Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-19

doing, but even then you won't find il
very entertaining. I'm afraid"
Mr.. GOodspeed shrugged his broad Shout
ders, took out his cigar case, offered the
captain a perfecto and took one himself.
WELL he remarked, soon as his cigar
commenced to draw satisfactorily Il don
mind telling you that l won't stay here
more than month or so. It's the honor of
being a diplomat I'm down for. and not
the pay. / can make more out of my coal
business in two months than the State
Department allows me for year.
Mr. GoOdspeed smiled. Back in Bucks
port l used to be too busy selling coal and
wood to think of much else, and I'd be
there yet if it wasn't for my wife. She
and Mrs Haswith sort of run things
where We live. If one gives a party the
other tries to go her one better by giving
something a little sweller. and there's no
use denying 1t. Mrs. Haswith has always
been a mite in the lead because her hus-
band-he's dead now-used to be lieutenant
governor. Now the coal business is all
right. at any rate it's good enough for me,
but there are some people who think
lieutenant governors job is a little more
high class than what | make my bread
and butter in Mrs. Haswith worked it
for all 1t was worth
my wife is an ambitious woman, and
playing second fiddle got on her nerves
One day she said to me, Cyrus, you've
got to go into politics. Politics, l answer
ed; I'm no more fitted for politics than
business to attend to-.
Il mean every word I say. That Has
with woman makes me sick putting on
airs because her husband in politics
AT that last tea she gave she had people
all the way down from Augusta who used
10 know her husband when he was at the
capitol there
d" I can get people from all over the
state, l answered. You want to send
invitations to every man in the coal trade.
m member of the association and |
know them an
Il saw I'd make a mistake the second
I stopped speaking by the way my wife
shifted. There's no special use to go into
all she had to say the subject. If the
Coal Dealers Association had heard it III
have been fired from membership. Well,
TO cut things short, do you know what my
wife made me do? |, who don't care two
cents one way or the other about politics,
SO long as they don't monkey with the tariff
on coali She made me run for the state
legislature.
I'm home-lOving man. captain and
when night comes / like to put on my slip
pers and read the evening paper before the
fire. But the first thing | knew l was
making speeches and asking people for
votes, and buying cigars and drinks for
men | didn't know want to know, and
spending money foolishly. and then cleo
tion day came and was elected.
"Of course, that meant l had to fritz
ser away a lot of time up al Augusta and
vote on things l didn't know anything
about, while my coal business was run
ming down hill all the time. But man
win do a lot for peace"
The captain, who was a bachelor, looked
over at Mr.. Goodspeed commiseratingly
but he was wise enough TO make no COM
ment.
Mrs. Goodspeed moved up to Augusta
with me and went into politics big sight
harder than / did Politics? Why, man
alive. how could think of politics when
the office was telephoning me about coal
contracts. But Julia just dreamed politics
"One day | said to her that / never sus-
pected that she cared anything about
changing the game laws. She had been
giving me lot of pointers on how | should
vote Game laws. she said, Cyrus, 1t
isn't the ducks I'm working for. it's for
you If you vote right and make a big
name for yourself there isn't any reason
why you can't be President some day That
Haswith woman's husband was lieutenant
governor, but you're going higher Or
- Or go broke, | guess / answered; be-
cause il don't quit fOoling away my time
here l surely will But Mrs. Goodspeed
just shut her mouth in way she has and
] saw ia have to let things run as they
were for time. anyway.
80 L kept plugging ahead making
speeches about corporation laws and state
lunatic asylums and a lot of such rot Julia
would write them out for me. / was too
busy to think much about them, with bust
ness letters to attend to and now and then
taking trip down to Bucksport to try and
straighten things out at the office.
Finally every one was talking about the
election in the Legislature for a new sena-
tor for Washington. There was man
named Jones and another named Birdsfoot
running neck and neck. and no one was
sure which was going TO get elected. Near
ly every one was Interested, and / guess
was the only man in the state who didn't
care cent one way or the other. OF course
different people, tried TO get me TO promise
To vote for their man. but l was wor-
lied about business and Julia holding me
down to all this foolishness that when some
one would say 'Goodspeed, you're going to