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COPYRIGHT, 1885,

BY KATE SANBORN

TROW'S

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,

NEW YORK.

Rare Books
Cairns
BF

412
53
1886

DEDICATED

ΤΟ

THE LIVING GREAT

AS

A MIRROR

"A man never is so honest as when he speaks well of himself."

PREFACE.

VANITY, like space, is illimitable and all- Universality of vanity. surrounding. I have noted one of its phases, not in an irreverent or sneering spirit, but as a study of human nature. Just as much vanity exists in commonplace men and women; but that would make too big a book and lack the charm which Genius throws around its accompanying foibles.

of nations.

Then the vanity of nations would be a The vanity fertile and interesting theme. We are first in that regard, as we fondly fancy is the case in other directions. Sam Slick expressed the general conviction when, in chapter eighth of the "Clockmaker," he said: "I guess we are the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and the most en

Yankee travelling in Italy.

lightened too. Our ships go ahead of the ships of other folks, our steamboats beat the British in speed, and so do our stagecoaches, and I reckon a real right-down New York trotter might stump the universe for going ahead. But since we introduced the railroads, if we don't 'go ahead,' it's a pity. We never fairly knew what going the whole hog was till then; we actilly went ahead of ourselves, and that's no easy matter, I tell you." And again: "What a beautiful night it is, beant it lovely?—I like to look up at them are stars, when I am away from home, they put me in mind of our national flag, and it is generally allowed to be the first flag in the univarse now. The British whip all the world, and we can whip the British!"

Our boasting and bragging when in other countries have brought upon us well-deserved ridicule. We are apt to tell how high our buildings are and what an enormous sum they cost. You remember the Yankee who, on arriving in Italy, was asked if he crossed the Alps. He hesitated a little, but at length replied, "Now you men

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