The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-08-11
EN- ROUTE, June 10, 1899.

pathy.
Thorns are hid among the flowers
Along the path you tread,
Thorns are in the passing hours,
And thorny is your bed.
You are ''in the hands of your
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 to
receive it and save your country from
wreck and ruin. You are nervous and
reticent; you fear the daggers of Bru-
tus and Cassius While your friends
are tossing their hats in the air and
shouting "Vive la Candidate!' the low
and the vulgar are ''tellin' pack of
tales" on you. They whisper around
that you are weak in the upper story;
| that you are not altogether the 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-
|
| your good name. You dare not defend
yourself, lest you be branded as bully
All you can do is to smile aud fight, not
| with guns, but with wind. There arc
sweet prospects, sweet birds, and
| sweet flowers" before you, dear candi-
date. Millions of churches just COM
pleted need new bells, and the commit
tee will soon wait on you for a dona-
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 darken
your horizon, and it is your duty to
carry 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;' you must not vince
when some enthusiastic fool grasps you
by the hand and twists it and squeezes
it until you can hear the bones pop;
you must go into ecstasies of laughter
when your intoxicated fellow citizen
stops you on the street and puts his
arm around your neck and blows your
ear full of corn whisky and tobacco
juice, while be whispers to you silly
yarn which he has told you a dozen
times before; yOa must provide your
self with Sunday school speeches, pic
mic addresses, commencement OrationS,
Fourth of July pyrotechnics, flaming
eulogiCS on Thomas jefferson, after
dinner talks at dollar banquetS, apos-
trophies to The Press, '.eXtemporaneous
speeches for conventions. tributes to
music, flights of eloquence on the in
iuence of women, bouquet accept
ances, and side-splitting anecdotes for
men only; you must have all these on
your tOngue-yea, verify, at its very
end; you must carry an affidavit face,
and when you tell political lies, do it
with a clear conscience, else the muddy
look in your eyes will convict you. The
greatest blessing in politics is to pos
sess the hide of rhinoceros, thorn
proof and dagger-defying and if you
have a kind heart encase it with steel
and hedge it round about with frowns
and dignity. There is nothing like
dignity as protection to the candidate
who has no brains. Throw sympathy
10 the dogs, if you would be great" it
is looked upon by politicians as sign
of weakness; and if you have gratitude
in your heart, strangle it, for the word
gratitude" is not in the bright lexi-
con" of politics. Stern old Andrew
johnson drove center when he said:
Gratitude is lively sense of favors to
come" When James G.. Blaine was
told that a certain prominent gentle
man was opposing him in his convass,
he said, with twinkle in his eye: =.
am surprised to hear that, for l cannot
remember that l ever did him a favor"
But l think Mr.. Blaine went little too
far. because when | was in politics l |
found in my humble career many men |
who appreciated honors conferred upon |
them. and who have been as true and |
faithful and kind to me in the evening
as they were in the morning; and yet |
in my little sphere l have had my little |
Brutuses.
of course somebody has to save the |
country, and it might as well be you as !,
any other patriot. 1 saved it for TWEEN
ty years, but l now respectfully decline |
to save it any longer-mind you, / am |
not playing Cesar; am only a humble |
citizen. In my State we have both |
Cesar and Pompey, but l cannot proph- |
esy whether it will be the red or the /
bald which will roll from the block. 1t .
= T;I-a1,- +Ia,- ,,-;ll v,roEf h. Az l;e@
of Rome and divide the empire and its
glory.
There are many grave and vital ques-
tons which are now confronting the
American people, and our candidates
will be called upon to speak out upon
them all, and the people must speak at
the ballotbox or liberty will perish
among its wcrshipers. The day is rap
idly approaching when there will not be
a drummer on the road. Hundreds of
thousands of good men who are now
making an honest living by honest work
will soon be thrown out of employ
nent, because the trusts are localizing
business; hundreds of thousands of
aborers will he laid off, because the
trusts are crushing the small manufac-
-urers; thousands of merchants now in
he jobbing business will soon wake
up without a job, because the trusts
will order the retail merchants to buy
directly from the manufacturers. The
oil of the serpent is tightening. The
lay will soon dawn when no man will
iare to enter politics who does not wear
he collar of trust: and the trnsts will