The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,084 pages of information about The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell.

The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,084 pages of information about The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell.

So, to begin at the beginnin’
  An’ come direcly to the pint, 10
I think the country’s underpinnin’
  Is some consid’ble out o’ jint;
I aint agoin’ to try your patience
  By tellin’ who done this or thet,
I don’t make no insinooations,
  I jest let on I smell a rat.

Thet is, I mean, it seems to me so,
  But, ef the public think I’m wrong,
I wunt deny but wut I be so,—­
  An’ fact, it don’t smell very strong; 20
My mind’s tu fair to lose its balance
  An’ say wich party hez most sense;
There may be folks o’ greater talence
  Thet can’t set stiddier on the fence.

I’m an eclectic; ez to choosin’
  ‘Twixt this an’ thet, I’m plaguy lawth;
I leave a side thet looks like losin’,
  But (wile there’s doubt) I stick to both;
I stan’ upon the Constitution,
  Ez preudunt statesman say, who’ve planned 30
A way to git the most profusion
  O’ chances ez to ware they’ll stand.

Ez fer the war, I go agin it,—­
  I mean to say I kind o’ du,—­
Thet is, I mean thet, bein’ in it,
  The best way wuz to fight it thru’;
Not but wut abstract war is horrid,
  I sign to thet with all my heart,—­
But civlyzation doos git forrid 39
  Sometimes upon a powder-cart.

About thet darned Proviso matter
  I never hed a grain o’ doubt. 
Nor I aint one my sense to scatter
  So ’st no one couldn’t pick it out;
My love fer North an’ South is equil,
  So I’ll jest answer plump an’ frank,
No matter wut may be the sequil,—­
  Yes, Sir, I am agin a Bank.

Ez to the answerin’ o’ questions,
  I’m an off ox at bein’ druv, 50
Though I ain’t one thet ary test shuns
  ‘ll give our folks a helpin’ shove;
Kind o’ permiscoous I go it
  Fer the holl country, an’ the ground
I take, ez nigh ez I can show it,
  Is pooty gen’ally all round.

I don’t appruve o’ givin’ pledges;
  You’d ough’ to leave a feller free,
An’ not go knockin’ out the wedges
  To ketch his fingers in the tree;
Pledges air awfle breachy cattle 61
  Thet preudunt farmers don’t turn out,—­
Ez long ’z the people git their rattle,
  Wut is there fer ’em to grout about?

Ez to the slaves, there’s no confusion
  In my idees consarnin’ them,—­
I think they air an Institution,
  A sort of—­yes, jest so,—­ahem: 
Do I own any?  Of my merit
  On thet pint you yourself may jedge; 70
All is, I never drink no sperit,
  Nor I haint never signed no pledge.

Ez to my princerples, I glory
  In hevin’ nothin’ o’ the sort;
I aint a Wig, I aint a Tory,
  I’m jest a canderdate, in short;
Thet’s fair an’ square an’ parpendicler
  But, ef the Public cares a fig
To hev me an’thin’ in particler,
  Wy, I’m a kind o’ peri-Wig. 80

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.