Ned, the son of Webb

cally. "Uncle Jack, the Kentucky could kn

ully. "I'm glad she is out of range of them, just now, tho

ne, North River, gazing at the great line-of-batt

house," said Ned. "There's nothing else like

to see her, and now I have seen her I am more opposed

shell from one of those guns should burst insi

"She would not go up to the sky, she wou

d Ned, not explaining which of

papers, his somewhat excited nephew told him that the steel-clad wonder of the sea had at least twelve thousand horses in her steam engines. He also said th

r," he declared, at last. "I

hat is worth capturing than there is anywhere else. You would need more

you tried it. You went alone, t

t with me. So did thousands of other brave Americans. T

say the English can whip anything in all the world except Americans. I'm going the

er, however, I don't care to think of. I want her never to fire one of those guns. After all, Ned, if one of her g

et away in the boats. Besides, she isn

uncle. "We've seen h

fort, was made later, and it was distinguished for having been surrendered, back and forth, without firing one of its guns in defence, more times than any other military post in America. It was given up once by the Dutch, t

ent along, and about the other forts around th

ne steel canoe like the Kentucky, if she were English, for instance, and if we were

on could do for any old fort in Europe. I say, Uncle Jack,

n the trolley-cars run by lightning on a string. I hate all these modern inventions and innovations-I do! I hate railways up in the air on stilts, and I hate express trains that go a mile a minute, and I hate these electric lights. Why, Ned, when I wa

m," said Ned. "I wante

ncle Jack, "ho

o the seat. I was glad to get out, though, top an

ave a little talk with a friend of mine in Chicago. What they

n with his neighbour, a thousand miles away, turned out a long one, and it was half an hour bef

're having first-rate luck, Uncle Jack! That

ing warlike and terrible; for a battery of the Fourth Regular Artillery, guns, ammunition wago

send shells ten miles or so, to split things. The gun-barrels are long

id Ned. "If I were going to conquer E

ldn't let you keep 'em. They'd take them right away from you, as soon as you landed. You woul

were plenty of things worth seeing, all along, but the car was so crowded with passengers that they were

alked over toward one of the gateway

I like a horse, myself. That is, if he's a good one, and pulls well in harness. I was kicked half to death by one of my hors

good American now, but she was born in England.

ecimens, after we get so that all our riding and pulling is done by steam and electricity. We shall keep pictures of them

on to denounce vigorously a long list of things. He even went so far a

but they are clubbing together to force innovations upon all the rest of the world. They are a partnership concern now, and which of them is the meanest I don't know. The British are choking their inventi

rth is that?

y don't know. Nobody else knows where half of these new places are,

on?" inquire

t the corner where the Congo River crosses the Ganges. It is very n

romptly replied: "Oh, I know where that is! I've been to Gramm

take an army and a steamer, and go and conquer England. Your mother has dozens of cousins there, too. But you had better

said Ned; and his uncle

glish dinner-party, you have to wait till the last man gets there before they will give you anything to eat. I conquered them

rward, however, he was glad to be an American, when his own din

is somewhat tall for his age and burly in build. Ned was not quite prepared, nevertheless, for some things which were coming upon him. He could not have expected,

Where on earth did you learn to speak

een in the house since before I was born. She began

s it! I suppose even the Norw

when you wore frocks. You are pretty well up in it, for a boy only just graduated from a public s

r. "What he needs to do now is to get out into the country. He has

use," remarked his Aunt Maria, with a severe expre

k gave him away entirely, telling of Ned's dealings with the K

to conquer England! I know some English boys that cou

! I'm captain of the baseball nine. I'm in on football, too. I c

why you came home limping so horridly, a week

ed. "That was Jimmy Finley. We were boxing

t is shocking! It is like fighting!

ctfully, "I didn't mean to; but

r. "Slang again? I must

his sisters. "He called Sallie He

otball, indeed! Baseball, fencing, boxing! All that sort of thing! What you need is exercise. F

there. All the colts I rode last summer'll be a year older now. I'm goi

ned his aunt. "His Grandmoth

rmed her own neighbourhood. The country is the place for him, however. If he

ed back to the terrible battle

d artificial eggs. The butter we get is a mystery; they make almost anything out of corn. The newspapers are printed on stuff that's ma

rah for the country, and for t