The Paper Cap: A Story of Love and Labor

by Amelia E. Barr

This other Eden, demi-Paradise;

This fortress built by Nature for herself,

Against infection, and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall—

Or as a moat defensive to a house—

Against the envy of less happier lands.

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England!”

And the orator and his audience were all nearer crying than they knew, for it was pride and love that made their hearts beat so high and their eyes overflow with happy tears. The room felt as if it was on fire, and every man that hour knew that Patriotism is one of the holiest sentiments of the soul. With lifted caps, they went away in the stillness of that happiness, which the language of earth has not one word to represent.