h for me; I'll get
drowned if I get into a bigger one, for I hante got no fins, nothin' but
legs and arms to swim with, and deep water wouldn't suit me, I ain't fit
for it, and I must live and die there, that's my fate as sure as rates.'
If he gets tired, and goes to get up or to move, do you shake the big
ruler at him, as fierce as a painter, and say, 'Don't you stir for your
life; I don't want to lay nothin' _on_ your head, I only want to put
somethin' _in_ it. I am a father and have got youngsters. I am a native,
and have got countrymen. Enlarge our sphere, give us a chance in the
world.' 'Let me out,' he'll say, 'this minute, Sir, or I'll put you in
charge of a policeman.' 'Let you out is it,' sais you. 'Oh! you feel
bein' pent up, do you? I am glad of it. The tables are turned now,
that's what we complain of. You've stood at the door, and kept us in;
now I'll keep you in awhile. I want to talk to you, that's more than you
ever did to us. How do you like bein' shut in? Does it feel good? Does
it make your dander rise?' 'Let me out,' he'll say agin, 'this moment,
Sir, how dare you.' Oh! you are in a hurry, are you?' sais you. 'You've
kept me in all my life; don't be oneasy if I keep you in five minutes.'

"'Well, what do you want then?' he'll say, kinder peevish; 'what do you
want?' 'I don't want nothin' for myself,' sais you. 'I've got all I
can get in that pond; and I got that from the Whigs, fellers I've been
abusin' all my life; and I'm glad to make amends by acknowledging this
good turn they did me; for I am a tory, and no mistake. I don't want
nothin'; but I want to be an _Englishman_. I don't want to be an
English _subject_; do you understand that now? If you don't, this is the
meanin', that there is no fun in bein' a fag, if you are never to have a
fag yourself. Give us all fair play. Don't move now,' sais you, 'for I'm
gettin' warm; I'm gettin' spotty on the back, my bristles is up, and I
might hurt you with this ruler; it's a tender pint this, for I've rubbed
the skin off of a sore place; but I'll tell you a gospel truth, and mind
what I tell you, for nobody else has sense enough, and if they had, they
hante courage enough. If you don't make _Englishmen of us_, the force of
circumstances will _make Yankees_ of us, as sure as you are born.' He'll
stare at that. He is a clever man, and aint wantin' in gumption. He
is no fool, that's a fact. 'Is it no compliment to you and your
institutions this?' sais you. 'Do