Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-07-19
ALACK ALAS.
For Ways That Are Dark and Tricks
Not Vain.


The extract which follows is from
the pen of prominent Richmon,
gentleman, who las watched las al
Richmonders did) the fierce fight fo
gubernatorial houors. The letter wa
personal one, and the writer die
not expect it to get into print, bu
1T is so unique that we cannot resis
the temptation; and so, with hum
ble apologies to the writer, we re
produce portion of it:
RICHMOND. Va, June 18th, 1901
To the Great Sea Gull, whose do
mains consist of the "Outsid,
Row" and the regions thereto ad.
lacent, and whose organ for tn,
spread of general knowledge anC
political lore is the "Great Lumi.
nary" or "rhe Light of the World"
Greeting:
With greatly purturbed spirit and
sad heart preen my ruffled feath.
ers and settle down to express, out of
the fullness of my overflowing feel.
ings, IA short homily on the " par
lous" times that are upon us.
Let me tell you of some few things
which have occurred during this
struggle between the Great Red Fox
and the Game and Debonair Swan
and what / have heard, which NAV
not have reached your ken; even il
you do know all of them | must re-
lieve the tension, or the consequences
might be serious. The graceful and
alert bird of the elongated neck
seems to have injured his chances at
the first for Governatural F" honors
{ to use coinage of one OF the ad-
mirers of the Fox by advertising
that be would be assisted in the
fight by the Great King Martin and
his running mate, the Lame Lion,
besides some of the lesser ones of
place and influence. Without this
handicap, and the further one that
his opponent was better known, it is
believed he would have won but for
the following:
Cock Sparrow, who is on the "in-
side," said to me the other day that
he didn't mind telling me, now that
Reynard had practically Won the
race, that shortly after the opening
of the campaign It became apparent
that there was no hope for the Red
Fox in an open race, each on his
merits, so his advisors insisted that
he attack the Swan where he was
the most vulnerable-through his
friend, the Great King Martln-to
arouse the people to fight the ma
chine. This, so my informant tells
me, was much against the wish of
the willy Fox, who felt averse to
taking an unfair advantage of his
erstwhile friend, which friend he
well remembered had procured him
single handed his first position of
trust and had been largely instru-
mental in his getting that of Su-
preme Advisor or Council of the Sec
ondary System. Then he argued, to
attack the organization was to show
ingratitude again, ,as well rs hypocrisy,
for did he not owe the only two posi-
tions he ever had of trust and
emolument to the machine I? Now it
seemed that it had dropped him. AS
for his friend, should he, could he,
go against both and work upon the
prejudices of the people for his own
selfish ends? And this, too, when
the Swan disclaimed being the ''pawn
or tool" of the King Martin, thus, in
effect, calling HIM liar! Was the
game worth the candle? Gould he
= the Great Red Fox = afford to
place himself in a position where he
might be called an migrate and a
hypocrit
But l fancy his friends were of
the same foxy nature, lacking the
tender conscience of their chief, and
said that it was his political life that
was at stake; that, being from the
same part of the forest, if the Swan
won he could not hope to hold office
and would surely be sidetraoked.
This to the pap-fed, naughty lord
was more than he could submit to.
l fancy his eyes snapped, his tail
curled and" Up and at him %
"Away with fair field and no fa-
vors J" Away with scruples I'll
win at any cost! The people can be
made to believe to be true what they
already suspect. even without any
evidence Fools they %
This is politics, butts it not
better to be right than president !?
Z" Because right is right; 70 follow
right were wisdom in the scorn of
consequences" There are those, be-
lieve me, who will think there is no
honor il office bought at such a
price. And that, though defeated,
the graceful Swan can hold his head
high and look his fellows in tine
face without secret pang at having
done an ungenerous act to gain the
ascendency over friend, with never
a smirch on the beautiful white of
his plumage. Is not that better
than the Red Fox's victory at the
price paid? | think so.
But must close, my friend of the
undaunted spirit and undimmed eve.
| am refreshed wonderfully by this
ebullition of spleen, if you like. and
must close.
May the King Martins eye be long
bright and clear. May he receive
his deserts at the hands of his people
Ito remain in power if trustworthy,
or promptly dethroned if unmindful
of the peoples will.
May the resplendent plumage of
the Great White Swan ever remain
spotless as the driven snow, and NAV
he live to see-no, ] will not even try
to read his hcrosonna