The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-05-12

The following extracts are made
from the May installment of General
Horace Porter's exceedingly interest
ing articles in the Century magazine:
MEADE AND HIS MEN.
General Meade was most accom-
plished officer. He had been thor
oughly educated in his profession, and
had complete knowledge of both the
science and the art of war in all its
branches. He was well read, possessed
of vast amount of interesting inform.
alton, had cultivated his mind as a lin
guist, and spoke French with fuency.
When foreign officers visited the front
they were invariably charmed by their
interviews with the commander of the
Army of the Potomac. He was disci-
plinarian to the point Of severity, was
entirely subordinate to his superiors,
and no one was more prompt than he
to obey orders to the letter. In his in
tercourse with his officers the bluntness
of the soldier was always conspicuous,
and he never took pains to smooth any
ones ruffled feelings.
There was an officer serving in the
Army of the Potomac who had formerly
been surgeon. One day he appeared
at Meade's headquarters in high state
of indignation, and said General, as
l was riding over here some of the men
in the adjoining camps shouted after
me and called me 9 Old Pills. and
would like to have it stopped" Meade
just at that moment was not in the best
possible frame of mind to be approached
with such a complaint. He seized hold
OF the eyeglasses, conspicuously large
in size, which he always wore, clapped
them astride of his nose with both
hands, glared through them at the off,
Ger, and exclaimed: "Well, what of
that? How can prevent it2 Why, 1
hear that, when l rode out the other
day, some of the men called me a
i'd old goggled-eyed snapping-turtle,'
and can't even stop thatl" The Off
Ger had to content himself with this ex-
plosive expression of a sympathetic
fellow-feeling, and to take his chances
! thereafter as to obnoxious epithets.
A STORY OF THE PETERSBURG MINE.
A surgeon told us story, one of the
many echoes of the mine affair, about a
prisoner who had been dug out of the
crater and carried to one of our field
hospitals. Although his eyes were
bunged and his face covered with
bruises, he was in an astonishingly
amiable frame of mind, and looked like
a pugilistic hero of the prize-ring COM
ing up smiling in the twenty-seventh
round. He said: "I'll jest bet you
that after this I'll be the most unpopu-
lar man in my regiment. You see, l
appeared to get started little earlier
than the other boys that had taken
passage with me aboard that volcano;
and as 1 was comm down 1 met the
rest of 'em a-goin' up, and they looked
as if they had kind o. soured on me,
and yelled after me, Straggler!'"
WHY GRANT NEVER swoRE.
While sitting with him at the camp.
fire late one night, after every one else
had gone to bed, l said to him: "Gen.
eral, it seems singular that you have
gone through all the rough and tumble
of army service and frontier life, and
have never been provoked into swear.
ing. Ihave.never heard you utter ar
oath or use an imprecation." Well
somehow or other, l never learned to
swear" he replied. when boy ]
seemed to have an aversion to it, and
when l became man saw the folly OF
it. have always noticed, too, that
swearing helps to rouse mans anger
and when man flies into passion hi;
adversary who keeps cool always gets
the better of him. In fact, l coulG
never see the use of swearing. l think
it is the case with many people who
swear excessively that it is a mere
habit, and that they do not mean to be
profane; but, to say the least, ii is 6
great waste of time" His example in
this respect was once quoted in my
hearing by member of the Christian
Commission to teamster in the Army
of the Potomac, in the hope of lessen
ing the volume of rare oaths with
which he was italicizing his language
and upon which he seemed to be plac'
ing his main reliance in moving his
mule-team out of a mud-hole. The
only reply evoked from him was
"Then thar's one thing sart'in; the old
man never druv mules"
GRANT AS A THINKER.
1t was an interesting study in human
nature to watch the Generals actions
in camp. He would sit for hours in
front of his tent, or just inside of il
looking out, smoking cigar very slow
ly, seldom with a paper or map in his
hands, and looking like the LATEST man
in camp. But at such periods his mind
was working more actively than that Of
any one in the army. He talked less
and thought more than any one in the
service. He studiously avoided per
forming anv dutv which acme one alas
could do as we'll or better than he, an(
in this respect demonstrated his rar'
powers of administration and executive
methods. He was one of the few meI
holding high position who did no
waste valuable hours by giving hi
personal attention to petty details. HI
never consumed his time in reading
over court-martial proceedings, or fig
uring up the items Of supplies on hand
or writing unnecessary letters or com
| ua oil !.