The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-02-07
GOSSIP OF DAY.
A Letter That Was Found
on a Battle Field.
What City Of Providence Gets
From Dog Licenses.
Case Where Offices Went Begging.
II was a Long Time Ago.

~ WdS Il LUuS liulS hSV'
Some OF the stories OF the war told even
ut this fate day are very interesting.
Yesterday afternoon, while the rain was
~drenching everything and everybody not
under cover, a little knot OF Grand Army
men gathered in the rotunda of the city
hall and INDUCED in "reminiscences OF the
slate un~pleasantness. One OF the expert
ences related was particularly interesting.
81 saw a good many tough things during
the war" said the ~relator, "but nothing
that so affected me as a little incident af-
ter the battle of Antietam. | was in the
artillery under the late Col. J. Albert
Monroe, ana his command did some
splendid work that day. Indeed, we
had a regular duel with the rebel artillery,
and many OF our best men went down
under the terrible fire. We were on the
left of the line for the greater part of the
day. For a short time we were sent 10 re-
inforce the center, but later ON were or
dered back to our old position. Tn morn
ing after the battle some of our men
wanted to go over to the position that
rad been occupied the day before by the
rebel artillery. The reason was that we
HAIfitu W nl1h Oul " tHtRllNt Vhi a
had been. Well, we went over ana Col.
Monroe went with US. i tell you one
thing after we got there we had no ques-
tion as to the deadliness of the work OF
our guns. The ground all around had
been plowed up with our shot, dead men
and horses lay everywhree. while broken
caissons and shattered gun carriages were
strewn about. While we were walking
abou Col. Monroe saw a dead rebel with
his face partly buried in the earth, just
as he had pit ched forward after receiving
his fatal wound.
"He was a handsome young man and
could not have teen more than so years OF
age. The shot which killed him had
broken his knapsack and allowed a part
of its contents to fall out on the ground.
Colonel Monroe picked up, a letter that
among other things had fallen out. 1T
was a touching thing, l can tell you, when
the conditions under which we read IL are
taken into account. 1t was from the dead
rebels wife and had been written from a
small town In Alabama, where she lived,
more than a year before and 1t informed
the soldier that after he had left his home
q little daughter had been sent to
brighten IT. fhis -tttfe- waif- had been
named Martha virginia, the letter said.
Then the proud young mother had taken
the little ones hand, laid it on a blank
page OF the paper on which her letter was
|. written and traced its outline with a PEN
Gil. This outline she afterward drew in
ink and within ii wrote the words: If
you want to kiss the baby you must kiss
this hand
"The letter was soiled and worn and
showed that the poor fellow who lay dead
before us had taken 1t out many times to
look at and probably TO kiss as well.
Colonel Monroe read the letter to us and
hardened fellows as we were there was a
t~ell-tale moisture about the eyes of nearly
every one. The colonel made a copy OF
that letter and made a aclng OF the
ter. Then he put the original missiye in
the dead soldiers pocket ana we buried
him. And ever since l have thought how
terrible must have been that poor Mothers
grief when she found that her husband
had fallen and that he could never have
= chance to kiss the baby"
Chicago's City Council has recently pas
sed q law which makes II illegal for any
individual or family to keep more than
six dogs. From this one would judge
that the canine is a condition and not a
theory In hat wild and woolly western
city. But after all. the restriction doesn't
appear to be a very severe one, for GER
tainly any family ought to be satisfied
with six dogs; that is, OF course, assum-
ing It is not engaged in the sausage bust
mes. Here in Providence our dog ~fanciers
ere very moderate in the number of pets
they keep. The number licensed each
year Is only about 1000, and when It is
remembered that we have a population
of 145, 00C probably it will be seen
that there Is no danger OF dogs becoming
SO numerous as to require any such regu-
lation as that recently made in Chicago.
Az a mstter OF fact, the dog Is a fruitful
source of income. The amount paid for
licenses each year is about SIC, 900, and
the greater part of That helps to support
the greatest OF the municipal institutions
the public schools. OF course the city
IL supposed to pay and does pay for all
dsmaees lone by dogs, but the expendi-
ture for this purpose each year is insig-
nificant compared with the total amount
received for licenses. some years, in fact,
the sums paid do not aggregate 300, so
that on the whole the municipality makes
q very substantial profit from its can inc
population. A thrifty taxpayer, when he
was told the amount realized from licenses,
suggested the idea of applying the same
rule TO cats. sIf there are 1000 dogs in
this town." he said, 'there are GER
tainly 1900 cats. Now, why
should there be discrimination?
Why allow a man who Keeps a cat
TO go free while you tax the man who
keeps a dog? I'm not a cog fancier my
self and i never owned a dog. but to my
mind the cat keeper ought TO pay for his
fancy just as much as you make the dog
keeper pay. OF course IL is said the cat
"a a domestic animal, that it drives away
mice, kills rats and Is in other ways valu-
able. j don't question that, bot n dog
will Kill rats just as we'll as a cat; more
over ne feryes q still more importsnt
purpose. He will drive OF the enterpris-
ing bnrglar or IL he can't drive him of
he will enter tain him until somebody
comes 10 take him on 10 a cell There
fore, ! say, ns a tax is levied on the most
valuable animal the one OF lesser VI lue
ought to be taxed AZ least NJ heavily.
And then Just think of II, 900 cat licenses,
most Of them at s615 EACH WIN, IL this