a far better place than the jail-yard, although it is quite as much exposed to shot and shell.

The naval officers are in excellent spirits at present, having learned by the last flag-of-truce boat that terms for a special exchange of all naval prisoners have been agreed upon.

Shelling is kept up vigorously. From sixty to a hundred huge smoking two-hundred pounders convey Federal compliments daily to the cursing city.

It is a singularly noticeable fact, that every Charleston paper, in its report of "damage done the city" by our batteries, never chronicles the loss of a white person; but in every morning edition we notice the name of some "poor negro," whose life has been taken by the "cruel barbarity of the d-d Yankees."

7

CHAPTER X.

ROPER HOSPITAL, CHARLESTON.

September 29.-To-day is an eventful one for Richardson and myself. Our rations being entirely gone, we started in quest of something to eat, after taking our usual morning bath. We succeeded in finding a friend who had a little corn-meal left, and who willingly shared it with us. Hastening back to our quarters, we converted it into mush, and sat down fully prepared to do ample justice to the dish, when a cry was heard, "All those whose names are called, will prepare to go to Roper Hospital immediately."

We listen, but our names are not called; we wait and wait for the next list to be read. It seems evident that we are destined to remain in the jail-yard; when, to our great surprise, we hear the welcome voice of Major E. F. Cooke, of the old regiment, who has at last succeeded in persuading the authorities to remove us from this hell on earth. How we start! How eagerly do we grasp his extended hand! He tells us to "pack up," which requires but a moment, as our wardrobe is scanty, and our equipments few. Passing through the heavy doors of the jail, it seemed as though a new life had sprung up within us. We felt free, although Rebel bayonets

still surrounded us. We were taken before the Rebel commandant, to whom we gave the following parole:

"CHARISSTON, S. C., O. S. A., }

"September 1864.

"We the undersigned, prisoners of war, confined in the city of Charleston, in the Confederate States of America, do pledge our parole, individually, as military men and men of honor, that we will not attempt to pass the lines which shall be established and guarded around our prison-house; nor will we, by letter, word, or sign, hold any intercourse with parties beyond those lines, nor with those who may visit us, without authority. It is understood by us that this parole is voluntary on our part, and given in consideration of privileges secured to us, by lessening the stringency of the guard, of free ingress and egress of the house and appointed grounds during the day, by which we secure a liberty of fresh air and exercise grateful to comfort and health.

"Hereby we admit that this our parole binds us in letter and spirit, with no room for doubt or technicality of construction, and its violation will be an act of lasting disgrace. Signed."

After signing this, we were marched under guard through the gateway of "Roper" into the beautiful garden of the hospital. How great the change! Here we are comparatively free. Here all seem better contented. We are assigned quarters on the third-floor piazza: the hard floor seeming a luxury, and the place itself a paradise, compared to that worse than grave-Charleston jail yard.

September 30.-Sixty shells and solid shot of very heavy calibre were thrown into the city to-day, many of which exploded in what is commonly called the Burnt District. It covers about one-third of the city,

and was burnt during the early part of the year, having been set on fire by the explosion of shells thrown from our batteries on Morris Island.

This part of the city has been deserted by all except the negroes, who, whenever there is a cessation of shelling for a short time, flock here in great numbers to save rent. But a few shell dropped into the streets will soon disperse them, although they are easily tempted back again. And after a few days of quiet, they may be seen trudging around with bundles on their backs, looking for the most favorable location, often taking up their quarters in the dwellings of the former notables. Before the siege the poor negroes could only gain admission by the back entrance, where, with hat in hand, they awaited the orders of "massa."

Well, truth is stranger than fiction, and the city, built by the hard labor of slaves, now holds them as her principal occupants.

SHELLS A SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION.

As the shells from our batteries came screaming over our heads, we took them as the subject of numerous and warmly contested discussions. Some, for an argument, claimed that a shell is entirely harmless in its progress through the air, if it does not explode before reaching a point directly overhead; others asserted that it must be past sufficiently far to make an angle of forty-eight degrees with the horizon before all danger is over. There are many absurd notions in circulation relative to the explosion of shells. Pictorial papers represent them as ex

ploding while sweeping through the air, and the fragments flying in all directions. Soldiers return from the army, and talk of small shells entering men's heads, exploding just as they were passing through, and so scattering brains and skulls to the four winds. of heaven.

The laws of physics will teach us, that if a shell is moving through the air with a velocity greater than that which its explosion is capable of giving to the fragments, none of them can possibly fall back of the place of explosion. If the velocities here spoken of should be exactly equal, the pieces of the shell on the side next the mortar would be just stopped by the explosion, and so would fall perpendicularly to the ground; while those on the side opposite the mortar, being propelled by two forces (that of the mortar and that of the explosion), would necessarily be thrown a greater distance forward. The pieces at right angles to the direction of motion would be thrown at right angles to this direction, if the velocities were equal; if not equal, they would move obliquely backwards or forwards according to the velocities, making the hypothenuse of a parallelogram. The explosion of shells over large bodies of water will thoroughly test these conclusions; and observations made under such circumstances prove them to be correct. If a shell explodes when moving rapidly over a body of water, the pieces all strike the water several rods in advance of the place of explosion,-some more, some less,--the puff of smoke still remaining to mark the spot. Some move obliquely forward, some strike nearer and some farther from the place of explosion. It would not be