MY REAL ESTATE. 8 



prietor is never shut up to the necessity of 

 either advertising his own good fortune, or 

 else submitting to pay less than his right- 

 ful share of the public expenses, a merci- 

 ful deliverance, for in such a strait, where 

 either modesty or integrity must go to the 

 wall, it is hard for human nature to be sure 

 of itself. 



To my thinking there is no call upon a 

 man's purse which should be responded to 

 with greater alacrity than this of the tax- 

 gatherer. In what cause ought we to spend 

 freely, if not in that of home and country ? 

 I have heard, indeed, of some who do not 

 agree with me in this feeling. Possibly 

 tax -rates are now and then exorbitant. 

 Possibly, too, my own view of the subject 

 might be different were my quota of the 

 public levy more considerable. This year, 

 for instance, I am called upon for seventy- 

 three cents ; if the demand were for as 

 many dollars, who knows whether I might 

 not welcome it with less enthusiasm ? On 

 such a point it would be unbecoming for 

 me to speak. Enough that even with my 

 fraction of a dollar I am able to rejoice that 

 I have a share iu all the town's multifa- 



