use a thing
is American, I do not believe it must therefore be superior to
everything else in the world; but I am bound to defend it till I find
something by which it is excelled. If Americans will adopt the English
oar and the English stroke, I am confident that, in a very few years,
they will so improve upon them that they will be able to give points to
our cousins across the 'pond.'"

"You are, indeed, broad-minded and liberal, Merriwell," said Diamond,
with admiration. "It was you who first convinced me that Northerners no
longer hold a feeling of enmity against Southerners. Till I met you the
word 'Yankee' seemed to me to be a stigma--a name to be applied in
derision to the people of the North. To my astonishment, I found you
were proud to be called a Yankee, and then you explained to me that
foreigners applied the name to all native-born Americans. You explained
to me that in the early days of this country, when Northerner and
Southerner fought for one common cause, freedom and independence, all
who opposed the tyranny of our oppressors were termed Yankees. I
remember the night when we sat up till two in the morning talking of
these things. You did not tell me anything I had not considered before,
but you revealed things to me in a new light. You showed me the North
and South bound by ties of blood, and I think you aroused in me a
broader feeling of patriotism than I had ever before known."

The cloud passed from Merriwell's face as his companion spoke, and, as
Diamond finished, Frank reached out and took his hand.

"You are from the South, I from the North," he said, in his most
charming manner; "yet we are brothers. In the North and in the South
there are those who still entertain sectional feelings and prejudices,
but the time will come when all this will pass away."

"I think it is fast passing," declared Jack.

"It is," nodded Frank. "So far as sectional feelings go, there should be
no North, no South, no East, no West. We are all united under one flag,
the most beautiful of all flags--the Star Spangled Banner! We are all
citizens of one country, the greatest and grandest the sun ever shone
upon! We should be ready at any time to lay down our lives for our flag
and our country."

Diamond's eyes flashed, and it seemed that the noble look on Frank
Merriwell's face was reflected in Jack's. His blood was stirred by the
grandest of all emotions--patriotism. Looking at the Virginian at that
moment, no one co