Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1887 — THE CAMP FIRE. [ARTICLE]

THE CAMP FIRE.

NAPOLEON AFTER WATERLOO. Whether any course was open to Napoleon after the disaster of Waterloo other than that which he adopted, a second abdication, is very doubtful.’ Had he taken the precaution to dissolve the chambers before setting out on the campaign, he probably could have rallied the nation and protracted, the struggle. But the chambers were unfriendly;’ any parliamentary body is naturally unfriendly to a military despotism, and, at that juncture, nothing less than a military despotism could possibly have saved France from the calamity of the restoration of the Bourbons by foreign bayonets. Hence, unless Napoleon should execute a new coup d'etet, there was nothing for him but abdication. On the 15th of July, 1815, Napoleon surrendered himself on board the British man-of-war Bellerophon. Of his appearance and bodily condition during the two months of his stay on this vessel we have an interesting account in the narrative of Capt. Maitland, who commanded the ship. Maitland describes him as “a remarkably strong, well-built man, about five feet seven inches high, his limbs particularly well-formed, with a fine ankle and very small foot, of which he seemed rather vain, as he always wore, while on board the ship, silk stockings and shoes. His hands were also very small, and had the plumpness of a : woman's rather than the robustness of a man’s. His eyes light gray, teeth good, and when he smiled, the expression of his countenance was highly pleasing; when under the of disappointment, however, it assumed a dark, gloomy cast. His hair was of a very dark brown, nearly approaching black, and though a little thin on the top and front, had not a gray hair among it. His complexion was a very uncommon one, being of a light, sallow color, differing from any other I ever met with. From his having become corpulent he had lost much, of his personal activity, and, if we are r to give credit to those who attended him, a very considerable portion of his mental energy was also gone. It is certain his habits were very lethargic while he was on board the Bellerophon; for, though he went to bed at 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening and did not rise until about the same hour in the morning, he frequently fell asleep on the sofa in the cabin in the' course of the day. His general appearance was that of a man rather older than he then was.— Scribner's Magazine for July. .....—-EfNemiwVU’Tft'AyE R. The following touching story of Lincoln is related to me by Col. Dayr ton, to whom I am already indebted for several excellent morceaus of rem- ’ iniscence: “Shortly after the battle of Gettysburg Gen. Sickles, badly wounded, was brought to Washington by some members of his staff and was taken to the private house of a Mr. Dule, on F street, opposite, or nearly opposite, the Ebbitt House. The brave hero of many a hard-won field was very near his last muster. The morning after his arrival President Lincoln, with his boy Tad, was announced. He walked with solemn step into the room where the General lay hardly gasping. We all thought he was dying. Dr. Simms was holding his pulse, and as Mr. Lincoln approached the bedside with Tad he was much affected. He raised his head to heaven, while big drops of tears fell from his eyes, and offered up the’most fervept prayer I ever heard. Not a dry eye was in that room; all, even Tad, were sobbing. I can not remember the exact words of the prayer, but this portion will never be effaced from my memory: ‘Oh, God, let me not lose all my friends in this war,’ Mr. Lincoln was very fond of Gen.' Sickles, and visited him almost every day, and sent flowers Of the choicest kind to his room daily from the White House Washington Hatchet. A FUNNY EXPERIENCE. ' “I remember a funny experience Ihad during the war,” saida leading physician to-day; “I was up at Camp Dennison examining' the conscripts, and many heart-rending pleas for exemption I had to refuse. One day a farmer, a German, a peaceable minded fellow, who thought lots more of his turnips and cabbage than he did of military glory, was brought in to me. •Doctor,’ he said, ‘I am not fit to go to the war, I am all crippled up with the rheumatism.’ ‘Where?’ said I. Tn my right arm; I can only raise it yoost so high,’ raising his hand about two inches from his body with great apparent effort. ‘Well, you have got it pretty bad,’ said I; ‘you certainly can’t go to war in that-eonffitioHThow high could you raise your arm before you got the rheumatism?’’‘Obrsffk]gh,’ said he, raising his arm high above his head. That was just what I expected, and giving him a push I sent him along out to be sent to the war.”— Cincinnati Times Star. ITEMS. The Department of lowa recently mustered a post at Braceville bearing the number 639. Columbus, Ohio, will enter the lists for the location of the National Encampment in 1888. Mrs. General Hancock is preparing for publication reminiscences of her husband’s military life. . In the summer of 1864 there were over 33,000 Union soldiers penned in the Andersonville stockade. George W. Childs will place portraits of Generals Sherman and Sheridan beside that of General Grant in Grant Hall at West Point. The Confederate Memorial Associacion held a celebration at Staunton, Va., June 9. The orator of the occasion was General W. W. Averill, of union cavalry fame.