The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter

The Life and Adventures of Maj.
Roger Sherman Potter

Project Gutenberg's Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman
Potter,
by Francis Colburn Adams (using the pseudonym Pheleg Van
Trusedale) #5 in our series by Francis Colburn Adams
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Title: The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter
Author: "Pheleg Van Trusedale" A pseudonym for Francis Colburn
Adams
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4959] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 4,
2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHERMAN
POTTER ***

This eBook was edited by Charles Aldarondo (www.aldarondo.net).

THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF MAJ. ROGER SHERMAN
POTTER:
TOGETHER WITH AN ACCURATE AND EXCEEDINGLY
INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF HIS GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS IN
POLITICS, DIPLOMACY, AND WAR,--ALL OF WHICH ARE
HERE RECORDED OUT OF SHEER LOVE FOR THE MARTIAL
SPIRIT OF THIS TRULY AMBITIOUS NATION.
I HERE DECLARE THAT THIS GREAT WORK WAS NEITHER
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, NOR PRIGGED FROM THE
UNPUBLISHED WORK OF ANY ENGLISH AUTHOR, BUT WAS
TRULY AND HONESTLY WRITTEN FOR THE ESPECIAL
BENEFIT OF MY PUBLISHER.
BY PHELEG VAN TRUSEDALE, WHO, WITHOUT ASKING

PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATES IT TO HIS FRIEND
AND BENEFACTOR, JAMES BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT OF
THESE UNITED STATES.
NEW YORK:
1858.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

IF the reader will but pay attention to what I have written in this great
work, it will be found that I have taken an unwarrantable liberty with
his good taste; that is to say, I have so far deviated from that
stereotyped rule-so strictly observed by all our great authors-as to make
my hero, who is what is curiously enough called a "Yankee Character,"
speak tolerably good English, instead of vulgar slang. In truth, so
closely do "our great writers" adhere to this rule of depicting the
eccentric American as a lean, scraggy individual, dressed most
outlandishly, making splinters of the king's English, while drawling it
with offensive nasal sounds, and violating the rules of common
politeness in whatever he does, that when he goes abroad the foreigner
is surprised to find him a tolerably well polished gentleman, and indeed
not unfrequently inquires what part of our country those lean persons
he has seen described in the books of American authors reside in.
Let this preface then suffice, for if any one of my many readers think he
can write a better--and I doubt not he can-let him set about it, and not
stop until he get it exactly to his fancy. But before he say one word
against aught that is herein written, let him bear in mind that I am the
author of not less than a stack of great histories, which have already so
multiplied my literary fame, that the mere announcement of another
book by me sends that only great and generous critic, the public at large,
into a perfect fever of anxiety.
PHELEG VAN TRUSEDALE.

New York, Nov., 1857.

CONTENTS.

1.--A Chapter Wherein those Having a Taste for Nonsense may find It
2.--Containing Sundry Matters of Deep Interest
3.--A Pleasant Meeting with a Renowned Major
4.--Major Roger Sherman Potter Recounts his Exploits in War and
Politics
5.--In which Politicians and Other Vagabonds may find Something to
Their Advantage
6.--Major Roger Potter's First Adventure in New York
7.--The Pleasant Side of a Misfortune
8.--Meeting Between the Renowned Major and an Eccentric
Fishmonger
9.--How the Renowned Major Exchanged Chickens with Mrs.
Trotbridge
10.--The Kindness of Mine Host of the Astor
11.--Wonderful Story of an Intelligent
12.--Concerning Matters Necessary to the Perfection of This History
13.--The Two Strange Characters at the Independent Temperance Hotel
14.--A whole Town in a State of Alarm

15.--An Amusing Meeting between Major Roger Potter and his Wife,
Polly Potter
16.--Many Queer and Deeply Interesting Things which took place
When Major Potter arrived at Barnstable
17.--A Man of the Name of Giles Sheridan
18.--Which Relates how Major Roger Potter Sailed for