The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-03-14
Hopes Not Realized.
Editor Mirror:

| The departure of his eXcellency, Gov. A.
R. McGill has caused the boys in the tailor
and shoe shops and store room bitter disap-
pointment. Friday morning the appearance
of the flag caused us much surmise. Some
of us thought that the Fourth OF July had
come earlier. on account of presidential cleo
ton, than usual this year. while others held
that the flag had been up late and was locked
out In the midst of the arguments which
ensued, Earnest appeared. He had two
buckets of hot water, bucket of soap, a
mop and scrubbing brush about his person,
and wore an expression of now or never"
''Sidetrack your work, boys. and fix up. for
the governor is coming" The crowd scat
tered, and while Earnest was playing with
the mop Oh the floor and the Basket was
dancing with some hot water on his desk,
all the brOoms were going in the shops and
each man save Harry H. was adding his
clearings to the rapidly increasing pile of
debris. Harry II. had a dictionary and a
sheet of paper writing his pardon. In his
hurry he wrote Freddy" instead of Harry
but Colby, who is envious of Harry's locks,
told him to ''let her go Gallagher. The
governor likes plain. unvarnished facts even
in a name" This pardon is conditional, in
asmuch as H. H. promised to leave Mime
sofa and 90 into the cranberry business in
Dakota
After all the sweepings were burned, we
each got an elegant shave and each, with
the exception of Eric. combed his hair.
Eric looked for wig, but as he could not
find One said it was the proper thing to keep
ones hat on in the presence of the governor
and it showed sand" too. We then con-
cluded to not only surprise, but please his
eXcellency with our intellect, appearance.
order and behavior, and elected a COM
mittee of three to receive him. Nelson was
appointed chairman. We made him thus
CONSPICUOUS. fearing that otherwise his eX-
cellency might not see him until he
had walked over him. Nelson's welcome
was to begin: Governor, we welcome you
to the territory" closing with I'VE wish you
many happy returns" meaning. of course,
election returns. Then each man in the
shops being an expert in his particular line.
was to explain in detail the intricacies of
his particular machine.
The reception arrangement were COM
plete. Each man knew exactly what to dO
and when to do it.
The degrees of applause which Nelson's
speech was to bring forth were marked.
Everytime he said "er-er" the applause
was to be deafening, and ''vve lie gOuver-
neur' was to ring throughout the shops.
Cries of "here here" were to follow his re-
marks about ''innocents condemned" etc.
Earnest suggested backing our shoes.
Backing was scarce, so we blackened
simply the toes of our shoes, and were to
stand with our back to the wall.
Mike devoted quite while to Stuffng his
clothes so as to look fat, while Peterson
looked wise and scared. Harry's pardon
was complete with the exception of A. r.
McG's signature and the poor boy was try
ing TO ascertain whether Dakota was a
state, county, township, or a booming myth.
when Uncle ''Blly" blew his whistle. call
ing us to dinner.
After dinner we sat in groups, discussing
the effect of high license on the tobacco
crop. the best plan of preventing the water
from freezing in our earthen jars with tops
to them, and the probability of pardOns.
Silence then reigned broken occasionally
by piece of disguised ice which would fall
from the roof When the first piece fell
Carl whispered, ''Theres the governor; |
recognize his walk Time dragged but no
governor appeared.
DeWinkle asked what a real live governor
looked like. Clark replied that he wore a
plug hat and buckles on his shoes, and just
as Eldred asked, lis that alp" the whistle
blew. Mike pulled out his Stuffing. Reddy
tore his pardon into small communications,
and with saddened hearts we trailed to the
main building. Ernest had the last say,
Boys. this is a put-up job. They only
wanted us to clean up" Wheeler was to
escort his excellency to the laundry. intro
duce him first to Wun Lung and then to the
other Lung, after which he was to assist in
rubbing down Nelson. He had his legs
spiked for the occasion.
Our disappointment is bitter but as days,
months and years follow each other in rapid
succession we are cOnsOled in the thought
that not long hence we may be governors,