Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-01-17

clsely as they do, and taking great pains
to provide for. so as to get rid of the most
disagreeable of aft ctiOnate friends first. |
never write upon this subject that the
words of C~Olcridge do not ring in my
ears:
How seldom, friend, a good, great man inherits
Honor and wealth with all its worth and pans,
1t seems a story from the world of spirits,
When any man obtains trat which he merits,
UT any merits that which he obtains"
"ln contradiction.of this, however, let me
quote Carlyle, who says, in speaking of
the action of the French during the revolu-
ton: The people chose, if not the ablest
man, yet the man ablest to be chosen and
THIS tells the secret of success in all cOun-
tries. The man at whom you smile to-day,
wondering what blunder of a free people
elevated him from the ranks may, after all,
betray a power that will amaze you. AS a
rule, the man who wins a victory earns it
and deserves it, if not for his ability and
virtue, then for his pluck and tenacity-in
short, for winning"
Finally his patience exhausted. the can
dldate for office concludes to go up to the
senate and have a genuine row with his
senator. Perhaps this incident may sug-
gest the proper course to some of the sena-
tors disappointed constituents. Said John
Billings:
My friend was a member of the upper
house. AS Il consequence | spent my time
in the haii and on the stairs OF the senate. |
remember very well with what confidence
and dignity | sent in my first card and with
what trembling ana dif1idence | sent in my
last. The first timc my senator came out
at once with a smile. He shook hands
with me and talked of various home mat
tiers. The last time he sent word that he
was engaged, but if | was a mind to wait
he would see me after a while.
"Ah, how often | had waited, waited
with a guilty look and tried to seem en-
pIo,yed about something when | met a cas-
ull acquaintance, aShamed to be hanging
ON to the skirts of power. But now it had
come to a crisis. Desperation nerved me,
and | secuted all shame. Two hours |
paced up and dow4 the corridor until at
scene of a few moments. | told him my
claims and his promises; my services and
their promised recognition. | not only had
asked too much, he said, but was imperti-
nent, and then | threw his promises back
at him, and den0uncing him in bitter Ian.
hausted patience, and left the building. |
stood for a moment on the threshold of the
vast pile, and then l vowed. come what
might, want, misery, starvation itself, nev-
er to seek or ask for office more.
"Mingling with my bitterness was a feel
ing of hatred toward the party which | had
helped to elevate, and l resolved to vent
my spite against the organization as well
as individual members of it. | said to the
general, This is my last effort. From
this time toward Ill starve or beg on the
streets, if you please, but no more there.
The party that will treat its supporters so
deserves annihilation. | am only one,
but so far as my vote and my influence
can go, it shall be toward defeating and
destroying san organization so base and
ungrateful.'
This organization of mel that we call a
narty." said the general gIravely, sis one in
which we have trusted. In the days of our
deepest sOlicitude the members of that
party did not stop to inquire as to who
should have the fattest places or the
highest honor. They were banded to-
gether By a pure motive and a lOftier am
bition. A hundred men do not compose it.
1t is m de up of honest hearts and patriotic
souls throughout the union.'
The young man did not abandon his
party, but he concluded to surrender am
bition and drop out of political life alto
gether. lie had run out of money, the
general was mortally i'll, and the younger
man apprenticed himself to the Washing
ton bricklayer with whom he lived, Daniel
w. Sampson by name, to earn money
enough to keep the couple alive. The
poor old general died. The young eX-poli-
tician buried him decently on Georgetown
Heights and then went back to his trowel.
But the senator's hero got back into pO-
litical life under peculiar conditions. He
took part while a brick mason in a num
Der of exciting meetings held in Washing
ton, and became Il prominent figure in the
central so iety. He was a good talker, and
soon came into demand as a lecturer for
laboring mems organizations, and eX-
changed his occupation as a brick mason
for that of platform orator. lie visited
many large cities and some small ones,
among the latter the little town of F.,
in Indiana, from whence he had come to
Washington. Here he was introduced as
'our talented fellow-citiZen, who has grown
up among us and signaliZed himself by I'M
dertaking the fight of the weak against
The strong in the very citadel of tyranny"
There was no organized WOrkingman's
party in his old Indiana district, but there
were many earnest sympathiZers with the
labor movement, and these largely iDtlu-
enced the dominant party in favor of his
nomination for congress-. lie got it Oh the
second ballot and was elected with a
WhOOp.
He hurried to Washington and had
rather a triumphal time in the marble pile
where he had been SO cruelty thrown
down. He only served one term, and then,
disguised with the whole business of poll.
tics, returned to his old home and settled
down to private life. The senator closes
his story with this paragraphs:
las L lay down my pen the hustle of all
approaching presidential conflict invades
even the quiet retreat where l sit, and tells
me that though my race for office has
ended, another has begun"