general outbreak will place him, and all like him, who have been
riding over us here rough-shod for years, in a spot where he and they
will need as much of our pity as they now have of our hatred and fear."

"Ay, ay," responded several, with significant nods and looks; "that
time will come, and sooner than they dream of."

"And then," said one, "it will not be with us as it was with one last
fall; when, just as the winter was coming on, and milk was half our
dependence for the children, our only cow was knocked off by a winking
sheriff, for eleven and threepence, to this same Peters."

"Nor as it was with me," said another poorly-clad man of the crowd,
"when for a debt, which, before it was sued, was only the price of a
bushel of wheat I bought to keep wife and little ones from starving,
my pair of two-year-olds and seven sheep were all seized and sold
under the hammer, for just enough to pay the debt and costs, to Squire
Gale, the clerk of the court, who is another of those conniving big
bugs, who are seen going round with the sheriff, at such times, with
their pockets full of money to buy up the poor man's property for a
song, though never a dollar will they lend him to redeem it with"

"No, my friends," said a tall, stout, broad-chested man, with a clear,
frank, and fearless countenance, who, having arrived at the spot as
Woodburn began to speak, had been standing outside of the crowd,
silently listening to the remarks of the different speakers,--"no, my
friends; when the time just predicted arrives, it will no longer be as
it has been with _any_ of us. We shall _then_, I trust, all be allowed
to exercise the right which, according to my notions, we have from
God--that of choosing our own rulers, who, then, would be men from