"Swingin round the cirkle" : $b His ideas of men, politics, and things, as set forth in his letters to the public press, during the year 1866.
John Locke · en
Peace is into me. I hev spent many happy periods in the course uv a
eventful life; but I never knowd what perfeck satisfaction wuz till now.
The first week I wuz married to my Looizer Jane it wuz hevenly; for,
independent uv the other blisses incident to the married state, I
beleeved that she wuz the undivided possessor uv a farm, or ruther her
father wuz, wich, on the old man's decease, wood be hern, and the
prospeck uv a lifetime with a amiable, well-built woman, with a farm big
enough to support me, with prudence on her part, wuz bliss itself; and I
enjoyed it with a degree uv muchness rarely ekaled, until I found out
that it wuz kivered more deeply with mortgages than it wuz ever likely
to be with crops, and my dreem uv happiness busted. Sweet ez wuz this
week, it wuz misery condensed when compared to the season I hev jest
passed through.
I wuz a delegate to Philadelphia. I wuzn't elected nor nothin, and
hedn't any credentials; but the door uv the wigwam I passed,
nevertheless. The door-keeper wuz a Dimokrat, and my breath helped me;
my nose, wich reely blossoms like the lobster, wuz uv yoose; but I spect
my hevin a gray coat on, with a stand up collar, with a brass star onto
it, wuz wat finished the biznis. The Southern delegates fought shy uv
me; but the Northern ones, bless their souls! the minit they saw the
star on the collar uv my gray coat, couldn't do enuff for me. They
addressed me ez Kernel and Gineral, and sed "this wuz trooly an
unmeritid honor," and paid for my drinks; and I succeeded in borrowin a
hundred and twenty dollars of em the first day. I mite hev doubled it;
but the fellows wuz took in so easy that no financeerin wuz required,
and it really wuz no amoozment.
The Convenshun itself wuz the most affectinist gatherin I ever witnist.
I hed a seat beside Randall, who wuz a managin the concern, and I cood
see it all. The crowd rushed into the bildin, and filled it, when
Randall desired attention. He bein the Postmaster General, every one of
em dropped into his seat ez though he hed bin shot, and there wuz the
most perfeck quiet I ever saw. Doolittle, who wuz the Cheerman, winked
at Randall, and nodded his head, when Randall announced that THE
DELEGATES FROM SOUTH KARLINY, AND THE DELEGATES FROM MASSACHOOSITS, WOOD
ENTER ARM IN ARM! With a slow and measured step they cum in; and, at a
signal from Randall, the cheerin commenst--and sich cheerin! Then
Doolittle pulled out his white hankercher, and applied it to his eyes;
and every delegate simultaneously pulled out a white hankercher, and
applied it to his eyes.