allow; but if one man is as _good_ as another, why do we have
the trouble and cost of elections? We might draw lots, as we do for
jurors, and save a good deal of time and money. We all know there is
ch'ice in men, and I think that so long as the people have their ch'ice
in sayin' who shall and who shall not be their agents, they've got all
they have any right to. So long as this is done, the rest of the world
may be left to follow their own ways, provided they obey the laws.

"Then, I am no great admirer of them that are always telling the people
they're parfect. I know this county pretty well, as well as most in it;
and if there be a parfect man in Washington county, I have not yet
fallen in with him. Ten millions of imparfect men won't make one parfect
man, and so I don't look for perfection in the people any more than I do
in princes. All I look for in democracy is to keep the reins in so many
hands as to prevent a few from turning everything to their own account;
still, we mustn't forget that, when a great many do go wrong, it is much
worse than when a few go wrong.

"If my son didn't inherit the property of Malbone Littlepage, neither
will Malbone Littlepage's son inherit mine. We are on a footing in that
respect. As to paying rent, which some persons think so hard, what would
they do if they had no house to live in, or farm to work? If folks wish
to purchase houses and farms, no one can prevent them if they have money
to do it with; and if they have not, is it expected other people are to
provide them with such things out of their own----"

Here the speaker was interrupted by a sudden whooping, and the Injins
came pressing into the house in a way to drive in all the aisles before
them. Men, women and children leaped from the windows, the distance
being trifling, while others made their escape by the two side-doors,
the Injins coming in only by the main entrance. In less time than it
takes to record the fact, the audience had nearly all dispersed.

END OF VOL. I.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr. Hugh Littlepage writes a little sharply, but there is
truth in all he says, at the bottom. His tone is probably produced by
the fact that there is so serious an attempt to deprive him of his old
paternal estate, an attempt which is receiving support in high quarters.
In addition to this provocation, the Littlepages, as the manuscript
shows farther on, are traduced, as one means of effecting the objects of
the anti-ren