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January, 1863 DOUGLASS MONTHLY 777 [[3 ruled columns]] [[column 1]] a penny to spend for anything but bread." - Sewing schools has been established, and wereof great service, but they must respond to the sentiments of a visitor to one of them, when he said--"the mind is confounded by the thought that young persons of a class so respectable, bearing for the most part in their countenances and manners all the traces of a life long accustomed to comfort ad plenty, and in a large proportion of instances the still more striking marks of education and moral refinement, should be brought in multitudes to such a condition, that between them and the cold depths of absolute starvation to death there is nothing but the thin film of parish relief, or of this charitable and from their neighbors." The facts, that the Chairman said in conclusion, were of fearful import. IN the town of Preston, with a population of 83,000, there were actually relieved last week 16,619 persons, or one fifth of the inhabitants. They, therefore, saw the magnitude of the difficulties which must be overcome--the mass of wretchedness which must be alleviated.--It was simply the operative class on whom the misfortune had fallen; there were thousands who had been accustomed to live in luxury, comparatively speaking, who were reduced to the very verge of starvation. The necessities of the case could only be met by liberal and systematic efforst, and it would not do to lift up their eyes and simply ejaculate "Be ye clothed, and be ye fed," for they knew that such a faith was doubly useless to him who professed it, and altogether unavailing for those in whose behalf it might professedly be exercised, but it was a case which required the exercise of practical benevolence.-- [[italics]] Northern Daily Express. [[/italics]] [[line]] [[bold]] DEOVTION AND HEROISM OF A CONTRABAND [[/bold]] --- [[bold]] AN INCIDENT OF THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. [[/bold]] At the blood battle of Fair Oaks, Va., the rebels during the first day's fight drove Gen. Cayse's division from their camping-ground, and rested for the night, confident that the morrow would give them a chance to drive the Yankee invader beyond the Chickahominy. But just a daylight that morning, Heintzelman's corps reinforced our line, and at daybreak were hurled against the rebel foe. For a long time the issue was doubtful. The line swayed to and fro; but at last the Exelsior Brigade--the heroes at Williamsburg--were ordered to charge. That charge is a matter of history. gave us the battle-ground of Fair Oaks. During the month of June, the brigade held the ground they won, and skirmishes with the rebels were of daily occurrence. One afternoon word was sent to General Sickles that the enemy was advancing in force, and every preparation was at once made for battle. A few shots were heard from pickets but a few hundred yards in advance of our battery, an then all was quiet. What meant that quietness? What were the rebels doing? Several orderlies sent out to the pickets, failed to bring any satisfactory intelligence. Gen. Sickles turned to Lieut. Palmer, one of his aids, and acting assistant adjutant-general, and directed him to take a squad of cavalry and wride cautiously with our pickets. Palmer was a noble fellow--young, handsome, a perfect gentleman, a graceful rider, a gallant soldier. He was the pride of the brigade. Forgetful of the caution given him, with the impetuosity characteristic of youth, he dashed forward at a full gallop, with a saber drawn--He came to the first bend in the road, and (fatal mistake) kept on. He came to the second bend, and as he turned it directly across the road was a company of rebel infantry drawn up to receive him. They fired. One ball crashed through that handsome face into his brain, while another tore the arm that bore aloft his trusty blade. The shots were heard at the battery; and in a moment Palmer's riderless horse, bleeding from a wound in its neck, galloped from the woods, followed by the squad of cavalry, who told the General the untimely fate of his aid. "Boys," said the General to the veterans who clustered around to hear the story, "Lieut. Palmer's body lies out in that road." Not a word more needed saying. Quickly the men fell in, and a general advance of the line was made to secure it, [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] Whilst the cavalry men were telling the story, a negro servant of Lieut. Palmer's was standing by. Unnoticed, he left the group; down that road--the Williamsburg turnpike--he went; he passed our picket line, and alone and unattended he walked along that avenue of death to so many, not knowing what moment he would be laid low by a rebel bullet, or be made a prisoner, to undergo the still worse death--a life of slavery. Upon the advance of our line, that faithful servant was found by the side of his dead master; faithful amid all the horrors of the battle-field--even in the jaws of death. None but those who knew the locality--the gallant men that make up Hooker's division--can appreciate the heroism that possessed that contraband. That road was lined with sharp-shooters--a wounded man once lay in it three days, neither party daring to rescue him. The act of that heroic unknown (for I regret that I cannot recall his name) but faithful contraband, was one of the most daring of the war, and prompted by none other than the noblest feelings known to the human breast.--Independent. [[line]] [[bold]] REBEL WOMEN OF THE SOUTH. [[/bold]] ----- To persons acquainted with the South, the fact of its being a great sham in its assumptions of culture, generosity, elegance and chivalry, has long been familiar. Still, there are many of our officers who had no knowledge of Secessia until they had "invaded its sacred soil"; and it is amusing to hear the surprise they express at what they have seen. So much had they been imposed upon by the professions of Southern people and the Southern press, that they had expected to find beautiful and intellectual women, tasteful and luxurious homes, broad and sunny fields, charming and hospitable towns, this side of Mason and Dixon's line. They have looked in vain for the seductive groves, the murmuring fountains, the fascinating divinities in crinoline, they had conjured up to their excited fancy. But in their stead, they have found dreary forests,stagnant pools, and homely, snuff-dipping females, whom no poet's imagination could idealize into loveliness, or soften into grace. Last Sunday, I attended three of the churches in La Grange--the Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopalian--and took an artistic view of the best feminine society of the town. One of the least ill-looking of the number I observed was privately engaged in that peculiarly Southern accomplishment of "dipping," which prevails hereabout to a most disgusting extent. Indeed, the custom is almost universal--The poor whites and the rich whites vie with each other in this aesthetic habit, and have suffered greatly and complained bitterly of the lack of snuff in the South since the braaking out of the war. Poor creatures, how are they to be pitied! Nearly all of the women I have met in Tennessee--at the public houses, in the streets, and in church--are unmistakable evidences of their attachment to this great social vice.--Some of them expectorate like a tobacco-chewing sailor, and nauseate the shocked sense that beholds this degradation. What hope can there be of Southern beauty and Southern refinement, when the delicately-reared women of Secessia persist in a habit which must disgust every man of feeling, deal a death blow to all the gentle emotions of a kindred sympathy, and strangle the gallantry that every gentleman entertains for a cultivated woman? In this part of Tennessee, the most rabid of the Secessionists are men originally from the North, not a few of whom are in the "Confederate" army, outdoing the Rebels in their active prosecution of the Rebellion, and earning for themselves the unenviable title of the most traitorous of the traitors. One of these was captured the other day, at Lamar. His name is Cloud. He holds a Captain's commission in the Southern service, and was formerly a resident of a small village in northern Vermont. He went to Mississippi some seven or eiget years since, in the capacity of a school-teacher, and soon captivated the affections of a young woman who possessed a very bad education and a number of negroes, [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] (by the way, the Yankees seem to be particular favorites with the Southern women,) and married her plantation, including her among the incumbrances. At an early day he assumed the attitude of a violent and uncompromising Disunionist, and was one of the first persons in his adopted State to raise a company of cavalry for the war. Since then he has obtained an extended reputation for skill, energy and daring--has fought two duels, and led a number of gellant charges, losing in one of them two-thirds of all his men. The Southerners laud him to the skies, and do not hesitate to pronounce him as brave a fellow as ever drew a saber. It is singular that Northern men, when they do go South, outdo the Southeners in all their own boastful achievements--drinking more, boasting louder, playing higher, and fighting better than the choicest sons of the pseudo chivalry of the land of cotton and contumacy.-- [[italics]] Tennessee Cor. of N. Y. Tribune. [[/italics]] [[line]] PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR.--One of the most painful manifestations of that proud superiority of race which slavery has produced, and that scorn almost universal of the poor and weak, is seen in the prejudice against persons of color--This extends, not only to grown me, and women but even to children. It betrays itself in unkind words and looks of contempt. We are often witnesses of a spirit such as that exhibited in a little incident related in The Advocate and Guardian: "A little daughter of an estimable family was recently taking a pleasant ramble in the Central Park, in company with a school-mate about the same age. Presently there came tripping hand-in-hand along the flower-scented path, two bright looking, well-behaved children neatly attired, and as full of happiness as though their complexion were like alabaster. 'See there!' exclaimed the child of better fortune, 'Look at those two little niggers; what business have they to be walking in here? I should'nt think they would be allowed to come in the Park.' "'But they wont harm us.' responded her companion; 'they can enjoy it as much as we, and I like to see them look so happy.' "Thus the school girls gave expression to the different views that had doubtless been inculcated by their home training. The parents of both these children are members of Christian Churches, but, judging from this incident, must have a different estimate of Christian responsibility. In the one case a bitter prejudice has been imbibed against fellow-beings made in the image of god, and wholly blameless for the lines of light or shade that he saw fit to blend in their house of clay In the other the hearth s been kept kept from prejudice which of these children manifted the spirit of christ." Can anything be more cruel than such a prejudice as this? It is an offense against man and against god. 'who has made of one blood all that dwell upon the earth." 'Truly he that despiseth the poor reproacheth his maker.'--N. Y. Evangelist. [[line]] AN officer in one of the colored regiments in Louisiana says in a recent letter: "You would be surprised at the progress the blacks make in drill and in all the duties of soldiers. I find them better deposed to learn, and more orderly and cleanly, both in their persons and quarters, than the whites. Their fighting qualities have not yet been tested on a large scale, but I am satisfied that, knowing as they do that they will receive no quarter at the hands of the Rebels, they will fight to the death. As an old Democrat, I felt a little repugnance at having anything to do with negroes, but having got fairly over that, am in the work. They are just as good tools to crush rebellion with as any that can be got." There are three regiments in service; the first is composed of freemen, the second has some that were slaves, while the latter is composed almost wholly of the latter class. The headquarters of the first is of La Fourche Crossing, 52 miles from New Orleans, guarding 36 miles of the Opelousas Railroad. The second is between there and the city. The third is close by the first, working on sugar plantations, [[/column 3]]
