CHAPTER XIII.
"He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind! Silence."--_King Henry VI._
After an early breakfast, next morning, the signs of preparation for astart became very apparent in the family. Not only Miller, but his wifeand daughter, intended to go down to "Little Neest," as the hamlet wasalmost invariably called in that fragment of the universe, incontradistinction to the "Neest" proper. I found afterward that thisvery circumstance was cited against me in the controversy, it beingthought _lese-majeste_ for a private residence to monopolize the majorof the proposition, while a hamlet had to put up with the minor; thelatter, moreover, including two taverns, which are exclusively theproperty of the public, there being exclusiveness with the public aswell as with aristocrats--more especially in all things that pertain topower or profit. As to the two last, even Joshua Brigham was much moreof an aristocrat than I was myself. It must be admitted that theAmericans are a humane population, for they are the only people who deemthat bankruptcy gives a claim to public favor.[25]
[Footnote 25: Absurd as this may seem, it is nevertheless true, and fora reason that is creditable, rather than the reverse--a wish to helpalong the unfortunate. It is a great mistake, however, as a rule, toadmit of any other motive for selecting for public trusts, thanqualification.--EDITOR.]
As respects the two "Nests," had not so much more serious matter been inagitation, the precedence of the names might actually have been taken upas a question of moment. I have heard of a lawsuit in France, touching aname that has been illustrious in that country for a period so long asto extend beyond the reach of man--as, indeed, was apparent by thematter in controversy--and which name has obtained for itself a highplace in the annals of even our own republic. I allude to the house ofGrasse, which was seated, prior to the revolution, and may be still, ata place called Grasse, in the southern part of the kingdom, the townbeing almost as famous for the manufacture of pleasant things as thefamily for its exploits in arms. About a century since, the Marquis deGrasse is said to have had a _proces_ with his neighbors of the place,to establish the fact whether the family gave its name to the town, orthe town gave its name to the family. The marquis prevailed in thestruggle, but greatly impaired his fortune in achieving that newvictory. As my house, or its predecessor, was certainly erected andnamed while the site of Little Nest was still in the virgin forest, onewould think its claims to the priority of possession beyond dispute; butsuch might not prove to be the case on a trial. There are two historiesamong us, as relates to both public and private things; the one being asnearly true as is usual, while the other is invariably the fruits of thehuman imagination. Everything depending so much on majorities, that soongets to be the most authentic tradition which has the most believers;for, under the system of numbers, little regard is paid to superioradvantages, knowledge, or investigation, all depending on three asagainst two, which makes one majority. I find a great deal of thisspurious history is getting to be mixed up with the anti-rentcontroversy, facts coming out daily that long have lain dormant in thegraves of the past. These facts affect the whole structure of thehistorical picture of the State and colony, leaving touches of blackwhere the pencil had originally put in white, and placing the highlights where the shadows have before always been understood to be. In aword, men are telling the stories as best agrees with their presentviews, and not at all as they agree with the fact.
It was the intention of Tom Miller to give my uncle Ro and me a dearbornto ourselves, while he drove his wife, Kitty and a _help_, as far as the"Little Neest," in a two-horse vehicle that was better adapted to such afreight. Thus disposed of, then, we all left the place in company, justas the clock in the farm-house entry struck nine. I drove our horsemyself; and _mine_ he was, in fact, every hoof, vehicle and farmingutensil on the Nest farm, being as much my property, under the _old_laws, as the hat on my head. It is true, the Millers had now been fiftyyears or more, nay, nearly sixty, in possession, and by the _new_ modeof construction it is possible some may fancy that we had paid themwages so long for working the land, and for using the cattle andutensils, that the title, in a moral sense, had passed out of me, inorder to pass into Tom Miller. If use begets a right, why not to a wagonand horse, as well as to a farm.
As we left the place I gazed wistfully toward the Nest House, in thehope of seeing the form of some one that I loved, at a window, on thelawn, or in the piazza. Not a soul appeared, however, and we trotteddown the road a short distance in the rear of the other wagon,conversing on such things as came uppermost in our minds. The distancewe had to go was about four miles, and the hour named for thecommencement of the lecture, which was to be the great affair of theday, had been named at eleven. This caused us to be in no hurry, and Irather preferred to coincide with the animal I drove, and move veryslowly, than hurry on, and arrive an hour or two sooner than wasrequired. In consequence of this feeling on our part, Miller and hisfamily were soon out of sight, it being their wish to obtain as much ofthe marvels of the day as was possible.
The road, of course, was perfectly well known to my uncle and myself;but, had it not been, there was no danger of missing our way, as we hadonly to follow the general direction of the broad valley through whichit ran. Then Miller had considerately told us that we must pass twochurches, or a church and a "meetin'-'us'," the spires of both of whichwere visible most of the way, answering for beacons. Referring to thisterm of "meeting-house," does it not furnish conclusive evidence, ofitself, of the inconsistent folly of that wisest of all earthly beings,man? It was adopted in contradistinction from, and in direct oppositionto, the supposed idolatrous association connected with the use of theword "church," at a time when certain sects would feel offended athearing their places of worship thus styled; whereas, at the presentday, those very sectarians are a little disposed to resent thisexclusive appropriation of the proscribed word by the sects who havealways adhered to it as offensively presuming, and, in a slight degree,"arisdogradic!" I am a little afraid that your out-and-outers inpolitics, religion, love of liberty, and other human excellences, aresomewhat apt to make these circuits in their eccentric orbits, and tocome out somewhere quite near the places from which they started.
The road between the Nest House and Little Nest, the hamlet, is rural,and quite as agreeable as is usually found in a part of the country thatis without water-views or mountain scenery. Our New York landscapes arerarely, nay, never grand, as compared with the noble views one finds inItaly, Switzerland, Spain, and the finer parts of Europe; but we have avast many that want nothing but a finish to their artificial accessoriesto render them singularly agreeable. Such is the case with the principalvale of Ravensnest, which, at the very moment we were driving throughit, struck my uncle and myself as presenting a picture of ruralabundance, mingled with rural comfort, that one seldom sees in the oldworld, where the absence of enclosures, and the concentration of thedwellings in villages, leave the fields naked and with a desolateappearance, in spite of their high tillage and crops.
"This is an estate worth contending for, now," said my uncle, as wetrotted slowly on, "although it has not hitherto been very productive toits owner. The first half-century of an American property of this sortrarely brings much to its proprietor beyond trouble and vexation."
"And after that time the tenant is to have it, pretty much at his ownprice, as a reward for his own labor!"
"What evidences are to be found, wherever the eye rests, of theselfishness of man, and his unfitness to be left to the unlimitedcontrol of his own affairs! In England they are quarrelling with thelandlords, who _do_ compose a real aristocracy, and make the laws, aboutthe manner in which they protect themselves and the products of theirestates; while here the true owner of the soil is struggling against thepower of numbers, with the people, who are the only aristocrats wepossess, in order to maintain his right of property in the simplest andmost naked form! A common vice is at the bottom of both wrongs, and thatis the vice of selfishness."
"But how are abuses like those o
f which we complain here--abuses of themost formidable character of any that can exist, since the oppressorsare so many, and so totally irresponsible by their numbers--to beavoided, if you give the people the right of self-government?"
"God help the nation where self-government, in its literal sense,exists, Hugh! The term is conventional, and, properly viewed, means agovernment in which the source of authority is the body of the nation,and does not come from any other sovereign. When a people that has beenproperly educated by experience calmly selects its agents, and coollysets to work to adopt a set of principles to form its fundamental law orconstitution, the machine is on the right track, and will work wellenough so long as it is kept there; but this running off, and alteringthe fundamental principles every time a political faction has need ofrecruits, is introducing tyranny in its worst form--a tyranny that isjust as dangerous to real liberty as hypocrisy is to religion!"
We were now approaching St. Andrew's church and the rectory, with itsglebe, the latter lying contiguous to the church-yard, or, as it is anAmericanism to say, the "graveyard." There had been an evidentimprovement around the rectory since I had last seen it. Shrubbery hadbeen planted, care was taken of the fences, the garden was neatly andwell worked, the fields looked smooth, and everything denoted that itwas "new lords and new laws." The last incumbent had been a whining,complaining, narrow-minded, selfish and lazy priest, the least estimableof all human characters, short of the commission of the actual andhigher crimes; but his successor had the reputation of being a devoutand real Christian--one who took delight in the duties of his holyoffice, and who served God because he loved him. I am fully aware howlaborious is the life of a country priest, and how contracted and meanis the pittance he in common receives, and how much more he merits thanhe gets, if his reward were to be graduated by things here. But thispicture, like every other, has its different sides, and occasionally mendo certainly enter the church from motives as little as possibleconnected with those that ought to influence them.
"There is the wagon of Mr. Warren, at his door," observed my uncle, aswe passed the rectory. "Can it be that he intends visiting the villagealso, on an occasion like this?"
"Nothing more probable, sir, if the character Patt has given of him betrue," I answered. "She tells me he has been active in endeavoring toput down the covetous spirit that is getting uppermost in the town, andhas even preached boldly, though generally, against the principlesinvolved in the question. The other man, they say, goes for popularity,and preaches and prays with the anti-renters."
No more was said, but on we went, soon entering a large bit of wood, apart of the virgin forest. This wood, exceeding a thousand acres inextent, stretched down from the hills along some broken and otherwiselittle valuable land, and had been reserved from the axe to meet thewants of some future day. It was mine, therefore, in the fullest senseof the word; and, singular as it may seem, one of the grounds ofaccusation brought against me and my predecessors was that we had_declined leasing it_! Thus, on the one hand, we were abused for havingleased our land, and, on the other, for not having leased it. The factis, we, in common with other extensive landlords, are expected to useour property as much as possible for the particular benefit of otherpeople, while those other people are expected to use _their_ property asmuch as possible for their own particular benefit.
There was near a mile of forest to pass before we came out again in theopen country, at about a mile and a half's distance from the hamlet. Onour left this little forest did not extend more than a hundred rods,terminating at the edge of the rivulet--or _creek_, as the stream iserroneously called, and for no visible reason but the fact that it wasonly a hundred feet wide--which swept close under the broken groundmentioned at this point. On our right, however, the forest stretchedaway for more than a mile, until, indeed, it became lost and confoundedwith other portions of wood that had been reserved for the farms onwhich they grew. As is very usual in America, in cases where roads passthrough a forest, a second growth had shot up on each side of thishighway, which was fringed for the whole distance with large bushes ofpine, hemlock, chestnut, and maple. In some places these bushes almosttouched the track, while in others a large space was given. We werewinding our way through this wood, and had nearly reached its centre, ata point where no house was visible--and no house, indeed, stood withinhalf a mile of us--with the view in front and in rear limited to somesix or eight rods in each direction by the young trees, when our earswere startled by a low, shrill, banditti-like whistle. I must confessthat my feelings were anything but comfortable at that interruption, forI remembered the conversation of the previous night. I thought by thesudden jump of my uncle, and the manner he instinctively felt where heought to have had a pistol, to meet such a crisis, that he believedhimself already in the hands of the Philistines.
A half minute sufficed to tell us the truth. I had hardly stopped thehorse, in order to look around me, when a line of men, all armed anddisguised, issued in single file from the bushes, and drew up in theroad, at right angles to its course. There were six of these "Injins,"as they are called, and, indeed, call themselves, each carrying a rifle,horn, and pouch, and otherwise equipped for the field. The disguiseswere very simple, consisting of a sort of loose calico hunting-shirt andtrowsers that completely concealed the person. The head was covered by aspecies of hood or mask, equally of calico, that was fitted with holesfor the eyes, nose, and mouth, and which completed the disguise. Therewere no means of recognizing a man thus equipped, unless it might be bythe stature, in cases in which the party was either unusually tall orunusually short. A middle-sized man was perfectly safe from recognition,so long as he did not speak and could keep his equipments. Those who didspeak altered their voices, as we soon found, using a jargon that wasintended to imitate the imperfect English of the native owners of thesoil. Although neither of us had ever seen one of the gang before, weknew these disturbers of the public peace to be what in truth they were,the instant our eyes fell on them. One could not well be mistaken,indeed, under the circumstances in which we were placed; but thetomahawks that one or two carried, the manner of their march, and otherpieces of mummery that they exhibited, would have told us the fact, hadwe met them even in another place.
My first impulse was to turn the wagon, and to endeavor to lash the lazybeast I drove into a run. Fortunately, before the attempt was made, Iturned my head to see if there was room for such an exploit, and saw sixothers of these "Injins" drawn across the road behind us. It was now soobviously the wisest course to put the best face on the matter, that wewalked the horse boldly up to the party in front, until he was stoppedby one of the gang taking him by the bridle.
"Sago, sago," cried one who seemed to act as a chief, and whom I shallthus designate, speaking in his natural voice, though affecting anIndian pronunciation. "How do, how do?--where come from, eh?--where go,eh? What you say, too--up rent or down rent, eh?"
"Ve ist two Charmans," returned Uncle Ro, in his most desperate dialect,the absurdity of men who spoke the same language resorting to suchsimilar means of deception tempting me sorely to laugh in the fellows'faces; "Ve ist two Charmans dat ist goin' to hear a man's sbeak aboutbayin rent, und to sell vatches. Might you buy a vatch, gootshentlemans?"
Although the fellows doubtless knew who we were, so far as our assumedcharacters went, and had probably been advised of our approach, thisbait took, and there was a general jumping up and down, and a commonpow-wowing among them, indicative of the pleasure such a proposal gave.In a minute the whole party were around us, with some eight or ten more,who appeared from the nearest bushes. We were helped out of the wagonwith a gentle violence that denoted their impatience. As a matter ofcourse, I expected that all the trinkets and watches, which were oflittle value, fortunately, would immediately disappear; for who coulddoubt that men engaged in attempting to rob on so large a scale as thesefellows were engaged in, would hesitate about doing a job on one alittle more diminutive. I was mistaken, however; some sort ofimperceptible discipline keeping th
ose who were thus disposed, of whomthere must have been some in such a party, in temporary order. The horsewas left standing in the middle of the highway, right glad to take hisrest, while we were shown the trunk of a fallen tree, near by, on whichto place our box of wares. A dozen watches were presently in the handsof as many of these seeming savages, who manifested a good deal ofadmiration at their shining appearance. While this scene, which was halfmummery and half nature, was in the course of enactment, the chiefbeckoned me to a seat on the further end of the tree, and, attended byone or two of his companions, he began to question me as follows:
"Mind, tell truth," he said, making no very expert actor in the way ofimitation. "Dis 'Streak o' Lightning,'" laying his hand on his ownbreast, that I might not misconceive the person of the warrior who boreso eminent a title--"no good lie to him--know ebbery t'ing afore he ask,only ask for fun--what do here, eh?"
"Ve coomes to see der Injins und der beoples at der village, dat vemight sell our vatches."
"Dat all; sartain?--can call 'down rent,' eh?"
"Dat ist ferry easy; 'down rent, eh?'"
"Sartain Jarman, eh?--you no spy?--you no sent here by gubbernor,eh?--landlord no pay you, eh?"
"Vhat might I spy? Dere ist nothin' to spy, but mans vid calico faces.Vhy been you afraid of der governor?--I dinks der governors be ferrygoot frients of der anti-rents."
"Not when we act this way. Send horse, send foot a'ter us, den. T'inkgood friend, too, when he dare."
"He be d--d!" bawled out one of the tribe, in as good, homely, rusticEnglish as ever came out of the mouth of a clown. "If he's our friend,why did he send the artillery and horse down to Hudson?--and why has hehad Big Thunder up afore his infarnal courts? He be d--d!"
There was no mistaking this outpouring of the feelings; and so "Streako' Lightning" seemed to think too, for he whispered one of the tribe,who took the plain-speaking Injin by the arm and led him away, grumblingand growling, as the thunder mutters in the horizon after the storm haspassed on. For myself, I made several profitable reflections concerningthe inevitable fate of those who attempt to "serve God and Mammon." Thisanti-rentism is a question in which, so far as a governor is concerned,there is but one course to pursue, and that is to enforce the laws bysuppressing violence, and leaving the parties to the covenants of leasesto settle their differences in the courts, like the parties to any othercontracts. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Many alandlord has made a hard bargain for himself; and I happen to know ofone case in particular, in which a family has long been, and is still,kept out of the enjoyment of a very valuable estate, as to any benefitof importance, purely by the circumstance that a weak-minded possessorof the property fancied he was securing souls for paradise by lettinghis farms on leases for ninety-nine years, at nominal rents, with acovenant that the tenant should go twice to a particular church! Now,nothing is plainer than that it is a greater hardship to the citizen whois the owner of many farms so situated, than to the citizen who is thelessee of only one with a hard covenant; and, on general principles, thelandlord in question would be most entitled to relief, since one man whosuffers a good deal is more an object of true commiseration than manywho suffer each a little. What would a governor be apt to say if mylandlord should go with his complaints to the foot of the executivechair, and tell him that the very covenant which had led his predecessorinto the mistake of thus wasting his means was openly disregarded; thatfarms worth many thousands of dollars had now been enjoyed by thetenants for near a century for mere nominal rents, and that the owner ofthe land in fee had occasion for his property, etc., etc.? Would thegovernor recommend legislative action in that case? Would the _length_of _such_ leases induce him to recommend that no lease should exceedfive years in duration? Would the landlords who should get up a corps ofInjins to worry their tenants into an abandonment of their farms be theobjects of commiseration?--and would the law slumber for years over_their_ rebellions and depredations, until two or three murders arousedpublic indignation? Let them answer that know. As a landlord, I shouldbe sorry to incur the ridicule that would attend even a public complaintof the hardships of such a case. A common sneer would send me to thecourts for my remedy, if I had one, and the whole difference between the"if and ifs" of the two cases would be that a landlord gives but onevote, while his tenants may be legion.[26]
[Footnote 26: This is no invented statement, but strictly one that istrue, the writer having himself a small interest in a property sosituated; though he has not yet bethought him of applying to thelegislature for relief.--EDITOR.]
"He be d----d," muttered the plain-speaking Injin, as long as I couldhear him. As soon as released from his presence, Streak o' Lightningcontinued his examination, though a little vexed at the undramaticalcharacter of the interruption.
"Sartain no spy, eh?--sartain gubbernor no send him, eh?--sartain cometo sell watch, eh?"
"I coomes, as I tell ye, to see if vatches might be solt, und not forder gobbernor; I neffer might see der mans."
As all this was true, my conscience felt pretty easy on the score ofwhatever there might be equivocal about it.
"What folks think of Injin down below, eh?--what folks say of anti-rent,eh?--hear him talk about much?"
"Vell, soome does dink anti-rent ist goot, and soome does dink anti-rentist bad. Dey dinks as they wishes."
Here a low whistle came down the road, or rather down the bushes, whenevery Injin started up; each man very fairly gave back the watch he wasexamining, and in less than half a minute we were alone on the log. Thismovement was so sudden that it left us in a little doubt as to theproper mode of proceeding. My uncle, however, coolly set about replacinghis treasures in their box, while I went to the horse, which had shakenoff his head-stall, and was quietly grazing along the road-side. Aminute or two might have been thus occupied, when the trotting of ahorse and the sound of wheels announced the near approach of one ofthose vehicles which have got to be almost national--a dearborn, or aone-horse wagon. As it came out from behind a screen of bushes formed bya curvature in the road, I saw that it contained the Rev. Mr. Warren andhis sweet daughter.
The road being narrow, and our vehicle in its centre, it was notpossible for the new-comers to proceed until we got out of the way, andthe divine pulled up as soon as he reached the spot where we stood.
"Good morning, _gentlemen_," said Mr. Warren, cordially, and using aword that, in _his_ mouth, I felt meant all it expressed. "Good morning,_gentlemen_. Are you playing Handel to the wood-nymphs, or recitingeclogues?"
"Neider, neider, Herr Pastor; we meet wid coostomers here, and dey hasjoost left us," answered uncle Ro, who certainly enacted his part withperfect _aplomb_, and the most admirable mimicry as to manner. "_Gutentag, guten tag._ Might der Herr Pastor been going to der village?"
"We are. I understand there is to be a meeting there of the misguidedmen called anti-renters, and that several of my parishioners are likelyto be present. On such an occasion I conceive it to be my duty to goamong my own particular people, and whisper a word of advice. Nothingcan be farther from my notions of propriety than for a clergyman to bemingling and mixing himself up with political concerns in general, butthis is a matter that touches morality, and the minister of God isneglectful of his duty who keeps aloof when a word of admonition mightaid in preventing some wavering brother from the commission of agrievous sin. This last consideration has brought me out to a scene Icould otherwise most heartily avoid."
This might be well enough, I said to myself, but what has your daughterto do in such a scene? Is the mind of Mary Warren then, after all, nobetter than vulgar minds in general?--and can she find a pleasure in theexcitement of lectures of this cast, and in that of public meetings? Nosurer test can be found of cultivation, than the manner in which italmost intuitively shrinks from communion unnecessarily with tastes andprinciples below its own level; yet here was the girl with whom I wasalready half in love--and that was saying as little as could be said,too--actually going down to the "Little Nest" to hear
an itinerantlecturer on political economy utter his crudities, and to see and beseen! I was grievously disappointed, and would at the moment havecheerfully yielded the best farm on my estate to have had the thingotherwise. My uncle must have had some similar notion, by the remark hemade.
"Und doost das _jung frau_ go to see the Injins, too; to bersuade 'emdey ist fery vicked?"
Mary's face had been a little pale for her, I thought, as the wagon drewup; but it immediately became scarlet. She even suffered her head todroop a little, and then I perceived that she cast an anxious and tenderglance at her father. I cannot say whether this look were or were notintended for a silent appeal, unconsciously made; but the father,without even seeing it, acted as if he fancied it might be.
"No, no," he said, hurriedly; "this dear girl is doing violence to allher feelings but one, in venturing to such a place. Her filial piety hasproved stronger than her fears and her tastes, and when she found thatgo I would, no argument of mine could persuade her to remain at home. Ihope she will not repent it."
The color did not quit Mary's face, but she looked grateful at findingher true motives appreciated; and she even smiled, though she saidnothing. My own feelings underwent another sudden revulsion. There wasno want of those tastes and inclinations that can alone render a youngwoman attractive to any man of sentiment, but there was high moralfeeling and natural affection enough to overcome them in a case in whichshe thought duty demanded the sacrifice! It was very little probablethat anything would or could occur that day to render the presence ofMary Warren in the least necessary or useful; but it was very pleasantto me and very lovely in her to think otherwise, under the strongimpulses of her filial attachment.
Another idea, however, and one far less pleasant, suggested itself tothe minds of my uncle and myself, and almost at the same instant; it wasthis: the conversation was carried on in a high key, or loud enough tobe heard at some little distance, the horse and part of the wagoninterposing between the speakers; and there was the physical certaintythat some of those whom we knew to be close at hand, in the bushes, musthear all that was said, and might take serious offense at it. Under thisapprehension, therefore, my uncle directed me to remove our own vehicleas fast as possible, in order that the clergyman might pass. Mr. Warren,however, was in no hurry to do this, for he was utterly ignorant of theaudience he had, and entertained that feeling toward us that men ofliberal acquirements are apt to feel when they see others of similareducations reduced by fortune below their proper level. He wasconsequently desirous of manifesting his sympathy with us, and would notproceed, even after I had opened the way for him.
"It is a painful thing," continued Mr. Warren, "to find men mistakingtheir own cupidity for the workings of a love of liberty. To me nothingis more palpable than that this anti-rent movement is covetousnessincited by the father of evil; yet you will find men among us who fancythey are aiding the cause of free institutions by joining in it, when,in truth, they are doing all they can to bring them into discredit, andto insure their certain downfall, in the end."
This was sufficiently awkward; for, by going near enough to give awarning in a low voice, and have that warning followed by a change inthe discourse, we should be betraying ourselves, and might fall intoserious danger. At the very moment the clergyman was thus speaking I sawthe masked head of Streak o' Lightning appearing through an opening insome small pines that grew a little in the rear of the wagon, a positionthat enabled him to hear every syllable that was uttered. I was afraidto act myself, and trusted to the greater experience of my uncle.
Whether the last also saw the pretended chief was more than I knew, buthe decided to let the conversation go on, rather leaning to theanti-rent side of the question, as the course that could do no seriousevil, while it might secure our own safety. It is scarcely necessary tosay all these considerations glanced through our minds so swiftly as tocause no very awkward or suspicious pause in the discourse.
"B'rhaps dey doosn't like to bay rent?" put in my uncle, with aroughness of manner that was in accordance with the roughness of thesentiment "Beoples might radder haf deir landts for nuttin', dan bayrents for dem."
"In that case, then, let them go and buy lands for themselves; if theydo not wish to pay rent, why did they agree to pay rent?"
"May be dey changes deir minds. Vhat is goot to-day doosn't always seemgoot to-morrow."
"That may be true; but we have no right to make others suffer for ourown fickleness. I dare say, now, that it might be better for the wholecommunity that so large a tract of land as that included in the Manor ofRensselaerwyck, for instance, and lying as it does in the very heart ofthe State, should be altogether in the hands of the occupants, than haveit subject to the divided interest that actually exists; but it does notfollow that a change is to be made by violence, or by fraudulent means.In either of the latter cases the injury done the community would begreater than if the present tenures were to exist a thousand years. Idare say much the larger portion of those farms can be bought off at amoderate advance on their actual money-value; and that is the way to getrid of the difficulty; not by bullying owners out of their property. Ifthe State finds a political consideration of so much importance forgetting rid of the tenures, let the State tax itself to do so, and makea liberal offer, in addition to what the tenants will offer, and I'llanswer for it the landlords will not stand so much in their own way asto decline good prices."
"But maybes dey won't sell all der landts; dey may wants to keep some ofdem."
"They have a right to say yes or no, while we have no right to juggle orlegislate them out of their property. The Legislature of this State hasquite lately been exhibiting one of the most pitiable sights the worldhas seen in my day. It has been struggling for months to find a way toget round the positive provisions of laws and constitutions, in order tomake a sacrifice of the rights of a few, to secure the votes of themany."
"Votes ist a goot ding, at election dimes--haw, haw, haw!" exclaimed myuncle.
Mr. Warren looked both surprised and offended. The coarseness of mannerthat my uncle had assumed effected its object with the Injins, but italmost destroyed the divine's previous good opinion of our characters,and quite upset his notions of our refinement and principles. There wasno time for explanations, however; for, just as my uncle's broad andwell-acted "haw, haw, haw" was ended, a shrill whistle was heard in thebushes, and some forty or fifty of the Injins came whooping and leapingout from their cover, filling the road in all directions, immediatelyaround the wagons.
Mary Warren uttered a little scream at this startling scene, and I sawher arm clinging to that of her father, by a sort of involuntarymovement, as if she would protect him at all hazards. Then she seemed torally, and from that instant her character assumed an energy, anearnestness, a spirit and an intrepidity that I had least expected inone so mild in aspect, and so really sweet in disposition.
All this was unnoticed by the Injins. They had their impulses, too, andthe first thing they did was to assist Mr. Warren and his daughter toalight from the wagon. This was done not without decorum of manner, andcertainly not without some regard to the holy office of one of theparties, and to the sex of the other. Nevertheless, it was done neatlyand expeditiously, leaving us all, Mr. Warren and Mary, my uncle andmyself, with a cluster of some fifty Injins around us, standing in thecentre of the highway.