demands of Vermont are complied with "we will retire into the fastnesses
of our Green Mountains and will wage eternal warfare against Hell, the
Devil, and Human Nature in general." And Ethan Allen meant it.

The love of the superlative is deeply seated in the American mind. It is
based on no very careful survey of the existing world. It is a
conclusion to which it is easy to jump. I remember one week, traveling
through the Mississippi Valley, stopping every night in some town that
had something which was advertised as the biggest in the world. On
Friday I reached a sleepy little village which seemed the picture of
contented mediocrity. Here, thought I, I shall find no bigness to molest
me or make me afraid. But when I sat down to write a letter on the hotel
stationery I was confronted with the statement, "This is the biggest
little hotel in the State."

When one starts a tune it is safer to start it rather low, so as not to
come to grief on the upper notes. In discussing the American temperament
it is better to start modestly. Instead of asking what excellent
qualities we find in ourselves, we should ask what do other nations most
dislike in us. We can then have room to rise to better things. There is
a family resemblance between the worst and the best of any national
group. Kipling, in his lines "To an American," may set the tune for us.
It is not too high. His American is boastful, careless, and irrationally
optimistic.

"Enslaved, illogical, elate,
He greets the embarrassed gods, nor fears
To shake the iron hand of Fate
Or match with Destiny for beers."