Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-12-09
Our Army Cerrcspessenee-F Ten
aessee.
NASHVILLE. Deceml,er ..

NASHVILLE. Dece ?.
NAV have been a little billions last night, for
IL 1 remember correctly. | wrote rather a bilious
letter | was suffering under spell of in0iges-
ton. from which have happily recovered. and
have concluded that. after all. had not caught
the Itch but NV safierings in that direction ere
oniy symp4fhefic--fD confess the truth. 4 could
not stand that Commercial Hotel any longer
and. fsihHg TO find private boarding house,
took quarters at the Il. Cloud Ion the assurance
that il was equal 10 our Bates House, a most un
mitgstesi slsndef on the bates. unless IL has
fully deteFiorated since | last honored il with my
presence 7 am sure the Bates has been painted
within ten years. his has not: and at the Bates
you can get milk in coffee and some To drink
otherwise: here YOU cannot. aud there are other
differences. all in favor of the Bates. But feel
better went with Major Hanna u headquar
tiers this morning Just about ten. End had an
audience with tie Provost Marshal General.
pitched into him about not getting up earlier,
and told him should publish him II he did not
do better He gave the usual apology for late
rising-up late o'nigbts, aud then asked me i i
wanted a p,ss. ! thanked him no. but wanted
a horse "Pll have got up for you imme
diately," said he, and in few moments ! was
galloping on beautiful bay. caparisoned in full
officer uniform That Provost Marshal General
is a gentleman. and | vote for his promotion,
provided be gets up earlier took the Muir
freesboro' pike, and came TO the Provost
Guards station Confdng in my horses equip
ments, and a bit of impudence. put on for the
occasion, / came to military lope, and gave a
military salute whereupon the guard came to a
present arms and | ran the blockade safely
But il was no go on nv return. had rode some
fifteen miles. and old Bay was slow To- start Oh
the lope. and that inevitable Halt brought me
ND standing fumbed around for some papers,
and after due parley | got through
Ny ride had several items of interest. In ad
ditIon TO hunting up some regiments with whom
had business, it opened my eyes to some pc
cuiarities of Southern life which had no where
seen. The city and its surroundings are pro
verbal for their beauty. both natural and arti
fetal, and here may be seen the perfection ofstYle
in architecture and Southern agriculture Due
allowance must OF course be made for the ravages
of war for rome nine months. for until the oc-
cupancy OF this city by our troops last March. il
far removed from war influences as Indi
annapolis. liz interior city and felt war
on.s remotely.
have spoken of the city and its diIapidation
The more travel through il the more manifest
the contrast becomes. There was nothing, until
the war came. that should given Nashville an,
less freshness and cleanliness than Indianapolis
Dayton OF Columbus; yet all through it, in the
center. on the most fashionable streets, no less
than in the suburbs. are dilapdated log buildings
Imprinted fences and window shutters, and every
thing else which indicates that popularity o
Southern life that | had not expected hac
read in Uncle Tom" and other novels, such
gorgeous descriptions of splendor-all of which
may be true once in million cases-that has
not expected 10 find it wanting.
There are farms almost unmOlested though
they are rare. The fences are n curiosity. The,
made chiefly of cedar More thin half ar,
made by sharpening one end and driving the rail.
some eighteen inches in the ground These rail,
vary from four feet to eleven. and are kept in
somewhat straight line by mailing cedar boarC
along it some five feet from the ground Yer,
rarely the tops sawed off. so to leave
regular hight OF some five or six feet and some
times they are sharpened. reminding one of the
wisdom of Mrs. Partirgton. who said she didn'
see how soldier could sleep on the pickets, es
pecally If the sharp end was up. These fences
when sawed Oft SO as to present uniform hight
are very neat and very durable, though do no
fully credit the statement of a native that the,
last forever and turn To stone, as has often beer
verified in this vicinity.
Often these pickets composed of round
sticks of uniform dimensions, say about thI e,
inches in diameter with the limbs trimmed leav
ing about inch to the picket, which is taste
fully rounded off, This makes beautiful var,
fence. But the prevailing style is that of insert
ing split rails. say ten or eleven feet long, leaving
the upper ends ragged, and fence for miles
nine or ter, feet high Where the worm fence i
adopted, the stakes instead of being of our style
lying across the corners, are set perpendicular
and held together at the top by cedar board
though which they are inserted and en- which
the "rider" is laid. There must be deal OF per
manency in this that could never obtain GU
of our oaks, for in old fences ] found the stake
and "riders, for the most part. in as good order
as any thing else on the farm 1t is said that ;
are lo,ty years old They may not be, but Ger
ta;nly cedar is good material for rails and it i
said that they burn freely. This have no occa
sion for doubling, judging from the appearance
of fires along tn. road and the unfenced field
near by. T. A. G.