THE UNIVERSAL COTTON-GIN.
It made and ruined Yankee Doodle, stuck to him like Cooper's glue, And so to you would stick this Universal nigger-cotton-ginniversal nigger-cotton-gin."
Now Johnny Bull the pedlar knew,
And thus replied with not a grin: "Hi loves yer 'gin' like London brewed ale, but loathes the hinstitution vitch propels your model Universal nigger-cotton-ginniversal nigger-cotton-gin.
"Hi know such coves as you a few,
And, zur, just now, hi 'm not in tin; Hi tells you vot, great Yankee Doodle might hincline to put me through, Hif hi should buy your model Universal nigger-cotton-ginniversal nigger-cotton-gin."
Then spoke smooth Monsieur Parlez-vous,
Whose gilded throne was got in sin - (As was he, too, if tales are true :) "I does not vant your model U-" (He sounds a V for a W)
"niversal nigger-cotton-gin- niversal nigger-cotton-gin."
" A negar in de fence I view,
Your grand machine he's rotting in; w-h-e-w!
I smells him now; he stinketh Give me a good tobacco chew,
And you may keeps your model U
niversal nigger-cotton-gin- niversal nigger-cotton-gin."
31
The pedlar then sloped quickly to The land he was begotten in; With woeful visage, feelings blue, He sadly questioned what to do, When none would buy his model Universal nigger-cotton-ginniversal nigger-cotton-gin.
From out his pocket then he drew A rag that blood was clotting in;
It had a field of heavenly blue, Was flecked with stars
That glimmered on his model Universal nigger-cotton-ginniversal nigger-cotton-gin.
He gazed long on its tarnished hue,
And mourned the fix he'd gotten in; Then filled his eyes with contrite dew, As in its folds his nose he blew, And thus addressed his model Universal nigger-cotton-ginniversal nigger-cotton-gin.
"Then, crownless king, thy days are few; The world thou art forgotten in; Ere thou dost die, thy life review, Repent thy crimes, thy wrongs undo, Give freedom to the dusky crew Whose blood now stains the model U-
niversal nigger-cotton-gin- niversal nigger-cotton-gin."
UPON THE HILL BEFORE CENTREVILLE. 33
UPON THE HILL BEFORE CENTREVILLE.
July 21, 1861.*
BY GEORGE H. BOKER.
I'LL tell you what I heard that day: I heard the great guns, far away, Boom after boom. Their sullen sound Shook all the shuddering air around; And shook, ah me! my shrinking ear, And downward shook the hanging tear That, in despite of manhood's pride, Rolled o'er my face, a scalding tide. And then I prayed. O God! I prayed, As never stricken saint, who laid His hot cheek to the holy tomb Of Jesus, in the midnight gloom.
"What saw I?" Little. Clouds of dust; Great squares of men, with standards thrust Against their course; dense columns crowned With billowing steel. Then, bound on bound, The long black lines of cannon poured Behind the horses, streaked and gored With sweaty speed. Anon shot by, Like a lone meteor of the sky, A single horseman; and he shone His bright face on me, and was gone. All these with rolling drums, with cheers,
* The day of the battle of Bull Run, in which the reserve of the Union Army rested upon Centreville. In regard to the mere time at which it was written, this poem is here out of place, as will be seen by an allusion toward its close. But it paints so faithfully that disastrous, shameful day, and so truthfully expresses the feelings which it roused throughout the Free States, that this is its proper position.
With songs familiar to my ears, Passed under the far-hanging cloud, And vanished, and my heart was proud!
For mile on mile the line of war Extended; and a steady roar, As of some distant stormy sea, On the south-wind came up to me. And high in air, and over all, Grew, like a fog, that murky pall, Beneath whose gloom of dusty smoke The cannon flamed, the bombshell broke, And the sharp rattling volley rang, And shrapnel roared, and bullets sang, And fierce-eyed men, with panting breath, Toiled onward at the work of death. I could not see, but knew too well, That underneath that cloud of hell, Which still grew more by great degrees, Man strove with man in deeds like these.
But when the sun had passed his stand At noon, behold! on every hand The dark brown vapor backward bore, And fainter came the dreadful roar From the huge sea of striving men. Thus spoke my rising spirit then: "Take comfort from that dying sound, Faint heart, the foe is giving ground!" And one, who taxed his horse's powers, Flung at me, "Ho! the day is ours!" And scoured along. So swift his pace, I took no memory of his face. Then turned I once again to Heaven; All things appeared so just and even; So clearly from the highest Cause Traced I the downward-working laws
UPON THE HILL BEFORE CENTREVILLE. 35
Those moral springs, made evident, In the grand, triumph-crowned event. So half I shouted, and half sang, Like Jephtha's daughter, to the clang Of my spread, cymbal-striking palms, Some fragments of thanksgiving psalms.
Meanwhile a solemn stillness fell Upon the land. O'er hill and dell Failed every sound. My heart stood still, Waiting before some coming ill. The silence was more sad and dread, Under that canopy of lead, Than the wild tumult of the war That raged a little while before. All Nature, in her work of death, Paused for one last, despairing breath; And, cowering to the earth, I drew From her strong breast my strength anew. When I arose, I wondering saw Another dusty vapor draw From the far right, its sluggish way Toward the main cloud, that frowning lay Against the western-sloping sun; And all the war was re-begun, Ere this fresh marvel of my sense Caught from my mind significance. And then - why ask me? O my God! Would I had lain beneath the sod, A patient clod, for many a day, And from my bones and mouldering clay The rank field grass and flowers had sprung, Ere the base sight, that struck and stung My very soul, confronted me, Shamed at my own humanity. O happy dead! who early fell, Ye have no wretched tale to tell
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