The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-01-03
YE OLDEN TIMES.
QUEER CUSTOMS OF YORE IN
ENGLISH ELECTIONS.
Two Weeks of Canvassing. and the Can
didates All Wore Certain Colors to
Distinguish Themselves BY.
An Interesting Review
of Those Times.

III uayS OF electlOneering candidate
adopted certain colors. For Give, scarle
and purple; crimson for Paulet, sky blu
and yellow for Salway. Every draper an,
mercer in the town, says Home and Coun
try, according to his party, was commits
stoned to supply, free of charge, am
number of rosettes, at the expense of tn,
candidate, and during the contest Their,
was not man, woman, child or baby o.
the 5000 individuals who constituted tn,
town and borough of Ludlow who did no
display the colors of their respectiv,
party.
The canvassing" lasted more than G
fortnight, and during this time the can
didates called personally upon every
voter, the total number of which, as fan
as l can remember, was only $50.
The candidate usually presented his
card, upon which was inscribed his name
thus: Mr.. Henry Give solicits your vote
and interest" In every case the aspirin
candidate and his agent were admitted
by the good woman of the house, when il
was the candidates duty to use every pos.
sible influence to gain the interest" of
the whole family so as to secure the vote
of its male representative.
The wife was flattered, the baby was
kissed and large promises of favors were
made. My father was an eccentric agent
in the Tory interest, and l have often lis
tened to stories he would tell Of the way
in which the reluctant free and indie
pendent electors" could be induced to
promise their votes. Mrs. Browns hus-
band was q burgess, or freeman of the
town and her two sons having attained
their majority, were burgesses also; con-
sequently Mrs. Browns Interest" pep
resented three votes. And it was an open
secret in those days that the votes of bur-
gesses were always in the market. Both
"Warming-pan Give" and his colleague
had called upon Mrs. Brown, kissed the
baby, and had done all those necessary
things which We're calculated to influence
the free and independent" vote of the
Brown family. But Mrs. b. was unres-
ponsive, and the electioneering party
were leaving the house somewhat dis
couraged when one of the agents, a sharp
and shrewd lawyer of the town, espied a
little puppies in the corner of the room.
Taking hold of three of the little dogs,
he affixed the scarlet and purple ribbon
of the Tory candidate to the necks of the
animals, and said:
"Now, Mrs. Brown, our friend Mr..
Give would like to purchase these three
little dogs for ten guineas apiece, if you
will cali them Give" Mrs. Brown re-
piled: "Certainly, sir, provided Mr.
Give will get one of my boys a position
I'M the London Excise Office" Mrs.
Browns demands we're complied with;
the three little dogs were purchased for
the modest sum of thirty guineas, and
Mrs. Browns interest was secured.
Brown the elder and the two younger
Browns, who were free and lndepend-
ent burgesses," voted straight for Give
at the polls.
My father was not so fortunate with
five loyal burgesses, whom he invited 10
his place in the country and RECALLED with
champagne suppers Tor fortnight, an
in the Tory interest; for when he brought
the hve independent electors 10 the
polls every man OF the nVe voted lof
the wing candidate we are very sorry,
sir, sad the hVe dellnquents, nut the
colonels agent purchased over your
heads.
Inc eiectlons IN nose tlnes lasted three
days Ihefe was the nomination DAY, the
polilhS dly ana tne chalrinS Jay
IN the DAY OF NOMINATION., an elevated
platform, known as the MUSINGS, was
erected IN the market place, upon winch
the mayor OF the borough TOOK Ihe chalr,
WIN Wafmlng-pan CllVe ana Lofd VIII
way on MS lett. AT the command OF the
mayor the town crer called Tor silence,
ana the Town clerk read the mandate Tor
the eiection. line clndidates were then
proposed and seconded IN due form, and
theh, III the midst Oh mucn interruption,
addressed thelr CONSTITUENTS MT. henry
CilVe was received with a certain degree
OF respectful enthusiasm. But when Lord
Wiliiam Faulet commenced ms speech q
tall man stepped Forward, hoidlng a hlgh
pole, upon Wmich was placed Il red ana
Dlue supper. Ihese articles were supposed
TO represent an ODD par OF slippers winch
The notde lord had stolen from II shop in
BaysWater. The Tory member was greet.
ed with the cry, VINO stole the slippers!
But Lord William was not III the least
disconnected, and said: Gentlemen.
have not the least recollection of the in
cident, but l know the free and independ-
ent electors of Ludlow are II perfectly
truthful community of men, and if you
say | stole the slippers, l certainly must
have done so. But unfortunately one was
scarlet and the other was purple, which
am glad to find are the colors of my
friend and colleague. Mr.. Henry
Give. | stole the slippers, but Mr.. Henry
Give has stolen your hearts, and tomorrow
at the polls we both intend to steal your
votes" Lord Paulet's speech took imme-
date effect, for the crowd soon began to
beat the head of the intruder with the
Slippers which he had brought i'm upon the
pole. Colonel Saway commenced his
speech by assuring the people that the
Liberal cause would give Them n choon
loaf. A popular statement. which was i'm.