tation, our colonel shot dead just before we moved. We were told at starting to lighten ourselves by throwing away our kits, as we had a long and heavy march before us. We were at it, night and day, for four days; and as I had no food for two days before, and got none for two days after—altogether four days—you may judge what humour I was in. Well, we arrived at last, planted our batteries, and plugged Johnny with grape and canister. We afterwards charged and drove John from his trenches. I went over the field the following morning to see what was to be seen. Dead men and horses. I then started for a house situated at a short distance, plundered it, and walked off with a flitch of bacon."
The following gives an example of the severity of marches which are calculated to wear out any soldiers, were they made of iron. "Johnny," as he denominates the Confederates, "had been at their heels for some time, killing, wounding, and capturing a great number," till they get up to the Federal lines, and "then the fun began." Johnny was brought to a halt, and the Federals recommenced their march, leaving pickets consisting of 3000 men behind, in order to deceive the enemy, and give the main body a fair start. The main body moved off at nine at night, the pickets at two the next morning, "and got away without the rebs knowing it," and marched from two that morning till twelve the next night, a distance of thirty-five miles in one day. When I commenced," says our hero, "my boots were bad, but this long march knocked them all to pieces." In another place he says, "I was almost barefooted till after the first day's fight before Petersburg, when I went on the field and pulled a pair off a dead fellow, which fitted me first-rate."
The condition of the inside garments of both officers and men must be terrible, if the following be anything like a correct statement, and it bears all the marks of truth upon it.
"As it regards myself, I am first-rate in health, but very uncomfortable in many respects. It is now nearly two months since I slept with my clothes off. On some occasions we pass the night with our knapsacks on us—that is, the few who carry such a thing. Most of the men have but one shirt. I have two, and when I get a chance, not often, I wash one of them, that is, when I get too many bites. The clothes of every man—officers not excepted—are densely populated."
We shall conclude with the following graphic account of the nonchalance and reckless daring of this young man:—
"A few hours ago I felt inclined for a little apple stew, and I went about thirty yards over the pass parapet, to one of the many fruit-trees in front of us, and was favoured with about a dozen shots from Johnny, none of them touching Jemmy; and I stopped there till I filled my bag. A nice cool breeze has just sprung up, and our colours, the stars and stripes, are flying, inviting Johnny to try his skill in musketry. I belong to the 9th Army Corps, Burnside's." C. B. Gibson.
A REAL SOCIAL EVIL
Several years since the social and physical condition of the females employed in our mines and collieries formed the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry, when many painful and startling disclosures were made respecting the objectionable manner in which female labour was frequently employed in those places. Females of all ages, from the girl just entering her teens to the grey-haired matron of sixty, were found occupied in heavy drudgery in the long subterraneous passages which extended from the bottom of the pit-shafts. Of these females many were employed as miners, being furnished with lights, spades, and other necessaries of their craft, in emulation of the male workers. They still further imitated the men by working in a state of semi-nudity, and by being subjected to regulations of the most stringent nature. As a rule, the wages received by them were lower than those obtained by the men, a circumstance which sufficiently accounted for the demand for their services. When these facts became fully known to the public, much indignation was expressed on the subject, and ultimately an Act of Parliament was passed, prohibiting the employment of women and children in mines and collieries. This gave general satisfaction to the public, and from that time the whole question faded gradually out of sight, few persons, not actually residing in the colliery districts, being aware of the extent to which female labour continued to be employed outside the pits. Incredible as the fact may appear to some, it is nevertheless true that hundreds of females, habited as men, are to be found at the present day working on the pit banks in Wales, Scotland, Lancashire, and Staffordshire. In Wales it is stated by competent witnesses, that "instances of gross depravity, through the girls coming in contact with the male sex at their work, were frequent." In Scotland, we are informed, the females so employed are "as clean and tidy as the nature of their work will allow," but that "there is something abhorrent in seeing them begrimed with dust, and placed in the way of temptations which might lead to immorality."
