Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-04-16

cried one and IN Jlty the coupling came out th'
breaks were put down, and the rest Of the trair
rumbled on, leaving three or four score Of hungry
heroes behind An OK was straightway slaughter
ed, cut up and, by the time the engineer discover
ed his cars in the vocative and returned, dozer
fires were musical with the simmering Of roast beef
and no sort of persuasion could induce the boys tt
give up that coupling until they had filled theil
stomachs.
Human eyes never rested on a more motley
throng than many of the troops as they appeared
when they left home during the first year Of the
war, And it was then that all the railroad cars ir
the South, and especially on the South Carolina
line, were hopelessy ruined. Frequently, there
was no mark to designate the several regiments
The dress was tangled compound Of slouch and
stovepipe hats, of frock coats, swallow tails and
jackets, and of pants ofevery hue and shape. The
outfit was completed by dingy blanket, or in lieu
thereof, a patched bed-quilt, home made KNAPP
sack, and canvas bag for rations. Sometimes q
fiddle OF accordeon was added to the equipment,
and we remember one old fellow who started with
a COW. He innocently proposed to milk it for the
benefit of his company.
Of course, as the war progressed, these things
were changed if not improved. But
LIFE IN THE CARS,
remained unaltered. In moving troops, every a.
vailable inch of space was occupied. The seats
were filled, the asles crowded, and fringe of legs
dangled from the roofs Bayonets were iammed
remorseess into the ceiling so that in time it look
ed as if it had been subject to severe attack of
smallpox. The glasses were scratched over with
ambitious names, penknives inscribed notices on
the rosewood back seats, and "bowies' fulfilled
their most dangerous mission in whiting up the
side arms and window blinds.
The soldiers didn't care continental for Infer
nal Revenue laws just then, and corn juice made
its rounds, somewhat after the following style
'Halt! who goes thereS" "a friend with bot
tle." advance bottle and draw stopper" This
was the fluid countersign.
TUT tHO UT til[ee uuuTS dltCI udIh, "hCu Iho coi
diers could not see each other, Jupiter Tonans
how they did talk Bedlam or Parson Brownlow
isn't a circumstance to it. Everybody had some
thing to say, and with an utter disregard of Web
ster's Unabridged, they converted air into syl-
lables, sylables into words, and words into hair
disheveling, coat-tai agitating rhetoric that was
excessively pyrotechnic. 1t was orthography, ETY.
mology, syntax and prosody run riot.
When everybody became exhausted, except the
one wretched man, who, from time immemorial. in
every car of sleepers, vibrates restlessy from one
place to another, knocking off hats, punching
heads, and disturbing dreams, our soldiers slum-
bered. The long-slab-sided man always put bis
legs out of the window His neighbor, if also ram
rod-shaped, hung his pedal extremities over the
frontseat The men sitting there divided themselves
out in pillows The aises afforded the only luxury
of full length bed-chamber to be had, and, bar
ring just small sprinkle of tobacco juice, were ex-
cessively comfortable So much so indeed that the
boys would agree to lie spoon fashion three deep,
and when one wanted to turn over, all that was re-
quired to secure perfect unanimity of action, ac-
cording to the arrangement, was simply to sing out
flop" Practice made them very perfect.
Soldiers in those days used to swear oaths Of
monstrous proportions, and we presume there is
not conductor on the South Carolina Railroad
who has not been thoroughly case-hardened by his
experience in disturbing these somnolent crowds.
Indeed, it is related of Captain James Meredith
that his sensibilites were so affected by the ava
lanche of expletives which he was obliged to en-
counter in his daily career on the road, that he re-
quested transfer to another department where
they didn't ''cuss'' so much.
But we leave the seepersin their tangled shapes,
and pass to another phase of life:
THE RETURN OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED.
Three years have rolled away since the specta-
Gle of men dying and dead by scores was Of almost
daily occurrence And yet how vividly the mere
though recalls scenes which, while life lasts, will
''hang like pictures on the walls of memory" We
still see the wan, emaciated faces of men who but
few weeks before were 'at the 'front.' in all the
pride of strength the cots and stretchers stained
with blood the surgeons busy in afording relief;
the well ones moving comrade, who has just died,
to some corner remote from the living; the rude
boxes which encof6ned the remains of fathers,
husbands and brothers on their way to final rest
ing place in the old family burial ground and last
but not least, how well do we remember our noble
women! How like sisters Of mercy they moved
from bedside to bedside from scat to seat at every
station, dispensing their offerings of "wine, frank.
incense andmyrrh, and rendering sympathy, such
as only woman can feel, and only woman can be.
stow Heaven bless them!
This conversion of cars into migratory hospitals
of course increased the draw backs to the property
of all roads, but it was necessity which, appeal
ing to the nobler impulses of humanity, secured
more than a willing acquiescence from the Presi.
dent and Directors, and for all the ruin occasioned
they have been amply compensated by the con,
sciousness that their duty has been we'll performed
Such was car life among the soldiers.
i
RECIPE FOR MAKING RADICALS.
An exchange publishes the following recipe
for making Radicals 1t is said to be infalible and