“_Say_! if the dead live men's little boys that had grown up and lived and died before their pa's come out, would they come out too? and would the dead live men know that they was their little boys? and _say_”-- But I went out immegiatly, and s'pose he went to sleep. Wall, the next mornin' I got up feelin' kinder mauger. I felt sort o' weary in my mind as well as my body. For I had kep' up a powerful ammount of thinkin' and medetatin'. Mebby right when I would be a talkin' and a smilin' to folks about the weather or literatoor or any thing, my mind would be hard at work on problems, and I would be a takin' silent observations, and musin' on what my eyes beheld. [Illustration: “SAY!”] And I had felt more and more satisfied of the wisdom of the conclusion I reached on my first interview with Allen Arthur,--that I dast not, I dast not let my companion go from me into Washington. No! I felt that I dast not, as his mind was, let him go into temptation. I felt that he wanted to make money out of the Government I loved; and after I had looked round me, and observed persons and things, I felt that he would do it. I felt that _I_ dast not let him go. I knew that he wanted to help them that helped him, without no deep thought as to the special fitness of uncle Nate Gowdy and Ury Henzy for governmental positions. And after I had enquired round a little, and considered the heft of his mind, and the weight of example, I felt he would do it. And I _dast_ not let him go. And, though I knew his hand was middlin' free now, still I realized that other hands just as free once had had rings slipped into 'em, and was led by 'em whithersoever the ring-makers wished to lead them. I dast _not_ let him go. I knew that now his morals, though small (he don't weigh more'n a hundred,--bones, moral sentiments, and all), was pretty sound and firm, the most of the time. But the powerful winds that blew through them broad streets of Washington from every side, and from the outside, and from the under side, powerful breezes, some cold, and some powerful hot ones--why, I felt that them small morals, more than as likely as not, would be upsot, and blowed down, and tore all to pieces. I dast not _let_ him go. I knew he was willin' to buy votes. If willin' to buy,--the fearful thought hanted me,--mebby he would be willin' to sell; and, the more I looked round and observed, the more I felt that he would. I felt that I dast not let _him_ go. No, no! I dast not let him _go_. I was a musin' on this thought at the breakfast-table where I sot with Cicely, the boy not bein' up. I was settin' to the table as calm and cool as my toast (which was _very_ cool), when the hired man brought me a letter; and I opened it right there, for I see by the post-mark it was from my Josiah. And I read as follers, in dismay and anguish, for I thought he was crazy:--