National Republican., 1883-12-27
NEW PuBLrcAr1oNs

terest, and In the case of Col. Joyce he attained
such notoriety, during his trial for COM
plicity with the alleged frauds Of the whisky |
ring, that, although six years have elapsed |
since his pardon, his name has not yet died |
out of tho public mind.
His reference to the whisky trials in his |
book, while IL dcvcopes little that is new, has |
decided interest from his full and |
explicit explanations of his own connection
with the whisky cases. He publishes fac |
smile of n letter from Gen. o. II. Babcock, |
written the day after he had sent the cele-
bratcd "Sylph" dispatch, on which the gem
oral was indicted, showing how totally |
foreign to tho whisky ring was that dispatch.
But the reference to tho whisky ring is by |
no means the most interesting portion of the
book. Col. Joyce has skotched his eventful |
life from his early boyhood, and his poetic |
fancy has found play in several bits of de- |
scriptive writing wboroin he has shown II
power and command of language that is
rarely met with. Perhaps the most intensely
interesting chapter is that referring to his in
sanity in which he analyzes his feelings while
his mind was in an unbalanced condition and
his treatment in the asylum, and suggests re-
forms in the management and cure of the in
sane.
Tho following description Of his feelings
while in confinement in tho asylum at Lex
ington, KY, are among tho most thrilling
passages:
/ hammered at the door, yelled through tho
window Mt quiet lunatics on the lawn, upset my
iron cot, tore the sheets into strips, and made
and descend TO the grass, flowers, and sunshine
that covered the fields aud gardens below.
My mind was SO wild and muscles so strong,
for boy OF Is, that it took half a dozen
attendants to overpower and strap me
down to an iron cot In fact
ment from my body in an Imagined desperate
fight for liberty. the sweetest and dearest thing on
| earth TO the human heart and especially TO the
! attendants everpOwered my body, but they did
not convince my mind nor quiet my voice against
more defiant than ever, and no physical punish
ment could subdue the given mind or curb
self But what was left my independentsefr re-
volted ut the ignorant and cruel treatment
of men who knew not that soul and liberty
cannot be mastered, curbed, or confined. You
may stripe aud torture this frail tenement
man has ys. devised ,,s, the means ,, 2
ings of n lunatic are almost indescribable. In
| my own case, ideas would spring up in my brain
with the force Of u rcd hot shot sending my body
onto some desperate action entirely beyond my
| power to restrain or subdue. There seemed to be
|
mind, urging me on to, deeds that | knew were
wrong, but for my life had not the power to pre-.
| vent. knew what was doing all the time, and
felt nwardy before the act sense of moral
| shame ut tine thing TO be committed ana yet could
not resist the impulse and seductive advice of the
unknown power that rushed me on to spurts OF
! desperation"
The history of the Gath kentucky regi-
ment, with which Col. Joyce was connected
during the late war, is given with great
minuteness, and its various fortunes from its
first entry into the service until it was
finally mustered out, are traced with loving
exactness, showing how deep is the affection
1 the writer still retains for the organization
whose hardshps, dangers, and successes he
enthusiastically shared. He has made some
sharp criticisms of prominent officers which
may provoke discussion, but he asserts that
his record of events and actions is just as they
appeared to him honestly and impsrtially.
| In his chapter on Washington City and its
People," he pays the following tribute to ex-
Gov. shepherd:
Washington is the Paris of America "Boss"
4 Shepherd took 1t from the mud of Slavery and
4 placed it in the concrete OF Freedom. He had the
genius, the SOUL and the bravery to secure large
appropriations for improving and beautiiyng the
capital, and by his primary surveys actually
forced congress at succeeding sessions to continue
the grand work he inaugurated. Money was, no
doubt, spent with q lavish nAnu, ana Wnlle q very
few contractors became rich, the majority, with
Shepherd himself received but abuse, kicks, and
poverty. The pirates Of the press assailed the
governor as a national robber; but
with the nerve and fortitude that never
forsakes the honest man, he kept right on IN his
grand enterprise and to-day has lived down the
unjust and villainous abuse of jealous mcdiocrity.
The day is at hand when his statue in marole and
bronze shall decorate the beautiful parks he
fashioned and improved, and in future years Of
national glory his memory Will be revered in
story and eulogiZed by pen and eloquent tongue
when his traducers are lost in forgotten graves
A laboring plumber great contractor, daring
and patriotic governor, successful miner, and u
social prince are the practical points of Shep-
herds career, and his chidrens children will
look back with pride upon the illustrious example
of their ancestor who never struck below the belt
; or covered before cyclone of vtuperation and
maledction.
Col. Joyce has within the past few years
written large number of poems, many of
them possessing exquisite fancy and great
beauty of expression. Some of these he has
grouped together at the close of his book un-
der the title of "Poetic Waifs." The follow
ing is selected as showing delicate play oi
Imagination, tenderness of feeling, aud dainty
versifcation:
MY BABY's EYES.
NV baby's eyes, in melting blue,
Are beaining bright us morning dew,
, And from the skylight take hue,
Or like the starlight, clear and true.
NY baby's eyes. In liquid roll
Enhance my world from pole to pole,
And love sits smiling In that goal,