"Old uncle Sam. _come_ there to change Some pancakes and some onions, For _lasses cakes_, to carry home To give his wife and young ones." That this version was actually printed in 1789 rests upon the assertion of Farmer and Moore. This Society owns a copy of "The Yankey's Return from Camp" which was probably printed in 1813.[115] The Boston Public Library owns a copy, entitled "The Farmer and his Son's return from a visit to the Camp,"[116] which I believe to be earlier[117] than the version in the library of this Society. In 1857 it was stated that "the verses commencing 'Father and I went down to camp,' were written by a gentleman of Connecticut, a short time after Gen. Washington's last visit to New England."[118] Now this visit was made in 1789, and, curiously enough, it was in that very year that Royall Tyler's play of "The Contrast" was acted; and in that play, published in 1790, the words made their earliest known appearance in print.[119] The stanza quoted above is first found in the version of 1824 and is not in either of the three versions certainly printed in or before 1813. Hence we cannot, without better evidence, accept the Farmer and Moore stanza as antedating 1824. Yet it is perfectly possible that the stanza was written before the war of 1812,[120] and if it was, the fact would seem to be all but fatal to the Wilson story. The third explanation of the origin of Uncle Sam is that the sobriquet was merely a jocular extension of the letters U. S. This explanation, like the Wilson story, rests purely on assumption. There is nothing in the least either unusual or remarkable in the process of abbreviating a term and then expanding it. In the amenities of political warfare in this country in 1855, it was considered the height of wit to dub a politician "D. D." and then expand the initials into something derogatory. In this way John Petitt became "Dirty Dog," Stephen A. Douglas became "Debauched Douglas," and David R. Atchison became "Drunken Davy."[121] During the same period in England, we find the same manifestation. The London Transport Corps Regiment, which was formed in 1854 and 1855 for service in the Crimea, went by the nickname of the "London Thieving Company." When its name was changed in 1857 to Military Train, it was dubbed "Murdering Thieves," "Muck Tumblers," "Muck Train," and "Moke Train,"--the third a corruption of the last, said to have been due to the employment of Spanish mules instead of horses.[122] I can well remember how, as a boy, I used to wonder whether General Grant had actually been christened U. S. and whether those letters stood for the United States. 'I have since learned that Grant was called not only "United States" Grant, but also "Uncle Sam" Grant, "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, and "United we Stand" Grant.[123] During the past decade the South African War has enabled us to observe these nicknames in the very making. A London newspaper of