into quite a respectable old gentleman. — Some in fact prefer him to Wash-ington, but I can't say that my prejudices extend quite so far. After all, Nero's respectability depends much on the side he hap-pens to take in politics. And herein, of obedience to Nero from the pulpit, and of those who preach such doctrine, let an an-ecdote give my opinion. In obe-dience to that spirit of mischief which induced our soldiers to "jaw" every stranger out of uni-form (and many in it) whom they met, a saucy private once bawled out to a rather daintily dressed stranger passing by, who chanced to be a chaplain, ' '• Halloo, Mister, what army do you belong to?" " To the army of the Lord," rath-er sanctimoniously said the chap-lain; whereupon the soldier re-sponds, " Well then, old hoss, you'd better spur up, for you're a darned long ways from your head-quarters." Will our pulpit be able to resist such changes as these, the most ruinous and dangerous of all? As teachers not only of a pure and undefiled religion, but of manners and morals, and princi-pally the disseminators of general education throughout our great land , will this vast band of guard- 1869.] All About it. 375 ians of our civilization give way before the erroneous, but bolder and more energetic teachings of their Korthern brethren? Much of their energy, their industry, their thrift, their means of wealth and such characteristics wherein they are our confessed superiors, we should gladly seek to learn; but may God preserve us from their peculiar religious civiliza-tion! May our pious clergy resist to the last extremity—and only death is that last extremity—the introduction here of their politi-cal preaching ; their Millerism, Mormonism, Spiritualism, Free-love- ism, Miscegenation, Material-ism, and Radicalism, with all the thousand and one morbid senti-mentalities and false teachings which mark, lamentably, the decay of public virtue and evangelical re-ligion! And though this tide has begun to roll in, and some even of the weaker sort among ourselves have begun to yield, may the angel of the Lord, repenting Him of the evils we have suffered, jet show us the threshing floor of another Oman, the Jebusite, at which the pestilence may be stayed, ere it destroy our Israel, though we should sacrifice all the oxen of our wealth! When religion becomes corrupt, referring principally to the things of this world—requiring even al-legiance to a party, as a test of orthodoxy, the road to national and social ruin is short and easy. For I am convinced that even the wisest statesmen err, in under-standing the part which learned and pious clergymen bear in the government and civilization of the world. A comparison of the wordly great, with the successful teachers of Christianity will il-lustrate my meaning. Ca?sar and Cicero are known to scholars. Luther and Wesley are known to, and govern, all classes and condi-tions of men. Shakspeare is read and admired by millions of men; but John Bunyan is loved and admired by hundreds of millions of human souls! The sublime song of the Paradise Lost even may perish, and the Elegy in a country church-yard be forgotten; but the North star ceasing to guide the pilots of the sea, shall, following in the track of the con-stellation of the Cross, disappear from the gaze of men beyond the everlasting ices of the Pole, and the Bedouin of the desert shall halt his camels upon the disinte-grated dust of the loftiest Pyra-mid, ere little children in every part of the wide earth shall cease to repeat, before going to rest, that simple prayer of some for-gotten Christian poet, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." These dangerous influences which threaten to overwhelm our clergymen, are but old forms .of human vice; old foes in new faces. As Sir Edward Coke observes of copy-hold tenures, though they come of a mean house they are yet of a very ancient descent. — Most of them are of unmistakably Puritan origin, and the ancestors of Puritanism were distinguished even so long ago as the sojourn of our Saviour on earth, when they were represented as giving alms to the sound of the trumpet, as making long prayers in the mar-ket places, and the motto on their 376 All About It. [Marchy coat of arms was " Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other peo-ple!" Let us resist this change Avith our united power, and pray that our clergymen may adhere — even through martyrdom if need be—to their old-fashioned religion. We shall he pressed, too, to change the manner of bringing up our children if we would become rich and great like our conquerors. In addition to the catechism and a love for the cardinal virtues and proprieties generally, we have heretofore endeavored to teach our children unsellishness, liber-ality, and what the Irish call "the open hand." This is a great mistake, progrressit'eZy speak-ing. Too strict a reverence for all the members of the "noble family of Truth," unfits the mind of the boy for the sharp substi-tutes and ingenious devices, which are the life of individual and na-tional wealth. He must be made to read the sublime apothegms of that light of the eighteenth cen-tury, B. Franklin, and his juve-nile heart must be fired — or pre-cipitated, by the studies of the wise glories of such immortal ut-terances as "Time is money," " Money saved is money made," " Take care of the dimes and the dollars will take care of them-selves," " He that would thrive must rise at five," " He that hath thriven may lie till seven," "A stitch in time saves nine," with much other wondrous philosophy of like nature. The boy must be taught that the chief end of man is—to make money! and the greatest sin (next to slaveholding) is to enjoy it! He must be taught not to fox-hunt because, on a cal-culation of the time, that the men, the horses and dogs occupy ia catching it, 'tis cheaper to buy the skin ready caught! Bird shooting must be abjured for a similar reason, and an old horse or an old dog must be killed immediately to save forage! His infant lips must be made to lisp the price of onions, and his nostrils made to delight in and revere the smell of cod-fish, if you would have him be-come a great and glorious pillar of the State! In connection herewith, we are iqjon the sJcirts of another great change, in the habits and man-ners of the mothers of these children. In the new state of progress into which we are like to enter, under Jacobin auspices, we shall, doubtless, incur the risk of having some strong-minded women I Perhaps this term does not suf-ficiently convey our meaning. The intellects of our women are sufficiently strong—in the right direction—already. We mean, simply, those women who, drop-ping the' characteristics of their own sex, are constantly raiding into the dominions of the other for the purpose, it would seem — of capturing pantaloons I Like a forlorn hope, they are constantly trying to storm and ^ ; carry the hreeches. They are women com-pounded— not to say confounded English grog-fashion, " 'alf and 'alf," who, somehow or another have got mixed up, strangely enough, with the progress and pe-culiar civilization of our enter-prising brethren of the North. A school-boy who prayed that to-morrow, "it might rain just a leetle too hard to go to school and- 1869.] All About It. 377 not quite hard enough to prevent going a fishin' " hit upon a dis-tinction that eminently applies to these fungi of a superior mental culture, since any one of them might be described as a little too much of a woman to be a man, and a little too much of a man to be a woman! What useful pur-pose in social or political economy, these aviphihia serve, I really can-not see; but some how they are either cause or effect of wealth and greatness, and I warn my unfortunate male friends to look for them as we progress! A col-porteur traveling once upon one of our noble Southern rivers, stepped ashore, when the boat stopped at a wharf where there had been great excitement about the small pox. Everybody fled as the boat drew near, except one old woman, and thinking to dis-tribute more books, he approach-ed her and said, " my good wo-man have you the scriptures about here?" "Kot gist yet, thank the Lord," was the reply, "but the way they've got it down to Nor-folk is a sin!" So, we have not this social pestilence amongst us yet, but the way they have it up Korth, is terrible, and it will spread this way if we are not careful. The preventive is alone in the hands of our blessed countrywomen. We can only beg and implore them to resist the temptation , and by all the glori-ous associations of the most noble womanhood the world ever saw, to drive back this most odious, vicious and contemptible innova-tion; and to preserve for their sake and ours, the modesty and purity of their mothers. In this case, boasted man cannot help; he can only grasp his pantaloons and pray! We can innoculate against small-pox, we can clean up our streets and fumigate against the yellow- fever; we can even diet ourselves against cholera, but there is no relief in the ingenuity of man against the tide of strong-minded womanism which threat-ens us ! The only possible allevia-tion ever yet discovered—and which I cordially recommend to all single males present to-night — is to marry as quick as possible, and then it may take you only in varioloid form! Thus I have glanced—and scarcely glanced—at a few of the prominent changes likely to be impressed upon our people as a result of the Great Eevolution in which we have fought and lost. A hundred others might be noticed, if time permitted. Change is all around us, and pervades the atmosphere. As our cities grow, our literature will improve, for somehow great cities are favor-able to the culture and develop-ment, though not to the birth, of genius. But as it improves, it will not purify, especially our newspaper literature. History, poetry, fiction, will intermin-gle with fulsome biography and miscellaneous criticism; whilst Pill advertisements, Ead-way's Ready Relief and the Fra-grant Sozodont will attain their maximum glory and struggle for the mastery. Even our pronun-ciation will change, more or less, with our style, as may be already seen in the strange accentuation given to many familiar objects, so as almost to disguise them from 378 All About It. [March, us. For instance our Capital city is known as Baw-la^ without the ' click ' by which it was wont to be known to both citizens and politicians; the most lively and ambitious little city in the interior of the State, is called Shar-lott ; whilst that goodly city wljich com-mands so pleasing a prospect over the mingling floods of the Neuse and the Trent—ignoring its famed mother—that glorious home of liberty and nursling of the Alps—has become simply Nuh-hurn ! Dear, native land! All these things and many more are to <3ome upon thy children, sweep-ing away the land-marks of our early love, and many of the simple and happy ways which our fathers taught us, so that we shall enjoy them no more forever! Her very faults are endeared to us, and her short-comings even awak-en the liveliest emotions in the bosoms of all who love her well. With the captive of Chillon, I can say: " To such a long communion tends, My very chains and I grew friends, To make us what we are. Even I Kegained my freedom with a sigh !" During all the sad years that tried the souls of men I was a close observer, and participated in all that concerned the State of North Carolina, and I say, with truth, that not only am I proud of the glorious manner in which she came through the fiery ordeal but that even my opinion of the nobility of human nature has been improved. Time will not permit me to speak now—as it should be spoken—of the many claims of her people to the respect and con-fidence of the world. Other and abler hands must do that. I will therefore close this sketch by re-lating two or three incidents— and those not the most striking—of the hundreds I could relate illus-trating the true nobleness of her people, and the gallantry and steadfastness of her soldiers dur-ing the late war. ~^ One cold and frosty Decem-ber morning, a poor but neatly clad woman stepped timidly into the Executive chamber whilst I was its occupant, leading a rag-ged and barefoot boy. With many tears she told her story and his; she was a widow with five little children, this, her eldest and only support, was but 17 years old, had been in the army since he was 15, had served honorably those two years and bore the manly scars of battle upon his body, but in an evil hour had de-serted. Then when he got home, hungry and almost naked, she had kept him only long enough to make him one shirt, to hide his nakedness, and had then started immediately to Raleigh—a dis-tance of sixty miles—to deliver him to me. I asked her if she knew that the punishment for de-sertion was death. She said she did, but she wanted him to do his duty to his country be the conse-quences what they might, and begged me to send him to his reg-iment and write to General Lee to be merciful! Knowing thus all the possible consequences, this brave and noble widow yet brought forward her first born — the Isaac of her hopes— and gave him to her country, either to per-ish in the ranks of its defenders or 1869.J All About It. 379 to die the ignominious death of a felon, as that country might think best! Think of that, oh ye rich and mighty dames and matrons who boast of giving your jewels, and even your children to die no-ble deaths! and say within your hearts did not this poor widow's offering exceed all of yours? Suf-fice it to say that the boy was not punished. Again: in passing through the mountains once, some soldiers stopped at an humble cabin and asked for something to eat. (By the way, what soldier ever did pass a house without asking for something to eat? or that, hadn't had a bite in three days?) The poor woman, who was its proprie-tor, kindly invited them in, and began to tell them her distresses and how she had been treated. That she had been a widow pretty well to do, and her three grown boys had been in the army ever since the war begun, that as the scene of war came nearer and nearer to her, the soldiers began to pass by and consume her substance. — First, they had destroyed all her provender, then her chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, then all her hogs, then her cattle, and lastly, they had killed and eaten before her eyes, her last milk cow, and had' otherwise preyed upon her, until, said she, " I've got nothing in this world for you to eat, boys, except that one little piece of bacon you see hanging up there!" As she rose up to pre-pare even it for them, they began to feel somewhat ashamed— a rather uncommon virtue with a hungry soldier—declared they would not intrude on a woman who had suffered so, and got up to go. " Ko," said she, as she sharpened her knife on the bricks of the chimney jam and gave it a murderous flourish at the piece of bacon, " you just sit still; ifs all right; as like as any way my three boys have helped to eat up your mammy's old cow, or some body else's; so I'll divide!" And she did divide; and if the territo-ry of the late Confederate States had only been as big as that old woman's heart, Sherman's great army would have perished of sheer old age before it had finished its march to the sea! During the last fatal retreat from the blood-stained ramparts of Eichmond and Petersburg, to the memorable spot which wit-nessed the final scenes of that once splendid army of IsTorthern Virginia, everything of course was in the utmost confusion. The old campaigners in the ranks knew quite as well as their offi-cers that the war was over and whilst those who kept their ranks fought with but little heart, or straggled carelessly and hope-lessly along, thousands deliberate-ly walked off" to their homes. With lessening rations and for-age, and a routed and melting army (vhose demoralization was increasing every moment, it be-came every hour more and more difficult to check the flushed and swarming enemy sufficiently, to save the trains upon which all depended. It had become truly a rout, " With many a weary league to go With every now and then a blow And ten to one at least, the foe," When on one occasion, a spot 380 All About It. [March, having been chosen for a stand, some artillery placed in position and Gen. Lee, sitting his horse on a commanding knoll, sent his staff and all about him to rally the stragglers behind a certain line and beg them to give one more fire and hold the enemy at bay, until the slowly struggling trains could be got forward out of the way. Mournfully he beholds his once splendid warriors, broken and scattered, come straggling loosely along — saddest of sights to a sol-dier's eye—by twos and threes, here a squad, there the remnant of a company, parts of regiments, brigades and divisions, without drums or colors, mixed in hope-less, careless, and inextricable confusion, and rallying but slow-ly and unwillingly on the ap-pointed line. But presently the roll of a drum is heard, a pennon flashes in the sunlight, the head of an orderly column comes into view, then emerges a small but entire brigade, "Alasliow few! Since but the fleeting of a day Had thinned it ! But the wreck was true, and with arms at will, with mar-tial tread and serried ranks, its commander at its head, and every living subaltern at his post, it comes, files promptly to the left along its appointed position ; the sharp commands, "halt, front, dress" ring upon the air, and they are ready once more for the deadly and hopeless struggle! A smile of momentary joy plays over the distressed features of that illustrious chieftain, he calls out to an Aid, "what troops are those?" "Coxe's North Caro-lina brigade" was the reply. — Then it was that, taking off his hat and bowing his head with the goodly courtesy and kindly feel-ing of a gentleman, which are so pleasant to see in misfortune, he said, " May God bless gallant old Korth Carolina!" Kot long since, I was invited to deliver an address at Winchester, Virginia, on the occasion of con-secrating the Stonewall Cemetery there, filled as it is with Confed-erate dead, gathered up from the battle-fields of the valley, by the loving patriotism of that people. The reason given for selecting me, was because the North Carolina dead far exceeded those from Vir-ginia herself or any other State represented there! So it is on all the battle-fields from Charleston to Gettysburg; and so it is like-wise among all the rude and un-tended graves around the North-ern prisons. Considering all that is com-mendable in the character of our people, as illustrated by their bearing in adversity as well as in prosperity, and these changes to which she is subject, my object has been to urge you to be cau-tious in choosing those things which we should welcome and those we should reject. " Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." We know that our institutions and customs have been favorable to the formation of a people en-dowed with the noblest character-istics of fallen human nature. Let us be sure, whatever we do, that we barter nothing of this for wealth and power. 1869.] All About It, 381 There is very much that we can learn from the people of the Korth, and I hope, sincerely, that we shall not be ashamed to learn it. Their physical energy, their inventive and mechanical genius, their thrift, economy and industry far surpass ours. In-dividual thrift makes aggregate wealth, this wealth, in turn , builds cities, ships, rail-roads, canals, churches, and endows colleges, schools, and spreads intelligence. In laboring for all these, I only beg my countrymen to preserve, as far as possible, their time-honored institutions, their old-fashioned hospitality, their hon-esty, public and private, the sim-plicity of their manners, the modest purity of their women, and their evangelical religion ! The way is open for us to make Korth Carolina all we should wish her to be in material prosperity, without sacrificing one jot or tittle of those good qualities which we esteem her pride and her glory. We must complete as rapidly as possible our noble system of in-ternal improvements until every section is linked with the other; we must prepare to dig up the inexhaustible mineral riches of her bosom; we must induce the inflow of population, and stimu-late the agricultural interests un-til one continuous system of well cultivated and smiling farms shall cover the whole land from the low country of the east, across the rolling champaign hills of the interior, to the feet of the great western highlands. Those mag-nificent " pastures of the sky " should not only enrapture the eye of the traveler, and fill the hearts of their dwellers with adoration and praise with their inimita-ble scenes of glorious beauty, but should be made to gladden the hearts of their tillers with the sight of unnumbered thousands of lowing herds and feeding flocks ; whilst their frostless steppes—as well as the Eastern plains— should teem with those native vines, now famous through the enterprise of strangers—and rejoice their owners with vintages rivalling the glories of Eshcol! All this, and more, we can do, if we will labor and be patient. But we must first he true to our-selves. We must aid each other, and patronize our own I We must patronize our own university,* colleges and schools ; we must buy of our own manufactories, support our own newspapers and stimulate and foster the genius of our own young men. Amid all these changes and revolutions, it is pleasant to know that there is one thing, at least, which knoweth neither variable-ness nor shadow of turning—the kindly love and devoted patriot-ism of the women of North Caro-lina, for all who have suffered in her behalf. Especially, during the season of despair and gloom which has so long paralyzed the strong arms of men, has it been refreshing to our souls to witness their unceasing and pious eflbrts in behalf of our dead heroes. — Even if their own great deeds were not—as they are—amply sufiicient to redeem an unfortu- * When its FeticMsm shall be removed. 382 All About It. [March, nate cause, and to fill the world with their splendid fame, the ef-forts of their devoted country-women would alone redeem their names from perishing. Erom the sea- shore to the mountains they are all at work—striving to feed the poor, to shelter the orphan and to bless the memories of their dead defenders. ISTo adversity discourages them; and there is no spot so remote, but they may be found " working diligently with their hands.'' Not long since, I had occasion to visit again that prettiest nursling of the Allegha-nies— my native town of Ashe-ville. Crossing the Blue Kidge on horse-back, and winding my way down that loveliest of all the valleys, I ever beheld, which nestles under the shadow of Mt. Mitchell and his gigantic confreres, I stood at length upon the sum-mit of that sharp spur which, leading directly from the highest peaks of the Black Mountain, guides the limpid waters of the Swannanoa into those of the French Broad. Beneath my feet lay my native town—quiet enough now, though torn, despoiled and blackened by the flames of war — whilst straight before me, and on either hand lay, tranquilly sleep-ing in the evening sunbeams, two-thirds of my native county, taken in at one sweeping glance I In-voluntarily I paused, and in-stantly, faithful memory filled my soul with the scenes and incidents, joys and sorrows of years. It was in the earlier part of that most delightful season in our Alpine land, when summer pre-paring to die, decks herself as for a festival in her most srorgeous robes, and blazing in the mellow autumnal sunlight with the thousand hues of the forest, makes earth quite as beauteous, and al-most as glorious "as the o'er-arching firmament, fretted with golden fire." The distant mount-ain peaks were bathing joyfully in the rich tide of outflowing light, the valleys seemed slumber-ing in real and grateful peace, and the quiet village wrapped in such fresh and soothing verdure, as al-most to make its blackened ruins appear beautiful. The scene too, was that of my youthful hopes, sorrows and triumphs; where I had placed my young feet on the first round in the ladder of am-bition, had tasted first of its waters and found them, even then, mingled with bitterness. My gazing was long, and my emotions were many. Drawing my feast-ing eyes at length slowly away from the magnificent panorama of mountain, hill and dale, and shining waters, and gazing eager-ly upon every recognized house and familiar object, it fell at last upon the final earthly home of man—the village church-yard. There among the tombs of peace-ful citizens, gleamed also, in the soft light, the white tablets which marked the resting-places of many who had given their young blood in defence of that goodly land, in whose bosom they slept so well. Then I thought sadly of the many, who were sleeping on wild and distant battle-fields, and wondered if there were any who would think to seek out and adorn their bloody beds! How could I, for a moment, have wondered thus? For, after gazing and 1869.] Dead— Very Dead. 383 gazing, and thinking and think-ing, until my eyes were moist with the teeming memories of the past, what time the " herd winds slowly o'er the lea," I spurred down into the village, and almost the first thing which greeted me was the din of the preparation my lovely townswomen were mak-ins: to raise the means wherewith to re-inter and adorn the graves of those very slaughtered boys of whom I had been thinking! With a proud and grateful heart, I said then, as I know you will all join me in saying to-night. May God bless the women of North Carolina! And let him that says not amen, be anathema, maranalha I DEAD—VERY DEAD. [Sketch from a Bomance of I860.] BY L. YIRGIKIA FRENCH. Precisely so. In pummelling and pulverizing to annihilation the black body of "Southern slavery," the stony spirit of Plymouth Eock has pounded the life out of a most beautiful and sacred social relation:—the hand of "Progress" (so-called) has wiped out, forever, the peculiar Southern "institution " of "Black Mammy." But, in 1860--61, it was not so. That institution, now buried deep in the ' ' dead past," was then part and parcel of the "living Present." At all events, you would have thought so, had you, for a moment, be-held " Jfmn????/," the most notable in position, and elephantine in size of the "ebony idols" of "An-dalusia." She was a matron of some fifty summers and winters , — most generally " girt about with growing infancy " and the amplest of all ample aprons, either of checkered homespun or snowy linen, as duty or leisure predomi-nated 2^i'o ^€"'" Her usual cos-tume was, like herself, more com-fortable than classic,—nothing stifi" about her, save her neck and her well-ironed head-kerchief, which she persisted in wearing after an odd fashion of her own inventing, and which "Mas' Syd" styled "a la Havelock." The circumference being about equal, it was difficult to deter-mine where the dame's shoulders ended and the waist began, in-deed, had it not been for the voluminous strings of the omni-present apron, which encircled her like a belt of drift, marking 384 Dead—Very Bead. [March, high tide upon some giant syca-more, the beholder might have been left in a painful state of sus-pense as to the fact whether or not she possessed a waist at all. Her hair, (it must be called so by compliment, and from fear of a applying any sheepish term to so stately a dame;) was iron-gray but concealed under the white 'kerchief,—her eyes small, with the kindliest twinkle in them, — her complexion a brown ma-hogany, sleek and shining, and her large mouth expressive of great good humor. Her features were high and prominent, more like those of an Indian than an individual of " African descent " her manner was of the most un-equivocal and uncompromising dignity: and she was given, at times, to speaking of people as being " of no force," with quite a grand air. As to temperament, good "Mammy" had nearly, if not quite, as much spirit as body, which is saying a great deal when one pauses to contemplate her number of pounds avoirdupois. She stood in no great awe of any earthly power whatever, though she had an affectionate reverence for "old Master" and "Madame;" but she was sufficient in herself to hold the entire " army of Africa " on that plantation in a state of wholesome subjection. In kitch-en and cabin an autocrat—a veri-table ' ' monarch of all she sur-veyed;" taking a general super-vision of men and boys, keeping a rigid look-out over the women, and reprimanding at large the troops of juvenile ebony; which, regarded as a natural sequence to their mothers, danced and tum-bled about in the sunshine, or, when "weather-bound," toddled and capered through their kitten-like divertisements over the cabin floor. So supreme was her rule throughout the " quarters," that she always knew before-hand the exact opinion of " them niggers," upon any given subject,—they never daring openly to differ from her views, or dispute her man-dates upon any occasion. Her denunciations of their divers der-ilictions from duty, were often furious, her gesticulation stormy in the extreme,—her threatening thunderous,—her temper torna-dic, and, at such tempestuous times, very serious indeed were the sharp lightenings of her " coups de langue.''^ The " boys," when they, individually, did not happen to be the culprits, de-lighted to get her upon what they rather quaintly termed " a tali horse," and when once fairly seated upon that imaginary steed, she was never known to abate from want of words, but simply and solely from lack of breath. Yet, from the fact that her wrath was of the loquacious species, — her ire of the imprecatory sort, arose the consequent fact that, though her bursts of righteous in-dignation frequently assumed a sublime stage of x^assion, they seldom proceeded to serious ex-tremities. On the whole, then, when good "Mammy's" heart was well understood, (for she had a heart "as big as a meetin'- house," more or less) she was comprehended to be more amiable and less formidable than a first view, of her lofty bearing and 1869.] Dead—Very Dead. 385 physical force, would warrant one in supposing. To every member of the Yert-ner family she was devotedly at-tached, having been all her life one of their retainers, as her pa-rents were before her; she con-sidered herself as one of them — making it a strictly personal mat-ter, their family was hers— no more, no less. Her especial ado-ration was "de childun," her young mistresses, she regarded as a pair of moat uncommon angels, with black eyes and rose-colored dresses,—Sydney she doted on the "Master " she loved sincerely, and Madame Komayne, she ad-mired to the deep extent of imi-tating her in every possible way, and saying often with an imperial air; " Madame and me," did thus and so! This, in itself was the profoundest compliment possible —flattery, with " Mammy " could no farther go. This good old family servant had one distinctive peculiarity— direct consequence of her force of character and independent habit of thought. Being herself of a most substantial constitution— a kind of feminine Colossus, combin-ing physical abundance and mus-cular force, with a heart at times the tenderest, and hands at times the gentlest. She had been ap-pointed to nurse and watch over the late Mrs. Yertner, during the last five years of her life, and she had, almost literally, (as she ex-pressed it,) "carried her in dese arms." Such was the tender ad-oration with which this gentlest of gentle-women had inspired her faithful nurse, during these long years of patience and of pain, that "Mammy " could form no higher idea of the heavenly beatitudes than that of still " tendin' on poor dear Miss Lily," listening to her as she read the Bible promises, and carrying her golden harp for her amid the splendors of the Kew Jerusalem! She entertained an abiding faith that this was one day to be her happy and enviable lot;—and woe to any imprudent Ethiopian who, unadvisedly dared intimate a doubt of this, (to her,) most consoling and comfortable theory. An irreverent grandson of her own—a sort of " Imp of the Perverse "—once had the ill-judg-ed temerity to venture the query. " Ehl an' who's gwine fur to tote your gold harp, granny, while you's a totinov Miss Lily's?" TJghl the resources of the English lan-guage are quite inadequate to a description of the "length and the breadth, the depth and the height" of the "ducking," re-ceived by this " noble Eoman," Julius, upon that unfortunate oc-casion; it can only be expressed in his own peculiar lingo, when he sputteringly asserted that he was—" a dem-dem-demol-obolish-ed nigger!" " Poor dear Miss Lily!" Mam-my would soliloquize, as she pen-sively leaned her Havelock upon a colossal hand—" poor dear Mis-sus— I trus' in the Lord she's got her strength. Harps o' gold mus' in reason be heavy, hit will be too great an ondertakin' for /ler, poor baby—an' crowns o' gold is heavy likewise—too burdensome I'm mis-trustin' for that little pale head that used to lean back onto my busom so faint like, as she said — 'Oh! mammy—my head aches so, 386 Dead—Very Dead. [March , mammy!' Lord love it! hit 91 ever was strong. Kow, hit's a pleas-ant place thar—an' so 'twas a pleasant place here, for Mas' Caroll, God bless 'im, (that's ole master I mean,) made her way mighty easy,—ef crowns 0' gold an' harps o' gold could a' saved her precious life, he'd a' had 'em fixed up right centre, shure! But she never got no strength for all Ms lovin' of her, an' my nussin' of her,—an' though I reckon the Good Master above 'ill make it all mighty pleasant for her; the main question is—will hit gin her the strength? I often wonders—to meself like, jis' as I'm a doin' now—ef hit will be easier an' plainer, walkin' on them streets o' gold in the New Jerusalem she used to read to me about, than 'twas on all these purty paths as was made roun' an' roun' this big house jis' a purpose for her tired little feet? I reckon 'twill, I reckon 'twill, be all springy and velvety like. Poor Miss Lily—she was one o' the chosen,— s/ie was. That good man, Bruther Sanford, is often a tellin' of us, ' As thy days is, so shall thy strength be,' but 'twasn't so with that sweet creature—no 't wasn't. Tbemore days she had the weaker she got, an' at last she jis' naterally faded away like a lily—as she was. I hopes the Good Master 'ill ar-range it so as to make the harps, an' the crowns, an' things easy, an' the burden light, or else that he'll arrange it so as to gin her the strength:—'t any rate, ontil I gets thar to 'sist her—poor ba-by!" The idea that she, herself, would ever miss the golden gates of the Celestial City, had never once intruded upon good Mam-my's brain; she was just as cer-tain that her "calling and elec-tion " was made sure, as that her beloved Miss Lily had gone on before, and was even now waiting for her. If she endeavored to fol-low the kindly teachings of her Mistress and Brother Sanford, it was not so much as a means of at-taining heaven—but rather that one who was so sure of going there, ought, in reason, to con-duct herself here in a manner consistent with so happy and re-spectalde a destiny ! From Mammy's attendance on her lovely mistress arose another marked peculiarity. It so hap-pened that upon two occasions, Mrs. Vertner had visited a "Water-cure," in search of her lost health, and "Mammy" of course, as an indispensable req-uisite, accompanied her. Here she was bitten by the "Cure" and became an almost fanatical disciple of Pressnitz. Mrs. Vert-ner being, for a time as it seemed, benefited by the treatment ad-ministered in her nurse's tender way, the said nurse , to the last, maintained that ' ' ef poor, dear Miss Lily could only a made out to live long enough to a tried hit all on complete, hit would, in the Good Master's time, a giu her the strength." Mammy, from that time forward, constituted herself an entire "corps d'Afrique," un-der especial orders to administer " the treat?7je?if" to all diseases, moral, mental and physical, which appeared upon that plantation. Water was the universal pana-cea for all ' ' the ills that flesh is heir to." Madame Komayne fre- 1869.] Dead—Very Dead. 387 quently observed that it was a blessing the river was so con-venient, as without it, Mammy would have been to all everlasting in a fever of dread, lest the sup-ply springs and cisterns should sink, Ariel-like, into the "middle earth " and leave her without the slightest amelioration, either for moral or physical evil. Evidently her direst idea of the horrors of a hell, arose from her belief that in such a sphere existed nothing of her favorite element—but on the contrary, that Fire , its antagonist-ic principle, reigned supreme. " Plenty o' water in Heaven," —she would forcibly announce, " the Good Master knows what he's about. Four big shinin' rivers into the Paradise aint all for nothin':—an' then thar's that 'sea o' glass like onto a crystal,' — that's water too. 'Taint glass, no how,—what would folks want wi' glass in heaven? Cheap, brickly stuff—an' them a walkin' onto dimonds and all sich! Ko—bless the Lord ! that sea's water — hit is!" And then she would go on to argue, (not without some show of reason it must be confessed;) '•"What would be the sense o' havin' a hell-fire an' plenty o' water right on hand? Water'' s Jire^s master ^ an' with hit we could cure hell an' drown the devil—or i-quench ''im out, one. Only give me grace for to pour rivers enough down that sink-hole, an' I'll 'range hit all about centre. I'd engage to git all the meanness outen' ole Sam himself, by proper an' jew-dishus treatme?i^. I'd pack 'im, an' douche 'im, an' plunge 'im: or I'd drownd 'im, an'' squench 'im, an' naturally put his pipe out for 'im, bodily; 1 would, the owdashus ole fiery flyin' cuss! Hear me now?" In pursuance, therefore, of the idea that water was nothing less than a sort of liquid "philoso-pher's stone," by contact with which all things evil were to be transmuted into the purest possi-ble good. Mammy had established a certain regimen for not only routing disease from the ebony body, physical, but of driving the " often infirmity " of " badness'''' out of the juvenile ebony body, moral. She had imbibed in copi-ous draughts, the principle that water is a purifying, refreshing and ultimately regenerating agent, and she was not an individual to think a thing, and then allow it to remain xQuietly laid up in laven-der in tne regions of thought. Like a woman of will, as she was, she was for putting all such think-ings into vigorous, not to say rigorous, practice. Holding it firmly as one of the " thirty-nine articles " of her faith, that Afri-can childhood and youth de-mand nothing less than the ex-igent watchfulness of dragons, gorgons, etc., she constituted her-self a guardian of that type to such an unlimited extent, that the horrified juveniles considered her no less than an entire brigade of the aforesaid monsters. But no one could doubt the fact that her regimen had its advantages. The little urchins verily improved un-der it,—they were sleek, shining and"soasie,"—the consequences of scrubbing off, and rubbing out the "badness " inherent in youth-ful Ebony. They improved vast-ly under her superhuman efforts 338 " J/amm?/." [March, towards bringing the blood into a them. It was related of her, that state of healthful circulation , upon one occasion, when Brother after a fit of that chilly and sul- Sanford was holding forth, elo-len iniquity denominated "the quently, in the chapel, upon this, sulks:" a searching attrition of her favorite Scripture subject and their ears with rasping hucka- depicting the Creator's stern pun-back after a fibbing style of con- ishment of an evil world ; her versation: and a series of super- irrepressible enthusiasm got the erogatory slaps in connection with better of her discretion, and she a douche (vulgarly styled a "duck- electrified both minister and audi-ing,") when the harmony of the ence by springing to her feet, infantile corps had been disturbed clapping her colossal hands with by that domestic enormity, "a the emphasis of a pistol-shot, and free fight all round." exclaiming in a triumphal shout — The Deluge met with "Mam- '< Glory to God I he had ^em thar ! my's " most unqualified approval, he had -em thar /" She regarded it as a master-stroke, ^. ^ ^;. * ^ a splendid comjj d'etat of the Good Master for getting " the bad " out Dead-very dead. Forever past of " a world lying in wickedness," away is this Boanerges type of the one gone to the unmitigated good family nurse and foster "bad," so to speak. To be sure, mother. Gone too-to come again the experiment resulted in the no more, is the softer image of the destruction of a world of people, same extinct "institution " which but that, in her opinion, was a l^^s gladdened the homes of hun-matter of secondary consequence, ^reds of us in days gone by, and since their " owdashus badness " whose portrait is hastily sketched went down to destruction with ^elow. Gone—all gone. "MAMSIY." {A Home Picture of 1800. Where the broad mulberry branches hang a canopy of leaves Like an avalanche of verdure, drooping o'er the kitchen eaves, And the sunshine and the shadow dainty arabesques have made On the quaint, old oaken settle, standing in the pleasant shade; Sits good "Mammy " with " the child'un " while the summer after-noon Wears the dewy veil of April, o'er the brilliancy of June. 1869.] " Mammy.'' 389^ Smooth and snowy is the 'kerchief, lying folded with an air Of matron dignity above her silver-sprinkled hair; Blue and white the beaded necklace used " of Sundays " to bedeck (A dearly cherished amulet,) her plump and dusky neck; Dark her neatly ironed apron, of a broad and ample size, Spreading o'er the dress of "homespun " with its many colored dyes. True, her lips are all untutored, yet how genially they smile, And how eloquent their fervor, praying, " Jesus bless de chile!" True, her voice is hoarse and broken, but how tender its replies; True, her hands are brown and withered, yet how loving are her eyes; She has thoughts both high and holy tho' her brow is dark and low; And her face is dusk and wrinkled but her soul as white as snow! An aristocrat is "Mammy "—in her dignity sedate, " Haught as Lucifer " to " white trash " whom she cannot tolerate; Patronizing too, to " Master " for she " nussed 'im when a boy;" Familiar, yet respectful, to "the Mistis "—but the joy Of her bosom is " de child'un," and delightedly she'll boast Of the " born blood " of her darlings—"good as kings and queens a'most." There she sits beneath the shadow, crooning o'er some olden hymn, Watching earnestly and willingly, altho' her eyes are dim; Laughing in her heart sincerely, yet with countenance demure Holding out before "her babies " every tempting little lure, — Koting all their merry frolics with a quiet, loving gaze, Telling o'er at night to "Mistis " all their " cunnin' little ways." Kow and then her glance will wander o'er the pastures far away Where the tasselled corn-fields waving, to the breezes rock and sway, To the river's gleaming silver, and the hazy distance where Giant mountain-peaks are peering thro' an azure veil of air; But the thrill of baby voices—baby laughter, low and sweet, Recall her in a moment to the treasures at her feet. So " rascally," so rollicking, our bold and sturdy boy In all his tricksy way-wardness is still her boast and joy. She'll chase him thro' the shrubberies—his mischief-mood to cure, " Hi! whar dat little rascal now?—de b'ars will git 'im shure!" When caught she'll stoutly swing him to her shoulder, and in pride Go marching round the pathways—" 'jus to see how gran' he ride." YOL. VI.—NO. V. 30 390 Bee Culture. [March, And the "Birdie " of our bosoms—Ah! how soft and tenderly Bows good " Mammy's" mother-spirit to her baby witchery I { All io her is dear devotion whom the angels bend to bless, All our thoughts of her are blended with a holy tenderness;) Coaxing now, and now caressing—saying with a smile and kiss — "Jus' for Mammy—dat's a lady—will it now?" do that, or this. On the sweet white-tufted clover, worn and weary with their play, Toying with the creamy blossoms, now my little children lay; Harnessed up with crimson ribbons, wooden horses side by side ^ '• Make believe ' ' to eat their ' ' fodder ' '—(blossoms to their noses tied ! ) iNear them stands the willow wagon—in it ' 'Birdie's " mammoth doll. And our faithful " Brave " beside them, noble guardian over all. Above them tloat the butterflies, around them hum the bees, And birdlings warble, darting in and out among the trees ; The kitten sleeps at "Mammy's " side, and two brown rabbits pass Hopping close along the paling, stealing thro' the waving grass ; —G-ladsome tears blue eyes are filling and a watching mother prays — ' 'God bless 'Mammy' and my children, in these happy, halcyon days!" BEE CULTURE. When so many people of the as a science in the European col- South are struggling for life, like leges of agriculture, and in 1857, ship-wrecked mariners, no float- the yield of honey and wax in ing plank should be allowed to Austria, was estimated at seven drift uselessly past them. If " fig- millions of dollars." Almost ev-ures do not lie," bee-keeping is ery Southern plantation has a few one of these unnoticed planks, neglected bee hives, which would and if we may trust enthusiastic perish altogether, were they in a apiarians, it is no despicable one. less favored land ; but our mild Nay, in their estimation it is far winters, and blossom laden sum-more than a mere floating plank — mers are so favorable to their ex-it is a taut, capacious, sea-worthy istence, that they yield a fair re-vessel. It is a business which, turn of wax and honey, in spite of however, neglected at the South, the ravages of their great destroy-has kept pace in other lands, with er, the bee moth. Formerly, we other improvements in this age of were obliged to say of bee culture so-called progress. It is taught as Bacon said of agriculture. 1869.] Bee Culture. 391 when he made a bon-fire of his agricultural books, " These books contain no principles." We pla-ced our wee brown-coated laborers in a hive many times larger than they required, and however anx-ious for their welfare, were oblig-ed to look helplessly on, while the brave little fellows battled with the moths, who to them, are "mighty sons of Anak, giants in their land." Now, we have learn-ed so to dispose their forces that the enemy is beaten every time. The moth is a cowardly fellow, and never contests the field when opposed by anything like equal powers. The bees, themselves, must do the fighting—our inter-ference is useless when it comes to hard blows—but it is our part to see that each division of the Lili-putian army is well recruited—no gaps in their ranks—and that their commissariat is well sup-plied. The mode of doing this has now been ascertained with accu-racy, and bee-keeping is no lon-ger a hap-hazard sort of business, without any "principles." More-over, bee-keeping is a beautiful business. We confess to a weak-ness for the beautiful even in busi- -ness ; and a probably unorthodox suspicion that everything ugly is ^n ' ' evil invention of the enemy." A poet may be a bee-keeper. He may sit down amidst his blos-som- embowered apiary, und com-mune with Aristotle and Virgil about his busy little charge while their musical hum fills his ears, and he may even come to the conclusion that the golden age of the classic poets was not all a myth, and that we have gradually progressed downward instead of upward—downward through the silver and the brazen ages, until we have reached this hard iron one, ruled by the iron-handed sons of Cain. He may also dream, that as there is !:c coarser metal than iron, and we can go no farther in this down-ward course, we may hope to com-mence, by the "law of circulari-ty," to rise upward again, and emerge, in our orbit, from the iron age into the golden one. The entering wedges to this gold-en age are occupations which re-quire little labor and produce great abundance, and may be more easily managed than we think for, and our present object is to show how profitable the golden age oc-cupation of bee-keeping may be made, even in this the age of iron. The Eev. L. L. Langstroth tells us that in a favorable season, he has obtained from a single hive over one hundred pounds of surplus honey. And we are fur-ther told in the Patent Office Re-port for 1863, that it is not unusual under the most favorable circum-stances, for single hives to pro-duce two hundred pounds in a season. In East Friesland, Hol-land, bees are maintained at the rate of two thousand hives to a square mile. Two thousand colo-nies therefore, under the inost fa-vorable circumstances would yield from 200,000 to 400,000 pounds of honey. At 25 cents per lb., this amount of comb honey would be worth from $50,000 to S100,000. Does any planter make as much from a square mile, or six hun-dred acres of cotton? The reply will be, "Yes, under the most favorable circumstances we can." 392 Bee Culture. [March, But it is at the cost of the labor of Sisyphus, each day repeating the labor of the former, each year repeating the toil of the preceding. In the one case the laborers are human beings—in the other they are hees. Bees delight in labor — human beings do not. It is the highest good of bees to labor— it is the highest good of human beings to have time for mental and moral cultivation and for re-creation. In bee-keeping, all you have to do is to provide hives and keep your colonies strong, about the same amount of trouble as providing bagging and rope for, and ginning,your twelve or fifteen hundred bales of cotton, which you have produced from your six hundred acres, under the most favorable circumstances. Ko apiary can be counted on for this amount of honey, however. But we are told in the same Patent Office Keport, that it is "en-couraging to know that already there are a few extensive apiaries in our country, which, under en-lightened cultivation, produce an-nually, from five to fifty dollars worth of honey and wax to each colony." We are told also, by another writer, that one parish priest in Spain, (which like the South, is a tine country for bees) possesses five thousand hives or colonies. Taking five dollars as the minimum profit of each hive, and this parish priest would realize ^25 ,000 annually. The ob-jection may be raised to all this, that where honey is produced in very large quantities, there is danger of the supply exceeding the demand, and therefore it will become unsalable. We think there is but little danger of the demand exceeding the supply for many years to come, and when we remember how easily honey may be converted into that much demanded article, sugar, we doubt if this danger will ever occur. To convert honey into sugar, nothing more is necessary than to expose it to the light. Men of science tell us that this is the reason why it is necessary for bees to work in the dark—the honey for their purposes must be in a liquid state, and exposure to the light always candies or crystal-lizes it. The reason for this sin-gular transformation is a very curious one. The following ac-count of it is given in the Quar-terly Hevieio of Science. " Every one knows what honey fresh from the comb is like. It is a clear, yellow syrup, without a trace of solid sugar in it. Upon straining, however, it gradually assumes a crystalline appearance—it can-dies, as the saying is, and ulti-mately becomes a solid lump of sugar. It has not been suspected that this change is due to a photo-graphic action; that the same agent which alters the molecular arrangement of the iodine of silver in the excited collodion plate, and determines the forma-tion of camphor and iodine crys-tals in a bottle, causes the sj-rup honey to assume a crystalline form. This, however, is the case. M. Scheilber has enclosed honey in stoppered flasks, some of which he has kept in perfect darkness, whilst others have been exposed to the light. The invariable re-sults have been, that the sunned portion rapidly crystallizes, whilst 1869.] Bee Culture. 393 that kept in the dark remains per-fectly liquid. We now see why-bees are so careful to work in darkness—the existence of their young depends on the liquidity of the saccharine food presented to them." Honey can also be trans-formed into sugar of a solid white concrete form, by boiling until it is reduced to a certain consistence and then "treating with moist clay, as practised by the sugar-baker for purifying sugar from its unctuous, treacly matter." — (Bees' Cyclopedia.) In the United States, Lang-stroth and Quinby are our chief authorities in bee-culture. They agree in all essential particulars, and the former is the inventor, or rather perfector, of the hive which enables us to obtain a knowledge of the exact condition of each colony, at all times, and which supplies, therefore, the one thing needed for complete success in bee-keeping. They each obtain their profits from the surplus boxes or caps, placed upon the hive, and which the bees general-ly fill as soon as their own com-missary stores are attended to. Quinby was very successful with the common box hive, taking care to make them of the right size, viz: to contain 2,000 cubic inches. The caps, or boxes, for surplus honey should fit on the top, and should be exactly the same size, except in height, which should not be more than seven inches. One side, or the two opposite sides of the honey box should be of glass, in order that the bee-keeper may see when they are filled with honey. These glass sides should be covered to exclude the lisht. For a description of Langstroth's hive, the reader is referred to his work on the honey bee. The hives and honey boxes should all be made in the winter, in order to be ready for the swarming season, which usually begins here in April and continues for two months. The apiary should not be so situated as to receive the full rays of the sun during the heat of the day. A few hours of morning sun to dry the moisture around is quite sufficient. Dark colored comb and honey are al-ways the result of two much heat and light. In South America, where the bees build on trees in the open air, the comb is as black as jet. If there are no low-grow-ing trees near the apiary, it will be necessary to plant some bushes six or eight feet in height, for the swarms to settle upon. In hiving a swarm, the inexperi-enced bee-keeper should protect himself from stings, by wearing a broad brimmed straw hat, over which a bag made of two yards of mosquito netting should be drawn and tied securely under the arms. The hands should be shielded by India rubber, or thick buckskin gloves with gauntlets. Mr. Langstroth uses a bee-hat, made of a piece of wire-cloth, one foot wide and two and a half feet long, sewed to a circular piece of leather at the top, and with a frill of cotton cloth at the bottom, to be tucked under the coat, to pro-tect the neck. Old apiarians handle their bees without any of these lorecautions and incur no risk. When there is danger of a swarm running ofl', they may be arrested by throwing water, or 394 Bee Culture. [March, even earth amongst them, but no ringing of bells, or beating of pans has the slightest effect. — After the swarm has settled, the usual plan is to saw off the limb and lay it upon a table under-neath, upon which a white sheet has been spread, and place an empty hive over them. When it is not desirable to saw off the limb, they may be shaken into the hive, (inverting it for the purpose) by giving a quick jarring motion to the limb. Then turn the hive on the bottom board and place it where you wish it to stand. In using Langstroth's hive, the bees should be shaken into a basket and carried to the hive and turned out upon a sheet, fastened over the alighting board. If they show any reluctance to enter, sprinkle them with water. Only one swarm should be allowed to leave each hive. By using Lang-stroth's hive, all after swarms which weaken the parent colony, may be prevented. His hives are so constructed that each comb is built upon a separate frame which may be taken out at pleasure. About a week after the first swarm has issued, take out all the frames and look them over carefully until you find the queen cells, which are easily distinguished by their large size, and cut out all but one. The old queen always leaves with the first swarm, leaving her suc-cessors in the unhatched condi-tion in the queen cells. If all these unhatched queens, except-ing one, are destroyed, there will be no more swarming, for bees never swarm unless led by a queen. The Golden Rule in bee-keeping is to KEEP STKO^TG COLONIES, and one of the means of doing this, is to prevent all after-swarming. When the colo-nies grow feeble from other causes than over-swarming, they are to be recruited in the following sim-ple manner. Take brood combs from strong colonies, containing a sufficient number of bees in the pupte state, and place them in the hives containing the weak colo-nies. An experienced bee-keeper can tell from the weight of the hives whether the colonies are strong enough. Each hive should contain at least thirty lbs. of bees. Orchard and forest trees are most important auxiliaries to an apiary. All fruit blossoms furnish deli-cious honey, but none supplies it in such quantity as the blossoms of the apple. The raspberry also furnishes most delicious honey. The catkins of the chestnut and chinquapin are also very valuable, and the blossoms of the persim-mon are often seen covered with bees. White clover is one of the most important plants from which bees derive their supplies. It is in the Spring when fruit blossoms fill our orchards and forests, that honey is gathered in the greatest abundance. A week or ten days of favorable weather will enable a strong colony to lay up an am-ple supply for the year, if they have a suflicient quantity of fruit blossoms to gather from. And instead of injuring the coming crop of fruit by robbing their blos-soms, they bestow a great benefit upon them. In proof of this fact, the American Bee Journal makes the following statement: " At the Apiarian General Con-vention held at Stutgard in Wirt- 1869.] Bee CaJture. 395 emburg, in September, 1858, the celebrated pomologist, Professor Lucas, one of the directors of the Hohenheim Institute, said: 'The interests of the horticulturist and bee-keeper combine and run paral-lel. A judicious pruning of our fruit-trees will cause them to blos-som more freely and yield honey more plentifully. I would urge attention to this on those who are both fruit-growers and bee-keep-ers. A careful and observant bee-keeper at Potsdam writes to me that his trees yield decidedly larger crops since he has estab-lished an apiary in his orchard, and the annual product is now more certain and regular than be-fore, though his trees had always received due attention. Some years ago, a wealthy lady in Germany established a green-house at considerable cost, and stocked it with a great variety of choice native and exotic fruit trees—expecting in due time to have remunerating crops. Time passed, and annually there was a super-abundance of blossoms, with only a very little fruit. — Various plans were devised and adopted to bring the trees into bearing, but without success, till it was suggested that the blos-soms needed fertilization, and that by means of bees the work could be effected. A hive of busy honey-gatherers was introduced next season; the remedy was effectual there was no longer any difficulty iu producing crops there. The bees distributed the pollen, and the setting of the fruit followed naturally.' " There are four occupations which we believe could be com-bined most profitably and beauti-fully in this climate. In truth, they "dove-tail" into each other so exquisitely that they seem but different parts of one charmed whole. These occupations are bee-keeping, orcharding, wool-growing aud landsGaxie gardening^ the last being but the golden cord which binds the three first to-gether. By orcharding, we must not be understood to mean the ownership of a patch of crooked moss-grown and canker-worm-eaten apple trees, but the careful cultivation of every variety of fruit-bearing tree which belongs to our latitude, from the massive chestnut, which tosses its giant branches to the sky, to the light and graceful amelanchier, with its-crimson, currant-like fruit. The landscape gardener furnishes the rich turf upon which the sheep feed—the sheep enrich the soil and keep down the weeds around the orchard trees, and the or-chard trees furnish the blossoms of which the bees make their honey, and the bees in their turQ fertilize the blossoms of the or-chard, thus completing the circle of mutual benefits. Then the owner finds them " dove-tailing "" into each other, with equal har-mony, in the claims upon his at-tention. The lambing season is over just before the swarming season commences—then comes sheep-shearing—then the hay-making, and then the gathering, boxing and marketing of summer fruits—then the vintage and gath-ering of nuts and winter stores of fruit, and then the landscape gardener may take up his pruning knife and spade, planting and trimming during our mild winter months, until January comes again with its fleecy treasures. We have said that landscape-gar-dening is but the golden cord which binds the other occupations 396 Bee Culture. [March, together. That is, the turf, trees, sheep and bees should, and could, form one beautiful whole, ar-ranged by the artistic taste of a landscape-gardener. Let heavy masses of wood, dense enough for Druids' homes and temples, crown the hills and be composed of chest-nuts, black and Persian walnuts, shell-bark hickory nuts, Swiss and Italian pines, salisburias and araucarias, persimmons and mul-berries, and let the usual orchard fruits mingle their exquisite odors and blossoms on the outskirts of the heavier trees, catching the sun-light, and strewing the eme-rald sod with their pearly white and rose-tinted petals, while the bees give a murmuring chorus to songs of the nest-building birds. Let the copse wood be composed of filberts, chinquapins and hazle-nuts, and let the blackberries, " Black as beauty's tresses And sweet as love's caresses " grow, not in straight lines, but in masses not too tangled for the gardener to enter with his prun-ing- knife occasionally. The sheep are good pruners as well as mow-ers, and a thicket of Chickasaw plums assumes a miniature or-chard look, whenever they have access to it. They clear out noxious weeds and hiding-places for snakes, spiders, &c., as if by magic. By the employment of hurdle fences, these gentle labor-ers will fertilize, mow and weed your land whenever you desire it; growing at the same time wool for your raiment and mutton for your table, and pets for your children. Poet and philosopher, what more could you ask? But to return to our proper sub-ject, bee-culture. Our purpose in the foregoing remarks is not to induce young enthusiasts to in-vest money in bees, but merely to persuade the present owners of bees to take care of them and make the most of them. A single colony sending out one swarm, or " doubling every year, would, in ten years, increase to 1,024: stocks, and in twenty years, to over a million. At this rate, our whole country might, in a few years, be stocked with bees. It is not easy to overstock any country with bees. On this subject, Lang-stroth remarks: " It is difficult to repress a smile when the owner of a few hives, in a district where as many hundreds might be made to pros-per, graveljj- imputes his ill- suc-cess to the fact, that too many bees are kept in his vicinity. If, in the spring, a colony of bees is prosperous and healthy, it will gather abundant stores, in a favorable season, even if hun-dreds equally strong are in its immediate vicinity; while, if it is feeble, it will be of little or no value, even if it is in 'a land flowing with milk and honey ' and there is not another stock within a dozen miles of it. There is probably not a square mile in this whole countrj^ which is over-stocked with bees, unless it is so unsuitable for bee-keeping as to make it unprofitable to keep them at all." Mr. Langstroth's work should be read by every bee-keeper. It is written in an entertaining style, but rather too difluse for the ordi-nary reader. It would be an ad-vantage to have a condensed edi-tion for practical people who are not fond of general literature. 18G9.] John C. Calhoun. 397 Yirgil, Aristotle and Columellus are very well ia their proper places, but when the bees are swarming, we haven't time to attend to them. Quinby's Mys-teries of Bee Keeping, also, con-tains much valuable information, but Langstroth's hive is admitted by Quinby to be the last improve-ment in bee-keeping. It is an art which cannot be taught in a magazine article, but many farm-ers, at the South, are very suc-cessful, who have no guides but their own good sense. Keep YOUR COLOKIES STRONG is the golden rule. There may be as many modes of doing this, as there are modes of enriching the soil. The " principles " of agri-culture are now thought to be well understood, but Mr. Dickson places his dependence upon com-mercial fertilizers; Mr. Gift upon home-made fertilizers, and Mr. Howard upon sheep. Mr. Quin-by was very successful with com-mon box hives, but admits that he is more successful with mov-able comb hives, and we know a mountain farmer who has sold hundreds of pounds of honej" from hives made of sections of hollow trees. JOHX C. CALHOUN. I will commence my reminis-cences of public men , with Mr. Calhoun, who stood pre-eminent-ly above all others, in South Car-olina, of my day and time. In early life, I had a most exalted opinion of this distinguished Carolinian, his talents, patriot-ism and purity of character. — This opinion was formed from his general course in public life, his speeches in Congress, and his ad-ministration of the War Depart-ment, under President Monroe. Whilst going to school, at Ashe-ville, IST. C, in 1822, I remember writing an article advocating his claims to the Presidency over those of Adams, Jackson, Clay and Crawford. In the summer of 1825, there was a public dinner given Mr. Calhoun, at Greenville, S. C. I was one of the committee who extended him the invitation, and prepared the toasts drank, one of which pointed to the Presidency as the crowning re-ward of his public life. This was the first time, I ever had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Calhoun, and I was then a student of law in Judge Earle's office. The speech he made, on that occasion, was a very brief one, and the company was not large. General Thompson, afterwards Minister to Mexico, presided at the dinner. Judge Earle, who was never an admirer of Mr. Calhoun, was not present, and left the village in order to avoid the dinner. He had been a Crawford man, and belonged to the political school of Judge William Smith, of South 398 John C. Calhoun, [March, Carolina. In the Presidential canvass of 1824, Judge Earle sup-ported John Quincy Adams. He had no very high opinion of Gen. Jackson, as a statesman, but was never very decided in his poli-tics. The next time I saw Mr. Cal-houn, was at Pendleton Court, and it was the last time I spoke to him for many years. During our political excitement, in 1832, in South Carolina, I became very strongly prejudiced against Mr. Calhoun, and it was not in my nature to seek the company of those I did not like. The total abandonment, by Mr. Calhoun, of his early national principles and his zealous espousal of what he had once repudiated as " The Virginia abstractions," shook my contidence in his wisdom and steadfastness of purpose in poli-tics. I did not see how a great statesman could radically change his political principles, and be both wise and sincere. In 1845, I met Mr. Calhoun at the anniversary of the Pendleton Agricultural Society. I had been invited by the President of the Society, Major George Seaborn, to deliver the anniversary address on that occasion. After it was over, Mr. Calhoun came up and com-plimented the effort I had made in the cause of agriculture. He was then starting to Alabama, to look after his planting interest in that State, and expressed his regret at not being able to have me at his house, near the village of Pendleton. Mr. Calhoun was, at that time, very much interested in farming, and he always made good crops. He paid great at-tention to the preservation and improvement of his lands. Hill-side ditching was introduced by him in this section of the State, and after completing this labor, on his farm, he then turned his attention to manuring his fields. He wisely remarked that it was of little value to manure, till the land was prepared to retain it. Nullification had passed over in South Carolina, and was an obso-lete idea, with all thinking and reflecting men. The aspirations ofparty had subsided, and I ceased to think of Mr. Calhoun's incon-sistency and tergiversations in poli-tics. I began, once more, to ad-mire his brilliant genius and ap-preciate his public services in many respects. In the summer of 184G, I met Mr. Calhoun in "Washington, and had the pleasure of hearing him address the Senate on several occasions. I was very much struck with his earnest and ardent manner in debate. He spoke with great ease and fluency, his sentences were terse, and his conclusions rapid. He seemed to regard more the idea expressed, than the language in which it was uttered. His style of speaking pleased me more than the grand, solemn manner of Mr. Webster. He had all the feeling and fire of the orator, which I thought Mr. Webster wanted in some measure. I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. Calhoun, during my stay in Washington, with Gov. McDuflie, Judge Butler and Mr. Burt, of South Carolina. At the table there was an amusing dis-cussion between him and Judge Butler, on the location of nation-al capitals. Mr. Calhoun re- 1869.] John C. Calhoun. 399 marked that the Capital of a na-tion was always on one side, and never in the centre of a kingdom, or empire. Judge Butler con-troverted this assertion and in-stanced Spain and Jerusalem. Mr. Calhoun explained by stating that Madrid was a Moorish city, and not originally the Capital of Spain. What he said in regard to Jerusalem, I do not now remem-ber, with sufficient accuracy to state. But Mr. Calhoun was al-ways well posted in reference to any theory which he advanced. If facts failed him, he would, nevertheless, support his theory with the most urgent argument and reasoning. I remember hear-ing Warren E.. Davis give an ac-count of a discussion at a dinner table, between Mr. Calhoun and an English Captain , in reference to the Trade Winds. The Cap-tain listened very attentively to the theory, but said he had often crossed the Equator, and his ob-servation did not sustain Mr. Cal-houn's theory. Nevertheless, Mr. Calhoun's argument satisfied the party that he was correct, in op-position to the positive experience and observation of the English Captain. In other words, the Captain's facts were of less weight than Mr. Calhoun's argument. After the adjournment of Con-gress, I traveled to the Virginia Springs in company with Mr. Calhoun, Gov. McDuffle and Mr. Burt. We were all in the same stage coach. Mr. Calhoun spoke of Clay's and Webster's manner in debate. He said when Webster was worsted in argument, he felt it, and you saw that he did feel it and know it. But Clay would never give any such manifesta-tions. He never acknowledged that he was worsted in debate, and would never let you see that he thought so. Mr. Calhoun said Col. Benton was the greatest of humbugs, and could make more out of nothing than any other man in the world. " He ought," said Mr. Calhoun, '' to have gone about all his life with quack doc-tors and written pufis for their medicines. Had he done so, he might have made a fortune!" — There was no kind feeling be-tween Mr. Calhoun and Col. Ben-ton. Throughout life, they were bitter personal enemies. Mr. Cal-houn had a bad opinion of the Colonel, and he reciprocated it most cordially. When I left the Springs to re-turn home, by the way of Abing-don, Ya., and Greenville, Tenn., Mr. Calhoun requested me to write him as to the condition of the roads and staging through the mountains. He and Mrs. Cal-houn intended returning to South Carolina over that route. He was anxious to visit Wythe county, where his ancestors had lived some time after their removal from Pennsylvania, and before they finally settled in Abbeville district. South Carolina. The roads and staging I found bad enough, and so reported to Mr. Calhoun. On their arrival in Greenville, S. C, Mrs. Calhoun said to me as soon as I saw her, " did you ever expect to see me alive, after passing over those roads in Virginia and Tennes-see?" Whilst I was a candidate for Congress, in opposition to Gov. 400 John C. Calhoun. [March, Orr, I visited Mr. Calhoun twice in my electioneering tours through Pickens district. I never found any where, a kinder man, or one more plain and unassuming in his manners than Mr. Calhoun; but I was particularly struck with his kindness and winning man-ners at his own house. How true it is that greatness is never pre-tending or assuming. It is only " the would be great man," who has to assume and pretend to what he has not. The first visit I paid Mr. Calhoun, we were alone the whole day, and from ten o'clock till dinner was an-nounced, I do not think either of us left our seats for a moment, nor was there scarcely a pause in conversation. He was in fine spirits, and his conversation was truly fascinating. It was not that of a studied speech or lecture, in which Mr. Calhoun too often indulged with his admiring listen-ers. It was natural and simple, cordial and cheerful, amusing and instructive, giving and taking, calling in the whole range of his life's experience, thought and learning. He spoke of his course in Congress, described his con-temporaries, told anecdotes of Kandolph, Lowndes, Jackson, Polk, Benton and others. He did not admire President Polk, and spoke of the Mexican war as most unfortunate. He did not believe that our armies could capture the city of Mexico, or hold the coun-try if we conquered it. He spoke in high terms of the officers of the United States army, and said he knew thirty of those officers, who were capable of commanding the largest armies of Europe. When the Missouri question was on the tapis, in Congress, Mr. Calhoun said he suggested to Mr. Lowndes, that Congress having authorized the formation of a State Constitution, the people of Missouri, if not admitted into the Union, would be a legal, inde-pendent State, out of the L'nion, and beyond the control of the United States. In speaking of the Federal Union, he said the love of it, with the American peo-ple, was stronger than their love of liberty! I w^as greatly shocked, as a Union man, with this idea, and did not assent to it. I con-tended that the love of the Union with the American people, was only for the purpose of maintain-ing their liberty and independ-ence. But it would seem from our present political condition, that Mr. Calhoun was right, and I was wrong. A large portion of the Northern people seem willing to establish a military despotism to preserve the Union, and I am extremely mortified to see that a portion of the Southern people are willing to acquiesce in this disposi-tion to get back into the Union. I have always said that all great men were egotists. Cicero and Demosthenes were eminently so. Mr. Calhoun was not without this foible of greatness, any more than he was of one other infirmity, which it is said belongs to all great men — ambition. He liked very much to talk of himself, and he always had the good fortune to make the subject exceedingly interesting and captivating to his hearers. Mr. Calhoun was a man of the very highest mental energy and activity. In this respect, no 18G9.] John C. Calhoun. 401 one surpassed him. But he was unfortunate in always having the great powers of his mind con-centrated on one subject at a time. He thought and reasoned so rapidly and directly, and was so absorbed by the one subject for the time being, that he pursued the argument without considering how the question would affect something else. This was too much bis character to be a wise statesman or a safe counselor. Whilst the advocate of a great system of Internal Improvement, he thought of nothing but the social and commercial blessings which it would bestow upon the country. He did not stop to con-sider, or turn to right or left, to see how such a system would strengthen the powers of the National Government, and crush those of the States. When he became the advocate of a tariff for protection, he thought only of building up the jSTational Inde-pendence and encouraging Ameri-can labor. He did not reflect on its sectional bearing, or stop to consider that one portion of the United States would not find it profitable to engage in manufac-tures. When he became the champion of Xulliflcation, if not its author, he saw in it nothing more than a remedy for getting rid of the onerous exactions of the tariff system for protection, which he himself had formerly advocated through the highest and most patriotic motives. He did not consider whether or not Nullification would make our ]^}'ational Union a rope of sand. This did not make an objection to the one idea which had possessed his great mind, and that was to break down the system of pro-tection. In pursuing one ques-tion, he lost sight of all others. Plow many thousands of such men of smaller minds do we not meet in ordinary life. They are forever wrong, and always changing their opinions, because they are always on the extreme, and never right. Philosophy teaches us that extremes are al-ways dangerous, and that the path of wisdom and safety is ever a middle course. Unfortunately, Mr. Calhoun, throughout his brilliant career as an American statesman, was jumping from one extreme to another, in politics. From the |
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