Ringin' out barbarism and ringin' in the newer religion; ringin' out, as time went on, old simple ways, and idees--mebby bringin' in barbarous ways; swingin' back and forth, to and fro; ringin' in now, I hope and pray, the era of love and justice, goodwill to man and woman. Wall, I wuz almost lost in my thoughts in hangin' over that old bell. It had took me back into the dim old green forest isles and onbroken wilderness, when I heard a bystander a-sayin' to another one--"There is Columbuses relations; there is the Duke of Veragua." And on lookin' up, I indeed see Columbuses own relation on his own side, with his wife and daughter. The relation on Columbuses side wuz a middlin' good-lookin' and a good-natered lookin' man, no taller than Josiah, with blue eyes, gray hair, and short whiskers. [Illustration: Columbuses own relation on his own side, with his wife and daughter.] His wife wuz a good-lookin', plump woman, some younger apparently than he wuz, and the daughter wuz pretty and fresh-lookin' as a pink rose. I liked their looks first rate. And jest the minute my eyes fell on 'em, so quick my intellect moves, I knew what was incumbent on me to do. It wuz my place, it would be expected of me--I must welcome them to America; I must, in the name of my own dignity, and the power of the Nation, gin 'em the freedom of Jonesville. I must not slight them for their own sakes, and their noble ancestors. One human weakness might be discovered in me by a clost observer in that rapt hour: I didn't really know how to address the wife of the Duke. And I whispered to Irena Flanders, and, sez I, "If a man is a duke, what would his wife be called?" Sez I, "She'd feel hurt if I slighted her." And sez she, "If one is a duke, the other would naterally be called a drake." I knew better than that--she hain't any too smart by nater, and her mind runs to fowls, what there is of it. But my Josiah heard the inquiry, and sez he-- "I should call her a duck;" and he continued, with his eyes riveted on the beautiful face of the Duke's daughter-- "That pretty girl is a duck, and no mistake." But I sez, "Hush; that would be too familiar and also too rural." I hain't ashamed of the country--no, indeed, I am proud on't; still I knew that it wuz, specially in June, noted for its tender greenness. And sez I, "I'll trust to the hour to inspire me; I'll sail out as his great ancestor did, and trust to Providence to help me out." So I advanced onto 'em, and I thought, as I went, if you call a man by the hull of his name he hadn't ort to complain; so I sez with a deep curchey--I knew a plain curchey wouldn't do justice to the occasion. So I gracefully took hold of my alpaca skirt with both hands and held it out slightly, and curchied from ten to fourteen inches, I should judge.