St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-05-03
WHTTAKER'S
PLACE
By JOSEPH C. LINCOLN

I GSs L see. Uncle sam QaO TO econ
omize. hey-save somethin' for a rainy
day.?
We'll. possibly. Still. the bill is just
as heavy. Now, Captain Whitaker. !
don't know anything about this affair.
and it's not my business. but I've been
| about today, and asked questions.
and-I'm going to tell you a fairy tale.
1t isn't as interesting as your sea
yarns, but Do you like fairy sto-
RESP
Land. yes! Tell few myself when
it's necessary. Sometimes almost be-
Iieze. 'em WeII2"
"Of course you must remember this
is a fairy story. Let's suppose that
once on a ime-that's the way they
always begin-once on time there
was great man, great in his own
country, who was sent abroad by his
people to represent them among the
rulers of the land. so in order to typ
ically represent them he dressed in
glad and expensive raiment, went
about in dignity and''-
And whiskers. Don't leave out the
whiskers.''
"All right-and whiskers. And it
came to pass that the people whom he
represented wished to-er-bring about
certain needed improvement in their
their beautiful and enterprising COM
munity''
'Sho, sho! How natural that sounds!
You must be mind reader
mo. but have to make speeches in
my own community occasionally. Well,
the people asked their great man to
get the money needed for this improve
mentioned. And he was at first all
enthusiasm. and upon the-the parch-
ment scroll where such matters are in
scribed were written the name of the
beautiful and enterprising community
and the sum of money it asked for.
and the deal was as good as made
Excuse the modern phraseology. Ny
fairy lingo got mixed there"
Never mind l can get the drift
Just as well-maybe better"
And the deal was as good as made
/ But before the vote was taken another
shap came to the great man and said:
Look here. / want to get an appro-
priation of, say. $4,000 to deepen and
Improve river down in my state'-a
southern state we'll say-1've been to
the chairman of the pork bill commit
tee, and he says it's impossible. The
bill simply can't be loaded any further.
But / find that you have an item in
there for deepening and improving a
harbor back in your own district.
Why don't you cut that item out
shove. it over until next year? You
ran easily find a satisfactory explana-
hon for your constituents. And you
want to remember this: The improve
ment Of this river means that the-the
well, a certain sugar growing COM
pany can get their stuff to market at
figure which will send it's stock up and
up. And you are said to own a consid-
cradle amount of that stock. So why
not drop the harbor item and subsH-
tute my river slice? Then Well.
guess that's the end Of the tale"
1900 and relit his cigar. Cap
tain Cy thoughtfuIly marked with his
fork on the tabIecloth.
HUMP he grunted. That's a very
| interestin' yarn. Yes, yes; don't knows
l ever heard a more interestin' one
presume likely there amt a mite OF
/ proof that it's true?'
mot an atom. l told you 1t was a
fairy tale. And / mustn't be quoted
in the matter. Honestly, the most OF
| it is. guesswork at that. But perhaps a
committee of one dropping a hint at
home might at least arouse some un-
comfortable questioning of a certain
great man. That's about all, though.
Proof is quite another thing"
The captain pondered He was fully
aware that the unpopularity Of the
COMMITTEE would nullify whatever
! good it's limiting might do.
"Humphp' he grunted again. Its
one thing to smell rat and another
| to nail its tail to the floor But I'm
mighty obliged to you, all the same.
| And I'll think it over hard. Say, |
/ can see one thing-you don't take a
very big shine to Heman yourselfp'
Not too big, no. Do you?"
well. / don't wake up nights and
cry for him."
Everdean laughed.
That's characteristic" he said.
You have your own way of putting
| things. captain. and it's hard TO be i'm
| proved on Atkins has never done
anything TO me. just just don't
like him. that's ALL Father never liked
him either in the old days. and yet.
and it's odd. TOO. he was the means of
| the old gentIeman's making the most
of his money"
He? Who? Not Hemaa?"
Yes. Herman Atkins IaIt so far as
that goes father started him toward
wealth. ! suppose Al least be was
poor enough before the mine was sold :
What are you talkin- abaul: He
man got his start tradin. over in the