son Davis must be to-wunst set at liberty and Sumner hung, ez
proof that the North is really consilliatory. On this pint I am
inflexible, and on the others immovable."

An old man who hed bin listnin to our talk, murmured that there wuz a
parallel to this last proposishen.

"Where?" demanded the Genral.

"The Jews, I remember," replied he, "demanded that Barrabas be released
unto them, who wuz a thief, I believe, and the Savior be crucified, but
I forgit jist how it wuz."

The Genral withered him with a litenin glance, and resoomed:

"I shel, uv course, offer the North suthin in the way uv compensation,
for the troo theory uv a Republikin Government is compermise. On our
part we pledge ourselves to kum back, and give the North the benefit uv
our kumin back, so long ez Massachusetts condux herself akkordin to our
ijees uv what is rite. But ef this ekitable adjustment is rejected, all
I hev to say then is, I shell resign, and the Government may sink
without wun effort from me to save it."

I wuz about to give in my experience, when the old man, who wuz sittin
near us, broke in agin:

"My name," sed he, "is Maginnis, and I live in Alabama. I want to say a
word to the gentleman from Karliny, and to the wun from Noo Gersey."

"How," retorted I, "do yoo know I'm from Noo Gersey, not hevin spoken a
word in yoor hearin?"

"By a instink I hev. Whenever I see a Sutherner layin it down heavy to a
indivijouel whose phisynogamy is uv sich a cast that upon beholdin it
yoo instinktively feel to see that yoor pocket-handkercher is safe, a
face that wood be dangerous if it had courage into it, I alluz know the
latter to be a Northern copperhead. The Noo Gersey part I guessed at,
becoz, my friend, that State furnished the lowest order uv copperheads
of any uv em. Pardon me ef I flatter yoo. But what I wanted to say wus,
that I spose suthen hez happened doorin the past 4 years. I was a
original secessionist. Sum years ago I hed a hundred niggers, and wuz
doin well with em. But, unforchunitly, my brother died, and left me ez
much more land, but no niggers. I wanted niggers enuff to work that
land, and spozed ef cut off from the North, and the slave-trade wuz
reopened, I cood git em cheaper. Hentz I seceshed. Sich men ez Genral
McStinger told me the North woodent fight or I woodent hev, secesht, but
I did it. I went out for wool and cum back shorn. I seceshed with 100
niggers to git 200, and alas! I find myself back into the old