359.--COOLEY ARGUES WITH DANIEL WEBSTER 366 360.--THE DISCOMFITED DRUMMER 367 361.--THE KICKAPOO'S MISTAKE 369 362.--A PATRIOTIC DUTCHMAN 370 363.--COLLAPSED 370 364.--COMMODORE SCUDDER'S DOG 371 365.--THE COMMITTEE WELCOMES ME 373 366.--THE COLD-EYED DRUMMER 375 367.--"GO, MARK HIM WELL" 376 368.--MR. HOTCHKISS'S JOKE 379 369.--THE DRUMMER GLARES AT ME 381 370.--I RETREAT IN DESPAIR 386 371.--A SOLEMN VOW 386 372.--THE WAITER (_Initial Letter_) 387 373.--THE COLLARS IN HIS TRUNK 389 374.--A SHIRT-BUTTON LOST 390 375.--WAITING FOR THE BRIDE 390 376.--AT THE RECEPTION 392 377.--PITMAN EXPRESSES HIS VIEWS 394 378.--"WE FLUNG A SHOE AFTER THEM" 394 379.--THE FINAL BOW 398 OUT OF THE HURLY-BURLY. CHAPTER I. THE FOUNDER OF NEW CASTLE--A SEARCH FOR QUIETNESS--LIFE IN THE CITY AND THE VILLAGE--WHY THE LATTER IS PREFERABLE--PECULIARITIES OF THE VILLAGE--A SLEEPY OLD TOWN--WE ERECT OUR FAMILY ALTAR. [Illustration] If Peter Menuit had never been born, it is extremely probable that this book would not have been written. Mr. Menuit, however, had nothing to do with the construction of the volume, and his controlling purpose perhaps was not to prepare the way for it. Peter Menuit was a Swede who in 1631 came sailing up the Delaware River in a queer old craft with bulging sides and with stem and stern high in the air. Moved by some mysterious impulse, he dropped his anchor near a certain verdant shore and landed. Standing there, he surveyed the lovely scene that lay before him in the woodland and the river, and then announced to his companions his determination to remain upon that spot. He began to erect a town upon the bank that went sloping downward to the sandy beach, and his only claim to the immortality that has been allotted to him is that he created what is now New Castle.