HT;0OMiPEto AM
. . A 1 Tl ...
7? I (car i - '
VOL. XIV.
isnsw BLooMiri35ir), ipa.., Tuesday, july ibvibho.
NO. 28.
THE TIMES.
4n Independent Family Newspaper,
IS PUBLISOBO BVBBT TUESUAT BT
F. MORTIMER & CO.
T1S11MH I
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eatlon.
SOLDIERS' DREAMS.
A WEEK previous to the battle of
Fair Oaks a New York volunteer
who passed the night lu a tent of a
member of the Third Michigan Infantry
got up in the morning looking very
glum and down-hearted, and when ral
lied about his fancied homesickness he
said :
" I have only a week to live 1 I had
a dream last night which has settled the
business for me and lots of others. A
week from to-day a battle will be fought
and thousands will be elaln. My regi
ment will lose over a hundred men, and
I shall be killed while charging across a
field."
The men laughed at his moody spirit,
but he turned on them and said :
" Your regiment will also be in the
fight, and when the roll is called after
the battle you will have nothing to be
merry over. The two sergeants who
were in here last night will be killed
among the trees. I saw them lying
dead as plainly as I now see you. One
will be shot in the breast, and the other
in the, groin, and dead men will be thick
around them."
The battle took place Just a week after.
The dreamer was killed in full sight of
every man in the Third before the fight
was an hour' old, and within twenty
minutes after the two sergeants and six
of their comrades were dead in the
woods, hit exactly where the dreamer
said they would be. More than fifty
men will bear witness to the truth of
this statement.
Just before the battle of Cedar Creek a
camp sentinel who was off duty tempor
arily and trying to put in a little sleep,
dreamed that he went out on a scout.
A mile to the right of our camp he came
upon a log barn, and as it began to rain
just then he sought shelter, or was about
to, when he heard voices and discovered
that the place was already occupied.
After a little investigation he ascertain
ed that three Confederate scouts .had
taken up their quarters for the night in
the place, and be therefore moved away.
The sentinel awoke with such a vivid
remembrance of details that he asked
permission to go over and confer with
one of the scouts. When the log barn
was described to this man he located it
at once, having passed it a dozen times.
The dreamer described the highway
exactly as iff was, giving every hill and
turn, and the scout put such faith in the
remainder of the dream that he took
four soldiers, one of whom was the
dreamer, and set out for the place.
Three Confederate scouts were asleep in
the straw, and were taken without a
shot being fired. The dream and its
results were known to hundreds of
Sheridan's cavalry, and has been alluded
teat re unions.
The night before the cavalry fight at
Brandy Station a trooper who slept as
bis horse jogged along in column dream,
ed that a certain Captain in his regiment
would be unhorsed in a fight next day,
and while rising from bis fall would be
wounded in the left knee. Everything
was so clear to the dreamer that he took
opportunity to find the Captain and
relate his dream.
"Go to Texas with your croaking!"
was all the thanks he' received, but be
had bis revenge. In the very first
charge, next day, the Captain was un
horsed by the breaking of the girth, and
was pitched bead over heels into a patch
of briars. As he struggled out a shell
killed bis horse and two men, and one
of the flying pieces of iron mashed the
Captain's left leg to a bloody pulp. He
ia now a resident of Ohio, and his wood
en leg Is indisputable evidence that
dreams sometimes come tn pass.
While M'Clellan was besieging York,
town the fun was not all on one side.
The Confederates had plenty of shot and
shell, and they sent them out with
intent to kill. One morning a Michigan
man who was in the trenches walked
back tot spot on which three officers
were eating breakfast and warned them
that they were in great peril. On the
night previous lie had dreamed that he
had looked at lila watch and marked
that it was a quarter of eeveu, when a
shell hit the ground behind him aud
tore up the earth lu a terrible way. It
was now twenty minutes of seven, aud
he besought the officers to leave the spot
at once. His earnest manner Induced
them to comply, and they had only
reached cover when a Confederate shell
struck the earth where they had been
grouped aud made an excavation into
which a horse could have been rolled
with room to spare.
Three days before the affair at Kelly'B
Ford a Corporal in the Birth Michigan
Cavalry dreamed that a brother of his,
who was a Sergeant In another com
pany, would have his horse killed in
action, and would almost Immediately
mount a dark bay horse with a white
nose. Within five minutes both horse
and rider would be killed by a shell.
This dream waB related to more than a
score of comrades fully two dayB before
the fight. Early in the action the Ser
geant's horse was Btruck square in the
forehead by a bullet, and dropped dead
in bis - tracks. It was scarcely three
minutes before a white-faced horse,
carrying a blood-Btalned saddle, galloped
up to the Sergeant and halted. He
remembered the dream, and refused to
mount the animal, and soon after picked
up a black horse. The white-nosed
animal was mounted by a second cor
poral in auother regiment, and horse
and rider were torn to fragments by a
shell in full sight of four companies of
the Sixth. These things may seem
very foolish now, but there was a time
when a soldier's Jream saved Gen. Kll
patrlck's life ; when a dream changed
Custer's plans for three days; when a
dream prevented Gen. Tolbert's camp
from a surprise and capture; and when
a dream gave Gen. Sheridan more accu
rate knowledge of Early'B forces than
all the scouts."
We knew when In the army a similar
result of a dream. When lying at San
dy Hook, Md., in July 1801, we had in
our company a young man of known
courage. On the morning of July 2d he
came to the captain in command and
said that be was sure that some of the
company would be hurt very soon, as
be bad dreamed that he lay on a stretch
er and a surgeon was cutting a silt up
his leg, hunting a bullet. He described
the doctor very accurately, and as he
was different from any surgeon on duty
at the post, all laughed at him. About
an hour afterward a Btrange officer was
seen coming up to head quarters when
Sergeant M said, " there comes the
man I saw in my dream, and I'll bet he
is a doctor." It proved to be so, and the
next day in a skirmish, Sergeant M
was wounded, brought in on a stretcher,
and the doctor he saw in bis dream per.
formed the operation of cutting a ball
out of bis leg.
A GOOD GHOST STORY.
NOT long since, two rustio gallants
went regular to see the same girl.
The young lady a farmer's fair daugh
ter resided just halfway between the
respective homes of ber adorers, and, as
a matter of course, when Sunday even
ing arrived, when they 'came courting,'
the distanee traveled over was the same
to both..
Now as they were jealous of one an
other, each lover tried his skill, by a
series cf manoeuvres, to drive the other
off. Affairs had gone on in this manner
for some time, yet neither bad seemed
to have made any marked progress in
the lady's regards. I do not know bow
it would have terminated, for the girl
liked them well enough but she could
not marry them both, she was puzzled
which one to choose. Whether she
wished them to fight a duel, or decide
the contest by fisticuffs, for the honor
of her band aud heart, I cannot Bay ;
but her suspense, and that of ber anx
ious lovers, was, at last, relieved in the
following manner:
As they bad exhausted human Inge
nuity in trying to outgeneral each other
they, both strange as it may seem
resolved unknown to each other, to call
to their aid the terrors of the spirit
world. Stranger yet, the same tilght,
was chosen when each should personate
a ghost, to drive the other off the field.
Well, the next Sunday evening came,
'and, attired in the habiliments of the
grave, could be seen, about nine o'clock,
our two heroes, cautiously approaching
the abode of their 'dearest dear.' The
object of ghost A. was to meet II. before
he reached the house, frighten him out
of hlB five senses, and then clime Mm
home. If A. could accomplish tills, 11.
would never dare to bIiow his ugly mug
there again.
Ghost B's object wast precisely the
same towards A., and, consequently a
fearful collision between them was luev
1 table. .
A. hud choseu a hollow pumpkin,
with two round holes cut near the top
for saucer eyes, and a huge horizontal,
parallel organ opening for the mouth.
A candle was placed burning In if, and
at a distance lu the dark, It looktd really
frightful.
13. had got some punk which looked
like burnished silver In the dark which
he Intended placing around his person,
in the night, In order to give him a
supernatural appearance ; a pair of ox
horns placed upon his bead, aud attired
in a huge winding sheet, B. would have
passed for a very respectable devil.
They met. The night was very dark,
the road somewhat muddy It was
always muddy up in Dane county bo
that they bad in a manner to feel their
way along. A turn in the road, close
by the dwelling, revealed each to the
other in their ghostly costume.
What a sight I A. saw a ghost B.
also beheld another before him. A
pumpkin head grinned horribly at
B., whilst the wlerd lanterns on B.'s
person almost Annihilated poor A.,
for he Imagined, I suppose, that It was
the evil one himself before him.
What mortal could stand this V They
could not; but, appalled, terrified, and
nearly mad with fear, they both turned
homeward and fled, with fearful outcries
bursting from their trembling lips. As
B. however, was putting in his best
paces, in re-passing the bouse, a large
mastiff, alarmed by the outcries, rushed
out, and headed him off.
The poor wretch, thinking It was bis
diabolical prosecutor In the form of a
dog, turned aghast, and went off after
A. with all his might no hat on, his
winding sheet streaming " In the wind
behind him, while the dull glaring of
his punk-wood wood ornaments gave
him, indeed the look of a demon. A.
heard the noise, and glancing behind
him, saw with horror, the phantom in
full chase. He dropped the pumpkin,
head which he bad been carrying in
bis band gave another, yet louder, yell
and exerting all bis powers to the utter
most, be bounded forward with the
agility of a hunted deer, almost flying
over the ground, as he went, B., in the
meantime, not seeing the pumpkin
bead, pressed on in the rear, the dog at
bis beels, barking and urging him for
ward still faster than before.
How long they would have continued
on in their headlong flight, if not stop
ped, I cannot tell. They had already
legged it over two miles, and were in a
fair way of running themselves to death,
if A. in bis blind baste, had not pitched
headlong into a mire bole, B., too, the
next minute sharing the same fate.
Fortunately, the hole was not deep, or
they both would have been smothered
In the mud, for they were fairly tired
out and weak as infants. They remain
ed in this condition until next morning,
when the neighbors found them, pulled
them out and carried them to their
homes. Wet, covered with mud, from
head to foot, their raiment torn In rags,
they presented a truly miserable appear
ance. Both were laid up for some days,
from the effects of their fright, and over
tasking their physical powers. It bad
one good effect, however, It cured them
of love, for they never went courting
there again.
A Wonderful Clock.'
A WONDERFUL clock, said to be
superior in mechanism and the
variety of Its performances to the famed
Strasbourg astonomlcal and apostolic
clock, has been constructed at Detroit
by Professor Felix Meiers, a- gentle,
man who has devoted his entire
life to the study of astronomy and
mechanics. It Is called the American
National Astronomical Clock, and it Is
probably the most complex., and ingen
lous horologtcal work that the hand of
man has ever produced. The clock Is 18
feet high, 8 feet wide, and 0 feet deep,
and weighs 4,000 "pounds. It Is wound
once In 12 Any a, and Is run by weights
of TOO pounds. It shows the local time
in hours, minutes and seconds, and the
time of thirteen other cities of the world,
among which are Washington, San
Francisco, Melbourne, Pekln, Cairo.
Constantinople, St. Petersburg, Loudon,
Berlin and Paris. It also denotes the
movements of the planets, and meas
ures their movements by seasons, years
and cycles for 200 years, Including leap
years. Concealed in Its Interior Is a
music box which plays when death
strikes each hour. At the same moment
the figure of Washington, seated In a
chair beneath a canopy, rises to bis feet,
holding the Declaration of Independence
In his right hand. A liveried servant
Bitting at the right hand also rises and
opens a d'oor through which comes all
the Presidents of the United States, who
march in review before the effigy of
Washington, saluting him as they pass.
The procession disappears through a
door on the opposite side of the plat
form, which Is opened and closed by a
servant In gorgeous livery. The like
nesses of these figures includes that of
President Hayes, who is in the rear, and
are said to be excellent. As soon as the
door Is closed the figure of Washington
resumes its chair of state, and all is
quiet until the hammer of Death again
sounds the hour on the gong, when the
extraordinary soene Is repeated. The
quarter-hours are struck by an infant,
the half-hours by a youth, and the three
quarters by a man. The South Church,
Boston, has offered $45,000 for the clock,
the price of which is $50,000.
A Comloal Duel.
In an interesting article which appear
ed In one of the magazines a short time
back, giving a brief account of the life
of Fighting Fitzgerald, the celebrated
beau, gambler, horseman and duelist,
the following anecdote was omitted :
After bis return from Ireland, an old
gentleman declared bis intention of try.
lng to cure Fitzgerald of his love of
dueling, and one day provoked bim to
a duel. His friends tried In vain to
persuade blm not to go out. " Leave
me alone," he Bald, " I'll settle him. I
have got the choice of arms. Each of
us shall be mounted, each shall choose
bis own weapon, a space shall be marked
out, and whoever first crossed the boun
dary Bhall be declared vanquished."
Fitzgerald being informed of these
strange proposals did not like to refuse
and, confident in his admirable horse,
manshlpand skill with all weapons,
accepted. He appeared on the ground
superbly mounted on a fiery steed and
armed with pistols. To the surprise
aud mirth of all, the old gentleman trot
ted up on a donkey, carrying a bladder
with dried peas Inside, and a scarlet
cloak in his band. Waving the cloak
and shaking bis rattle, he rode into the
the space, off started the fiery courser,
and before Fitzgerald knew where he
was he bad crossed the boundary and
lost the duel. The ridicule was too
much for him, and he never " went
out" again.
How an Owl's Head Revolve.
A writer In a cotemporary who had
read a story of an owl wringing its own
neck off by looking at a man who was
walking around him, tested the matter
by experiment. He obtained a specimen
and placed him on top of a post. " It
was not difficult," Bald the writer, "to
secure his attention, for he never divert
ed his gaze from me while I was in bis
presence. I began walking rapidly
round the post, a few feet from it, keep
ing my eyes fixed upon him all the
while. Ills body remained motionless,
but bis head turned exactly with my
movements. When I was halfway
round, his head was directly behind.
Three-quarters of a circle were complet
ed, and still the same twist of the neck
and the same stare followed. One circle
and no change. On I went, twice round,
and still that watchful stare and steady
turn of the bsad. On 1 went, three
times round, and I began really to won.
dec why the head did not drp off, when
all at once I discovered what I had
failed to notice before. When I reached
half way round from the front, which
which was as far as he- could turn his
head with comfort, he whisked it back
through the whole clrole bo instantane
ously, and brought It facing me with
such precision that I failed to detect the
movement, although' I was looking
Intently all the time.
Patriotism end Clams.
Soon after the firing on Sumter a gen
tleman of New York, who passes bis
summers by the waters of South Bay,
bad occasion to drive from New York to
Isllp, aud to pass through the principal
villages along the shore. Nearly every,
where the patriotism of the people -was
manifested by numerous flags that
waved from poles, or were hung from
windows, and each village contained
groups of men whowere discussing the
important events of the day. One vil
lage only was without bunting, and
there was a sullen arowd at the princi
pal store, whose breathings were any
thing but loyal. The gentleman was
well known to the Inhabitants, and felt
justified ia repnovlng them for their
political attitude. He told what he bad
Been on his way down, bow the other
villages were deoked with flags, and
asked why they did not do like their
neighbors. The men looked one toward
another for several momeuts,and finally
the boldest ventured to speak. ' '
" Flags, eh ?" said he, in a tone of
withering oontempt. " Flags ! and
clams a dollar a thousand !" Harper's
Magazine.
A New Game.
" What Is the puzzle of .'fifteen' they
are all talking about V" asked Mrs. Mel
rose, as ber husband dropped into the
easy chair the other evening.
" Well, I'll explain the principle of
H,"he replied. "Suppose, now, you
asked me for $15 to buy a bonnet. I
give you the money."
" O yes t very much you do 1 I'd like
to see myself get 113 out of you for any
such thing. You'd have about a thou
sand excuses, to keep me waiting about
a month and then give me $7 to buy a
bonnet and a ton of coal together."
"As I was saying, I give you the $15,"
he went on, a shade of Badness crossing
his face. " Now, the game is to make
that $15 get fifteen different articles,
Instead of one. You could buy me three
white shirts, five collars, a pair of socks,
a silk handkerchief and a new pipe,
making eleven articles. Your bonnet
would make twelve, and the other three
articles could be shoes for the children.
Thousands of loving mothers are playing
the game."
Twenty years ago the steamer
"Arabian" Bank in the Missouri river,
with GC0 barrels of whisky oa board.
The current of the river went on chang
ing, aud now the place where the steam
er sunk Is dry land and Um forgotten
wreck is burled forty feet irv the sand.
The other day the man who owns the
place put down a pump and the first
liquid he found, was whisky in one of
the 600 burled barrels. For a while
after be bad tasted the vein bis pipe bad
struck, land In the vicinity was held at
$475,000 an acre; but by and by some
one remembered aboul the old wreck
and the price fell. A trustworthy and
constant vein of twenty-year-old whisky
on any Missouri farm, has a tendency
to increase the demand for it rapidly.
rTbe Kev. Sumner Latham was en
gaged at $300 a year as pastor of the
Baptist churob at Est Ware, N. H.,
but a majority of the members were not
willing to pay him even that meagre
salary, and it was voted to dismiss him.
He intends to sue for the $300 dollars at
the end of the year, and therefore pre
pares, every week, two sermons, which
be carries to the church on (Sunday to
deliver, but always finds the door locked
against him.
' 7 No books are so legible as the lives
of men ; no characters so plain as their
moral conduot. . ,
2" Find earth where grows no weeds,
and you may find a heart wherein no
error grows.