Jonathan considers that everything is to be had, it is but a question of will and of money. How much? So much—Done.
Parisians remember very well the American millionaire who, on the occasion of his daughter's marriage, wrote to the Conseil Municipal to ask for the loan of the Arc de Triomphe, which he was anxious to decorate in honour of the wedding, and have the special use of during the day.
He was politely informed that the Arch was not to let.
"Then I will buy it," he replied; "name your price."
The offer was a royal one, and the American, I doubt not, thought the Town Council mad to let slip such a chance of doing business.
Jonathan would ask the Queen to lend him Windsor Castle for the season, if the fancy took him.
A Bostonian once conceived the idea of entertaining his friends with the performance of an oratorio. His drawing-room being much too small to hold the party he wished to invite, he thought of hiring a concert-room or a theatre for the night.
"But, no," he said to himself, "an oratorio would be much more impressive in a sacred edifice."
And he set about hiring the cathedral of the place.
Such things as these make us smile, and we say, "Those Americans are crazy." Certainly they are a little bit touched.