The little colony upon the Mayflower was a township, and every man
of its passengers carried the seed of the ideal township system
in his heart."
"Admitted, admitted, Mr. Le Moyne," said the other, smiling at his
earnestness. "But how shall we repeat the experiment? Would you
import men into every township of the South, in order that they
might carry the seeds of civil liberty with them, and build up the
township system there?"
"By no means. I would make the men on the spot. I would so mold
the minds of every class of the Southern people that all should be
indoctrinated with the spirit of local self-government."
"But how would you do it?"
"With spelling-books!" answered Hesden sententiously.
"There we are," laughed the other, "at the very point we started
from. Like the poet of the Western bar-room, you may well say, my
friend, 'And so I end as I did begin.'"
"Yes," said Le Moyne, "we have considered the _desirability_
of education, and you have continually cried, with good-natured
incredulity, 'How shall it be done?' Are you not making that inquiry
too soon?"
"Not at all," said the Congressman earnestly; "I see how desirable
is the result, and I am willing to do anything in my power to
attain it, if there is any means by which it can be accomplished."
"That is it," said Le Moyne; "you are _willing_; you recognize
that it would be a good thing; you wish it might be done; you have
no desire to stand in the way of its accomplishment.
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