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Friends At The War

Friends At The War image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
April
Year
1863
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Pers nis who lnvo not near anti dear relutives and frienda at the war, must find Mime of the columna i.f thé newspapers exceedingly dull. VV hat eau bc more uninviting, tur iustan.ee, to the uninteres cd reader than the long list of the killed and wounded after a great battlc. To lt ï in it is dryer than a catalogue or a dictiouary. Ho looks at the fout ing, and shuddera as he thinks of the great uuinbcr of' gallan t fellows wlio have fiono to tlieir last account, or are dooined to bo ;aid up for weeks or ïnontlis in beds of sufforing Uut this part of the paper, "rom wh ch lie hastily turns, will be scanned by ttiousauds of eager eyes, while chcoks are palé and nerves aro all unstrung in the mad auticipatio .: that, one Dame wilt be fouud in tliat fatal list. No record of a lottery drawing was ever searched vvitli such an intonso interest. Elappmess, like itself, p rliaps, lvangs on the chance whether that one name is uti' r the hfiad of killed or wouuded or not. ff tiot then comes a pamful eagerness (wbich is hopa doubtiug agaiust itself) to hear fi oia the absont one. Not tiliche tardy mail bringg a letter with the assuraaee that, he is not fcratehed, is ;his distressing auxiety pat to rest - to 3e revived with every battlo in which bis regi.nent is supposed to b eugaged. Al! the mental suflorin:8 of the soldier, in consequence of his absence í rom hume, are far less than those wbich iiis wif.;, or lis motlier, or his sisters, foei for iiini. To many readers, no war news is vrorth reading unloss it comes from the Anay of the Potoiuiic, Vicksburg, Muri aoro New Orleatis, Ne born, Narth Carolina, Port Royal, or Fortregs M on roe. These are tho pi v o tal poiotn of operation ; and infcelligendfe frora h'ss amous positions. wliere one or two regimüiits are qnartered scems to thoni en tirely euperfluMus. " What is the use,'' t.hey say, "of TASting upace on these tri liog dotailH. A little ckinniili in Missouri, ar Sestero Tennessee, or Georgia, or Florida, is of no account. It, doesn't atfi'Ct tho oee wny or tho other." True - but it does most powevfully affect the h-ippiiiess of thoge who have relativvs stationed at tliese out of üw vv;iy posta To theiu, those litt!eraids and rene nitros weir t!ie aspect, of great eonfltots. The name, of e: laut;hably grotesque which paragrapliirtg tr'v'0 to these uiininture battlcfl, une .weil roaieii)b(-rod bv hosti'of peop'e who could not recall one liulf of tho tirios or liamos of the immense eugaginneiita in which the Army of the Potoiuan or of the Misnisgippi have par ticiputrd. Sudi pcople oomplain that tho news fVoui New Orleaos, Port Iloal, the Rappslianuotk ai.d toksbura takë up uHogïther too uiueh room in the newspapers Tlie otuer d:iy tlicrr camp a telegr%ph!c sciap from Fortrcss Monro gihtfrrfr that arraiiirt'iiuMits lid been m'ide for the chance of all prisionera. Those at RichiDond were to be releaged on one day, and thoso at Wilraingtón on another - This piece of intelliironpe w;ik reecived with the utmost, eqnai imity by the m eral public No raniiin wrre fir3, no rxira flas were displayed. Uut the newfi of tho frrtmdest viptory "f the v-r would iiüt, be hai'ed by soniü hundredsof pcop'e with half of t !ie joy whicn ffiot paoifio little item has brouirlit. They mny b; a's putriotro .-is they picase, and profesa to bo willinjr to saerifice hocatonibs of husbands, ons and bro'thers o:i the altar of their cpunfry, bul in the in most ri'cesss of tlieir Imman nainre they inii8t. 1k triad that their relatire was cap turn! ;:sV:k) of bÖng killed (as the least of' two pvils), and that ho i cotuing home on a short furlough before joiuing his r;giiv.Pi)t Nono but those wlio have frienda at the war can ippreRÍ.1'0 what war is It dos no' ríf.-ct business as mueh as' rwag expeoted. Men nro not only gfetting n livinir but prosperinjr af home. The superficial lifo of the c: y and the country isas light and gay as ever It is only in the fumily circle, where n loved one is daily and hourly missed n-rd cverv tliou'.'ht of liim is mihgled wiih an acute apprehension of his doath, that war is knoivn in all Lts undisguised horrors.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus