The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-02
VANDERSON'S VOTE.
a Boys Experience as q Country
Politician.

! IL naQ Deed q not political cam pd1Sn.
Ali over the state brass bands were
playing, cannon were firing, illumina.
lions were glaring and four. hundred
and twenty-seven stump speakers were
delivering every night four hundred
and twenty-seven addresses. The har-
angIes were at once ringing, electri.
flying masterpieces of eloQuence," TO
quote the reporters who agreed with
their sentiment-and Tissues of div.
cling mendecity, to quote the re-
porters who did not agree. The -four
hundred and twenty-seven mass meet
ings were each "a grand outpouring OF
an aroused people" Or ''e small. SPIN.
itless gathering of disheartened delna.
gogues"-quoting as before.
In almost every town rival conpa-
mics of Jones Guards" Smith Ran.
gers" and Thompson Centinentals,
arrayed IN uniforms that did not fit,
and carrying torches that dripped with
oil, scufded through dust, splashed
through mud, and despatched them,
selves with kerosene.
They raised flags, seTenaded eandi
dates and escorted all sorts of distin-
guished statesmen from nowhere In
particular TO everywhere in general,
and back again.
Then the newspapers! How they
mailed lies" exposed conspiracies, "
tore off masks" and "held up to pub
lie execration," proving ''irrefuta bly,
that their own side had, and would
have, all the virtue and victory, and
the other all the vice and vanquish-
ment!
Our village of New Nicopolis had
every req uisite for a lively CANVASS
two halls, two newspapers, two bands
and two aspirants for every Office.
| Moreover the. town was so evenly d.
vided politically that no candidate
could reasonably expect q majority of
more than three or four votes.
! AS the struggle drew near it's end.
men became so excited and enthuSias-
! tic that business was almost at a
standstilL No one thought or dreamed
OF anything bat politics. The men
| spent more time at the taveYns than
in their shops, and hammered harder
on grocery counters than they did on
their anvils- The women were divided
into two olasses-those who quarreled
every time they met, and those who
wouldn't speak to each other at all.
OF course we boys initiated oNr ekd-
era We attended every meeting,
marched In every procession, and got
mp meetings and professions of our
own in our patriotic ardor. We en-
gagged in ceaseless discussions which
were none the less hot and intoleraut,
because, as a general thing, neither of
the disputants had the slightest idea OF
what he was talking about
Going out on the streets alone was
like taking little promenade on
highwRymcn; and on the evenings of
opposition mass meetings my return
from the post office was often in imita-
ton Of the British retreat from Con-
cord.
Now election day was here. We were
assured that victory was in the air,
and about to perch upon our banner.
Victory seemed to be regarded as
bird of some kind, bat whether it
would turn out al engle or a crow
eagle for the winners, crow for the
losers-Do one could tell
If my participation in the campaign
had hitherto been merely sympathetic,
was happy in knowing that youth,
like old age, had on this day it's honor
and its toll. Though / could not vote
myself, could bring Indifferent or dis
Rbled citizens TO the pc LIS with my own
pet colt and buggy.
The first ballot put into the box at
Town Hall was thrown by old Jenny
Grant, the lame cobbler, whom / had
dragged out of his stall az seven
o'clock in the morning, that he might
do his whole duty as free American
and TO keep Fred Craudall from get
ting at him first. Fred was active for
the hostile camp, and if his slow-paced
family horse could not make as many
trips as nv Knox three-year-old,y yet he
brought three times as much freight
when he did come, being provided with
a two-seRted beach wagon, while my
buggy had room for but one passenger.
Fred was a boy of the most irritst-
ing audacity and enterprise, and he
possessed, moreover. the advantage of
knowing nearly every voter by sight and
each mans political opinions by heort
Consequently he lost no time in asking
for information where to go or whom
TO bring, while | required great deal
of direction and advice
All day long the contest went on,
lot IN fbAra
a man in the whole town of
New Nicopohs who had not voted; but
as ballots became fewer the anxiety in
creased. for the check books showed
almost an equality between the part YES
Even my father began to grow
nervous. and the politicians rushed !
a bout like lunatics. One Of them sud- |
denly ran up to me.
"Rere, Charley" exclaimed he. |
Drive out on the north road rs fast as |
you can go, and bring in Vanderson- |
at the red house next beyond the |
bridge"
/ whirled my horse around without 1
waiting for more. The rest Of what
ever the politician had 70 say was lost /
in the rafting OF the wheels as dashed .
down the road at twelve miles an hour;
but the colt had gone too far and too
fast that DAY TO keep up such gait.
AMI soon reluctantly allowed him 70
take an easy jog trot
Fred Crandall Suddenly dashed sy
with q fresh steed. which | recognized
as DR.. Parkcr's new roadster. Things
must be at a desperate pass indeed if
the doctor was willing 70 commit bin
best horse TO such hard-driving Jehu
aS E-edf