244 AMERICA A GREAT COUNTRY. 



on the less fertile sandstones and non-calcareous clays of 

 the Portage and Chemung groups of the New York 

 geologists — is very large and valuable. The five coun- 

 ties of Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Madison, and Fayette, 

 send annually to market at least 35,000 head of fat 

 cattle, worth £8 a-head. 



After I had asked my questions of the butcher, and he 

 in return had found out, by questioning me, first how 

 many years, and then how many months, I had been in 

 America, " Well, sir," says he, ".we live in a great country 

 here — we are a great people." I evaded what was 

 meant as a question, and spoke pleasantly to his every- 

 day ideas, by remarking that " I had certainly seen at 

 Syracuse the very largest oxen I had ever beheld." So 

 we parted very good friends, and he invited me to drop 

 in and see him again. 



It is unpleasant to a stranger to be always called upon 

 to admire and praise what he sees in a foreign country ; 

 and it is a part of the perversity of human nature to 

 withhold, upon urgent request, what, if unasked, would 

 be freely and spontaneously given. But highly to 

 esteem, and value, and prefer one's native or adopted 

 country, is a virtue which is to be commended and 

 encouraged. It is the basis of individual mental con- 

 tentment, and of that general patriotism which has in so 

 many countries led to great and noble actions, and which 

 has always ranked the first among political virtues. If a 

 man does not think the country he lives in the best in the 

 world, he had better leave it. But this does not justify 

 6y excuse either unfounded arrogance or self-esteem in a 

 people, or the tendency to brag and swagger which one 

 does occasionally see among individuals in the United 

 States. 



Buffalo, as I have already remarked, is a very 

 thriving town, and the causes of its success are very 

 intelligible, though not always clearly seen or fairly 



