 | XIX.
A Wail of Anguish. — The Passage of the Civil
Rights Bill over the Veto. "Swingin round the cirkle" |  |
19. XIX.
A Wail of Anguish. — The Passage of the Civil
Rights Bill over the Veto.
(wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky),
April 9, 1866.
I AM a kittle full of cusses.
Under me is a burnin fire uv rage, wich is
bein continyooally fed with the oil uv disappointment.
And I bile over.
The civil rites bill, wich our Moses put his foot
into, we thought wuz dead.
And we fired great guns, and hung out our
flags, wich we laid aside in 1860, and made a joyful
noise.
For we said, one unto another, Lo! he is a true
Moses, inasmuch ez he is a leadin us out uv the
wilderness.
The civil rites bill wuz the serpent wat bit us, and
he histed it, that we might look and live.
Now let us be joyful!
For the Ethiopian is delivered into our hands,
bound hand and foot.
Blessed be Moses!
We will make him grind our corn; but he shel
not eat thereof.
Blessed be Moses!
We will make him tread out our wheat; but we
will muzzle his mouth.
Blessed be Moses!
He shall pick our cotton; but the hire he receiveth,
he shall stick in his eye without injuring the
sight thereof.
Blessed be Moses!
He shall toil in the sugar mill; but the sugar
shall he not sell.
Blessed be Moses!
His sweat shall nourish our corn; but he shall
eat nary ear thereof.
Blessed be Moses!
We will burn his school houses, and destroy his
spelling books (for shall the nigger be our superior?),
and who shall stay our hand?
The skool teachers we will tar and feather, and
whar is the bloo-koted hirelins to make us afeerd?
Blessed be Moses!
We looked at the nigger, and said, Ha, ha! the
last state uv that chattle is wuss nor the fust; for
before, we hed his labor while he wuz strong and
healthy, but hed to take care on him when he wuz
sick and old; and now we kin git his labor without
the care.
Blessed be Moses!
The Ablishnists cast out one devil, and garnished
the room; but there wuz seven devils more stronger
and hungrier, which rushed in and pre-empted the
premises.
Blessed be Moses!
But our song uv joy wuz turned into a wale uv
anguish.
Moses sought to hist the serpent, but the serpent
histed him.
He's on a pole, and the bitin North wind is a
blowin onto him.
He can't get up any higher, because his pole ain't
any longer; and he cant't get down, because he
ain't no place to light onto.
He vetoed the bills, and Congress hez vetoed him;
the civil rights bill they passed in a uncivil manner.
Now, bein the nigger hez rights, he is our ekal.
Our ekil is the nigger now, and onless the skool
will soon be our superior.
We wuz willin to give him the right uv bein sued;
but, alas! he kin sue.
He kin be a witness agin us, and he kin set his
face agin ourn.
Our wise men may make laws to keep him in his
normal speer, but uv wat avail is they?
We kin buy and sell him no more, neither he nor
his children.
The men will cleave unto their wives, and the
wives unto their husbands, and our hand is powerlis
to separate em.
Their children kin we no more put up at auction,
and sell to the highest bidder, we pocketing joyfully
the price thereof.
They hev become sassy and impudent, and say,
“Go to; are we not men?”
I bade one git orf the sidewalk, and he bade me
be damned.
I chucked a nearly white one under the chin, and
smiled onto her, and she squawked; and her husband,
hearin the squawk thereof, came up and bustid
my head, even as a white man wood hev dun.
I chastised wun who gave me lip; and he sood
judgment!
Wale! for Moses put out his hand to save us these
indignities, but his hand wuz too weak.
We killed Linkin in vain.
Our Moses is playin Jaxon. He fancieth he resembleth
him, becoz his inishals is the same.
He resembleth Jaxon muchly — in that Jaxon hed
a policy wich he cood carry out, while our Moses
hez a policy wich he can't carry out.
And ez he can't carry out his policy, the people
are carryin it out for him.
Wich they do, a holdin it at arm's length, and
holdin their noses.
Moses is a cake half baked; he is hot on one side,
and cold on tother.
He darsn't let go uv Ablishnism, and is afeerd to
come to us.
He hez been takin epsom salts and epecac; and
one is workin up, and the other is workin down.
Where kin we look for comfort?
Do we turn to the people? Connecticut answers,
“'Ror for Hawley!” and Noo Hampshier goes
Ablishun.
Do we turn to the courts? Lo! Taney hez gone
to his reward — him who aforetime dealt out Dimekratic
nigger, — and Chase, who is pizen, reigns in his
stead.
Raymond is growin weak in the knees, and Doolittle
is a broken reed on which to lean.
We are too short at both ends.
Shall we go to Brazil? Lo! there they put niggers
in office.
Mexico holds out her hands to us; but, lo! the
nigger is considered a man.
We hev no escape from the Etheopian; he is
around us, and about us, and on top uv us.
I see no post orfis in the distance, no hope for the
future.
Hed I been a Ablishunist, so ez to make the thing
safe in the next world, I shood be glad to die, and
quit this.
For my sole is pregnant with grief; my hart bugs
out with woe.
Lait Paster uv the Church uv the Noo Dispensashun.
| XIX.
A Wail of Anguish. — The Passage of the Civil
Rights Bill over the Veto. "Swingin round the cirkle" | |