Excerpt from American Nights' Entertainments: Compiled From Pencilings of an United States Senator: Entitled, a Winter in the Federal City; With a Supplement The period at which this work opens was a happy, glorious one for America. The nation was at peace with the world, and the eagle had long sought his eyry in the Clouds. Her ships sailed triumphantly on every sea, and her star-spangled banner waved from the capital of every country. The surrounding nations sued her with more humility than ever despairing swain did faire ladye, for an asylum in her broad bosom - a resting-place under her over shadowing wings. Thanksgivings and prayer went up from millions of honest hearts; for the people were as grateful as happy. The President, whether in public or private, hall or parlor, was ever with a light heart and an easy conscience, satisfied with himself - with the nation - the nation with him. The citizen was alike happy and pros perous. It was a beautiful evening, late in the autumn of at this golden period, that I was somewhat rudely. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.