The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1884-08-27
4 Pleasant geminiscence.

1 Pleasant Keminlscence.
Do you know, / have a very, very
pleasant recollection of Mr.. Hendricks ?
The only Mr.. Hendricks i'll the world,
just now, of course. l never met him
out once, and then I had the honor OF
dining with him.
do not mention this fact in order to
create the impression that am on easy,
familiar terms with all the candidates in
this Presidential campaign. | fear l am
not. I'll wanted $500 to-morrow-and l
probably will; at least l want it to-day
and I AM not the man to change my
convictions on financial matters in "A
hours-I do not know a single candidate
for President or vice-President whom
l could, 80 to speak, strike for that
amount.
Well, Mr.. Hendricks had the honor Of
dining with me-that is, we dined with
each other. 1t was this way. l had
been lecturing, after the count" of 1876,
out in the vast, free, glorious West. l
was Fastening home to Burlington, over
the c. B. & @. On the same day Mr..
Hendricks was OH his way to California.
Both day trains on the Q. road dined at
Wormley's. at Charlton, Iowa. Mr..
Wormley met me at the door Of the din
ing-roo with even more than usual
cordiality. He said to me:
"Good. l have company for you to-
day. Come right over to this table,"
followed him and faced a gentleman
SO much better looking than his cam
paign portraits that / did not recognize
Mr.. Hendricks until we were introduced.
His face was very attractive. His man.
ner was no less charming. was pleased
that fate had cast me in his way. That
is, was at first. He was 80 pleasant. 1
liked him. Early in the course of bril-
liant conversation about the weather he
said:
"You are the young gentleman who
writes the poetry on the Hawkeye, l be-
lieve" And you never saw more be-
witching smile on mans face. -,
Now, that was the very thing ! didn't
want to talk about. had been writing
whole pages Of campaign 'p"etry." they
call it in the Hawkeye, but, you under
stand, that excellent family paper wasn't
exactly a democratic paper. Not just
what you'd call Democratic paper. At
least it was no more Democratic than the
most rantankerous, rally round the flag,
boys, third term Hayes and the whole
ticket, Republican paper of Republican
Iowa coula he expected to be. 1t was
Just about as Democratic as the Eagle is
Republican. And I knew what kind OF
'poetry," had been writing. I fidget.
ted little, poured spoonful Of sugar in
my SOUP and owned up that was the
man. Then asked him how long he
expected to remain in California ?
He told me, and then said !:
There was one little poem"-now see
how kind he was, he called it poem
'There was one little poem you wrote
beginning There was on old Hoosi-r al
I've heard tell'-now, how did the res
of that eO?:''
Go? 1t went for him, tooth, claw anG
toe nail. and knew it and l believe he
knew it. feebly said, II don't remem
ber,' emptied the salt into my coffee and
"hoped he would find rest and returning
health in California" also hoped that
/ would die in few moments, but dldn'
| zay 80. He thanked me in his courteous
! manner for the wish expressed, AM
then went Oh.
There was another, good one; ] cal
recollcct only the second stanza: how die
the first one rum"
And Herewith he quoted few line
Of the meanest thing ever wrote abou
any man. While he quoted my priz
poem pretending to forget the stanz
that referred to himself I was confused
but seemed abstracted, as spread fiv'
very thick layers Of mashed potato OF
my folded napkin. under the impression
that l was spreading piece Of bread an
butter. I said l wasn't very well whel
l wrote that one, and had quite forgot
ten it Then attempted to wipe tn
cold, beaded perspiretion from my brow
with that napkin and added to my em
barrassment, must have appeared EN-
barrassed, or eccentric, am sure.
Well, the long and short Of it is, Mr.
Hendricks remembered every meal
poem l had written about Mr.. Tildel
and himself during that bitter campaign
and he could quote just enough of tn
innocent, good-natured lines Of each on
to show me that he had read it. neve
saw a man with such memory. hope
he enjoyed his dinner think he die
He ate heartily and smiled good-natul
edly all the time, and he bade me good
bye very pleasantly.
am confident I showed of to goo
advantage. II I did, l dissembled.
didn't feel that way at all, but didn
run. I sat there and took my punisf
ment like man. When Mr.. Hendrick
went to his train I arose and sought M
Wormley, to tell him about it. He wa
lying on the floor behind the cigar cour
ter, wheeling and choking like a ma
who is trying to laugh himself to dealt
began to get mad. I said:
"See here, Wormley-"
He feebly motioned me away. "rrai
tine," he gasped. go to Burlington;
awav Let me die in peace"
turned away and got on my train.
did wrong. ] ought to have licke
Wormley while he was helpless. 1t WI
the only chance 1 eyer had. And
never dined again with Mr.. Hendricks.
! Burdette, in Brooklyn Eagle.