As the manuscript copy is presumably a literal transcript of the original publication, with possibly the exception that the title may have been added at a later date, I reproduce it here in full:

ADDRESS
Of the Carrier of the Indianapolis Journal,
January 1, 1833.
THE HOOSIER'S NEST.

Compelled to seek the Muse's aid,
Your carrier feels almost dismay'd
When he attempts in nothing less
Than verse his patrons to address,
Aware how very few excel
In the fair art he loves so well,
And that the wight who would pursue it
Must give his whole attention to it;
But, ever as his mind delights
To follow fancy's airy flights
Some object of terrestrial mien
Uncourteously obtrudes between
And rudely scatters to the winds
The tangled threads of thought he spins;
His wayward, wild imagination
Seeks objects of its own creation
Where Joy and Pleasure, hand in hand,
Escort him over "Fairyland,"
Till some imperious earth-born care
Will give the order, "As you were!"
From this the captious may infer
That I am but a groveling cur
Who would essay to pass for more
Than other people take me for,
So, lest my friends be led to doubt it,
I think I'll say no more about it,
But hope that on this noted day
My annual tribute of a lay
In dogg'rel numbers will suffice
For such as are not over nice.
The great events which have occur'd
(And all have seen, or read or heard)
Within a year, are quite too many
For me to tarry long on any—
Then let not retrospection roam
But be confined to things at home.
A four years' wordy war just o'er
Has left us where we were before
Old Hick'ry triumphs,—we submit
(Although we thought another fit)
For all of Jeffersonian school
Wish the majority to rule—
Elected for another term
We hope his measures will be firm
But peaceful, as the case requires
To nullify the nullifiers—
And if executive constructions
By inf'rence prove the sage deductions
That Uncle Sam's "old Mother Bank"
Is managed by a foreign crank
And constituted by adoption
The "heir apparent" of corruption—
No matter if the facts will show
That such assertions are not so,
His Veto vengeance must pursue her
And all that are appended to her—
But tho' hard times may sorely press us,
And want, and debts, and duns distress us,
We'll share a part of Mammon's manna
By chart'ring Banks in Indiana.
Blest Indiana! In whose soil
Men seek the sure rewards of toil,
And honest poverty and worth
Find here the best retreat on earth,
While hosts of Preachers, Doctors, Lawyers,
All independent as wood-sawyers,
With men of every hue and fashion,
Flock to this rising "Hoosher" nation.
Men who can legislate or plow,
Wage politics or milk a cow—
So plastic are their various parts,
Within the circle of their arts,
With equal tact the "Hoosher" loons,
Hunt offices or hunt raccoons.
A captain, colonel, or a 'squire,
Who would ascend a little higher,
Must court the people, honest souls.
He bows, caresses and cajoles,
Till they conceive he has more merit
Than nature willed he should inherit,
And, running counter to his nature,
He runs into the Legislature,
Where if he pass for wise and mute,
Or chance to steer the proper chute,
In half a dozen years or more
He's qualified for Congress floor.
I would not have the world suppose
Our public men are all like those,
For even in this infant State
Some may be wise, and good, and great.
But, having gone so far, 'twould seem
(Since "Hoosher" manners is the theme)
That I, lest strangers take exception,
Should give a more minute description,
And if my strains be not seraphic
I trust you'll find them somewhat graphic.
Suppose in riding somewhere West
A stranger found a "Hoosher's" nest,
In other words, a buckeye cabin
Just big enough to hold Queen Mab in,
Its situation low but airy
Was on the borders of a prairie,
And fearing he might be benighted
He hailed the house and then alighted
The "Hoosher" met him at the door,
Their salutations soon were o'er;
He took the stranger's horse aside
And to a sturdy sapling tied;
Then, having stripped the saddle off,
He fed him in a sugar trough.
The stranger stooped to enter in,
The entrance closing with a pin,
And manifested strong desire
To seat him by the log heap fire,
Where half a dozen Hoosheroons,
With mush and milk, tincups and spoons,
White heads, bare feet and dirty faces,
Seemed much inclined to keep their places,
But Madam, anxious to display
Her rough and undisputed sway,
Her offspring to the ladder led
And cuffed the youngsters up to bed.
Invited shortly to partake
Of venison, milk and johnny-cake
The stranger made a hearty meal
And glances round the room would steal;
One side was lined with skins of "varments"
The other spread with divers garments,
Dried pumpkins overhead were strung
Where venison hams in plenty hung,
Two rifles placed above the door,
Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor,
In short, the domicile was rife,
With specimens of "Hoosher" life.
The host who centered his affections,
On game, and range, and quarter sections
Discoursed his weary guest for hours,
Till Somnus' ever potent powers
Of sublunary cares bereft them
And then I came away and left them.
No matter how the story ended
The application I intended
Is from the famous Scottish poet
Who seemed to feel as well as know it
"That buirdly chiels and clever hizzies
Are bred in sic a way as this is."
One more subject I'll barely mention
To which I ask your kind attention
My pockets are so shrunk of late
I can not nibble "Hoosher bait."

It will be noted that throughout the manuscript the word is spelled "Hoosher" and is always put in quotation marks. Mrs. Wrigley informs me that her father had no knowledge of the origin of the word, but found it in verbal use when he wrote. She is confident, however, that he coined the word "hoosheroon," and the probability of this is increased by the fact that he did not quote it in his manuscript. In later editions of the poem he used the form "Hoosier." His original spelling shows that the word was not common in print, and several years passed before the spelling became fixed in its present form.

Although the word "Hoosier" has not been found in print earlier than January 1, 1833, it became common enough immediately afterwards. In fact the term seems to have met general approval, and to have been accepted by everybody. On January 8, 1833, at the Jackson dinner at Indianapolis, John W. Davis gave the toast, "The Hooshier State of Indiana."[[5]] On August 3, 1833, the Indiana Democrat published the following prospectus of a new paper to be established by ex-Gov. Ray and partner:

PROSPECTUS
FOR PUBLISHING
THE HOOSIER
AT GREENCASTLE, INDIANA,
BY J. B. RAY & W. M. TANNEHILL.

We intend publishing a real Newspaper. To this promise, (though comprehensive enough) we would add, that it is intended to make the moral and political world contribute their full share, in enriching its columns.

The arts and sciences, and agriculture and commerce, and literature shall all receive a due portion of our care.

Left to our choice we might refrain from remark on presidential matters; but supposing, that you may require an intimation, suffice it to say, that our past preference has been for General Jackson and his administration; and we deem it premature to decide as to the future without knowing who are to be the candidates. Those men who shall sustain Western measures, shall be our men. Believing that there is but one interest in the West, and but little occasion for partyism beyond the investigation of principles and the conduct of functionaries, we would rather encourage union than excite division. We shall constantly keep in view the happiness, interest and prosperity of all. To the good, this paper will be as a shield; to the bad, a terror.