ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 299 



by all true Americans, to become a beast of burden. I 

 spoke of Austria as an example, not as an exception. In 

 Belgium women and dogs may be seen in all the streets 

 harnessed up and pulling carts loaded with milk and 

 vegetables. The dog guards the milk wagon while his 

 mistress drops her harness and goes in to deliver the milk 

 to a customer. 



Occasionally a dog fight between two rival milk teams 

 mars the Arcadian beauty and simplicity of the scene, 

 but not often, for the women and dogs usually dwell to- 

 gether in amity. No wonder the American women are 

 the handsomest in the world. They are the best treated. 



It was some years after national independence was 

 achieved before the importance of the event was fully ap- 

 preciated in Europe. It is true that our example led to 

 the overthrow of monarchy in France, or, rather, it led 

 to the explosion of the mine that had long been planted 

 under the French throne. But, in its more important 

 bearing, this country — as the asylum for the high-spirit- 

 ed, oppressed people of all nations — was not so fully 

 understood till early in the present century. But the 

 tide set in strong and resistless until thousands have 

 landed at Castle Garden in a single day. In 1841, when 

 Sir Charles Lyell paid a visit to this country he made a 

 careful examination and found that the line of settlement 

 was traveling west at the rate of seventeen miles a year. 

 These were stage-coach days and it was no doubt well 

 for the country that the progress was so slow, so that the 

 nation by steady growth might become large enough to 

 assimilate the mighty host that was to follow. 



In those days the settler passed into the wilderness 

 carrying neither scrip nor purse, relying on his own 

 strong hands for his support and upon his trusty rifle 

 for his defense. For fifty years the struggle with nature 



