me to lay the
bill on the table. But here comes the small steamers and the boats
for the mails. Listen to that bugle, Britisher. That air is worth all
Mozart. Yes, sir," said he proudly, as he hummed,--

"There's not a man beneath the moon,
Nor lives in any land he
That hasn't heard the pleasant time
Of Yankee doodle dandy!

"In coolin' drinks, and clipper ships,
The Yankee has the way shown!
On land and sea 't is he that whips
Old Bull and all creation."

Quackinboss gradually dropped his voice, till at the concluding line the
words sank into an undistinguishable murmur; for now, as it were, on
the threshold of his own door, he felt all the claim of courtesy to the
stranger. Still it was not possible for him to repress the proud delight
he felt in the signs of wealth and prosperity around him.

"There," cried he, with enthusiasm, "there ain't a land in the
universe--that's worth calling a land--has n't a flag flying yonder!
There's every color of bunting, from Lapland to Shanghai, afloat in them
waters, sir; and yet you 'll not have to go back two hundred years, and
where you see the smoke risin' from ten thousand human dwellin's there
was n't one hearth nor one home! The black pine and the hemlock grew
down those grassy slopes where you see them gardens, and the red glare
of the Indian's fire shone out where the lighthouse now points to safety
and welcome! It ain't a despicable race as has done all that! If that
be not the work of a great people, I 'd like to hear what is!" He next
pointed out to Layton the various objects of interest as they presented
themselves to view, commenting on the very different impressions such a
scene of human energy and activity is like to produce than those lands
of Southern Europe from which they had lately come. "You 'll never hear
_Come si fa?_ here, sir," said he, proudly. "If a man can't fix a thing
aright, he 'll not wring his hands and sit down to cry over it, but he
'll go home to think of it at his meals, and as he lies awake o' nights;
and he 'll ask himself again and again, 'If there be a way o' doin'
this, why can't _I_ find it out as well as another?'"

It was the Colonel's belief that out of the principle of equality sprang
an immense amount of that energy which develops itself in inventive
ability; and he dilated on this theory for some time, endeavoring to
show that the subdivision of ranks in the Old World