The hive has
remained stationary, and they who flutter around the venerable straw
are wont to claim the empty distinction of antiquity, regardless alike
of the frailty of their tenement and of the enjoyments of the numerous
and vigorous swarms that are culling the fresher sweets of a virgin
world. But as this is a subject which belongs rather to the politician
and historian than to the humble narrator of the homebred incidents we
are about to reveal, we must confine our reflections to such matters
as have an immediate relation to the subject of the tale.
Although the citizen of the United States may claim so just an
ancestry, he is far from being exempt from the penalties of his fallen
race. Like causes are well known to produce like effects. That
tribute, which it would seem nations must ever pay, by way of a weary
probation, around the shrine of Ceres, before they can be indulged in
her fullest favours, is in some measure exacted in America, from the
descendant instead of the ancestor. The march of civilisation with us,
has a strong analogy to that of all coming events, which are known "to
cast their shadows before.
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