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"Of course!" said Savage.

"And see that they have doctoring -- some religious ceremonies; in a word, all necessary and suitable care: for the poor devils can't, you know, Haddock -- now you know that, don't you? -- can't, I say, take care of themselves, and so try to brush off the bad spots of the thing as much as possible -- and -- and -- "

"Let 'em slide," said Savage.

"Well, not exactly; yes, something so. Give it a good, humane setting out, and keep easy afterwards -- for," said he, shaking his finger portentously, and changing feet and knees, "the town won't be at the damage of any great reform."

"No, I s---r!" said Savage. "The system is a religious and humane one. Captain Bunce told me that the old widow Prescott kept the establishment as moral as a church, and that her prayers were enough to save the whole concern from ruin, here and hereafter; and that as for himself, he never felt more softened and humanely inclined, than when he saw the poor old creatures looking up to him for all their daily bread."

"Captain Bunce," said the Squire, "is a very good sort of a man, take him -- all in all. Sometimes Bunce is rather too snug in his management, perhaps -- very humane people would say so; but we must judge men by the long run, and Cap'n Bunce has had the job now going five years. Bunce knows how to manage them, all things considered -- as well -- for the town as we could reasonably expect."

"How long is it since you looked in there, Squire Stout?" inquired Mr. Haddock.

"Well -- whe -- w Let's see, Savage. Didn't we drop in there -- last -- Sep -- tem -- or was it --?"

"D----d if I know!" said that worthy.

"We called, I'm sure. Savage, last summer; it might have been a little earlier, or a little later. It don't make much difference."

"Well, I don't recollect calling since a year ago last fall," said Savage. "But what's the odds? Bunce takes all proper care of them; and it always gives me a sort of melancholy to see the critturs. They are a blasted sickly set, not long for this world at best, and a plaguey deal better off when out of it than in. But there it is. They are what they are, and can never be any thing else. Now what's the use, I say, of spending money, or even philanthropy, over the lot, when neither will do any good? They are paying up for past sins. They'd been a good deal better off if they hadn't sinned."

Mr. Haddock answered that, in his opinion, a great deal might be done to improve their condition even where they now were. They might have better clothing, food, rooms, fires, companionship or association; pursue a more desirable mode of daily exercise or labor, and be elevated, instructed, comforted, and prepared the better to live and to die. That here, as in other towns he had heard of, an entirely different system might be pursued, which would consist in placing the poor under the constant and humane care of the town agent, and avoid the sin and shame of knocking them down, as so many cattle, at auction, to any body who thought, by pinching them in every possible way, he might make a little money out of the job. "Nobody," he continued, will bid them off on the score of humanity, but always are they bid off on grounds of selfish considerations. A man bids on them to make money in keeping them -- that is, in half starving, half clothing, half warming them; half burying them when they, fortunately for him, drop off. Now, gentlemen," he continued, "do you call that a Christian institution -- a house of mercy and Christian humanity? Has it one solitary vestige of philanthropy? If yourselves were paupers, would it be a comfortable thing to live and die as Harnden did -- as others have done, and still are doing? Where is it better than slavery itself in many of its daily forms? What feature in it can truly meet the cordial approval of a good man of even common Christian views or humane principles?"

Squire Ben, and even Savage himself, listened attentively to Haddock's remarks, and confessed that there was more truth than fiction in them, but solemnly declared that the thing could not be helped.

"Well, gentlemen," said Mr. Haddock, "I have consulted with some men about it, and although at present we are few, yet we intend to persevere in an attempt to ameliorate the condition of our paupers. No system of tyranny and oppression resting in human selfishness can stand right in human consciences, nor is it right in the sight of God. These poor creatures have a claim on us to smooth their path to the grave. We owe it to our enlightened humanity and religion to make such a provision for our poor, that it may truly be termed a Christian beneficence. Every other thing is simply oppression or tyranny."

The Squire and Savage told Mr. Haddock that his sentiments spoke well for his heart, but that the project was perfectly chimerical.

"When the Little Bear runs up stream. Haddock, you'll get the thing through, and not afore," said Savage.

"Gentlemen," said the Squire, "let us -- drop in at the hotel and take a sling -- what do you say -- Savage -- Haddock, a sling, or ale -- hey?"