The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-27
And That's the Way He Felt.

He had a wooden leg. three fingers
were gone from the left hand, and he
had to use a crutch. In the dusk of
box on the street corner, and striking
the ground with his crutch, he ex-
claimed:
"WelI, old pard, the wars over -?
Gimme your hand-shake hard I"
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 Car
Olina alongside Massachusetts-w can
lick the boots of'n any nation under
the sun |"
He waited awhile and then went on :
Ono more skirmishes no more
fouts. Uncle Robert is dead, Gen.
Grant wants peace, and they are melt
ing up swords and bayonets to make
cotton mill machinery! We're about
through camping out, old pard, and we
hain't sorry-not bit !"
He leaned the crutch against the box,
lifted his wooden leg, and said:
"Lost good leg up at Fredericks-
burg when | was under Barksdale, and
old Burnside thought he could whip
old uncle Robert and StonewalI Jack
son together Good Lord but wasn't
it hot that day, when the Yanks laid
their pontoons and got up and got for
us And when we got up and got for
them, wasn't it red hot ?"
He stopped to ponder for a while,
and his voice was softer when he said:
"But I forgive 'em I 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 ! It was big war.
Yanks and Rebs stood right up and
showed pluck, but it is time to forgive
and to forget"
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 naticn
Isn't this here United States the big
gest plantation on the river, and is
there a 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
hand and soiloquized:
"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
1t was a fair fOut, 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
Of
He lifted his crutch, struck it down
hard, and went on:
"Durn a family who'll fight each
other We've got the biggest and best
country that ever laid It doors, and if
any foreign despot throws club at the
American eagle, we'll shoulder arms ard
shoot him into the middle of next
week"
He sat and pondered while the shad-
Ows grew deeper, and by and by he
said:
"There's lots of graves down here
there's heaps of 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 a word ag'in |
either. We've got thro' fighting
are shaking hands now, and durn the |
harmony! It's one family-old Uncle
Sans boys and girls 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. - VickSburg Herald.