Sez I, "How the nations would have prized them trees!" And sez I,

"What would Christopher Columbus say if he knew on't?"

And Josiah sez, "He guessed he would have got along without 'em."

"Wall," sez I, "what will America and the World's Fair think on't, my
makin' such a oversight?"

And he sez, "He guessed they would worry along somehow without 'em."

"Wall," sez I, "I am mortified--as mortified as a dog."

And I wuz.

There wuzn't any need of makin' any mistake about the trees, for there
wuz a little metal plate fastened to each tree, with the name marked on
it--the common name and the high-learnt botanical name.

But Josiah, who always has a hankerin' after fashion and show, he talked
a sight to me about the "Abusex-celsa," and the "Genus-salix," and the
"Fycus-sycamorus," and the "Atractylus-gummifera."

He boasted in particular about the rarity of them trees. He said they
grew in Hindoostan and on the highest peaks of the Uriah Mountains; and
he sez, "How strange that he should ever live to see 'em."

He talked proud and high-learnt about 'em, till I got tired out, and
pinted him to the other names of 'em.