It would be difficult to estimate the good done by a man like Harris, who brings a sense of relaxation and a thrill of pleasure to countless readers round the world. Such a man becomes a public benefactor. To-day men are better citizens, life's tasks are easier, the roads are lighter, and heaven is nearer to earth because of the cheerful, hopeful, mirthful stories of Uncle Remus. HENRY STILES BRADLEY _Lord Dunmore defeated by Colonel Woodford at Battle of Great Bridge, Virginia, 1775_ December Tenth Mt. Vernon, 31 Jan. 1786 Sir:--If you have no cause to change your opinion respecting your mechanical boat, and reasons unknown to me do not exist to delay the exhibition of it, I would advise you to give it to the public as soon as it can be prepared conveniently.... Should a mechanical genius hit upon your plan, or something similar to it, I need not add that it would place you in an awkward situation and perhaps disconcert all your prospects concerning this useful discovery.... GEORGE WASHINGTON (_Letter to James Rumsey_) _Mississippi admitted to the Union, 1817_ December Eleventh Mr. Rumsey's steamboat, with more than half her loading (which was upwards of three ton) and a number of people on board, made a progress of four miles in one hour against the current of Potomac River, by the force of steam, without any external application whatsoever. (_Virginian Gazette and Winchester Advertiser, Jan. 11, 1788_) _Second trip of Rumsey's steamboat at Shepherdstown, Va., in boat designed after model of 1784_ December Twelfth I have taken the greatest pains to perfect another kind of boat, _upon the principles I mentioned to you at Richmond_, in November last, and have the pleasure to inform you that I have brought it to a great perfection ... and I have quite convinced myself that boats of passage may be made to go against the current of the _Mississippi_ or _Ohio_ rivers, or in the _Gulf Stream_ (from the _Leeward_ to the _Windward_-Islands) from sixty to one hundred miles per day. I know this will appear strange and improbable to many persons, yet I am very certain it may be performed, besides, it is simple (when understood) and is also strictly philosophical. JAMES RUMSEY (_In letter to George Washington after construction of steamboat model seen in action by the latter in 1784_) December Thirteenth On part of the field the Union dead lay three deep. So fearful was the slaughter that our men at certain points on the line cried out to the advancing Federal forces, "Go back; we don't want to kill you all!" Still they pressed forward in the face of despair, and they fell in the unshrinking station where they fought. In six months Lee had effaced Pope, checked McClellan, and crushed Burnside--June 25 to December 13, 1862. HENRY E. SHEPHERD _Burnside repulsed at Fredericksburg, 1862_ December Fourteenth