North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1862-10-15
VOL. 2, NO. 10.

the rite time. II aroused and united the
South an divided the North. They saw what
we were after, Ef my policy had been fel-
lowed, of pacifyin the South an of talkin Un-
ion' to the North, we would have scotched
the snake of slavery, an then we could have
killed 1t at our leisure" .0' e' '4s'
Then old Welles got up, iookn very sleepy.
He sed the failure could not be charged
agin the Navy. 1t was the most wide-awake
ins:itushin Of the age. II had achieved all
the victories. The army couldn't do eny-
thing without his gunboats Every time the
rebils got at them, they had to retrete to his
gunboats, In his opinion the army had fall
ed because it could not carry his gunboats
with it. He sed he had been tryin to invent
plan to furnish each regiment with a gun.
boat for land service. Eff he could do that,
he thought Richmond nigh. be taken early
next spring! The only thing In all the war
that had not been failure werc his gun.
boats 7"
After he got thru, Linkin called upon me.
jest hauled up my old hckery an laid it on
the tabil, an then putin my elbows on the
tabil to rest myself, begaIi. Ses I /" Kernel.
feel kinder scary to Civ my opinion rite
here, after such display Of larnin an elo-
ounce; but" ses I, Gas understand the
questshin, it is this: We've been fghtin to
restore the Union, and we've failed. Now.
what is the cause of the failure ?" Ses /,
"Is that it, Kernel ?'' Ses he,"Yes, Ma
jer; that's it, exactly" aWaL" sesI,GT
alters want to get ON the track afore start,
an then kin tell purity nigh where will
fetch up. Now" ses I, Kernel, want to
ask you questshin: Did you eper try to
split a peperage log 2" "No," ses he, Ma
jer, never did. Nobody would be such
consarned fool as to try an split peperage
log" Wal,' ses |, 4" Kernel, suppose some
feller should cum to you an tell yod that he
had been year an haIe tryin to split pep
crage log, an couldn't do it, that he had fail
ed, an wanted you to tell him what to do,
what would you say to him 2n Say to-
him why, | should tell him he might jest
as well whistle at the log as to try to split it
that it warn't in the Datur of seeh knotty,
nerly, ress-srained timber to split i'm other
words, that he was tryin to do an ompossi-
bull thing" "Now," sesI Keruel, that's
jest my idee about tryin to save this Union
by fghtin You're tryin to do an ompossi-
hul thing After year an half of fgh,in,
you all acknowledge that you have failed, an
ali the Cabynet is wonderin why you have
failed. Now, it amt no wonder TO me-
You have failed jest because, in the very ma.
tur of things, what you are tryin to do can't
! De done in that way. You're takin the rong
way TO do it. Then told the Cabynet that
The only way to get out of this serape vas to
have an arfn'stiss. stop the fightin, and ga /"
talkn-that both sides had had enuff Of bload.
shed now to satisfy them, an that the only
way to get at a settlement was to do that.
No conclusion, however, was cum to about
the armistiss. The Kernel can't bring him
self up to the idee yet. Eff the Governors
were only in favor of it, he would do it at
once. So suppose for the present we shall
keep on tryin TO do an ompossibul thing-to
git the Union by ightin for it, Depend up
on it, tryin to split peperage log, amt nothin
to it," Yours till deth,
MAJOR JACK DOWNING.
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