The advocate., 1895-06-05

courage such sbsurdIties when you are man of
birth and fortuneP You perplex me greatly"
"Well, let that pass. Forgive my seeming wicked
nes and go on with your explanation of The robbers
cave secrecy of your great convention"
Gertrude had been listening to her uncle's re-
marks with the keenest satisfaction and had smiled
with such evident enjoyment on two or three occa-
sions that her father had deemed it necessary to
severely frOWn at her levity. But when Reuben
spoke of 'the robberscaVe secrecy" of the conven-
ton she could restrain herself no longer and laughed
outright
Gertrude leave the room this Instant exclaimed
the froWning merchant, pointing to the partition
door and violently stamping his foot She obeyed,
but continued to laugh snd seated in the next room
close to the partition, continued to listen STILL,
"It was necessary" continued the merchant after
this interruption, "thst we should in some way get
back from the propertyless masses the too much lib
erty surrendered to them by the state constitutions
and get the power back into the hands of the class to
whom it rghtfully belongs to rule. In Short it was
necessary to bring these people under subjection by
establishing strong government of which we, not
they, should retain control. And the very first bust
ness which engaged the attention of the convention
was the formulation of the new federal government
federation was not even mentioned. The cOnven.
tion understood its business Now suppose this had
come to the of the Vulgsr-the propertyess and
those hopelessly in debt What you spoke of would
certainly have occurred there would have been riots
and the convention would have been dispersed. Per-
haps the delegates would not have escaped with their
lives Hence, secrecy was Indispensable Even then,
as the convention sat so lOng-mOre than three
months in all-the people began to become suspic-
ious and excited, and there would have been serious
trouble had it not been for their perfect confidence
in General Washington's integrity and patriotism" !"
"And your noble Washington was repaying their
sublime confidence by betrsying them! l knew 1
had not mistaken the old fox's character"
"Reuben, beg of you desist from such remarks.
/ Were you not my own brother would not endure
such aspersiOus of that noble mans character"
81 beg thousand pardons, Isaac. must have
misunderstood you. thought you said the conVen
tiOn locked itself in and pledged itself to secrecy be-
cause it was scheming to steal from the common
people some Of the liberty they enjoyed. And fur
ther understood you that Washington was the chief
of the potters, while the deluded people put such
trust in his uprightness that they refrained from
hanging the pirates If | was wrong about this"
A gggle from the other side of the partition.
Gertrude, retire to your room this instantP ex
claimed the merchant, with knitted broWs, as he
strided with heavy, determined and angry tread TO
the partltl0n door. There was rush and lying
giggle and the rreyeTant listener had disappeared
But her room was directly overhead and the chin
ney enabled her to hear we'll enough and by stufng
handkerchief in her mouth, very much in the style
of the young woman of to-day, she tried to prevent
further parental evaporation The interruption had
however, been God-send to the furious merchant
for it spared him the impossible task of answering
his brothers rather truthful remarks. He now
feigned oblivion, and, returning, began:
"Let me see. Where was L? Oh, yes. Well, the
convention finally formulated a constitution al
though of the delegates refused to sign it, and
it submitted to the congress to be submitted to
the States for ratification or reecton and it having
been so submitted party excitement is running high
| for and against adoption"
won't the people overwhelmingly vote against
tp have been wondering how the convention ex-
ton. When does the election occur?"
delegates are to be elected in"
| "DetegoteS? thought the delegates had already
met and framed constitution. thought you said
\ manila tO ONyOtn kha