versal spread of
discovery and spirit of progress. But, the love of enterprise, and
consequent expansion of civilisation and commercial venture, inaugurated
by the brave old pioneers of Queen Elizabeth's day, have not ceased to
impel similar seekers after something beyond ordinary humdrum life. The
path of discovery, although narrowed through research, has not yet been
entirely exhausted; for "fresh fields and pastures new," as hopeful as
those about which Milton rhapsodised and as plenteously flowing with
typical milk and honey as the promised land of the Israelites, are being
continually opened up and offered to the oppressed and pauperised
populations of Europe. Thus, the tide of emigration, swelled from the
tiny ocean-drop which marked its first inception more than three hundred
years ago to its present torrentine proportions and bearing away
frequently entire nationalities on its bosom, still flows from the east
to the west, tracing the progress of civilisation from its Alpha to its
Omega, as steadily as when it originally began--aye, and as it will
continue to flow on, until the entire habitable globe shall be peopled
as with one family by the intermixture and association of alien races!

It is curious how this migratory spirit has permeated through the odd
corners of the old world, leading the natives of different countries to
flock like sheep to every freshly spoken of colony; and how, by such
means, Englishmen, Celts, Germans, French, Hollanders, Italians,
Norsemen, Africans, as well as the "Heathen Chinee," are scattered in a
mixed mass over the whole face of the earth now-a-days, as widely as the
descendants of Noah were dispersed from the plain of Shinar after their
unsuccessful attempt at building the tower of Babel--the result being,
that some of the highest types of advancement are at present to be found
where, but a few years back, uncultivated savages, as rude but perhaps
not quite so inquisitive as the late Bishop Colenso's apocryphal Zulu,
were the sole existing evidences of latent humanity!

Fritz, however, was not proceeding to any of these newly colonised
countries. Like the majority of other Germans who had emigrated before
him, he was aiming for "the States," where, according to the popular
idea in Europe, money can be had for nothing in the shape of any
expenditure of labour, time, or trouble. Really, the ne'er-do-well and
shiftless seem to regard America as a sort of Tom Tiddler's ground f