Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1864-05-11
For the Yorkivllle Enquirer.
For the Yorkvllle Enquirer
NOTES OF THE RESERVES.
BY ONE oE 'EM.

;. In the last five years the habits and Gus
toms of our people have undergone plain
/ ly peroeptible change. The honest pursuits
of life have been, comparatively abandoned
and, "grim visaged war" has brought its
train of attendant evils to every door; the
spirit.of change is everywhere exhibited,
even in the chivalric spirit of our OWL
"Sunny South" where remonstrance hat
been whipped into stern determination te
maintain by might what is denied us BY
right-Mat spirit still remains, strengthen
ing with our strength, and after bloodless.
| and we might say useless, campaign, it is
not the less gratifying that the ''notes of the
Reserves. should be written out to while
away an hour, and possibly amuse the read.
ers of our District paper, that the same is
done amid the most glorious prospects that
have ever blessed people battling for their
.'
homes and fresides. :.
The "Reserves," so called in contra.dis.
tiuction to ssthe militia" were called out for
home defence, and comprised of the elder
portion of our citizens, while the younger
sought the more distant fields of danger;
tie duties of the first were light in oompar.
isoa to the last, and while the tsiron greys"
fretted about their farms and homesteads
suffering in their absence, they were not IN.
mindful Of those who were ttseeking the
bubble, reputation. in the canuon's mouth. !"
Still, there was much of the ludicrous, in
the way the old fellows "played sodgers )"
the Surgeons had their hands full in exam
lining them on tcertifcates Of disability for
discharge" and it would seem that men be-
tween the ages of 40 and so would really
have been fortunate if they had progressed
thus far in life, without partaking Of some
Of the many oills that flesh is heir to-.
ooh, DOCTOR" says one, apparently as
hardy as an old pine knot, 81 have sich a
misery ~ and'the we'll squeezed tears would
roll down his wrinkled cheeks, and the
whites of his eyeshe turned up so piteously,
that the rising huuor of the Surgeon would
at once give way to assumed consideration.
Another has had the ttrheumatiz" for years,
SO that his right hand has tslost its cunning"
while another is deaf to any thing bnt an
offer of o discharge. Another is troubled
with palpitation Of the heart, but few Of
them with loss Of appetite if one would
judge from the equity they endeavored to
enforce when the .strations" were to be dis
tfibuted, Many of them got off on various
pretences, some few slipped off, and others
again "took the woods" or lodged the ser
vice under various pleas, but. still enough
were leftto constitute, Ca quorum" which,
be it known, consists of ga Colonel, Lieut..
Colonel, Major, Adjutant, Quarter Master,
etc., etc., ETC." The first business was to
organize the several companies, mount
guards, and vary the monotony of camp life
by an occasional drill, in order thatmost Of
the officers might learn, by practice, what
it.was to be presumed they had full! knowl-
edge of before. The fences ingand around
Charleston, being straighter than those Of
the up country, especially the sold d'Virgin-1
ny" ones, materially assisted in forming
line, no inoonsiderable job, when but few
were fresh from dancing school, and "heads-
up" "eyes right" "toes out" were still
locked up in futurity. Still the Reserves
avere here-true, many Cbarlestonians want
ed to know "what for" aud our friend of
the Courier advocated their immediate dis
banding, in order that they might SOW their
wheat, and not eat out their fast failing
provender, or run their bayonetswhich they
carried SO gracefully on aslipe with the but
tons on the backs on their coats, as to en-
danger the eyes of the far.seeiDg citizens;
but they we're part of the 'pomp and pano-
ply" of war, illustrative of our vast resour-
ces, and the never failing capacities Of the
Artesian Well.
For week or two, the novelty Of the
scene to the Reserves, or many of them,
kept their spirits up, besides many had rel.
atives and friends, or wished to purchase
salt, on the adjacent islands, which they
visited as occasion oAered-tbough we we're
informed one of cur friends did not get
over, on account of the "creek being up"
some being uncharitable enough to in
siuuato something about "fear," but that
could hardly be Sofa soldier, and afeared !"
The blockade of the port bad of course
all Of the attendant evils-scarcity of many
articles that We had never learned to do
without, but drumming the blockade" was
a common remark, if Tom, Dick and Har-
ry, asmilcd," or s.took horn," or came