University of Virginia Library

21. XXI.
A Psalm of Gladness. — The Veto of the Civil
Rights Bill, and other Matters, occasioning a
Feeling of Thankfulness in the Minds of the
Democracy.

I AM a canary, a nightengale. A lark, am I.
I raise my voice in song. I pour forth melojus
notes.

I am a lamb, wich frisketh, and waggeth his tale,
and leapeth, ez he nippeth the tender grass. I am
a colt, wich kicketh up its heels exuberantly.

I am a bridegroom, wich cometh from his bride
in the mornin feelin releeved in the knowledge that
she wore not palpitators, nor false calves, nor nothin
false, afore she wuz hizn.

I am a steamboat captin with a full load, a doggry
keeper on a Saturday nite, a sportin man with
four aces in his hand.

All these am I, and more.

For we sought to establish ourselves upon a rock,
but found that the underpinnin wuz gone out uv it.

Even slavery wuz our strong place, and our hope;
but the corners hed bin knocked out uv it.

The sons uv Belial hed gone forth agin it. Massachusetts
hed assailed it, and the North West hed
drawd its bow agin it.

Wendell Phillips hed pecked out wun stun, Garret
Smith another; and the soljers hed completed
what they hed begun.

And Congris, even the Rump, hed decreed its
death, and hed held forth its hand to Ethiopia.

It passed a bill givin the Niggers their rites, and
takin away from us our rites:

Sayin, that no more shel we sell em in the market
place,

Or take their wives from em,

Or be father to their children,

Or make uv em conkebines aginst their will,

Or force em to toil without hire,

Or shoot em, ez we wuz wont to do under the old
dispensashun,

Or make laws for em wich didn't bind us as well.

And our hearts wuz sad in our buzzums; for we
said, Lo! the nigger is our ekal; and we mourned
ez them hevin no hope.

But the President, even Androo, the choice uv
Booth, said, Nay.

And the bill wuz vetoed, and is no law; and our
hearts is made glad.

And from the Ohio to the Gulf shel go up the
song uv gladness and the sounds uv mirth.

The nigger will we slay, for he elevated his horn
agin us.

We will make one law for him and another for
us, and he will sigh for the good old times when he
wuz a slave in earnest.

His wife shel be our conkebine, ef she is fair
to look upon; and ef he murmurs, we'll bust his
head.

His daughters shel our sons possess; and their inkrease
will we sell, and live upon the price they
bring.

In our fields they shel labor; but the price uv
their toil shel make us fat.

Sing, O my soul!

The nigger hed become sassy and impudent, and
denied that he wuz a servant unto his brethren.

He sheltered hisself behind the Freedman's Burow,
and the Civil Rites Bill, and the soldiery, and
he wagged his lip at us, and made mouths at us.

And we longed to git at him, but because of these
we durst not.

But now who shell succor him.

We will smite him hip and thigh, onless he consents
to be normal.

Our time uv rejoicin is come.

In Kentucky, the soldiers voted, — them ez wuz
clothed in gray, — and we routed the Abolishnists.

Three great capchers hev we made: New Orleens
we capcherd, Kentucky we capcherd, and the President
— him who aforetime strayed from us — we
capcherd.

Rejoice, O my soul! for yoor good time, wich
wuz so long a comin, is come.

We shel hev Post Offisis, and Collectorships, and
Assessorships, and Furrin Mishns, and Route Agencies,
and sich; and on the proceeds thereof will we
eat, drink, and be merry.

The great rivers shel be whisky, the islands therein
sugar, the streems tributary lemon joose and bitters,
and the faithful shel drink.

Whisky shel be cheap; for we shel hold the offises,
and kin pay; and the heart uv the barkeeper
shel be glad.

The Ablishnist shel hang his hed; and we will
jeer him, and flout him, and say unto him, “Go up,

bald head!” and no bears shel bite us; for, lo! the
President is our rock, and in him we abide.

Blessed be Booth, who give us Androo.

Blessed be the veto, wich makes the deed uv
Booth uv sum account to us.

Blessed be Moses, who is a leadin us out uv the
wilderness, into the Canaan flowin with milk and
honey.