midnight
he said , `` You 've driven God 's creatur 's from the wilder ness , where His providence had put them for His own pleasure ; and you 've brought in the troubles and diviltries of the law , where no man was ever known to disturb another . You have driven me , that have lived forty long years of my appointed time in this very spot , from my home and the shelter of my head , lest you should put your wicked feet and wasty ways in my cabin . You 've driven me to burn these logs , under which I 've eaten and drunk -- the first of Heaven 's gifts , and the other of the pure springs -- for the half of a hundred years ; and to mourn the ashes under my feet , as a man would weep and mourn for the children of his body . You 've rankled the heart of an old man , that has never harmed you or your ` n , with bitter feelings toward his kind , at a time when his thoughts should be on a better world ; and you 've driven him to wish that the beasts of the forest , who never feast on the blood of their own families , was his kindred and race ; and now , when he has come to see the last brand of his hut , before it is incited into ashes , you follow him up , at midnight , like hungry hounds on the track of a worn-out and dying deer . What more would ye have ? for I am here -- one too many . I come to mourn , not to fight ; and , if it is God 's pleasure , work your will on me . ''