The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-08-10


it up. Subscriptions before August 18th
will be Two DOLLARS in hand; after that
time THREE.
Editorial Correspondence. f..
'~''' CHICAGO, Thursday, Aug. 4th.
JoHN:- II is about noon for this night !;
but as I am good day-traveler and very
poor sleeper, let me amuse myself and
plauge our readers with "few lines, hoping
they may End you and them in the same
state Of health" &c, &c. Did you ever
know young girl with her first ACCORDION,
a boy with a new jewsharp, youth who
was learning to fiddle, or german gentle
man taking the initiative on flute? You
did. Well, then, you remember that the
several parties referred to did scarcely any.
thing but ACCORDION, jewsharp, fiddle and
flute Sometimes this weakness or PEN
chant gave you serious annoyance, but you
did not have the charity to consider that
these exercises gave them great pleasure,
and while you were suffering excruciation
they were only few doors from Paradise
l have heard accordeons and yiolins in the
hands nf young performers till my inmate
wickedness suggested room in an insane
asylum as appropriate for the exhibition Of
such talent, but feel now that was very
wrong. 1t is we'll that We all have frailties
and it is ,oeller that we are conscious Of
them. My weakness is playing soith a pen ;
though very Indifferent performer, the
music made with the favorite instrument
rather pleases me, and hence the frequency
Of my epistles. So much, this time, ola
Apology for amusing myself at the expense
of others. ..
So many things hourly occur in city Of
Chicago-size to attract attention so many
incidents are before pair Of eyes, if even
half open, that ones brain memorandum
is filled daily with subjects on which to
write. Talk about nothing to write
about"-the difficulty seems to be nothing
to keep still about l dare not start of
on street scenes, such as harnessed dogs
and goats, doing the duty Of horses in
hauling vegetables to market; of Switzer
and his wife lovingly holding the pole Of a
hand-wagon and passing through life and
the middle of the street with cabbages,
carrots and onions for sale; of old women
in tatters, borne down with loads of spin.
tiers, chips, boards, hoops, slaves and pieces
Of boxes-all to be used as fuel to enable
them to cook their humble meals or wash
the clothes of those more pretensious in
life; of other old women, old men, very
dirty boys and young, re-legged little
girls, out early in the morning and all day,
picking up foul rags, scraps Of paper and
other debris of the street to keep their rela.
tives from starvation; Of the lively news.
boys yelling "Ere's your TINES, TRIBUNE
and Posi-" stopping as they meet you and
courteously changing the yell to the gentle
and deferential "Morning paper sir" Of
the sidewalk stores of apples and peanuts
proprietored by decrepitude or infancy; of
tho h".,ehty nrinnlina rnrc,,asinr uhe
promenade Lake Street and toss their pretty
heads as if in contempt for the humble ones
whom l have named Of the painted and
overdressed demirep who sails along, gay
as the prcudest Of her sex, seeking notice
and victim; Of the blear-eyed youth or
the old debauchee, staggering through the
city, under load of error or of crime that
is pulling him down to the grave and
infamy; of the quick step of the business
man, the quiet walk of the scholar, the
anxious look of the politician, the sancti.
monious appearance of the divine, the fur
tive glance of the gambler,-Oh well, let
us stop illusions to the classes and pursuits
that make up city life. There is too much
to see and hear in this western human
managerie for the limits of letter, and
certainly do not wish to write book-that
would finish me entirely, and our readers
too-ifthey were imprudent enough to read
it. Presto! aa.:.. .3 -. .
To-day has been Hu.niliaticn.day, and if
there ever was an appropriate one this
FoUR7n OF AuGCsT, 1864, fills the BILL
Whether all reports are true is to be learn
ed. Our dailies of this morning 1--WE get
none tomorrow contains proofs of Grants
bad luck at Petersburg in tho Fort affair,
with immense loss to the Federals and the
humiliation of leaving piles of our dead
and wounded in the ruins soithin three
hundred yards Of our lines! They also
tell US that Stoneman has lost 8, 900 cavalry
in his late raid on the Macon Railroad
that Meade is to be superseded by Hooker,
once the worst whipped man that ever
crossed the Rappahannock-that EwELL
has $4,000 men massed at Martinsburg
and in position to threaten Washington
that Missouri is about to re-become the
scene Of rebel attack-that part of Ken
lucky will be robbed by rebels of her new
harvest-that the blockade is run by Eng.
lish vessels with almost entire impunity-
that the Mississippi river is blocked by
rebel gunboats and guerrillas- that most
Of the states of the East and some sections
Of the West arc resolving to buy negro
substitutes rather than to expose white
labor" to the chances Of death in an effort
to restore Union in which whites once
claimed paramount interests-that this
same black soldiery has recently proved its
incompetency before Petcrsburg-that ouI