The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-10-21

publish the following from the st. JOSEPH
Gasefte. II IL from the pen OF Major JOIN
N. Edwards:
This old warrior has slept for wears thu
sleep O! a soldier In rude Texas grave
over which there Is no monument. Ih'
grass was growing about Il In the early
summer. and there were some flowers there
withered and faded. scattered by q woman
hand. A votary at the shrine OF nature
and a finished diplomat at the court OF We
nus. Il was fitting that there should ID.
largesse Of green-growing grasses ana
Ioye-flowers. II roses are the tear-drops OF
angels, ~ the beautiful Arab heller pu's
forth In Song and poetry, then was tna'
lowly mound hallowed spot ana neeas
not the sculptured stone. the fretted COZ
umn, the ivy. and the obelisk. -,
Msyruder was "A wonderful man. lie
stood six feet four inches IN height ana
had a form which the men envied ana tne
women adored. His nerves were all IRON.
Foreign travel and comprehensive culture
had given 10 his wit Zcst that was always
crisp and sparkling. He never lacerated.
To the sting OF the repartee he added thc
honey of the clover. He could fight all
day ard dance all night. In the morning
n glass OF brandy and good cigar renewed
his strength and caused the cup OF his
youth To run over with the precious wine
OF health and nigh spirits.
He loved magnificent uniforms, magnih'
cent horses. magnificent riders, and mag
ni6cent women.
Gifted and graceful in conversation, he
was a pct in the boudoir and iogician In
the barracks. He had studied French in
Paris. Italian i'm Rome, and Spanish in tn,
halls OF the Montezumas. His horseman.
sblp WAS of the English kind; that is 10
say, not graceful, but impossible to be sur.
passed for firm riding and endurance. llo
wrote little love songs that were set TO mu-
sic: one OF them, 4" lmogene,' had
in II the plaintive repinings OF
sodier-loyer and the sad rhythm
of burial bugles. In the Crimea
he astonished the French officers by sleep
ing at the front with the Chasseurs under
fire. In Mexico he sent back to the Arch
bishop a lady's perfumed glove he had
found i'm his palace when the city was won,
aud with il note which read: "lt Is
pretty enough 10 have belonged to aqueen.
Would she have pardoned me if | had APP
propriated it!" As the Archbishop sent
him the next day basket OF delicious
wine. il is supposed that the fair owner OF
the glove must have looked leniently upon
the handsome American soldier.
Later. and he was riding with General
Scott down the long street OF lturblne.
General Garnett joined them. and Magru-
der drew q little back for his superiors 10
consult A white puff of smoke curlcd
out from an open window, sudden re-
port followed speedily, and Garnett and
horse went down together. An ounce ball,
intended for Scott. had broken GarnettS
thigh and killed his charger. Fearing
another fire. Magruder galloped to the side
of his chief and covered his body with his
own. The old mans eyes never dropped
nor his voice changed an intonation.
"How long will it take you TO batter
down that house," he spoke curly 10
Lieutenant Magruder, pointing with a
sweep of his finger TO the nearest, and
from which the bullet came. An hour
by the watch, General" "Then open fire
at point-blank range, and leave not one
stone upon another" IL was done, and
well done, and those who saw Magrauder
soonest afterwards noticed that he had
another bar on his epauletteS and had been
made captain. War was his element, the
biyouac his delight. and the battlefield his
perfect inspiration.
Prodigal. fashionable. foolishIy brave
sometimes, spendthrift, generous, true
friend and staunch comrade, the surrender
OF AppOmattox made him an aged man in
bis prime. and wrinkled bis features griev-
ously which had before resisted all the at
tacks OF time.
One who wandered far and long with
him in other lands, and in sweet, sun
shiny weather, relates how, from Vera
Cruz to Chepultepec, he went with Ma
gruder all over the battle-fields Of the
Mexican war. The light came to bis
eyes and the fire to his face when telling
OF Contreras, Cherubusco, PerOte, Molina
del Rev, the Belen Gate. Cbepultepec, and
the City of Mexico. His talk was never
ended OF Scott and Twiggs, Wool and
Worth, Smith and Pillow, Harvey and
Kearney Taylor and Quitman, Mcclellan and
Grant. Lee and Beauregard, and all the
other young subordinates who afterwards
played such bloody parts in the greatest OF
all dramas-the American civil war. OF
Mcclellan he told this incident among a
thousand: "The fire from the hill OF Che
pultepec was terrible. Fifty pieces of
heavy artillery were massed against my
four-gun battery at point-blank range, and
In the valley below a regiment OF lancers
was forming for a charge.
"Our fire had sackened and the men
were lying down. Ayoung man sat beside
one OF the guns amusing himself with
picking up pebbles and shooting them
from his fingers. The lancers came nearer.
| called to the young officer whom had
noticed and he sprang up, saluting. Your
namei' Lieutenant George b. McClel-
LAM Very well, Lieutenant; take COM
mand Of one Of these guns and disperse
those lancers.' The gunners rushed to
their pieces. All the great cannon about
Chepultepec went to roaring. The battle
began anew. Worth was sweeping mp the
decliyity. The lancers were routed, and
the next l saw OF Mcclellan he was
smoking cigarette in the palace OF Santa
Anna, his face rs black rs powder-keg,
and an ugly wound in his arm" What a
book his life would make in the hands Of
some men He once intended to write an
autobiography. Whether ii was begun or
not we do not know. Most certainly it
was never finished. The brave, fond
heart Is pulseless now the form OF the
stalwart soldier Is dust in its far away
grave. The laurels that he gathered and
wore so we'll are faded and gone.
Back from the unknown land no voice
will come to tell OF what rank he takes in
the spectral columns. closed up and silent,
awaiting the resurrection. Yet God deals
gently with soldier. When he Is brave,
and noble, and courteous, and mercifui
he has those attributes which do most t6
prove that the soul Is Immortal, and there
fore he Is fore0rdained TO happiness aftel
death. II may be late In coming. Tn
blvouacs are right cold and dreary, w
know. for some; but after the night tn
morning, aud after the fundamentally tn
New Jerusalem.
An Australian Dtgnttary.
fThe Contemporary Review.I
Asa dignitary the Australian bishop Ia