intended to let them know he was doing them a special
favor to think so well of what they had submitted.

'Well, my friends,' he remarked, laying down the sacred document, 'it
seems that at this stage of proceedings, the statute requires that--'
and then a pause which was solemn enough.

''Squire, hadn't I ought to sign that 'ar now?' timidly suggested one of
the party. The 'Squire was taking a hasty run over the pages of the
'Town Justice' for instruction in such emergencies, but finding none, he
kept on at a venture, and replied with native dignity: 'I decide you'd
ought to.'

While the 'grantor' was 'putting his hand and seal' to the deed, in the
largest-sized penmanship that can conveniently be displayed on half a
foot of paper with all the advantages of a slant up hill, the magistrate
had arrived at the place desired, and was now 'in his element.' Kindly,
and yet with no lack of firmness, he is said to have turned to Mrs.
Witherpee and observed:

'Wife, I think you'd better go into the next room and take the children
with you!'

After this fraction of the family had been removed to a place of safety,
the prudent husband and father continued:

'Hold up your hands! You severally and solemnly swear that this is all
right, true, and legal, according to the provisions of the Constitution
of the United States, and the laws and regulations of the State of----.
So help you God, gentlemen, and me, Abijah Witherpee, Justice of the
Peace, fee two shillings.' There is reason to believe that both parties
experienced a sense of relief when the crisis was over, and the
requirements of the law had been satisfied.

Rich and varied as Abijah's legal experiences may have been, it was not
on their account that he has been introduced, but rather for the
contemplation of his 'fine points' as a citizen. He was never classed
among those men who exaggerate to the assessors the value of their
worldly possessions; in fact, it was always difficult to discover where
'what little money he had' _was_ invested. There was one piece of
property, however, of which he not only acknowledged himself the owner,
but publicly declared he never would dispose of, a threat that seemed
harmless enough, there not being the slightest possibility that any one
else would be willing to hold such a miserable waste on any pretext
whatever:--a half acre down by the railroad, slabsided, full of gnarled
stumps and brake, and about equally distributed into rock,