After Plough&longs;hare's departure,
John Codline with his family kept
on their fi&longs;hing and planting, and sometimes
went a hunting, &longs;o that they made
out to get a tolerable &longs;ub&longs;i&longs;tence. John's
family grew, and he &longs;ettled his &longs;ons as fa&longs;t
as they became of age, to live by themselves;
and when any of his old acquaintance
came to &longs;ee him, he bade them
welcome, and was their very good friend,

[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

as long as they continued to be of his mind,
and no longer; for he was a very pragmatical
fort of a fellow, and loved to have
his own way in every thing. This was the
cau&longs;e of a quarrel between him and Roger
Carrier, for it happened that Roger had
taken a fancy to dip his head into water,[14]
as the mo&longs;t effectual way of wa&longs;hing his
face, and thought it could not be made
&longs;o clean in any other way. John, who
u&longs;ed the common way of taking water in
his hand, to wa&longs;h his face, was di&longs;plea&longs;ed
with Roger's innovation, and remonstrated
again&longs;t it. The remon&longs;trance had no
other effect, than to fix Roger's opinion
more firmly, and as a farther improvement
on his new plan, he pretended that
no per&longs;on ought to have his face wa&longs;hed
till he was capable of doing it him&longs;elf,
without any a&longs;&longs;i&longs;tance from his parents.
John was out of patience with this addition,
and plumply told him, that if he did
not reform his principles and practice, he

[figure description] Page 031.[end figure description]

would fine him, or flog him, or kick him
out of doors. The&longs;e threats put Roger
on inventing other odd and whim&longs;ical opinions.
He took offence at the letter X,
and would have had it expunged from the
alphabet.[15] He would not do his duty at
a military mu&longs;ter, becau&longs;e there was an
X in the colours. After a while he began
to &longs;cruple the lawfulne&longs;s of bearing
arms, and killing wild bea&longs;ts. But, poor
fellow! the wor&longs;t of all was, that being
&longs;eized with a &longs;haking pal&longs;y,† which affected
every limb and joint of him, his
&longs;peech was &longs;o altered that he was unable to
pronounce certain letters and &longs;yllables as
he had been u&longs;ed to do. The&longs;e oddities
and defects rendered him more and more
di&longs;agreeable to his old friend, who, however,
kept his temper as well as he could,
till one day, as John was &longs;aying a long
grace over his meat, Roger kept his hat
on the whole time. As &longs;oon as the

[figure description] Page 032.[end figure description]

ceremony was over, John took up a ca&longs;e knife
from the table, and gave Roger a blow on
the ear with the broad &longs;ide of it, then
with a ri&longs;ing &longs;troke turned off his hat.
Roger &longs;aid nothing, but taking up his hat
put it on again; at which John broke
out into &longs;uch a pa&longs;&longs;ionate &longs;peech as this—
“You impudent &longs;coundrel! is it come to
this! Have I not borne with your whims
and fidgets the&longs;e many years, and yet
they grow upon you? Have I not talked
with you time after time, and proved to
you as plain as the no&longs;e in your face that
your notions are wrong? Have I not ordered
you to leave them off, and warned
you of the con&longs;equence, and yet you have
gone on from bad to wor&longs;e? You began
with dipping your head into water, and
would have all the family do the &longs;ame,
pretending there was no other way of
wa&longs;hing the face. You would have had
the children go dirty all their days, under
pretence that they were not able to wa&longs;h
their own faces, and &longs;o they mu&longs;t have

[figure description] Page 033.[end figure description]

looked like the pigs till they were grown
up. Then you would talk your own
balderda&longs;h linguo, thee and thou, and nan
forfooth—and now you mu&longs;t keep your
hat on when I am at my devotions, and I
&longs;uppo&longs;e would be glad to have the whole
family do the &longs;ame! There is no bearing
with you any longer—&longs;o now—hear me,
I give you fair warning, if you don't mend
your manners, and retract your errors,
and promi&longs;e reformation, I'll kick you
out of the hou&longs;e. I'll have no &longs;uch refractory
fellows here: I came into this forest
for reformation, and reformation I will
have.”

“Friend John (&longs;aid Roger) do&longs;t not
thou remember when thou and I lived together
in friend Bull's family, how hard
thou did&longs;t think it to be compelled to look
on thy book all the time that the hooded
chaplain was reading the prayers, and how
many knocks and thumps thou and I had
for offering to u&longs;e our liberty, which we

[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

thought we had a right to? Did&longs;t thou
not come hitherunto for the &longs;ake of enjoying
thy liberty, and did not I come to
enjoy mine? Wherefore then do&longs;t thou
a&longs;&longs;ume to deprive me of the right which
thou claime&longs;t for thy&longs;elf?”

“Don't tell me (an&longs;wered John) of
right and of liberty—you have as much
liberty as any man ought to have. You
have liberty to do right, and no man ought
to have liberty to do wrong.”

“Who is to be judge (replied Roger)
what is right or what is wrong? Ought not
I to judge for my&longs;elf? or, Thinke&longs;t thou
it is thy place to judge for me?”

“Who is to be judge (&longs;aid John) why
the book is to be judge—and I have proved
by the book over and over again that
you are wrong, and therefore you are
wrong, and you have no liberty to do any
thing but what is right.”

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

“But friend John (&longs;aid Roger) who
is to judge whether thou ha&longs;t proved my
opinions or conduct to be wrong—thou
or I?”

“Come, come, (&longs;aid John) not &longs;o clo&longs;e
neither—none of your idle di&longs;tinctions: I
&longs;ay you are in the wrong, I have proved
it, and you know it; you have &longs;inned again&longs;t
your own con&longs;cience, and therefore you
de&longs;erve to be cut off as an incorrigible
heretic.”

“How do&longs;t thou know (&longs;aid Roger)
that I have &longs;inned again&longs;t my own conscience?
Can&longs;t thou &longs;earch the heart?”

At this John was &longs;o enraged that he
gave him a &longs;mart kick on the po&longs;teriors,
and bade him be gone out of his hou&longs;e,
and off his lands, and called after him to
tell him, that if ever he &longs;hould catch him
there again he would knock his brains
out. Roger, having experienced the logic
of the foot, applied to the feat of honor,

[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

walked off, with as much meekne&longs;s as human
nature is capable of, on &longs;uch occasions;
and having travelled as far as he
&longs;uppo&longs;ed to be out of the limits of John's
lea&longs;e, laid him&longs;elf down by the &longs;ide of a
clear rivulet, which flowed down a hill;
here he compo&longs;ed him&longs;elf to &longs;leep, and
on his awaking found &longs;everal bears about
him, but none offered him any in&longs;ult.
Upon which he &longs;aid, and minuted it down
in his pocket book, “Surely the bea&longs;ts of
the wilderne&longs;s are in friend&longs;hip with me,
and this is de&longs;igned by Providence[16] as my
re&longs;ting place; here, therefore, will I pitch
my tabernacle, and here &longs;hall I dwell
more in peace, though &longs;urrounded by
bears and wolves, than when in the mid&longs;t
of tho&longs;e whom I counted my brethren.”

On this &longs;pot he built an hut, and having
taken po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ion, made a vi&longs;it to his old
ma&longs;ter Bull, who gave him a lea&longs;e of the

[figure description] Page 037.[end figure description]

place, with an i&longs;land or two in an adjoining
cove of the great lake, and recommended
to him a wife, by whom he had a
few children; but his plantation was chiefly
increa&longs;ed by the flocking of &longs;trangers
to him; for he was a very ho&longs;pitable
man, and made it a rule in his family not
to refu&longs;e any who &longs;hould come, whether
lame or blind, &longs;hort or tall, whether they
had two eyes or one, whether they squinted
or &longs;tammered, or limped, or had any
other natural defect or impediment; it
was another rule that every one &longs;hould
bear with the infirmities of his neighbours,
and help one another as they were
able. Once as I was pa&longs;&longs;ing through
Roger's plantation I &longs;aw one man carrying
another on his &longs;houlders, which, at
fir&longs;t, I thought a very odd fight; upon
coming up to them, I perceived that the
lower one was blind, and the upper one
was lame, &longs;o as they had but one pair of
eyes, and one pair of legs between them,
the lame man availed him&longs;elf of the blind

[figure description] Page 038.[end figure description]

man's legs, and he of the other's eyes, and
both went along very well together. I
remember al&longs;o, that as I pa&longs;&longs;ed along, the
fences were in &longs;ome places made of very
crooked, knotty rails; but the crooks and
knots were made to fay into each other &longs;o
cleverly, that the fences were as tight as if
they had been made of &longs;tuff &longs;awed ever &longs;o
even; a circum&longs;tance which convinced
me that very crooked things might be put
together, to advantage, if proper pains
were taken.

When John Codline had &longs;ettled the
controver&longs;y with Roger, by kicking him
out of doors, he began to look about him
to &longs;ee what his neighbours were doing.
Having found a young fellow on his north
ea&longs;tern limits, who had come thither without
his knowledge or permi&longs;&longs;ion, he took
it into his head to &longs;urvey the extent of
his grounds. The words of his lea&longs;e were
rather ambiguous, and by virtue thereof
he thought it convenient to extend his

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

claims over the lands on which Robert
Lumber (for that was the name of the
young fellow) had &longs;ettled.[17] It &longs;eems that
Bob had been &longs;ent by &longs;ome of John Bull's
family to erect a fi&longs;hing &longs;tage on the borders
of the lake, and the lawyer who had
the care of the fore&longs;t not being acquainted
&longs;o much as he ought to have been with
the &longs;ituation of the lands, or having no
knowledge of the art of &longs;urveying, had
made out a lea&longs;e which lapped over Codline's;
&longs;o that each of them had a claim
upon the &longs;ame land. In &longs;ome circumstances
this might have been deemed unfortunate,
but as it happened it proved
lucky for poor Bob—his employers had
left him in the lurch, and he would have
&longs;tarved to death if John had not taken
him under his wing and &longs;ent him provisions
to keep him alive. He al&longs;o lent him
a hand to clear up the bu&longs;hes, and furnished
him with materials to build a &longs;aw

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

mill. This &longs;et Bob on his own legs, and
he proved a &longs;turdy faithful fellow. He
was of great &longs;ervice to John in killing
bears and wolves that infe&longs;ted his plantation;
and when he him&longs;elf was in danger,
John lent him powder, &longs;hot, and
flints, and &longs;ent hands to help him, and in
&longs;o doing he &longs;erved him&longs;elf as well as his
neighbour, which was no breach of morality.
Thus they lived pretty peaceably
together, till after a while Bob's old owners
found the land was grown good for
&longs;omething, and then (without paying
John for his a&longs;&longs;i&longs;tance in making it &longs;o)
appealed to Mr. Bull, and got it away,
and took a large &longs;lice of John's land into
the bargain.[18] This was a matter which
&longs;tuck in John's throat a great while, and
if I am rightly informed he has hardly
&longs;wallowed it yet. He did not think himself
fairly dealt by, though he had all Peregrine
Pickle's land put into a new lea&longs;e

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

which Bull gave him. To be &longs;hort, John
Codline and John Bull never heartily
loved one another; they were in their
temper and di&longs;po&longs;ition too much alike;
each was eternally jealous of the other:
and this jealou&longs;y was kept alive by a variety
of incidents which it would be too
tedious to enumerate. One of them,
however, was of &longs;o &longs;ingular a nature that
I think it de&longs;erves to be remembered. It
was this. Old Lewis had erected a fishing
&longs;tage and ware hou&longs;e[19] on the north
ea&longs;t, which interfered with Codline's favorite
employment. Without consulting
his old Ma&longs;ter Bull, or waiting for his
advice or orders, Jack &longs;ent a bailiff with
a writ of intru&longs;ion to the fi&longs;hermen and
began a &longs;uit in law; Mr. Bull hearing of
it, was glad to take advantage of the circumstance
and fee council in the cau&longs;e,
which finally went in his favour. But
though the i&longs;&longs;ue of the cau&longs;e was of &longs;o
much advantage to him; yet he ever

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

after looked upon Codline as a forward,
&longs;aucy fellow, for running on that errand
before he was &longs;ent; and there were not
wanting per&longs;ons who were continually
buzzing in his ear, to keep a good look
out on that impudent jackanapes, or he
would &longs;oon begin to think him&longs;elf as good
a man as his ma&longs;ter.

eaf005.n14

[14] Anabapti&longs;ts.

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