"Don't be too confident of yourself. I have to stand on my guard, myself, sometimes. And don't be misled into supposing that his notions are the fashion in the part of the world we come from, or in any other civilized part of it. Harry, you were born some hundreds of years too late or too early. Fervor in anything, but above all in public service, is out of place in the world of our day.
"'Love your country; wish it well;
Not with too intense a care:
Let it suffice, that, when it fell,
Thou its ruin didst not share.'
"That's modern patriotism, the patriotism of Europe. Ours is of the same strain, only modified by our circumstances. Our Mother-land is a good housekeeper. She spreads a plentiful table, and her sons appreciate it. She wants no sentimental affection, and receives none. She is not obliged to ask for painful sacrifice; and lucky for her that she is not!"
Harry's cheek flushed, and his eye kindled:—
"Let her only have need of them, and it will be seen whether her sons love her!"
Davis Barton was in more danger of conversion than his father; his eyes were fixed ardently on Harry; his face glowed in sympathy.
"The nearest thing we have to a place with 'associations,'" I began quickly, preventing whatever sarcastic answer may have been ready on the Doctor's lips, "is the Shaler plantation."
"Yes," said Barton, "the Colonel was an old Revolutioner."
"The father?" asked the Doctor.
"Yes."