The Smoky Hill And Republican Union

THE EFFECTS OF WAR UPON THE SOUTH.

Some idea of the effect of the rebellion upon the misguided people of the South may be gathered from the brief extract printed below, taken from the Memphis Bulletin. No wonder that they clamor for a transfer of the war to Northern soil, as was promised them by their leaders it should be:

There is a portion of this State so devastated by the civil war as to be practically abandoned by the foot of man. The men are slumbering at Shiloh, Corinth and Stone River; the servants have gained their freedom; the women and children have fled to more remote and quiet precincts. Falling in behind the retiring footsteps of humanity come the four-footed beasts and creeping things. The fox makes his burrow under the ruined dwelling where a happy family once dwelt. The serpent crawls under the floor of the church and the school house. The squirrel chatters and builds his nest in the locust tree in the old yard, once noisy with the mirth of children. The gum is rotting in the cool spring. The partridge whistles from the ridge-pole of the cabin. The wild bee seeks a storehouse for his honey, fearless of detection by the human eye. All is returning to a state of nature. What a comment on the ravages of war.