Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1842-05-03

d goody gracis what can be the matte
e with these Is? believe they mean t
Q eat me " Five! | wish was as poo
! as Jobs hrkey."
Now all hat was required for Uncl
n Sam ju as he wished, was to let tn
Il boys Hive all his money, as they wan
e ted TO do. But what is very remarka
{ BILE, he never ought of this, and con
: tinued wishing mself poor, withou
d once hitting on tha esst possible way O
becoming so.
Things went o getting worse auC
i worse for some me Afterwards
Uncle Sam was a host every day pes
tered for money 10 pay for some inn
rovement or othd in the boys farms
He kept an ace Int Of these, and the
amount the Id cost, and found
that il Rll he was worth in
the ore besides, to gel
thgdg of them. So one
I day he pO Inds in his breaches
pockets, ant bre roundly they were
brood OF u teful rogues,that wan
ted TO get hi bn the parish, and not
another penn would he pony up for
man or beas
This raise terrible hue and cry
among the bd IS, who threatened TO dis
inherit the d man, and set up for
theSSelv But he was pretty stiff
old fe en- bis pluck was up, and
he tho Emself in the right. You
might try to move a mountain
as Uni m, when he put his foot
down bed the mark. He told
the bQ had honest debts to pay,
and m pay every penny he owed
in thd ID before he began to talk
about hg out money in improve
ments.
The fraceless young rogues were
little stumped al the stand Uncle
Sam had taken, and began to plot to-
gether to turn the old man out Of house
and home, and take possession Of all
his estate, as soon as they could bring
matters to bear. Accordingly they went
about among their neighbors and peo-
pie insinuating that the old man was
in his dotage, and could not manage
his affairs any longer. 1t was nigh
time, they said that he should give up
his estates into their hands and set
about preparing for better world
They raised all sorts of stories against
him, as how he did not care any more
about the law or the gospel than a pa
gan; how he tucked up people, just for
the pleasure Of seeing them kick their
heels in the air; and how he threaten
ed to cut off the ears of member OF
Cong ess, only because be told stories
about him.
In this way these registering boys |
raised great clamoa ar against Uncle |
Sam, which emboldened them at last |
to hatch diabolicaI plan for taking
away all his lands at one blow. They |
were not content with getting them by |
degrees, to pay for the schooling oil
their children, building school houses, |
teaching dumb people philosophy, and |
thousand other ways, but they now
determined TO make one business Of it
and strip the old gentleman as bare as
my hand.
Not finding any law for this, they
determined to get one passed for the
purpose; accordingly they went among
the people, and told them a hundred |
cock and bull stories about this that
and the other thing. They swore the |
land of right belonged to them when |
they came of age, according to an old |
settlement, which declared that Uncle |
Sans children should all share his es-
tates equally after his death. But they
kept the last part to themselves, as you
may suppose, and pretended that they
had right TO take the Id mans prop |
erty while he was alive. Besides,
they would say, the poor old gentle
man don't know what to do wirh so |
much land; half of it lies waste for want |
Of proper attention, and five only had |
it, we would make it ten times more |
valuable, and pay the taxes, which he
is exempted from, by virtue of an old |
charter.
The notion ofgetting money by tax
alton is bait which generally takes
with people whose business is law ma
king, not tax paying, as | have always
heard. So the legislature which gov
erned where Uncle Sans property lay, |
rubbed their hands, and were might
Iy tickled with the notionof being able
to squeeze little money from Uncle |
Sans new lands. Peceiving this ar
gument told, the boys Matched another
notion, about Uncle Sam receiving all
the money for the lands he sold, and
then forcing those who bought them
TO work theisp6ngers to the bone to
make themselves whole again, as if this
were not the way ol@r the whole
world.
Uncle Sam defended his bacon to
the last, like a stout hero as he was; but
by degrees the influence Of these I'M
grateful rogues prevailed, and a law
was passed taking away all his proper
:. no,o1lu amonn the