for our
own fickleness. I dare say, now, that it might be better for the whole
community that so large a tract of land as that included in the Manor of
Rensselaerwyck, for instance, and lying as it does in the very heart of
the State, should be altogether in the hands of the occupants, than have
it subject to the divided interest that actually exists; but it does not
follow that a change is to be made by violence, or by fraudulent means.
In either of the latter cases the injury done the community would be
greater than if the present tenures were to exist a thousand years. I
dare say much the larger portion of those farms can be bought off at a
moderate advance on their actual money-value; and that is the way to get
rid of the difficulty; not by bullying owners out of their property. If
the State finds a political consideration of so much importance for
getting rid of the tenures, let the State tax itself to do so, and make
a liberal offer, in addition to what the tenants will offer, and I'll
answer for it the landlords will not stand so much in their own way as
to decline good prices."

"But, maybes dey won't sell all der landts; dey may wants to keep some
of dem."

"They have a right to say yes or no, while we have no right to juggle or
legislate them out of their property. The Legislature of this State has
quite lately been exhibiting one of the most pitiable sights the world
has seen in my day. It has been struggling for months to find a way to
get round the positive provisions of laws and constitutions, in order
to make a sacrifice of the rights of a few, to secure the votes of the
many."

"Votes ist a goot ding, at election dime--haw, haw, haw!" exclaimed my
uncle.

Mr. Warren looked both surprised and offended. The coarseness of manner
that my uncle had assumed effected its object with the Injins, but it
almost destroyed the divine's previous good opinion of our characters,
and quite upset his notions of our refinement and principles. There was
no time for explanations, however; for, just as my uncle's broad and
well-acted "haw, haw, haw" was ended, a shrill whistle was heard in the
bushes, and some forty or fifty of the Injins came whooping and leaping
out from their cover, filling the road in all directions, immediately
around the wagons.

Mary Warren uttered a little scream at this startling scene, and I saw
her arm clinging to that of her father, by a sort of involuntary
movement, as if she would protec