I saw a government which never was protected by foreign soldiers at a cost greater than that required to carry on the government itself.

I saw common men and common women who could read; I even saw small children of common country people reading from books; if I dared think you would believe it, I would say they could write, also.
"In the cities I saw people drinking a delicious beverage made of chalk and water, but never once saw goats driven through their Broadway or their Pennsylvania Avenue or their Montgomery street and milked at the doors of the houses.

I saw real glass windows in the houses of even the commonest people.

Some of the houses are not of stone, nor yet of bricks; I solemnly swear they are made of wood.

Houses there will take fire and burn, sometimes--actually burn entirely down, and not leave a single vestige behind.