AN ALLEGORY.
BLACK RIVER BEAR HUNTING.
FOUND ON THE HIGH ROAD, IN THE VICINITY OF LEWIS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
DEAR BROTHER:- I must give you a short sketch of an event that took place with us between the years 1824 and 1834. There was a Bear, we thought, that did much damage among us. At broad day light he came among our Sheep and Lambs, and made such havoc among them that it appeared as though he would devour the whole flock, and you know that Sheep and Lambs require a great deal of looking after; and hence, the importance of having a Shepherd, however early in the spring we were very much hurried about our Spring-work, not thinking but what our Sheep and Lambs were strong, and that they could keep out of the way, till he had actually come among them and feasted his ferocious appetite on the blood of the Sheep and Lambs. Now there were in this country five men, whose occupation was to look after Sheep, and they were Brothers; I will give you their names: Keen-eye, Faint-heart, Self-will, Sym-pathy, Love-all. We concluded we would call one of these men whose name was Keen-eye, to look after the Sheep and feed them, and also to find out the lurking places of the Bear, and he had not been with us above an hour, so remarkably keen was he, before he saw the Bear bounding along towards the Sheep with his mouth wide open, ready to devour.
Keen-eye immediately stepped in between the Bear and the Sheep, with a drawn sword in his hand, and other implements of war, ready for the battle, with a full determination to kill the Bear or die on the spot himself, and just as he was ready to wield the fatal blow, his Brother Faint-heart, came as with an Eagle's wing, and cried out, "Hold! hold! Brother, you must not kill; it is contrary to our Father's command," "Thou shalt not kill." Keen-eye stood amazed, to think his Brother should apply the command in such a manner as to try to prevent his killing the Bear, but he remembered his Father's command, which was, not to flee in time of danger (John 10:2), thinking that if the case would go hard with him, that his Brother would assist him, or at least would not leave him to suffer and be torn to pieces by such an enemy to Sheep and Lambs, but instead of helping his Brother to kill the Bear, he took out his trumpet and called his other three Brothers to apprehend and bind their Brother Keen-eye, for attempting to kill in any case. These four Brothers, as I have told you before, were Shepherds, and had Sheep under their care - here I must remark to you, that Faint-heart, the oldest Brother, was holding some alliance with animals that dwell in dark places, where none can come but those that can see in the dark, and these animals can see in the dark by the reflection of each others hair, painted by the mud of human invention, and while Faint-heart saw that he could not prevail on his Brother Keen-eye to leave the Bear, and let him live among the Sheep and Lambs, there was now no time to be lost, seeing that Keen-eye was determined to clear every Bear from among his flock. Faint-heart told his Brother the whole story how hardhearted their Brother Keen-eye was, to kill all these poor Bears and indeed some of them might be Sheep for what he knew, I tell you something must be done, and I want that we should be all agreed, you know that I am your oldest Brother and always felt much for your welfare as Shepherds, I know that you will listen to me, and now, Brethren, what shall we do to this hard-hearted wretch, Keen-eye? Love-all said, "we shall now consult together what measures we shall take to put a stop to that fellow, for he is too bad to kill all these poor Bears without consulting us beforehand." Faint-heart stood up and said, "Brethren, I perceive that your minds are all to the same point." Self-will said, "Brethren, I should like to have our youngest Brother Sym-pathy, to tell us freely what he can do in this case." Sym-pathy arose and said, "I will tell you what I can do, I have a large quantity of dust and sand in my pocket, I will throw it into the eyes of the Sheep, and then they can not see the sword that our Father did give to Keen-eye, and then the Sheep will be mad with Keen-eye, and they will rush upon him and bind him, and deliver him up to us, and our tribunal will according to the rule of our court, shear his head, and pull his keen-eyes, too." Self-will said, "I do approve of the aforesaid measures, but we must be careful in the choice of jurymen, and we must have him tried by the new Statute, for if we let him go with the small punishment of the old Statute, that is, to have his hair and eyes pulled out, his hair will grow very soon, and he will go about and kill Bears again, and not only so, but he will tell the family, and his Father who is always very fond of him, calling him his Son Joseph, and you know, his Mother is a Queen; and now Brethren, I tell you his tongue must be cut off, or else the Queen will know about it, and then there will be no chance for Bears and Sheep to live together; as it is promised in the Great Book that it shall be before the end of the world, although the above is not the promise, never mind that, let us gain our point, Away with him!! away with him!! he is not fit to live, our Father we know has given him one of the best spying-glasses that ever was, he can see far and near, if his Ghost will not trouble somebody, it is a wonder to me." Mr. Faint-heart said, "I move for a warrant from Esq. Par-tial. Second that move." All agreed, and Keen-eye was apprehended and brought before Esq. Par-tial; the Warrant was got by the oath of Faint-heart, and no evidence admitted but the three aforesaid Brothers. Esq. Partial read the Warrant as follows, viz:- "Mr. Keen-eye of the city of Zion, Christ St. No. 12, goes about with a sword in hand, with an intention to kill and destroy all peaceable Bears that he can find. Sworn at my office, January 24, new style." Old Judge Bribe, was in the office, and he begged leave to speak, the cry-man said speak, Judge." "Mr. Keen-eye, you are not worthy to live, we know, but will you to save farther trouble, leave the country?" Now, Sir, at this very time there were other Shepherds from a distance, the name of one was, I-must-speak, and he was a valiant Shepherd, the other's name was Mr. Hearken, and I think, Sir, a man with half an eye might have seen the looks of Self-will, as soon as Mr. I-must-speak arose up, and he said but a word. Finally, Sir, these four shepherds, seemed to be willing to select the jurymen themselves. And so it was, Mr. Faint-heart, as he was the eldest, was passing from South to North, could call all jurymen in his way, and so could others, even Mr. Love-all could do his part with the other two Brothers. After the said Warrant was read, and much talking and winking by Tender-heart to Esq. Par-tial, together with the advice of Judge Bribe. The prisoner, Mr. Keen-eye, was asked whether he "should deny the indictment" - to which Keen-eye replied, "As for the advice of Judge Bribe to leave the country and save the expense, I reply for as much as I regard the Statutes of my King, from whom I receive daily supplies and strength to wield his sword you see by my side; I utterly refuse leaving the country, and second, as to the indictment, (said Keen-eye) I think it to be an honor to acknowledge the facts contained therein." By this time you must know there began to be quite a stir, and said Self-will, "we must have a Jury." Said Esq. Par-tial, "you say we?" Mr. Love-all winked to Sym-pathy so they stepped aside, while in the absence of Love-all and Sym-pathy, Mr. Tender-heart replied, "May it please the court, my Brothers Self-will, Sym-pathy, and Love-all, have an interest in the result;" and said Esq. Par-tial to Keen-eye, what say you to having a Jury? Keen-eye said, "I am not acquainted with such a Court, it must be that the old Statute has been revised." here Mr. Keen-eye offered to present the Laws of the land, with the ancient Seal, but Esq. Par-tial said, "Mr. Keen-eye, we have a right to act in such a case as the one before us, without law, as you have acknowledged of plead guilty to the indictment." Mr. Love-all said, "May it please the Court, we plead an adjournment for some days, as we wish to select the best jurymen that we can find from South to North," and so it came to pass, the day of trial came on, and the whole Jury - it seemed that Mr. Faint-heart had been tending Sheep where there was another Shepherd whom he saw every Moon, and he said there is a Shepherd's Court not far from us soon, -- "Well," said Mr. Love-gain, "I have business in that quarter, and it is ten to one if they do not call me to sit on the Jury," -- so Esq. Par-tial called the Court to order, then stood up the Cryman and said, "The jurymen will take their seats," so they all sat down. "You will answer to your names. Mr. Man's-wisdom, here! Mr. Herds-man, here! Mr. Please-all, here! Mr. Love-gain, as you are present, you will take a seat with the Jury." Mr. Tender-heart smiled as he remembered what was said a few days before - the Crier said, "Here is a Mr. Add-nothing, he will be seated with the Jury, (may it please the Court, said the Crier), the jury are all here." Mr. Side-man, the Clerk, sware the Jury. Jury come forward - you do promise to try this cause now pending between Keen-eye, Defendant, and Faint-heart, Love-all, Self-will, and Sym-pathy, Plaintiffs, and a true verdict give in favor of the Plaintiffs, according to the new Statute. Jury sworn and empaneled. The Jury will now choose a Foreman: let Mr. Love-gain be Foreman, and Man's wisdom, Scribe. All agreed? Ready for trial?!! "Silence in the Court," said the Crier; whereupon Mr. Self-will opened his own cause, viz: "May it please the Court, and Gentlemen of the Jury - the cause to be opened for investigation before you has been of long standing; your patience therefore is solicited, the root of difficulty is quite remote and very bitter to me. I shall therefore only notice some of the branches. This prisoner at the bar, Mr. Keen-eye, has for some months past been very troublesome, as you will perceive by his indictment, which we shall enlarge upon, and if possible, give it another coloring which we have a right to do according to the new Statute. Our object, Gentlemen of the Jury, is to so present the case before you, that you will see that if Keen-eye is not shorn of his hair, his eyes taken out, his sword taken away, his tongue cut off, and his commission wrested from him, that we the joint Plaintiffs will have to roam broad to find employment, for our flock now will lick the food from the hand of Keen-eye unless we are present to give them some slop ourselves, and with all our skill we cannot prevent many of them from going into the pasture with Keen-eye's flock, and we fear that all the healthy ones will leave us in the same way - and furthermore, Gentlemen of the Jury, you know that if we lose our Sheep in this way, some of you will sustain a great loss, too, as you have a share of the wool, annually." Mr. Man's wisdom eyed Mr. Love-gain at this time, I tell you, Sir, and they smiled, too, as I was looking them in the face; I suppose they thought that they should have their portion of wool, as they were in want of some at this time, or their Factory must stop, and you know that would be quite a loss to them, for they had much to do in that line of business. But to return to the Court, Mr. Self-will continued and said, "for a confirmation of what I have said, I shall adduce testimony. My first witness is Stand-by." Mr. Stand-by arose and said, "Gentlemen of the Jury, I am acquainted with this Keen-eye, and all that Mr. Self-will has said is true, and if I thought that the case would not go against Keen-eye, I would say much more." Mr. Quick-fire then rose, even without being called for, and said, "If this Keen-eye is suffered to go unpunished agreeable to the above, he will have all our Sheep, this is my 'voluntary testimony.'" Court adjourned for one hour. One o'clock, Court come in. Mr. Love-gain arose and said, "Farther testimony on the part of the Plaintiff is unnecessary, if Keen-eye the prisoner, has any defence to make, we are ready to hear." Upon which Keen-eye stood up with, and offered to read a scrip which was written by the Shepherds aforetime for their regulation, and it was very plain there, that every Shepherd might feed his own flock as he chose, and kill all the wild animals, too - and other Shepherds have no right to form into a club and kill him; and furthermore, if this scrip had been read, it would have blocked the wheels of the whole Court, for it is totally opposed to all Shepherds' Courts, but Keen-eye could not have the scrip read, for Love-gain said he "should not grant the privilege," but Keen-eye did let many of the beholders see it, and they said, "Now we know why Love-gain would not have it read, for it would come right in his face and eyes and expose the whole Jury to ridicule; so the scrip was laid aside. "Now," said Keen-eye, "seeing I cannot have the Law read, I beg leave to bring forward one witness who is a commander of many people, and his name was Blow-at-the-root, and he is rightly named, (for Keen-eye said) this witness will show you that bitter root which Self-will alluded to in his plea." But Love-gain, the Foreman, said, "his testimony cannot be admitted," so Mr. Blow-at-the-root passed by in silence, and it was believe, Sir, by many who was at the Court, that Mr. Love-gain had been told by Tender-heart, that this witness would injure his cause very much. So, you see, sir, that Keen-eye was not indulged law nor witness, yet he did defend himself from many false accusations which he was charged with by Mr. Sym-pathy, one of the plaintiffs, who had roamed far and near among many flocks of sheep, and made them aliens to Keen-eye, and Self-will also sent word abroad concerning Keen-eye, and once told Keen-eye's Father that he was not a Shepherd, but a Wolf who had put on a Sheep's skin to deceive the Sheep. Mr. Tender-heart also told things aforetime, about Keen-eye, much worse than has been known to any but Mr. Blow-at-the-root, and you know his testimony was not admitted; as for Love-all, he is rightly named, in some respects, for he truly loves all who love him, and he loves darkness too, for he was often found in ambush and sometimes behind the wall in secret as he supposed, but Keen-eye could look right through a wall and see Love-all work in the dark. But to return to the Court, at this time, Love-gain said, "Keen-eye, have you any thing to say for yourself?" to which he replied as follows, "May it please the Court and Gentlemen of the Jury, a few words touching the indictment, my Father who is Lord of the Hills, said to me one day, my son, Keen-eye, you must be a Shepherd - but I said to my Father, "I cannot do as Shepherds do;" but my Father said, "I can teach you very soon." So he said I must have a sword, and He gave me this sword and told me to keep it always, as it would be very useful in defending the sheep from all wild animals; and other instructions he would give me as I might be in need. Now, Gentlemen of the Jury, with this sword that my Father gave, I have trimmed Bears and Wolves, not a few, and I have the smiles of my Father in so doing; so you see I have warred a good warfare in so doing. As for the Plaintiffs, I confess, gentlemen, they are more in love with Bears and Wolves than I am, and now, Gentlemen of the Jury, if I must suffer the penalty of this your new Statute, as you see fit to decide according to your oaths, even in favor of the Plaintiffs, my Father will know it very soon, for he is always within hearing, and if He comes, I tell you it will be over with you, and well with me, notwithstanding a prisoner at your Bar, --- "STOP!! STOP!!" said the Foreman, "We can hear no more." So, you see, Sir, that Keen-eye could not proceed at all in making any further defence. And then the Jury retired for a short time, and then returned with the following condemnation, Mr. Foreman said, "Keen-eye, you are found guilty, as there has been no evidence before us in your favor. Your sentence is, to have your head shaved, your keen-eyes pulled out, your sword must be delivered up, and your office arrested from you; and we would execute the sentence, and give rest to Bears, if we had all power. Now you have your sentence Mr. Keen-eye, and we wish all who see you to flee from you. Adjourned." So, you must know, Sir, that Love-gain and Man's-wisdom, went on about their work, for they were Wool-gatherers, for the Factory. And Keen-eye drew his sword and marched off to the Sheepfold to feed the Sheep and Lambs, and daily his flock increases. Now, Mr. Investigator, if any farther information is necessary, please call at my office at the head of Straight Lain No. 1. Your old friend, DREAMER.
