310 This 'ere rebellion 's nothing but the rettle, You'll stomp on thet an' think you've won the bettle; It's Slavery thet's the fangs an' thinkin' head, An' ef you want selvation, cresh it dead,An' cresh it suddin, or you'll larn by waitin' Thet Chance wun't stop to listen to debatin'!' 'God's truth!' sez I,—'an' ef I held the club, An' knowed jes' where to strike, but there's the rub!''Strike soon,' sez he, or you'll be deadly ailin', 6 Folks thet's afeared to fail are sure o' failin'; 320 Ther''s nothin' wuss, 'less 't is to set A martyr-prem'um upon jawrin': Teapots git dangerous, ef you shet Their lids down on 'em with Fort War ren. 'Bout long enough it's ben discussed "T would scare us more or blow us higher. D'ye s'pose the Gret Foreseer's plan Wuz settled fer him in town-meetin' ? Or thet ther' 'd ben no Fall o' Man, Ef Adam 'd on'y bit a sweetin'? Oh, Jon'than, ef you want to be Nut wut 'll boost up ary party. It's war we're in, not politics; It's systems wrastlin' now, not parties; An' victory in the eend 'll fix Where longest will an' truest heart is. An' wut's the Guv'ment folks about? Tryin' to hope ther' 's nothin' doin', An' look ez though they did n't doubt Sunthin' pertickler wuz a-brewin'. 20 30 40 In six months where 'll the People be, Ef leaders look on revolution Ez though it wuz a cup o' tea, 90 Jest social el'ments in solution? This weighin' things doos wal enough When war cools down, an' comes to writin'; the Democratic party, and a bitter opponent of Lincoln. He had at this time been recently elected governor of New York on a platform that denounced almost every measure the government had found it necessary to adopt for the suppression of the Rebellion. His influence contributed not a little to the encouragement of that spirit which inspired the Draft Riot in the city of New York in July, 1863. (F. B. Williams, in Riverside and Cambridge Editions.) An' yit I love th' unhighschooled way For puttin' in a downright lick 'twixt Humbug's eyes, ther' 's few can metch it, An' then it helves my thoughts ez slick But when I can't, I can't, thet 's all, 30 Like a druv pig ain't wuth a mullein: Live thoughts ain't sent for; thru all rifts O' sense they pour an' resh ye onwards, Like rivers when south-lyin' drifts Feel thet th' old airth 's a-wheelin' sunwards. 40 sant, But I can't hark to wut they 're say'n', Under the yaller-pines I house, When sunshine makes 'em all sweet- An' hear among their furry boughs 90 Or up the slippery knob I strain An' see a hundred hills like islan's Beaver roars hoarse with meltin' snows, Started my blood to country-dances, 100 110 Thet hain't no use for dreams an' fancies. Rat-tat-tat-tattle thru the street I hear the drummers makin' riot, An' I set thinkin' o' the feet Thet follered once an' now are quiet, White feet ez snowdrops innercent, Thet never knowed the paths o' Satan, Whose comin' step ther' 's ears thet won't, No, not lifelong, leave off awaitin'. Why, hain't I held 'em on my knee? 1 Three likely lads ez wal could be, 120 Hahnsome an' brave an' not tu knowin' ? I set an' look into the blaze Come, Peace! not like a mourner bowed Whose natur', jes' like theirn, keeps But proud, to meet a people proud, climbin', Ez long 'z it lives, in shinin' ways, 1 Of Lowell's three nephews one, William_Lowell Putnam, was killed, and another, James Jackson Lowell, seriously wounded, at the battle of Ball's Bluff, the same battle in which Holmes's son was wounded (see My Hunt After the Captain'); the third, Charles Russell Lowell, died October 20, 1864, of wounds received the previous day at the battle of Cedar Creek. James Jackson Lowell recovered from the wounds received at Ball's Bluff, but was killed in the battle of Seven Pines. See Lowell's Letters, vol. 1, pp. 162166; and Scudder's Life of Lowell, vol. ii, pp. 29–31. See also the note on Emerson's Sacrifice,' p. 95, note 1; and Colonel Henry Lee Higginson's Four Addresses, there referred to. Emerson wrote to Carlyle, October 15, 1870: The Lowell race, again, in our War yielded three or four martyrs so able and tender and true, that James Russell Lowell cannot allude to them in verse or prose but the public is melted anew.' (Carlyle-Emerson Correspondence, vol. ii, p. 374.) See also Lowell's 'Commemoration Ode,' p. 490, and Under the Old Elm,' p. 512, with the passages from his letters there quoted. 150 With eyes thet tell o' triumph tasted ! Come, with han' grippin' on the hilt, An' step thet proves ye Victory's daughter! Longin' for you, our sperits wilt Like shipwrecked men's on raf's for |