Virginia Free Press

Nothing But An American.
From The Life and Letters of John Hay.

When I look back on the shifting scenes of my life, if I am not that altogether deplorable creature, a man without a country, I am. when it comes to pull and prestige, almost equally bereft, as I am a man without a state.

I was born in Indiana, I grew up in Illinois, I was educated in Rhode Island -and it is no blame to that scholarly community that I know so little. I learned my law in Springfield and my politics in Washington, my diplomacy in Europe, Asia and Africa. I have a farm in New Hampshire and a desk room in the District of Columbia.

When I look to the springs from which my blood descends, the first ancestors I ever heard of were a Scotch-man, who was half English, and a German woman, who was half French,

Of my immediate progenitors, my mother was from New England and my father was from the South. In this bewilderment of origin and experience I can only put on an aspect of deep humility in any gathering of favorite sons and confess that I am nothing but an American,