Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/222

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point—to a point, sir! We must carry it to the very Pole itself!—and there, sir, we will nail the Stars and Stripes, and our flag-staff will become the spindle of the world, and the Universal Yankee Nation will go whirling round it like a top.

"Fellow-citizens and friends:—In conclusion allow me to propose a sentiment befitting the occasion,—A Free Press and the Universal Yankee Nation: May the former continue in times to come, as in times gone by, the handmaiden of Liberty and the emblem of Progress; and may the latter absorb all Creation and become the grand Celestial Whirligig."

The youthful orator sat down amidst what the press would very properly designate as "tumultuous applause." He had evidently made a favorable impression as well in behalf of himself as of his paper, and we were all the more eager than ever for the reading. After the rattling of the tin cups had subsided, the reading began, and it was not interrupted except by those marks of approbation in which men are always apt to indulge when possessed of a satisfactory dinner, and are listening afterward to good stories. The only regret expressed was that it should come so quickly to an end. The expressions of approval were universal, a vote of thanks was bestowed upon the editors, the orator was toasted, and the occasion wound up in a very lively manner. Having but one copy of the paper, this was handed over to the sailors as soon as Knorr had finished reading it in the cabin, and the marks of approbation were equally reassuring from that quarter. It contains sixteen pages of closely written matter, a somewhat ambitious picture of our winter harbor, a portrait of Sir John Franklin, and a spirited likeness of the General, with his wounded paw