r once; jist go to your colony
minister when he is alone. Don't set down, but stand up as if you was in
airnest, and didn't come to gossip, and tell him, 'Turn these ponds into
a lake,' sais you, my lord minister, give them an inlet and an outlet.
Let them be kept pure, and sweet, and wholesome, by a stream, runnin'
through. Fish will live there then if you put them in, and they will
breed there, and keep up the stock. At present they die; it ain't big
enough; there ain't room. If he sais he hante time to hear you, and asks
you to put it into writin', do you jist walk over to his table, take up
his lignum vitae ruler into your fist, put your back to the door, and
say 'By the 'tarnal empire, you _shall_ hear me; you don't go out of
this, till I give you the butt eend of my mind, I can tell you. I am an
old bull frog now; the Nova Scotia pond is big enough 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