Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/281

Rh all there is to be seen in St. Petersburgh. What do you think of that, Mr. Dallas?’

“It seemed so incredible that a poor, ungainly Yankee lad should be thus loaded with attentions, that the ambassador scarcely knew what to think or say.

“In a short time his visitor re-appeared. ‘Well,’ said he, I made up my mind to go home; so I went to thank the Emperor and bid him good-bye. I thought I could not do less, he d been so civil. Says he, ‘Is there anything else you'd like to see before you go back to Americky? I told him I should like to have a peep at Moscow; for I had heard considerable about their setting fire to the Kremlin, and I'd read a deal about General Buonaparte; but it would cost a sight o' money to go there, and I wanted to carry my earnings to my mother. So I bid him good-bye, and come off. Now what do you guess he did next morning? I vow he sent the same man in regimentals, to carry me to Moscow in one of his own carriages, and bring me back again, when I've seen all I want to see! And we re going to-morrow morning, Mr. Dallas. What do you think now?’

“And sure enough the next morning the Yankee boy passed the ambassador's house in a splendid coach and four, waving his pocket-handkerchief, and shouting ‘Good bye! Good-bye!’

“Mr. Dallas afterwards learned from the Emperor that all the particulars related by this adventurous youth were strictly true. He again heard from him at Moscow, waited upon by the public officers, and treated with as much attention as is usually bestowed on ambassadors.

“The last tidings of him reported that he was travelling in Circassia, and writing a journal, which he intended to publish.

“Now who but a Yankee could have done all that?” adds Mrs. Child.

Between this young Yankee and the American &emsp;