Just a guy playing with his newest “toy”, like we’ve all done when we brought something new home. I can hear the wife right now “What did you buy NOW, and how much did it cost????”
Back then, those folk were part of the generation that fought and repelled the British in the War of 1812; you probably still had some Revolutionary War veterans around (those who had been youngsters of 14 through 18 during our War for Independence), you had folks who were involved with the Indians, who had been with Lewis and Clarke, etc.,
Think of this too: kids born in that year would grow up to fight the Civil War.
It would have been an amazing time to be alive - for me, anyway.
I’m not understanding your comment, though - how he could “look” politically correct... ?? That concept didn’t come about until Mao Tse Tung brought it into being over a hundred years after this man walked the Earth.
“...I’m not understanding your comment, though - how he could “look” politically correct... ??...”
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Think “pajama boy”.