The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-05
THE ADVERTISERS
 DAILY SHORT STORY

the instruments crashed into My Country | Iris of Thee" half a tone flat. The peo- | ole plunged into the tune half tone
 sharp: The trees trembied: put dia nol m much that they encored the band and sang the last verse over again.
 | Alcibiades Curtius Dickson, County Clerk. a lantern-jawed man with voice | like a foghorn, read the Declaration oi ! Independence through to the bitter end l rolling out of the sonorous syllables and ! pausing soulfully at the end or each sent ence. Eliphalet Absolom Rawiins, Coun. | ty Judge, rose to introduce the orator oi l the day. and spoke for three-quarters oi an hour touching upon Bunker Hill and the state of the crops. tossing handful of bouquets to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, devoting five minutes | of thunderous denunciation to Benedict | Arnold and winding up with glorious burst over the result of the Spanish war. Marrock ran his fingers through his hair
 and glared at him. Finally he got ms chance his law office had been readinga lot or cheap literature and worrying himself by l thinking that he was thinking The re- suit was that his skull had become filled
 with a lot of things that he thought were
 ideas and he felt called upon to express
 them. Once started he did not reck Of
 unpopularity and forgot all about the girl.
 His talk was fiery, fluent, occasionally
 eloquent. When he got out Of breath ne
 ran his hand through his hair and took
 a drink of water from small white
 pitcher that stood near
 He said that they had sold their birth
 right for a mess of pottage; that the
 Money Devil had them by the throats;
 that the rich were getting richer ana the
 poor poorer; that their legislators were
 bought; that discontent gnawed at the
 vitais of the land: that conscienceless
 aristocracy of wealth had grown up; that
 republican simplicity was at 2 discount;
 whither were they drifting? They were
 drifting to a revolution? What would be
 its ende Possibly a king; possibly anar-
 chy: certainly bloodshed. death and woe.
 There was a large amount of this, The
 talk would not have been out of place in
 some obscure Beer hall in big city. Out
 waving, the. scent of flowers on the air,
 and an honest country population listen
 ing it sounded incongruous.
 The people heard 1t quietly. Probably
 they did not understand more than half
 of it. Marrock sat down in dead silence,
 sweaty, pale and gasping. Claudia sat
 with hands clasped in her lap, looking
 down, heartily ashamed. Jim" Bowen,
 near ths stand, his face white with pas-
 sion. followed the sentences carefully. He
 too had forgotten the girl He knew that
 his every sentiment had been outraged: Next to his belief in God was his belief in the flag which fioated over him. Scarce
 knowing what he did, he ran to the plat form steps, mounted them in leaps and showed before the people, his wide white hat in his right hand. He did not know until he faced them what he should say, but was determined to say something.
 He said, without heat and clearly, almost with solemnity:
 My friends-You know me. I'm just one of you. I want to speak for you
 more than for myself I want to say for you that this man here is a liar. or crazy. We are seventy-hve millions of people. We believe in our past, present and future. We honor our fathers Tor what they have done; we stand ready to
 do the same if occasion should arise: In pestilence. privation, war and death we
 have erected the greatest government un- der the sun, In the best land under the sun, and that government shall stand as an example to mankind for ages. That flag" and he raised his hat high, flor more than a hundred years has been the symbol for all that is great and good; 1t is so today. Look at 1t while we sing that it shall forever wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave" The thousand voices crashed out in the true national hymn. Marrock slunk away crushed and wondering. The county judge rose to make another speech, but they would not listen to him. They sang 1t all over again. Columbia" her eyes and nose red from tears and a damp handkerchief fin her hand, came to "Jim'' and looked at him timidiy.,
 "Oh, Jim" she said. That was brave; that was noble! Oh, Jim!'
 Thus Jim" Bowen, farmer and Amer ican, knew that he had done we'll