It need hardly be pointed out that the word "uncle" has long been employed in this country. In a play written in 1815, David Humphreys made Doolittle, the Yankee hero, thus soliloquize about the Countess St. Luc, another character in the play: "I like her tu; though she is so tarnation strange and sad, by what I larnt jest now. She's quite a decent, clever woman--ladyship, I shood say; about as nice and tidy a crittur as ever trod shews'-leather. (_Looking at the glass as he passes, and admiring himself_) Well! my fortin's made. I woodn't give that (_snapping his fingers_) to call the _President_ and all the _Congress 'Uncle!'_ Why, I am as fine as a fiddle" (Act I, p. 39). On September 3, 1838, Hawthorne said: "The Revolutionary pensioners come out into the sunshine to make oath that they are still above ground. One, whom Mr. S---- saluted as 'Uncle John,' went into the bar-room, walking pretty stoutly by the aid of a long, oaken staff" (American Note-Books, 1883, I, 190). In 1853 Lowell wrote: "'Do you think it will rain?' With the caution of a veteran _auspex_, he evaded a direct reply. 'Wahl, they _du_ say it's a sign o' rain comin', said he. I discovered afterwards that my interlocutor was Uncle Zeb. Formerly, every New England town had its representative uncle. He was not a pawnbroker, but some elderly man who, for want of more defined family ties, had gradually assumed this avuncular relation to the community" (Moosehead Journal, Prose Works, 1890, I, 16). The _Salem, Gazette_ of June 13, 1815, contained a paragraph headed, "The Cogitations of Uncle John" (p. 3-2). It has already been pointed out that Timothy Pickering was nicknamed "Uncle Tim," See p. 26, above. * * * * * Transcriber's Notes: Punctuation errors repaired. Archaic spelling retained. Footnote 5, "June" was italicized in the original text. It was changed to plain text to match the format of the rest of the text. (_Portsmouth Oracle_, June 26) End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Uncle Sam, by Albert Mathews