imself
and family, one silver-lace hat, one pair of silver shoe-buckles, a
coat made of fashionable silk, one pair of gold sleeve-buttons, six
pairs of kid gloves, one dozen most fashionable cambric
pocket-handkerchiefs, besides ruffles and tucker. That was George.
[Laughter.]

Talk about dissipations, ye who have ever seen the old-fashioned
sideboard! Did I not have an old relative who always, when visitors
came, used to go upstairs and take a drink through economical habits,
not offering anything to his visitors? [Laughter.] On the old-fashioned
training days the most sober men were apt to take a day to themselves.
Many of the familiar drinks of to-day were unknown to them, but their
hard cider, mint julep, metheglin, hot toddy, and lemonade in which the
lemon was not at all prominent, sometimes made lively work for the
broad-brimmed hats and silver knee-buckles. Talk of dissipating parties
of to-day and keeping of late hours! Why, did they not have their "bees"
and sausage-stuffings and tea-parties and dances, that for heartiness
and uproar utterly eclipsed all the waltzes, lanciers, redowas, and
breakdowns of the nineteenth century, and they never went home till
morning. And as to the old-time courtships, oh, my! Washington Irving
describes them. [Laughter.]

But though your Forefathers may not have been much, if any, better than
yourselves, let us extol them for the fact that they started this
country in the right direction. They laid the foundation for American
manhood. The foundation must be more solid and firm and unyielding than
any other part of the structure. On that Puritanic foundation we can
safely build all nationalities. [Applause.] Let us remember that the
coming American is to be an admixture of all foreign bloods. In about
twenty-five or fifty years the model American will step forth. He will
have the strong brain of the German, the polished manners of the French,
the artistic taste of the Italian, the stanch heart of the English, the
steadfast piety of the Scotch, the lightning wit of the Irish, and when
he steps forth, bone, muscle, nerve, brain entwined with the fibres of
all nationalities, the nations will break out in the cry: "Behold the
American!" [Applause.]

Columbus discovered only the shell of this country. Agassiz came and
discovered fossiliferous America. Silliman came and discovered
geological America. Audubon came and discovered bird America. Longfellow
came and discovered poetic Am