vetous spirit that is getting uppermost in the town, and
has even preached boldly, though generally, against the principles
involved in the question. The other man, they say, goes for popularity,
and preaches and prays with the anti-renters."

No more was said, but on we went, soon entering a large bit of wood, a
part of the virgin forest. This wood, exceeding a thousand acres in
extent, stretched down from the hills along some broken and otherwise
little valuable land, and had been reserved from the axe to meet the
wants of some future day. It was mine, therefore, in the fullest sense
of the word; and, singular as it may seem, one of the grounds of
accusation brought against me and my predecessors was that we had
_declined leasing it_! Thus, on the one hand, we were abused for having
leased our land, and, on the other, for not having leased it. The fact
is, we, in common with other extensive landlords, are expected to use
our property as much as possible for the particular benefit of other
people, while those other people are expected to use _their_ property as
much as possible for their own particular benefit.

There was near a mile of forest to pass before we came out again in the
open country, at about a mile and a half's distance from the hamlet. On
our left this little forest did not extend more than a hundred rods,
terminating at the edge of the rivulet--or _creek_, as the stream is
erroneously called, and for no visible reason but the fact that it was
only a hundred feet wide--which swept close under the broken ground
mentioned at this point. On our right, however, the forest stretched
away for more than a mile, until, indeed, it became lost and confounded
with other portions of wood that had been reserved for the farms on
which they grew. As is very usual in America, in cases where roads pass
through a forest, a second growth had shot up on each side of this
highway, which was fringed for the whole distance with large bushes of
pine, hemlock, chestnut and maple. In some places these bushes almost
touched the track, while in others a large space was given. We were
winding our way through this wood, and had nearly reached its centre, at
a point where no house was visible--and no house, indeed, stood within
half a mile of us--with the view in front and in rear limited to some
six or eight rods in each direction by the young trees, when our ears
were startled by a low, shrill, banditti-like whistle. I must confess