Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-02-12
special Correspondence
Our Washington Letter

wings seem to have been tired, or his
wind exhausted and we have had a rest.
The prospects looked well at one time,
he wings were tapped as II preparatory
10 a flight, but none was taken, and the
people mourn for their pabulum as chill
ireu "cry, (ride the advertisements, for
Mrs. Blanks Soothing Syrup" or Mr..
Asterisk's Castoria. How "we, the peo-
pie OF America" do love humbug; real /
first class copper-fastened and brass |
in preference to anything of sterling
worth. Our public men recognize this
trait in the national character, and they
fool us to the top Of the bent That is
what they are doing this week. They are
the eagle for lofty fight. The
softest spot in the American character is
his vanity, or rather vaingloriousness, q
have as much right to coin word as Bay
ard Taylor, over the country. You may
take the shrewdest yankee, (ths term is
used in its broadcast sense,) you can find,
man whom it is impossible to over
reach in trade, and talk to him about
the universal Yankee nation"-tell him
of its manifest destiny" to rule this con-
tinent and at once that shrewd Yankee is
at your mercy. The next softest place
in US, what the elder Weller would have
called our peculiar vanity" is 'Retrench-
ment and Reform" The two words cost
us more than the army and navy combin-
ed.
/ am now sending warning note to all
your readers so that they may stuff cot
ton in their ears, like the sensible little
boy, who, when his father told him to
prepare for whipping" stuffed sheep
skin under his coat, for the lull of the
present is but the precursor of the grand
est(??) storm Of eloquence(?O that ever
swept over poor country only one hun
dred years old. "Like an army with ban
n0rs" q always thought that was mis-
print and should read bummers,) the ora
tors are preparing to swoop over the land.
Their cohorts may not, like the AsSyrians,
be dressed Sin purple and gold" but they
resemble the knights of the olden times
in one thing, they are encased in triple
folds of brass, and their swords (spseches)
remind one of King Arthur's Excalibur in
one thing, that is they were given them
by some mysterious unknown, whose
hand was not clothed Gin white Samite",
but with dilapidated kid. And they come.
Their voices are ringing in advance in my
ears. hear them from ''mountain top
and lowly glen" as they say "fellow cit
liens" Then the American eagle will
soar until his wings brush the spots from
the sun, his tail darkens the moon, his
claws snatch the stars from out the sky
and his beak screams defiance "to all the
world and the balance Of mankind" on
either side of him will fly "Retrenchmsnt
and Reform" and in his wake will come
''the silver winged angel Of peace de-
scending on every hill and mountain top
in every lowly vale Of this, the glorious
heritage our fathers gave to u.s."
And all this, and more, is in store, for
us. From ''the rock-ribbed coasts" of
Maine to where the bright aters Of the
Pacific lave the golden sands of Califor-
MAJ from where Duluth, famed city of
the zenith and Proctor Knott, rests like a
swan upon the waters of Superior, to
where oranges blossom in the groves
and the alligators disport in che waters of
Florida, here, there, everywhere, the stem
torian voice Of the centennial orator will
be heard, and each and all will simply
give US the variations on the above tunes.
"From all manner of evil, good Lord, de-
liver us!"
Tell me, We winged windsI
That round my pathway roar,
Is there no peaceful isle
No wavewashed distant shore
No dim, secluded spot,
Where orators come not!
For if there is such place, and Saxon
can find its whereabouts, either through
the wind, or in any other way he will at
once have his hat chalked, and 60 out D.
II. for that blessed haven of rest.
In every attic and garnet where the
Bohemians rest by the light of tallow
dips, are now being prepared the speeches
with which the Congressman will cleo
trify their constituents and secure re-lec-
ton, if possible. The campaign docu.
ments, containing the valuable informa.
ton of how each party is going to ruin the
country, and only the other can save it
are being made ready, and the busy hum
of preparation peravdes the headquarters
and headquarters, too, of the politica
camps here. "Unless re are elected the
country's lost" shouts the republican, anc
the reverberation of his voice is heard
over the land. "Unlcss aCe are elected
the countly's lost" responds the democrat
the pine tops of Maine, the orange groves
of Florida, and the cedars of California
re-ccho the sound. How often has this
country been ruined in this way? What
a desolate, God-for-saken place it must
be, if these fellows all tell the truth. AnC
yet the sun rises as usual in the east, anc
sets in the west, and see by glancins
(the Lord forbid that should read on,
of them, at the reports of those dement,
ed fellows, called statisticians, that W.
raised more corn, more cotton, more
wheat, more silver and more gold, anC
/, more of everything else last year, thar
ever before; that steady tides of lunatics
from the prosperous and free (??Y coun
tries of Europe and Asia, continue t.
Dour in unon orr eastern and western