for Eric or Pranken to do.

Both at length urged the duty upon the Major, who rose and said,--

"Gentlemen and ladies!"

"Bravo!" cried Pranken.

"Thank you," said the Major, "Interrupt me as often as you will; I have
learned to take flying leaps, and every obstacle gives me a chance for
a higher bound. Once more, ladies and gentlemen! the human race is
divided into male and female."

General laughter, which delighted the Major.

"Here you behold a pair in the garden of Eden--"

"Perhaps you would like this to complete your picture?" said Pranken,
handing the Major an apple.

Roland was indignant with Pranken for interfering so often, and begged
the Major not to let himself be confused by it.

"Be easy, my boy," said the Major in a low voice; "I can stand fire."

Then he continued aloud:--

"So we have here two children, the daughter of the house and the son of
the house; and the children have us. They have their parents; they have
a grandmother and an aunt by election, and here,"--giving himself a
ringing blow on his chest,--"here they have an uncle. We love them as
if they were our own blood, and they love us, do they not, children?"

"Yes!" cried Roland, and Manna nodded.

"So then, if I had a son--no, I don't mean that--if I had a teacher for
this son of mine--no, I did not mean that either--So, then, our wild
rover there--see, he has already a growth upon his face--may the
Architect of the universe bless him, and let him grow to be a man who
shall understand what is true happiness for himself, for others, for
his brethren of all faiths, for all the descendants of man upon the
earth."

Amen, he was about to say, but corrected himself, and cried:--"His
health, again and again, his health."

The Major sat down, and unbuttoned several buttons behind his napkin.

Sonnenkamp spoke next, and in happily chosen language proposed a toast
to Eric, his mother, and his aunt.

"You must speak too; you must speak too," the Major kept urging upon
Eric.

Eric rose, and with a light and cheerful tone began:--

"Two things may be particularly noticed, which the Old World has given
to the New World of America--the horse and wine. The horse is not a
native of America, neither is wine. Germans first planted vineyards in
the New World. Two natural objects, therefore, which enlarge the scope
of human strength and intellect, we have presented to the New World. I
leave out of consideration the kingdom of ideas. My to