so, I doubt if it ever was so good, as they say it was in old times. At
any rate, it's all got down to "Bunkum" now. It's makin' a speech for
newspapers and not for the House. It's to tell on voters and not on
members. Then, what a row they make, don't they? Hear, hear, hear;
divide, divide, divide; oh, oh, oh; haw, haw, haw. It tante much
different from stump oratory in America arter all, or speakin' off a
whiskey barrel, is it? It's a sort of divil me-kear-kind o' audience;
independent critters, that look at a feller full in the face, as sarcy
as the divil; as much as to say, 'Talk away, my old 'coon, you won't
alter me, I can tell you, it's all _Bunkum_.'

"Lord, I shall never forget poor old Davy Crocket's last speech; there
was no "bunkum" in that. He despised it; all good shots do, they aim
right straight for the mark and hit it. There's no shootin' round the
ring, with them kinder men. Poor old feller, he was a great hunter; a
great shot with the rifle, a great wit, and a great man. He didn't leave
his _span_ behind him, when he slipt off the handle, I know.

"Well he stood for an election and lost it, just afore he left the
States; so when it was over, he slings his powder horn on, over his
shoulders, takes his "Betsey," which was his best rifle, onder his arm,
and mounts on a barrel, to talk it into his constituents, and take leave
of 'em.

"'Feller citizens,' sais he, 'we've had a fair stand-up fight for it,
and I'm whipped, that are a fact; and thar is no denyin' of it. I've
come now to take my leave of you. You may all go to H--l, and I'll go to
Texas.'

"And he stepped right down, and went over the boundary, and jined the
patriots agin Mexico, and was killed there.

"Why it will never be forgot, that speech. It struck into the bull's eye
of the heart. It was noble. It said so much in a few words, and left
the mind to fill the gaps up. The last words is a sayin' now, and
always will be, to all etarnity. Whenever a feller wants to shew how
indifferent he is, he jist sais, 'you may go to (hem, hem, you know,)
and I'll go to Texas.' There is no _Bunkum_ in that, Squire.

"Yes, there is no good speakin' there, speakin' is no use. Every
feller is pledged and supports his party. A speech don't alter no man's
opinions; yes it _may_ alter his _opinions_, but it don't alter his
vote, that ain't his'n, it's his party's. Still, there is some credit
in a good speech, and some fun too. No feller there has any ridi