not get over it for two weeks.

I might add, though I dislike to speak of it now, that Mr. Webster was
at one time a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts. I believe that
was the only time he ever stepped aside from the strait and narrow way.
A good many people do not know this, but it is true.

Mr. Webster was also a married man, yet he never murmured or repined.

CHAPTER XXIV.

BEFO' THE WAH--CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT--MASTERLY GRASP OF THE SUBJECT
SHOWN BY THE AUTHOR.

A Man named Lopez in 1851 attempted to annex Cuba, thus furnishing for
our Republican wrapper a genuine Havana filler; but he failed, and was
executed, while his plans were not.

Franklin Pierce was elected President on the Democratic ticket, running
against General Scott, the Whig candidate. Slavery began to be discussed
again, when Stephen A. Douglas, in Congress, advocated squatter
sovereignty, or the right for each Territory to decide whether it would
be a free or a slave State. The measure became a law in 1854.

That was what made trouble in Kansas. The two elements, free and slave,
were arrayed against each other, and for several years friends from
other States had to come over and help Kansas bury its dead. The
condition of things for some time was exceedingly mortifying to the
citizen who went out to milk after dark without his gun.

Trouble with Mexico arose, owing to the fact that the government had
used a poor and unreliable map in establishing the line: so General
Gadsden made a settlement for the disputed ground, and we paid Mexico
ten millions of dollars. It is needless to say that we have since seen
the day when we wished that we had it back.

[Illustration: EXCEEDINGLY MORTIFYING TO THE CITIZEN WHO WENT TO MILK
WITHOUT HIS GUN.]

Two ports of entry were now opened to us in Japan by Commodore Perry's
Expedition, and cups and saucers began to be more plentiful in this
country, many of the wealthier deciding at that time not to cool tea in
the saucer or drink it vociferously from that vessel. This custom and
the Whig party passed away at the same time.

The Republican or Anti-Slavery party nominated for President John C.
Fremont, who received the vote of eleven States, but James Buchanan was
elected, and proved to the satisfaction of the world that there is
nothing to prevent any unemployed man's applying for the Presidency of
the United States; also that if his life has been free from ideas and
opinions he may be e