612 



him off, if he could not give a satisfactory 

 reason for his being there. And since he 

 co\ild preserve such an authority in that 

 rude unsettled country, as to the regula- 

 tions respecting the taking of fruit in what 

 they term a friendly manner, without any 

 leave or permission, it shewed him to have 

 superior power to the rest of mankind. 

 His laws were peremptory in all his family 

 concerns ; and doubtless that was the most 

 proper method for the comfort and happi- 

 ness of his people. I have always found 

 those men who argue the most strenuously 

 for liberty for themselves, are the most 

 absolute to others. There never was 

 known an instance of any man taking fruit 

 from his orchards or gardens. To demon- 

 strate to the reader, from my own experi- 

 ence, what is the general custom of the 

 people in regard to the orchards and fruit 

 planted in fields in America, as it is not 

 at all unusual to plant fieids with fruit to 

 the extent of from four to twenty acres : 

 my orchard contained about six acres* 



