ought not, like an ungrateful child, to
strike at the hand that feeds him." Dana replied with great
indignation, ending with the sentence: "The hand that feeds
me--the hand that feeds me, sir? No hand feeds me that has
a right to control my opinions!"

A _bon mot_ of Henry Wilson is also worth putting on record.
Somebody, who was speaking of the importance of the Massachusetts
town meeting, said that it was not merely a place for town
government alone, but that it was a place where the people
of the town met from scattered and sometimes secluded dwelling-
places to cultivate each other's acquaintance, to talk over
the news of the day and all matters of public interest; and
that it was a sort of farmers' exchange, where they could
compare notes on the state of agriculture, and even sometimes
swap oxen. Governor Briggs, who had been beaten as a candidate
for reelection by the Coalition, replied to this speech and
said, referring to the Coalition, "that the gentlemen on the
other side seemed to have carried their trading and swapping
of oxen into politics, and into the high offices of the state."
To which Henry Wilson answered, referring to Briggs's own
loss of his office, "that so long as the people were satisfied
with the trade, it did not become the oxen to complain."

Undoubtedly the ablest member of the Convention was Charles
Allen. He spoke seldom and briefly, but always with great
authority and power. Late in the proceedings of the Convention
a rule was established limiting the speakers to thirty minutes
each. Hillard, who was one of the delegates from Boston, made
a very carefully prepared speech on some pending question.
Allen closed the debate, making no reference whatever to Hillard's
elaborate and most eloquent argument, until he was about to
sit down, when he said: "Mr. President, I believe my time
is up?" The President answered: "The gentleman from Worcester
has two minutes more." "Two minutes!" exclaimed Allen. "Time
enough to answer the gentleman from Boston." And he proceeded
in that brief period to deal a few strokes with his keen scimitar,
which effectually demolished Hillard's elaborate structure.

There is nothing in the political excitements of recent years
which approaches in intensity that of the period from 1848
until the breaking out of the War. The people of Massachusetts
felt the most profound interest in the great conflict between
slavery and freedom for the possession of the vas