CHAPTER XXII.—Imprudent Conduct of Benedict Arnold—A Real Estate Speculation—$50,000 the Price of Liberty (Terms Cash)—Major André Seriously Compromised—Suspense—Evil Communications—A Tale-Bearing Yellow Dog 117 CHAPTER XXIII.—The Affairs of the Revolution Wound Up—Cornwallis Steps Down and Out 131 CHAPTER XXIV.—An Incident of the Revolution 135 CHAPTER XXV.—This History Dabbles in Politics much against its Wishes—Preliminary Observations—A Chapter of Accidents and Presidents—“Lives of Great Men all Remind us” 146 CHAPTER XXVI.—Progress—Our Patent Office Report—Is Necessity the Mother of Invention?—A Case in Contradiction—Electrical Kite—The Cotton Gin—The First Railway Train—The First Steamboat—The Printing Press—The Atlantic Cable—Mormonism—An Apparatus—Art Matters 184 CHAPTER XXVII.—Some Aboriginal Ideas—Wise Men at Work—Mound Building from Force of Habit—Subterranean Miscellany—The Lost Tribe Theory Won’t Do—Autograph Specimen of Picture Writing—Light at Last—Picturesque Habits of the Indians 206 CHAPTER XXVIII.—American Scenery 216 CHAPTER XXIX.—Some Word Painting on the Subject of the American Eagle—The Affairs of this Strange, Eventful History Wound Up 220 _PREMONITORY SYMPTOMS._ The compilation of a history of any country is a serious matter, and should not be entered upon rashly. Before undertaking the present work, therefore, the author deliberated for twenty-nine years and six months, and then, having consulted the best legal as well as medical authorities, entered upon the task with fear and trembling. He hired a vacant lot on Nassau street, and fenced it in, and there, surrounded by the paraphernalia of literature and art, he went to work with pen and pencil to jot down the leading incidents of American history to the best of a somewhat defective memory. The illustrations have been our chief care, though the letter-press will be found equally reliable. It was our original plan to flavor these pages with a spice of romance, but after a prolonged altercation with Mr. Carleton, our publisher, we decided to adhere strictly to facts. If the reader should happen to detect any slight anachronism in this work, or has reason to suspect that the unities have been lost sight of in a single instance, he will please notify us as early as possible.