Far less
could he hope to effect anything by violence, since peasants understand
no jesting if their beloved acres are touched, and, at the first sign
of any intention on his part to disturb their possessions, would
quickly have set fire to his house and, moreover, tattooed on his body,
with the tines of a pitchfork, a protest to which a counter-plea would
scarcely have been possible. Only he could never carry self-control
and composure so far that, after nearly twenty years' habitude, he did
not become furiously excited at the sight of certain pieces of land,
and experience something akin to a paroxysm of longing to shoot, like a
mad dog, the first peasant who came in his way.
The disposition to command, which he had indulged from childhood, he
was unwilling even now to renounce. Under existing circumstances his
name and property alone would certainly no longer permit him to indulge
this habit, so he sought an office. When the Austrian magistrates were
removed in Hungary and the ancient county government restored, Abonyi
had only needed to express the wish, and the "congregation" of the
county, which consisted almost exclusively of his relatives and
friends, elected him president of the tribune[1] of his district.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43