d be adopted; but
unless the matter is taken up by the employers, or our legislators, I
fear nothing will ever be done to ransom the men. Besides, I believe the
squatters consider it to their interest to nourish the practice, as it
keeps the men more dependent upon them. If the employers could be
persuaded to interest themselves on the subject I would hope for better
things. Many plans would be useful, such as the establishment of
savings banks for instance; but the principal, the desideratum in fact,
is the facile procuration of cheap land. A man should be able at any
moment to go to the survey office, or some local agent, and select a
piece of land that would be suitable for agriculture; and be at liberty
at once to take possession, and commence cultivation. Such would be the
best means of ensuring thriftiness; and, until we obtain some such
system, I fear we may labour in vain to induce economy. Not that the
difficulty is insuperable. I have fortunately been the humble instrument
of arresting many poor men from such headlong folly; by first inducing
them to feel a disgust for the filthy and degrading dissipation which
they indulge in. But I have never been able to give any advice in the
disposal of their means, from the fact that I know of no channels into
which to divert them."

At this point, the discussion ceased by the entrance of Kate, and the
trio sat down to their meal, undisturbed by the presence of strangers;
and as the topics of the conversation which ensued, though exceedingly
animated and interesting to the parties engaged in it, are not at all
pertinent to our story, nor would be interesting to our readers, we may
be permitted to draw a veil over the scene, until the conclusion of the
repast.

William had a strong desire to question the strange character who waited
at table; firmly believing him to be an infamous scoundrel, though
gifted in a vicious lore, out of which our young friend had a wish to
extract information. For this purpose, soon after the clearance of the
cloth, he rose from the table, and leaving his sister in the society of
Mr. Wigton, followed Dick into his own regions. Having lit his pipe at
the kitchen fire, he took his seat to wait until Hopping Dick was
sufficiently disengaged to admit of his answering his interrogations.
The fellow himself seemed to like being drawn into conversation, and
William had therefore little difficulty in inducing him to be
communicative; for by the aid o