tried to borrow it and have it set to music.  It was one of those lectures that would pay a man to walk ten miles in wet feet—­to avoid.  After he got through, a gentleman in the audience, thinking it the part of good nature, stepped up and congratulated him upon his “great effort.”  The lecturer took it as a matter of course, and replied, “Oh, yes, you will find the whole atmosphere of Boston exhilarant with intellectual vitality.” [Laughter.]

Now, if there is one thing which modern Pilgrims pride themselves upon more than another, it is in being the lineal descendants of those who came over by the Mayflower.  To prove this, when you visit their homes, they bring forth family records in the shape of knives, forks, and spoons that were taken from the Mayflower.  From the number of those articles I have seen, I have come to the conclusion that the captain of the Mayflower did not get back to England with a single article belonging to the ship that was not nailed fast to the deck.  Such a dread have the people of that island of this widespread Puritanical kleptomania attaching to people coming here, that even as late as 1812 the commander of one of the British frigates took the wise precaution to nail his flag fast to the mast. [Laughter.]

We have heard that the Pilgrim fathers made amends for their shortcomings, from the fact of their having determined, after landing, to fill the meeting-houses and have worship there, and that brave men were detailed from the congregation to stand sentinels against a surprise by the Indians.  It is even said that during those long and solemn sermons some of the members vied with each other in taking their chances with the Indians outside.  Some of these acts of heroism re-appear in the race.  I have been told that some of the lineal descendants of these hardy men that paced up and down in front of the meeting-house have recently been seen pacing up and down all night in front of the Globe Theatre, in Boston, ready in the morning to take their chance of the nearest seat for Sara Bernhardt’s performance. [Laughter.]

Now, sir, the New Englanders are eminently reformers.  I have never seen anything they did not attempt to reform.  They even introduced the Children of the Sun to the shoe-shops of Lynn, with the alleged purpose of instructing the Chinese in letters, yet recently in Massachusetts they themselves showed such lamentable ignorance as not to know a Chinese letter when they saw it. [Laughter.] But the poor Chinese have been driven away.  They have been driven away from many places by that formidable weapon—­the only weapon which Dennis Kearney has ever been able to use against them—­the Chinese must-get. [Laughter.]

I have never seen but one thing the Yankee could not reform, and that was the line of battle at Bull Run, and I call upon Pilgrim Sherman as a witness to this.  He was there, and knows.  Bulls have given as much trouble to Yankees as to Irishmen.  Bulls always seem to be associated with Yankee defeat, from the time of Bull Run down to Sitting Bull, and I will call upon Pilgrim Miles as a witness to that.