if you saw it. But, ahem!-a great swallow a
man must have, to gulp down the "Everlasting Yea." And a great swallow
implies a great stomach. And a great stomach implies a great brain,
unless a man's a fool. "If not, why not?" as Captain Bunsby says;
"therefore."

Oh, what a mad argument to prove swan sane,--and good company besides I
Well, I am mad, and expect to be so,-at least I think I have a right to
be so, in the proportion of one hour to twenty-four, being so rational
the rest of the time. I think it's but a reasonable allowance. [252] You
will judge that this is my mad hour to-day, and it is; nevertheless, I
am, soberly,

Your friend,

ORVILLE DEWEY.

In the winter of 1859 he writes to the same friend upon New York City
politics with a passionate vivacity that old New Yorkers will sadly
appreciate.

"I took up the paper this morning that announced Fernando Wood's
election by two thousand plurality. If you had seen the way in which
I brought down my hand upon the table,--minding neither muscle nor
mahogany, you would know how people at a distance, especially if they
have ever lived in New York, feel about it. I hope he will pay you
well. I wish he would take out some of your rich, stupid, arms-folding,
purse-clutching millionnaires into Washington Square and flay them
alive. Something of the sort must be done, before our infatuated city
upper classes will come to their senses."

To his Sister, Miss F. Dewey.

SHEFFIELD, Oct. 5, 1859.

I HAVE got past worrying about things, myself. I see all these
movements, this way and that way, as a part of that great oscillation in
which the world has been swinging, to and fro, from the beginning, and
always advancing. These are the natural developments of the freed mind
of the world; and whoever lives now, and yet more, whoever shall live
through this century, must take this large and calm philosophy to his
heart, or he will find himself cast upon the troubled waters without
rudder [253] or compass. Daniel Webster, one day at Marshfield, when his
cattle came around him to take an ear of corn each from his hand, said
to Peter Harvey, who was by, as he stood looking at them, "Peter, this
is better company than Senators." So I am tempted to turn from all the
religious wranglings and extravagances of the time, to nature and to the
solid and unquestioned truths of religion. I sometimes doubt whether I
will ever read another word of the ultraists and the one-sided men. The