The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1913-02-06
The
residential Wager
By Nj. QUAD
Copyright. 1912. by Associated Lit
erary Press

tons There were no political bosses.
no grafters. and the candidates select
/ ed to run for town offices were OF the
| best. and it made little difference who
was elected.
| \ change was at hand. however, but
/ no one suspected it until it came down
| upon the town like roaring lion.
/ Henry jackson was one Of the men
| who Travelled the country over taking
/ orders for the articles turned out at
/ the factories. and one morning as he
returned from trip, ne met Elder
| Scott in front Of the poStOtlice:
"Howdy. eIder?" says Mr.. Jackson.
"A little rheumatic thank YOU" re-
plies the elder.
Politics warming up here anyT
Not that | have heard Of"
ITS red hot outside"
"Well, let 'em go it I've made up
my mind who shall vote for for presi-
dent. but I'm not going to do any yell
ing about it"
BLANK is your man, Of COurseT'
HE is that He'll sweep the cOun-
try"
Hell sweep nothing! You old dozers
here had better wake up as to what is
going on. Your man won't be knee
high when the votes are counted"
Now, what followed the elder could
never clearly explain. He had never
done the like before. and he didn't
mean to do it then. Something came
over him Of a sudden, and he got mad
for the first time in seventeen years
and raised his voice to say:
Don't call me an old dozer! don't
care what they say outside. My man
Is sure of election"
$50 Is Tom JONES'
Don't imagine you know 1t all"'
And don't ina gine you know any
thing at all about it. Why, man, your
party leaders gave the thing up weeks
ago"
By this time a score Of men had as
sembled to hear the discussion, and the
elder was put on his mettle. He was
the only man in German who had ever
predicted a blizzard and had it arrive
on time. and he didn't want to lose his
prestige. He drew a long breath and,
to the horror of his friends, called out:
my candidate will be elected and
I'll bet on it,
How much?" asked Mr.. Jackson as
his hand went to his pocket
"a dol-that is, will bet 10 cents"
"Hoot mon. but that is not even a
baby's betr'
Then, by gosh, I'll make it 49,"
"Say $40"
mo. Fifteen cents is my limit"
As Mr. Jackson could not get the
figures raised, he accepted them, and
the money was placed in the postmas-
ter's hands. Ii was spoken Of as the
highest election bet ever made in that
town, and inside of two hours it seem
ed that 200 men had heard of it. Some
complimented the elder on his nerve.
and some shook their heads and pre-
dicted that it would turn out a bad
thing for the town.
The enormity OF his offense did not
occur to the elder until the next day,
when his good wife heard Of the wager
and tackled him with:
And you made an election bet with
Mr.. Jackson the same as a loafer
would"'
''It was only for Is cents"
But l could have used IL to buy a
roller towel, and then look at the prin-
ciple Of the thing! 1 can't believe II
of you. What are Christian men and
women going to say?"
But Jackson tried to bluff me
down"
"S'posin' he did? It's the duty Of an
elder of the church to be bluffed."
Darn him, he tackled me when folks
were around"
See! Seer exclaimed the wife.
First you make a bet and then you
swear. The next thing will be swap
ping horses"
you know l didn't mean to be
wicked" pleaded the elder.
But it was wicked to bet, and you
go straight to the postmaster and get
that money back and give it to me-"
"Oh. no. you don'tw replied the post
master when the good man sneaked
into the Office and whisperingly asked
to draw his money down.
But 1t was what they call a bluff"
81 don't see it that way. You must
have Mr.. Jackson's consent. Have you
got cold feet so soon?"
The elder looked down at his feet
and shuffied them around as he would
feel Of them and said:
"My wife wants the money"
"But she won't get It."
81 don't know what our church will
say"
Sorry for you, elder, but in time
you may become a real old sport. You
may win out on this and scoop in Jack
sons cash"
To the establishment Of large share
of the voters Of German, the elders
candidate won out, and he was on
hand at an early hour to claim his
stakes. His rejoicing was darkened.
however, when charges were brought
against him In his church and he was
summoned for trial. He expected the
worst, but he didn't get it. The find
ings read:
HE could have been more wicked
and bet 25 cents.
HE helped to elect his candidate.
"He has put the 30 cents in the con-