Excerpt from Western Skies: A Narrative of American Travel in 1868

America is like an alchemist's crucible. Its people are a fusion of many races. White men rule over red, black, and yellow men. English, Scotch, Irish, Germans, French, Italians, Swiss, Norwegians, and Swedes all, meet as citizens. Out of this mass, a race of "New Americans" is continually being produced. Past results lead us to the belief that the future will still yield a good political "philosopher's stone, " in the form or guise of freedom.

Figuratively speaking, the Western Continent is a storehouse of national character. On its shelves lie samples from many lands. Weighed in the balance of fair opinion there is a cheering preponderance of sound grain, there is some rotten and bad. The observant traveller holds a "Sesame" to open the doors and windows of this granary, for his home-staying countrymen.

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