antiquity of his family. The name was duly inscribed in the Doomsday
book of the Norman Conqueror, and had not the limbs of the genealogical
tree been broken, it is believed that their ancestry might,
nevertheless, have been traced back to a gentleman by the name of
Japheth, "who was the son of Noah." Still, as I have already intimated,
this inquiry can be of little consequence. In this land of freedom,
where every tub stands on its own bottom--where men are the architects
of their own fame and fortunes--where he that hath neither coat nor
shoes is at liberty to go without them,--it is of little moment whether
a man knows who he happens to be, or not, provided always that he
behaves well. Nay, if he cannot tell whence he sprung, he escapes the
censure of being the son of his father, and may arrive at the highest
honors of the republic without either borrowing merit from the dead, or
having any too much of his own. Avoiding genealogies, therefore, I will
come directly to the point, and assume it as granted, that, inasmuch as
Mr. Daniel Wheelwright is known to have had a father and mother, so
likewise he must have had grand-parents. And these were, doubtless,
sensible and judicious people, more desirous of being industrious and
useful, than what the world calls great. Borrowing, therefore, a hint
from their own honest name, in selecting an occupation for their son,
they chose that of coachmaking--an art, which, in the progress of
civilization, he carried from New-Jersey into the beautiful valley of
the Mohawk--not many years after the original proprietors of that
section of the republic had been finally driven away by those who
understood tilling their land better than they. It was in this
picturesque and delightful valley, on the banks of the river, and in a
town alike celebrated for the taste of its people in architecture, and
distinguished as a seat of learning, that my friend and hero, Daniel,
first saw the light. I have cast no figure to ascertain which of the
divinities presided at his birth, or what particular star first
pencilled his pale blue eyes with its silver rays. But no angry planet
was culminating in that particular chamber of the heavens at the time,
for he grew up the best-natured being in those parts; and if the genius
of Dulness was not actually present on the occasion, his court must
have been held on that evening at no great distance therefrom. Not to
be too particular, however, it is enough for the p