The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1903-04-09
IN T Fl E a
S NATE e ],
GALLERY
By A. H. JOHNSTON
Copyright. 1901 By 4. II. Johnston

y Copyright, 1901 BY 4. Fl. Johnston
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Vulgarly, the king of the lobby was
and is supposed to deal in money-crisp
banknotes Of denomination large
enough that a number may be carried
in the pocket without bullying, and yet
may be passed over the counter by q
representative of small resources with
very vulgar, and not here to be dis
cussed. Certain 1t is that the king of
the lobby never SO fully realized until
that day that his business lay not with
banknotes in the analysis, but with
subtle Inducements of human soul
that no plummet fathoms.
He had spent-never mind, the fig
ures were nowhere set dOwn-but he
had spent money actually and had
sweat blood figuratively to pass the
canal bill The canal bill was to come
to final vote within fifteen minutes.
and If coin had been tossed up he
would have laid even money on heads
or tails. AS he looked out over the big
hall. swinging pince nez idly, not q
muscle of his strong face twitched.
His intelligent eyes narrowed to two
cunning predatory Sits, his glance fit
ting from the pink and white face Of a
girl in the gallery to the gray sprinkled
head of a man who sat at a desk well
forward in the room below.
Two persons perhaps in the assembly
knew how the vote would turn, he
thought. One of these was the girl
and the other the man. On second
thought the king of the lobby revised
his opinion. The girl did not know, for
Archibald, with the banknotes burning
in stuffy envelope in the inside pocket
of his coat. could not have told her.
Or if the banknotes were even now on
their way back to the king of the lobby
Archibald was still not the man to have
told her. Archibald did not pose, what
ever he did. And at thirty and eight a
politician and a bachelor does not get
himself engaged to girl for the pur-
pose of talkink statecraft with her, and
perhaps not even questions Of ethics.
This is the way that matters stood,
as far as the king of the lobby could
know The oldest senator, and the
memories of some of them went back
to the days when old Dick Yates the
war governor. prorogued refractory
legislature and fitted out regiments at
the expense of his own pocket, could
not recollect measure that had pro-
voked as much heat as the canal bill.
1t was a bill about which one honest
man might hold an opinion diametric-
ally opposed to the opinion Of another
honest man. and. as every one knows,
this brings about a state of affairs
Such was the hue and cry that by the
time the bill had passed the lower
house and had reached the senate even
it's strong supporters were afraid to
vote for it. AT this juncture the men
Of money behind the bill, being also
men of graft. came to an understand
ing with the lobby.
The king of the lobby. according to
his custom, wrote down on a sheet of
paper the names of all the honest men
who were reckoned upon to vote against
the bill. OH another sheet the names of
the honest men who would vote for it,
and still on a third sheet he wrote the
names of the 'wabblers' and the "sell-
ers." He employed plausible men to
convince the "wabblers' and dispatch
ed cunning lieutenants who bought the
sellers" All these names he added
to the list of the canal bills hackers,
and yet three names of the requisite
number were lacking He got two
from the other side-no matter how.
Then. as the days went on and the
third was not landed, the lobby king
sweat with fear. Archibald of Cook,
silent and patient and conservative,
had given no inkling of the way that
he intended to cast his vote. But
Archibald was a man of character, so
they said, and the most timid were
never afraid to peep as Archibald
piped.
The king of the lobby heard things
stories of debts, and of the love affair
that was gossip, and being a lobby
king he saw desperate chance and
resolved to play it. 1t was not the
business of the lobby king to deal in
ethics. which in the long run every
man must attend to for himself. So,
late in the past evening, Archibald had
been Informed in the most delicate
way that friends of the measure were
deeply grateful to him for the vote
which he intended to cast in their
favor. AS trifing return a very
small proportion of the about to be in
creased dividends of the canal COM
pany were transferred to him in
plain brown envelope by the hands Of
u messenger. The lobby king was ac-
custCmcd to suspense, but it was a
matter of some concern to him as the
clerk stood up to read the long legal
title of the bill that afternoon as to
just what disposition had been made
of the brown envelope.
Archibald sat composedly at his desk
in the senate writing letters. Or, per-
haps. he only pretended to write to
conceal a latent nervousness. 1t is GER
tain that he glanced at the girl in the
gallery but once, and then surreptitous-
ly and timidly. For that matter, poll
tician as he was and considerably ex-
perienced in the ways of the world,
Archibald was always timid in the
presence of the girl. She was only
nineteen. a slender slip of femininity
just out of boarding school, but she
had taught Archibald a great many
things. or at least he thought that she
had. and it is much the same. He did
not defer to her judgment precisely,
but he shifted his point of view to
meet her sentiments. For example, the
girl did not conceive Of riding through
life in other than a coach and four, as
she had ridden thus for nineteen years
by the grace Of a parent who shaved
and another parent who managed.
Archibald was poor and latterly sunk
into debt, but he accepted the idea Of
a coach and four as though he had
been born to 1t. And this is not say
ing that it was thrust upon him. 1t
was merely a part Of the divinity that
hedged about a handsome girl who