Willmar tribune., 1909-06-30
CHAPTER u.

ACu 1Ooc Ay1u6 Ou Ills ueSk ne SmlloQ,
and picking it up, raised it eagerly to
his face. But when he glanced about
the chamber and saw that a rose lay
on every other desk, his smile was
suddenly lost in stare of amazement.
Once or twice, perhaps, flowers had
been placed by constituents on the
desks of certain senators, but never
had q floral distribution, at once so
modest and impartial, been made be.
fore. Several senators, already in
their seats, saw the check this impair
tiality gave Vernon's vanity, and they
laughed. Their laughter was of tone
with the tinkle Of the crystal prisms of
the chandeliers, Ginning in the breeze
that came through the open windows.
The lieutenant governor was Just
ascending to his place. He dropped
Ills gavel to the sounding board of his
desk.
"The senate will be in ORDER" he
said.
The chaplain rose, and the hum of
voices in the chamber ceased. Then.
while the senators stood with bowed
he:.ds, Vernon saw the card that lay
on the desk beside the rose. Two little
jewels of the moisture that still spar
HE'D on the roses petals shone on the
glazed surface of the card. Vernon
read it where it lay.
''Will the Hon. Morley Vernon
please to wear this rose to-day as a
token of his intention to support and
vote for house joint resolution No. -
proposing an amendment to section
one. article seven of the constitution ~
The noise in the chamber began
again at the chaplain's Amen
"New way to buttonhole a man.
eh?" said Vernon to Bull Burns, who
had the seat next Vernon's. whats
1t all about, anyway"
Vernon took up his printed synopsis
Of bills and resolutions.
"Oh, yes," he said, speaking as much
to himself as to Burns; "old man
Ames's resolution" Then he turned
to the calendar. There it was-house
joint resolution No. 19. He glanced
at Burns again. Burns was fastening
his rose in his buttonhole.
$50 you're for it, eh?' he said.
ITO hell with it," Burns growled in
the gruff voice that spoke for the First
district. In trying to look down at
his own adornment he screwed his fat
neck, fold on fold, into his low collar
and then, with a grunt of satisfaction,
lighted morning cigar.
But" Vernon began, surprises
multiplying. He looked about the
chamber. The secretary was reading
the journal of the preceding day and
the senators were variously occupied,
reading newspapers, writing letters, or
merely smoking; some were gathered
In little groups, talking and laughing.
But they all wore their roses. Vernon
might have concluded that house Joint
resolution No. 10 was safe, had it not
been for the inconsistency of Burns,
though Inconsistency was nothing new
In Burns. Vernon ventured once more
with his neighbor:
Looks as If the resolution were as
good as adopted, doesn't it?"
But Burns cast a glance of pity at
him, and then groWled in half lf-humor-
GUS contempt. The action stung Yer.
non. Burns seemed to resent his pres
ence in the senate as he always re-
sented the presence of Vernon's kind
In politics.
The rose still lay on Vernon's desk:
he was the only one of the 81 senators
Of Illinois that had not put his rose
On. He opened his bill file and turned
up house joint resolution No. 10. He
read it carefully, as he felt senator
should before making up his mind on
such an important, even revolutionary
measure. He remembered that at
the time it had been adopted in
the house every one had laughed; no
one, with the exception of it's author,
DR.. Ames. had taken it seriously.
Ames was known to be a crank; he
was referred to as Doc Ames, usual.
ly as "Old Doc" Ames. He had intro.
duced more strange bills and resolu.
tions than any member at that ses.
sion; bills - curb the homeopathists,
bills to aHnihilate English sparrows,
bills to prohibit cigarettes, bill to cur.
tail the liquor traffic, and now this
resolution providing for the submis.
sion of an amendment to the consti.
tuition that would extend the electoral
franchise to women.
His other measures had received lit.
tie consideration; he never got any of
them out of committee. But on the
female suffrage resolution he had
been obdurate, and when-with a ma.
jority so bare that sick men had to
be borne on cots into the house now
and then to pass its measures-the
party had succeeded, after weeks of
agony, in framing an apportionment
bill that satisfied every one, DR.. Ames
had seen his chance. He had fatty
refused to vote for the reapportion.
ment act unless his woman-suffrage
resolution were first adopted.
It was useless for the party mana
gers to urge upon him the impossible
ity Of providing the necessary two
thirds vote; Ames said he could get