Toney Belton now spoke as follows:
"Gentlemen of the jury,—While listening with the most profound attention and admiration to the solemn and powerful appeal just made by my learned and eloquent brother; and while beholding, at the same time, the evident wonder thereby created among this large and respectable assemblage, I was reminded of what is written in the fourth chapter of the First Book of Kings,—'And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon.'
"Gentlemen, I shall not even attempt to reply to all the arguments advanced to you by my learned brother. I have too much respect for Simon Rump's venerable wife, and Simon Rump's innocent little ones, and for the bones of Simon Rump's buried ancestors, to say one word in disparagement of any of the aforesaid individuals.
"But there are other portions of my brother's argument which I must notice, for I fear that they were calculated to produce a powerful effect upon a jury of humane and benevolent men.
"The learned counsel tells us that this county is to be divided into two separate kingdoms, as distinct from each other as if an impassable gulf had suddenly opened between them. He informs us that such must be the inevitable result of the construction of this canal. As he alluded to the heart-rending scenes about to ensue from this separation, the description was so graphic that the picture became visible, not only to the imagination, but almost to the naked eye.
"Behold the canal already dug not less than forty feet wide and six feet deep! On either side are assembled groups of men, women, and children; for the locks are about to be opened and the waters to rush in. Tears are standing in their eyes, and their sighs and lamentations burden the air. On the east side of the canal is the fond father, and on the west his favorite son. On the east side of the canal is the anxious mother, and on the west her prettiest daughter. On the east side of the canal is the pensive maiden, and on the west her lover 'sighing like a furnace.' There they stand about to part forever! For the lock has been opened above, and the water is now rushing into the canal. The moment of separation is at hand, and they are about to part never to meet again beneath the skies!
"Instinctively each one of these disconsolates stretches forth the right hand to take a last embrace of a parent, child, brother, sister, mistress, or lover! But even this small consolation is denied; for, behold, the water is already forty feet wide, and nearly six feet deep! Then there are groans, and moans, and loud lamentations; and tears gush forth, falling like a summer's shower into the dividing waters. There is cast from each face one last, long, agonizing look; and those broken-hearted friends and relatives depart to their respective homes, to meet no more until they meet in heaven, and to smile no more on earth.
"But hark! what sudden, horrid shriek is that? It comes from the Rumps!
Oh, mercy dispel
Yon sight that it freezes my spirit to tell!