The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1865-02-15

| .itical philosopher could derive pleasure il
seeing such an equitable balance maintain
Ell in all calllDgs and pursuits Of usefu
/ character, Buildings are torn down anC
3ihers erectel in their place. Architecture
5 revoialionized. systems spring into
schools Fantastic curvings showing the
boast OF oEE vain race, receive a severe
rebuke. And cookery so useful 10 man
kind, receives its due share OF attention
but the results Of all the experiments in
this science only proves one OLD maxim.
that necessity Is the mother ofinvention. "
but do not succeed IN proving tha, variety
Is the spice Of life.
\ land agency has been established near
Division Headquarters where soldiers who
have served h0nOrably for TWO years, and
happen 10 be the heads Of families, can take
advantage of 4 special clause Of the home
stead las, and ge, one hundred and sixty
acres oi public land for the moderate sum
Of nineteen dollars. Hundreds are taking
smart trlsactlonsr in horses aud mules.
but as q BUSINESS il - chiefly confined 10 the
chaplains, who have more leisure and ncli-
nation to study the market. In fact, all
the caliings and pursuits 10 which men de-
vote their time al home, are represented
here either for real or fictitious ends.
Notwithstanding this activity. there IS a
sluggish under current Of monotony at
tending such life, into which men drop.
and only ask that it may bear them to their
homes. And thus many have been borne
oGt this winter from sheer ennui and de-
sire for change. For them, the sweet ap-
proach Of day or eve" has none OF the
beauties the poet has claimed f0rit. Mich
igan, my Michigan" IS the song ever lin
gering on their lips, until they become mo
nO-maniacs on that subject, when. ofcourse,
they receive certificates Of disability. And
il is not strange. "Al quiet on the
James" IS equally true in front OF Peters
burg. Picket confronts picket; YAM"
on this side, Johnny" on that-Only four
hundred yards apart "Yank" looks across
at the double row Of palisades barring his
advance 70 the ancient city, at the duh red
line OF breastwOrks that vaguely speak un-
utterable calamities 10 him who ventures
them. the tort crowned knOlls on the back
ground, the thin fields of pine the scatter
ed dwellings Of the suburbs, the 'heights"
with its solitary house, and the squares and
circles Of shrubbery standing amid the
monuments Of the old cemetery. where
sleep the aristocratic fathers and sons Of
first families. and sees it all with no pecu-
liar feeling. The matter-of-fact principles
he Inherited. alone actuate him. His spec
ulltiOns extend no farther than the fact Of
going on" and coming of" the amount
Of his rations, and the expiration Of hls
term Of service. With these thoughts on
his mind. and his eye closely scanning the
red line Of breastwOrks for some careless
head to shoot at, he is the Yankee soldier
on picket doing his duty and waiting pa
tiently 10 become 4 citizen, and that is all
lie bOthers himself with no distractions:
his brain Is the home Of no poetic concep-
ton. The solemn tones Of the Old Peters
burg clock, as it tolls the hour of the night
10 the city and adjacent country, only
marks the time for the yidette 10 tale his
solitary advanced post, and nothing more.
The hoarse barking of the dogs borne
across the country, awaken recollections Of
home, but suggest no variety Of emo
tions, for the ''mud-sill" is not an ethereal
creature, and only thinks for the time being
that 1.-THE Union must and shall be preserv-
ed"
Johnny" we may suppose, to be IN
some respects different. He can look across
our front, and follow with his vision the old
Petersburg road, where once chivalrous
gents and gay ladies were wont to galiop
their nags through the scarcely broken
shade of the way-side cedars, and sees that
road intersected by two rows Of breast
works, and cannon planted to sweep it for
miles. Its rows Of beautiful globe-shaped
evergreens are gone. Battery wagons,
trains, and columns Of infantry have oblit-
Grated the traces Of farms and landmarks.
Piles OF rubbish mark the spot where once
stood fine residences, and they who dis
pensed hospitality in them, have gone 10
some safer locality. His eye takes in one
broad field where war has written desola-
ton.
Over this ground we occupy, are scatter
ed broken implements of war, debris Of the
collision Of these two armies. This field
has all been fought over and hardly won.
Clumps Of pines show where small bodies
Of men have lodged and fought until fght-
ing was useless. In these places the ground
is literally all cut up with holes, where the
rebels have thrown up slight deences and
been crowded ont by our forces gaining the
ground foot by foot. Graves are found ev-
erywhere where men have fallen, the board
giving the name, regiment, and day OF
death. Soldiers seldom molest these
mounds, seeming 10 hold it tsacrnege to mar
even by fOot-mark, the two-by-six feet @.
earth that VIII be his last earthly posses
sion.
Further than that, the grave Of a com
rade Of six months ago, appears 10 be no
more TO him than the grave OF 4 crusader.
The sight OF such q field has not in It much
OF consolation for Z soldiers future. The
important fact 10 the soldier IS that il IS our
ground. Johnny is entitled TO all tie
consolation from il he can. The opinion
prevails here that his future offers all bis
Imagination can conceive, Tor their pros
poets brighten, according 70 the Richmond
papers, in exact proportion to their loss Of
territory, and il IS said Gen. Grant wa.
seen 10 smile when he read in tie Rich.
mond Dispatch, that the capture Of For,
Fisher was blessing in disguise" Ac-
cording 10 the Generals old fogv notions
It was clearly a Joke.
We have ell been pleased 10 see ,ha.
South Carolina s stripped TO the waist.
and only asks that JEFF Davis fooleries
be stopped, and 10 make her soil one bat
tle-held-" We consider it probable tha,
Gen Sherman viii soon indulge them il :