The critters milked an' foddered, gates shet fast,

Tools cleaned aginst to-morrer, supper

past,

An' Nancy darnin' by her ker'sene lamp, —
I love, I say, to start upon a tramp,
To shake the kinkles out o' back an' legs,
An' kind o' rack my life off from the dregs
Thet's apt to settle in the buttery-hutch
Of folks thet foller in one rut too much: 10
Hard work is good an' wholesome, past all
doubt;

But 't ain't so, ef the mind gits tuckered out.

Now, bein' born in Middlesex, you know, There's certin spots where I like best to

the British mail-steamer Trent. On the way the Trent was stopped by Captain Wilkes, of the American manof-war San Jacinto, and the Confederate agents were transferred as prisoners to the latter vessel. The British Government at once proclaimed the act a great outrage,' and sent a peremptory demand for the release of the prisoners and reparation. At the same time, without waiting for any explanation, it made extensive preparations for hostilities. It seemed and undoubtedly was expedient for the United States to receive Lord Russell's demand as an admission that impressment of British seamen found on board neutral vessels was unwarrantable. Acting on the demand as an admission of the principle so long contended for by the United States, Mr. Seward disavowed the act of Wilkes and released the commissioners. But it was held then and has since been stoutly maintained by many jurists that the true principles of international law will not justify a neutral vessel in transporting the agents of a belligerent on a hostile mission. On the analogy of despatches they should be contraband. The difficulty of amicable settlement at that time, however, lay not so much in the point of law as in the intensity of popular feeling on both sides of the Atlantic. (F. B. Williams, in the Riverside and Cambridge Editions of Lowell's Poetical Works.) See also the long introductory letter of the Rev. Homer Wilbur, in the Cambridge Edition, pp. 228-233, and the Riverside Edition, vol. ii, pp 240-253.

Wut profits her is ollers right an' just, An' ef you don't read Scriptur so, you must;

She 's praised herself ontil she fairly thinks There ain't no light in Natur when she winks;

Hain't she the Ten Comman'ments in her pus?

Could the world stir 'thout she went, tu, ez nus ?

She ain't like other mortals, thet 's a fact: She never stopped the habus-corpus act, Nor specie payments, nor she never yet Cut down the int'rest on her public debt; 130 She don't put down rebellions, lets 'em breed,

An' 's ollers willin' Ireland should secede; She's all thet 's honest, honnable, an' fair, An' when the vartoos died they made her heir.

With Rooshy, Prooshy, Austry, all assistin', Th' ain't nut a face but wut she 's shook her fist in,

150

Ez though she done it all, an' ten times more,

An' nothin' never hed gut done afore, Nor never could agin, 'thout she wuz spliced On to one eend an' gin th' old airth a hoist. She is some punkins, thet I wun't deny (For ain't she some related to you 'n' I ?), But there's a few small intrists here below

Outside the counter o' John Bull an' Co, An' though they can't conceit how 't should be so,

I guess the Lord druv down Creation's spiles

160

'thout no gret helpin' from the British Isles, An' could contrive to keep things pooty stiff

Ef they withdrawed from business in a miff;

I ha'n't no patience with sech swellin' fellers ez

Think God can't forge 'thout them to blow the bellerses.

THE MONIMENT

She'll come out right bumby, thet I'll engage,

219

Soon ez she gits to seein' we 're of age;
This talkin' down o' hers ain't wuth a fuss;
It's nat❜ral ez nut likin' 't is to us;
Ef we're agoin' to prove we be growed-up,
'T wun't be by barkin' like a tarrier pup,
But turnin' to an' makin' things ez good
Ez wut we 're ollers braggin' that we could;
We're boun' to be good friends, an' so
we 'd oughto,

In spite of all the fools both sides the water.

THE BRIDGE

I b'lieve thet's so; but harken in your

ear,

I'm older 'n you, with Fear: Ef you want peace, the thing you've gut tu du

-Peace wun't keep house

Is jes' to show you're up to fightin', tu.
I recollect how sailors' rights was won, 230
Yard locked in yard, hot gun-lip kissin'
gun:

Why, afore thet, John Bull sot up thet he
Hed gut a kind o' mortgage on the sea;
You'd thought he held by Gran'ther
Adam's will,

An' ef you knuckle down, he'll think so still.

Better thet all our ships an' all their crews Should sink to rot in ocean's dreamless

I say, ole boy, it ain't the Glorious Fourth: You'd oughto larned 'fore this wut talk wuz worth.

It ain't our nose thet gits put out o' jint;
It's England thet gives up her dearest pint.
We've gut, I tell ye now, enough to du
In our own fem'ly fight, afore we 're thru.
I hoped, las' spring, jest arter Sumter's
shame,

When every flag-staff flapped its tethered flame,

An' all the people, startled from their doubt,

250

Come must'rin' to the flag with sech a

shout,

I hoped to see things settled 'fore this fall, The Rebbles licked, Jeff Davis hanged, an' all;

Then come Bull Run, an' sence then I've ben waitin'

Like boys in Jennooary thaw for skatin', Nothin' to du but watch my shadder's trace Swing, like a ship at anchor, roun' my base, With daylight's flood an' ebb: it's gittin' slow,

An' I 'most think we'd better let 'em go. I tell ye wut, this war 's a-goin' to cost

THE BRIDGE

261

An' I tell you it wun't be money lost; Taxes milks dry, but, neighbor, you'll allow Thet havin' things onsettled kills the cow: We've gut to fix this thing for good an' all; It's no use buildin' wut 's a-goin' to fall. I'm older 'n you, an' I've seen things an'

men, An' my experunce, - tell ye wut it's ben: Folks thet worked thorough was the ones thet thriv,

But bad work follers ye ez long's ye live; You can't git red on 't; jest ez sure ez sin, It's ollers askin' to be done agin:

271

Ef we should part, it would n't be a week 'Fore your soft-soddered peace would spring

aleak.

We've turned our cuffs up, but, to put her

thru,

We must git mad an' off with jackets, tu; 'T wun't du to think thet killin' ain't perlite,

You've gut to be in airnest, ef you fight; Why, two thirds o' the Rebbles 'ould cut

dirt,

Ef they once thought thet Guv'ment meant

to hurt;

An' I du wish our Gin'rals hed in mind 280 The folks in front more than the folks be

hind;

You wun't do much ontil you think it's God, An' not constitoounts, thet holds the rod; We want some more o' Gideon's sword, I jedge,

For proclamations ha'n't no gret of edge; There's nothin' for a cancer but the knife, Onless you set by 't more than by your life. I've seen hard times; I see a war begun Thet folks thet love their bellies never 'd won;