davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

a rally or a revival isto the elders.
@He always presides at the formal open
ing and presents appropriately lettered
badges to the students enrolled. If there
is a deficiency in the fund to pay the teacher
imported from Great Send or Emporia,
il liz he who makes it up. He is the judge
Of the annual debates and gives the prize
for the elocution contests. He addresses
every boy and girl scrupulously as Mr.. or
Miss. and at the end Of the four weeks term
every one Of them goss forth TO sing his
praises.
Our people like Judge Hutchinson and
are proud of him. yet there isn't n man in
his district who ever called him by his
first name or would dream Of whacking
hin on the back.
"Onthe other hand. there is Charlie Hickok
who has been our County Clerk so long
that we can't remember that we ever had
anybody else. Even mis- own children
call him Charlie, and there isn't any use
trying to get up a dance in Grant county
unless he promises to be there. He kisses
the babies and iollies the girls, the men
whack him on the back and he whacks
them, and Roosevelt himself couldn't beat
him for Clerk Of Grant county.
Those are our two types OF politicians,
and we love 'em both. Jerry Simpson
was Of the latter type, and when We saw
him in clothes no better than our own, and
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21
STORY OF 4. STALLED TEAM
And Of an Able Driver Who Picked n Up
ard Set IL RIKht.

.You AM make it. You'll have to
have another team"
This was the verdict OF a mounted police
man, delivered to a man with a truck with
a load Of three iron columns, drawn by a
single pair Of horses, trying to make his
way from the East River to Broadway
by way Of Maiden lane. He had got as
far az midway between William and Nassau
streets, but there is a stiff grade to climb
between William street and Broadway.
and now he was stuck.
His horses were good ones, able and
willing, too; they responded TO every call
the best they could; but the load was just
simply beyond them on that grade; and
when their driver started them now they
strained and tugged. and then just went
down on their knees; and il was then that
the mounted cop, who had had his eye on
the outfit, slid along past and Just casually
said to the driver as he went by, You can't
make il, keeping on his way himself, while
the driver of the truck sat upon the for
ward end Of one Of those columns and
waited.
The mounted cop keeps on down 70 Will
lam street and swings around there, in
William street, close to the curb, with his
horses head at Maiden lane, and waits,
calmly with an eye on the passing traffic,
for the right sort Of outfit TO come along.
Light delivery wagons pass, each with a
single horse: and single trucks. plenty Of
them; but they could no more start the
stalled truck than they could start a noun
tain and the mounted officer lets 'eIn all
stream by with never wen a thought ~
them. as he does likewise many a big double
truck with fine big horses. but with trucks
heavily loaded.
Finally along Cnmes an empty double
truck with a pair Of big. fine horses and a
cool. able looking driver, the sort Of outfit
that the mounted cop had been looking
for. And when this rig comes abreast Of
him the policeman catches the drivers
eye and nodding at the same time slightly
toward the ends Of those three iron columns
seen projecting from the stalled reach
truck M the street, he says to ths driver:
VIII YOU give him a lift?'
And the driver takes this in the spirit
in which 10 u offered. and without wasting
q word in reply he gives just the slightest
nod Of his head to signify that ne viii and
that's all there Is TO his part OF the job.
The driver keeps right along with the
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

with a square meal, got him on the stage.
and as we whirled giddily down the noun
tain he told me about Il.
HE was a clerk in a Denver hardware
house who'd come West n year previous.
Things had gone well with him. His wife's
health was restored and he'd won the con-
idence OF his firm. They had sent him TO
Cripple Creek to collect 81 900 from a slip
perry Gust ouSer. and success mean promo
ton.
BY shrewdness and energy he'd corralled
the whole sum the day previous. too late.
however, to take the stage home, but he had
wired them OF his having the money. He
had got in the poker game, which started
merely for the drinks, TO make friends with
the players, we'll known mining men. He
had some hundreds Of his own, too.
"When the game began to swell he was
winner and saw no danger to him. Then,
when / began to hammer him he lost his
head as fast as his chips and before he knew
it, he'd blown in all the firms money be-
yond redemption.
-I couldn't have stopped to have saved
my Iife,' he said sadly. and I mean that
literally, too, for the disgrace and imprison-
ment / must suffer are worse than DEATH
well, If ever words bit into the vitals
Of a man, Latham's did into mine. Until
then I had posed az a superior creature,
consoling and uplifting the allen Now l
saw that but for my fortunate ability TO
read his hands, 1 would have been in exactly
the miserable plight he now ound himself.
I've gazed down the gun OF a man who
was looking for me; I've slipped within
four feet Of a thousand foot precipice, but
I've never shuddsred with the nervous
chill of horror rs l did sitting safely aboard
that stage, looking back into the pit over
which I had hung the previous night, and
from which / had so narrowly escaped.
And the fellow l had kicked in To save my
self was sitting beside me!
1T didn't take me long to determine
what to do. l was Lighting my pipe a.
Latham finished; my wallet was out before
the match.
Here's sI.JOO.' l said. and handed a
roll TO him. Never min about the thanks,
and pay me lack when IL comes easy and
not before
It's nse1Iess 10 say I'm done with
poker hs remarked a little later. Done
with IL forever. except one thing; how
did you read my hands 80 well?'
Because poker IL q game Of men. not
cards. I answered. and every man but q
genius has habits he can't shake. Watched
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

the Short Grass will shout every time for
an old fashioned rally with a basket dinner
to start with, a parade and speaking in the
afternoon and a dance az night. That il
our idea Of a good time, and we will pack
the children in bed quilts in the back OF
the wagon and drive twenty miles for the
sake of il.
The rally that set the standard for us
was one that occurred when the county
committee had more money to spend than
it has ever had since, and it did itself proud.
A young fellow named Jim Gordon ran
the parade, and he was a genius.
Instead Of letting In only Republican,
it was a Republican raly-he took in every
body ne could lay hands on and lined them
up in the parade, if il was only in the
citizens on foot division. Every family
in the county was represented one way
or another.
-Of course a true blue Populist such as
We had then wouldn't parade under a Re-
publican banner, but back somewhere in
the line you would find his daughter per-
haps, In a white dress and posing on a hay
rack as one OF the thirteen original States.
or else his freckle faced boy was on another
hayTack with forty more just like himself,
labelled The Hope OF Kansas II was a
great parade and it made a great hit excspt
that jim got into a lot OF trouble because
the homeliest girl in the county was chosen
for Columbia.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

She stood up in the hayrack with a flag
draped around her and a gilt paper crown
on her head, whils the thirteen States sat
in a circle around her. The thirteen States
were hopping mad at Jim for choosing her,
but she had a father, four brothers and a
sweetheart who would have voted tho Popu-
list ticket but for that choice. while the kin
folks of the thirteen were solid Republican
anyway:
Politicians who gain any permanent in
f1uence in the Short Grass learn 70 know
their people az we'll and az intimately "a
though they all lived within a city block in
stead of being scattered over hundreds OF
miles Of prairie. Judge W. L. Hutchisol
knows thoss Western counties as a New
Yorker does Broadway.
In his several terms az District Judge
he has driven his shiny top buggy and Ion z
tailed horses over every mile Of the fiat.
straight prairie roads, doing sometimes
forty miles a day aud a welcome guest at
any house where nightfaIl happened to find
him. He knows his people as he knows
his own brothers.
For twenty Years he has gone to every
funeral and every wedding in the half
dozen counties of his district. and he knows
the most intimate history Of every family
most Of whom have at some time or other
borrowed money OF him. But his strong
hold is in the annual 81 mmer normal in
stitute. which is 70 our girls and boys h
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21
A BATH IN CUBA.
Around Robin Hoods Barn 20 Get II. but
Twas An M-P.Pight.

For ways that are devious the Cuban
bath is about as peculiar as the heather
Chinee. One sometimes gets a walking
trip Of very respectable length thrown in.
This was the case with the HdrPeT's
Weekly correspondent who carried his
Tubing predictions with him to San
Juan y M~artenez. San Juan - only l75
miles from Havana, where the bath is quiIe
domestiOated, but to the correspondent
it seemed thousands OF miles OF in the
primitive border OF things civilized. For
example. the quest for the bath:
FIRST, you had a long conversation with
the camarero. a sort OF male chambernaid,
who Obigingly ran in and brought out a
~ba9-being a trife we1k NJ English words
but presently appeared displaying a long
Turkish towel and a smile of encourage
ment. He led the way down a long brick walk
through thep patio and out TO the barn.
There. turning to the right. he presently
unlocked a tall, slim shed, inside of which
with \ block and tackle he lowered away
q hugo tin cylinder like a gardeners sphinx
ling pot. Then he carried two ten gallon
oil cans and hlled them at the rain water
barrel. He dumped the water into the
cylinder, hoisted it again on high and
showed how to pull the string that let loose
q little dsluge.
Fine. Good. All r-r-right. he grinnsd.
IL waA
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

boilers. clothes baskets or cracker boxessf
and the proudest woInan there is the one
who can produce the greatest variety OF
riee or the fanciest cake. Whenever poli-
ticians Of especial note are present the Dri10
cakes are always presented to them. 4.
After the dinner the young people sing
HYMNS and some girl Tecites 'SheFidan's
Ride or John Burns OF Gettysburg, for
the benefit OF tho old soldiers, the women
swan croche, patterns and n recipess
and then they all drive OIL home across tho
fat gray prairie. -sd
After a man has got himself nominated
in our country he must call On every voter
in the county, not a polite political cad
either. but a regular 81 Town beside tina
barn. 20 out and took at the crop visit.
ANYTHING less will get him the reputation
Of being proud, and better anything else
than proud. '"'
a man in our county was defeated for
treasurer for no otner ~rsasoRthan that hs
opponent succeeded in fastening on him
the fa.aI accusation OF pride. He was q
fine fellow too. old man Wills, with a family
that had seen better days, and that stifi
chung to many of the usages Of their early
life back Fast.
Inc DOOT lGlO" ~ "ANN pb
and his writing was very slow and difficuie
and not very legible. That was one Of the
charges against him.
why he amt fit TO be treasurer, x
planned his rival when he el~ectioneered
me. I tell you his writin's i~llegitimate.
Now what kind Of a treasurer do you think
he'd make? And his family. Make hirA
treasurer and they'll be struttin' in thesr
silks and eatins before the years out.
Did you ever eat there? / tell you 10
looked queer to me. First place, there was
a white tablecioth. Now, Oilcloth's good
enough for my family, with a red cloth for
company. Then each one had a little towel
to spread on his lap, to keep his clothes clean
/ reckon.
But the worst was the way the grub
was piled up in front Of the old man. Stead
OF passin' IL around for everybody to a
what he wanted, he just doled IL out to suit
himself. and nobody got anything unless
he was q mind to give it to'em.
Lord, hate a s'ingy mani tel. you
il you elect old man Wills, inside al SIN
months he'll be swellin' around with 4
gold watch. chain and a plug hat, and his
offlce'll be as illegitimate as his writin'.
Now you wouldn't think that sort OF
talk would change many votes, would your
But when there ape only about $50 voters In
the county you don't have to change many
TO change the result. And old man Villa
lost by two votes. His writing and hi4
white tablecloth beat him." (.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

There was mighty little ak when we
settled up in the gray dawn. but something
in the few words Latham spoke caught my
attention.
when a man laughs about a big loss you
know he's a philosopher and when he beefs
YOU know he's sore only in the pocket.
But when you see a man who's been skinned
down TO his last cent talking in a wooden,
l~istless way you'd better keep your eye on
him; else you'll be sending a floral tribute
to the bereaved family next Tuesday about
2 o'clock.
I'VE went upstairs to pack our grips.
Lathan's room was next 10 mine and i
listened but l didn't hear any sounds OF
scufiing around or mild swearing like a
man packing.
in my anxiety l walked down the hall
past his door. He was sitting there writing
so engrossed he didn't notice my pausing
and looking in.
1T was no longer mere suspicion. I'd
had experience with men who'd gotten sore
on the deal here and wanted 20 try a hand
in the game beyond the Great Divide.
Presently he stopped writing and closed his
door.
The next moment I was at the keyhole. I
heard him jerk his valise open; then he took
a few steps and stopped. That moment I
flung open his (, Dor with a bang-and not a
moment too
There he stood before the looking glass,
RraspinR in his lifted hand a gun that, a.
entered, shot a squirt OF fire 90 high above
his head I knew he wasn't even powder
burned. Surprise, though IL couldn't stop
his finger, had relaxed his grip and the re-
coil Of the gun had thrown the bullet high
and saved him.
-Asthe shot rang out 7 jerked the gun from
his ~nerveIess grasp and. hurrying into the
hall, called cheerily to those already hasten
ing up the stairs.
-'No harm, boys. Gun fell OIL the bureau
and wounded the ceiling. That's all"
-Whereupon thef footsteps departed with a
grunt. Pistol shots were common things in
Cripple Greek in those days n none ever
knew the truth Of that shot.
Il turned TO Latham, sitting with bis face
buried in his hands, quivering with the
reaction.
Come along. old man. I said. pattinG
him gently on the shoulder. It's a good
breakfast now and well s,raighten il all out
going down on the stage together this
morning
THE bleak look left his eyes and he fol-
lowed me out like a dpE. bTsoed him Tu
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

his wife did, and "a she was always at his
elbow. il was all tle same. And when he
gave a sun scorched, work hardened ranch
woman a regular Washington bow and
he! ' her hand a moment as he said, 7 heard
that you lost little Willie. ] am very, very
sorry, he made a friend for life.
W were proud Of Burton's kindly man.
ners and his good clothes. and we were loyal
to him even when political scandal svamped
him, Chester Long. for all his fine record.
never had more or truer friends han did
y. Ralph Burton, when from the little plat
form OF a Grant county schooihouse he
took us into his confidence: My Iife's am
bition is to go 10 the United States Senate,
and want you to help me-
The clearing house OF political Blooms
in our country is the basket Cneeting. II
would be called a picnic il IL were in the
woods. But we don't have woods in the
Short Grass, so We have our picnics on the
shady side of a scioolhOlse and call them
basket meetings.
Every one in the county comes and half
the next. It gives the young fellows a
chance to beau the girls and the old fellows
q chance to put their heads together and
size up the candidates. They are all there,
the man who thinks he can beat Charlie
Hickok for County Clerk and the man
who wants to be elected to the Legislature
40 he can take his sick wife to Topeka for
treatment without extra expense.
Fairly in the afternoon the dinner is
spread on long rough tables on the shady
side Of the house. And such a dinncri The
women spend days cooking for it.
The food is brought packed in wash
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

when he rumpled up his hair and pulled
up his baggy trousers and showed a bare
leg, we swung our hats and hurrahed. We
would have voted for him for President or
king or anything he happened to be run
ming for.
But after we had cooled down a little
and Jerry was really in Washington, and
after we had read what the Kansas City
and St Louis papers aid about him, we
got to thinking that maybe it wasn't UGH
an awful smart thing 20 go TO Washington
without socks. after all. None Of us would
have gone TO Topeka without 'em, let alone
to Washington-in fact most of us wore EN-
for every day, even. And you may re-
member that Jerry's stay in the capital
wasn't very long.
You see. we like to be proud Of the men
we send to Washington. Because we wear
~overalls and brogans ourselves is no reason
why our Congressman should wear them.
That is the way J. r. Burton got his stand
in with our people, and that finally won
him the friends and prestige that made
him Senator.
He never ones relaxed from his attitude
OF the elegant man of the world. l have
known him to travel all night in a day
coach, drive forty miles owe glaring hot
prairie roads, and without taking time TO
wash his face stand up before IN audience
asse mbled from three counties, with his
frock coat unrumpled, his silk hat smooth
and shiny and his whole appearances as
immaculate as though his only opportunity
to freshen himself hadn't boen in the back
Of the spring wagon that was bringing
him 10 the meeting.
He knew every one by name. 700, or rather
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

stream up Maiden lane as though he had
heard nothing, and on just past the stalled
truck, but there he turns out to one side
till the tail Of his truck is at the head Of tho
stalled trucks team, when 10 cooLly dis
mounts.
Got a roper" he says to the driver IL
that outfit, who has none. whereupon thu
driver of the double truck takes a rop@l
OF his own and makes fest to the stalled
truck. When it's all ready the truclgi
driver looks up at the mar on the stalled
truck and says: I
"Where do you. " ant me to drop your"
And then the truck driver swings himselfl
up into his high seat and gathers up his
lines. all ready. and turns then cooly eee
ever, but easily the boss and moving spirft
and director of this whole enterprise, and
speaks to the stalled trucks driver:
Start 'ein up, Bill, turning at the samoa
instant himself and s.arting up his owns
team.
And now, suddenly, he had become quite
another q Able And resoInte as he had
seemed, with all his GOODNESS Of speech and
ann no was now. al he bent over his
borses and spoke to them. the very figure
OF intensity, c0ncentratton And aroused
energy and a. they heSTd him his horses
and determination; and puli2 With this man
driving they could have pulled any load
that cOlna he put on wheels and, with the
stal ed team pulling gameS, too, they
SJaTVO tLll lOIl OF iron cOllIlIlS ana kepb
IL moving til Broadway wA4 Hccched.
And now tho sa-on1 truck driver GOT
Town from his truck and ca OF his Fope
which had served rs the TOW line, and coled
il up and hung it once moro on the pin
and climbed up on his Seat agHin and drove
on, az cool and easy ard matter Of fact "a
he was when the mounted cop hailed him
down there at the corner Of v llliam street.
but il is doubtful II any nssn driving or
waking in Broadway at hat minute had
any more real reason 70 be proud.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

The schoolhouse basket picnic il the
training school for Kansas politicians. II
is an institution peculiar to the short grass
country. and every fall it fourishes wherever
a lonely schoolhouse casts its patch OF
shade on the treeless prairie.
Every Kansan who has figured in politics
beyond the borders of the State has served
an apprenticeship in these curious half
social, half political gatherings Of socially
starved communities. Jerry Simpson came
from Medicine Lodge and his first political
experience was gained at the basket picnics
of his neighborhood.
]. Ralph Burton made the first announce
ment OF his determination to go to tho
ena in one Of these short grass school
houses. Chester Long, from the same town
as Simpson, has many times made the
round of the schoolhouses in the Great
Seventh, the heart Of the short grass, and
Victor Murdoch, in organizing the Short
Grass Red Headed Mems Association, gave
evidence of the lessons he had learned in
schoolhouse campaigning.
But times are changing in the short
grass country" said a man from Grant
county. Kan. 1T wasn't so very long
ago that we thought judge Hutchinson,
with a top buggy and a pair of long tailed
horses, and J. r. Burton. in a frock coat and
silk hat, just about the top notch OF style in
the way Of campaigning. But Victor MUIR
dock showed us a new wrinkle, a real
automobile campaign, and there were more
scared cattle and popeyed children in
western Kansas that week than there have
been since the day the first safety bicycle
came into Ulysses.
I'VE have barbed wire telephones in our
country. and last year the County Clerk
bought n piano, but we are not used to
automobiles. They have them in Garden
City, and most of us on trips to the railroad
nave seen them, but to have them figure
in a political campaign was to establish a
precedent that put Judge Hutchison's
buggy and Buttons coat clear down and
out.
"A campaign with ~ isn't what il is with
you people bach East. We don't have to
stir up any enthusiasm. With us n CAM
paiGn is about our one real good time, and
the leaders instead of having TO work to
get the people oct would have to work a
lot harder to keep them way
"A revival meeting Ia the OF a pretty
good time to most Of us, but for real pleasure