The Portland daily press., 1866-06-20

holding each from half pint to five or six
quarts what starving lips drained their pitiful
portion from these "soup dishes" dug with
jack-knives from square bits of wood, and a
thousand other questions that will only be
answered at the Sudgment day. Did the fin
gers that roughened these wooden spoons
grow weak and weary and cold and stiff before
their task was finished, or did glad deliverance
make it needless? See how deliberately and
with what patient skill these others are shaped
and smoothed. What kind Of meals were
eaten, think you, from that stable" six inches
high, as many wide, and fifteen long? And
what kind of meal, think you was sifted in
these little pieces of tin, bent up at the sides,
and perforated with nail holes large enough
to let through coarse shot? "Corn and cob
naea, sieues" they are called. Think of giving
such fare to regiments of CHASTITY, skeleton
wretches, dying of chronic diarrhea, and say
| if the tender mercies of the wicked are not
cruel. And here is the letter-box into which
were put all the letters written in the stoekade.
How many heart, sick with hope deferred,
| yearning for home and its dear ones, bravely
struggling with its weary load of anguish, and
| studying to conceal part of it from those
dearer than life, or perchance utterly over
whelmed and despairing, hasbrought to this
box its meagre messages for eyes long dim
| with Watching And here is the rebel Death
Record. Look down these closely written, yell
low-brown pages, these long, long daily lists
| Of 1,o doodf Couruy opI D;orrl,oo nio,rJ,
and Scurvy-these were the chief allies with
| which Wirtz prosecuted his work of extermi-
nation, and with which he reckoned himself
with singular modesty as good to the cause of
the Rebellion as any thousand at the 'front.'
And here is a'dirty fragment of Bible
Thank God! there was something even in
that Southern Tophet to tell those perish
ing men the sweet, sweet story of Gods grace
| and Savior's love.
What tale do these rude relics tell of the
fate. of many who went forth from North
ern homes, full of high hopes and glorious as
pirations, and never came again to bring word
| how Jared it on the march, and how went the
| fighting. AS I look upon these touching me-
mentoes, 1 seem to see the end of many good
battalion which / have watched with dim
eyes, and proud but aching heart, march,
ing through these streets, marching in the full
bloom of their manly beauty and the full glo-
ry of their manly strength, consecrated by
prayers and benedictions, marching to the aw-
full sacrifice of the battlefield, and the far more
awful torrents of the rebel prisons. Nine
acres of graves Nine acres of graves, or
rather of close trenches, where the arm of
each dead soldier lies over his dead comrade,
room not being allowed for the ordinary posi-
ton Nine acres of our murdered heroes,
and every one dear to somebody And so
with a hard pang at your heart, you pass on.
These relics were collected by Miss Clara
Barton, and were here arranged by request
under her own supervision. Acrowd is near
ly always collected around them. When
thOughtlessly asked whether they were here
to be sold or only to be seen, Miss Barton re-
piled, II gathered thvm Nth my oon hands
In the stockads at 4ndersonville, and there
is not money enough IN the United States to
buy them"
The services of Miss Barton are familiar to
the country. How she has gathered informa-
ton of thousands Of missing soldiers, and
communicated the same to their friends. send
ing to many homes the glad tidings that their
dead were alive again, and to many others
such consolation as is possible to human min
istry; how in the language of Congressional
report, "she has in many instances obtained
information of soldiers who were reported
'deserters,' while they were languishing in
Southern prisons, and their families were
mourning for them as disgraced, and her re-
port has carried joy to many household,
whose members, while they may have had
presamptive evidence of the capture or death
Of the absent one, only received positive evil
dence through her fundamentally !" how she
has been largely instrumental in identifying
and decently marking the graves of Union
soldiers to the number of many Thousands
all this need not now be repeated. It may
not be known to everybody, however, that
Congress has most worhily appropriated fif-
teen thousand dollars to reimburse her for
large sums of her own money expended in
this holy work, and to enable her to con-
tinue it.
You would hardly select Miss Barton by
her present appearance-if you regard the
common caricatures of female philanthro-
pists-for such work as she has performed.
A figure below rather than above the average
height, black, or nearly black hair, in which |
neither time nor labor seem yet to have drawn |
their silver threads, forehead and nose ap- |
preaching the Grecian, a mouth carved in pos
tive and energetic lines, eyes dark but not
black, quick, keen and vivacious, a pleasant
smile, countenance which, should it fail to be |
voted beautiful" or even pretty" viii be al |
lowed by all to be pleasing and attractive, an
address frank and easy, but from which the |
contact of rough experiences has not worn |
away its cultured refinement, or true feminine
aelicacy-that is as good charcoal sketch as
lean give you of this true heroine of the war
and benefactress of her country.
The voting for the magnificent diamond hilt-
ed sword, belt, sash, shoulderstraps and spurs,
which are to be given to the General who gets
the most votes at dollar eaeh,is becoming
quite spirited.
"Primus abit longeque ante omnia corpora Nisus
Emicat, ct vents ct fuiminis ocior alis;"
which beng freely rendered, signifies
that in this race General o. o. Howard |
took the lead, is long way ahead, and is MAX
ing remarkably good time, or if you prefer to |
be at once literal and elegant, running like
lightning. He now has 1926 votes. i
"Proximus huic lonqo sed proximus interyallo
Insequitur Salius"
This, as you will perceive, means that Gen.
Sherman follows next after his gallant subor
dinate,-next, but at long interval. He has
PAP votes.
''spatio post deinde relicto
Tertius Euryalus."
Next behind, a space between, comes the
third. Hancock. with his 65 votes. r