old friend, it would be as well to

deliver it myself and mention them, for what in natur' is the good of letter writing? In business there is nothing like a good talk face to face. Now, Squire, I am really what I assume to be-I am, in fact, Sam Slick the Clockmaker, and nobody else. It is of no consequence, however, to the world whether this is really my name or an assumed one. If it is the first, it is a matter of some importance to take care of it, and defend it; if it is a fictitious one, it is equally so to preserve my incognito. I may not choose to give my card, and may not desire to be known. A satirist, like an Irishman, finds it convenient sometimes to shoot from behind a shelter. Like him, too, he may occasionally miss his shot, and firing with intent to do bodily harm is almost as badly punished as if death had ensued. And besides an anonymous book has a mystery about it. Moreover, what more right has a man to say to you, 'stand and deliver your name,' than to say, 'stand and fork out your purse'-I can't see the difference for the life of Hesitation betrays guilt. If a person inquires if you are to home, the servant is directed to say, no, if you don't want to be seen,

me.

and choose to be among the missing. Well, if a feller asks if I am the Mr. Slick, I have just as good a right to say, 'ask about and find out.'

"People sometimes I actilly believe, take you for me. If they do, all I have to say is they are fools not to know better, for we neither act alike, talk alike, nor look alike, though perhaps we may think alike on some subjects. You was bred and born here in Nova Scotia, and not in Connecticut, and if they ask you where I was raised, tell them I warn't raised at all, but was found one fine morning pinned across a clothes line, after a heavy washing to home. It is easy to distinguish an editor from the author, if a reader has half an eye, and if he haint got that, it's no use to offer him spectacles, that's a fact. am a clockmaker, and by

Now, by trade I birth I have the

honour to be a Yankee. I use the word honor, Squire, a purpose, because I know what I am talking about, which I am sorry to say is not quite so common a thing in the world as people suppose. The English call all us Americans, Yankees, because they don't know what they are talking about, and are not aware that it is

only the inhabitants of New England, who can boast of that appellation.*

"The southerners, who are both as proud and as sarcy as the British, call us Eastern folk Yankees, as a term of reproach, because having no slaves, we are obliged to be our own

* Brother Jonathan is the general term for all. It originated thus. When General Washington, after being appointed commander of the army of the Revolutionary War, came to Massachusetts to organize it, and make preparations for the defence of the country, he found a great want of ammunition and other means necessary to meet the powerful foe he had to contend with, and great difficulty to obtain them. If attacked in such condition, the cause at once might be hopeless. On one occasion at that anxious period, a consultation of the officers and others was had, when it seemed no way could be devised to make such preparations as was necessary. His Excellency Jonathan Trumbull, the elder, was then Governor of the State of Connecticut, on whose judgment and aid the General placed the greatest reliance, and remarked, "We must consult 'Brother Jonathan' on the subject." The General did so, and the Governor was successful in supplying many of the wants of the army. When difficulties arose, and the army was spread over the country, it became a by-word, "We must consult Brother Jonathan." The term Yankee is still applied to a portion, but "Brother Jonathan" has now become a designation of the whole country, as John Bull is for England. -BARTLETT'S AMERICANISMS.

niggers, and do our own work, which is'nt considered very genteel, and as we are intelligent, enterprising, and skilful, and therefore too often creditors of our more luxurious countrymen, they do not like us the better for that, and not being Puritans themselves, are apt to style us scornfully, those d-d Yankees.

Now, all this comes of their not knowing what they are talking about. Even the New Englanders themselves, cute as they be, often use the word foolishly; for, Squire, would you believe it, none of them, though they answer to and acknowledge the appellation of Yankee with pride, can tell you its origin. I repeat, therefore, I have the honor to be a Yankee. I don't mean to say that word is 'all same,' as the Indians say, as perfection; far from it, for we have some peculiarities common to us all. Cracking and boasting is one of these. Now braggin' comes as natural to me as scratchin' to a Scotchman. I am as fond of rubbing myself agin the statue of George the Third, as he is of se-sawing his shoulders on the milestones of the Duke of Argyle. Each in their way were great benefactors, the one by teaching the Yankees to respect themselves, and the

other by putting his countrymen in an upright posture of happiness. So I can join hands with the North Briton, and bless them both.

"With this national and nateral infirmity, therefore, is it to be wondered at, if, as my 'Sayings and Doings' have become more popular than you or I ever expected, that I should crack and boast of them? I think not. If I have a claim, my rule is to go ahead with it. Now don't leave out my braggin', Squire, because you are afraid people will think it is you speaking,. and not me, or because you think it is bad taste as you call it. I know what I am at, and don't go it-blind. My journal contains much for my own countrymen as well as the English, for we expect every American abroad to sustain the reputation in himself of our great nation.

"Now Ingersoll, our Minister to Victoria's Court, when he made his brag speech to the great agricultural dinner at Gloucester last year, didn't intend that for the British, but for us. So in Congress no man in either house can speak or read an oration more than an hour long, but he can send the whole lockrum, in