Smyrna times., 1861-05-30

ner of expression scarcely ever used but that
OF a great ugly thing is very common"
The Norway people are proverbially small,
and Emerson describes them as insanely COM
bative. He says: "They have a singular
turn for homicide their chief end Of man is to
murder or be murdered. pair Of kings, az
ter dinner, will divert themselves by thrusting
each his sword through the others body, as
did Yngve and Alt. Another pair ride out of
4 morning for a frolic, and, finding no weapon
near, will take the bits out of their horses
mouths, and crush each others heads with
them, as did Alric and Eric. Never was poor
gentleman so surfeited with life, SO furious to
be rid of it as the Northman. If he cannot
pick any other quarrel, he will get himself
comfortably gored by bulls horns, like Egil.
1t is proverb of i'll condition to die the death
of old age"
The moral belong ings of war. both for aid
and result, are worlh keeping and eye upon,
however. We may borrow comfort from "the
enemy" in fact, on this very point. In the
first sentence of the book written by the brave
ancestor of the present Confederate command
er Colonel Henry Lee, in his Memoir of the
Southern War of '77'O we thus read:
1.-The determination of the mind to relin-
quish the soft scenes Of transqull life for the
rough adventures OF war. is generally attended
with the conviction that the act is iaudable
and with wish that its honorable exertlons
, should be faithfully transmitted to posterlt
These sentiments lead TO the cultivation Of
thR virtue aud the effect st the one ,s maenl-
fed by The accomplishment Of the other"
II might seem, at first, that there was rather
a -" lee way" TO be allowed for, Ia this opn-
10 me war culture of the virtues but,
IN one of he famous sermons by the gifted
Rector OF Eversley, Charles Kingsley, there is
a passage curIously crrroborative and explain
tive OF Col. Lees solder theory. 1t will CON-
fort many a philanthropist and Christian, at
the present moment, to read the following:
Die it ever happen TO any OF you to see
mob of several thousand put to instant flight
by mere handful of soldiers! And did YOU
ever ask yourself how that apparent miracle
could come to pass! The first answer which
occurred TO you, perhaps, was. that the sold ers
were well armed, and the mob was not but
soon. am sure, you felt that you were doing
behaved just as bravey if every man ia that
mob had been as we'll armed as they, and have
resisted I'LL they were overpowered by mere
numbers. You felt, | am sure, that there was
something In the hearts and spirits Of those
soldiers which there was not in the hearts of
the meb; that though the mob night be boiling
over with the greedest passions, the fer
cest fury, while the soldiers were calm cheer
tul, and caring tor nothing but doing their
duty, yet there was thought within them
which was stronger than all the rage and
greediness of the thousa nds whom they faced;
that ia short, the seeming miracle was NOR.
al and spiritual miracle.
What, then, is this woodworking thought
{ which makes the soldier strong!
e Courage, you answer, and the sense of duty.
True: but what has called out the sense of du-
tY! What has inspired the courage! There
was time, perhaps, when each of those sol.
dlers were no braver nor more steady than the
2 mob IN front Of them. Has it never happened
, to you to know some young country lad, both
before and after he has become q soldier =
Look al him in his native village, Cf you will
let me draw for you the sketch Of a history,
which, alas is the history of thousands) per-
f haps one of the worst and idlest lads in it--un.
willing to work steadily, hunting the public
house and the worst Of company; wandering
out at night to poach, and caring for nothing
but satisfying his gross animal appetites; af-
raid to look you in the face, hardly able 10 give
an Ineligible, certainly not a civil answer
his countenance expressing only vacancy, sen.
sua!Ity, cunning, suspicion, utter want of self
respect.
Ii is sad sight, but how common q sight
) even in this favored land
AT last he vanishes; he has been engaged
in some drunken sffray. or in some low intrigue
: aud he has fed tor fear of the law, aud elisteC
as a soldier.
' A year or two passes and you meet the same
. lad Hgain-if, indeed, he is the same. For
r strange change has come over him he walk
erect, he speaks clearly, he looks you boldly
IN the face, with eyes full Of intelligence anC
b selfrespeet; he is become civil and courteous
Q now ; he touches his, ca 10 you like soldier ;
: he can afford now to be respectful to others
q because he respects himself and expects yoI
to respect him. You talk to him. and find tha
"a the change is not merely outward but iawsrd
Is not owing to mere mechanical drill, bat t
q something which has been going on in hi
4 heart and ten o one the hrst thing that h.
"a begins to talk to you about, with honest pride
I. is his regiment. His regiment. Yes, Their
~ Is the secret WHICH has worked these wo1d
: ers 4; there is the lailsman which has humani
:. once savage boor. He belongs TO regiment
70 10 one word he has become the member of
n body-the member of body, in which if on
.. member suffers. all suffer with it; il one mem
i. Der be hOnored, all rejoice with ii. His ma
ture is not changed. but the thought that he
>. the member OF an honorable body has raise
:, him above his nature.
III He ca % face mobs now. and worse than moi
of -he can face hunger and thirst, fatigue, dan
al ger, death itself, because he is the member {
10 a body. For those who know little, l.utle
human nature and its weakness, who fanc
~ that mere brute courage, as AN angry lioI
OF will ever avail Not mere animal ferceness
he but thst ta'tered rag WHICH floats above b
H. head-tbat il was which raised him into hG
I ro; he had never seen those victories; th
~ men who conquered there were dead Ion
or since; but the regiment still lived, it's hslor
lis still lived .its honor still lived, and that hist