Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-01-19

nouio not e1ter INTO any agreement
that would throttle the people, how
ever much he so desired il. Mr..
Jesse says he has done some work in
the agitation produced by me. / did
all could to keep off this very agita-
ton that he accuses me Of bringing
about. / refused to sign any petition !
to start this fight and have refused
to sign every petition to renew it; the
local option people of this precinct
know that | have SO acted, Mr.. Jesse
to the contrary Notwithstanding. Mr..
Jesse can see no good in any man who
does not ride IN his car or say "emen"
to any agitation he champions. Woe
to the man who is foolish enough to
lend Mr.. Jesse his ear, for he will
miss the steamboat or any other ap-
polntment he has made for that day;
so long-winded is he and SO persistent
an agitator that the people fear to
meet him upon the public highway,
lest they be charmed all day by the
duicst strains of his melodious voice.
Our records are known to our people
and am perfectly willing that they
shall be the judges between us in
this matter where we so widely differ.
The people know who of us has been
the agltator and who has done most
to keep alive this "bitter fight" and
who has done most for the good of our
party and people; let them speak, /
will abide their decision.
MIR. Jesse says, 81 do not say one
word against the good people of
Wheaton, for all of whom l have the
kindliest feeling" This "feeling,"I
this love is very touching; 1T will
overwhelm them; it is the first evil
dence they have had of his affection,
and "they alp unite in inviting him
to church services next Sunday morn
ing, to dinner, stay to night services
indeed they would be delighted TO
have him spend the night. Many,
many moons have passed since Mr..
Jesse so honored these people he
loves so well, and fear many stars
will fall before he can snatch the
time to say in person dear word of
affection to these people so close to
his heart. have no doubt that this
greatly grieves Mr.. Jesse, but he
lives $50 far" from Wheaton it is
impossible with bis magnitude of
business to oftener visit his beloved
friends of dear old Wheaton, no
matter how much his heart goes out
to them. We, right here, drop
tear; sympathy is our largest bump.
Well, Mr.. Jesse has transferred
his second broken dose of medicine
from the Hdtchman" to the "CITI-
zFN," and instead of dosing me, two
thirds of his little homeopathic treat
ment is directed to Mr.. Jones. Mr..
Jones needs no defence at my hands.
MIR. Jesse's pillets fall harmless at
his feet. Mr.. Jones is too big a
man for Mr. Jesse or myself TO tackle,
and the people of Virginia know
they have In Mr.. Jones a statesman.
man of honor and character second
to none in this great Commonwealth
of great men. Mr.. Jesse stands
alone in believing that Mr.. Jones
was counting popularity in his ad-
yocacy of election Of senator's by the
people, and of the primary plan until
Il change could be made in the Con-
stitution of our country. Every
fairminded man will accord Mr..
Jones the same rightas had Mr.. Jesse
in supporting his choice between
Democratic candidates for the legis-
latiye nomination. OF course MIR.
Jesse is opposed to primaries. The
reason he assigns is that they are
run by local politicians. AtMr. Jesse's
precinct they have been run by the
people, and he has failed to be
selected to represent them as a
delegate SO often that / am not
surprised at his disgust; this is "the
milk in the cocoanut," this is the
"sore spot" in Mr.. Jesse's short polit-
ical history. Mr.. Jesse says he will
have no more temperance or political
lights elf do not force them upon
him." did not force his temper
ance fight; on the other hand, as
before stated, refused to be party
in bringing it about, and he knows
| cannot force political fights; they
come without my bidding and Mr..
Jesse can take part in them or not as
ne elects. This Newspaper contro-
versy will settle nothing, and I see
no good TO come out of it, and for nv
part, am done, unless / am again
attacked. / send this reply to the
CITIZEN with misgivings, as that
paper has not in the past been in the
habit of publishing both sides to this
family fight, but as Mr.. Jesse pub
hshed his last dose OF. pills in its |
columns, hope it will do me the
justice to print my parting dose.
+. w. LEWIS.
The CITIZEN must take exception |
to the allusion to it in the foregoing. |
We have refused only one request to |
publish an article on the opposite
side in this family 6ght," and in |
that instance we believe we did the |
writer favor by Lot giving 1T pub
licity. 1t is newspapers prerog-
alive to refuse such private articles
as it desires, and also to charge for
such as it publishes. The CITIZEN
has done but little of either, and we
must be given credit for having pub
lished much that was opposed to our
views. No Democratic or Republican
paper can be censured for refusing
to voluntarily publish arguments of /
the opposition; and because we did
not voluntarily publish some of op-
poslte belief during this family
fight" no one can Justly censure