from top to bottom, you need not be afraid of the rifle of the
gamekeeper, or of a sentence to a free passage to Van Diemen's Land."

"Murther! Must not they be very fine gentlemen here, to be so liberal?
Signs by I shall, please God, one of these days, visit that old, grand
mountain with the white head; and if there be a hare's form in his rough
sides or his curly beard, I will ferret it out, and soon have pussy by
the hind legs."

"I can see, Murty, you are growing poetical in your description of old
Mount Antoine," said the priest.

"Your reverence, did you ever see such a grand sight? I can't help
comparing that grand mountain there to the king of yon wild regions. The
snow on the trees, on the summit, causes them to look like gray locks;
and, looking down on the smaller mountains on every side, they appear
like his subjects or his sons, which, in time, are to grow big like
himself, affording shelter and refuge from the snares of the hunter to
the wild animals of nature. O, how I like America!" said he, his
enthusiasm still rising.

"That's right, Murty; I am glad you do like it. Wait till summer or
autumn, and then how beautiful these bleak hills will appear during
these delightful seasons!"

"O sir, it is a great, grand country! No tyrants, no landlords, no
poverty."

"No poverty, Murty, except what is purely accidental, or brought on by
the improvidence of individuals. In the very best regulated society