Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-07-27

OF mine travelled down one side of
the table and up the other. il might
have been setting those faces on
fire, so brightly did they flame II
was hard for me to keep my disgust
beneath the surface. Those gentle
men assembled there were among
the leading citizens of my state
and Roebuck was famous on both
sides of the Atlantic as a king Of
commerce and phiIanthropist Yet,
every one of those brains was busy
plottings-and for what purpose? For
ends so petty. so gross and stupid
that 1t was inconceiyable how intel
Mgence could waste life upon them, not
to speak of the utter depravity and lack
of manliness Liars, cheats bribers;
and haunting the fruits of infamy as
honors. as titles to respect. as gifts
from Almighty Gods And here they
were, assembled now for silly plot
tings against the man whose only Of
Tense in their eyes was that he was
saving them from themselves--wa
preventing them from killing the
goose that would cheerfuliy keep on
laying the golden eggs for the priv
ilege of remaining alive. 1t was pitt
full. 1t was nauseating. ! felt my
degradation in stopping to such
company.
spoke to Dominick last To my
surprise he squarely returned my
t~ JnI fnp ac
the eyes of pig seem to be, If you
look straight into its face when it
lifts its snout from a full trough.
| Presently he could contain the huge
volume of his mirth no longer. II
came roaring from him like great
| coarse torrent, shaking his vast bulk
and the chair sustained it, swelling
the veins in his face, resounding
through the silent room while the
walters literally stood aghast At
| last he found breath to calculate:
well, I'll be good and-damned!"
This gale ripped from the others
and whirled away their cloaks Of sur
| face-composure. Naked, they suggest
ed lot of rats in trap-Dominick
| jeering at them and anticipating the
pleasure of watching me torture them.
l choked back the surge of repulsion
and said to Roebuck: Then where
shall l sit?"
Roebuck looked, almost wildly, to
ward the foot of the table He long
ed to have me as far from him as
possible Partridge, at the foot of
the table, cried out-in alarm:
Make room for the senator between
! you and Mr.. Dominick, Roebuck He
ought to be as near the head of the
table as possible"
mo matter where Senator Sayler
sits, it's the head of the table" said
| Roebuck His commonplace cour-
| tesy indicated, not recovered self
control, but the cunning of his ram
pant instinct of selfpreservation--
| that cunning which men so often ex-
hibit in desperate straits, thereby
| winning credit for cool courage.
| Were merry company" said l.,
as we sat. This, with a glance at
Dominick heaving in the subsiding
L SlOi III Vi liiS III. IVY iChioi N SCe
| him off again. l glanced at his place
| to see if he had abandoned his for
| mer inf1exible rule of total abstinence
| There stood his invariable pot of tea
Clearly, it was not drink that enabled
| him to enjoy a situation which, as it
| seemed to me, was fully as unattrac-
| tive to him as for his fellows, Il.
| Soon the door opened and in strobe
Croffut; handsome, picturesque, with
his pose of dashing, brave manhood
which always got the crowds into a
mood for the frenzy his oratory con
| jured. Croffut seemed to me to put
| the climax upon this despicable com
pany-Croffut, one of the great ora
| tors of the party, adored by the
people that, but for overwhelming sU-
. periority in the state, / should never
have dared eject him from Office Since
l elected him he had not spoken to
me. Dominick looked at him, said
in voice that would have flared even
the warm ashes of manhood into fu-
| rious blaze; Go and shake hands
with Senator Sayler, Croffut, and sit
| down"
Croffut advanced, smiling. II am
fit for my company" thought 4 az
let him clasp my hand.
Better tilt Granbys ghost out OF
that chair, Croffut," said Dominick, as
the ex-senator was seating himself
And in his animal exuberance of de-
light at his joke and at the whole
situation he clapped Roebuck on the
shoulder.
Roebuck shrank and WINGED. Nor.
al humiliation he could shed as an
armor-plated turret sheds musket
balls But physical humiliation, .es-
pecially with spectators, sank in and
sank deep. Instantly, alarmed fest
Dominick had seen and understood, he
smiled and said: That's a vigorous
arm of yours, Mr.. Dominick."
mot bad for man of 60" said
| Dominick.
/ ate because to eat was a neces-
sary part of my pose to absolute
calmness; but ] had to force down
Il