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Yes, it is strange Ⓐtextual note how little a while at a time a person can be contented. Only a little while back,Ⓐalteration in the MS when I was riding and suffering, what a heaven this peace, this rest, this sweet serenity in this secluded shady nook, byⒶalteration in the MS this purling stream, would have seemed, where I could keep perfectly comfortable all the timeⒶalteration in the MS by pouring a dipper of water into my armor now and then; yet already I was getting dissatisfied; partly because I could not light my pipe,—for although I had long ago started a match factory, I had forgotten to bring matches with me—Ⓐalteration in the MSand partly because we had nothing to eat. Here was another illustration of the child- [begin page 153] like improvidence of this age and people. A man in armor always trusted to chance for his food on a journey, and would have beenⒶtextual note scandalized at the idea of hanging a basket of sandwiches on his spear. There was probably not a knight of all the Round Table combination who would not rather have died than been caught carryingⒶalteration in the MS such a thing as that on his flagstaff. And yet there could not be anything more sensible.Ⓐalteration in the MS It had been my intention to smuggle a couple of sandwiches into my helmet, but IⒶemendation was interrupted in the act, and had to make an excuse and lay them aside, and a dog got them.Ⓐalteration in the MS

Night approached, and with it a storm. The darkness came on fast. We must camp, of course. I found a good shelter for the demoiselle under a rock, and went off and found another for myself. But I was obliged to remain in my armor, because I could not getⒶalteration in the MS it off byⒶalteration in the MS myself and yet could not allow Alisande to help, because it would have seemed soⒶalteration in the MS like undressing before folk. It would not have amounted to that, in reality,Ⓐalteration in the MS because I had clothes on, underneath;Ⓐalteration in the MS but the prejudices of one’s breeding are not gotten rid of just at a jump, and I knew that when it came to stripping off that bob-tailed iron petticoat I should be embarrassed.

With the storm came a change of weather; and the stronger the wind blew, and the wilder the rain lashed around, the colder and colder it got. Pretty soon, various kinds of bugs and ants and worms and things began to flock in out of the wet and crawl down inside my armor to get warm; and while some of them behaved well enough, and snuggled up amongst my clothes and got quiet, the majority were of a restless, uncomfortable sort, and never stayed still, but went on prowling and hunting for they did not know what; especially the ants, which went tickling along in wearisome procession from one end of me to the other by the hour, and are a kind of creatures which I never wish to sleep with again. It would be my advice to persons situated in this way, to notⒶrejected substantive roll andⒶrejected substantive thrash around, because this excites the interest of all the different sorts of animals and makes every last one ofⒶalteration in the MS them want to turn out and see what is going on, and this makes things worseⒶalteration in the MS than they were before, and of course makes you objurgateⒶalteration in the MS harder, too; if you can. Still, if one did not roll and thrashⒶtextual note around he would die; so perhaps it is as well to do one way as the other, there is no real choice. Even after I was frozen solid I could still [begin page 154] distinguish that tickling; just as a corpse does when he is taking electric treatment. I said I would never wear armor after this trip.

All those trying hours whilst I was frozen and yet was in a living fire, as you may say, on account of that swarm of crawlers, that same unanswerable question kept circling and circling through my tired head: how do people stand this miserable armor? how have they managed to stand it all these generations? how can they sleep at night for dreading the tortures of next day?

When the morning came at last, I was in a bad enough plight: seedy, drowsy, fagged, from want of sleep; weary, from thrashing around; famished, from long fasting; pining for a bath, and to get rid of the animals; and crippled with rheumatism. And how had it fared with the nobly born, the titled aristocrat, the Demoiselle Alisande la Carteloise? Why, she was as fresh as a squirrel; she hadⒶemendation slept like the dead; and as for a bath, probably neither she nor any other noble in the land had ever had one, and so she was not missing it. Measured by modern standards, they were merely modified savages, those people. This noble lady showed no impatience to get to breakfast—and that smacks of the savage, too. On their journeys those Britons were used to long fasts, and knew how to bear them; and also how to freight-up againstⒶalteration in the MS probable fasts before starting, after the style of

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“by a sarcasm of law and phrase, they were freemen.”

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“to subtract the nation and leave behind some dregs.” Ⓔexplanatory note

We were off before sunrise, Sandy riding and I limping along behind. In half an hour we came upon a group of raggedⒶalteration in the MS poor creatures who had assembled to mend the thing which was regarded as a road. They were as humble as animals to me; and when I proposed to breakfast with them, they were so flattered, so overwhelmed by this extraordinary condescension of mine that at first they were not able to believe that I was in earnest. My lady put up her scornful lip and withdrew to one side; she said in their hearing that she would as soon think of eating with the other cattle—a remark whichⒶalteration in the MS embarrassed these poor devils merely because it referred to them, and not because it insulted or offended them, for it didn’t.Ⓐalteration in the MS And yet they were not slaves, not chattels. By a sarcasm of law and phrase,Ⓐalteration in the MS they were freemen. Seven-tenths of the free population of the country were of just their class and degree: small “independent” farmers, artisans, etc.; which is to say, they were the nation, the actual NationⒶemendation Ⓐtextual note; they were about all of it that was useful, or worth saving, or really respect-worthy; and to subtract them would have been to subtract the NationⒶemendation and leave behind some dregs, some refuse, in the shape of a king,Ⓐalteration in the MS nobility, and gentry, idle, unproductive, acquainted mainly with the arts of wasting and destroying, and of no sort of use or value in any [begin page 156] rationally constructed world. And yet, by ingenious contrivance this gilded minority, instead of being in the tail of the procession where it belonged, was marching, head up and banners flying, at the other end of it; had elected itself to be the NationⒶemendation, and theseⒶtextual note innumerable clamsⒶemendation had permitted it so long that they had come at last to accept it as a truthⒶalteration in the MS; and not only that, but to believe it right and as it should be. The priests had told their fathers and themselves that this ironical state of things was ordained of God; and so, not reflecting upon how unlike God it would beⒶalteration in the MS to amuse himself with sarcasms, and especially such poor transparent ones as this, they hadⒶemendation dropped the matter there and becomeⒶemendation respectfully quiet.

The talk of these meek people had a strange enough sound in a formerly American ear. They were freemen, but they could not leave the estates of their lord or their bishop without his permission; they could not prepare their own bread, but must have their corn ground and their bread baked at his mill and his bakery, and pay roundly for the same; they could not sell a piece of their own property without paying him a handsome per centage of the proceeds, nor buy a piece of somebody else’s without remembering him in cash for the privilege; they had to harvest his grain for him gratis, and be ready to come at a moment’s notice, leaving their own crop to destruction by the threatened storm; they had to let him plant fruit trees in their fields, and then keep their indignation to themselves when his heedlessⒶalteration in the MS fruit-gatherers trampled the grain around the trees; they had to smother their anger when his hunting parties galloped through their fieldsⒶalteration in the MS, laying waste the result of their patientⒶalteration in the MS toil; they were not allowed to keep doves themselves, and when the swarms from my lord’s dovecote settled on their crops, they must not lose their temper and kill a bird, for awful would the penalty be; when the harvest was at last gathered, then came the procession of robbers to levy their blackmail upon it;Ⓐalteration in the MS first the ChurchⒶalteration in the MS carted off its fat tenth, then the king’s commissioner took his twentieth, then my lord’s people made a mighty inroad upon the remainder; after which, the skinned freeman had liberty to bestowⒶalteration in the MS the remnant in his barn, in case it was worth the trouble; there were taxes, and taxes, and taxes, and more taxes, and taxes again, and yet other taxes—upon this free and independent pauper, but none upon hisⒶalteration in the MS lord the baron or the bishop, none upon the wasteful nobility or the all-devouring ChurchⒶalteration in the MS; ifⒶalteration in the MS the [begin page 157] baron would sleep unvexed, the freeman must sit up all night after his day’s work and whip the ponds toⒶemendation keep the frogs quiet; if the freeman’s daughter—but no, that last infamyⒶalteration in the MS of monarchical government is unprintableⒺexplanatory note; and finally, if the freeman, grown desperate with his tortures, found his lifeⒶalteration in the MS unendurable under such conditions, and sacrificedⒶalteration in the MS it and fled to death for mercy and refuge, the gentle ChurchⒶalteration in the MS condemnedⒶemendation him to eternal fireⒶemendation, the gentle law buried him at midnight at the cross-roadsⒶemendation with a stake through his back, and hisⒶalteration in the MS master the baron or the bishop confiscated all his property and turned his widow and his orphans out of doorsⒺexplanatory note.

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burial of a freeman.

And here were these freemen assembledⒶalteration in the MS in the early morning to work on their lord the bishop’s road three days each—gratis; every head of a family, and every son of a family, three days each, gratis,Ⓐalteration in the MS and a day or so added for their servants. Why, it was like reading about FranceⒶalteration in the MS and the French, before the ever-memorable and blessed Revolution, which swept a thousand years of such villainy away in one swift tidal wave of blood—one: a settlement of that hoary debt in the proportion of half a drop of blood for each hogsheadⒶemendation of it that had been pressed by slow tortures out of that people in the weary stretch of ten centuries of wrong and shame and misery, the like of which was not to be mated but in hellⒶemendation. There were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it: the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months,Ⓐalteration in the MS the other had lasted a thousand years;Ⓐalteration in the MS the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the [begin page 158] minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with life-long death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heart-break? what is swift death by lightning, compared with death by slow fire atⒶalteration in the MS the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief TerrorⒶalteration in the MS which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastnessⒶemendation or pity as it deserves.Ⓐalteration in the MS

These poor ostensible freemen who were sharing their breakfast and their talk with meⒶalteration in the MS were as full of humble reverence for their king and ChurchⒶemendation and nobility as their worst enemy could desire. There was something pitifully ludicrous about it. I asked them if they supposed a nation of people ever existed, who, with a free vote in every man’s hand,Ⓐalteration in the MS would elect that a singleⒶalteration in the MS family and its descendants should reign over it forever, whetherⒶalteration in the MS gifted or boobies, to the exclusion of all other families—including the voter’s; andⒶalteration in the MS would also elect that a certain hundred families should be raised to dizzy summits of rank, and clothed-on with offensive transmissible glories and privileges, to the exclusion of the restⒶalteration in the MS of the nation’s families— including his own Ⓐemendation.

They all looked unhit; and said they didn’t know; that theyⒶemendation had never thought about it before, and it hadn’t everⒶalteration in the MS occurred to them that a nation could be so situated that every man could have a sayⒶalteration in the MS in the government. I said I had seen one—and that it would last until it had an Established ChurchⒶalteration in the MS. Again theyⒶalteration in the MS were all unhit—at first. But presently one man looked up and asked me to state that proposition again; and state it slowly, so it could soak into his understanding. I did it; and after a little he had the idea, and he brought his fist down and said he didn’t believe a nation where every man had a vote would voluntarily get down in the mud and dirt in any such way; and that to steal from a nation its will and preference must be a crime, and the first of all crimes.

I said to myself:

“This one’s a manⒶalteration in the MS. If I were backed by enough of his sort, I would make a strike for the welfare of this country, and try to prove myself its loyalest citizen by making a wholesome change in its system of government.”Ⓐalteration in the MS

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“two of a kind.”

You see, my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’sⒶalteration in the MS country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags,Ⓐalteration in the MS to worship rags, to die for rags—that is a loyaltyⒶalteration in the MS of unreason, it is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy, was invented by monarchy; letⒶalteration in the MS monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose Constitution declaresⒺexplanatory note “that all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit; and that they have at all times an undeniable and indefeasible right to alter their form of government in such mannerⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note as they may think expedient.”

Under that gospel, the citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth’s political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may [begin page 160] be the only one who thinks he sees this decay, does not excuse him: it is hisⒶemendation duty to agitate anyway, andⒶalteration in the MS it is the duty of the others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does.

And nowⒶalteration in the MS here I was, in a country where the rightⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note to say how the country should be governed was restrictedⒶalteration in the MS to six persons in each thousandⒶemendation of its population. For the nine hundred andⒶemendation ninety-four to expressⒶalteration in the MS dissatisfaction with the regnant system and propose to change it, would have made the whole six shudder as one man, it would have been so disloyal, so dishonorable, such putrid black treason. So to speak, I was become a stockholder in a corporation where nine hundred andⒶemendation ninety-four of the members furnished all the money and did all the work, and the other six elected themselves a permanent board of direction and took all the dividends. It seemed to me that what the nine hundred andⒶemendation ninety-four dupes needed was a new deal. The thing that would have best suited the circus-Ⓐalteration in the MSside of my nature would have been to resign the Boss-shipⒶemendation and get up an insurrection and turn it into a revolution; but I knew that the Jack Cade or the Wat TylerⒺexplanatory note who tries such a thing without first educating his materials up to revolution-grade is almost absolutely certain to get left. I had never been accustomed to getting left; even if I do say it myself. Wherefore,Ⓐemendation the “deal” which had been for some time working into shape in my mind was of a quite different pattern from the Cade-Tyler sort.

So I did not talk blood and insurrection to that man there who sat munching black bread with that abused and mistaughtⒶemendation herd of human sheepⒶemendation, but took him aside andⒶalteration in the MS talked matter of another sort to him. After I had finished, I got him to lend me a little ink from his veins; and with this and a sliver I wrote on a piece of bark—

Put him in the Man-Factory-

and gave it toⒶemendation him, and said—

“Take it to the palace at Camelot and give it into the hands of Amyas le Poulet, whom I call Clarence, and he will understand.”

“He is a priest, then,” said the man, and some of the enthusiasm went out of his face.

“How—a priest? Didn’t I tell you that no chattel of the Church, no bond-slave of pope or bishop can enter my Man-Factory? Didn’t I tell you that you couldn’t enter unless your religion, whatever it might be, was your own free property?”

“Marry it is so, and for that was IⒶrejected substantive glad; wherefore it liked me not, and bred in me a cold doubt, to hear of this priest being there.”

“But he isn’t a priest, I tell you.”

The man looked far from satisfied. He said:

“He is not a priest, and yet can read?”

“He is not a priest, and yet can read—yes, and write, too, for that matter. I taught him myself.” The man’s face cleared. “And it isⒶemendation the first thing that you yourself will be taught in that Factory—”

“I? I would give blood out of my heart to know that art. Why, I will be your slave, your—”

“No you won’t; you won’t be anybody’s slave. Take your family and go along. Your lord the bishop will confiscate your small property, but no matter, Clarence will fix you all right.”Ⓐalteration in the MS