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196 the laws of the land! and concluded with saying, I ought to be very thankful I had so little to be destroyed. I said nothing; but I thought it was late in the day for me to study the laws of the land; and my mite was as much to me as his abundance to him. When the trial was over, Erskine and the Woodhulls invited the justice and the company into the bar-room to treat them; and through the open door I heard Erskine propose a bumper to those who knew how to maintain their rights. "No," Woodhull said, "it should be to him who knew how to defend a friend"—right or wrong, thought I. But," said John, pausing, "my story is too long for you, Miss Jane."

Jane had turned away her head; she now assured John, she was listening to every word he said, and begged him to go on.

"Well, Miss, I thought I was alone in the room, and I just let out my heart, as you know a body will when he thinks there is no eye, but His that's above, sees him. I saw nothing before Sarah and I, but to go upon the town, and that's what I always had a dread of; for, though I have been a poor man all my life, Miss Jane, what I had was my own. I have been but weakly since I was a boy, but my woman and I have been sober and industrious. We have always had a shelter for ourselves; and sometimes, too, for a poor houseless creature that had not a better; and we wanted but little, and we were independent: and then you know, what the town gives is neither given nor taken with a good will. Well, as I said, I