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One of the great nation, the nation of many nations,
the smallest the same, and the largest the same,
A southerner soon as a northerner, a planter nonchalant
and hospitable,
A Yankee, bound my own way, ready for trade, my
joints the limberest joints on earth and the
sternest joints on earth,
A Kentuckian, walking the vale of the Elkhorn in
my deer-skin leggings,
A boatman over lakes or bays, or along coasts—a
Hoosier, Badger, Buckeye,
A Louisianian or Georgian—a Poke-easy from sand-
hills and pines,
At home on Kanadian snow-shoes, or up in the bush,
or with fishermen off Newfoundland,
At home in the fleet of ice-boats, sailing with the rest,
and tacking,
At home on the hills of Vermont, or in the woods
of Maine, or the Texan ranch,
Comrade of Californians—comrade of free north-
westerners, and loving their big proportions,
Comrade of raftsmen and coalmen—comrade of all
who shake hands and welcome to drink and
meat,
A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thought-
fullest,
A novice beginning, yet experient of myriads of
seasons,
Of every hue, trade, rank, caste and religion,
Not merely of the New World, but of Africa, Europe,
Asia—a wandering savage,
A farmer, mechanic, artist, gentleman, sailor, lover,
quaker,