Not so the
participators in the outrage. They had been too frequently the losers by
the cunning practice of the pedler, to doubt for a moment the perfect
propriety--nay, the very moderate measure--of that wild justice which
they were dealing out to his misdeeds. And with this even, they were not
satisfied. As the perishable calicoes roared up and went down in the
flames, as the pans and pots and cups melted away in the furnace heat,
and the painted faces of the wooden clocks, glared out like those of
John Rogers at the stake, enveloped in fire, the cries of the crowd were
mingled in with a rude, wild chorus, in which the pedler was made to
understand that he stood himself in a peril almost as great as his
consuming chattels. It was the famous ballad of the _regulators_ that he
heard, and it smote his heart with a consciousness of his personal
danger that made him shiver in his shoes. The uncouth doggrel, recited
in a lilting sort of measure, the peculiar and various pleasures of a
canter upon a pine rail.
Pages:
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159