[January, 1865.]
Old Father Abe has issued his “Call”
For Three Hundred Thousand more!
By Jupiter, boys, he is after you all–
Lamed and maimed–tall and small–
With his drag-net spread for a general haul
Of the “suckers” uncaught before.
I am sorry to see such a woeful change
In the health of the hardiest;
It is wonderful odd–it is “passing strange”–
As over the country you travel and range,
To behold such a sudden, lamentable change
All over the East and the West.
“Blades” tough and hearty a week ago,
Who tippled and danced and laughed,
Are “suddenly taken,” and some quite low
With an epidemical illness, you know:
“What!–Zounds!–the cholera?” you quiz;–no–no–
The doctors call it the “Draft.”
What a blessed thing it were to be old–
A little past “forty-five;”
‘Twere better indeed than a purse of gold
At a premium yet unwritten, untold,
For what poor devil that’s now “enrolled”
Expects to get off alive?
There’s a miracle wrought in the Democrats;
They swore it was murder and sin
To put in the “Niggers,” like Kilkenny cats,
To clear the ship of the rebel rats,
But now I notice they swing their hats
And shout to the “Niggers”–“_Go in!_”
(Hanford Lennox Gordon)
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Based on Topics: Gold Poems, Countries Poems, Health Poems, Rebellion Poems, Cats Poems, Miracles PoemsBased on Keywords: zounds, cholera, suckers, premium, uncaught, democrats, quiz, hardiest, tippled, no-no, kilkenny