The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1866-01-31
Bill Arp Addresses his COnstitu-
enfS. eoF

| REsPEKTBUL PEOPLE: Iaddress yol
on this okkashun with a profound admi
ration for the great consideration which
caused you to honor me by you vote
with a seat in the Sinate of Georgy. Fol
two momentus and inspirin weeks, tn.
Legislature have been in solem session
one of whom / am proud to be which,
For several days We were engaged a.
skouts, maxim sorter rekonysance tc
see whether Georgy were a State or 1
lujun Terrytory-whether we were ir
the old Un-ion or out of it--whether me
and my foxes, and you and your foxes
were somebody or nobody, and lastly
| though by no means leastly whether oul
lpoor innocent children, born during tht
war, were all illegal and had to be born
oyer again or not. This. last pint are
much unsettled, but our women are ad
vised to be kahn and screen.
Ny friends, our aim have honestly
been to git you all back into the folds oi
the gloryous old Union. Like the prody.
gal son, we have nuthin tn live on, and
feelin lonesome and hungry. have been
bowin and scrapin and maxim apologys
Tor live or six months. We hay been
seen standin afur off for weeks anel weeks,
but durn the calf do they kill for u.s.
They know, we've got nothin, for they
eat up our substance, and as for. putin
rings on our fingers, we couldent expekt
it until they bring back the jewelry they
carryed away. | cannot say, in the Ian
gwidge of the poet, that our labor hay
been labor Of love, for we've had mon
strus poor encouragement to be shore;
but we had all sot our heads towards the
starsIand stripes, and we jintly determin-
ed that, come wool come wo, sink or
swim, survive or perish, thunder or lite
min, we'd slip back, or sneak back, or git
back somehow or somehow else, or wee
stay out forever and ever amen and be
hanged to EN-, SO called, / golly. -
Up to this time it hav been an up hill
business. The team was a good one and
the gear all sound and the wagon creased,
but the road are perhaps the lufest ro.-
tenest corduroy in the world. It's pull
up and scotch, pull up and scotch, and
ever anonymous the sketch slips out and
the tung cuts round, and away we go
into the gully. Andy Jonsin is the dri-
yer, and he says, $50 Slow" and he hol-
lers "Wo wo !" and loses the road, and
then we hay to go back to the, fork and
wait till ne blazes the way. He seems tc
be doin his best, but then thar is Sum mel
and Satan and Stevens aud Davis and
other like gentlemen. who keep hollerin
at him and crackiu his whip, and con-
fusin his. idees, so that sometimes we
don't whether he's gee,in or haw-in. My
friends, about them fellers, l don't know
what | ort to say. If you do, or any.
body else does, | wish they would say it.
don't encourage cussin nobody, not at
all, but if you know of a man that can I
be broke Of it durin his material life, it
mout be we'll to hire him. by the year.
If there is in all history good exkuse
and q proper subjeck, it is upsn them
hairless, soulless, bowelles, gizzardless,
fratrisidal, suisidel, parasidel, sistersidel,
abominabul, contemptabul, disgustibul
individual. l sometimes think of them
till my brain gifts sorter added, and
feel like volunteer convikt of the Lu-
natiek Asylorum.
Charity inclines me to the opinyun that
old Sumner are crazy, think he has
been gittin worse ever since he took
Brooks on the brain, and it do seem like
the disease hav proved contagus. If
they be for peace that passeth all under
stand:n, for We cant fathom it in these
regions. The fout us to free the pore
niger, but didn't care for the Union
The Western boys fought US for the
Union, but dident care for the niger
By double temin on us, they licked US
and we gin itup, but now the one don't
want our niggers and the other don't want
our Union, and its the hardest skedule
to pleas EN- both that poor vanished
peepul ever undertook. a It's the mosi
hardest war to wind up that history re-
kords. Sumner, Satan and Company are
still fussin and fumin about the ever.
lastin nigger-want him to vote and max
laws, and squat on jewry, and want to
perhibit US, the rebels, from doin the
same thing for 80 years to cum! Jee.
rusalem where is the cussin man? TheJ
say its all. right for niger not to vote
in Connecticut, bekaus there ain but .
few of EN- thar; ;sand its all wrong for EN-
not to vote in Georgy, bekausl there's a
heep Of EN- here, and they talk Logik and
Retorik amazin to prove how it is. Well
Ishaint got whole passel of sense like
sum, but as shore as In, too foot high, q
nigger is niger, and don't keer whar
you smell him, and a vote is vote
don't keer whar you drap it. ] golly
they can't gitaover that.n 3rsenis
The truth is, my fellows citizens,
sometimes feel like we dident hav nc
Goyernmentl I feltthat way sorter when
Mr., Gibson appinted me a Committee on
the State of the Republik. When the
Sekretary read out my name all mixed up
with the Republik, I felt that / was
obleeged to renig. Risin magestically
to my feet, says I,ssMr. President, beg
to be ersspektybly exkpsed, if you pleese
If thar is any Repablik on this side oi
Jordan, I can't purserve it at this tims
with these speks.~ Thar was aplace in
old Virginny called Port Republic. bu1
Mr.. Rebel Gen. Stonewall jackson wiped
out its contents generally in 1868, and
1 haven't since heard of in Northern litera,
ture. I have heard of skrub cousarr
ever about Washington they call a Re.
pubhk, but, sur, it are likely toproye tbs
i oro aef i,nnastura tho 4 avar avsetad on .