Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-04-11
THE PECULTARUTEEs OF THE DAY.

THE REGE rs OF y kHA Aa-- -
In the whirl of passing events we scarcely
nstice the strange things that are daily happen
ing and existing around us The bonnet that
the Isiies wear IN the streets and al church, ex-
cites but little OF our attention, but if IN l7os
we should happen to see a portrait Of
person wearing a bonnet Of 1862, how strange
it will appear 10 us-so it viii be of the
events of eighteen hundred and sixtY-tvc. How
hose Of us who are then living, VIII be listened
TO with gaping mouth aud staring eye, as we
relate events and circumstances Of 'the w8r -
The var has affected almost every department of
our life, and rudeiy torn away the whole habits
of our past existence. Our dress, food, Hters-
ture, business, devotons, pursuits, out-of door
conduct, and freside conversation, are all
changed and modified by the influence of the
war
What would the people of the South have
said two years ago, to any one who should have
predicted that they would get their breakfasts
without coffee, and drink the juice of parched
rye as e substitute, without a word of complaint
or a wTy face Yet the feat is done. The
failure Of our usual supplies of bareled meat
from the cities Of the West, has made q change
in the diet Of every man and woman in the Con
federacy, and no less striking change II the
produce of the plantation. How astonishing it
viii appear, in few years, that q time existed
when planters raised corn and potatoes, fsttened
hogs and cultivated garden vegetables, while
cotton was by universal consent neglected, and
this at a time when cotton was worth in Liver
pool tweut ty-eight cents pound, yet selling on
the plantation at five cents. How Odd It will be
to remember that certain merchandise was for
hidden to be brought into the city, and certain
inds of produce to be taken out; and thai in
many places in the markets and stores, dealers
could sell only al prices dictated to them by
Provost Marshal While our eating is thus az
teced, our drinking is no less so-slings, juleps,
snashes, and all the paraphernslia Of drunken
ness, is in state of suspension, and every gTog-
gerry in the city is closed. Not only is the coffee
gone we drank with our families at home, but
the brandy we pledged our friends health in
abroad.
Our dress is affected to an equal ext Mt with
cur feod. The very books, that with plstes Of
glaring colors used to show Us how toe beau1
and ma ans OF New York and Philadelphia wore
their hats and bonnets, coats and dTesse are
no longer to be found among Us We do not
know what the fashions are, sud without a
grUmble don anything we can fms in the stores
that is TO be bought; and the stores, having no
means Of Ispleuishing their stock with new
aT- Fr,ra H.-.7-
coats are often more remarkable for their com
fJrt, than for their elegance
In our business there is q change at in TWEEN
" years viii make every listener doubt as he .
hears the story. Days pass by in which neither I
railroad trains nor steamboats, bring pound OF
freight. Change hour passes without visitor I
at the mart OF commerce, without document
bsing placed upon the bulletin board, sam
pie on the table, or 3 sale on the register. What
is yet more every store closes at two O'Clock in
the afternoon, and the city one-half OF every F.
day has the euietude Of Sunday.
In our reading we have no books " Just pub /
iishsd, no New York weeklies or monthlies, 10 (
European magazines; have not read Dickens,
last, OF commenced Collins new story; have net .
seen the last principal " star On the stage, and /
do not know who is the Teigning prina donna
at the opera. Oar newspapers have felt the
marital influence as strongly as other things.
They never had SO much variety as now, since
FAUST pulled the press; they are Of ali sizes
and c0lOrs, and sometimes contain four pages,
and sometimes two. They are short enough for
4 pocket handkerchief one day, and big enough /.
for table cloth another They assume as many
turns blue, yellow, green, red, purple, grey, and
common brown packing paper. At church our
prayers have conformed to new events, or if they
do not conform there are indicati ms that the
war can extend its prerogstives beyond the pre-
cincts Of the battlefield.
Our very medicine has experienced its share
of the change; epson salts have become an ex-
pensive luxury, and quinine is a treat &" niggers
and poo white folks find beyond their reach.
Even our sleeping apartments have been invad-
ed, and blankets are sll gone 10 the soldiers
tents. Politics are dead. a political enemy is
a curiosity only read of in books. We have 10
Wings, no Democrats, no Know Nothings, no
nothing. Our anlussments have Tevoluhonized
The winter has passed by without a company
having been engaged at the the theater, or a sin
gle circus having spread tent Our people have
done their own playing and their own singing,
and the most accomplished ladies in town have
spent tae mornings in sewing coarse shirts or
pantalCons for the soldier to wear, and sung in
public at night to gain money for the soldiers
equipments.
How far we might extend this list every reader
of our remarks knows, but brief as it is, few Of
the changes the war has brought upon US as it
it contains the mention Of facts that
viii excite wonder if read twenty years hence.