THE PAST HISTORY OF AMERICA. 247 



ing of an afternoon, along the shores of one of these 

 beautiful lakes, in the deep shadows which the hills 

 throw out upon the water, listening to the forest 

 sounds, breathing the pure air of the mountains, and 

 looking upon the green woods that stretch away, and 

 in receding upward seem to pierce the sky in the 

 distance. 



" Squire," said my guide, " I've often thought that 

 this country was intended, one day, to make a great 

 noise among the nations of the airth. It has gone 

 ahead with such wonderful long strides, since it got 

 free from the hold that England had upon its neck, 

 and is pushin' forward so fast, that no man can calcu- 

 late when, or where it'll stop. I've read in books, and 

 hearn it told, by men who had studied into the matter, 

 that when GINERAL WASHINGTON had got through 

 with his fightin', and sent his army home from the 

 wars, there wasn't more'n three millions of people in 

 all the United States, and that they were about as 

 poor as seven, or eight years of fightin', and other 

 troubles could make 'em. That there warn't any fac- 

 tories or machine-shops to speak of, in all the country. 

 That the States hadn't any ships on the ocean, and 

 not a water-craft on the great lakes. That there wasn't 



