Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-04-30

show, entered. AS has been said, he was
not used to primary meetings, and he went
in. Once in, it was like all other meet.
ings, though not very large. There were
200 men there, of whom he did not recog-
nize three. The president was man who
once tried to sell him horse. The mayor
was making a speech, and Clipsham sup
posed from this that that officer had been
frightened and was trying to get good, d"
as the children say But whether he knew
them or not, they knew him Thvee or
four SLOWLY dressed men met him and
led him to the front seat, and expressed
their pleasure at his presence. In mo.
ment after, the Mayors motion was car
ried, and committee was sent out-nomi-
mated from list which had been prepared
in his office that afternoon-to suggest Il
ticket for aldermen.
Then 1t was that another man, who had
been also drinking rather more than was
good for him, arose and said that they
were honored by the presence of gentle
man whom they had often heard i'm public,
and who was known to be interested in all
public affairs, and that he hoped Mr.. Clip
sham would address them on the great
issues before them, and all the people
shouted: "Clipsham Clipsham ~ Why
he was there the leaders wondered, but
in their own low way, they supposed that
he had quarreled with John Fisher and his
set, and had come over to them to see what
they would give him.
The truth was, as the reader sees, that
he had come to Il meeting which was one
day earlier than the meeting he meant to
come to.
Clipsham himself did not hear the man
who poke and did not know what they
were shouting at. But when another man
came to lead him to the platform he knew
what that meant, and he stepped up and
sailed in. And capital speech he made.
1t was that speech which put him into
/ -l,at p.,l
| think he had been in very public life be
fore. He was pleased at being called upon
so early he was pleased that he was rec
| ognlzed as in some sort a leader, and he
said to himself, as he mounted the steps,
and this was what he had come for, and
that if they wanted him to lead he had
better lead. He did not quite know what
to do or say about the mayor. For here
was the mayor at his side. If he had re-
pented of the dirty job he had been in,
Clipsham thought he would let him off,
and he did. But he did not let off any
body else in that meeting. He exposed,
from cellar to cupola, the disgraceful jobs
about building the new school house OPP.
posite Prue Wintergreen's house, and the
| unkind audience howled with delight as
they saw Alderman Bob Lyon and Coun-
Gilman Bill Stuggs held up under Clip
sham's pitiless ridicue One of the zen
| tlemen had led him to his stand and the
]
Clipsham did not know them from Adam.
| Clipsham could see that the assembly was
! Il lOWlived set, and mad enough was he
with Fisher and the rest who had signed
the call and then staid comfortably at
home So, after dissecting every nasty
| job which his hearers had been engaged
in, for five years, to the bottom, he closed
with Il really eloquent denunCiatiOn of the
indifference of the educated men and the
holders of property in the management of
the affairs of the city. His own conscience
pricked him, as has been said, and he
spoke all the better for that. The closing
| passage, where he describes the rich manu-
facturer who could not sign his name, if a
public school had not taught him, and
could not squeeze on payroll If Il public
school had not taught him, yet who, when
he is rich and prosperous, will not go to q
meeting which cares for the school, and
does not know a schoolmaster when he
meets him in the streets, has gone into
the spelling books. And if you will go tc
the graduation exercises of the Lavina
academy you will hear it spoken.
Well that fine fellow held that angry
assembly by mere force of audacity and
truth, and they did not even remember
that they could pelt him to death with
their private gin bottles and other pocket
pistols" When he had finished his speech
he did not wait to hear what followed
He did not care to hear the Kisses MOI
curses He did see the scOwls, but he haC
not supposed that everybody would like
his speech. He bowed himself away from
the hall, and in half an hour he was asleeE
in his birth as his train started for the
West.
BY great good luck it happened that the
chief short hand man of a newspaper un
friendly to this crew had been sent to ''do'
the meeting. 1t was supposed that {
square or two of "matter' would be al
the result of his DTODinp of such An ulcer
But he caught the position IN an instant
He wrote down every word of CQpsham'
speech, and the next morning Tamwortl
and the State had it all. Such headlines
BILL STUGGS ENLIGHTENED!