"Ah!" says Villiam, "You are just in time to hear my speech to the sons of Mars, previous to the capture of Manassas by the United States of America." Hereupon Villiam mounted a demijohn laid length-wise, and says he: "FELLOW-ANACONDAS:--Having been informed by a gentleman who has spent two weeks at Manassas, that the Southern Confederacy has gone South for its health, I have concluded that it is time to be offensive. The great Anaconda, having eluded Barnum, is about to move on the enemy's rear: "'Rear aloft your peaks, ye mountings, Rear aloft your waves, O sea! Rear your sparkling crests, ye fountings, For my love's come back to me.' "The day of inaction is past, and now the United States of America is about to swoop down like a exasperated Eagle, on the chickens left by the hawk. Are you ready, my sagacious reptiles, to spill a drop or so for your soaking country? Are you ready to rose up as one man-- "'The rose is red, The wi'lets blue, Sugar is sweet, and Bully for you.' "Ages to come will look down on this day and say: 'They died young.' The Present will reply: 'I don't see it;' but the present is just the last thing for us to think about. Richmond is before us, and there let it remain. We shall take it in a few years: "'It may be for years and it may be for ever, Then why art thou silent, O pride of me heart.' "which is poickry. I hereby divide this here splendid army into one _corpse dammee_, and take command of it." At the conclusion of this thrilling oration, my boy, the _corpse dammee_ formed itself into a hollow square, in the centre of which appeared a mail-clad ambulance. I looked at this carefully, and then says I to Villiam: "Tell me, my gay Achilles, what you carry in that?" "Ha!" says Villiam, balancing himself on one leg, "them's my Repeaters. This morning," says Villiam, sagaciously, "I discovered six Repeaters among my men. Each of them voted six times last election day, and I've put them where they can't be killed. Ah!" says Villiam, softly, "the Democratic party can't afford to lose them Repeaters." Here a rather rusty-looking chap stepped out of the ranks, and says he: "Captain, I'm a Repeater too. I voted four times last election." "It takes six to make a reliable Repeater," says Villiam. "Yes," says the chap: "but I voted for different coves--twice for the Republican candidate and twice for the Democrat." "Ha!" says Villiam, "you're a man of intelleck. Here, sargent," says Villiam, imperiously, "put this cherubim into the ambulance." "And, sargent," says Villiam, thoughtfully, "give him the front seat."