The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1900-11-15

until Tuesday morning.
} But one Monday afternoon whel
; jamie reached the hall of the Hous
} he was surprised to find a big body O
members there-almost all the Chica
go members except Mr.. Meredith
Those rich gentlemen were there
too, sitting on the Speakers ret
lounge. Jamie looked for Mr.. Mere
dith-he was not there. He though
instantly of Senate Bill 578-some
thing was up! They were going tt
try to pass Senate Bill 57S-that wa.
why the gentlemen were there on the
Speakers red lounge; that was why
the Chicago members had come down
to Springfield on the Monday after
noon train instead of waiting for til,
Monday night train. Jamie was wor
ried.
It was balmly spring day with a
sky blue and tender, and a~soft wind
that waited strange sweet country
smells about, smells that filled JAIME
with dreamy longings and kind oi
pleasant sadness. The Speaker gently
tapped with his gavel the good old
chaplain arose and spread out his
white hands.
30 Lord" he prayed, "we thank
Thee that the winter is paat, that the
rain is oyer and gone, that the flowers
appear upon the earth, that the time
OF the singing OF the birds is come"
The words stole sweetly in upon
Jamie's soul. He sat on the steps,
looking out of the open windows at
the tender young leayes of tbs maple
trees-lt was just the way he used to
look out of the windows in school be.
fore vacation came, when he thought
OF the swimming-hols out at Sycamore
and of going barefooted. It was all so
calm and peaceful. But with the
chaplain's "Amen !" the Speaker 's
gaveI cracked and the buzzing noise
peculiar to the House began again.
And jamie awoke from his reveriee
with start. F[e had heavier things
to think of now he was almost man
he was in the Legislature. Senate
Bill 57S was on Its third reading, the
gang was present, and MIR. Meredith
had not come. jamie was troubled,
and sighed. He must attend to his
dutles-he must do something.
Jamie looked over all the faces be-
fore him nowhere could he find one
man he could trust as friend of MIR.
Meredith.
He glanced at the door with ling
ering hope that Mr.. Meredith would
appear, but of course he did not come.
Then Jamie slowly hitohed down the
Speakers stairs, step at time, and,
reaching the floor, slipped over by the
reporters boxes-empty that after
noon, for the correspondents, like the
legislators, never returned until Tues.
day morning thence into the
side aisle, under the gallery, and to
the c!oakroom. There he got his cap,
looked longingly at Mr.. Meredlth's
hook, empty now, with no satin-Iined
overcoat for him to nestle lovingly
against for blissful second, and then
he went on out into the hall under
the huge dome.
No one, of course, observed a mere
page boy, but Jamie felt, as he clicked
his hurrying little heels across the
marble floors, that something was
about to poke him in his cold, uupro-
tected back-the fear of rear attack
that boyhood inherlts from its far-d,s
tant savage ancestry. Jamie didn't
take the elevator, or the grand stair
case, but reached the main floor by
leaping two steps at a time down a
narrow stairway, unused and dark.
Thea he few out of the east en-
trance, ran down the wide walk and on
up Capitol Avenue for tour long
blocks-ran as fast as he could pump
his little short legs to the hotel where
he knew Mr.. Meredith lived when he
was at the capital. But Jamie had no
hope of finding him there that after
noon. He went to the hotel simply
because he did not knew where else to
go-that was all. Rushing into the
hotel and up to the clerks desk, he
put his chin over it's edg and, as the
clerk leaned down with his face al
most in Jamie's face, the boy painted:
"Is-now-Konorable Bronson Mere !
dith in?"
The clerk smiled and Jamie blushed,
fearing the clerk was making fun Of
him. And his heart sank-he might !
have known Mr.. Meredith was not in.
"Who did you say?" asked the clerk.
"Honorable Bronson Meredith.-the |
from Cook"
The clerk was knitting his brows,
though the wrinkles about bis lips |
we're twitching as if he found 1t hard to
keep them from ripping out Into