Page:A Reconstruction Letter, Stedman, 1866.djvu/13

4 My team, well in hand, is so trained to its paces, That our Radical friends haven't dared show their faces. With and  for leaders, you know, The one rough and restive, the other too slow, And with and the  mated behind, Both good, steady pullers (when drove with a blind), I have sat on the box with the ribbons in hand, And pushed them thus far on the journey we planned. Years ago, my old tutor, when things weren't so thriving, And you gave me first rules in political driving, You hardly expected—and how could I dream?— That I ever should happen to guide such a team! Ere this you have learned how I handle the lash, Of our York three-mile heat and our Albany dash; How at Auburn I laid on a braid rather thick, Put my thumb to my nose, and cried, like Saint Nick: