more extensively than any man sence the
time uv Paul. First I established a church uv Democrats in a little
oasis I diskivered in the ablishn state uv Ohio, to wit, at Wingert's
Corners, where ther wuz four groceries, but nary church or skool-house
within four miles, and whose populashen wuz unanimously Dimocratic, the
grocery keepers hevin mortgages on all the land around em--but alars! I
wuz forced to leeve it after the election of Linkin in 1864. Noo Gersey
bein the only state North wich wuz onsquelched, to her I fled, and at
Saint's Rest (wich is in Noo Gersey) I erected another tabernacle. There
I stayed, and et and drank and wuz merry, but Ablishnism pursood me
thither, and in the fall uv '65 that state got ornery and cussid, and
went Ablishn, and agin, like the wandrin Jew, I wuz forced to pull up,
and wend my weary way to Kentucky, where, at Confedrit x Roads, I feel
that I am safe. Massychoosets ideas can't penetrate us here. The
aristocracy bleeve in freedom uv speech, but they desire to exercise a
supervision over it, that they may not be led astray. They bleeve they'r
rite, and for fear they'd be forced to change their minds, whenever they
git into argument with anybody, ef the individooal gits the better uv
them, they to-wunst shoot him ez a disturber. Hence Massychoosits can't
disturb us here; the populashen is unanimously Democratic, and bids fair
to continyoo so.

Here I hope to spend the few remainin years uv a eventful life. Here in
the enjoyment uv that end uv the hopes uv all Democrats, a Post Offis,
with four well-regulated groceries within a stun's throw, and a
distillery ornamentin the landscape only a quarter uv a mile from where
I rite these lines, with the ruins uv a burnt nigger school house within
site uv my winder, from wich rises the odor, grateful to a Democratic
nostril, and wich he kin snuff afar off, and say ha! ha! to, uv a half
dozen niggers wich wuz consumed when it wuz burned, wat more kin I want?
I feel that I am more than repaid for all my suffrins, and that I shel
sale smoothly down the stream uv time, unvexed and happy.

It is proper to state that the papers uv which this volume is composed
wuz written at various times and under various circumstances. They
reflect the mind uv the author doorin a most eventful year in his
history, and mark the condition uv the Dimocrisy from week to week.
Consekently they shift from grave to gay, from lively to severe, with
much alacrity, the gr