Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1910-11-17

pose yer son Diek ~ talk fer your
slie"
shapiro T. II ihen of the iinrossibliity
/ o. Dicks appearance. Tor which he
/ was VERY sorry. aud thnt he himself
would have 90 represent the north
/ sIders
The north side farmer drove home
! much clnted The debates comm
| OF he told Hanson They're a-goin'
/ e. glt some travelin feller
| to the legislator from Cherok asssa
| to speak fer 'cm But aint afraid
/ O him lie may be glib tnlker an
/ Ell TINT. but he haln't got the argy.
ments. an thrm's what counts in u de
| bate
"Say. amt It a pity Dick ain't hereT'
regretted Hanson He'd make q meal
| or that legislator fcllcr"
4 aiu't sure but Dick ~ turn dp yet
I'm time fer the exercises" said the
cldnr shapiro hopefully, but lll be
loaded to the muz1lr boz case lac don't
The news of the proposed debate
spread quickly and appearances point
ed 10 an enormous attendance \
canvas covered grand stand lighted by
electricity was erected, benches pro-
viGcd ana an details arranged II was
plain from The public interest in the
ct mt ihal the fate 90 Che bridge bonds
would hc largely Influenced thereby.
Saturday night came. but Dick, like
one or Napoicuu's generals ON "a rcr-
tain occasion. did not come. Sumr-
sponsihuity of the coming debate was
upon his father The fcrtymau WAS
kept busy that afternoon carrying
north sidcrs across the river. They
were taking mo- chances. They, the
whole population of them. went early
to occupy front seats aud shout for
their side
Farmer shapiro, not to appear un.
friendly, met his opponent To be, n
smooth. professional looking man with
gray hair and beard. at his hotel. and
arm in arm they walked down to the
mass meeting when the hour arrived.
The resolution TO bc debated was,
"Resolved, That bonds in the amount
of 100000 should he voted hy Walsa-
rusa county FOR the building Of a
bridge across the Walkarusa river at
the point known as BanuinE's cross
ing"
William shapiro as the affirmative
speaker made the opening address, his
allotted time being forty-live minutes.
He spoke with drectncsS and force If
not with rhetorical polish. reciting the
facts that every north slider knew by
heart The south" had the railroad.
the county seat, the high school and
nearly everything else desirable, to-
ward all of which the north" had con
tributed in various ways. while the
north" had nothing. In asking for
the bridge they were merely asking
for what was their own by right
The speech was frequently interrupt
ed by applause, and at the close the
whole north side contingent arose and
yelled in chorus for five minutes.
"The distinguished gentleman from
Cherokee will now address you" pom
pously announced the chairman, and
amid deep silence the smooth, gray
bearded stranger arose.
He spoke in a low voice and with
ease, but without enthusiasm. He
consumed twenty minutes Of his time
In generalitics before coming to the
matter at issue at all. He praised the
county, its soil, its people, its schools.
He talked-merely talked-until an i'm
patient south slider called out, WAL.
how about the bridge bonds?"
~
matters worse for the south side, for
the first point" the gentleman from
| Cherokee" made was that to build the
bridge would deprive IN worthy poor
man"-the ferryman-of his means OF
livelihood.
This raised n howl OF laughter from
the north siders and disgusted the
south side politicians, for every resi-
dent of the county knew Hiram Ban
ming for Il worthless drunkard.
In vain the chairman called for or
der and admonished the meeting to
give respectful attention to the gen
tleman from Cherokee" But the
crowd from both north and south had
taken the measure of the gentleman
lIOIu 1uttbhtt, anu, tllbuSu IN
north siders were delighted. the whole
mass meeting voted him zero quan-
tity as speaker. He tried to 1oun
der on for a few minutes, but soon
sat down after occupying but thirty of
his forty6ve minutes.
Shapiro then spoke during his clos
ing twenty minutes, and the occasion
became a north side demonstration
and a very biting south side frost.
The distinguished statesman from
Cherokee did not come to the bat at
all for his closing speech. and the
meeting adjourned, the north siderS
going home triumphant
The following Tuesday. true to his
promise. Dick Shapiro returned in time
to vote for the bonds which carried
by a safe majority. And the next
morning, calling his father into his
room and opening n suit case. Dick
showed him theatrical makeup
and said: Father. | am the distin-
guished gentleman from Cherokee
did not make much OF speech for the
south side but let down the bars for
yOu and the north side