Satanstoe by James Fenimore Cooper
page 31 of 569 (05%)
page 31 of 569 (05%)
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it. My father understood him, and my mother did not hear the last of the
"terriple ferry" until not only I, but the college itself, had quitted Newark; for the institution made another remove to Princeton, the place where it is now to be found, some time before I got my degree. "You have got on very well without a college education, as all must admit, colonel," answered Mr. Worden; "but there is no telling how much _better_ you would have got on, had you been an A. M. You might, in the last case, have been a general and a member of the King's council." "Dere ist no yeneral in ter colony, the commander-in-chief and His Majesty's representatif excepted," returned the colonel. "We are no Yankees, to make yenerals of ploughmen." Hereupon, the colonel and my father knocked the ashes out of their pipes at the same instant, and both laughed,--a merriment in which the parson, my grandfather, my dear mother, and I myself joined. Even a negro boy, who was about my own age, and whose name was Jacob, or Jaap, but who was commonly called Yaap, grinned at the remark, for he had a sovereign contempt for Yankee Land, and all it contained; almost as sovereign a contempt as that which Yankee Land entertained for York itself, and its Dutch population. Dirck was the only person present who looked grave; but Dirck was habitually as grave and sedate, as if he had been born to become a burgomaster. "Quite right, Brom," cried my father; "_colonels_ are good enough for us; and when we do make a man _that_, even, we are a little particular about his being respectable and fit for the office. Nevertheless, learning will not hurt Corny, and to college he shall go, let you do as you please with Dirck. So that matter is settled, and no more need be said about it." |
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