With bayonet at the charge I wait- But in the tent that night awake, I still may have the countersign [Southern.] [This poem is a part of the second series of "The Bigelow Papers," a work wholly unmatched in the literature of humor, that has an earnest purpose and well matured thought for its sources of inspiration. The poem was called forth by what is known as "the Trent affair." Captain Wilkes, commanding the United States man-of-war, San Jacinto, boarded the British mail steamer Trent on the 8th of November, 1861, and took from her the Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell. Great Britain resented the act, and for a time there was serious apprehension of war between that country and the United States; but as the seizure of the commissioners on board a neutral vessel was deemed to be an act in violation of international law, the Government at Washington, after inquiry into the facts, surrendered the prisoners. The version of the poem here given is a correct one, taken from the collected edition of Mr. Lowell's poems. An abridged and otherwise imperfect version is given in many collections.— EDITOR.] IT JONATHAN TO JOHN. T don't seem hardly right, John, Thet 's fit for you an' me!" You wonder why we 're hot, John? Ef I turned mad dogs loose, John, I on'y guess," sez he, Who made the law thet hurts, John, (I'm good at thet)," sez he, "Thet sauce for goose ain't jest the juice For ganders with J. B., No more 'n with you or me!" When your rights was our wrongs, John, Was good 'nough law for us. Though physic 's good," sez he, "It does n't foller thet he can swaller Prescriptions signed 'J. B.' Put up by you an' me." |