Nature and Human Nature | Page 4

don't want to be seen, 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 hum. It is easy to distinguish an editor
from the author, if a reader has half an eye, and if he hain't got that, it's
no use to offer him spectacles, that's a fact. Now, by trade I am a
clockmaker, and by birth I have the honour to be a Yankee. I use the
word honour, 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.1
1 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.
"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 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 honour 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 mile-stones 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 role 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