St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-03-22
WHIITAkER'S
PLACE
BY JOSEPH c. LINCOLN
Copyright. 1908. BY D. Appleton s &C


rous 70 say MS piece ne was WINS
! pering earnestly with a group of his
followers Finally. however. he took
1 the platform and made sneerfng re-
marks that plainly referred to the cap
cain Captain Cy held up his hand
MIR Moderator be asked. "can I
have the floor a minute? All / want
TO say is that / cal,late I'm the Teller
the last speaker had reference to. /
have said that | didn't see why that
appropriation was so hard to get.
say it again Other appropriations are
got, and why not ours? I did say if
was a congressman I'd get it. Yes,
and I'll say more" he added. raising
his voice-''I'lI say that if | was sent
to Washin'ton by this town. congress-
man or not. I'd move heaven and
earth and all creation from the presi-
dent down till 1 did get it; that's all
So would any live man. / should
think
He sat down. There was some ap-
'plause. Before it had subsidized Abel
Leonard. one of the quickest witted
of Mr.. Simpsons workers, was on his
feet gesticulating for attention.
tMr Moderator" he shouted, 81 want
to make a motion. We've all heard the
big talk that's been made All right,
then! / move you, sir, that Captain
Cyrus Whitaker be appointed a com
mittee of one to go to Washin't ton, if
he wants to, or anywhere else, and see
that we get the appropriation. And if
we don't get it the blame's his! There
nowr
There was roar of laughter. This
was exactly the sort of tit for tat
humor thar appeals to Yankee
crowd. The motion was seconded half
a dozen times, Moderator Knowles
grinned and shook his head.
"a jokes a joke" he said. land we
all like a good one. However, this
meetin' is supposed to be for business.
not fun. So
Question! Question! It's been Sec
onded! We've got to vote on itr'
| shouted a chorus
Don't you think-seems to me that
amt in ORDER" began the moderator.
but Captain Cy rose to his feet. The
grim smile had returned to his face
| blage with almost his old expression
of appreciative alertness.
Never mind the vote" he said ST
realize that Brother Leonard has rath-
err got one on me. SO to speak. All
fright; won't dodge. I'll be commit
tee of one on the harbor grab, and if
nothin' comes of it I'll take my share
of kicks, Gentlemen, / appreciate your
| trustfulness in my ability
This brief speech was huge sue
cess. If for moment the pendulum of
public favor had swung toward Simp-
son, this trumping of the latter's lead
ing card pushed it back again. The
moderator had some difficulty in re-
storing order to the hilarious meeting.
| Then Mr.. Myrick was accorded the
privilege of the floor, in spite of Tad's
protests. and proceeded to nominate
Cyrus Whitaker for the school COM
mittee
| Josiah Dimick seconded the cap
tain's nomination. Then Mr. Simpson
stepped to the front and, after a visit
full glance at the door. began to speak.
''Feller citizens he said. sit is my
school committee a man whose name
stands for all that's good and clean
and progressive in this township But
afore ! do it I'm goin to ask you to
let me say a word or two concernin'
somethin' that bears right on this mat
| ter and which, | believe, every one
Of you ought to know. It's somethin'
that most of you don't know, and it'll
be surprise. big surprise.
"Feller Bayporters." went on Tad,
there's one thing we've all agree on,
no matter who we've meant to vote
for-that is, that member of our
school committee should be an up
right. honest man. one fit morally to
look out for our dear children. Amt
that SO? Well, then. ask you this:
Would you consider man fit for that
job who deliberately came between a
father and his child. who pizened the
mind Of that child against his own
parent and when that parent come to
claim that child first tried to buy him
Off and then turned him out of the
house? Yes. and offered violence to
him and done it! Is that the kind
Of man we want to honor or to look
out for our own children's schoolin' p
Mr.. Simpson undoubtedly meant to
cause sensation by his opening re-
marks. He certainly did SO. The cap
tain rose 70 his feet. then sank back
again.
Gentlemen" continued the speaker,
last night | had an experience thst
shan't forget as long as | live. met
a poor man, poor. lame man who'd
been away out west and got hurt bad.
Folks thought he was dead. His wife
Thought so and died grievin' for him.
She left a little baby girl, only seven
| DR. eight year old. When this man
come back. well again, but poor, to lbok
up his family he found his wife had
passed away and the child had been
sent off, just to get rid of her, to a
stranger in another town That