Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-09-12

dead flies, shreds of It's
sue paper fluttered, relics of some
boisterous fete an Italian society
had given there long ago. The
floor was damp in arabesque wrought
by a sprinkling-can, for the janitor
had sprayed water there to lay the
dust he was too Indifferent to remove.
Perhaps hundred chairs were set in
amphitheatrical order, and before
them stood a kitchen table, on which
was white water pitcher, fianked by
glass, thickened by various sedi-
mentary deposits within.
In the saloon below, at o'clock,
scores of delegates were already shut
fling in the sawdust that covered the
floor, holding huge schooners of beer
in their hairy fists, gorging grossly at
the free lunch table, with bologna,
rank onions and rye bread. The foam
of the beer chung to their mustaches,
which, after each sip, they sucked be-
tween their lips. Most of them man
aged, at the same time they were eat
ing and drinking, by dexterous
mestic cigars, and cloud of white
smoke rolled, along the low ceiling.
Each new arrival was greeted with
some obscene but endearing epithet,
and the room rang with laughter and
profanity. A key Of beer had been
provided by one Of Conway's man.
ayers, and the bartender, wiping his
hands on a dirty towel, was rid, so
long as the key lasted, of the RESPONSE
bility Of keeping account OF drinks
and of ringing up the change on the
cash register At II o'clock the key
was empty, the free lunch table aban-
doned to the flies, and the delegates
scuffled up the dingy stairs to the
hall Half an hour later the chairman
of the senatorial district committee
pounded the kitchen table with leg
Of a broken chair, and shouted:
The convention will be in order"
This declaration made no impress
sion upon the babel of voices, the
laughter, the profanity, the noise Of
shuffling feet and scraping chairs
Finally the chairman OF the commit
tee, growing impatient, split the table
with his club and yelled:
Damn it all. boys, come to order!"
And then, eager to resign such diff
ficult command, he fastened to an
nounce:
The committee has named Honor
able John P. Muldoon to act as
temp'ry chairman"
He handed the chair leg to John p.
Muldoon, who, stroking back his curly
hair from his brow, began to beat the
table impartially
All this while Underwood stood
against the wall, looking on. The
question that had been agitating him
for weeks was about to be decided,
but now that the ordeal was actually
upon him, the consciousness beat
numbly against his brain, SO that the
whole scene lacked reality almost IN
terest. He was dazed. He was about
to take his baptism of political fire,
and. he trembled like white noviti-
ate.
y Underwood belonged to one OF the
oldest families of Ghicago-the name
had been known there before the FIRE.
His father, who had lately taken him
into his law firm, continued to cling
In his conservatism to an old stone
house in Michigan avenue long after
his neighbors had abandoned their
mansions to uncertain boarders, and
either retreated farther south or ad-
vanced to the North Side. John I'm
derwood had come out of Harvard
with young lawyers ambition in
politics, an ambition that had the
United States senate merely as a be-
ginning of its home stretch. and when
the year rolled around In which state
senators were to be elected in the
odd numbered districts he decided
that 1t was time to begin
The newspapers had scented the
sensation that lurked in the candida
ture of young man like Underwood
In the district like the First, and be
cause he went into what is called so
ciety, promptly dubbed him reform
err and thus weighted he had set Out
upon his race for the nomination. He
liked to see his name in the newspa
pers, liked to think of himself as {
reformer, though he was embarrassed
IN this attitude by the fascinating fig
ure of the political boss he had hopet
to beeome-a well-dressed, gentleman
1y boss, of course, who, while at home
in those saloons where he permitted
the conviyial familiarity of the boys
nevertheless took his luncheons at hi
club. He fell into way of speaking
of the First as my district" spok,
of it, In fact, as If he, instead O
Malachi Nolan and "Cinch" Conway
owned it, and when certain ward poll
ticians In the first days of the cam
paign called upon him, Underwood
was pleased to lend them money, JUS
as he was pleased to comply with tn,
requests of certain others who organ
lied the John w. Underwood Ffrs
Ward Campaign club and sent a com
mittee to inform him that they wer
assembled in the club rooms ready t,
transact business, and beer only fou
dollars q key. He ~winked conf
dentially at himself in the mirror tina
night as he gave a final touch to hi
white crayat and surveyed his fin
young form arrayed in evening
clothes for the reform banquet at tn
Palmer house His speech was TIL
Tendencies Of Modern Politics. TIL
newspapers said it was very brillian