Litchfield enquirer., 1872-12-12
anything worth pocksting ont of the prob lem of two capitals. o& @ 2

anything worth pocksting ont of the prob lem of two capitals. o os st 2
 It was one of the even years, and the legislature met in Fastburg, and the little city was brimful Mr. Pullwool with diff ficulty found place for himself without causing the population to -slop over. Of course he went to g hotel, for he needed to make as many acquaintances as possi- ble, and he knew that bar was a perfect hot-house for ripening such friendships as he cared for. He took the best room she could get; and as soon as chance ia vOred, he took better one, with parior attached; and on the side-board ill the parlor he always had cigars and decanters. The result was that in week or so he was on jovial terms with several senators, nu- merous members of the lower house, and all the members of the ''third house. '' But lobbying did not work in Fastburg as Mir. Pullwool had found it to work in other capitals. He exhibited the most dazzling double-edged axes, but nobody would grind them; he pointed out the most attractive and convenient of logs for rolling, but nobody would put lever to them.
 What the doose does this mean9" he at last inquired of Mir. Josiah Dicker, a member who had smoked dozens of his cigars and drunk quarts out of his de- canters. "I don't understand this little old legislature at all, Mir. Dicker. No body wants to make any money; at least, nobody. has the spirit to tly to make any. And yet the State is full; never been bled a drop; full as a tick. What does it mean?' .s.-.. a5-...-.-.
 MT. Dicker looked disconsolate. Per haps it may be worth moments time to explain that he could not we'll look other wise. Broken in fortune and broken in health, he was failure and knew it. His large forehead showed power, and he was in fact lawyer of some ability; and still he could not support his family, could not keep a mould of mortgages from all over his house-lot, and had so many creditors that he could not walk in hard drinking, with its resultant waste of time, infdelity to trust, and impatience of application. Thin, haggard, duskily palld, deeply wrinkled at forty, his black eyes watery and set in baggy circles of a dull brown, his lean dark hands shaky and dirty, his linen wrinkled and button less, his clothing frayed and unbrushed, he was an lmpersOnatiOn of failure. He had gone into the legislature with des- perate hope of somehow finding money in it, and as yet he had discovered noth- ing more than his beggarly three dollars 8 day, and he felt himself more than ever a failure. No wonder that be wore an air of profound depression, approaching to absolute wretchedness and threatening suicide.
 He looked the more cast down by con- trast with the successful MT. Pullwool, gaudily alight with satin and jewelry, and shining with conceit Pullwool, by the way, although dandy (that is, such q dandy as one sees in gamhling-saloons and. behind liquor -bars), was far from be- ing thing of beauty. He was so obnox- iously gross and shapeless, that 1t seemed as if he did 1t on purpose and to be irri- tating. His fat head was big enough to make dwarf of, hunchbach and all. His mottled cheeks were vast and pendulous to that degree that they inspired the im- aginative beholder with terror, as remind ing him of avalanches and land-slides which might slip their hold at the slight est shock, and plunge downward in a path of destruction. One pnffy eyefid dropped in a sinister way; obviously that waS the eye that the Devil had selected for his own; he kept it we'll eurtained for purposes of concealment.. Looking out of this peep-hole, the Satanic badger could see a short, thick nose, and by lean ing forward little, he could get glimpse of a broad chin of several stories. An other unpleasing feature was full set of false teeth, which grinned in a ravenous fashion that was truly disquieting, as if they were capable of deYeuripg the whole revenue. Finally, this continent of physiognomy was diversified by gi- gantic hairy wart which sprouted defiant ly from the temple nearest the game eve. as though Lucifer had accidently poked one of his horns through. Mir. Dicker, who was a sensitive, squeamish man Gas drunkards sometimes are, through bad digestion and shaky nerves), could hardly endure the sight of this wart, and always wanted to ask Pullwool why he didn't cut it of.
 ''What's the meaning of it all ?" per- sisted the Washington wire-puller, sur veying the Fastburg wire-puller with bland superiority, much as the city mouse may have surveyed the country mouse
 1.-Two capitals" " responded Dicker, with his nervous glance from the wart, and locking his hands over one knee to quiet their trembling.
 MT. Pullwool, having the Old Harry in him, and being consequently full of all malice and subtlety, preceived at once the full scope and force of the explana- tion.
 'I see" he said, dropping gently back into his armchair, with the plethoric, soft movement of subslding pillow. The puckers of his cumberous evelids drew a little closer together; his bilious eyes peered out cautiously between them, like sallow assassins watching through. cur talned windows for minute or so he kept up what might be called devil of 8 thinking.
 ''Tvegotit," he broke out atlast. ssDick- CT, want you to bring in bill to make Fastburg the only capital.
 ''What is the use ?" asked the legisla- tor, looking more disconsolate, more hopeless than ever. ''Slowburg will op- pose it and beat it."
 ''Never you mind, ? persisted MT. Pull wool "You bring in your little bill and stand up for 1t like man. There's mon- ey in it. You don't see it? We'll, I do i; I'm used to seeing money in things; and in this case see it plain. As sure as whlskey is whiskey, there's money in 1t. |"
 MT. PullwooFs usually dull and, so to speak, extinct countenance was fairly alight and afiame; with exultation. It was almost wonder that his tallowy person did not gutter beneath the blaze, like an over fat candle under the fiaring of wick too large for it.
 'Weii, I'll bring in the bill," agreed MT. Dicker, catching the enthusiasm of his counsellor and shaking off his lethar- gy. He preceived dim promise of fees, and at the sight his load of despondency dropped away from him, as Christian s burden loosened in presence of the cross. He looked little like the confident, res olute Tom Dicker, who twenty years be- fore had graduated from college, the brightest, bravest, most eloquent fellow in his class, and the one who seemed to have before him the finest future.
 s'Snacks P said Mir. Pullwool.
 At this brazen word Mir. Dicker's coun- tenance fell again he was ashamed to talk so frankly about plundering his fel- low citizens s'a little grain of conscience turned him sour."
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