ver 75 per cent of the population is foreign."

"Yes," sez Josiah, with a air as if he had made population a study from
his youth.

But he didn't know nothin' about it, no more than I did.

Sez Mr. Bolster, "Out of a population of a little over a million
200,000, we have nine hundred and 14,000 foreigners. That shows in
itself that Chicago is the only city calculated to make our foreign
friends feel perfectly at home."

"Yes," sez Josiah, "that is very true."

But I sez to Miss Plank, "There is other folks I like jest as well as I
do my relations, and if they had thought so much on 'em, why didn't they
stay with 'em in the first place?"

And Miss Plank kinder looked knowin' and nodded her head; she couldn't
swing right out free, as I could, bein' hampered by not wantin' to
offend any of her boarders.

Sez Mr. Bolster, "Chicago has the most energetic and progressive people
in the world. It hain't made up, like a Eastern village, of folks that
stay to home and set round on butter-tubs in grocery stores, talkin'
about hens. No, it is made up of people who dared--who wuz too
energetic, progressive, and ambitious, to settle down and be content
with what their fathers had. And they struck out new paths for
themselves, as the Pilgrim Fathers did.

"And it is of these people, who represent the advancin' and progressive
thought of the day, that Chicago is made up. It embodies the best energy
and ambition of the Eastern States and of Europe."

"Yes," sez Josiah, "that is jest so."

And then, sez Mr. Bolster, "Chicago is, as is well known, in the very
centre of the earth."

[Illustration: "Chicago is the very centre of the earth."]

"Yes," sez Josiah.

But I struck in here, and couldn't help it, and, sez I, "That is what
Boston has always thought;" and, sez I, candidly, "That is what has
always been thought about Jonesville."

He looked pityin'ly at me, and, sez he, "Where is Jonesville?"

And I sez, "Jest where I told you, in the very centre of the earth, as
nigh as we can make out."

"How old is the place?" sez Mr. Bolster.

Sez I proudly, "It is more than a hundred and fifty years old, for Uncle
Nate Bently's grandfather built the first store there, and helped build
the first Meetin'-House; and," sez I, "Uncle Nate is over ninety."

"How many inhabitants has it?" sez he briskly.

And then my own feathers had to droop; and as I paused to collect my
thoughts, Josiah spoke up--he is always so forward--and,