News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-10-26

agent of small but select reforr
clique to know if Mr.. Lamberson coul
really be depended upon to adhere t.
the principles announced in his Iette
OF acceptance, for the times were evi
and full of men who professed much bu
did little except go over to the enemy
The new candidate restated his position
in such vigorous language that Mr.. Pa
dian declared himself as delighted be
yond measure, and he insisted thai
Lamberson should take time to go tc
the city with him and meet a member
or two who entertained similar views.
so that between them they might dis.
cuss some plans for stemming the tide
of corruption that threatened to enguli
the party.
Lamberson felt fattered and accepted
the offer. He never would have sus-
pected Padian of being a political re-
former had that gentleman and he
both been residents of the same
county; still, he admitted that
city mems faces were not always indica-
tive of their characters. On reaching
the city Padian lost no time; he had
already communicated by telegraph
with the reform members, so two of
these gentlemen met their prospective
associate at the railway station, and Mr..
Padian took the whole party to lunch in
a private room, and together they be-
came so enthusiastic about reform that
when Padian toasted cold Haullin's s
ghost-confusion to it p they roared
with delight after they had swallowed
bumpers.
Then, to make the evening pass
pleasantly, the two city reform mem
bers insisted on Lamberson and Padian
accompanying them and some lady &C.
quaintances on moonlight drive. Lam
berson did not feel entirely at ease with
city ladies, particularly when they were
as handsome and elegantly dressed as
the couple who were in the carriage
with him and Padian, but these two
ladies made themselves SO very agree
| able that Lamberson soon felt as if he
had known them for years, and when the
party finally drove up to roadside inn
several miles from the city they were
as merry as a lot of lifelong acquaint
ances.
And what supper the reform mem
bers gave the candidate from the in
terror Lamberson had read in city
newspapers of such repasts, but it
seemed too strange to be true that he
was really enjoying one. He was some
what startled at seeing that the ladies
drank as much wine as the men, but as
they seemed to experience no i'll effects,
Iamberson, who was not an advocate of
total abstinence, determined to quote,
wien he returned to his home, this new
illustration of the harmless effects of
wine. He wondered little, too, that
the ladies' husbands-for each lady was
addressed as "Mrs. did not object to
their wives going off with party of
bachelors and married men, but Pad1an
explained that the ladies were all wives
of politicians, generally away from
home, who were personal friends of the
reform members, and were not sorry
when their wives had opportunities for
innocent diversion in good company.
But later in the evening the candidate
was compelled to wonder whether there
might not be grounds for difference of
opinion as to what constituted innocent
diversion. After two or three bottles
of champagne had circulated, the hilar-
ity of the occasion became complicated
Illness. Lamberson was Mortified at
seeing one of the reform members put an
arm around a lady at his right. The
candidate tried not to notice it, but his
own companion, with a merry wink,
called his attention to it, and when the
shocked countryman asked the lady
whether it might not be we'll for him to
call his friends attention to his posi-
ton, the lady laughed so loudly that the
glasses rang, and she told him he was
the funniest man she had ever met.
Then another lady ended some banter
with one of the reform members, who |
was quite a handsome young fellow, by
kissing him, and when the new candi- |
date turned an amazed face toward his |
own companion, he, too, received kiss.
The new candidate wished for
moment that he was at home; then he
determined that perhaps it was as we'll
that he was not, for, he explained to
himself, he was a student of human
nature, and certainly this was phase
of it he never had seen before. Of one
thing he was heartily glad; his wife was
not present, although two hours earlier
he would have given anything to have
her see and enjoy his new acquaint-
ances. Some funny stories, not exactly
the thing for Sunday school books,
began to circulate with the champagne,
and soon the candidate found himself so
in the spirit of all that was going on
objection when his fair companion
drowsily dropped herself upon his breast
and into his arms. He tried for
moment to wish himself at home, but
the effort was failure.
Within few moments, however, he
renewed his effort with complete sue
cess, for two men burst into the room
with pistols in their hands, and rage in
their faces; as the whole party arose,
the intruders accused the candidate and
the reform members of alternating the
affections of their wives. Both of the
accused men protested their innocence,
and so did the ladies, and Mr.. Padian
and the other reform member boldly
denounced the intrusion as an outrage,
but tbs indignant husbands would listen
to no explanation, although Padian
valiantly threw himself in front of the
threatening pistols in defense of his
| friends.
"It's bad affair."" whispered Padian
to the candidate hurriedly; they're
good enough fellows pers onally, but
they're against you politically they've
both lobbied for old Haullin, your pre-
decessor, and they'll spread their story
all over your district, besides making
you pay damages"
"Get me out of the scrape somehow,
if you know them" implored the candi-
date; do it at any price, if they'll keep
quiet. I'd rather they'd kill me right
here than send a story of a woman
scraDe mn to NV district