292 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



that those who were engaged in it should be content with 

 such things as they had, and be thankful for them. He 

 had some sly thrusts at clam-shell bonnets, silks, satins, 

 and ribbons, fast men, and fast women, and the general 

 extravagance of the times. These, I suppose, were meant 

 as sauce for the Thanksgiving turkey, and to help diges 

 tion. 



&quot; Well, Squire, what are you gwine to do about it ? 

 Food is getting higher every year, and labor don t keep 

 up with it. The rich are growing richer, and the poor 

 poorer. What are you gwine to do about it?&quot; asked 

 Seth Twiggs, as he knocked out the ashes of his third pipe 

 and loaded again. 



&quot; Well,&quot; said I, &quot; I am not going to whine about it. Of 

 all remedies for a great public evil that of whining is the 

 poorest. I have faith to believe that there is some way 

 of deliverance from this and all other social evils. The 

 high price of food is not going to last forever among this 

 great people, with territory enough to raise breadstuff s 

 for the world, were it only half tilled. 



&quot;All that Mr. Spooner says is as true as preaching. 

 Things are a little unsettled just now, but they will come 

 right after awhile. I have noticed that there is a tendency 

 in Christian society to correct its own evils. Sometimes 

 we have an outbreak of burglaries, bank robberies, and 

 shop-lifting, and it seems as if society was going to ruin. 

 But when the people get waked up, and a few of the 

 thieves are convicted and sent to State s Prison, the times 

 improve wonderfully. People are not going to live in 

 miserable tenement houses, and suffer all the miseries of 

 city poverty without learning something. Native born 

 Americans certainly are not. I have noticed that many 

 go to the city, do not succeed there, and come back again, 

 wiser, if not better men. They find that their genius does 

 not lie in the direction of trade, but they have a decided 

 tact for making corn and potatoes grow. They support 



