8 MUSKINGUM LEGENDS, WITH OTHER SKETCHES AND PAPERS DESCRIPTIVE OF THE YOUNG MEN OF GERMANY AND THE OLD BOYS OF AMERICA. BY STEPHEN POWERS. 5208 PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. THE NEW YORK 473993 ASTOR, LENGA AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1909 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by STEPHEN POWERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. PREFACE. ΟΝ NLY four of the five legends have their action on the banks of the Muskingum, and to none other than one native there, perhaps, would they seem entitled to christen the book. The scenes of the few simple stories told in these pages range from the Elbe to the Sacramento, but among all the included streams there is none to me half so dear as the little Indian river, the little "winking river," which flows past my father's house. In explanation of the word young, as applied to the Germans in the title, I have only to say that if an American, wearied and disgusted with the janglings of home politics, will visit the continent of Europe for a season, he will find himself greatly refreshed by the youthfulness of political discussions and platforms. And, in their enthusiasm for all noble learning, are not the Germans ever young? To Franklin, I believe, is attributed the remark that a people never grows younger in crossing the ocean. If one will compare the Americans in California, who may be said, in a certain sense, to have made the entire circuit of the globe, with the Chinese, who have remained almost stationary near the origin of the human race, he will feel that our countrymen are, in many respects, the oldest people in the world. SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 1871. S. P. |