Consider, neighbor,
the wonderful progress it hath already made in the arts and in learning,
in reputation and in resources, and thou wilt agree with me in the
conclusion that all this hath been done with a design."
"'Twould be presuming to doubt it; for he hath indeed a short memory, to
whom it shall be necessary to recall the time when this very valley was
little other than a den for beasts of prey, and this beaten highway, a
deer-track. Dost think that Reuben will be like to raise the whole of the
recent gift?"
"With judgment, and by the blessing of Providence. The mind is active,
Ensign Dudley, when the body is journeying among the forests; and much
have my thoughts been exercised in this matter, whilst thou and others
have been in your slumbers. Here have we the colonies in their first
century, and yet thou knowest to what a pass of improvement they have
arrived. They tell me the Hartford settlement is getting to be apportioned
like the towns of mother England, that there is reason to think the day
may come when the provinces shall have a power, and a convenience of
culture and communication, equalling that which belongeth to some parts of
the venerable island itself!"
"Nay, nay, Doctor Ergot," returned the other with an incredulous smile,
"that is exceeding the bounds of a discretionable expectation.
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