University of Virginia Library

A POSTSCRIPT.

I have wound up My Thirty Years Out of the Senate, and left the Two Pollies
at anker down to Sandy Hook, with Sargent Joel and a few Downingville
melitia on board to keep guard till we get orders from the Government, or
Mr. Bukanan, or somebody else, to do something. If Kansas has got through
“bleeding,” so Mr. Bukanan can get time to look after something else, and
thinks it is time to take Cuba, “if we have the power,” we are on hand, and
all ready to give a lift. Or, if we are to take care of Mexico, and are going
to fix up that “protectorate” that they talk about, the Two Pollies will
undertake to go out and take care of the castle at Vera Cruz, for her part of
the protectorate. She wasn't afraid to pour into the Moro, and I guess she'll
have grit enough to handle Vera Cruz. Or if Government hasn't got the
Central American question settled yet, and finds it necessary to send out a
force there, the Two Pollies is the craft to take charge of the business and
keep the road open across the Isthmus. Or if the Government should think
it best to take in the Society Islands and the Sandwich Islands, away round
there in the Pacific Ocean and hitch 'em on to the United States, the Two
Pollies would make a first-rate squadron to be stationed round there among
'em, for there aint another vessel in the whole navy that can hold a candle to
her in sailin' round Islands—she's been tried, and wasn't found wanting.
Or if there should need to be any reënforcement sent to the army that's gone
to Utah to whip them beastly Mormons that's got so many wives, Sargent
Joel and the Downingville company would be force enough to set things all
right there, and the marines and hoss-marines could be kept aboard to navigate
the Two Pollies. And I want Mr. Buchanan and the Government to understand
that we are ready to take hold and help 'em out of their difficulties
at any time and in all weathers.

Although I've got through “My Thirty Years Out of the Senate,” I aint
agoing to sit down and do nothin'—I aint one of that nater; and as it's
pretty likely I shall be out of the Senate some time longer, if I live, I shall
keep sturrin' round, writin' for the good of the country, or fightin' for the
good of the country, as long as I can hold out. My old friend, Colonel
Benton, did jest the same thing. When he got through his Thirty Years in
the Senate he didn't fold his hands and set down and do nothin', but kept
on writin' for his country till the last moment, and finally the brave old man
“died in harness,” as they say, almost with the pen in his hand. I think
that's better than to rust out. So when I aint wanted by the Government

[ILLUSTRATION]

AT ANCHOR

[Description: 688EAF. Page 458. The Two Pollies is seen to be at anchor. Decorative scrolls suggest being in still water as if in a large tub.]

to go on foreign expeditions, I shall pretty likely keep figerin' away with my
pen in somethin' or other. Maybe I can do as much good to the conntry in
that way as any, for I have a kind of a sneaking taste for literature as well
as war, after all. And if my name shouldn't appear in the list of contributors
to the new Magazine called the “Great Republic” Monthly, I guess, if the
reader looks sharp, he'll see I am at work in it somewhere in an underhanded
kind of a way. And if I should happen to go off on a cruise anywhere,
I shall, of course, make my reports to the Government and the
public through that Magazine.