ll beat Beauregard on de clare
battle-field." Then came the promised speech, and then no less than
seven other speeches by as many men, on a variety of barrels, each
orator being affectionately tugged to the pedestal and set on end by his
special constituency. Every speech was good, without exception; with the
queerest oddities of phrase and pronunciation, there was an invariable
enthusiasm, a pungency of statement, and an understanding of the points
at issue, which made them all rather thrilling. Those long-winded slaves
in "Among the Pines" seemed rather fictitious and literary in
comparison. The most eloquent, perhaps, was Corporal Prince Lambkin,
just arrived from Fernandina, who evidently had a previous reputation
among them. His historical references were very interesting: he reminded
them that he had predicted this war ever since Fremont's time, to which
some of the crowd assented; he gave a very intelligent account of that
Presidential campaign, and then described most impressively the secret
anxiety of the slaves in Florida to know all about President Lincoln's
election, and told how they all refused to work on the fourth of March,
expecting their freedom to date from that day. He finally brought out
one of the few really impressive appeals for the American flag that I
have ever heard. "Our mas'rs dey hab lib under de flag, dey got dere
wealth under it, and ebryting beautiful for dere chilen. Under it dey
hab grind us up, and put us in dere pocket for money. But de fus' minute
dey tink dat ole nag mean freedom for we colored people, dey pull it
right down, and run up de rag ob dere own." (Immense applause.) "But
we'll neber desert de ole flag, boys, neber; we hab lib under it for
_eighteen hundred sixty-two years_, and we'll die for it now." With
which overpowering discharge of chronology-at-long-range, this most
effective of stump-speeches closed. I see already with relief that there
will be small demand in this regiment for harangues from the officers;
give the men an empty barrel for a stump, and they will do their own
exhortation.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] With what utter humiliation were we, their officers, obliged to
confess to them, eighteen months afterwards, that it was their distrust
which was wise, and our faith in the pledges of the United States
Government which was foolishness!

RICHES.

Pluck color from the morning sky,
And wear it as thy diadem;
Nor pass the wayside flowers by