The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-08-05
And That's the Way He Felt.

The Vicksburg (Miss.) Herald tells
the following story: He had wooden
leg, three fingers were gone from the
left hand, and he had to use crutch.
In the dusk of the evening he sat down
on dry goods box on the street corner,
and striking the ground with his crutch,
he exclaimed:
"Well, old pard, the wars over
Gimme your hand-shake hard |"
He shook the crutch with hearty good
will, and continued:
"There's no more Reb-no more
Yank We're all Americans, and stand
ing shoulder to shoulder-South Caro-
lima alongside Massachusetts-we can
lick the boots off'n any nation under the
sun %
He waited awhile and then went on:
"No more skirmishes-no more fouts.
Uncle Robert is dead, Gen. Grant wants
peace, and they're melting up swords
and bayonets to make cotton mill ma
chinery! We're about through camping
out, old pard, and we hain't sorry-not
a bit !"
He leaned the crutch against the box,
lifted his wooden leg, and said:
"Lost good leg up at Fredericks-
burg when L was under Barksdale, and
Burnside. thought he could whip old
Uncle Robert and Stonewall jackson
together Good Lord but wasn't it
hot that day, when the Yanks laid their
pontoons and gotup and got for usl And
when we got up and got for them,
wasn't it red hot !"
He stopped to ponder for while, and
his voice was softer as he said
"But 1 forgive 'eml 1 took the
chances-and lost. I'm reaching out
now to shake hands with the Yank who
shot me, and I'll divide my tobacco half
and half with him. 1t was big war.
Yank and Reb stood right up and show
ed pluck, but it's time to forgive and
forget" ...f
He cut chew off his plug, took off
his battered hat and looked at it, and
continued:
"Didn't we all come of one blood |?
Hain't we the big American nation
Isn't this here United States the biggest
| plantation on the river, and is there q
nation in the world that dares knock the
chip off our shoulder
" Maryland, my Maryland, ..
Michigan, my Michigan"
He put down his leg, looked at his
crippled hand, and soliloquized: g1
"Three fingers gone-hand used up,
but I'm satisfied. Folks who go to war
expect to feel bullets. We stood up to
the Yanks--they stood up to us-it was
fair fight, and we got licked. Two
fingers hain't as good as five, but they
are good enough to shake hands with /
Come up here, you Yanks, and grip me
We raise cotton down here-you raise
corn up there-less trade!''
He lifted his crutch, struck it down
hard, and went on:
"Durn family who'll fight each
other Z! We've got the biggest and best
country that ever laid out doors, and if
any foreign despot throws q club at the
American eagle, we'll shoulder arms
and shoot him into the middle of next
week |"
He sat and pondered while the shad-
ows grew deeper, and by-and-bye he
said:
"There's lots of graves down here
there's heaps O. war orphans up North; !;
I'm crippled up and half sick, but I'm
going to get up and hit the onery cuss
who dares say word ag'in either.
We've got through fghting-we're shak-
ing hands now, and durn the man who
says word to interrupt the harmony |!
It's one family-ole Uncle Sans boys
and gals and babies, and we're going to
live in the same house, eat at the same
table, and turn out bigger crops than
any other ranch on the globe"
He rose up to go, raped on the box
with his crutch, and continued:
Resolved, That this glorious old
family stick right together in the old
homestead for the next million years to
come I"