Page 84 - Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor

Gineral C. is a dreffle smart man: He's ben on all sides thet give places or
pelf; But consistency still wuz a part of his plan-- He's been true to one

party--an' thet is himself; So John P. Robinson he Sez he shall vote fer
Gineral C.

Gineral C. he goes in fer the war; He don't vally principle more'n an old
cud; Wut did God make us raytional creeturs fer, But glory an' gunpowder,

plunder an' blood? So John P. Robinson he Sez he shall vote fer Gineral C.

The side of our country must ollers be took, An' President Polk, you know,
he is our country. An' the angel that writes all our sins in a book Puts the
debit to him, an' to us the _per contry_; And John P. Robinson he Sez this

is his view o' the thing to a T.

There is a story that Mr. Robinson couldn't go anywhere after this poem
was published without hearing some one humming or reciting,

Fer John P. Robinson he Sez he wunt vote fer Guvener B.

School children shouted it everywhere, people on the street repeated it as
they met, and the funny rhyme was heard even in polite drawing-rooms,
amid roars of laughter. Mr. Robinson went abroad, but scarcely had he

landed in Liverpool before he heard a child crooning over to himself,

Fer John P. Robinson he Sez he wunt vote fer Guvener B.

In Genoa, Italy, it was a parody, telling what John P.--Robinson he--would

do down in Judee.

CHAPTER VIII

PARSON WILBUR

In the course of time the "Biglow Papers" were published in book form.

Not only was Lowell's name not yet connected publicly with the Yankee