"Air," suggested Buffum.
"Which air so peculiarly the lot, sir, Of our great and happy country. '
"Hear!" cried Colonel Groper, in a loud voice. "Good! Hear him! Good!"
"And therefore, Sir," pursued the Doctor, "they request; as A mark Of their respect; the honor of your company at a little le-Vee, Sir, in the ladies' ordinary, at eight o'clock."
Mr. Pogram bowed, and said:
"Fellow countrymen!"
"Good!" cried the Colonel. "Hear him! Good!"
Mr. Pogram bowed to the Colonel individually, and then resumed:
"Your approbation of My labors in the common cause, goes to My heart. At all times and in all places; in the ladies' ordinary. My friends, and in the Battle Field"—
"Good, very good! Hear him! Hear him!" said the Colonel.
"The name Of Pogram will be proud to jine you. And may it, My friends, be written on My tomb, 'He was a member of the Con-gress of our common country, and was ac-Tive in his trust.'"
"The Com-mittee, Sir," said the shrill boy, "will wait upon you at five minutes afore eight. I take My leave, Sir!"
Mr. Pogram shook hands with him, and everybody else, once more; and when they came back again at five minutes before eight, they said, one by one, in a melancholy voice, "How do you do, Sir!" and shook hands with Mr. Pogram all over again, as if he had been abroad for a twelvemonth in the meantime, and they met, now, at a funeral.
But by this time Mr. Pogram had freshened himself up, and had composed his hair and features after the Pogram statue, so that any one with half an eye might cry out, "There he is! as he delivered the Defiance!" The Committee were embellished also; and when they entered the ladies' ordinary in a body, there was much clapping of hands from ladies and gentlemen, accompanied by cries of "Pogram! Pogram!" and some standing up on chairs to see him.
The object of the popular caress looked round the room as he walked up it, and smiled: at the same time observing to the shrill boy, that he knew something of the beauty of the daughters of their common country, but had never seen it in such lustre and perfection as at that moment. Which the shrill boy put in the paper next day; to Elijah Pogram's great surprise.
"We will re-quest you, Sir, if you please," said Buffum, laying hands on Mr. Pogram as if he were taking his measure for a coat, "to stand up with your back agin the wall right in the furthest corner, that there may be more room for our fellow cit-izens. If you could set your back right slap agin that curtain-peg, Sir, keepin your left leg everlastingly behind the stove, we should be fixed quite slick."
Mr. Pogram did as he was told, and wedged himself into such a little corner, that the Pogram statue would'nt have known him.
The entertainments of the evening then began. Gentlemen brought ladies up, and brought themselves up, and brought each other up; and asked Elijah Pogram what he thought of this political question, and
