Chapter 104
"Better it were to be born a serf, Holding a soul by a master's lease; Better than learning Society's law, Gaining a Husband and forfeiting peace.
"Mortimer sighs as he sees me dance, Percy is sad as he pa.s.ses by, Herbert turns pallid beneath my glance; All of them married--and so am I.
"Well, if the world must have it so, Woman can only stand and endure; Ever the grossness of all that is gross Rises the tyrant of all that is pure.
"Marriage, they say, is a sacred thing; So is the fetter that yields a smart.
Give _one_ crumb to the starving wretch, And give _one_ Object to Woman's Heart.
"Claude, they tell me, should own my love; Well, I have loved him nearly a week; Looking at one man longer than that Grows to be tiresome--so to speak.
"What if he calls me Angel wife; Angels are not for the One to win; Yet is my pa.s.sionate love like theirs,-- Theirs is a love taking all men in.
"Hops the canary 'neath the wires, Speaks the canary not a word; When to my heart the chill has struck, How can I sing?--can ary bird?"
[5] The measure of this striking poem is Owenmeredithyrambic.
Let us mingle our tears, my boy, in a gruel of compa.s.sion, as we conjointly reflect upon this affecting revelation of Woman's Heart.
On Thursday last, my architectural steed, the gothic Pegasus, conveyed me once more, by easy stages, to the outskirts of Paris, where I found the aged and respectable Mackerel Brigade cleaning their spectacles and writing their epitaphs preparatory to that celebrated advance upon the well-known Southern Confederacy which is frequently mentioned in ancient history. The Grim Old Fighting c.o.x, my boy, has rashly determined, that the unfavorable weather shall not detain our national troops another single year, and there is at last a prospect that our grandchildren may read a full and authentic report of the capture of Richmond in the reliable morning journals of their time. And here let me say to the grandchild Orpheus: "Be sure, my boy, that you do not permit your pardonable exultation at the triumph of your country's arms, to make you too severe upon the conquered foes of the Republic."
I put in this little piece of advice to posterity, my boy, because I desire to have posterity magnanimous.
I was conversing affably with a few official Mackerels about several mutual friends of ours, who had been born, were married, and had expired of decrepitude during the celebrated national sieges of Vicksburg and Charleston, when a civilian chap named Mr. P. Greene came into camp from New York, with the intention of proceeding immediately to the ruins of Richmond. He was a chap of much spreading dignity, my boy, with a carpet-bag, an umbrella, and a walking-cane.
"Having read," says he, "in all the excellent morning journals, that Richmond is being hastily evacuated by the starving Confederacy, I have determined to precede the military in that direction. Possibly," says he, impressively, "I may be able to find a suitable place in the deserted city for the residence of my family during the summer."
Captain Villiam Brown listened attentively, and says he:
"Is your intelligence official, or founded on fact?"
The civilian chap drew himself up with much dignity, and says he:
"I find it in all the morning journals."
Certainly this was conclusive, my boy; and yet our supine military men were willing to let this unadorned civilian chap be the first to enter the evacuated capital of the stricken Confederacy. Facing toward that ill-fated place, he moved off, his carpet-bag in his left hand, his umbrella In his right, and his cane under one arm, a perfect impersonation of the spirit of American Progress. By slow and dignified degrees he grew smaller in the distance, until finally he was out of sight.
It was some six hours after this, my boy, that we were conversing as before, when there suddenly appeared, coming toward us from the direction of the capital of the Confederacy, the figure of a man running. Rapidly it drew nearer, when I discovered it to be Mr. P.
Greene, in a horrible condition of dishevelment, his umbrella, cane, and carpet-bag gone, his hair standing on end, his
"Ah!" says Villiam, philosophically, "he derived his information from the daily prints of the United States of America, and has seen the elephant. The moral," says Villiam, placidly, "is very obvious,--put not your trust in print, sirs."
If it be indeed true, that there is "more pleasure in antic.i.p.ation than in reality," the war-news we find in our excellent morning journals should give us more pleasure than one poor pen can express.
Yours, credulously,
ORPHEUS C. KERR.
LETTER XCI.
CONTAINING THE VENERABLE GAMMON'S REPORT OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE WAR HAS CONDUCTED ITSELF UP TO THIS TIME; AND THE MOST SURPRISING EPITAPH OF A VICTIM OF STRATEGY.
WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D.C., April 12th, 1863.
Depressed, my boy, by that low-spirited sense of reverence for s.h.i.+rt-collared Old Age, which is a part of my credulous nature, I proceed to record that the Venerable Gammon has once more torn himself from idolatrous Mugville to beam venerably upon all the capital the nation has left; and as I mark how fatly he waves continual benediction to the attached populace, I am impressed anew with the conviction of the serious mental magnitude of large-sized Old Age. It was on Monday that a delegation of anxious civilian chaps grovelled around this aged idol of a mournful nation; and as soon as the awe-stricken spokesman of the party had crawled within speaking distance of the Venerable Gammon, he sniffed deferentially, and says he:
"Sire, we desire to know how soon we may expect an honorable peace to end the present war, which it is perpetual bloodshed."
The Venerable Gammon placidly placed his beneficent right hand between his patriarchal ruffles, and says he:
"My friends, this war is like a great struggle between two hostile armies; it will continue until it has ceased, and it will cease when it is no longer continued. Peace," says the Venerable Gammon,--waving indulgent permission for the sun to go on s.h.i.+ning,--"peace is the end of the War, as war is the end of Peace; therefore, if we had no war, peace would be without end, and if we had no peace, war would be endless."
Then all the fond civilian chaps grovelled ecstatically at the time-honored feet of the benignant parent of his country, and four-and-twenty reliable morning journals immediately published a report that Richmond had been taken--for another year.
But what has particularly endeared the Venerable Gammon to the hearts of his distracted fellow-countrymen is, his able report of the manner in which the war has conducted itself since the First of April, 1862. I cannot exactly understand my boy, how this benignant benefactor of his species comes to know anything at all about military matters; nor am I prepared to state that he had any call whatever to report upon national strategy; but he has issued a startling statement, and I give the whole
REPORT.
"On the first of April, 1862, on the day immediately succeeding the 31st of May in the same year, a solitary horseman might have been seen approaching the camp of the Mackerel Brigade from Was.h.i.+ngton.
He was a youth in the prime of life, and carried a carpet-bag containing the daily morning journals of that date. Upon reaching the tent of the General of the Mackerel Brigade, he sought an immediate interview with the latter, and at once revealed to him that it was reported in all the morning journals, that the celebrated Southern Confederacy had evacuated Mana.s.sas just two weeks previously, thereby rendering an advance upon that stronghold by our national troops a subject demanding immediate attention.
"Upon discovering that this news was indeed contained in the morning journals, the General of the Mackerel Brigade at once ordered a report of our national victory to be conveyed to the Mackerels who had gained it; and having made several promotions for bravery, and telegraphed to the excellent Democratic Organization in New York that he had rather capture Mana.s.sas than be President of the United States in 1865, he ordered an immediate advance upon Mana.s.sas. The advance took place without confusion or dismay, and on the following morning Captain Villiam Brown electrified the whole nation with the magical words:
"'We have met the enemy, and they are hours--ahead of us.'
"The backbone of the Rebellion being thus broken, the General of the Mackerel Brigade wrote to the Honest Abe at Was.h.i.+ngton, as follows:
"'DEAR SIR,--I have at length successfully surprised the stronghold of Mana.s.sas, and consider myself strong enough to continue the war, if you can send me a few more troops. If you can spare 60,000 under Sergeant O'Pake, and 50,000 under Colonel Wobert Wobinson, from the defence of Was.h.i.+ngton, I can wait for the other hundred thousand until I push forward again.
"'THE GENERAL OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE.'
"This was on the fourth of April. Owing to the continual storms, and the difficulty encountered in procuring umbrellas for the troops, the Mackerel Brigade was enabled to advance but thirty-three and a half feet during the ensuing four months, during which time several State elections took place. On the Fourth of July, the Honest Abe addressed the following: note to the General of the Mackerel Brigade:
"'GENERAL,--By your plan of drawing troops away from Was.h.i.+ngton, the capital would be left with fewer soldiers than it now possesses; and if the capital is weakened, it follows very clearly, that it will not be strengthened. My plan is directly the reverse of your plan, so that your plan is immediately opposite to my plan. Allow me to ask you the following questions:
"'I. If your plan is different from my plan, how can my plan be the same as your plan?
"'II. If my plan does not agree with your plan, wherein does your plan a.s.similate with my plan?
"'III. If your plan and my plan are not the same plan, how can my plan and your plan be one plan?
"'IV. If my plan, by opposing your plan, shows that my plan is not at all like your plan, how can your plan, by differing from my plan, save Was.h.i.+ngton according to my plan, which is not your plan?
H. ABE.'
"Both plans were adopted, and in the course of the succeeding two months the Mackerel Brigade shot a couple of Confederacies. Shortly after this, it was decided that an advance should be made upon the city of Paris by way of Duck Lake, the iron-plated squadron of Rear Admirable Head being detailed from the blockade to take the Mackerels across, as soon as a heavy rain should make the lake too deep for navigation by personal wading. The troops were at the landing at the appointed time, and were about to embark in good order, when it was discovered by the negro servant of one of the officers, that they had forgotten to bring any ammunition with them, and that the iron-plated squadron had not arrived. This unfortunate discovery made it necessary for the Mackerel Brigade to fall back thirty-three and a half feet, and the General thus wrote to the Honest Abe at Was.h.i.+ngton: