Soldiers' record, 1870-03-19

              ONE FLAQ, Om LAND, ONE HEART, ONB HAND, ONE NATION, EVERMORE!
YOL. 11. HARTFORD; OOOT., SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1870. NO. 37.
i o i i r s at i o me
Origiuivl.
" B R E S S D B L O R D , DIO Y A N K ' S AM
C O M I N ' ! "
]$Y .TULIA A. KASTMAN.
The Colonel of a Connecticut regiment de-scribed
a skirniisli eiuly in the war, when the ap-l)
r()!ich of the Union soldiers was announced to a
North Carolina plantation, by the about of an
aged negro: "Jiress de Lord, de Yank's am com-in'!"
It was on do ole plantation,
In d« summer afternoon,
Dat we heerd the shells a bu'stin',
lieerd de Linkum cannon boom !
"Bress de Lord, de Yank's am comin' !"
Uncle Pomp cried from tlie
"Dinah, woman ! Do ye hear 'em
Hush, ye child'n ! Dar ! Be still !
Den we looked 'way down the ribher,
See de Yankee gunboats, dar !
See de northern flag a hlowin',
Fhiuntiii' on de southern air!
Den ole Pomp, he fell a piayin',
Kueelin' by de cabin door,
"Bress de Lord, de Yank's am comin'!"
Hark their battle thunders roar !
"Bress de Lord, deni Linkum soldiers
Sent to set dis people free,—''
An', jest den a shell come bu'stin',
Close by de persimmon tree !
Lor! how dat are slitdl come tearin'!
Whizzin' past so orful nigh,
Dat dis nigger rubbed his Ibrred,
Jes' ter feel if it was 1!
We had heerd the niassa whisperin',
Swearing 'bout dat Yankee war;
An' we'd heerd of Union soldiers,
Up dar tow'rds de ole North star !
So dat day we heerd de cannon.
All our folks took up de word,
Slioutin' loud to hall an' cabin,
"Yank's am comin', bress de Lord 1"
Wall, dey say de ole plantation
Lost two slaves not fur from then !
An' dey say do Union army
Gained, about that time, two men !
Pomp an- mo Ave fought togedder,
Marchcd togedder, side by side,
Till dat last, great. Union vict'ry.
While dey shouted, Pomp ho died !
Now de proudest man a'livin',
Owns his home no more dan I,
An' we sit widin de cottage,
Dinah, little Abe, au' 1;
Dar we sit, an' tell de story,—
How our men took up the word,
Shontin' to de ole plantation,
"Yank's am comin', bress de Lord /"
Westville. Mass.
A G U E S S F O I I L T F B.
A volume could be filled with narra-tions
of the strange delusions entertained
by madmen, and the remarkable pertinac-ity
and cunning they display in carrying
out the whims o^their disordered minds.
In their wild freaks maniacs frequently
evince a method in their planning, an
adroitness and coolness that would do
credic to the shrewdest sane person. "We
give below a thrilling incident which ac-tually
occurred as related, one of the par-ties
to it having been a prominent array
officer.
When my regiment was mustered oni
of service,.! bade ndieu to my old com-rades,
and to the army, and opened an
ollice in the flourishing town of L
As I was btartiui^- foj- the supper-table,
on the evening of the third day after my
arrival, the office bell was rung violently, other
and soon the boy came in, and said that a
man wanted to sec the doctor.
The visitor was standing by the fire
when I entered. IJe was u tall, power-ful
man—a perfect giant compared to my
"five feet six and his great head and |
bushy black hair were well fitted to the j
monstrous form.
"If you are at liberty, doctor, please
come with me. It is but a few steps, and
you will not need a carritige."
I put on my coat and hat, and followed
him. It was my first call in L ,
(a study, I thought it), bung nboiit with
good paintings and elegant chromos,and
lined with books of every ntune.
"Take a scat, doctor ; I will step out a
moment. Take this chair by the fire. It
is a bitter cold night."
The chair was a great unwieldy thing,
but exceedingly comfortable. I threw my
feet upon the fender, and leaned hack on
the cushion, very well satisfied to warm a
little before seeing the patient.
1 heard the man approach the door,
which was directly back of where I sat,
and heard the door open and close again,
I supposed he had gone out, but did not
look around to see. Indeed, 1 had no
time ; ibr a stout cord was thrown over
my wrists and across my breast, and a
handkerchief bound over my mouth, so
quickly that I could make no move to
prevent it.
When I was perfectly secured, my con-ductor
stepped in front of me and looked
with much interest at my vain attempts
to free myself.
"Good stout cord, isn't it ?" he asked.
"It has never been broken, and many a
stouter man than you has tried it. There,
now, be quiet a while, and J will tell you
what I want.
He went to a cabinet that stood in one
corner of tlie room, and taking a long,
wicked looking knil'e from one of the
drawers, ran his thumb over the edge,
and felt of the point, all the while talking
in a most commonplace manner imaginable.
" I have studied the art of guessing,
for years," said he." I can guMs anything
—that is my guessing-chair mat you are
sitting in now ; and 1 take great pleasure
in imparting my knowledge to others.
This is what I want of you to-night. I
did intend to make you guess that, but i
have thought of something better.'"
He had become satisfied with the edge
and point of his knife, and was pacing up
and down Ihe room, giving me a full his-tory
of tlie world, interspersed with facts
relative to the art of guessing, at which
time he always stepped in front of me.
"Did you ever study it, doctor? I
know you haven't. 1 am the only one that
ever reduced it to a science. Since 1 left
my noble veterans, I have devoted my
whole time to it : and now I am about to
initiate you into its mysteries, if you are
worthy.'
He was standing before mo so very
calm, that I did not really think that he
intended to harm me ; but when I looked
into his eyes, burning with the fire of in-sanity,
I felt that my situation was des-perate
indeed.
"I must test you," said he.. "I must
know whether you are naturally gifted or
not, before I waste much time with you.
If I remove the handkerchief, you will
answer my questions ?"
I nodded an affirmative, and removed it.
"Now, my dear doctor, you are an en-tire
stranger to mo. Without doubt, you
have often heard of mo, but it will be a
hard task to distinguish my name from all
great men of the time. You
of guessin'g ? I have seen you on the
battic-fiebJ, marshaling your hosts to vic-tory.
I have seen you cut down a score
of men with your single arm, I nave
seen you put to fiight a whole battalion,
I know you—everybody knows you. Your
name is in every mouth."
1 reniembered what he had said about
leaving his veterai.s, and had tried this
harangue to divert his attention. I paus-ed
to mark the effect.
"Yes!—yes, doctor! But what is it?"
he screamed again. "Thirty seconds !"
Great God ! What would I not have
given for a clue to this madman's fancy I
Thirty seconds, and how short a second is!
The knife was raised higher, that it might
gain momentum by the distance. IJis
body was braced for the stroke, and his
eye upon the mark.
"'J'en scconds more ! What is i t !"
There was only one hope for me, and
that was to guess. I felt that he consid-ered
himself some great man, and as he
had spoken of veterans, some great mili-tary
chieftain. I thought of our own he-roes,
and the names of many of them were
upon my lips, but I dared not utter them.
It was the greatest game of chance that
I ever played. Hy life depended on the
guessing of a name, I thought of all the
Europen generals, but cast them aside
again, and came back to our own side of
the water,
•'Two seconds 1" screeched the lunatic.
Without thought, almost without voli-tion,
I spoke a name, breathing a prayer
that it might be the right one.
Napoleon Bonaparte
"Right!" said the madman, throwing
aside his knife, and undoing the cords that
held me.
"I was mistaken in you, doctor. You
have true genius ; this is your first lesson.
iJome at tins hour every evening, and I
will teach you the beautiful art—the way
to immortal fame,"
As I arose from the chair, weak and
trembling, the door opened softly, and
four strong meu entered and secured tlie
maniac. I started for home, well pleased
that I had got through with my first guess-ing
lesson, and fervently hoping I should
never be called upon to taKe another.
T. II. A.
The greatest wisdom of spoech i^^ to
know when, and what and where to speak;
the time, matter, manner. The next to it
is silence.
^Vhat a strange thing is life I A loving
—a reaching—an imagining—a hoping—
was it ever a substantial grasping ? VVero
we just put hereto catch a glimpse of
things that might, and to turn away from
them all knowing that it may not be for us ?
THE MOTHER, NOT YET A WIFE, TO
HER INFANT.
[The following touching lines were cnclo8e<I to
us from a small town in New England, in a note
in the fair handwriting of " one of Jive'is family,"
who for " ill slips of hers," has yet a heart that
feels, and deeply feels, the tendeiost and holiest
of human affections-—the love of a mother for her
infant at her breast. It is "a m o t h c not yet a
wife," who speaks.J—
Unhappy child of indiscretion !
Poor slumberer on a breast forlorn ;
Pledge and reproof of past transgression;
Dear, though unwelcome to be born.
For thee a suppliant wish addressing,
To Heaven, tliy mother fain would dare ;
But conscious blushes stain the blessing,
And .sighs suppress my broken prayer.
But spite of these my mind unshaken,
In a parent duty turus to thee ;
Thougii long repented, ne'er forsaken,
Thy days shall loved and guarded be.
And lest the injurious world upbraid thee •
For mine or for thy f;i,ther's ill,
A nameless mother oft shall aid thee,
A hand unseen protect thee still
And though to rank and place a stranger,
Thy lito an humble course must run.
Soon shalti thou loiirn to dy the danger
Which I too late have learned to shun.
must guess it, doctor. What is it ?"
He had brought his facn so near to
mine, that I could feel his liot breath, and
and I fondly hoped it was the forerunner
of many other.s.
The man strode on a pace ahead of me
all the way, notwithstanding my endeav-ors
to keep at his side, and he spoke not
a word, not even answering my questions.
I fancied thatl could feel the heat of those
terrible eyes. The long, keen blade he
was holding over me—for what ? To take
my life if I failed.
"Guess ! guess !" he screamed. "If
you fail, it will be your last guess in the
world !"
I dared not cry out ; the knife was too
near—I could not escape ; for the strong
cords bound me to the heavy chair that I
could not lift, and 1 could not lie there,
and lose my life,
"It is a hard guess, and I will give you
three minutes to answer it,'' he said.
I summoned all my courage, which had
Stopping before a subrtanti d-looking ' never yet failed me—even in the awful
residence on one of ^le principal streets, o^' battle—and looking him steadily
ho applied the latch-key, and led me into ' i" tli^ eye, said :
a plO'iBaut little room on the second floor ' "I know you, sir ; so whery is the need
GOLDEN GLEAMSINGS.
[A mini miglit fnimo anil lot loosci a star to roll in its or-bit,
and yot not do so nuniiorabli) a thing liofore God as lie
who let go a goldeu-orbud thought to roll through tho gou-orations
ol'tlniu.]
The passing years drink a portion of
the light from our eyes, and leave their
traces on our cheeks, as birds that drink
at lakes leave their footprints on the mar-gin.
Our mental condition is like a parch-ment
covered with characters inscribed in
mysterious ink, to render plain tho invis-ible
inscriptions.
You cannot fathom your mind. There
is a well of thought there which has no
bottom. The more you draw from it, the
more plentiful it will be.
If your characters are too firm to be
shaken by calumny, then envy often extols
us beyond reason, blowing us up because
it cannot throw us down.
The great principles by which alone
can be worked out the science of life, are
a desire for tho good, a passion for the
honest, and a yearning after the true.
The cup was not passitig away, but
coui'age to drain it was given by Him who
never calls His faithful children into the
gloom ofGethsemane, without having first
stationed close at hand some strengthen-ing
angel.
CONSTANCY'.
And yot I know ])ast all doubting, truly,
A knowledijo greater tliau griot ciui dim,
1 know; as lie loved ino ho will love mo truly,
Yea, better, e'uu better ilnin I love liiai.
Anda.s i walk by the vast, culm river,
Tlie awful river eo dread to see,
1 say "tliy breiuUli and thy de|)tli forovor
Ai'u bridged by his thougUt:, tluU crosuto uiu."
And thou, oh ! tliou art innocent
Hero to thy infant wants are given
Shelter and rest, and purest air;
And with as x)nre—but mercy. Heaven!
My tears have ilropt and mingled thcie !
An awkward man, attempting to carve
a goose, firopped it on the fioor. Thei-e,
now," exclaimed his wife, "we've lost
our dinner !" "Oh, no, my dear," ans-wered
he ; "it is safe. I have got mv
foot on i t !"
"Pa, didn't you whip me for biting
Tommy?" "Yes, my child—you hurt him
very much indeed." "Well, then, pa,
you ought to whip mamma's music teach-er,
too—for he bit mamma right in her
mouth, and 1 knew it hurt her, because
she put her hands around his neck and
tried to choke him !"
A chap in Uethel, going home the other
night slightly inebriaied, was met at the
door by his loving and newly-wedded
wife. Observing his helpless condition
she hastened to assist him, anxiously in-quiring
: "Why, Brad., how did you get
so ?" "I know it, (hie) Moil," he replied,
"I know it, O^iQ;- •'^'<-1 ought to have (hie)
gone twice for it."
HEUOIC WORDS.—yVt the battle of
Lynchburg while the fight was raging
fiercely, and we were iu danger of being
routed by the superior force of Kebels
who opposed us, a sergeant of the ISth
Gonn. h.id a limb shattered by a piece of
shell One of the hospital atiendanta
coming to iiis assistance he cried out :
•'Here, take this gun, and go help the
boys—never mind mo—I'm of no account
—but don't let the fiag go down." He-roic
words. It was such pluck as this
that saved the republic.
When tho (lank movement was com-menced
from (/oal Harbor, the supply
trains of the 9th corps were placed in such
a position as to attract the attention of
the rebs. The bait took, and A. V. Hiirs
corps came dashing down upon them ; but
to their surprise they confronted Burn-side
gmd his whole force. The result was
that a largo number of the Johnnies fell
into our hands. Our regiment had the
seven-shooters, which were a great won-der
to some of the prisoners, and one of
them inquired : "If you wind them
dog-on'd things up iu the morniu' 'spose
they will shoot all day."