would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. - Washington Irving

Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad, deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine - no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.

My native country was full of youthful promise; Europe was rich in the accumulated treasures of age.

I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration.