The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-02
YOUTHFUL POLITICIAN
 TRIES TO SAVE COUNTRY
Writes Letter to Secretary of State, Asking That He Leave the Republican Party--LOSeS
 Job as Assistant Postmaster.
BY L. v. LA TASTE

have long held to the opinion that . proper conception of the duties of cit. fsenship involved c reasonable degree of interest in political matters; that each touching pending political issues and the sociologic questions underlying. as would guarantee the community the casting or an intelligent vote. This appears to be the following incident will serve to show, this theory. unadvisedly handled. may lead to embarrassing consequences. of Y 1888 Sss when ~s seymour ns ' and Blair % the Democratic candidates, were opposed by Grant and Colfax. At this time I was employed at Mclean Station, about twen- ty miles below Augusta. on the Central sistant express agent, and general roust. about. I was. also. assistant postmaster
 and the details of the business were largely on my childish shoulders. the postmaster. a practising physician. Dr. Hatcher. often remaining away from the office for days at a time. Naturally enough. for a boy of less than ls. I I was the whole thing" The tendency here indicated Is more or less general among young America, but. as see my self oyer the shoulder. my ease must the freshness" this particular Georgia Cracker developed have been condensed by some llquid air process, and put into commercial form. the country might have been spared the recent beef seandalsaof odious memory. In the performances Of my work es assistant postmaster it be- 4carne my duty to place in the hande of stfor ho sos s st eur came in bulk addressed to the postmast- CT. as was allowable under the then ex- isting regulations One day a fat offi- can campaign literature. came to us. ac- companied by courteous request from the Secretary Republican National Cam pafgn Committee, that we distribute 1t none). Why I did not comply with the modest wish aforesaid do not know but the fact remains that I did not. Instead took the bundle out into the open and Had 1 stopped here all might have been well. but did not. Like other reform CTS who had gotten a taste of the sweets of overhauling the world. [ felt that my
 work was unfinished I must not rest until the Secretary was saved from an awful fate. must snatch him as a brand from the burning. and incidental ", heln to elect my candidates by pull
 tend, no Peter the Hermit ever went forth with greater zeal In his heart. wrote that off1cial, fin substance. that I liked him though had not the pleasure erieved me to see him wasting his young life going off after strange gods. 1 asked him. in spirit of fraternal yearning. how he could look his old mother and father (to say nothing of his grand. parents, who. in the very nature of things. must have been older than his immediate parents0 In the face without olushing so long as he espoused the cause Of such brace of misfits as Grant and
 Cclfax. I plead with him to turn. made the point which seemed to me a very good one at the time that Repub- lican rnisrule had well nigh swamped the whole country and begged him to turn while he could and not redden his had in the blood of his fellows. I wound tip with a final plea for his influence on the side of riRht. throwing In. as a final shot. the familiar quotation: While the light holds out 10 burn" etc. By way of proving how very much in earnest was I told him that had touched a match to the whole bundle of literature he had sent and that would suffer my self burned with fire before I would lend my aid to the despicahle business of disseminating Republican feresy among the people of my community who were looking to me for sound doctrine. as rep resented bv Seymour and Blair. When my letter was ready mailed it. taking the precaution to look out for the smell of scorching leather when I dropped 1t into the mail sack. when the "up train came. As we'll as I remember this letter