Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1900-12-13
in having the bill referred back to
some COMMITTEES, on did something to

news. although he never read that as
carefully as he did the baseball news.
Often he saw Mr.. Meredith's name in
the types-the papers said he was
making a gallant fight against the
franchise grab. jamie hoped with all
his soul that Mr.. Meredith would win
In that fight; not, of course, that he
cared about the franchise grab-he
had, like many older persons, very
hazy ideas about that-but he always
wished to see Mr.. Meredith win.
The spring had come, and as the
legislature usually ends early in June.
and the work was piling up, the
house was meeting at o'clock in
the morning. The house adjourned
every Friday at noon. in order that the
members might go home over Sunday,
and Il didn't meet again until Monday
afternoon at 8 o'clock, and then only
for few minutes. The members who
had gone home did not get back until
Tuesday morning. and there We're new
err many there Monday afternoon, not
even a quorum, and it was always un-
derstood that nothing was to be done
at that session. The chaplain prayed,
the journal of Fridays session was
read and approved, and the house adj
1ourned until Tuesday morning.
But one Monday afternoon when Ja-
ME reached the hall of the house he
was surprised to find big body of
members there-alnlost all the Chicago
members except Mr. Meredith. Those
rich gentlemen We're there. too, sitting
on the speakers red lounge. jamie
looked for Mr. Mercdith-he was not
there the He thought instantly Of Senate
Bill SIS something was up! They We're
going to try to pass Senate Bill SIS
that was why the gentlemen were
there ON the speakers red lounge; that
was why the Chicago members had
come down to Springfield on the Mon
day afternoon train instead of waiting
for the Monday night train. Jamie
was worried.
1t was balmy spring day with a
sky blue and tender and Il soft wind
that waited strange sweet country
smells about. smells that filled Jamie
with dreamy longings and a kind OF
pleasant sadness. The speaker gently
tapped with his gavel: the good old
chaplain arose and spread out his
white hands.
20 Lord" he prayed eve thank thee
that the winter is past, that the rain
is over and gone, that the flowers APP
pear upon the earth, that the time of
the singing of birds is come"
The words stole sweetly in upon
Jamie's soul. He sat upon the steps,
looking out of the open windows at the
tender young leaves of the maple trees
lit was just the way he used to look
out OF the open windows i'm school be-
fore vacation came, when he thought
of the swimming hole out at Sycamore
and of going barefooted. 1t was also
SO calm and peaceful. But With the
chaplain's s'amen.' the speakers
peculiar to the house began again.
And Jamie Awoke from his reveries
with start. He had heavier things
to think of now; he was almost man:
he was in the legislature. Senate Bill
57S was on it's third reading, the gang
was present, and Mr.. Meredith had not
come. Jamie was troubled. and sighed.
He must attend to his duties-he must
do something.
fore him: nowhere could he find one
man me- could trust as a friend of Mr..
Meredith.
He glanced at the door with lin
gering hope that Mr.. Meredith would
appear. but of course he did not come.
Then Jamie slowly hitched down the
speakers stairs, a step at a 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-and thence into the side
aisle. under the gallery, and and to the
cloakroonl. There he got his cap,
looked longingly at Mr.. Meredth's
hook, empty now, With no satin-lined
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 mere
page boy, but Jamie felt, as he clicked
Lf III L. ~
marble floors, that something was
about to poke him in his cold. unpro-
tected back-the fear of rear attack
that boyhood inherits from it's far-dis-
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 side stairway, unused and
dark
Then he flew out of the east en-
trance. ran down the wide walk and
on up Capitol avenue for four long
blocks-ran as fast as he could jump
his little short legs to the hotel where
he knew Mr.. Meredith lived when he
was at the capital. But Jamie had no
hopes of finding him there that after
noon. He went to the hotel simply be-
cause he did not know where else to
go-that was all. Rushing into the ho-
tel and up to the clerks desk, he put
his chin over Its edge and, as the clerk
leaned down with his face almost in
Jamie's face, the boy painted:
s-now-Honorable Bronson Mere
dith in?"
The clerk smiled and Jamie blushed,
fearing the clerk was making fun Of
him. He might have known Mr. Mere
dith was not in.
Who did you say?" asked the clerk.
Honorable Bronson Mcredith-thc
gentleman from Cook
The clerk was knitting his brows,
though the wrinkles about his lips
to keep them from wlinkling into
smiles. Jamie thought the clerk was
wonderfully stupid not to know such
II great man as Mr.. Meredith, and he
added, in order to jog the mans mem
Dry a little:
You know--the reformer."
The clerk Strengthened up. placed his
hands on his hips, threw back his head
and laughed. Jamie stared at him
with wide eyes-he saw nothing to
laugh at. especially when Senate Bill
57S was coming up. Presently the clerk
took one of his hands from his side
and dropped 1T on the big bell beside
the register, and as it changed out in
the empty lobby. he shouted in his
laughing voice:
'FRONT.'
A bell boy in buttons slid to the desk
just as q page boy does in the house
when a member claps his hands. The
bell boy and Jamie looked each other
all over from head to toe In the instant
they stood facing each other, and the
clerk began:
no see if Mr.. Meredith"
i And just then tall form appeared
around the corner of wall, and Jamie
looked up.