Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-15


silence. The opposition was there in al
most as great force as were the friends
of Cooper. but there was no cheering. Jer-
seymen. in the main. decent folk, and
those who made up that crowd felt instinct
lively that there would be improperly in
such demonstration, no matter how much
the figures might really delight them.
Cooper almost staggered when he saw them,
but he braced himself and grinned instead.
Kind of tough. amt it?' he said to the
Rev. Hamilton Frye. who stood near him.
ito stand here in my own front yard and
see figures like them jump at me out of the
dark
And then he added:
But you hear my band a-playin', don't
your
There turned through the gate from the
street the crowd of roisterers inevitably to
be found on nights like this in all Ameri-
can villages. They were noisy and bolster
Gus. Some of them started cry as they
marched in loCkstep with their hands on
one another's shoulders:
"Mus-ser! Mus-ser! Jacob Mus-ser!'
There were few to take it up, but not
many, and it soon died out. At the first
sound of IT Sam Bull had started angrily
toward the leaders of the group, but Cooper
laid a OBTAINING hand upon his arm.
"Oh, let the boys have their good time,
Sam he said II don't mind"
Bull was grieved beyond measure by the
unhappiness which he saw on the old mans
face as those figures stood upon the screen,
black and discouragng, in the middle of
their brilliant disc, and he would have
fought wild cats to prevent anything more
than was inevitable from occurring to add
to the weight of disappointment and hui
initiation which had befallen him, but he did
as Cooper asked him to, and made no open
protest. He swore between his teeth,
though, that before he died he would lick
the man that led that line, and II 1t would
not be going too far beyond the limit of
this story l should enjoy telling about the
fight which happened later between the
lank old man and the sturdy one. Bull was
not whipped, l will say that much But
at that moment all he did was to spring to
the top of a barrel and call for three cheers
for Cooper. They were heartily given.
That's just it!' said Bull, after he had
they're sorry they didn't vote for him. They
know he couldn't do nothin' underhand, but
he wouldn't even go down to the polls to-
day except to vote"
Bull saw that Cooper was still casting
furtive glances at the figures while he pre-
tended to be engaged in earnest conversa-
ton with the minister.
That's all right" he whispered to him.
but you Jest waltz
In his heart one old man knew that the
other was trying to bolster up his courage
with false hopes and hopes that he knew
were false But they grnned at one an
quire something of an effort, and Cooper
told Sam to tell the bugler to blow call
every time figures showed upon the screen,
for he was afraid that when they were
flashed there might be some behind the
screen or out of sight Of 1t who would not
see them If their attention was not attract
ed in some way.
I'm goin' to take my medicine as near
like a man as l know how he said. "There'N
be flags flynn on my boat as l float up
Salt river"
That now, when it was too late, senti-
ment was rapidly veering in his favor was
evinced in more than one way When his
campaign drill corps marched up from Den
nison's, where they had rendezvoused WIN
the filters and drummers at their head, all
gayly uniformed in oilcloth capes ana caps
and carrying smoking torches, the crowd
applauded them and him again and again.
A space was cleared in the road IN front or
the homestead, and the boys went through
a fancy drill which evoked much enthusl-
asm. When, at its close, they marched
intricately in a pretty figure with torches
uplifted to light the handsome, blue-sllk
Cooper banner, there were many cheers ana
long ones for the man whose name entered
out in such bold gilt letters. That Cooper
was defeated was foregone conclusion In
the mind of almost every person there
(there was at least one eXcept1on-Betsey
Bobbin had not yet abandoned nope, out
II was beginning to be a conclusion to be
very generally regretted.
Indeed at about the time when the re-
turns began to come in rapidly. ana When
IL began to be plain to all that cooper was
showed under in his own town, notable
reaction of public opinion In his favor was
shown on all sides. Sam Bull and rev
others had explained matters during the
day as we'll as they could, but to deaf ears
Now those who had heard their stories be-
gan TO feel tardy belief in them and to
go 10 those who knew them to hear them
told again.
sam and his henchmen were nothing loath
to repeat their tales as often as they could
find hearers for them, and by . o'clock the
voters in the crowd were waking 10 a gen
real realization that they had acted hastily
and foolIshly in accepting One printed
charge of almost incredible dishonesty, I'M
proved. against the lifelong record OF fair
dealing and good works which had been
Cooper's. AS this feeling grew and the
conviction strengthened that the district
had been boldly and dishonesty buncoed
anger began TO arise among the men VINO
had done the thing. Toms River had de-
nounced Caleb Cooper all day and clasped
Jacob Musser to its heart now it was be-
ginning to realize that 1t really loved the
man whom 1t had villifed and dislked him
whom it had accepted. The old matter of
the cam-digging match scandal was re-
vlved In the gossip of the crowd-it had,
apparently. been quite forgotten during the
day-and there were many now to declare
that the man who had tried to perpetrate
that petty cheat would not hesitate at other
and more serious swindles. Repentance was
coming too late TO change the ballots of
the town, out II was surely coming Inc
band OF young men who had come upon
the lawn shouting their Musser cry tried IL
again. and one or two We're roughly ham
died before Cooper could put a stop to 1t.
There were calls here and there from those
who wanted Cooper to get up and make a
speech, and these calls became so persistent
finally that Cooper, who was utterly I'M
willing 10 accede TO them, felt relieved
when Sam Bull said that he would talk in
stead.
His rostrum was a barrel and the inter
est of the men who gathered about il was
so great that the dribbling announcements
OF returns shown at long intervals on the
screen were almost unheeded. Only the
younger people and the dyed-in-the- wool
Musser men remained before the taut sheet
on which the magic lantern cast its mes
sages-the Older Cooper sympathIzers and
all the rougher unattached element which
by this time was present in great numbers
listened to Sam Bull
He spoke very temporarily and very
fairly. IL was plain that he talked more
In sorrow than in anger, and II was plain
that he had the crowd with him from the
start, with enthusiasm growing. Sam
was not unskillfuI rough-and-ready
orator and he put the situation plainly.
He said that he had no proofs to offer;
that the story printed in the Express
a lie bnf he