d Riddles, with many people, are,
as a matter of course, God-likes. That the expediency of establishing
the base of society on a principle of the most sordid character,
one that is denounced by the revelations of God, and proved to be
insufficient by the experience of man, may at least be questioned
without properly subjecting the dissenter to the imputation of being a
sheep-stealer.

That we seldom learn moderation under any political excitement, until
forty thousand square miles of territory are blown from beneath our
feet.

That it is not an infallible sign of great mental refinement to
bespatter our fellow-creatures, while every nerve is writhing in honor
of our pigs, our cats, our stocks, and our stones.

That select political wisdom, like select schools, propagates much
questionable knowledge.

That the whole people is not infallible, neither is a part of the people
infallible.

That love for the species is a godlike and pure sentiment; but the
philanthropy which is dependent on buying land by the square mile, and
selling it by the square foot, is stench in the nostrils of the just.

That one thoroughly imbued with republican simplicity invariably
squeezes himself into a little wheel, in order to show how small he can
become at need.

That habit is invincible, an Esquimaux preferring whale's blubber to
beefsteak, a native of the Gold Coast cherishing his tom-tom before
a band of music, and certain travelled countrymen of our own saying,
"Commend me to the English skies."

That arranging a fact by reason is embarrassing, and admits of
cavilling; while adapting a reason to a fact is a very natural, easy,
every-day, and sometimes necessary, process.

That what men affirm for their own particular interests they will swear
to in the end, although it should be a proposition as much beyond the
necessity of an oath, as that "black is white."

That national allegories exist everywhere, the only difference between
them arising from gradations in the richness of imaginations.

And finally:--

That men have more of the habits, propensities, dispositions, cravings,
antics, gratitude, flapjacks, and honesty of monikins, than is generally
known.

THE END.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Monikins, by J. Fenimore Cooper

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONIKINS ***

***** This file should be named 4092.txt or 4092.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will