Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-07-06

~You'd Better Let Me Bargain for tn,
 Furniture and the Big Sign.
 No ono must see that we were pinch
 ing-so I must be the most obviously
 prosperous young lawyer in Pulaski I What that struggle cost her did no
 then realize; no. could not realize un 1 til l looked at her face for the lasI | time, looked and turned away ana
 thought on the meaning of the lines ] and the hollows over which Death
 had spread his proclamation of eter
 nal peace. have heard 1t said oi
 those markings in human faces: How
 ugly!" But 1t seems to Ge that, to
 any one with eyes and imagination
 line and wrinkle and hollow always
 have the somber grandeur of tragedy
 remember my mother when her face
 was smooth and had the shallow beauty that the shallow dote
 on. But her face whereon was writ.
 ten the story of fearlessness, saNri. flee and love-that is the face beauti- .iul or my mother TOT me.
 In the midst of those times of trial,
 when she had ceased to smile-for . she had none of that hypocritical
 cheerfulness which depresses and is a mere vanity to make silly onlookers
 cry "Brave!" when there is no true
 bravery--1ust when we were at our lowest ebb, came an offer from Bill
 Dominick to put me into politics.
 l had been interested in politics
 ever since was seven years old. I
 recall distinctly the beginning:
 On November afternoon-it must have been November, though I re- member that 1t, was summer-warm,
 with all the windows open and many men in the streets in shirt-sleeves- at any rate. was on my way home from school. As I neared the court house saw a crowd in the yard, and
 was reminded that 1t was election day, and that my father was running for reelection to the state senate; so, I bolted for his law office in the sec- ond story of the Masonic temple, across the street from the court house.
 He was at the window and was looking at the polling place so intent ly that he took no notice of me as I stood beside him. know now why he was absorbed and why his face was stern and sad. I shut my eyes and see that court house yard, the long line of men going to vote, single file, each man calling out his name as he handed in his ballot and Tow Weed on-who shot an escaping prisoner when he was deputy sheriff-repeat- ing the name in a loud voice. Each oncoming voter in that curiously reg ular and compact file was holding out his right arm stiff so that the hand was about foot clear of the thigh; and in every one of those thus con- spicuous hands was @ conspicuous bit of white paper-a ballot. As each man reached the polling window and gave his name. he swung that hand round with a stiff armed, circular mo- tion that kept 1t clear of the body and in full view until the bit of pa- per disappeared in the slit in the bal lot box.
 I wished to ask my father what this strange spectacle meant; but as I glanced up at hfm to begin my ques- tion, knew I must not, for felt that I was seeing something which shocked him so profoundly that he would take me away if I reminded him of my presence. I know now that I was witnessing the crude be- ginnings of the money-machine in pol itics-the beginnings of the downfall of parties-the beginnings of the over throw of the people as the political power. Those stifarmed men were the floating voters'' of that ward of Pulaski. They had been bought up hy a rich candidate of the 'opposi- ton party. which was less scrupuIous than our party, then in the flush of devotion to principles" and led by such old-fashioned men as my father with oldfashioned nc.ions of honor and honesty. Those Heaters" had to keep the ballot in full view from the time they go; 1t of the agent of their purchaser until they had deposited 1t beyond the possibility of substitution he must see them deliver the goods"
 My father was defeated. He saw that, in politics. the day of the public servant of public interests was over, and that the night of the private servant of private interests had be- gun He resigned his leadership into the dextrous hands of a politician Soon afte-ward he died, muttering: Prosperity has ruined my country
 From that election day my inter . est in politics grew, and but for my mothers bitter prejudice should have been an active politician. perhaps be- fore I vas cut CT college.
 Pulaski. indeed aH that section of l my state. vas strong of ny party. l Therefore Dominica, it's local boss. { was absolute. At the last county t. election. four years before the time ! of which am writing. there had been a spasmo6ic attempt to oust him He | hsd growa % Insolsnt and had pzt l hss Rr1ees for DoltieI and political