The Portland daily press., 1865-09-16
Saturday Morning, Sept l6, 1866.
THE CITY OF DEsoLAT1oN.

THE CITY OF DESoLATION. "a.
'Dixon," writing to the Boston Advert;seY
thus describes the present aspects of Charles
ton, ,asf 4F b ss6 ftf
A city of ruins, Of desolation, of yacan
houses, ofwidowed women, of rotting wharves
Of deserted warehouses, of weed-wiid gardens
of miles OF grass grown streets, of acres of pitt
full and Yoiceless barTenness-that is Charles
ton wherein rebellion loftily reared its head
five years ago. ON whose beautiful promenade
the fairest of cultured women gathered with
Passionate hearts to applaud the assault of ten
thousand upon the little garrison Of Fort Sum
ter. f4aF
"The mills Of the gods grind slow, but they
grind exceeding small" Be sure Charleston
knows what these words mean. Be sure the
pride of the eyes of these men and women has
been laid low. Be sure they have eaten worm
wood, and their souls have worn sackcloth.-
Gods ways seem dark, but soon or late they
touch the shining hills ofday.1 Henceforth
let US rest content in this faith; for here is
enough of woe and want and ruin and ravage
to satisfy the most insatiate heart-enough of
sore humiliation and bitter overthrow to ap-
pease the desire of the most Eengeful spirit.
THE FUTURE.
You never again can have the Charleston of
the decade previous to the war. The beauty
and pride Of the city are as dead as the glories
of Athens. Five millicns of dollars could not
restore the ruin Of the four past years and that
sum is so far beyond the command ofthe people
as to seem the boundless measure of immeaS-
able wealth. Yet after all, Charleston was
Charleston because Of the hearts Of the people.
st. Michael's Church was the center Of the uni
verse, and the aristOcracy of Charleston were
the very elect of Gods children on EARTH One
marks how few young men there are, how
generally the young women are dressed in
black. The flower of their proud aristocracy
is buried on scores of battle fields If it were
possible to restore the broad acres of crum-
bling ruins to their foretime style and uses,
there would even then be but the dead body
of Charleston.
The Charleston of 1870 win doubtless be
handsome city, proud in wealth and rich in
grace and culture. Let favoring years bring
forward such Guitage Yet the city has not
in itself Tecuperative power for such result
The material on which to build that fair struc-
ture does not here exist, and, as 1 am told by
dozens, cannot be found in the State. III
Northern capital and Northern energy does
not come here, the city must remain a ruin /;
and if this time five years finds here hand
some and thriving city, it will be acreation of
New England--not necessarily the pattern of
New England; for the Influences from thence
will be moulded by and interfused with those
fact, the creation of New England. M ~
SOUTH CAROLINA AND MASSACHUSETTS.
1t was noted on the steamship by which I
came here from New York that, leaving out
the foreign element, our passengers were from
Charleston and ffon Massachusetts,. We had
nearly as many Boston men as Charleston
men. One of the Charleston merchants said
to me that when he went North the passen-
gers were also almost equally divided between
Massachusetts, and South Carolina; and he
aided that in Eastern Massachusetts, where
he spent some days, he found many men who
were coming to Charleston. Of our Massa-
chusetts men, some are already in business
here, and others came on to "see the lay of the
land" as one of them said "That's all right" "
observed an ex-rebel captain in one of our
after-dinner chats-'that's right; let's have
Massachusetts, and South Carolina brought
together, for they are the only two States that
amount to any thing" 81 hate all you Yam
KEGS most heartily in general sort of way =
remarked another of these Southerners, "6ut
find you clever enough personally, and ex-
pect it'll be good thing for us to have you
come down here with your money, though it'll
go against the grain with us pretty badly"
There are many Northern men here al
ready,--not much Northern society, for but
few Of the men have their wives here. / took
long walk yesterday with former Charles
tonian-a man who left here in the first year
Of the war, and returned soon after our occu-
patton of the city. HYou Northern people,
said he are making a great mistake in your
treatment Of the South. We are throughl7
whipped; we give up slavery forever, and now
we want you to quit reproaching US let us
back into the Union, and then come down here
and help us build up the country and make
the South what God intended she should be.''
And as we walked he pointed out and named
the "Northern ho1ses" - branches of old
houses in Boston and New York, new houses
built up and working by Northern capital and
energy. On King street, the street Of retail
trade, in a distance of half dozen blocks, a,
least one-third the stores were classed by him
as "Northern,Y and not a few Of them beal
names well known in Rostons On Meeting
street, where the wholesale trade congregates
in some blocks almost every house is new, and
from the North n - n Every little
variation from the old order of things excite,
the comment ~ ankee notion in which there
Is sometimes good-natured querulouSness, and
something's a sharp spice of contempt. Stop.
ping moment this afternoon IN store where
were three or four intelligent men, one ol
them asked me the use Of the "thinge 1 had in
my hand. 1t was one of the handle -and-straps
50 commoi' in the North for carrying shawls,
cloaks, .oyercoats, dc. Seeing that nonesot
them had any idea whatit was. / explained
Its use. "Well, now, what Yankee notion p
yes, answered another, sbut how handy it
Is" 10 pllng mere the eonvenienoes and conn
forts OF our Northern civilization na less tI,an
TO bring here the Northern idea of r;oIyt and
wrong, justice and injustice humanity and in
humanity, is the work ready for the hand Of
every new flnSiano man and women who
stands waiting. There is much nra;nd;oa ~ ~
overcome, and some OF it is bitter and a"oro' ~
waiting: but the measure Of success as vo ~, :,
Northern men. already in the field is an aas ~
est OF tIIe reward for others. Self interes. 81 4.
amasterful agent in modern civilization.
THE WOMEN. l 'fFllls
For the first two months Of our occupancy
Of the city. scarcely white woman but thoss
of the poorer classes was seen on the street
and very few were even seen at the window
and doors of the residences. That order o
things is now, happily, changed. There doe
notyet appear to be as much freedom OIL ap
pearanee as would be natural, but very man
OF what are called the @frst ladies" are to b
seen shopping in the morning and pronnenad
ing IN the evening. They, much more thai
the men, have contenptuous motions for tn
negro soldiers; and scorn for Northern mel
IS sometimes apparent In the swing of thei
skirts, When passing on the sidewalk, On
doesn't observe SO much pleasantness ans
cheeIfulness as would be agreeable. but til,
general demeanor IS quite consonant with th,
general mourning costume A stroller At SIM,
set sees not a few pale and pensive- -faca,
young women Of exquisite beauty: and /,
rambler OF the evening not inhequentIv hear
strain of touching melody from the darken
ed parlor of some roomy old mansion wifi
now and then one of the ringing, passionat,
airs with which the Southern heart has bee,
fred during the war. Mothers yet teach thei
children hate Of the North, Judge, for whe,
/ asked bright-eyed girl Of half doze,
,r.rst1, who I mol 1~oI l..