Miller was a trusty lad, when I knew much of him," said my uncle,
as we drew near to the barn, in which we saw the party mentioned, at
work; "and he is said to have behaved well in one or two alarms they
have had at the Nest, this summer; still, it may be wiser not to let
even him into our secret as yet."

"I am quite of your mind, sir," I answered; "for who knows that he has
not just as strong a desire as any of them to own the farm on which he
lives? He is the grandson of the man who cleared it from the forest, and
has much the same title as the rest of them."

"Very true; and why should not that give him just as good a right to
claim an interest in the farm, beyond that he has got under his contract
to work it, as if he held a lease? He who holds a lease gets no right
beyond his bargain; nor does this man. The one is paid for his labour by
the excess of his receipts over the amount of his annual rent, while the
other is paid partly in what he raises, and partly in wages. In
principle there is no difference whatever, not a particle; yet I
question if the veriest demagogue in the State would venture to say that
the man, or the family, which works a farm for hire, even for a hundred
years, gets the smallest right to say he shall not quit it, if its owner
please, as soon as his term of service is up!"

"'The love of money is the root of all evil;' and when that feeling is
uppermost, one can never tell what a man will do. The bribe of a good
farm, obtained for nothing, or for an insignificant price, is sufficient
to upset the morality of even Tom Miller."

"You are right, Hugh; and here is one of the points in which our
political men betray the cloven foot. They write, and proclaim, and make
speeches, as if the anti-rent troubles grew out of the durable lease
system solely, whereas we all know that it is extended to all
descriptions of obligations given for the occupancy of land--life
leases, leases for a term of years, articles for deeds, and bonds and
mortgages. It is a wide-spread, though not yet universal attempt of
those who have the least claim to the possession of real estate, to
obtain the entire right, and that by agencies that neither the law nor
good morals will justify. It is no new expedient for partizans to place
_en evidence_ no more of their principles and intentions than suits
their purposes. But, here we are within ear-shot, and must resort to the
High Dutch. _Guten tag, guten tag_," continued uncle