The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1868-11-25
Correspondence,
CHARLESTON, S. c., Nov. II, 1868


recently left Halcyon Grove bound Char
leston-ward in the ROLE of nurse. The
trip per Railroad might have been mono
tonous, but that Mr.. some one,-can-
not recall his name,-who, having no.
thing else to do, beguiled the closing
hours of the day and the vigils of the
night by recital of matters historic, bio
graphic, phitosophic, &C.; and gave me
travels and trial and triumph, by land
and by sea, with most remarkable ele.
gance of dction, perspicuity and terse.
ness. He was a venerable parsonage,
and for aught | know may have been the
wandering Jew. Had not been some
&hat familiar with moiety Of the Incl
dents, figures and tropes under review,
| would have taken him for a .veritable
Baron Munchausen; but he was no less
honest than learned, and as urbane in
manner as he was brilliant in speech. l
could only sit and wonder when and how
he had gathered in such an universe Of
thought, as I drank in his rich and
rounded sentences, rep!ete in beauty,
profound in wisdom, and never wanting
in the sweetest charity. He was most
truly a cosmopolte. Grandly familiar
with the vulgate; he also. explored the
fields of celtic and latin lore, and ran
through modern authorship with an
evenncss as remarkable as it were fleet; !;
pointed me to the lights and shadows Of
Ecce Homo, as had never seen them !;
dwelt upon materialism and the iufidelic
tendencies of the age-the revolutions of
Church, State and society-and out of
the seething cauldron of American and
European politics, showed me the horns,
the hoof and the tail of the demon of dis.
sension, which make up the fearfulimbrog-
lilo; and to the mighty rushing together
of the 1DEs of March and November,
which have piled for US the agonies of
Pelion upon Ossa, until very nihilism al
most prevails. Finally taking my men,
tai vision amid the splendors of castor
and pollok, the pleiades and the hiades,
along the golden staircase leading to
good old Jupiter, and after revolving and
careering and traversing through i'm
mensity, he descended to terra 6rma via
the cleaning corridors of the east, just
as the grey Of morning beralded our ad
vent into the ultima thule of my dreams; {;
and at 7 l had reached my objective
point for the moment, the goodly Pavil
ion, where, in warm and comfortable
chamber, your editor.NuRsE deposited
FIVE little heads upon their soft and well
come pillow. .
The weather since I have been here
was charming in the extreme till yester-
day, and under its inspiring influences,
I have discovered fresh we'll Of delight,
in introducing motherless brood to the
sights and sounds Of what was once the
queen city and its environs. They came
hitber to escape those sad chills, by
drinking in the salt air. won!d be un-
grateful indeed did not feel proud and
happy because of The very kind and dis.
int, rested treatment my little charge re-
ceived. at the very threshold, at the
hands Of the tender hearted and motherly
iostess of the Pavilion Hotel. One
of the most comfortable chambers
in the house, opening upon spacious We
randa, was given them, from which much
Of the present beauty, fashion and busi
ness, as we'll as the grotesque. and ludic-
rous of the city was seen. A moonlight
night upon the battery, with its promo
made walks, the ripping waves of the il
lumed bay, snd the beautiful confluence
OF iits Ashley and Cooper rivers, t1c &c
ship at anchor, the island with its peariy
beech, the uurmuring tides, frowning
Sumter, the market with its quizzical
venders Of fish, flesh and fowl, &C., ride
in the natty little street cars, the sweet
chimes Of OLD St. Michael, the city park
with its.tame deer, citadel square with
the soldiery at dress parade. half-m Don
battery, the beautiful and mellow vcsper
services of the Cathedral Church, reli.
gious exercises in the orphans chapel,
and ride over the shell road to Magno-
liza Cemetery with its weird old pines and
oaks, draped with pendant moss, and
ever singing persive requiems, Ger the
dead. Magnolia, with Its serpentine
walks, miniature lakes and islands, chapel
and vaults, beautiful shrubbery, and the
the long lines Of Confederate and Federal
dead, and the thousand and one happy
designs which affection has placed over
the remains of departed loved ones. All
of these have wondering little eyes looked
upon and admired. Pardon me for re-
cital of some of my duties in the COM
bined roles of cicerone and nurse, for
with the acknowledgement that friends
have been truly kind, and extended cour-
t :sies unnumte ed, shall leave the
little sleepers and return to some of the