Sullivan Ballous Letter to His Wife Before the Battle of Bull Run Essay Example for Free

Sullivan Ballous Letter to His Wife Before the Battle of Bull Run Essay Love of country is not unique to Americans, but in a democracy, sending citizens to war requires far more than a dictators fiat. In 1861, men on both sides of the conflict were willing to lay down their lives for what they believed to be right. Southerners fought for states rights and a society built upon human slavery, which many considered the natural order of the universe. When the war started, few volunteers in the northern army marched off to end slavery, but many were ready to fight and die to preserve the Union. One such soldier was Major Sullivan Ballou of the Second Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers. Then thirty-two years old, Ballou had overcome his familys poverty to start a promising career as a lawyer. He and his wife Sarah wanted to build a better life for their two boys, Edgar and Willie. An ardent Republican and a devoted supporter of Abraham Lincoln, Ballou had volunteered in the spring of 1861, and on June 19 he and his men had left Providence for Washington, D.C. He wrote the following letter to his wife from a camp just outside the nations capital, and it is at once a passionate love letter as well as a profound meditation on the meaning of the Union. It caught national importance 129 years after he wrote it, when it was read on the widely watched television series, The Civil War, produced by Ken Burns. The beauty of the language as well as the passion of the sentiments touched the popular imagination, and brought home to Americans once again what defense of democracy entailed. Ballou wrote the letter July 14, while awaiting orders that would take him to Manassas, where he and twenty-seven of his men would die one week later at the Battle of Bull Run. LETTER TO HIS WIFE (1861) My very dear Sarah: The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt. But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country? I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee. I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles I have often advocated before the people and the name of honor that I love more than I fear death have called upon me, and I have obeyed. Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more. But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again. As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a fathers love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call Gods blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

John Donnes The Indifference :: Poets, Poetry, Prose

John Donne's "The Indifference" is a love poem that can be interpreted in a number of ways. Not only is the meaning of the text debatable, but the audience for which the poem was intended can be argued as well. The language Donne uses leaves room for the reader's imagination and intellect to take over and decide to whom he is talking and why. The author is writing to a specific audience for a specific reason, trying to convey his point through his verse. While not all people agree as to whom this poem is intended for or whom the speaker is actually talking to, I have a good understanding as to what Donne is trying to accomplish by writing "The Indifference" and whom the voice of the piece is actually talking to. The interpretation that I found to be most convincing is that he is speaking to a woman, who is by herself, and he is letting her know what kind of qualities (or lack there of) he is looking for. He is giving a disclaimer to her on the type of person he is and how he views relationships so she knows what she's getting herself into. The first stanza starts off with the speaker listing opposite character types. All of the types listed refer to different types of women, "Her whom the county formed, and whom the town" and "Her who still weeps with spongy eyes, / And her who is dry cork, and never cries". The speaker is not referring to one type of woman in particular, but to all women in general. He is telling the woman that he is addressing know just how many different types of woman he can or will potentially be interested in. Another interesting aspect of the first stanza is Donne's wording at the beginning of each line. He starts each with either "I can love" or "Her who". This is his passive way of informing the reader as to what type of woman he can and wants to love: any woman who is alive and willing to take a chance on him. It is not until the final two lines of the stanza that he actually puts any requirements as to what kind of a woman he specifically wants, "I can love her, and her, and you and you, / I can love any, so she be not true".

Contribution Margin and Break Even Analysis

Many factors come into play in determining business success. One of them is the financial factor. For a company to set financial goals it is crucial that its management know in detail the products or services they sale or provide. This is the analysis of two different scenarios at Aunt Connie's Cookies Simulation (University of Phoenix, 2011) and the financial performance of Jamestown Electric Supply Company (Heiter, et. al. 2008). During both analysis I applied concepts like fixed and variable costs, contribution margin, break-even point, indifference point, and operating leverage. Aunt Connie's Cookies Scenario Simulation  The Aunt Connie's brand grew successfully producing Lemon Creme and Mint cookies. Maria Villanueva is the current chief executive officer of this family-owned company (University of Phoenix, 2011). She faces critical decisions to make because both the lemon creme and mint cookies prices increased and sales volume decreased. Maria should apply several accounting concepts to reach her goal of increasing sales and revenue for the company. Some opportunities and challenges lined up for Aunt Connie's Cookies like large bulk orders and the buyout of a competitor's factory (University of Phoenix, 2011). A confectioner commissioned Aunt Connie's Cookies to fill a bulk order of one million packages of the Real Mint cookies delivered in one month's time. The stipulations of the order weights greatly on the company as the confectioner will only pay $1. 20 per package, which is much cheaper than the mass market selling at $1. 50 per packet. Rejecting the order may seem foolish as Aunt Connie's Cookies has the capacity to produce the order, and could be missing out on a good opportunity if she declines to fill the order (University of Phoenix, 2011). In deciding which cookie's production to reduce, Maria took into account the concepts of contribution margin, unit contribution margin, and operating profits. This decision was necessary to create sufficient capacity to accommodate the mint cookies bulk order. The contribution margin is the amount of money that remians from the revenue obtained after sales to pay for fixed expenses and to contribute to the operating profits after deducting variable expenses. Alternatively, the unit contribution margin of each unit sales, in this case each pack of cookies adds to profit. Finally, operating profit is the profit earned from a company's core business operations, also known as earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). Maria calculated the contribution margin and the unit contribution margin for each type of cookie, determined to reduce the production of lemon creme cookies and to increase the production capacity for the bulk order of real mint cookies. Maria can sell mint cookies at $1. 20 per package, below the selling price of $1. 50 because the real mint cookies provide a greater total contribution margin and that the lemon cream cookies provides a greater unit contribution margin. Maria knew that Aunt Connie's Cookies should produce more of the cookies with the greater contribution margin per unit to maximize the shop's operating profit. If the scenario changed, and the bulk order was for lemon cookies, Maria would have to turn over the order to the confectioner. The unit contribution margin for the lemon cookies is smaller and Maria would have to increase the production capacity to make the same operating profit as for the mint cookies, to the point of going beyond the factory's production capacity. Maria faced the opportunity to buy a peanut butter cookie plant. She could use this plant to make more lemon creme cookies because the near-term demand exceeded 600,000 packs. The challenge for Maria is to make a decision about going forward or not with this business (University of Phoenix, 2011). If the new plant has a break-even volume of creme cookies of 650,000 packs, Maria must ensure that Aunt Connie's Cookie shop sales the same amount of packs or more. If the business sales less, it will make a loss, if it sells more, it will be a profit. The break-even point in volume is the point where the plant's fixed expenses are covered. In the case that Maria considers Aunt Connie's Cookie shop cannot sell that much, she may ensure viability of the plant by (1) trying to reduce the fixed costs (e. g. renegotiating rent, reducing telephone bills, insurance, etc. ), (2) trying to reduce variable costs (e. g. purchasing at lower cost the ingredients used to make cookies), or (3) increasing the selling price of the cookies. Any of these strategies can reduce the break-even point in volume. In the worst of the scenarios, Maria should not buy the peanut butter cookie plant. Key Learning Points. During the simulation I applied several concepts such as contribution margin, break-even point, fixed and variable costs, indifference point, and operating leverage. All these concepts interrelate and form part of the cost volume profit analysis tool. The application of these concepts by managers help organizations attain good financial performance. Cost volume profit analysis (CVP analysis) is a powerful tool that can help managers in understanding better the relationship that exists among the cost, the volume, and the profit in a business. Managers can make good business decision if they concentrate in trying to understand the interaction that exists among (1) the prices of product or services, (2) the level of activity, (3) the volume of product , (4) the variable cost per unit, (4) the total fixed costs and (5) and the mixture of the product or services. Business decision may be about changes to company's pricing policy, selection of a marketing strategy to use, choosing which products to manufacture or services to provide, and even about the acquision of new companies. The break-even point (BEP) is one element of CVP analysis. BEP is the level of output at which the profit is zero. Break even analysis helps managers determine how far sales can decline before their companies start to lose money. The indifference point is the volume at which costs for both labor-intensive operations and equipment intensive operations are equal. When volumes increase, revenues increase. However, the presence of lower variable costs per unit in equipment-intensive operations ensures that the operating profits increase more significantly when compared to labor-intensive operations. Equipment-intensive operations have higher fixed costs and lower variable costs per until when compared to labor -intensive operations. Jamestown Electric Supply Company. Jamestown Electric Supply Company has been in business for 45 years. The company designs, manufactures, and delivers electrical supplies in various forms to different type of businesses. Jamestown invested heavily in research and development of automotive electronic technology to provide its customers with modern functionality, safety, and performance. Jamestown products have outstanding features that create competitive advantage to commodities that customers regard as standard features on all automobiles. Jamestown has hundreds of diverse contracts with different divisions and plants of each of the major automobile manufacturers. Most of the contracts show good gross profit margin on sales, but others do not show acceptable bottom-line profits or show no profit. Although Jamestown's sales, continue to rise, profit declined in the period under analysis from 2003 to 2007 as showed on Exhibit One. Jamestown top managers believe that if sales growth remained positive, the problems with the profit would resolve. Warehousing and shipping managers think that customer service expenses are out of control and causing significant cost increases for the company. Jamestown customer services include overnight delivery of electronic component products, just-in-time inventory deliveries to client's plants, warehousing of client parts, special part support services, and many other customer services designed to gain and maintain clients. Exhibit One. Jamestown Electric Supply Company Income Statements for 2003 to 2007. Electric Supply Company financial performance is in jeopardy and top management have to change its customer service policy and marketing strategy after carefully analyzing the information obtained after performing a CVP analysis. The focus of the analysis should be in understanding the relationship between product price, volume, per unit variable cost, and the mix of products sold by Jamestown Electric. Calculating the contribution margin on the products which Jamestown Electric sales will allow management to know more in detail how much each unit sale will contribute to the company profit. Calculating the break-even point will provide information about which products do not bring either profit or loss, and about how far sales can decrease before Jamestown Electric starts to lose money. James Electric product cost structure has a higher percentage of variable costs than in fixed costs, which involves less operating leverage or risk. One of he options management should consider is to closely monitor the variable expenses incurred by customer service in order to increase the company profits. Jamestown Electrical Supply Company management will definitely benefit from setting a regular schedule to analyze contribution margins either monthly or quarterly to track product margin performance more accurately. Conclusion Managers can help their organizations achieve a good financial performance when they apply basic accounting concepts in their business strategic plans. Knowing the existing relationship between these concepts contribute to ensure their organization's financial success.

How to Use a Dash

The dash (—)  is a mark of punctuation  used to set off a word or phrase after an independent clause or a parenthetical remark (words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence). Dont confuse the dash (—) with the hyphen (-): the dash is longer. As William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White explained in The Elements of Style: A  dash  is a mark of separation stronger than a  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹comma, less formal than a  colon, and more relaxed than  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹parentheses. There are actually two types of dashes, each with different uses: the  em dash—also called the long dash, according to Oxford Online Dictionaries—and the  en dash, which doesnt have another name but falls between the hyphen and em dash in terms of length.  The  en dash  is so named because it is approximately the equivalent width of the uppercase letter  N  and the  em dash  is roughly the width of an uppercase  M. Origins Merriam-Webster says the word  dash  comes from the  Middle English word  dasshen, which probably derives from the Middle French term  dachier,  meaning to impel forward. One current definition of the word  dash  is to break, which would well describe what a dash does in syntax. The  Online Etymology Dictionary  says the dash—a horizontal line used as a punctuation mark—first appeared in writing and printing in the 1550s. By the late 1800s, the dash had taken on some very specific roles. According to  Thomas MacKellar, in his 1885 book, The American Printer: A Manual of Typography : The em dash...is frequently used in particular works as a substitute for the comma or for the colon, and is found particularly serviceable in rhapsodical writing, where interrupted sentences frequently occur.   MacKellar noted several specific uses for the dash, including: A sign of repetition in catalogs of goods, where it means  ditto.In catalogs of books, where it was used instead of repeating an authors name.As a stand-in for the words  to  and  till, as in chap. xvi. 13-17. The last use would today be an  en dash, which indicates a range. The En Dash Though the Associated Press does not use the  en dash, the press service nicely describes how other styles  do  use the shorter dash.  Some other styles call for  en dashes  to indicate ranges of dates, times, or page numbers, or with some compound modifiers. For example: He worked from 9–5.  She works from 8 a.m.–5 p.m.The festival will take place March 15–31.For your homework, read pages 49–64. To create an  en dash  using a keyboard on a Windows-based system, hold down the Alt key and simultaneously type 0150. To create this punctuation mark on a  Macintosh-based system  hold down the Option  key  and press the Minus key  [-].  American Psychological Association notes that you would use the  en dash  for: Items of equal weight (test–retest, male–female, the Chicago–London flight).Page ranges (in references, â€Å"...Journal of Applied Psychology,  86, 718–729†).Other types of ranges (16–30 kHz). Angela Gibson, writing for the MLA Style Center, a writing resource for the Modern Languages Association, says the organization uses an en dash when a single compound adjective is a proper noun, as in: Pre–Industrial Revolution city. She notes that the MLA also calls for an  en dash when a compound in the predicate position includes a proper noun: The crowd was Beyoncà © Knowles–obsessed. The Em Dash The AP, which does use  em dashes, explains that these punctuation marks are  used: To signal an abrupt change.To set off a series within a phrase.Before attribution to an author or composer in some formats.After datelines.To start lists. AP style calls for a space on both sides of an  em  dash, but most other styles, including MLA and APA, omit the spaces. On a Windows-based system, you can form an  em dash  on a keyboard by holding down the Alt key and typing  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹0151. To create the em dash on a Macintosh-based system, hold down the  Shift  and  Option  keys and press the  Minus  key [-], notes  Techwalla, adding that alternatively, you can press the  Hyphen  key twice and press  Space. There are two basic ways to use an  em dash  in a sentence: After an independent clause: Author Saul Below, in My Paris, provides an example of using an  em dash  after an independent clause: Life, said Samuel Butler, is like giving a concert on the violin while learning to play the instrument—that, friends, is real wisdom. To set off words and phrases:  Writers have effectively used  em dashes  to shoehorn a parenthetical thought or remark into a sentence, as this quote illustrates: Copper Lincoln cents—pale zinc-coated steel for a year in the war—figure in my earliest impressions of money.—John Updike, A Sense of Change,  The New Yorker, April 26, 1999 Thoughts on the Dash For a tiny punctuation mark, the dash has sparked an unusual level of debate among writers, grammarians, and punctuation experts. The dash is seductive, says Ernest Gowers in The Complete Plain Words, a style, grammar, and punctuation reference guide. It tempts the writer to use it as a punctuation-maid-of-all-work that saves him the trouble of choosing the right stop. Some have expressed support for the dash: The dash is less formal than the semicolon, which makes it more attractive; it enhances conversational tone; and...it is capable of quite subtle effects. The main reason people use it, however, is that they know you cant use it wrongly.—Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots Leaves Other writers strenuously oppose using the mark: The problem with the  dash—as you may have noticed!—is that it discourages truly efficient writing. It also—and this might be its worst sin—disrupts the flow of a sentence. Dont you find it annoying—and you can tell me if you do, I wont be hurt—when a writer inserts a thought into the midst of another one thats not yet complete?—Norene Malone, The Case—Please Hear Me Out—Against the Em Dash.  Slate, May 24, 2011 So, next time you look in your toolkit of punctuation marks and see the  en dash  or  em dash  just waiting to be put to work, ensure that you are using these marks for the right reasons and following the rules discussed. Ask yourself if your  parenthetical remark  will add nuance and insight to your writing or just confuse the reader. If its the latter, return the dashes to your punctuation tool bag and use a comma, colon, or semicolon instead, or revise the sentence so that you can omit the dreaded dash. Source Gowers, Ernest. Plain Words: A Guide to the Use of English. Rebecca Gowers, Paperback, Penguin UK, October 1, 2015.