having seen those wonderful men again? Certainly not! Nay, more--the
reception and the welcome that those heroes would everywhere be greeted
with, should be on a scale fully commensurate with the grandeur of their
own gigantic enterprise. The Sons of Earth who had fearlessly quitted
this terrestrial globe and who had succeeded in returning after
accomplishing a journey inconceivably wonderful, well deserved to be
received with every extremity of pride, pomp and glorious circumstance
that the world is capable of displaying. To catch a glimpse of these
demi-gods, to hear the sound of their voices, perhaps even to touch
their hands--these were the only emotions with which the great heart of
the country at large was now throbbing. To gratify this natural yearning
of humanity, to afford not only to every foreigner but to every native
in the land an opportunity of beholding the three heroes who had
reflected such indelible glory on the American name, and to do it all in
a manner eminently worthy of the great American Nation, instantly became
the desire of the American People. To de
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