Middletown transcript., 1897-01-30

/ AIs Yl Ill lie nhCulu1 VI
: :. : : !. !. :: ! !. ! ! ! ! !.
i kiEIA one of the political
! | H1lH %11@l parties OF Butte
81 W\-N County was al
II MI k. III work. The wheel
l AIER M ~ horses of the or
/ H-f&h FIAiIlA ganlzation were in
i & %Rl ~ executive session,
! @ANI A1N\ and the manufac-
i ALI r. ture of y s'slate'
i for the ratification of the county con-
vention was in progress. Everything
had been settled without friction up to
a certain point, but here the making
Of candidates came toa full stop. Some
one must be selected to run for Super
intendent of schools, and some one else
must be found who was 0isintere sted
enough to stand for the place of county
Surveyor, with she nominal emolu-
ments pertaining thereto. This latter
problem was settl,d, after brief dis
cussion, Iby the powers insisting that
AL. Wood, the incumbent, who was
present, must stand for reelection,
whether he liked it or not; but duly
qualified candidate for superintendent
of Schools was not SO easily found.
The man who had held that position
for two years past had the bad taste to
give up his Office and his grasp on life
at the same time, only two weeks be-
fore. thus leaving his party in a guam
dary for candidate to succeed him.
OF course there were plenty of aspirants
for the nomination, but most of them
were unavailable for reasons political
and the candidate must be a person
who was popular with the voters of
the country.
Jimmie" Van Vert, the handsome
young assayer of the Spread Eagle Mill
had been sitting in a dark corner of the
office in which the conference was be-
ing held. smoking quietly and saying
very little until now; but he finally
put in his oar long enough to suggest
that Professor" Striker, the young
principal of the local school, would
make good man for the Office.
"Ya-as," assented Judge Bullock,
the venerable Justice of the Peace,
sbut they don't know him out in th'
kentry, an we got t. have some feller
th,t en- ketch th' aoutside vote. Now,
Jimmie, look yere. What's the matter
with you runnin' FIR super'ntend mt
y'rself?''
"Don't get me mixed in on deal
like thatp calculated Van Vert fer
Vently. 81 don't want any old Office.
I've got troubles enough now.n
But Judge Bullock's suggestion met
with unanimous approval on the part
| of all the others present, and, very
much against his will, Mr.. Van Vert
was slated for the nomination, and
duly placed In nomination by the con-
yention few days later. It wasl two
weeks before he found out what sort
of an opponent he was to have, and
then, much to his disgust, he learned
that the other party bad nominated q
girl.
This was almost enough to make
him throw up the canvass. The idea
Of the other fellows thinking that be
could be beaten by a woman. Then he
consoled himself with the reflection
that they knew they couldn't beat him,
and bad merely put up this Miss Smith
TO act as a forlorn hope. Thenceforth
he did not put much activity into his
canvass, bat attended to his business
pretty much as usual, serene in the be-
liei that the voters of Butte County
were not yet arrived at the stage of
progression when they would permit
a woman to hold Office. And all this
time, be it known, this heretofore un-
known and mysterious Miss Smith was
becoming known to the voters of the
county, and what was more, she was
winning good deal of support from
sources upon which Van Vert conf
IDENTIFY counted.
It lacked only about ten days of
Il Election Day when Van Vert, with d
sudden shock, came to his senses. Two
or three things had occurred to
detract from his over confidence. Among
these was the avowal on the part of
several personal and political friends
Of their intention to support Miss
Smith, giving as their reasons that she
had good record as an educator, and
was without doubt well qualified for
the Office; that she wanted the Office,
and was making hard fight for it;
and that Van Vert didn't want 1t and
didn't need it. On top of this he was
informed that his opponent had been
out In the 'scow districts" and had
the COW boy vote pretty well .scinched. y
This cheering announcement came
from two or three OF the "bossess who
called on him to see il he didn't think
it worth while to get out and save bis
political scalp by "rustlingn like the
rest Of the candidates. "We'll have
the committee FIX some dates for you
Ito speak, and you've got to Gil 'em,
Jimmie; if you don't you're q gone
goose,n said they.
So, with the inward fear that be
might, after all, be defeated, Van
Vert began in earnest the effort te
save himself. He did not care for the
ofice, but he dreaded defeat at the
hands Of a woman, being one of tbs
. kind OF men who do not believe the
gentler sex has any business in politics
Hepictured Miss Smith as big. gaunl
red-haired, self assertiye person, witt
J large red hands and q snappy way o.
speaking and was quite surprised t.
learn that she was really very lady
like vounc tvonoans thinning the bean