of opinion that as society is composed of all, it may be
well to hear what all have to say about its management."

"Many men, and, I dare say, many monikins, are not to be trusted even
with the management of their own concerns."

"Very true; but it does not follow that other men, or other monikins,
will lose sight of their own interests on this account, if vested with
the right to act as their substitutes. You have been long enough a
legislator, now, to have got some idea how difficult it is to make even
a direct and responsible representative respect entirely the interests
and wishes of his constituents; and the fact will show you how little
he will be likely to think of others, who believes that he acts as their
master and not as their servant."

"The amount of all this, brigadier, is that you have little faith in
monikin disinterestedness, in any shape; that you believe he who is
intrusted with power will abuse it; and therefore, you choose to divide
the trust, in order to divide the abuses; that the love of money is an
'earthy' quality, and not to be confided in as the controlling power of
a state; and, finally, that the social-stake system is radically wrong,
inasmuch as it is no more than carrying out a principle that is in
itself defective."

My companion gaped, like one content to leave the matter there. I
wished him a good morning, and walked upstairs in quest of Noah, whose
carnivorous looks had given me considerable uneasiness. The captain was
out; and, after searching for him in the streets for an hour or two, I
returned to our abode fatigued and hungry.

At no great distance from our own door, I met Judge People's Friend,
shorn and dejected, and I stopped to say a kind word, before going up
the ladder. It was quite impossible to see a gentleman, whom one had met
in good society and in better fortunes, with every hair shaved from his
body, his apology for a tail still sore from its recent amputation, and
his entire mien expressive of republican humility, without a desire to
condole with him. I expressed my regrets, therefore, as succinctly as
possible, encouraging him with the hope of seeing a new covering of down
before long, but delicately abstaining from any allusion to the cauda,
whose loss I knew was irretrievable. To my great surprise, however, the
judge answered cheerfully; discarding, for the moment, every appearance
of self-abasement and mortification.

"How is this?" I cried; "you are not th