The Russellville Democrat., 1882-10-19
The Rural LegisIatOr.

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 That genial humorist, Opie Read, gives the following sketch of the
 Arkansaw legislator in recent is
 sue of his inimiltable paper:
 The Arkansaw legislators have
 been chosen for the coming execu- tive seige. It will of course be the
 best legislative body ever elected in
 the state. The prospective session
 is always the best. Each member
 is made to feel that a great deal of work is to be done, and that all pre- vious legislatures have wronged his
 neighborhood. He has been selec-
 ted to repair this wrong, and he is
 going to do it, even though corn is i five dollars per bushel. yea, five and
 half per bushel. Within his long l jeans coat there beats heart that is
 not afraid to speak the truth. Below
 the surface of his shirt front there
 are the promptings of manliness. When he reaches Little Rock, 8 city
 which he has been taught to believe
 is filled with robbers and sworn ene-
 mics to lis Eeighborhood, he walks
 around tue streets with streaks of de-
 termination and sweat on his manly
 face. He is looking for place to attact? Yes, he's To 0 k in g for a
 boarding house. He wants some
 piaoe where he can feel at home.
 He walks all day, for the prices de
 manded by hotel and boarding house people astonish him, and make his
 hair stand up under his hat. Late at night, tired and sleepy he goes to hotel, where he gets an enormous supper and then goes out again. He sees light and hears the sound off voices in the upper rooms of large building, and thlnging that 1t is some kind of show he goes up and is astonished to see a lot of men handling flat pieces of bone. Pretty l soon he goes up to beautiful wheel
 where men are putting the flat pieces of bones on numbers. He watches with interest. He soon realizes he is in gambling house and remem- bering to have heard his father tell how he once beat a game in New Orleans, he invests few dimes and wins. His eyes sparkle. He wins ten dollars and draws out, and going from the room of fever heated excite
 ment down into the open air, he con graduates himself upon his success and inwardly declares that the town people are not sharp enough for him. He has come to sustain his neigh 1 borhood and to avenge her wrongs and he is going to do it. He takes few drinks at barrel house, and believing that he is superior to the occasion, he takes few more and goes back to the gambling house. He plays again and wins. Then he takes drink with the urbane gen tleman who spins the wheel. He loses, and takes another drink. Fret ty soon the crowd seems to have multiplied. Two wheels go around and two urbane gentlemen order drinks. He loses again. His ten dollars are gone. He changes in' five, which disappear. He hasn't hut ten more but he changes in'' again. "Well, believe 1'm about broke," he at length exclaims in broken accents. But he is not dis couraged, for he knows that he can beat the game, and he is going to stand up for his neighborhood. He goes around the room advertising for a legislative loan, but failing to awaken any decided sensation and, Tn fact, eliciting no sympathy, he goes to wagon yard, where among the mules he declares that he feels more at home. When the legisla- ture meets he proposes "An act en
 titled an act to prevent gambling"