"Swingin round the cirkle" — A Reader’s Guide

Nasby's Voice and Dialect

The most immediate feature of the text is its sustained use of a heavily misspelled, colloquial dialect meant to represent Nasby's rustic ignorance. Words like "uv" for "of," "wich" for "which," and "hed" for "had" appear consistently, creating a phonetic barrier that forces slow reading. This is not mere decoration: the dialect signals Nasby's lack of education and his pretension to wisdom, as when he claims his bald head makes him suited to preside over meetings. The misspellings extend to proper names—"Rosso" for Rousseau, "Grinnell" for Grinnell—suggesting a character who is barely literate yet confident in his political opinions.

Locke uses this voice to undercut Nasby's arguments. When Nasby declares that "there hezn't bin anythin amoozin in Dimocrisy for the past five years," the reader is meant to see the absurdity of a man who finds nothing amusing in his own party's recent defeats. The dialect also allows for puns and double meanings; "swingin round the cirkle" refers both to Johnson's tour and to the circular logic of Nasby's reasoning.

Racial Politics and the "Nigger" Question

Nasby's letters repeatedly return to the status of freed slaves, whom he refers to exclusively with the period's derogatory term. In one passage, he laments that "we can't any longer compel the nigger to furnish us the means" and argues that "what we cannot do by force we must do by financeerin." This reveals a central tension: the Democratic characters in the book resent the loss of slave labor but are forced to adapt to new economic realities. Nasby praises a fellow Democrat for "vanquishing" a Black man in a contest of skill, claiming it demonstrates "the sooperiority uv the Anglo-Saxon mind."

The satire becomes explicit in the resolutions passed at a meeting to endorse General Rousseau, who caned a congressman. The resolutions thank Rousseau for "his manly vindication uv the character uv Kentucky" and suggest he pick a fight with the elderly Thaddeus Stevens. The juxtaposition of violent rhetoric with mock-heroic language exposes the hypocrisy of the "chivalrous" Southern code. Nasby's casual mention of "the Memphis riots" as a cause for celebration further underscores the brutality that underlies the humor.

Structure and Satirical Targets

The book is organized as a series of dated letters, each addressing a specific political event or issue from 1866. The table of contents lists titles such as "After the New Jersey Election," "The President's 22d of February Speech," and "The Great Presidential Excursion." This structure allows Locke to comment on real events through Nasby's distorted lens. The dedication to Andrew Johnson is itself a satirical gesture, praising Johnson for having "swung around the entire cirkle uv offishl honor" without "feelin his Oats much."

Nasby's self-importance is a running joke. He claims his book fills "a vacancy in the mind uv the public" and that he wrote not for amusement but for "the enlitenment uv an ongrateful public." The inclusion of a "Prefis, or Interductry Chapter" parodies the conventions of political memoirs. Thomas Nast's illustrations, mentioned on the title page, would have complemented the text's visual humor, though they are not included in this digital edition. The cumulative effect is a layered critique of Democratic Party rhetoric, racial ideology, and the cult of personality around Johnson.

Readers should approach Swingin Round the Cirkle as a period piece that demands attention to its linguistic and historical context. The dialect can be challenging, but it is essential to the satire. Comparing Nasby's letters to actual newspaper accounts from 1866 will illuminate how closely Locke shadowed real political arguments. The book rewards those who read slowly, parsing the misspellings for their ironic intent. It stands as a document of Reconstruction-era humor, one that uses laughter to expose the contradictions of its time.

There’s a strange ache in Nasby’s letters—how loudly he protests, how thinly his certainty hides his fear. I remembered that feeling turning the pages of Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, Volume 1 — Themes and Context, where the same era speaks in full sentences instead of disguises. Some voices age into honesty. Others just stay loud, and we listen anyway.