“Well now, Captain, I suppose you’ll allow America is a bit bigger country than England?”
“It’s rather broader—but, if I recollect right, it’s not quite so long.”
“Why, Captain!”
“Well, only look at the map.”
“Why, isn’t the Mississippi a bigger river than you have in England?”
“Bigger? Pooh! haven’t we got the Thames?”
“The Thames? why that’s no river at all.”
“Isn’t it? Just look at the map, and measure them.”
“Well, now, Captain, I tell you what, you call your Britain, the Mistress of the seas, yet we whipped you well, and you know that.”
“Oh! yes—you refer to the Shannon and Chesapeake, don’t you?”