Were you ever in Derry ?" "Never," said the three listeners.
"Well, then, let me inform you that the place has its own peculiar features.

In the first place, all the large towns in the south and west have, besides the country neighborhood that surrounds them, a certain sprinkling of gentlefolk, who, though with small fortunes and not much usage of the world, are still a great accession to society, and make up the blank which, even in the most thickly peopled country, would be sadly felt without them.

Now, in Derry, there is none of this.

After the great guns--and, _per Baccho!_ what great guns they are!--you have nothing but the men engaged in commerce,--sharp, clever, shrewd, well-informed fellows; they are deep in flax-seed, cunning in molasses, and not to be excelled in all that pertains to coffee, sassafras, cinnamon, gum, oakum, and elephants' teeth.

The place is a rich one, and the spirit of commerce is felt throughout it.