200 years ago, John Neal set out to tell the world what a real Mainer is

200 years later, we're still re-imagining it.

Brother Jonathan forcing a glass of Yankee pear cider down a filthy redcoat’s throat. Replace it with Fireball and the Brit with, say, some rich guy from New Jersey, and it might still be accurate.

“Is the language here put into the mouth of the New Englander that which is heard in real life? Are the manners here ascribed to him characteristic? However p…