Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-07-31

gest mass meeting yet held in Brent
wood. Bonfires had burned in the pub
lie square, and great orators of the la
Dor party spoke in the silence Of the
September evening to thousands of lis
tening, eager ears and ceased amid
thunderous applause.
Where is your Mr.. Langdon?, anx-
iously queried the mayor in swift
aside to Mr.. Cresswell that night.
I'm Sioux City, shaving at shilling
an teaching" was the answer.
well, get him out here quick. L
can't give him anything in my office,
as you well understand, but you can,
and We'll make up purse If have to
go down into my pockets for every
cent of It."
And SO it happened that Eric Lang
don, whittier, thinner, even shabbier In
raiment than when he left, came back
to Brentwood, and after conference
where only five men were, present
Cresswell, Boniface, Armstrong, the
editor, and Bingham, the mayor-the
returned wanderer took a desk in
Cresswell's anteroom and took up
again the study of law, to which he
had been deyoting his evenings. Then
Perrigo senior was advised to induce
his son to resign the captaincy of the
Brentwood rifles. He wouldn't.
"All right" said certain merchants.
"Our money won't be safe here IL the
mob gets another start. Well transfer
our accounts to Omaha" Perrigo
"wilted" in less than week. The
resignation went in to the governor,
and amid pounding on the floor OF
shod rifle butts and loud clapping of
hands from the seats Mr.. Langdon,
clad in his old fatigue uniform, took
command of the rifles by invitation
and at once resumed drills. That night
1t was resolved to have three drills q
week until the company had caught I'D
again. The next week 40 men re-
sponded to roll call and 10 applied for
membership. The first week in Octo-
Der a business meeting was held and O
telegram read announcing that Peril
go's resignation, which had unaccount-
ably hung fire, was at last accepted.
Langdon was unanimously elected cap.
tain and the certificate forwarded to
the capital. The second week came
without the expected commission, but
The Sun announced that as the cleo
ton was held before the vacancy off,
cially existed 1t was therefore Illegal.
Try 1t again, said 'sthe boys" and then
came an embarrassed adjutant general
to suggest that it perhaps would be
best not to insist on the election of Mr.,
Langdon. With the kindest feeling for
him in the world the governor could
not see his way clear to giving him q
commission. Indeed The Sun and Elk
amlner shrleked. that the community
never would stand 1t. A political adj
wiser told the executive he would lose
the vote Of Brentwood, and an anony-
nous letter or two informed him his
grave was dug and the corpse should
be ready If ever he touched pen to
parchment with the name of Eric
Langdon on 1t. No wonder the gov
ernor sent his adjutant general to con.
suit with sthe boys" But now sthe
boys. had got their blood up. No Per
rigo dollars were Forthcoming to boil It
down, and the shout went up. Lang.
don or nobody" and the adjutant gen.
eral left In a huff.
Then came State Senators Brent and
Foster to see Colonel Cresswell, who
was Opposing the administration"
even though politically IN accord. It
was an off year for the legislature, and
the eyes Of many a senatorial possible
ty were following the tottering foot
steps Of silvery haired statesman
who would probably never resume his
seat in the senatorial tank at the north
wing at Washington. The vacancy
would be filed by the governor, and
who, said these gentlemen in the conf
dence of the eNecutiye-who SO nlaly
to succeed to the toga as the brilliant
and distinguished Colonel Cresswell
provided he did not kill his own chance
by further embarrassing the governor3
Cresswell bit. ut would put the gov.
ernor In the roll of an intimidator,"
said the emissaries, "to openly COM
mission Mr.. Langdon. OF course we
may need him and all that and have
every appreciation of him, but it won't
do to fly in the face of the people. Let
them think they are having their way,
but quietly, you understand, work
things SO as to have ours" And
Cresswell was at least sufficiently pro-
found statesman to see the political
wisdom of their position, especially
when coupled with that hint as to the
senatorial succession. So he conferred
with Langdon and saw and talked with
"the boys" one or two at a time. Ey-
cry business body seemed to feel by
this time they must have Langdon to
instruct and command their company,
but the few in the confidence of the
administration knew that in the pres
ent condition of affairs he could never
be commissioned. Langdon saw it
himself, smiled and after the politi-
clans had talked until they were tired
and the boys remained obdurate arose
In meeting, said 20 words and solved
the problem. Il withdraw as n candi-
date for captain and submit my name
us a recruit" said he. There was q
moment of amazement and silence,
then burst of applause. Then some
body in the confidence of Langdon
moved the rules be suspended, ballot
taken at once, and Mr.. Langdon was
declared unanimously elected to men,
bership. He signed the enlistment pa
pers already prepared, was sworn in
and announced as a private In the
Brentwood rifles amid the tumultuous
cheers of that gallant organization.
Then First Sergeant Potts arose and
smilingly said he'd served good while
in that capacity, liked the company,
liked the job and wanted to learn
more about 1T. The best way to learn
was to watch 1t -nperly done by an