The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-08-12
En- RourE, June 10 1899

sincere commiseration and tender sym
patty.
Thorns are hid among the flowers
Along the path you tread
Thorns are in the passing hours,
And thoruy is your bed.
You are lin the hands OF you
friends, and they are quietly working
up your boom. Like Caesar, you are
swearing you don't want the crown
but you smile graciouSly on your Anto
MES, who are offering it, The more
you refuse the more they press you 10
receive il and save your country from
wreck aud ruin. You are nervous and
reticent; YOU fear the daggers of Bru-
tus and Cassius. While your friends
are tossing their hats i'm the air and
shouting "Nive Ia Candidate" the low
and the vulgar are "teliu' a pack Of
tales on you. They whisper around
that You are weak in the upper story;
that You are not altogether ahe clean
thing sweetened;' that YOU are deceit
full and totally unreliable; they call
you hog and "buzzard' and NANCY
cur;' the newspapers skin you from
head TO foot, and the little whipper-
snapper politicians make carriou of
your good name. You dare not defend
yourself lest You be branded as a bully.
All you can do is to smile and fight, not
with guns. but with wind. There are
sweet prospects, sweet birds, and
sweet flowers before you, dear caudi-
date. Millions of churches just com
pleted need new bells, and the commit
tee vii. soon wait on you for dOua-
ton, and you must ante up" the
dough- there are also millions of
church organs unpaid for, and of course
the candidate mus. bear his share Of
the burden; book agents will dar5eu
your horizon, and it is your duty TO /.
carry a fountain pen TO facilitate sub /.
scription work; campaign borrowers .
will haunt you, softly whispering in .
your ear: sweet spirit, hear my
prayer You must be ready TO go
security and sign every kind of bond
for your triends;1 you must not vince
when some enthusiastic fool grasps you
by the hand and twists il and squeezes
it until you can hear the bones pop;
you must 60 into ecstasies of laughter
when your intoxicated felIow-citzeu
stops YOU on the street and puts his
arm around your neck and blows your
ear full of corn whisky and tobacco
juice, while he whispers to you a silly
yarn which he has told you a dozen
times before; you must provide your
self with Sunday school speeches, pic
mic addresses, commencement orations,
Fourth Of July pyrotechnics, flaming
eulogies on Thomas jefferson, after
dinner talks at dollar banquets, apos-
trophies TO The Press, extemporaueous
speeches for conventions, tributes to q
music, fights of eloquence on the in
1uence Of women bouquet accept
inces, and side-splitting anecdotes for
men only; you must have all these on
your tOngue-yea, verify, at its very
md; you must carry an affidavit face,
md when you tell political lies, do it .,
With a clear conscience, else the muddy
ook in your eyes viii convict you The
greatest blessing in politics is to pos V
ess the hide of a rhiuoceros, thorn o
roof and dagger-defying; and if you b
ave a kind heart encase it with steel Il
nd hedge it round about with frOwns )
nd dignity. There is nothing like d
ignity as a protection TO the candidate st
Who has no brains. Throw sympathy o
o the dogs, if you would be great" it v,
, looked upon by politicians as sign a
f weakness; and if you have gratitude Il
O your heart, strangle it, for the word m
gratitude is not in the bright Iexi- 81
OF" Of politics. Stern old Andrew Il
OhnsOn drove center when he said A
Gratitude is lively sense of favors to g,
ONE When James &. Blaine was re
Did that a certain prominent gentle in
ian was opposing him in his convass, OF
e said, with a twinkle in his eye; - vt
m surprised TO hear that, for l cannot pl
smember that / ever did him favor"
ut | think Mr.. Blaine went little too
-r, because when 1 was in politics |
,und in my humble career many men u
no appreciated honors conferred upon ",
lem and who have been as true and ",
ithful and kind to me in the evening ~
they were in the morning; and yet p
my little sphere | have had my little ~
VI
Of course somebody has to save the y"
untry, and it might as well be you as ~
~ other patriot | saved it for TWEEN
years, but | now respectfully decline az
save it any longer-mind you, am SIX
1t playing Caesar; l am only humble re
.izen. In my State we have both co
ssar and Pompey, but cannot proph- on
y whether il will be the red or the St
Id which win roll from the block 1t
likely they will profit by the history tin
Rome and divide the empire and its sh
Dry. sll
There are many grave and vital ques- tn
ms which are now confronting the RE
nerican people, and our candidates 81
u be called upon to speak out upon in
EN- all, and the people must speak at pu
2 ballotbox or liberty will perish in.
long fits worshipers. The day is rap. in
y approaching when there will not be
RUNNER on the road. Hundreds Of sic
1usands Of good men who are now
king an honest living by honest work wi
u soon be thrown out Of employ
mt because the trusts are localizing ov,
siness; hundreds Of thousands Of
,orers viii be laid off, because the
sts are crushing the small manufac-
ers; thousands Of merchants now in are
jobbing business will soon wake sol
without a job, because the trusts tea
/ order the retail merchants to buy ing
ectlv from the manufacturers. The the