The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-16

Is so well oiled, and has such a power be-
hind IL, that you cam choke II down with
paper wads. whether they are Of the old
style white kind, or the more recent Austria
Ian multi-column, stalls-at-a-county-fair
variety. But IL you're smart enough. you
can catch the chief engineer mapping some
times, and slip in some good men on him,
and that same machine will send out officers
of high character ready for the next step
OF official acts that will be the best nutri-
ment for the body polite.
but here you've drawn me into a speech
on politics when I'm out of politics. It's too
much trouble, for anybody with cuteness
enough to do it, TO lie out nights and Sun
days to catch the machine men off their
guard. Personally, I'd prefer to hire to the
boss at regular wages, and work for pro-
motion in the regular gang"
| Since she had been living again at The
Heights. where she spent her ~girlhood and
decided the great questions which troubled
her then, Mrs. Shacklett felt more like the
Mary Stoddard Of other days than at any
time since her marriage. There had come
back the same trust in men, women and
things, characteristic of youth, which she
had entirely lost, for the nonce. by the end
of her husbands term in the Senate in
Washington.
1.-THE perspective is different now" she
said TO her husband, land looking from the
banks Of the Mississippi to the banks of
the Potomac, / can't see why one may not
be in politics and be a true man at the same
time" Shacklett shrugged his shoulders the
least bit, and brushed back the lock Of hair
from his forehead. I'm the old days" she
continued, looking from the Potomac to
the Mississippi, I could not see a way TO be
successful in politics and retain the self
respect that my father had-and that all
of us have in the Middle West" Shacklett's
eyes were vacant, and turned to the misty
forest on the distant Missouri bluffs. Mrs.
Shacklett went on: II suppose that the
mote of wickedness so close to my eyes in
Washington obscured the wide breadth Of
goodness so far away out here. And, Of
course. it does not take much goodness
close at hand here to cover the same visual
angle as the great mass of badness at the
capital"
sYou are talking Of two extremes said
Shacklett.
"Yes." she smiled; and the golden truth
lies in the mean between them, of course"
Most results are compromises" he sug-
oNotC0t ohN w ~ ~ 49,
mise between Washington and Warsaw in
our lives and our actions. But when we
undertake to compromise with the devil,
his majesty always asserts his ability to
grab the whole thing"
ut seems to me-" she answered, that our
own lives-yours and mine-are not a COM
promise, but an average. We're living the
combination of heredity and environment
-. oroo< bnilIarg Tsro a uyoalr oraof,rro
nodded almost entirely by my surround
ings. You're a strong force, determined be-
fore your birth by the resultant Of the char
acters- of your father and your mother.
Both heredity and environment are work
ing out their results In us, each in its most
susceptible object. Our lives are one, and
the resultant Of both influences. If you
become Governor, and I can stay in Illinois
and come here often, I shall be kept close
to the right"
THAT all sounds very we'll" said her hus-
band, "and is rather convincing, but you've
left out the strongest element of all. What
has pushed aside both heredity and environ
ment, and dominates the whole situation, is
love-and love is to be taken as we find it,
without philosophy, science. analysis. or
even much description"-he was looking
at her with shining eyes-"my decisions
re all based upon the one fundamental
principle of love for you"
"And what about woman's whole exist
ence?'' his wife replied. "Just as we are
united, 1t seems to me now that politics and
righteousness can be married and amalga-
mated. My happiness depends upon your
happiness and success, Noel, and / fell
strong enough now to Withstand anything
Shacklett again brushed back the lock OF
hair, and in the action Mrs. Shacklett de-
tected the war-horse smelling the battle
afar off. She did not take long to determine
that she would have him return to his own
proper sphere of action. She told him she
would go with him with new ideas and a
new inspiration to hold them both up in the
sunlight while travelling over the bog where
there was much good to be done by the
light people with skill and good motives
combined.
why not go into it just for auld lang
syne2" she said: I'm going to skate to
Keokuk as sure as next winter comes. Let's
not dismiss the old pleasures entirely and
settle down to be people without a past"
Shacklett laughed with a true ring.
You're sure Of yourself, then. But you
were sure of yourself the other time,
weren't you? I left politics because my bet
ter-half said she found 1t necessary in order
TO preserve her own self-respect, and now
the burnt child seeks the candle again,
Ell? My dear. the first maxim in politics is
to take no more chances than can be
avoided. Come here and kiss me, and tell
me about Mrs. Gordon's campaign for presi-
dent of the woman's club"
Out on the lawn of The Heights, over
looking the Mississippi river, the converse
ton wandered into other topics. for Mrs.
Shacklett did not like to recall some expert
ences on this same bluff which marked her
own entrance into the whirl of politics. She
was glad she had become engaged to marry
the man who knew enough about politics
to secure the senatoship from a mountain
State, but in some details of the subsequent
proceedings she had been a fool, and she
knew 1t. So they talked of the boats and the
lumber RATS, the Iowa and Missouri seem
cry on either side OF the Des Moines, which