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THE
ORPHEUS C. KERR PAPERS.
SECOND SERIES.
NEW YORK:
_Carleton, Publisher, 413 Broadway._
(LATE RUDD & CARLETON.)
M DCCC LXIII.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862.
BY GEO. W. CARLETON.
In the Clerk's office of the District Court
for the Southern District of New York.
CONTENTS.
LETTER LIII.
NOTING THE LAMENTABLE INCONVENIENCES OF A "PRESS-CENSORSHIP," AND
PARTIALLY REVEALING THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDANT ON A MARVELLOUS
STRATEGIC CHANGE OF BASE BY THE MACKEREL BRIGADE 9
LETTER LIV.
ILLUSTRATING THE DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF STRATEGY UPON NATIONAL
LITERATURE, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ORIGINAL TALE READ BY OUR
CORRESPONDENT BEFORE THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB 17
LETTER LV.
SETTING FORTH A NEW VILLAINY OF THE BLACK REPUBLICANS, AND
DESCRIBING THE THRILLING CONSTITUTIONAL BATTLE OF DUCK LAKE 60
LETTER LVI.
WHEREIN ARE PRESENTED SOME FEMININE REFERENCES, AN ANECDOTE BY THE
EXECUTIVE, AND CERTAIN NOTES OF A VISIT TO THE FESTIVE
SHENANDOAH VALLEY 69
LETTER LVII.
SUGGESTING MENTAL RELAXATION FOR A TIME, AND INTRODUCING A FAMILIAR
SKETCH OF THE WAR-STRICKEN DRAMA IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS 80
LETTER LVIII.
SHOWING HOW THE GENERAL OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE ISSUED AN AFFECTING
GENERAL ORDER, EXEMPLIFYING THE BEAUTIES OF A SPADE CAMPAIGN AS
EXHIBITED IN STRATEGY HALL, AND CELEBRATING A NOTABLE CASE OF
NAVAL STRATEGY 88
LETTER LIX.
INSTANCING THE BENEFICENT DEPORTMENT OF THE VENERABLE GAMMON, AND
NOTING THE PERFORMANCE OF A REMARKABLE MORAL DRAMA BY CAPTAIN
VILLIAM BROWN 97
LETTER LX.
REPORTING THE SECOND REGULAR MEETING OF THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, AND
THE BRITISH MEMBER'S CITATION OF THE ENGLISH POETS 105
LETTER LXI.
PORTRAYING A SOCIAL EFFECT OF THE POSTAGE-STAMP CURRENCY,
DESCRIBING THE GREAT WAR MEETING IN ACCOMAC, RECORDING THE
LATEST EXPLOIT OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE, AND INTRODUCING A
DRAFTING ITEM 118
LETTER LXII.
CONTAINING FRESH TRIBUTES OF ADMIRATION TO THE DEVOTED WOMEN OF
AMERICA, AND DEVELOPING THE GREAT COLONIZATION SCHEME OF THE
GENERAL OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE BLACK
RACE 128
LETTER LXIII.
GIVING A FAMILIAR ZOOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE "SITUATION," AND
CELEBRATING THE BRILLIANT STRATEGICAL EVACUATION OF PARIS BY
THE MACKEREL BRIGADE 136
LETTER LXIV.
SHOWING HOW THE CO-MOPOLITANS MET AGAIN, TO BE INTRODUCED TO THE
"NEUTRAL BRITISH GENTLEMAN," AND HEAR M. BONBON'S FRENCH
STORY 143
LETTER LXV.
NOTING THE REMARKABLE RETROGRADE ADVANCE OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE
UPON WASHINGTON, AND THE UNSEEMLY RAID OF THE RECKLESS
CONFEDERACY 166
LETTER LXVI.
IN WHICH OUR CORRESPONDENT ASTONISHES US BY ENGAGING IN SINGLE
COMBAT WITH M. MICHELET, AND DEMOLISHING "L'AMOUR" AND "LA
FEMME" 174
LETTER LXVII.
GIVING ASSURANCE OF THE UNMITIGATED SAFETY OF THE CAPITAL,
EXEMPLIFYING COLONEL WOBINSON'S DRAFTING EXPERIENCE, AND
NARRATING A GREAT METAPHYSICAL VICTORY 184
LETTER LXVIII.
INTRODUCING ONCE MORE THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, WITH A CURIOUS
"LAMENT," AND A STORY FROM THE SPANISH MEMBER 196
LETTER LXIX.
ILLUSTRATING THE IMPERTURBABLE CALMNESS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL,
AND NOTING THE MEMORABLE INVASION OF ACCOMAC 220
LETTER LXX.
COMMENCING WITH HISTORICAL REFERENCE; RELATING THE EPISODE OF
SPURIOSO GRIMALDI, AND DETAILING THE LAMENTABLE FAILURE OF
CAPTAIN SAMYULE SA-MITH TO PERISH HEROICALLY 228
LETTER LXXI.
SHOWING HOW THE PRESIDENT AND THE GENERAL OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE
ISSUED GREAT EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS, AND HOW THE CHAPLAIN
WROTE A RADICAL POEM 238
LETTER LXXII.
REPORTING THE LATEST SMALL STORY FROM "HONEST ABE," AND DESCRIBING
THE MOST MERCENARY BAYONET CHARGE ON RECORD 250
LETTER LXXIII.
MAKING MENTION OF ANOTHER MEETING OF THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, AT
WHICH THE TURKISH AND RUSSIAN MEMBERS READ THEIR STORIES 260
LETTER LXXIV.
CONCERNING THE SERIOUS MISTAKE OF THE VENERABLE GAMMON, THE
CHAPLAIN'S POETICAL DISCOVERY, THE PROMOTION OF COMMODORE HEAD,
AND THE RECEPTION OF THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION BY THE
SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY 299
LETTER LXXV.
SETTING FORTH THE FALSE AND TRUE ASPECTS OF BEAMING OLD AGE
RESPECTIVELY, AND SHOWING HOW THE UNBLUSHING CONFEDERACY MADE
ANOTHER RAID 310
LETTER LXXVI.
REFERRING TO THE MOSQUITO AS A TEST OF HUMAN NATURE, EXPLAINING THE
LONG HALT OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE, AND NOTING THE COURT OF
INQUIRY ON CAPTAIN VILLIAM BROWN 320
LETTER LXXVII.
SHOWING WHAT EFFECT DEMOCRATIC TRIUMPHS HAVE UPON THE PRESIDENT,
NOTING OUR CORRESPONDENT'S STRANGE MISTAKE ABOUT A BRITISH
FLAG, AND INDICATING THE STRATEGIC ADVANCE OF THE MACKEREL
BRIGADE 328
LETTER LXXVIII.
IN WHICH THE STORY TOLD BY THE GERMAN MEMBER OF THE COSMOPOLITAN
CLUB IS DULY REPORTED 337
LETTER LXXIX.
SHOWING HOW THE NATIONAL INSANITARY COMMITTEE MADE A STRANGE
BLUNDER; HOW THE BELOVED GENERAL OF THE MACKEREL BRIGADE WAS
REMOVED AND EXALTED; AND ENDING WITH AN INFALLIBLE RECIPE 358
THE
ORPHEUS C. KERR PAPERS.
SECOND SERIES.
LETTER LIII.
NOTING THE LAMENTABLE INCONVENIENCES OF A "PRESS-CENSORSHIP," AND
PARTIALLY REVEALING THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDANT ON A MARVELLOUS
STRATEGIC CHANGE OF BASE BY THE MACKEREL BRIGADE.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 6, 1862.
When in the course of human events, my boy, it becomes necessary for a
chap of respectable parentage to write a full and graphic account of a
great battle, without exasperating the press-censor by naming the
locality of the conflict, nor giving the number of the troops engaged,
the officers commanding, the movements of the different regiments, the
nature of the ground, the time of day, or the result of the struggle;
when it becomes necessary for a chap of respectable parentage to do
this, my boy, that chap reminds me of a poor chap I once knew in the
Sixth Ward.
The poor chap took daguerreotype-likenesses in high style for low
prices, and one day, there came to his third-story Louvre a
good-looking young man, dressed in a high botanical vest-pattern and
six large-sized breast-pins, and says he to the picture chap,
confidentially:
"There's a young woman living in Henry-street, which I love, and who
admires to see my manly shape; but her paternal father refuses to
receive me into the family on account of my low celery. Now," says the
breastpin-chap, knowingly, "I will give you just twenty-five dollars if
you'll go to that house and take the portrait of that young lady for
me, pretending that you have heard of her unearthly charms, and want
her picture, to add to the collection shortly to be sent to the Prince
of Wales."
Having witnessed the worst passions of his landlord that morning, my
boy, and received a telegraphic dispatch of immediate importance from
his tailor, the artist chap heard about the twenty-five dollar job with
a species of deep rapture, and undertook to do the job. He went to the
Henry-street palatial mansion with his smallest camera under his arm,
and when he got into the parlor he sent for the young lady. But she
didn't see it in that light, my boy, and she wouldn't come down. For a
moment the poor chap was in a fix; but he was there to take her
portrait, or perish in the attempt, and as he saw an oil-painting of
the young girl over the mantelpiece, he took that, and skedaddled. The
next day the breastpin-chap called at his Louvre again, and says to him:
"Have you taken Sary's portrait?"
"Yes," says the artist chap, "I took it."
"Where is it?" says the breastpin-chap with emotion.
"There it is," says the artist-chap, pointing to the oil-painting, with
a pleasing expression of countenance.
As high art is not appreciated in this country, my boy, a policeman
called at the Louvre that afternoon and removed the artist-chap to a
place which is so musical that all the windows have bars, and each man
carries a stave.
As my taste for music is not uncontrollable at present, my boy, and I
can't write a full account of a battle, without referring in some
degree to the struggle, which we are forbidden to mention, I shall not
be particular as to details.
I am permitted to say that I went down to Paris with my gothic steed
Pegasus on Monday last, and found the Mackerel Brigade coming back
across Duck Lake with the frantic intention of changing its base of
operations. The Conic Section, my boy, had been ordered to advance and
force the Southern Confederacy to compel it to retreat, and the
rapidity with which this was accomplished was a brilliant vindication
of the consummate strategy of the general of the Mackerel Brigade. I
found the general a few miles back of the scene of action issuing
orders--for the same, with a little more sugar, and says I:
"Well, my indefatigable Napoleon, have you changed your base
successfully?"
The general smiled like a complacent porpoise, and says he:
"We've reached our second base, my friend, being compelled to do so by
the treble force of the enemy."
I went on to the second base, which I reached just in time to see
Captain Villiam Brown, on his geometrical steed Euclid, arresting the
flight of Company 3, Regiment 5, under Captain Samyule Sa-mith.
"Samyule! Samyule!" says Villiam, feeling behind him to make sure that
his canteen was all right, "is this the way you treat the United States
of America at such a critical period in her distracted history?"
"I scorn your insinivation," says Samyule, "and repel your observation.
I am executing a rapid flank movement according to Hardee."
"Ah!" says Villiam, "excuse my flighty remarks. I do not mean to say
that you can be frightened," says Villiam, soothingly; "but it's my
opinion that your mother was very much annoyed by a large-sized _fly_
just before you were added to the census of the United States of
America."
Villiam's idea of the connection between cause and effect, my boy, is
as clear as a brandy-punch when the sugar settles.
The battle now raged in a manner which I am not permitted to describe,
with results I am not allowed to communicate. Villiam appeared wherever
the fray was the thickest, waving his celebrated sword Escalibar
(Anglo-Saxon of crowbar), and encouraging all the faint-hearted ones to
get between himself and the blazing Confederacy. Borne a considerable
distance backward by the force of circumstances, he had reached a
comparatively clear spot in the rear, when he suddenly found himself
confronted by Captain Munchausen, of the Southern Confederacy.
Captain Munchausen was mounted upon the thinnest excuse for four legs
that I ever saw, my boy; and what tempted nature to form such an excuse
when the same amount of bone-work would have brought more money, it was
not for mortal man to know.
"Ha!" says Villiam, hastily reining-up Euclid, and touching his sword
Escalibar, ominously, "we meet once more to discuss the great national
question of personal carnage."
"Sir," says Captain Munchausen, superciliously waving his keen edged
poker and drawing his fiery steed up from his knees, "it is my private
intention to produce some slaughter in a private family of the name of
Brown."
Fire flashed from Villiam's eyes, he replaced a small flask in his
bosom, and says he:
"Come on, and let the fight come off."
Then, my boy, commenced a series of equestrian manoeuvres calculated to
exemplify all the latest improvements in cavalry tactics and patent
circusses.--Round and round each other rode the fierce foemen, bobbing
convulsively in their saddles like exasperated jumping-jacks, and
cutting the atmosphere into minute slices with their deadly blades. Now
did the determined Villiam amble sideways toward the rebel, thrusting
fiercely at him when only a few yards intervened between them; and anon
did the foaming Munchausen wriggle fiercely backward against the
haunches of the steed Euclid, slashing right and left with tumultuous
perspiration.
It was when this thrilling combat was at the hottest that the steed
Euclid, being exasperated by a large blue-bottle fly, arose airily to
his hind legs, and carried the Union champion right on top of his
enemy. Down came the glittering Escalibar on the shoddy helmet of the
astonished Munchausen; but the deadly blade was not sharp enough for
its purpose, and only caused the foeman to make hasty profane remarks.
"Ah!" says Villiam, bitterly, eyeing his sword as Euclid waltzed
backward, "I forgot to sharpen my brand after cutting that last plate
of smoke-beef."
"Surrender!" shouted the unmanly Munchausen, noticing that Villiam was
sheathing his blade, and bearing gracefully down upon him in an
elaborate equestrian polka.
"Never!" says Villiam, drawing his revolver, and firing madly into the
setting sun.
Swiftly as the lightning flashes did the Confederate champion follow
suit with his pistol, sending a bullet horribly whizzing into the
nearest tree.
"Die!" shouted Villiam, prancing excitedly in all directions, and
delivering another shot. Then he gazed upon his revolver with an
expression of inexpressible woe. The weapon had deceived him!
"Perish!" roared Munchausen, discharging another barrel as he went
hopping about. After which, he ground his teeth, and gazed upon his
pistol with speechless fury. The weapon had played him false!
I was gazing with breathless interest on this desperate encounter, my
boy, expecting to see more slaughter, when Captain Munchausen suddenly
turned his spirited stallion, and fled frantically from the scene; for
he had heard the shouts of the approaching Mackerels, and did not care
to be taken just then.
"Ha!" says Villiam, gazing severely at Company 3, Regiment 5, as it
came pouring forward, "has the Southern Confederacy concluded to submit
to the United States of America?"
What the answer was, my boy, I am not allowed to say; but you may rest
satisfied that a thing has been done which I am not permitted to
divulge; and should this lead, as I hope it will, to a movement I am
not suffered to make public, it cannot fail to result in a consummation
which I am forbidden to make known. But if, on the other hand, the
strategic movement which I am not at liberty to describe should be
followed by a stroke I am restrained from explaining, you will find
that the effect it would not be judicious in me to set forth, will
produce a consequence which the War Department denies me the privilege
of developing.
I was speaking to a New England Congress chap, this morning, concerning
the recent events which I am compelled to remain silent about, and,
says he: "The proper way to save the Union is to bewilder the rebels by
issuing calls for fresh troops at breakfast-time, and countermanding
the calls as soon as the coffee comes in. Strategy," says the grave
legislative chap, thoughtfully, "is not confined to the tented field;
it may be used with good effect by Cabinet ministers; and our recent
proposal to reduce the army 150,000 men was a piece of consummate
legislative strategy."
Legislative strategy is a very good thing to bewilder the rebels, my
boy; and if it also bewilders everybody else, the moral effect of the
adjournment of Congress will prove rather beneficial than otherwise to
our distracted country.
Yours, under suppression,
ORPHEUS C. KERR.
LETTER LIV.
ILLUSTRATING THE DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF STRATEGY UPON NATIONAL
LITERATURE, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ORIGINAL TALE READ BY OUR
CORRESPONDENT BEFORE THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 9th, 1862.
A few weeks ago, my boy, when national strategy seemed rapidly coming
to a distinct understanding with the American Eagle, and the fall of
Richmond had resolved itself into a mere question of time--as slightly
distinguished from Eternity,--I became a member of the Cosmopolitan
Club.
This club, my boy, is a select draft from the host of clumsy but
respectable foreigners now assembled here to criticize the military
performances of our distracted country, and I have the honor to
represent my native land, _solus_, in it. Its members are, a civilized
Russian chap named Vitchisvitch, a Turk named N. E. Ottoman, an
Englishman named Smith-Brown, a Frenchman named Bonbon, a German named
Tuyfeldock, a Spaniard and myself.
The object of this small international organization, which meets once
every three weeks, is to advance the cause of free and easy literature
in the lulls of national strife, and preserve coherent ideality and
tolerable grammar from falling into disuse. The foreign chaps, my boy,
all speak much better English than a majority of our brigadiers; and in
order to give a system to our proceedings, it has been resolved, that
each of us, in turn, shall relate an old-fashioned story relating to
his own particular country; and that all shall take pains to contribute
miscellaneous items for the general delectation of the club.
The privilege of producing the first story was voted to me, my boy, and
at the meeting of the Cosmopolitan last evening, I produced from my
pocket a manuscript already secured from me by a wealthy journal
(VANITY FAIR.--ED.) for a fabulous sum, and proceeded to regale
assembled Europe with
A QUARTER OF TWELVE.
CHAPTER I.--F. F. VICISSITUDES.
The forces of the Southern Confederacy--so called because a majority of
them were forced into the service--had just won another glorious
victory over their disinclination to retreat, and were rapidly
following it up, propelled by the National Army. The richest and best
blood of the South was profusely running for the cause to which it was
devoted, accompanied by those notable possessors in whose cases it
poured in vein.
Seated at his breakfast-table in the city of Richmond, with his wife
for a _vis-a-vis_ at a board that might well have groaned for more
things than one, and his daughter at his right hand, was Mr. ORDETH, a
scion of one of those Virginia Families very properly designated as
"First" for the reason that no other Families on earth have ever felt
inclined to second them in anything.
Mr. ORDETH was a personage of fiery and chivalrous visage, from the
lower circumference of which depended iron-grey whiskers, so similar in
shape to the caudal appendage of a mule, that one might suppose nature
to have intended the construction of an _asinus domesticus_ when first
she commenced to mould the mortal material, but, having inadvertently
planted the tail at the wrong end, was satisfied to finish him off as a
man. His hair was too much of a brush in its own character to agree
well with an artificial brush in the objective case; he wore a _robe de
chambre_ richly illustrated with impossible flowers growing on
improbable soil--let us say on holey ground; his nether continuations
were spotted here and there with diminutive banners of broadcloth
secession, and it was noticeable as he stretched his feet under the
table that his slippers had once done duty as crochet watch-cases.
The table spread for the morning meal was peculiarly Virginiatic, being
very rich in plate and poor in provender; for hoe-cake and fried
Carolina potatoes were the only eatables visible, whilst the usual
places of coffee-pot, bread-plate and salt-cellar were supplied with
cards inscribed: "Coffee $20 per lb., in consequence of
Blockade."--"Flour $24 per bbl."--"Salt $25 per lb." If any member of
the Family felt inclined to wish for any of these last articles, he, or
she, had but to glance at the card substitutes to lose instantaneously
all appetite for said articles. There was philosophy in this idea, _mon
ami_.
"LIBBY," said Mr. ORDETH, addressing his daughter, whose auburn curls
and pretty face were none the less attractive because they crowned what
seemed to be a troubled fountain of extremely loud calico with a dash
of moonlight on top--"LIBBY," said he, "pass me the morning journal."
The morning journal, which had recently augmented its value as a family
and commercial sheet by coming out on superior wrapping paper, was
passed to her father by LIBBY, she having first satisfied herself, with
a sigh of disappointment, that the list of deaths did not contain the
name of a single one of her friends.
Woman, _mon ami_, does not regard death as you and I do. To her it is a
sleep in which the slumberer himself becomes a dream for the rest of
the world; and its announcement is to her the mere evening breeze that
softly lifts another leaf in the sacred Volume of Memory, and lets the
starlight, falling through a shower of tears, rest on a name henceforth
to live immortal in the heart. I was told this by a young lady who
wears spectacles and writes for the Boston press.
As Mr. ORDETH perused the latest news from the seat of war, his bosom
heaved to such an extent that one or two of the pins confining the
front of his dressing-gown to his throat gave out. "HONORIA," said he,
addressing his quiet little wife, who was spasmodically eating and
repairing a rent in her dress simultaneously,--"we have again defeated
the hordes of LINCOLN, and I think, my dear, that we had better get
ready to leave Richmond. The _Enquirer_ says: 'Yesterday a half a
hundred of our troops were attacked near Fredericksburg by nearly forty
thousand Yankees, whom they compelled to retreat after them toward this
city. We took four hundred prisoners who will be demanded of the enemy
immediately, and all of our men, save the messenger bringing the news,
are now briskly pushing forward in the direction of Fort Lafayette.'
You see, my dear, we always whip them inland. The Yankees gain all
their victories on water."
Which is very true; for it is as much a fact that the national troops
win their triumphs on water, as it is that the rebels do _their_ best
on whiskey.
Mrs. ORDETH made no verbal reply to her husband's exultations, but
assumed that simpering expression of countenance by which ladies are
accustomed to denote their amiable willingness to swallow without
question whatever the speaker may say.
"Providence is evidently favorable to the South," continued the head of
the Family, impressively, "and has thus far treated us in a gentlemanly
manner; but should it happen, HONORIA, that the Hessian vandals of
LINCOLN _should_ reach this city, I myself will be the first to fire
all I hold dear, rather than let it fall into the hands of the invader.
Yes!" exclaimed Mr. ORDETH with enthusiasm, rising from his chair and
moving excitedly toward the door of the apartment,--"with my own hands
would I apply the torch to you and to my child."
"O VICTOR," said Mrs. ORDETH, with tears springing to her eyes, "I
reckon you would."
"Aside from the wrongs of the South," continued the inspired ORDETH,
pushing his bowie-knife a little further round behind his back, that it
might not hurt his hip,--"we have Family losses to avenge. Only
yesterday, my uncle was struck at Yorktown with a shell that completely
tore his head from his body."
"How perfectly absurd!" ejaculated the hitherto silent LIBBY.
"Why it's actually ridiculous," said Mrs. ORDETH.
And so it was. The sex have a keen perception of the ludicrous.
"How I wish that our vigilants had caught that low-minded Abolition
whelp, PETERS," continued the Virginian, grinding his teeth; "but he
disappeared so suddenly that day, that I was entirely bewildered. To
think that the hound--my cousin's son as he is--should dare to demand
payment of a bill from a Southern gentleman! He will find congenial
souls among LINCOLN'S hordes, I reckon."
The speaker evidently recognized the fact that a man with a bill to
collect would derive very little benefit from Southern hoards, at any
rate.
A close observer might have noticed that Miss LIBBY'S cheeks betrayed
the faintest tint of virgin wine at this last speech of her father's;
but as it is not my business to inquire the wine wherefore of
everything, I shall say no more about that at present.
While speaking, the paternal ORDETH had placed his hand unconsciously
as it were on the knob of the door; and now, with a sudden movement, he
opened the door. Or rather, he simply turned the knob; for the door
fairly forced itself open against him, and there unexpectedly tumbled
half way into the room a somewhat venerable person from Afric's sunny
fountains. From the manner in which this colored person fell across the
sill, it was evident that he had been upon his knees the instant before.
The ladies uttered little shrieks and then went on with their hoe-cake;
but Mr. ORDETH viewed the intruder with a glance of suspicion.
"JOCKO, you black reskel!" said he, in a suppressed manner, "what are
you doing here?"
The oppressed African, who, like most slaves was pious, rose to his
feet with touching humility, and said he:
"Ise watchin', Mars'r, for de Angel of de Lor'."
"Oh," returned the haughty Virginian, scorning to show how deeply he
was affected, "you're watchin' for that, are you?"
"Yes, Mars'r," said the attached slave; "and I hab pray dat my good
Mars'r may gib up drinkin' and be one of the good angels too. Oh,
Mars'r ORDETH, I hab wrastle much for you in prayer."
I know not how that slaveholder's heart was affected by this beautiful
instance of his humble bondman's devotion; but I do know, _mon ami_,
that he reached forth his right hand, seized the chattel by the collar,
and was heard to carry on a blasphemous conversation with him for the
space of fifteen minutes thereafter, in the hall.