Bloomington Courier, Volume 2, Bloomington, Monroe County, 7 May 1895 — Page 3

FOR OLD VETERANS.

SHORT SKETCHES FROM WAR TIME PICTURES. An Incident of the Battle of Atlanta A lady and a Heroine Brave Men Under Fire A Wild Charge The Socket in War. M THINKING now of brother, my brother, your brother, I'm thinking now of brother, Who has joined our country's valiant soldier band; He's left sisters and mother, his mother, my mother, He's left sisters and mother, But he's gone to seek the welfare of our land. CHORUS. Now in fancy oft we roam, From the soldier's own loved home; And in our earnest songs and prayers we crave Blessings on each heart and hand Of each valiant soldier band That dares to strike for freedom or a grave. We fancy now he's drilling, he's drilling, he's drilling, "We fancy now he's drilling. "With his noble comrades on the anted field. And martial strains most thrilling, most thrilling, most thrilling. And martial strains most thrilling, Fire him with an earnest zeal his arms to wield. Ballet Proof. The day that General Sherman started around Atlanta the Fourth Army corps stopped in the rear of the Fourteenth corps' works. The Confederates sent a line of skirmishers out as feelers to ascertain the whereabouts of the Federals, at the same time throwing some sixty-four pounders over the THE PROPOSED The Old Battlefield Which Marked works into our camp, which caused us to keep our eyes open. We soon got the range and could see the missiles coming, and could tell about where they would light. The Confederate skirmishers came on unmolested, and kept firing Into the woods, expecting an answer. The to word fall in was given with the word charge, and we ran up the hill and through the woods, right close to the heels of our enemy. Over the works they went, head over heels. Some kept on running, some laid behind the works, some came back to us with outstretched arms and surrendered. Four regiments were now firing into the be-wildered Confederates, .who were skulking close to the ground. All at once a strange-looking man, without weapons or equipage of any kind, put in an appearance, as if he had come up out of the ground, and within twenty-five feet oX the Thirtieth-Indiana, with fiaprferect, walked nearly a mile into his own lines. Nearly two thousand soldiers fired at him from one to four shots apiece, but he never wavered nor looked back once. We could see the dirt fly all around him, yet he went safely back to his own lines whence he came. A Lady and a Heroine. There is now living at Effingham, 111., an old lady who has done as much valiant service for her native land as any veteran in the Grand Army of the Republic. She is Mrs. M. A. Newcomb, a native of Cayuga county, New York, and for a long time the best friend many of the sick and wounded soldiers of the rebellion had. Born in 1816, she was married in 1833 to Hiram A. W. Newcomb, and in the year 1854 removed to Illinois. When President Lincoln issued his first call for troops, her husband enlisted for six months, and at the expiration of that term re-enlisted "for service while the war should last." He was severely wounded at Fort Donelson, and, with other disabled soldiers, was sent to Cairo for treatment. Thither Mrs. Newcomb went also. After nursing him tenderly until his death, she decided to remain with the other stricken soldiers, caring for them as she had for him. She consulted with several officers, and secured from them permission to act as army nurse a position which she held until June, 1865. Brave Men Under Fire. It has often happened that the bravest men escape in the hour of peril. I shall never forget a bright morning in June, 1863. We were in the valley of Virginia. The sun had sunk the night before, looking down with his last glance on a scene of strife. He arose again in beauty. The eastern sky was glowing with his presence. The slumbering world awoke. The leaves were dripping wet with pearly dew. The

clover blossomed in the fields through which we marched. The scene was one of peace on earth. But the demon of strife came down on it. I saw the column advancing. Braver men never faced death. First, a single rifle shot was heard; another and yet another. The whole forest into which the troops had entered was on fire. The cannon thundered forth its voice. Men were falling by the score. One figure I distinctly saw in advance. He rode a chestnut colored horse. The horse was a warrior as well as the rider. I admired the rider in time of peace. He was my friend. I had never before seen him in battle. The leaves of the trees rolled down over his shoulders as though touched by a heavy frost. Ten thousand bullets cut the branches and leaves from the trees about his head. The rider was calm and quietly led on. his troops. He seemed to be clad in invisible armor. Last year some of us who had been in that battle met together. "What strange questions were asked! I asked him how it came that he escaped death in the place he was, and he replied: "A soldier is never so safe as when he is at the front in the line of duty!" Another asked: "Oh, General Keifer, what became of the sorrel horse?" The general answered him minutely, telling of the horse's life. I liked that soldier. He cared for beasts as well as men. United Presbyterian.

Johnny Rett's Wild Charge. Some of the most amusing stories are those which have a serious side. An old Confederate soldier the other day told a story that is very laughable in these days of peace. It was after John Morgan was made a general that a company was formed of some of his old squadrcn who had just returned from Camp Chase, where for some time they had been imprisoned. The company had been formed by a man named Quirk, a reckless, daring fellow, and a stranger to fear. The company went by the name of Quirk's Scouts. At this time the company was down in Middle Tennessee and was skirmishing around for a fight, when they suddenly came upon a regiment of Federal cavalry. In a short while the two bodies of soldiers were standing face to face, and the bullets were flying thick and fast through the air. The fight that followed was a desperate one, and each side NATIONAL MILITARY PARK AT the End of the War. Signboard Surrendered. seemed determined to stand its ground. Suddenly, as the fight was at its hottest, a horse was seen to dash out of the Confederate line, and start in a direct line for the Yankee regiment. On the horse's back was a man named English, who was leaning back in his saddle and pulling with all his might in a futile effort to stop his frightened horse. The animal was yellow in color, and in running took long and clumsy jumps. The rider finally saw that he could not stop the animal and he made up his mind to make the best of his situation. He leaned forward in his saddle until his head almost touched his horse's neck and his hands clasped the bridle near the bit. Even the rider's ears seemed pinned back, so great was his effort to make himself as small as possible. His face was as pale as death. On went the animal toward the regiment, turning neither to the right nor left, and closer and closer did the rider keep to the animal's body. The Yankees saw the horse with its rider making straight for them, and they were seized with consternation. Some of the soldiers ceased firing and looked excitedly at the half-maddened animal flying toward them. In a short while he reached the regiment but did not stop. The Federals almost fell upon each other in their efforts to get away from the horse's heels, and a regular panic followed. The animal went plunging through the center of the regiment, foaming at the mouth and with head down. The horse and rider dashed on through the entire regiment, and the Yankees kept making way for them all down the line. Not a shot was fired until he was out of range, and then nearly half of the regiment, who had managed to recover themselves from their astonishment, fired at a cloud of dust rising in the air, hut the horse and rider were at a safe distance. The horse made a complete circle, returning to the Confederate company in safety. When the rebels saw their comrade had returned without a scratch from such a dangerous ride, they almost forgot the fight before them, and there went up a great cheer. Courier Journal. The Rocket In War. The world was recently startled by the announcement that a Frenchman named Turpin had inventel an engine of war so terrible thrft the nation possessing it would have the power of annihilating its opponents so dread a machine that its very might would probably put an end to war altogether. The records cf the French patent office reveal the fact that this engine of destruction, which should act as a sort of cast-iron Jupiter Tonans, la a rocket. Inventors in all ages have been struck with trie great advantages of th rocket as a i jissile over the ordinary cannon

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with its projectile. First, the rocket carries its propelling power with it, while the projectile receives only a big push, as it were, at the beginning. The cannon ball must niove more and more slowly r as it goes; the rocket may go faster and faster. The cannon ball implies an enormously heavy and awkward piece of artillery; for setting off the rocket nothing is needed but a ltght portable frame or carriage. The first military rocketsthat made much stir were those of Con grove, which did good work in the bombardment of Copenhagen and also in the Crimea. But they did not always go straight. The inventors then tried to make a rocket which, like the breech- loading rifle, should cause its projectile to rotate swiftly. To do this and still keep the rocket in a straight and even lino is a difficult problem. To this end, instead of providing a rifled cannon tube, Turpin gives his rocket a preliminary spin by the aid of electric motors. He can thus evidently get up an enormously high speed, but it is, unfortunately, accompanied by a trembling movement, which has a disturbing action on the accuracy of lire. Ho the military rocket is still short of perfection as an engine of war, but Turpin's rocket has come nearer to it than any of its predecessors.

The Colonel's Judgment. "It was a hot fight, an' no mistake, sah!" observed the Colonel when the brush at Burnt Hickory was mentioned. "You were there. Colonel?" "I shud say I wuz, sah. I was in command of my reg'meant, with power to use my own discretion, sah." "And you led them in?" "Not the resuvs, sah, not the resuvs " "Your men were in the reserve?" "Let me explain, sah. You don't seem to grasp the idea, sah. I led fo' hund'ed and sixty men " "In the regiment?" "Yes, sah. A car'ful commandah nevah takes in his whole fo'ce till it becomes a despit case, sah. When the enemy come up in rifle shot an' made a stand, sah, I selected all my fo'ce but the resuvs, and we sailed right up to pistol shot distance, sah, an' thah we stood ouah groun', sah not a man movin' foh twenty minutes, while the APPOMATTOX. Shows the Spot Where Gen. Lee bullets flew arund us like sand, sah" "How many men did you lead in. Colonel?" "Two hund'ed an" eight!" "But why did you not rush in your reserves and end the fight, right there " "Shows youah lack o' military skill, sah. We had reconnoite'd the ground, an' found we couldn't fight no mo'n two hundred an' eight men " "Why so. Colonel?" "Why, gud Lavvd, sah, thah was onlytwo hund'ed an' eight trees in the patch!" Birds That Love Finery. In order to investigate the migratory habits of birds, some time in the fail two years ago a young woman of Formosa, Ark., secured a line Baltimore oriole. She tied a bit of red silk around his leg, turning him loose in time to wing his flight along with his companions. Last April the bird reappeared, bringing with him a mate having a bit of blue ribbon tied around her leg. The pair took up their abode in a big oak tree, soon swinging a nest and bringing forth a brood. The lady watched the movements of the beribboned couple very eagerly, and what was her astonishment one day. soon after they left the nest, to behold the young birds all strung out in line on a limb, while the parent birds, with deft beaks and feet, tied a bit of bright cloth about the leg of each. The ingenuity of the oriole is well known, and it is probable that the first bird became so pleased with his decoration that he tied a blue ribbon to the leg of his mate, and wished to hand down the custom to his progeny. The young woman is, says a recent special, eagerly looking forward for the reappearance of her little friends this season and means to bestow upon each a bright new ribbon should they come again. Then the Fighting Hogiti'. An old woman living some distance from Manchester. Ivy., was summoned as a witness to tell what she knew j about a light at her house several nights before, in which three or four people were killed. She mounted the stand with evident reluctance and many misgivings, and when questioned by the court as to what she knew about the matter, said: "Well, Jedge, the fust I knowed about it was when Bill Sanders called Tom Smith a liar Tom knocked him down with n stick f wood. One of Bill's friends then hit Tom with a knife, slicing a piece out of him. Sam Jones, who was-- a friend of Tom's, then shot the other fellow, en' three or four others got cut right smart by somebody. That naturally caused some excitement, Jedge, en' then they commenced fitin'." Courier-Journal.

Jt THE APACHES OF CHINA. rhajr lira Hostile Mountaineer and China Han Never .Sulxltied Them. Perhaps few people know that ( hiiia has within her borders alien people almost as different from her own subjects s our Indians are from white men. Ono of theso tribes live in the mountainous region of south-western Se'Chuen. one of the richest and most populous provincos of the Kmpire. on the Upper Yangtse River. The tribe aro known as the Lotus, and are the aborigines of the country. They are thorough barbarians, and the Chinese have as yet neither conquered nor civilized tho in. About six years ago Sir. Hosie. who wroto a book on his travels in China mot soino of the I.olos whom he described us a tall and physically line people. Some of our Indian tribes tiro

being absorbed gradually by the intermixture of while biood. Tito Lolos however, succeed in keeping themselves entirely distinct. The Ch.nese have hemmed thorn in on all sides, but they retain their racial purity. In fact, the Chinese are very well content if they can keep these savages within their wild hill for they aro apt to be on the warpath, and when they ra!d the valleys and plains they carry Chinese women and children into captivity, and make the government a great deal of trouble. Father Delome. a French missionary in Se-ehuon. writes that the I.olos have been on the rampage again. He says the.,- made many incursions last summer into the cultivated lands of the Chinese plundering and burning the houses, and carrying the people away into slavery. The Chinese organized a little army and defeated the Lolos in a pitch battle, in which a great number of them were killed. Father Delome says, however, that tho barbarians will leara no lesson from their defeat, but will nurse the spirit of revenge. They will bide their time, and sooner or later they will avenge their slain. All around the mountains of the Lolos are tho populous regions of China, says the New York Sun. The savages are surrounded by millions of semi-civilized people, and it is astonishing that a few thousand men can inflict, almost with impunity, such suffering upon the neighboring p:oples. rather Delome writes that the city of Tapu is the farthest rampart of the Chinese against the barbarians. There is no assurance of safety beyond the circle of its walls. For many months at a time, however, the Lolos will keep to their hills, and then some Chinese families will leave the city to find a spot outside upon which to settle. Last summer ten Chinese families were living in a narrow ravine not far from the city. Once in awhile they met some of the Lolos, and their relations with them were so pleasant that they came to think there was no peril to be feared. The illusion was dispelled when eisrhty of the savages suddonly descended upon the lonely hamlet, surrounded the cabins of the unfortunate inhabitants, killed some of the people, and dragged most of t he others into captivity, only a few of them escaping. Another tribe of alien people aro separated from tho fierce Lolos by about 100 miles of Chinese settlements. These people were thoroughly subdued when China conquered their country, and now are leading peaceful and industrious iive. THE "NEW BOY." Why tht Proprietor J'redieteil si Sueressfut Career for Him. 'A new boy came into our office today." said a wholesalo merchant to his wife at the supper table. Tie was hired by the firm at tho request of the senior member, who thought the boy gave promise' of r things. Kut 1 feel sure that boy ... be out of tho office in less than a week." What makes you thiuk so?" 'Because the first thing he wanted to know was just exactly how much he was expected to do." Perhaps yon will change your mind about him." "Perhaps 1 shall." replied the merchant "but I think not." Three days later the business man said to his wife: "About that boy you remember I spoke of two or three days asro. Well, he is the best boy that over entered tho store." "How did you lind that out?" "In the easiest way in the world. The first morning after the boy began work he performed very faithfully and systematically the exact duties assigned, which he had been so careful to have explained to him. When ho had finished ho came to me and said: Mr. M . I have finished all that work. Now what can I do?" i was surprised but gave him a little job of work and forgot all about him until he came into my room with tho question, -What next?' That settled it for mo. He was the lirst boy that ever entered our office w.io was willing and volunteered lo do more than was assigned him. I predict a successful career for that boy as a business man." Business men. heals of firms, de. clares the Youth's Companion, know capacity when they see it. and they make a note of it. Willingness to do more than the assigned task is one of tho chief stepping-stones to commercial success. IIm Proper TrcH line ut. "That was a pretty good dog n-tory, wasn't it?' askod Dinwiddle as he finished telling one. "Yes." replied Caswell: "but it was too long. It ought to have been eurtuiled." Pittsburg Chronicle. Our Naval I'oree. The total force in the naval service alloat in 1H!0 was ;V. ;i'l officers and men, of whom ;. 020 were between the ages of lo and '4, 17, :1' between 2 i and ;j.". .", 150 between ;i" and i.j. and S70 above l. years of ago.

9 INTERESTING ITEMS. President Cleveland is said to be in better heajfch than he has bee for some years past. The houso that Oiarfleld built In Washington, before his election to the Presidency, is to be torn down. Lady John Scott, who gave "Annie Laurie" to the musical world, still devotes her time to relieving the troubles of veterans of the Crimean wait. It is thought that Henry R. Hyde, president of one of the big insurance companies, is the highest salaried person in the United States. He receives $100,000 a year. Mr. Dickens, lawyer, son of the famous novelist, was counsel re -fully in a case before a London court in which the firm of Dombey & Son was interested. The crown prince of Siarn i having a fine time in London. He is considered a great card by the lion hunting entertainers, and he is so much sought after that he has little time for study. Prince Bismarck recently :-;iid in an American who had the plea.-:::; an interview with him, that one ,,f his greatest regrets was that he had nr-ver had an opportunity of visiting this country. The first etching done by Whistler was a series of maps for the Cnited States coast survey. They wore not published, as the artist and the authorities differed as to how a tre-? ought to be represented in a map. A tablet has been placed in the South Unitarian church of Worchester, Mass., commemorating the fact that Itev. Dr. K. K. Hale began his career in Worcester. It was in Worcester that Dr. Hale gained the experience embodied in his whimsical story, "My Double."

SPOOKS, "HANTS" AND SIGNS. A Maine ghost in a freight car, after frightening a brakeman into a chuckleheaded funk, proved to be a granite statue. Nebraska mediums have been interviewing the spooks about crop prospects, but the spooks don't know anything about it. The ghosts of those killed in a railroad accident so worried John Elliott of Crawfordsville, Ind., that ho has sued the company for damages. The English Society for Psychical Research reports an output of 1,684 ghosts for 1894. Only 112 spoke, and in only a few cases did bad news follow the apparition. There's a ghost at Little Nahant, Mass., who probably guards Capt. Kidd's treasure and shakes the shovel out of the hand of a treasureseeker at least, so folks say. William K. Mahoney of Xorthport, Me., was chopping when a fox barked thrice. He told his wife, and next dayshe begged him not to go into the woods. He went and was killed by a falling tree. Score one for the fox's warning, says superstition. A Maine doctor recently met .with an accident while driving along i a road late at night. Arriving home, le found his wife up and waiting for him in hysterics, more or less. She had awakened with a sense of evil happening at the very moment of the accident. SCHOOL TIMEThe aldermen of Manchester, England, have voted $1,000,000 for a great technical school. Portland claims to pay more per capita for her schools than any other city. Botany is to be introduced in the primary schools. Tn two years Wisconsin has spent $86,000 for a law library, 12.".f000 for a gymnasium and $325,000 for a laboratory, all for the State university. The plan of sending pupil's reports to their parents on postal cards doesn't work. It has been tried in Auburn, Me., and the bright boys capture the cards and tear 'em up. The new Philadelphia schoolhouse named for George W. Childs is one of the finest in the world, though not large. The kindergarten is carpeted and prettily pictured, and there is in the basement a heap of sand for the little children to dig In. A Wisconsin farmer went to deliver a load of wood at a Fond du I.ae school. He rang the lire alarm instead of the door bell, and was astonished a second later to see hundreds of boys and girls file past in perfect order, each with books, cap and wrap. Three boys were recently expelled from a Brooklyn public school one for whistling in the hall, one for saying "I did," one for producing a match when the teacher asked for one to try to burn a piece of asbestos. The request was only a trick. The rule forbids carrying matches in school, and the boy was bounced for his politeness. ETCHINGS AND ECHOES, Sponges, slate and slate pencils are no longer allowed in the public schools of Cambridge, Mass. Paper, pens, and pencils have been substituted. The most densely settled state is Rhode Island, and the second Massachusetts. The former has ril.44 inhabitants to the square mile, and the latter 278,48. A number of families from Chippewa and Kau Claire counties. Wis., have selected a site, and are to establish a colony about 100 miles from New Orleans. The Canadian customs department has decided that electricity gciernted on the American side of Niagara falls and conducted by wires to the Canadian side must pay a duty of 20 per cent, as an unenumerated article. A oat belonging to Albert Noyes of Cabot, Vt., exhibited wonderful i,stinot lately by going to a pond a few feet back of his house and bringing up a pickerel 11 inches long. It then took the fish into the house and laid it down by the side of the little sick Fitield boy. CURRENT CLIPPINGS. "Breath of Paradise" is the name of a new soda water concoction. An educational qualification will hereafter be required of men seeking enlistment in the United States army. , A Hiddeford man has been allowing the oilcloths to accumulate on his floor. He now has thirteen, each overlying the other. . There arc credible reports of over 1,000 earthquakes between 1606 B. C. and 1894 A. D., while the unrecorded ones are believed to be still more numerous. Chris Lind had a narrow escape from being shot at Marinette, Wis. He was sitting at the supper table when a bullet came through the window and shattered to pieces a cup that he was raising to his lips.

CONFLICT OF AUTHORITY. An Ifeclplant Revolt Spoil tn Harnoaf or th MCSwat Faintly. "If we had a house of forty-seveo rooms, Lobelia," said Mr. McSwat setting down his coffee-cup with some emphasis and raising his voice i shouldn't kick against your filling a few of them with gewgaws and gimcracks and curios, but I do object madam to your making a Japanese bazar out of tho McSwat family dwelling." Simply because 1 want to get a small cabinet " replied Mrs. McSw.-tt, to hold a few antiques presented to me by friends " "When you have two old bureaus and a hair-trunk and a chest full of revolutionary relics. a mahogany wardrobe filled with Indian costumes a case of old Kuglish books that no man alive can read, and a box of dried bugs and insects already, and no place to put half of them except the library." 'You seem to find room about the house, Biiliger lor a collection of horrid old meerschaum pipes and rank old smoking-jackets. anyhow." "Hut I can't walk about the house at night without stumbling over a box of horned frogs or knocking down a cabinet of desiccated butterflies. !or jamming my head into one of your priceless hornets'nests. " "Biiliger McSwatyou know as well as I do that you can afford to build an addition to this house if there isn't room in it for all our things." "What is the use of building an addition i' you expect to till it with autograph albums and stuffed lizards and things i'" "You can save a corner in it you know, fo." your old boots, dear. 1 can't waik about the house in the dark without stumbling over a pair or two, or go down cellar without touching something and bringing down a shower of them on my head.1' But see here " "And your old hats and canes, love you know you need more room for those. They would be of no value to me as c-ut ii:. bin it is not for me to question vour taste in preserving them. 'i'Ley may be of interest to posterity." Clearly this would not da The discussion was becoming irrelevant. Mr. McS.va rose with dignity and put on tv. ".o"'.-i&. ' i said, with his hand on the doorknob, "as the head of this family I shall insist hereafter on my rights. If you are going to turn thiahouse into a World's Columbian Exposition. ?' he added, in the stately manner of a great man announcing an ultimatum. T shall assume the office of director-general." "And in tho meantime, Biiliger.1' said his wife. weetiy. "I shall continue right stloiiy to act as l&uy manager, tiood-b'. dear. Briag some porterhouse steak for dinner." WENT SHOPPING.

And Did Not. Spend a JVtiay of tho 3Ioney in Hr l'ur:;o. "So you wero cut shopping, eh?" gasped Mr. Ne,vwe:l at .dinner last eveniti in tho cy new home in Colmnbas a'.enuo, says the New York Recorder. "Yes. dear, and I want to tell you all about it." "I I gave you it-'U 1 swallowing cafe roir. belie e. "he murmured, a doubie allowance of "You d;.d. Charlie and that's just it 1 started for the shopping district at 8 o'clock, and have been trotting up and down ever since You have no idea how much we women ha o to cos ; end with." Humph! : Tell me about the bargains." "There was a half-rate sale in one place; the loveliest goods you ever saw. So cheap, too. Tnea there was a -knock-out' counter in another store, where they were fairly giving things away. I never sawsuch bargains! Then there was a fire-and-watei' sale across the way,and the way things went was astounding. Then there was a clearing-out sale in' the next block. And a -bankrupt sale' near by. And a 'marked-down list' only a block away. And a 'half-off sale over on " "Great jumping Caesar's ghost!" "Yes. and I attended them all. Oh, such astonishing bargains!" "And I suppose that now I'll have to announce a 'half-rate' sale on my personal effects, and a knock-out' sale on my salary, and a closing-out' sale on my bank book, and a 'cast-off sale with my uncle, and a igone-to-grass' sale oa the kitchen fixtures just to realizo the pressure eh?" -Charlie, you ungrateful wretch. I was aoout to say that I consider myself a jewel! After all the careful teachings of mamma, just as if 1 couldn't save your money, and " Well, they all say that" "I I didn't buy a thing. Here's your $50 bill!" -What s that?" "That's what 1 said!" "My angel!" he gasped, dropping his fork, "forgive me I have wronged you." -1 didn't use your money; bat I ordered a wagon load of nice things and had them V wl V.V tllAM. " 'the Story of a lUermuld. It is related that in 1403 a mermaid swimming in the Zuyder-Xee during a period of tempest and very high tides was carried through a hole in a broken dyke and could not find her way out again. She was captured and taken to the town of Kdam. where she was washed and cleansed from the sea moss which had grown about her. She then appeared like any woman of the land, adopting proper dross and par taking of ordinary food. A UcUablc .Han. Merchant: "Your credentials are satisfactory. Have you a grandmother?" Youth: "Xo, sir." "Any dear old aunt?" "No. sir." "Or greatauulsF'1 "No, sir." "Or any other relatives who will ba likely to die during the baseball season?" "No sir." "You'll da" Oood New.