Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-02-04

cisely gay young man when he climb
ed into the omnibus, but an hour later,
as he stood in the doorway Of the edi.
fee he had indicated MS his destination,
depression seemed TO have settled into
the marrow of his bones.
plattvillc was instantly alert to the
strangers presence, and interesting con-
lectures were hazardcd all day long nj
the bac, door of Martins Dry Goods
Emporium Uhis was the club during
the day.. and at supper the new ar
rival and his probable purposes were
discussed over every table in the town.
Upon inquiry he had Informed Judd
Bennett, the driver of the omnibus,
that he had come to stay. Naturally
such declaration caused sensation,
as people did not come to Plattville to
live except through the inadvertency of
being born there. In addition the young
mans appearance and attire were re-
ported to be extraordinary. Many of
the curious. among them most of the
marriugcablc females of the place. took
occasion to pass and rcrNss the sign of
the Carlow County Herald during the
evening.
Meanwhile the stranger was seated
in the dingy Office upstairs with his
head bowed low on his arms. Twilight
stole through the dirty window pancs
and faded into darkness. Night filled
the room. He did not move. The young
man from the east had bought the Her
aid from an ugent-had bought it with
| out ever having been within hundred
miles of plativile. The Herald was
an alleged weekly which had some
! times appeared within five days of its
declared date of publication and some
| times missed lire altogether. 1t was II
thorn in the side of every patriot of
Carlow county. and Carlow people. aft
err supporting The paper loyaHJ and
| long, had at last given it up ana sub
scribed for tie Gazette, published in
the ncishhorlng County of Amo. The
former proprietor of the Herald, n
surrcpttious gentleman with goatee,
| had taken the prccaution of leaving
| Plattville forever on the afternoon pre-
ceding his successors arrival. The
young man from the east had vastly
overpaid for his purchase Moreover
the price lie had paid for it was all the
money lie had in the world.
The next morning he went bitterly to
work He hired a compositor from
| Rouen, young man named Parker,
who set type all night long and helped
/ him pursue advertisements all day
The citizens shook their heads pessi
mistically. They had about given up
the idea that the Herald could ever
amount to anything. and they betrayed
an innocent but caustic doubt of abil
| ity in any stranger.
| one day the new editor left n note or
his door: "Nill return in fifteen min
utes"
| Mr.. Rodney McCune, a politician from
the neighborng county of Gaines, hap
pening to he in plattville on an errant
to his henchmen. found the note and
wrote beneath the message the scath
ing inquiry. why"
When he discovered this addendum
the editor smiled for the first time since
his advent and reported the incident II
his next issue. using the rubric "Wh!
Has the Herald Returned to l.ife!' a.
text for Il rousing editorial Oh hon
csty in politics, a subject Of which he
already knew something. The politica
district to which Carlow belonged wa!
governed by limited number of gen
tlemen whose wealth was ever on III,
increase. and honesty in politics wa
startling conception to the minds o
the passive and resigned voters, wh'
talked the editorial over on the stree
corners and in the stores. The mex
week there was another editorial. per
sonal and local in its application. ant
thereby it became evident that the new
proprietor of the Herald was Il theOris
who believed in general that Il polti
clans honor should not be merely o
that mddling healthy species know
as 'honor among politcians,' and Il
particular that Rodney McCune shOul'
not receive the nomination of his part
for congress. Now, Mr.. McCunc wa
the undoubted dictator of the district
and his followers laughed NJ the strar
gers fantastic onset; but the editor wa
not content with the word of print. ii
hired Il horse and rode about the couT
try and to his own surprise) proved t
be an adaptable young man who ell
joyed exercise with Il pitchfork to tn
farmers profit while the farmer tall
ed He talked little himself, but afto
listening aii hour or so he would drop
word from the saddle as lie left, an
then, by some surprising wizardry, tn
farmer, thinking over the interview
decided there was some sense in wha
that young fellow said and grew cur
Gus to see what the young fellow ha
further to say in the Herald.
Politics is the one subject that goo
TO the vitais of every rural American
and a HooSier will talk politics aftt
,, he is dead,
Everybody read the campaign ed
torials and found them interesting, a
though there was no one who did N
: perceive the utter absurdity of your
stranger dropping into Carlow an
, involving Himself in party figl
. against the boss Of the district. 1t ".
entirely Il party fight. for by grace
the last gerrymandcr the nominate
carried with it the certainty Of Gle
Il ton.
A week before the convention the
. came n provincial earthquake. III
J. news passed from man to man In av
struck whispcrs-McCune had wit
= drawn his name making the shallO,