Evening Star Newspaper, August 14, 1897, Page 15

THE EVENING ‘STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1897-24 PAGES. 15 <= Ee, were A TALE OF THE SEA. Wack asia 7 _ | Germany, and costs $ for 200 pounds. The WITHIN EASY REACH | past on was only fair, as the catches Virginia Beach Has Many Other At- tractions as Well, INCLUDING ABSENCE OF MOSQUITOES A Morning Visit to the Big Life- | imaginary rescue. Saving Station. TALES OF THE STORMY SEA ——__— of The Event ACH, Au: } Bpectal Correspondenc Norfolk ties undoubtedly productive world. M the in of mest glide in and out of the numerous and rive that cut into the level untry, loaded with melons, corn and small vegetables for the Norfolk for shipment to the neighboring citi as far rth as New York and i The original soil of this section was mest unpromising to the farmer, but a plentiful application of brains and phosphate hes le it to blossom and bring forth fruit and vegetables. Princess Anne county has also produced Virginia Beach, and Virginia Beach, fn turn, produces a desire to do nothing at le‘sure and to keep it up es long as you are within the circle of its wil Virginia Beach is directly 2 the ocean A Surfman. about cighteen miles from No: rn by train is made in twent. © traveler from 1 time order Mr. V spill cigar ashes on tability. heol respectabili- -e and @ sort of “what are the waves saying” pensiveneas tinges the voice of the chief thirst-dis couraxer as he asks you whether you will take seltzer or ginger ale with it. nds of unseemly revelry boardwalk, no plebeian crowding. of the dime museum barker and whirl-of the merry-go-round are i it is well. We will go to the county fair in season, for the majesty of the sea is more to be de- sired than the fat woman and the multi- tudinous voices thereof than the vocal wreckage of a@ ten-dollar-a-weck soubrette in a « meert hall. And speaking of ing: nia Beach has no mos- quitoes. I counted four in the dining recom < ening during a land breeze, but they not seem at home, and lacked spirit. You can sit outdoors ail evening with your oniy girl (for the time being) without your remarks punctured with one on my left shoulder, please, y of the ladies wear full dress broken whiteness of their shoul), ala! nonument to departed mosqu sence of the ue to the enterprise of the Beach ent in building a flume or in! re to the lakes of shallow, still water inland, on the surface of which the Mcsquitoes hatched in swarms. By dig- rough several hundred feet of ng sand, and after having the work de- d by storms and high seas, the con- nection was made, and the lakes kept in Motion by the inrush of the sea at one end, which force the water out at the other, Bome distance up the beach. At All Hours. During a talk with Capt. "Thomas of the beach fs heries I learned that in season that ‘s, from March to. June—genuine eaviare is made here, sent to New York @nd shipped abroad, where oil is added to it and it is then sent back with the {in- ed label, much improved by its sea yage. The salt used in preserving comes from ot large, although they have run as sh as fifty-five sturgeon at a catch, yield- | ing twenty pounds of roe to each fish. The Life-Saving Station. August 1 is the beginning of the season at the life-saving station, and the men ai No. 2, or Sea Tack, station are getting down to work. The station is about half a mile up the beach and is a point of in- terest directly after breakfast, when every- body turns out to see the practice with the life lines and surfboat; and if you desire an experience, you will be permitted to don a cork shirt and go out with the crew on an A Trucker. This part of the coast is extremely dan- gerous in bad weather, as the numerous stern posts and skeletons of once buoyant fabrics that strew the sands testify. Be- fere the life-saving station was established many lives were lost that might have been saved; but it is a close chance at best, and often the would-be rescued and rescuers go down together, as was the case with the good ship Dictator, which was wrecked off this coast in ‘91,’ and whose elaborutely carved figurehead stands on the board walk just north of the hotel. The story of the wreck of the Dictator was told to me by a weather-bronzed, dry- whiskered fisherman, with many nautical terms and much chewing of tobacco. It happened on a_ particularly boisterous night, when the sea and the sky were join- ed in wild carousal of sleet and rain and the distress signals could hardly be seen from the shore, although the ship lay only two or three hundred yards out. A heavy sea was running, and the cold was so in- tense that the life crew were urged by the assembled fishermen not to make a launch, but the captain of the ‘‘wrack,” so called by the narrator, signaled that he was a “Masonic,” and the captain of the life crew felt fraternally bound to go to his aid, which he did. The life boat made its way through the mountainous surf under the lee of the vessel, and with difficulty succeeded in taking aboard about twenty of the crew, but in a moment a heavy sea threw the life poat with its half frozen burden under the fore chains of the Dictator and swamped it, drownirg the two Captains, twenty sail- ors and seven of the life savers. On finishing his story the old man’s eyes wandered across the quiet sands and gen- tly tumbling surf that spread its peaceful mirrors to the morning sky and reflected the romping legs of little children whose playful calling could be heard with start- ling distinctness up and down the gleam- ing shore, to where but a few paces di: tant the wild riders of the storm had driv- en the gallant Dictator to her death, and the gloom of a wild and wintry night and strewed the dreary morning sands with the liféless bodies of her crew. Tollers of the Deep. There are a hundred or more fishermen > | from their courage feet up on his porch | who toil at the neighboring nets, and who and knowledge of the | sev are a valuable auxiliary to the regu- lar life service in time of trouble. The | fishertes are noted on this part of the coast and the hotels and cottages are supplied with all manner of sea food right from the nets. Great quantities of fish are shipped to the principal cities of the coast, packed | im fce. At times the catches are so heavy that many of the fish are unfit for use be- fore they can be gotten out of the pounds. | The princtpa} fish caught are sturgeon in season, pompano, porgie, rock, Spanish Figure Head of the Dictator. mackerel, blue fish, flounders, trout, butter fish and spots, all of which are most pleas- ant to the taste; not to mention Lynn Haven bays, in August, on their pearly shells, with a plenitude of ice and a slice of lemon, and music by the band, the hoarse whispers of the sea and “a little tabasco sauce, please.” It is something to remember when you are back in your boarding house, with its respeztable dreari- ness and Irish stews. Lynn Haven bay is enly a few miles from here, and the oys- ters seem to retain their attractiveness, despite the prevailing scarcity of r’s. To the judicious mind the lack of excitement is the principal charm of Virginia Beach; however, there are means for keeping oc- cupied. There is a well-kept bowling alley in a long, low, rakish building back of the hotel, boating and fishing, pool and bill+ jards, while the smooth beach is a natural cycle path, where the scorcher may scorch for forty miles straight away. And if you desire there is the club not far distant, where you may feed your money to the tiger in a proper and euntioment way. Last Monday night witnessed the opening of the Inverness Theater. It is a neat lit- tle frame building, and has a seating ca- pacity of three or four hundred, a com- plete stage equipment, and is lighted by electricity and furnished with sli win- dows, so that it can on occasion be wn open to the evening breezes, And over all are the ceaseless voices of the sea, upac- companied by the droning of the pious mosquito saying grace over his meat. CHAN. SETTLING DISPUTES Sailor§ in the Navy Are Ever Ready With Their Fists. FIGHTS THAT LEAD T0 BETTER FEELING Games of Chance Under the Very Eyes of the Officers. BIG SUMS CHANGE HANDS Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. HE CIVILIAN WHO goes aboard, to look it over, an American man-of-war of today —or, in truth, a man- of-war of any na- tion, for at bottom they differ but little —sees all the best of it, The bluejackets are aligned before him, at quarters on the spar deck, per- haps, looking as if butter would not melt in their mouths. They stand at atten- tion ir their mustering shirts, strong, sup- ple, with fixed eapressions of alertness, all apparently nimbussed by the beatitude of a bland and perfect innocence. “Here at least,” reflects the civilian ship visitor, “be men who dwell in amity and brotherliness together.” If the civilian ship visitor goes the length of putting such a reflection in words, in the hearing, say, of the officer of the deck, he is met with so pitying a smile that he asks questions. The officer accomplishes the civilian’s disillusionment, and teaches him the pure absurdity of expecting something like 500 full-blooded, salt-sprayed, lye- burnt, tar-stained men of the sea to pass their days of storm and calm together, in the cramped, jostling space beneath their te’gallant fo’c’s’le, with no more friction than that of a new Arcadia or a Bellamy ccmmunity, and with never the noise or scurry of hot-tempered tumult. All the things that go on, cruise in and cruise out, frcm cat-head to propeller alley, among the enlisted men on an American warship do not nestle in the eye of any officer of the deck; but any such an officer who has worn sword-belt long enough to tar the gilt of the buckle knows of the “scraps” be- tween man-of-war’s men that take place beneath his ve feet while he paces the quarterdeck, under shining stars or skies o2 lead. A Necessary Evil. The regulation against fighting is per- haps the deadest of all naval regulations. It is impcssible of enforcement. If it were enforced to the letter, pretty nearly all hands among the men forward would be in the “brig” from one year’s end to the other. Fighting is practically a necessai evil among men who wear their country’ uniform for a livelihood. Officers of ex- perience blink at it. They know the bad, contaminating results of bitterness between @ pair of bluejackets under the foreeastle. They have learned that it is better the thing should be fought out and done with than that dozens of men should be drawn into a quarrel that festers and grows un- less the head of it 1s broken by a decisive battle between the two men who have been snarling at each other. People who have made ocean voyages often dwell upon the weariness which has overcome them at the sight of their fellow voyagers’ coun- tenances toward the end of a passage. This is a feeling which is aggravated a thous- ard-fold amid the uncomfortable surround- ings of a war vessel's forecastle, the hun- dreds of occupants of which are obliged to be constantly together for from one to three years. Each man becomes thoroughly aware of all his mate’s little characteris- tics, and after a while, whether these char- acteristics be good or bad, they jar upon him if only on account of their monotony. Thus friction is generated, and it 1s for this Teoson that the crew of a man-of-war just returned to the United States after a three- years’ cruise in foreign waters is generally such a sour-looking lot, even as concerns the officers aft, who become quite as sick of each other as do the men forward. Interesting Preliminaries, : Hardly a day passes that there is not at least one scrap on board most men-of-war, with the promise of a heavier battle to fol- low. A blue jacket seats himself on an- other's ditty-box, and, on being roughly ordered by the box’s owner to vacate, he refuses, and consigns the owner to a much less moist place than Davy Jones’ locker. The men come together, two or three blows are exchanged, and then, as by com- mon consent, each man draws away, both fecling that the “Jimmy Legs” (1. ¢., the master-at-arms) is not far distant, and neither caring for a trick in the “brig.” Having thus become involved in the minor fistic argument of the deck, the two blue jackets are looked to by the entire ship's company to bring their affair to a satistac- tory conclusion. The mere exchange of growls between the two men doesn't go. “Pipe down there, ye man-of-war chaws, and settle the thing right!” is the general remark hurled at them by all hands when they meet In mere centests of cuss words, and the sailor who is idered to be the agerieved man is watched carefully to see if he makes any preliminary moves toward arranging a regular fight. He almost al- Ways does. Nearly all the regular fights between blue jackets aboard ship are pulled off down be- low in one of the fire rooms or in an empty bunker. The empty bunker is pre- ferred on account of its greater isolation. When a fight is to come off between two blue jackets below all hands know all about it, often including the master-at- arms himself, but very few of the men, unless they are intimates of the combat- ants, expect invitations to the fray. There 1s not room in a bunker for more than half a dozen friends of each man, and even with this number the space is rather con- tracted. With a second each, and a referee agreed upon by both, the men, stripped naked to the waist, go at it. The fights are not of the rough and tumble order. The men fight according to regular prize ring rules, and their shipmates are present to see that the rules are complied with. As many as fifty rounds are sometimes fought. Ordi- narily, one of the men goes under by the time the tenth round is called. If the men are unequally matched, and one of them is getting palpably the worst of it, all hands in the bunker agree that the thing should stop, and it does siop. If the contestants are about of a sort, the fight is carried on to the end, until a Knock-out blow is planted ‘by one of them, or both are too weak to go on. At the conclusion of the fight the onlookers quietly depart from the bunker, and ascend to the deck by differ- ent engine room lacders, so as not to at- tract the attention of the officer of the deck. “Fell Down a Ladder.” Both men generally get pretty thoroughly mauled and bruised up in these bunker fights, and, when the battle is over, they jump into their uniforms and repair to the sick bay to get themselves patched up with arnica, court plaster, etc. The surgeon knows at a glance what ails them, but, for the sake of form, he asks them “what the trouble is. They have both fallen down a ladder. Both at the same time? No, sir, they fell down different ladders. “That curious, the surgeon with a smile and a far-away look in his eyes, scrib- bling an account of their injuries in his record, and then he orders the apothecary to dress their wounds. This is the end of the bunker fight. Fifteen minutes after the two men leave the sick bay with bandages around their heads and a strong scent of liniment emanating from their persons they are likely to be seen with their wound- ed heads together over a ditty box, confi- dentially comparing letters and photo- graphs. When these bunker fights take place at sea, as once in a while they do, they are often pretty serious irs, on account of the danger of fighting small space in a heavy sea, when the ship seems to betray an inclination to turn turtle. Bunker fight- et broken oat arms, to say ured on such occa- sions, mmanding officer is: fn to take cognieance!of the Aght and pur the men n they get well. Another regulation that is im- ible of enforcement on a men-of-war is that which prohibits gambling. American man-of-war’s men have @ penchant for the game of American draw poker. They ex- hibit ingenuity of a high order fi de schemes whereby they may indulge their Joy in poker and in ott games of chance with money stakes. It might naturally be thought that on shipboard it would be as simple as anything we to ect viol tions of the stringent bling regulation; nevertheless, the marings and blye jackets, often to the extent of two-thirds of the crew, contrive to grati their natural or atquired taste for gambling for days, and occasionally for weeks, after the serving out of monthly money. Moreover, they frequently play their poker, pjnochle or seven-up right under the noses ,of the of- ficers, with scarcely any danger of detec- tion and punishment. This is maite possible by the high standard iof honor which is characteristic of man-of:war’s men in the matter of paying gambling debts. In order to have a case against a sailor or marine for gambling, the man must be discovered red-handed in the act of either passing or receiving money from one or the other of the men with whom he 1s playing. Thor- cvghly aware of this, the men have devised a-simple plan to meet it. They play on credit, adjustments of all outstanding ob- lgations to be made at the wind-up of the game. It is done in this way: Poker on the Quiet. Man-of-war's men are permitted to play cards openly, for amusement, whenever the smoking lamp is lit, which Is during meat hours and after the bo’sun’s mate has Piped knock off work. If the blue jackets who want to play poker after monthly money has been served out are new m for whom the compilation of regulations 13 a doomsday book, they are likely to with- draw to one of the empty coal bunkers, to one of the fire or engine rooms, or to some obscure corner of the berth deck, to hazard their earnings. But if they are old-timers, sensible and level-headed, they will do no such a thing, for the ™master-at-arms, whose business it is to ferret out the gam- THE LAST BATTLE OF THE ‘WAR. blers and hale them “to the mast,” ver often takes it into his head to make 4 descent upon these secluded nooks, where the layers, over-confident of their’ safety, become careless of the clinking of the coin on the board before them. The long-headed ones, on the contrary, Squat themselves down on the main deck or on the topgallant forecastle, and start the game going under the glare of the sun and of the officer of the deck. If they are to play poket, two decks of cards with the same kinds of backs are produced. One of these decks is cut in two, and the halves of cards thus made serve us chips. A casual looker-on would fail to distinguish these chips from the discard, and by this means the most essential feature of the same, the clatter of the vari-colored ivories, is gotten rid of. The banker dishes out the half-card chips to the players, receiving no payment in return. That is all attended to after the finish of the game. The chips are generally worth 25 cents. ‘The a counts between the banker and the players are accvretely carried on both sides by the mental process, and there is never any brawling over them—at least during the progress of the game. When a player runs out of chips he buys either from the bank- EY IDA M. TARBELL. er, or, if the banker’s chips are also at a : low ebb, from the more plethoric pile of an- : other of the players. The individual ac- counts between the players are, in turn, kept mentally with the greatest exactn When the game is over, which ts generally at the last echo of the “pipe down” whistle, when the lights, except the standing on go out, the players adjourn to some quiet part of the forecastle to settle their finan- clal differences. But if any of the men thinks he has got the worst of it in the accounting he does not express his dissatis- faction unt'l the next day, for the blue jacket or marine who speaks in a loud tone after “pipe down” has gone {s likely to find himself “at the mast,” ‘before the officer of the deck, in a jiffy. He, there- fore, nurses his grievance until. the next day. There are very few of these griev- ances, however. Beautiful Innocence. Now, the beauty of this plan of Playing poker on a man-of-war consists in the fact. that it would be impossible for any of the officials of the ship's police department, commissioned or enlisted, to swear that men discovered so playing were gambling. Eyed suspiciously and taken to task by the master-at-arms, the sergeant of the marine guard, or even the officer of the deck, or the admiral of the fleet, for the matter of that, the men are playing for. fun; the halves of cards are merely counters. Isn't the game of casino permitted on this packet, they'd like to know? How long has there been any regulation prohibiting the playing of euchre on these frigates, they’d like to inquire? Wronged, aggrieved, in- eulted, martyrs to a martinet, the players bear the marks of the injury to their feel ings on their faces as the accusing officer retires in confusion. And then they go right on playing. There is very rarely any limit in these poker games between the enlisted men, and large sums of money often change hands in the accountings. There is no welching. A welcher's life would be made s0 miserable for him by all hands forward that he would find it expedient to desert at the first op- portunity. The game is usually in the hands of a dozen or so strong players not long after monthly money has been served out, and the tussle between these giants for the final possession of the bulk of the crew's money is often a prolonged affair, absorbingly interesting to the entire ship's company forward. The men who have dropped out, broke, do not stand around st, however, for if they did they would draw attention to the game, something they are exceedingly careful not to do. But al hands know being done in the battle right along ns of little signals only understood among men-of-war's men, and this infor- mation fs quickly disseminated throughout the entire ship. Not infrequently the money which has been earned and hazard- ed by great majority of the crew finds its way into the pocket of a single man. This happened on board one of the vessels of the South American station a few years ago. A marine, playing with perfect squareness, gathered together nearly $4,000 of the crew's wages—the ship had been for some time in quarantine, and money was plentiful up forward—and promptly desert- ed at Pernambuco. He has not yet justified the prediction of the officers that he would eventually turn up again on board one of the ships, broke, and under another name. Blue jackets who have just been paid off and received sums varying from $300 to $2,000, after a three years’ cruise, often hazard the entire amount in these games, and, if they cleaned out, immediately ship over and begin the accumulation of another hoard. They make no whimper over their enforced foregoing of rides on palace cars and other delights of life ashore, which they had pictured for them- selves at the close of their cruise, but go on shining their bright work without a murmur. CLOSE OF THE WAR Lee’s Surrender Does Not Mark the Exact Date. THE BATTLE OF PALMETTO RANCH Last Volley Fired by a Regiment of Colored Infantry. SOME DKESULTORY FIGHTING (Copyright 1897, the 8. 8. McClure Co.) Written for Tb: Evening Star. The surren;!er of Lee to Grant on April 9, 1865, is #imost universally set as the end of the civil war. But if by the “end” of the war *e mean the return of peace, the civil war was still many months from a close in AMril, 1865. The surrender of Lee, in fact, {was merely the beginning of the end. 4 It was notyuntil April 26 that Johnston surrendered %0 Sherman, but for some time after Le::'s and Johnston's armies had been paroled? bands not included in the capitulation jvaged war in the east. it was not, in fact, until the end of June thet these hostife} military organizations had all surrenderda. Even then guerrillas ex- isted in vario:'s parts of the mountains and in secluded villages, and prowled about the towns. Gene%al Halleck, who commended the military Hivision of the James after Lee’s surrender, reported the presence of numbers of tHese bands in his vicinity, but called them ¢-mply outlaws, and he said, too, that in most cases they were probably made up as niuch from deserters from the Union armies as from rebel guerrilla bands. Such a stat: of things was really to be expected. The disbanding of the armies threw great bodies of men adrift. Those from the north went back to an organized society. Shops, farms and factories cried for them. Tlie great mass of men freed was absorbed. almost at once. Yet even in the north the effect of the breaking up of the army was visible in spots and un- comfortably s« for a time. In the south the condition was 4 thousand times more com- plicated. All those commercial and indus- trial enterprises which took up the men of the north vere destroyed. Plantations were ruined, industries had disappeared. Most serious 5f all, the whole system ot labor was disorganized. Mea who had been property owners went back to their homes to find hopeless desolation waiting. Because of their superior pluck and intelli- gence they tock hold of the task of recon- struction immediately. There was more chance for them than for the thousands of men who before the war had lived by salaries or on day’s wages. For this class there was almost no hope. The men who had employed them were forced to do their own clerical and manual work now. Hun- dreds of these men, seeing no chance, kept up their warlike attitude. They found arms in one way or another, and taking to the forests or the mountains for months they carried on a bushwhacker’s war. In the west the surrender of organtzea forces was slower than in the east. It was not until May 3 that General Richard Tay- lor, comn.anding in Mobile, surrendered his army, and the trans-Mississippi region was much more obstinate about giving in. it should be said for them, however, that it was some time before they knew of Lee’s surrender, and even then their information was by rumor only. As late as May 11 a battlo of some importance was fought in Texas. This engagement is known as the battle of Palmetto ranch. It came about In this way: The Last Battle. Near the mouth of the Rio Grande is an island known as Brazos, where, in the spring of 1865, a considerable force of fed- eral troops were stationed. A few miles up the river was a station, Palmetto ranch, where confederate forces guarded a quan- tity of cattle and supplies. On the even- ing of May 11 some 250 men, all colored infantry, with a small detachment of un- mounted cavalry, was dispatched from Brazos Santiago against Palmetto ranch. Early the morning of the 12th the post was reached, an}, after a vigorous attack, the confederatve were driven out, and a large quantity ot stores were seized by the attacking party. The commander of the federal party did not feel strong enough to hold the place, and so fell back and sent for reinforceme..cs. On their arrival he at- tacked again, and again droye out the co: federates. This time he burned up barracks and stores, cleaning out the post entirely. The victory was short-lived, for the same day (May 13) the confederates came back with a larger force, and drove off their as- sailants. The federals retired, fighting as they went. The battle was kept up for three hours, but finally the confederates eal gained the da: This battle is called by A Direct Appeal. many the last battle of the civil war. Jef- t ferson Davis, in his “Rise and Fall of the a Confederacy,” speaks of it so, and adds: “Thus in the last,’ as in the first battle of the war, the confederates were successful.” The commander of the colored troops, who did the bulk of the fighting at Palmetto Ranch, writes in his official report of the affair: “The last volley of the war, it is believed, was fired by the @2d U. 8. Colored Infantry about “unset of the 18th of May, 1865, tetween W hite’s ranch and the Boca Chica, Texas.” 4 Mexican Aid. This battle is remarkable for other rea- sons than its date and the gallantry of the colored troops. It is one of the times when the imperialists of Mexico forgot them- selves so far as to lend aid to the confed- erate cause. The federals were fired upon several times from the Mexican side of the = The Wonderfully Named. From the Atlanta Corstitution, < “Gudg" has gone to Pan-a-ma, Hodge to Honevcorb Baddes some good office Houk fe still Podger, he of Tennesse, Has his faith renewed; Squoker hopes he'll learn the ropes, ut Lothing comes)te b Wupples, Stepples, Swank and Swing Bowler, Jowler, ‘Jing— : If they 't get anything “Mack” can go und “hang! 9 From Life. i Hi He—Do you believe that money has a personality?” - “I don’t know. Why?” . - @ telegram I just got from the to ze f my “one Ege ; my. care." to “What does it say?” many high in au- “It says ‘come at once.’ ” south. "The following re- markable letter from Kirby Smith shows hcw many of the confederates felt toward the Emperor of Mexico and what they were willing to do to help establish his cause: SHREVEPORT, La., February 1, 1865. Hon. Robert Rose, Shreveport, La.: Sir—Whilst in the City of Mexico I de- sire you, on some fitting occasion, to make known to his majesty, the emperor, that in the case of unexampled catastrophe to our arms and the final overthrow of the government which I have the honor to represent as the military chief of the states west of the Mirsissippi river, an event I do not now apprehend, but which yet m Possibly occur in the purpose to leave m an asylum in Mexico. sion of erms, hav 1 ates offer, with the benefit of foreign travel and some experience, such S acquired by the command of armies actively engaged in the field for more than two years, it is my desire still to continue in the txercise of the profession of my choice. Heving scme knowledge of the French and Sparish languages, and hay- ing been on duty once on the Mexican fron- tier, my humble services and i ence as I could exert minds of many cit izens of the confederate es to those of the north, together with their intelligence, endurance and daring as soldiers, might in contemplation of pcssible collision between the imperial government and the United States of the north render ver; desirable such a corps of southern soldiers as might be induced by the offer of liberal terms to colonize the empire, and thus greatly Strengthen it. Should you find that this offer and the accompanying views are not wholly iaappropriate to be attended to, you will please tender my services to the em- Perer, and at the same time assure him of iny heartfelt wish for the eminent success of his reign, ard the honcr, welfare and happiness of his people. I am, very re- Spectfully, your obedient servant, =. KIRBY SMITH, General. Much Desultory Fighting. But while Palmetto ranch is called the last battle of the war, there was, as a matter of fact, much desultory fighting West of the Mississippi later. Kirby Smith, who commanded the troops of that region, did not surrender until May 26, and then the surrender was a farce, for Smith fled to Mexico, and his troops, who hai de- clared they would never lay down their arms, escaped to their homes, destroying — ppmaaored a carrying away arms munition to reni later day, they said. Silla ta In Arkansas, Missouri and Loutsiana there were a succession of hostilities which kept the federal forces busy, though none of the collisions can be dignified by the Dame of battles. They were merely skir- mishes with wandering guerrillas, the floating debris of the confederate army— men who had no homes, and no sense of responsibility, and who saw no life so at- tracting as that of the bushwhacker. Some- times they were caught robbing farms or stores, again they were traced to their hid- ing places in the swamps and mountains, The hunting of ‘Jayhawkers,” as the fed- erals called them, lasted for many months. Indeed, it was not until April 2, 1866, that President Johnson issued proclamation that the war was over, a proclamation which brought from Senate and House, both of which bodies were at that moment in conflict with Johnson, the sneering in- quiry: “Will the President tell us in what part of the south the war has cea in what place peace fs reall, The President, however, had specified what parts of the south he considered t quil. Georgia, South Carolina, North € lina, Virginia, Tennessee, isiana, Arkansas, Mississippi were the states he named. Texas - ted. It was not until August 20, 1866, that Johnson issued a proclamation which in- cluded Texas and which proclaimed “the insurrection is at an end” and “peace, order, tranquility and civil authority now exists in and throughout the whole of the United States.” The next year, in March, 1867, Congress declared that the date of this second proclamation should be con- sidered as the legal termination of the war. Remarkable Pension Case. It is now so considered in cases before the courts in which such a date ts neces- sary, as it has been more than once in set- tling pension claims. The whole subject was prettily argued only a few years ago in a pension case of considerable interest. This case arose from the passage by Con- gress in June, 1890, of an omnibus pension bill giving pensions to all persons who had served ninety da or more in the rebel- lion and had been honorably discharged. Among those who took advantage of this was one John Barleyoung, who had enlisted on April 19, 1866, and had been discharged on April 19, 1869. Barleyoung claimed that since the war had ended on August 20, 1866, and he had enlisted on April 19, 1866, he had served more than ninety days, and 60 was entitled to a pension. The courts, however, disagreed with him. The bill of 1890 agreed that all who served during the war of the rebellion are entitled to pensions, but evidently Congress meant by this only those whose military service was in some way connected with the suppressing of the rebellion. It did not mean those of the army who were doing ordinary military service, such as filling posts in a foreign country, fighting In- dians, protecting fisheries in Alaska. To receive a pension a man’s service must have been connected with the war. Now Barleyoung claims a pension because of service in the war between April 19, his enlistment, and August 20, the legal date of the close of the rebellion. Where did the United States govern- ment require war service at this veriod? On April 2 President Johnson had de- clared that peace was restored in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, ‘Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida. Evidently then the only state in which ilitary service against the rebellion was needed later was in Texas. Did John Barleyoung serve in Texas? Unfortunately for John, his papers showed that he had not been any- where in the vicinity of that state between April 19 and August 20, 1866, and accor- dirgly he did not get his pension. The Chronology of Events. The end of a war, like its beginning, is not made by a single act. It can not be marked by a single date. It is a progress- ive action and can only be fairly repre- sented by several dates..In the case of the civil -war the dates which are of chief What is It Worry, excesses, What it Does! ty, raring te, ond digestion perfect—it creates solid flesh, muscle and strength, becomes ity, = se2 Peaceable men don’t like * to carry but there are times when a saves a man's life. Sensible people don’t like to be al ‘ways taking medicine ;—it i: like flourishing fire-arms on every needless occasion,— but the right medicine at the right time is often a genuine life-saver. When your constitution is over-taxed by worry or extra work, or wealke ened by an attack of indigestion or bilious- ness; or whenever your natural energies are not quite up to the mark and fail to respond to the demands upon them, Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery will meet the emergency —— iy, and save you from dangerous or RH s fatal illness. It wards 0} ase Dy acting directly upon the vital organs where disease origi- nates. It restores the liver’s capacity to filter poisonous impurities out of the blood, and empowers the digestive organs to ex- tract from the food those nourishing vitaliz- ing elements which drive out disease-germs, repair wasted tissues and build up healthy and muscular force. It is the most thoroughly scientific and effectual alterative remedy ever discovered in the whole history. of medicine, and one of Dr. Pierce’s most valuable contributions to Materia Medica during his thirty years service as chief consulting physician to the Invalids’ Hotel and Surgical Institute of Buffalo, N. Y. Mrs. A. I. Gibbs, of Russellville, Logan ., writes: “I can heartily recommend or “ Medical Discovery” to any one who is troubled with indigestion and torpid liver. could not le on my left side and eo bad eat anything. I had a dull achi pain 4 my caeareainene time. Now itis all. e°5 after taking one bottle of your ‘Golden ledical Discovery. Constipation is the commonest beginn’ and first cause of many serious diseases ant it should always be treated with Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets used in connection with the “Discovery.” These are the most perfect natural laxatives and permanently cure. 1865—Tennes: declared at —Blockade raised. 1865—Grant’s last official report. Proclamation th South Carol! Tennessee Mississippi Louis: aa Proclamation August 20, 1860 that the war is at an end and that p order, tranquillity and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States. A Communion Napkin, Correspondence Boston Transcript. We have often wondered, in reading the discussions on the matter of “individual communion cups,” why the simple expe- dient had never been conside napkin borne by the celebr: ing the edge of the cup from the partaking of each successive person. This would surely be less irreverent and less revolting to the Christiaan sense than separate cups, and at the same time, would suffici-ntly prevent the real danger, thus presenting a very simple and yet effectual way of solving the problem. On partaking the communion at the old Church of St Anne's tn Lowell on Christ- mas day, we were greatly surprised and de- lighted to find this very expedient in use. The officiating clergyman held very unob- trusively ir one hand a pure white nap- kin or large doily, with whicn he quietly and gently wiped the edge of the after the partaking from it by eac’ before offering it to the next one. We would like very much to suggest this in your columns as a possible solution of the difficulty, at least to some churches, which do net wish to renounce the primi- tive custom of one cup for the one body, and yet appreciate the danger and difficulty, to be met. of a clean soe What He Ha From the Yonkers Statesman. 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