Patriotism, Universality of
People deeply love their native lands despite hardships or lack of worldly advantages.
A French writer informs us, that a native of one of the Asiatic Isles, amid the splendors of Paris, beholding a banana-tree in the Garden of Plants, bathed it with tears, and seemed for a moment to be transported to his own land. The Ethiopian imagines that God made his sands and deserts, while angels only were employed in forming the rest of the world. The Maltese, insulated on a rock, distinguish their island by the appellation of "The Flower of the World." The Javanese have such an affection for the place of their nativity, that no advantages can induce them, particularly the agricultural tribes, to quit the tombs of their fathers. The Norwegians, proud of their barren summits, inscribe upon their rix-dollars, "Spirit, loyalty, valor, and whatever is honorable, let the world learn among the rocks of Norway." The Esquimaux are no less attached to their frigid zone, esteeming the luxuries of blubber-oil for food, and an ice-cabin for habitation, above all the refinements of other countries. Goodrich.