SKETCHES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND SCENERY.
IV.—MOUNTAIN WAYS.
Lucy D——. Aunt Sarah, did you ever read the Declaration of Independence?
Mrs. Grundy. What a question! In my youth it was read regularly, once a year, at every Fourth of July celebration.
Lucy D——. Did you ever, when listening to it, consider that your interest in its enunciation of principles was merely incidental, not direct?
Mrs. Grundy. How so?
Lucy D——. The 'all men' that are born 'equal,' and with an 'inalienable right to liberty,' does not include you, because, although you are white, you are a woman.
Mrs. Grundy. What covert heresy is this, Lucy, with which you are endeavoring to mystify my old-fashioned notions?
Lucy D——. I advocate no theory. I merely state a fact. My own belief is, that men are born very unequal (I do not mean legally, but really, as they stand in the sight of God), and that they, as well as we, are free only to do what is right in the fulfilment of inalienable duties. 'Life' and the 'pursuit of happiness' must both yield to the exactions of such duties. I must confess, however, that, let my abstract views be as they may, I have occasionally embraced in their widest extent the generalizations of the Declaration of Independence; and nowhere has the right of 'Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness' seemed to me so precious and delightful a possession as, when seated on top of a stage coach, I have breathed the exhilarating atmosphere of some elevated mountain region. As to equality, I must also say, that there especially do I feel my inferiority to, and dependence on the driver, who, in his sphere, reigns a king.
Mrs. Grundy. In my day, ladies were always expected to take inside seats.