The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-01-02

ard ner prosperity neither The hull
party won't make We git after the law
breakers if yere cheek by jow with
Elm Sheehan an he don't want it.
What | want to know is are We honest
or will We take orders?"
"That sounds logical" John assented.
"It's common sense. Only most can
didates think we're too simple to think
ont An | don't know as they're far
wrong" he added thoughtfully.
When John left, however, Criswell
shook hands with him cordially. "I
guess I'll vote for ye-this time. I
can't swaller the hull ticket, though
stomach wouldn't stand it. Ye look
like ye'd be yer own man. Leastways,
I'll chance it,"
And John replied, troubled. 81 won't
regard that as a promise. I'm not
sure that you ought to vote for me-"
Another day he met one Sykes. hill
farmer. little. wizened fellow who
looked as though he had worn himself
out in the struggle to wiring a living
out of the steep slopes.
81 amt voting" he said.
"Well." John laughed cheerfully. "it
can't get vote I'll be content with
information. Will you tell me why
you won't vote?'
We'll if We will have it. Jim Sheehan
nominated ye If ye'd been the right
| kind O man he wouldn't "a had 'nothin
to do with We. Anybody he's fer, I'm
| ho e.,
Plumville. nothin' but a drinkin' bum
An now he's got rich. buildin bad
| streets an roads an taXin' me heavy
to pay fer it while 1t keeps me scratch
in to get the intrust on my mortgage
How do know he's crooked? | don't
know feel it. An I know that no
one gets the nomination less'n he says
so. Or Murchell-an' they're tarred
with the same stick"
Johns face was grave. "Then you
ought to vote the opposition ticket. I'd
rather you'd do that than not vote at
ALL"
The momentary flicker Of passion
died down. whats the useT' was the
| reply. duly given. However | vote
some feller like Sheehan gifts on top"
John sought counsel from his father.
But to the Judge Caesars wife-that is
to say. his party and all things thereto
! appertaining-was above suspicion; not
so the motives Of him who raised a
question. So he took his trouble to
Ri Cranshawe. the office visitor to
whom Johns Difference had attracted
Sheehan's attention, biz man. kindly,
shrewd. with wisdom in the raw. He
listened sympathetically as John
poured out his tale.
ITS like what Sykes says. 1t amt
what we know-it's what we feel.
When Jim Sheehan gifts a public con-
tract, we feel there's somethin' crook
ed about it. When a man gifts nomi-
nation. we feel that he's made some
kind o. deal with Sheehan. When we
| put up man on our own hook. an
he's nominated-whicha amt often-we
find he's gone over to Sheehan. An
| that amt feel, it's know Jim Shee-
hans represented; we amt 1t amt
rightv
"Then why don't you get together
and fight?"
"We've got to live" Cranshawe ans.
wered simply. I'VE don't lay by money
fast enough to keep us without work
4 in. We amt got the time ner the
trainin' TO make a good fight against
him. We've got no leader" His eyes.
through the bushy brows, rested with
an almost wistful light on the trou-
bled countenance before him. "An'
it'd take large sized man fer the
job"
John just then felt very small
He went to PlumviIle. an ugly.
grimy, bustling. growing hive of work
ers, with its drones too. He had the
key to interpret what he saw. He
was permitted to go through the mills
and meet the men: he came out with
hands backened from much contact
with their hands and in the smut he
felt sort of pride. What he had read
on the farmers brown faces he saw
on their red scorched ones-the dull
eyed suspicion Of those used to flattery
before election and neglect afterward
, " nutE lut CdTtlu ClteTOIdRp Oh Snee-
hams lieutenants he was led into po-
litical club and saloon, where he shook
hands with many more men, who guz-
zled vast quantities of liquor and
sneered openly at his abstinence He
was told that here he would meet
men who counted:" he did meet such
men-brutish things. moral idiots.
chinless creatures bound together by
the cohesive force of common interest
-plunder This army never slept.
could always be relied upon
Nv hat self centered beast | have
been!" he cried within himself "All
this rottenness under my nose. and |
have never perceived it," A great fear
came upon him-fear of the response
bility of that into which he felt him,
self being carried.
And there was another thing that
deepened those twin creases between
his eyes.
One morning very sleek, high step
ping cob dra wing a very elegant fran