The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-10-14
ushered in the New Year with a General

ushered in the New Year with a General
Drunk. Looking out / perceived the
ciuse OF the calm the weather having
moderated brought Town nearly a foot OF
snow. winch a. it lay yet unbroken over the
the surface Of all the island, was undoubtei-
ly the %softest, whitest, purest clement there
on and one might imagine it had been sent
during the dark hours Of the early morn to
gently mantle all the filth, the black mud.
the greeniish water. and sombre buildings.
with a white -rohe appropriate TO the New
Year Alas, it could not cluthe the
naked, house the homeless. nor feed the
furnishing among the thousands Of South.
ern boy. here confined. The wind ha,
again arisen, aud the dry snow drifts down
through the "ventilators' fso- called. } and
filters through the cracks until there is a
little pile Of snow on each tier. unless we
brush il away every few minutes. How
wretcfedly must ou- poor comrades ia the
trenches al Petersburg suffer from this
storm Naturally the New Year turns ali
our thoughts To the future, AMI We wunle,
what shall be the fate Of our struggle 70
freedom when this day year shall roll round
True. our cause i, not By any mean, - dark
as when Washington wiuteIed at VALLEY
Forge but he had hope of foreign aid.
whereas our great explanation" grow less
and lesser with each month. Oh, that VI.
Davis would resign and give place 10 a lea
der of real rigor or df~speraton' Nr. Da-
Wis is an high toned Southern gentleman
and can write an elegant State paper, and
conduct the affairs of State with tact; bu,
these are the qualities for a Secretory ~
Stot not for a great popular leader. Put
a rough, vehement, determined man, like
Bob Toombs, or some such man. at the
head nj rho poyarpIpant and lot hin, p,ola
an impassioned call for the people TO rise
Ell masse, as the last resort short Of subiu
cation, and | IN sure we should hurl Grant
away from Petersburg, as Mcclellan wa
routed from Richmond. Rev. Mr.. Kinsol-
win held Episcopal services at noon. Two
men died of small pox within this pen. No
telling how many die in the privates pen.
Jan. I .-For nearly a week | have taken
such sleep as | could catch in day time, BY
borrowin. the blankets of my neighbors.
A. night the cold renders sleep out of the
question especially after the fires go out
for lack of fuel. The intensity of cold may
be judged from the fact that the Delaware
.river-which is almost as bring as the ocean
ut this point, and more than one mile and a
half uide-and subject to duely rise md fH
mail is brought orer on the ice! Imagine
IL SOiI uCCCSSdly " lICCLC llllS Salty dIu
changing tide OF course the tanks and
bitches are frozen, aud we must melt water
both for drinking and washing purposes j;
that is, when we can raise enough of fire to
melt it. 1t is very difficult to get clothing
washed, and | am kept in constant worri
ment about it.
Jan. 10th, % Oar a~nticipations Of a
partial exchange have just received a crush
ing blow. in the arrival Of 81 officers from
our Western armies together with a party
of citizens dragged from their homes on
various pretexts by "Bunmec' Sherman.
in Georgia. 1t was a shameful deed.
Many Of them are old, grey haired. and
dccrepit men others mere strlpplings of ii
and Is years. All are lily clad, nearly fro
zen, wretched in both look and feeling.
One of them is a down right cripple On two
crutches! Think of the glory gained by a
boys-On their farms-and one legged Grip
pies on their crutches to drag them off to a
far Northern prison as evidences of his
might or proofs of his proves
The new corners give miserable ~recitals of
the destruction, devastation, rapinc. rape,
and ruin, that follow In the wake of the
Sherman's armies. 1t is astonishing the
people tolerate these things while hundreds
Of miles of railway are unguarded in Sher-
man rear.
Jan I9th.-What a modification! |
could have cried with chagrin this morning
when a letter was handed me. which proved
to be from a very wealthy lady. Mrs. t
of Milroy, whom / knew in my school days
in Central Pennsylvania. She had pre-
viously written in very friendly style, and in
my answer | stated that as our Confederate
money tall | had would not buy U. s. pos
- r.,ll L. olt:.ol - Lo .ro,ll .o~l
me a few stamps that [ might write to
friends. She wrote to ask lawyer Jas. Mil
liken, of Philadelphia, if it would be allow
able, and sent him my letter. Milliken,
fattening on the war, therefore very loyal, >
warns her not to do any such thing-declar-
ing 1T would be as clearly reasonable as
to take up arms against the government.
To give aid to the enemy is treason.
This man admits that he is an enemy"
ETC., etc.
1t makes my ears burn to barely look at
the fellow envelope but [ replied in a way
to make other ears burn if there be any de-
cency among the party. | stated that
while it might have been laid and comfort
to a Rebel sO-called, to send me three or
four postage stamps, yet 1t was not half SO
Unreasonable" an act as the sending Of food
and clothing and sums of money as was fire
quently done by Union soldiers to friends
herein that [ had seen a letter from Maj.
General Hancock, dated a few weeks ago,
addressed to an old army comrade offering
to send any thing his friend, the Rebel,
might need. from a pocket handkerchief to
a suit of clothes. But | supposed the Gen
eral dozen IN Virginia at the bend of his
dcisaon, daily ~eroosing has life for the
Union," was mot quite 80 loyal as la,cyer
.KAiken. IN has PHILADELPHIA office, speculot
ing In war claims" etc.
TO BE CONTINUED.