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6
A Reconstruction Letter.
And in harness, so sure as there's virtue in leather,
We'll go to good luck, or the devil, together.
Dear me! times have changed since I went on this road,
With a cart-full of principles heaped for a load,
And on our white streamers our followers saw
"Irrepressible Conflict," or read "Higher Law."
Well, we're getting in years, but are never too old
To handle new ribbons or take a new hold:
"My Policy" now is the motto to win,
Make friends with all Rebels and let the South in;
To recant, there is always a way, where the will is—
Quote Tempora mutantur et S-w-rd in illis.
As to A-dy, I say, it's well for our game
Just to put him in training, and enter his name
For the National Sweepstakes, A.D. '68,
And to tickle his pasterns and keep his head straight.
He's the favorite, now, with the outsiders' ring—
The gamesters and trimmers and that sort of thing,—
