Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 12, June 18, 1870Various
General
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 12, June 18, 1870
Various
American wit and humor -- Periodicals
Mr. PUNCHINELLO: For sometime--I would not like to say how long--the
undersigned has been a candidate for the office of Whiskey Inspector for
the Judasville district of his State. I have had powerful backing from
the scrap-iron members of Congress from my section, but their efforts
and my own have long seemed of little avail. The other day, however,
I saw in the papers the account of the _coup d'etat_ of the DUKE OF
SALDANHA, in Portugal. An idea immediately entered my brain. These
_effete_ monarchies, these governments of the past, on which "the rust
of ages," as VICTOR HUGO remarks, "lies like a bloody snow of bygone
vassalage," have yet sufficient vitality to teach a lesson to the young
and vigorous governments of the West. At any rate this old duke taught
me a lesson, and I did my best to hurry off and say it. It was evident
that if I wanted to be Whiskey Inspector of Judasville, (and I am
justified in saying that no man in the district possesses more peculiar
qualifications for the post,) that something in the SALDANHA style
must be done. The time had passed for petitions and lobbying. I went
immediately to the commander of the Judasville Rifles, and enlisted his
sympathies in my cause. He willingly placed his company at my service,
but whether this was due to my offer to pay the board-bills and car-fare
of the organization while it was under my orders, or to my eloquent
statement of my case, I have not yet had an opportunity to discover. The
men who, from the very commencement of the undertaking, had constituted
themselves the inspectors of my whiskey, were in high good spirits, and,
in a body, numbering some forty-six, we arrived in Washington, on a
bright morning, about a week ago. It would not do, on an occasion like
this, to delay matters. Accordingly I marched my troops directly to the
White House. The man in charge of the door took my men for a visiting
target company, and told me, whom he supposed was the member from their
district, that I must marshal my friends out on the green, and he would
notify the Private Secretary. I made no answer to this, but ordered
the troops to charge bayonets, and we entered the White House at a
double-quick. I led the way directly to GRANT'S study, and stationing my
men in the doorway, I entered. He was within, cutting up an "old soger"
to smoke in his pipe. After shaking bands with him, I sat down and
inquired if that was a _regalia _he was cutting up.
"No," said he. "This is the HANCOCK brand."
"Oh!" said I.
"Well?" said he, looking somewhat inquisitively at the soldiers, who
crowded into the doorway, and almost filled the entry beyond.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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