A Cosmopolite in a Café (Henry)

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O. Henry

A Cosmopolite in a Café

Summary of the book
from the Collection « Four Million»

Microsummary: A cosmopolitan and a patriot debate the merits of patriotism. The cosmopolitan gets into a fight when someone insults his home, showing that even cosmopolitans have a strong sense of patriotism.

At a café late at night, a man named E. Rushmore Coglan sat at a table with two other people. Coglan was a cosmopolite, a person who had traveled the world and was not tied to any one place. He spoke of his travels and his belief that all people should be citizens of the world, not just of their own city or country.

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E. Rushmore Coglan — cosmopolite; middle-aged man; tall, thin, with a long face and a pointed beard; speaks with contempt and familiarity about the world; impartial to cities, countries and continents; brags about his whole round globe.

When the band began to play "Dixie," a dark-haired young man jumped up and waved his hat, and then joined the group at the table. The man asked Coglan if he believed in patriotism, and Coglan said it was a relic of the stone age.

The conversation then shifted to the dark-haired young man's desire to be a periwinkle on the top of a valley. Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from another part of the café. It was Coglan and another man fighting. The waiters broke up the fight and took them outside.

When asked what had caused the fight, the waiter said that Coglan had gotten angry at the other man for insulting the place he was from. It turned out that Coglan was originally from Mattawamkeag, Maine, and he had been defending his hometown. Despite his cosmopolitan beliefs, Coglan still had a strong sense of patriotism and loyalty to his hometown.