"
"Smother not your good intentions; and remember, if you contemplate
violence to any among us, that the arm of that law you affect to
despise, reaches far, and that though its movements are sometimes
slow, they are not the less certain!"
"Yes, there is too much truth in his words, squatter," said the
trapper, whose attentive ears rarely suffered a syllable to be utterly
unheeded in his presence. "A busy and a troublesome arm it often
proves to be here, in this land of America; where, as they say, man is
left greatly to the following of his own wishes, compared to other
countries; and happier, ay, and more manly and more honest, too, is he
for the privilege! Why do you know, my men, that there are regions
where the law is so busy as to say, In this fashion shall you live, in
that fashion shall you die, and in such another fashion shall you take
leave of the world, to be sent before the judgment-seat of the Lord! A
wicked and a troublesome meddling is that, with the business of One
who has not made His creatures to be herded, like oxen, and driven
from field to field, as their stupid and selfish keepers may judge of
their need and wants.
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