The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-08-23

III i R unwashed that they
III looked like ground glass.
In 81 From the chandeliers.
RoD black and sticky with
II dead flies, shreds of It's
..,er auttered, relics of some
.rous fete an Italian society
"A given there long ago. The
-, vas damp in arabesque wrought
sprinkling-can. for the janitor
~. .nrayed water there to lay the
/, ss be was too Indifferent to remove.
n..,,ns a hundred chairs were set in
.nDhitheatrical order. and before
49,, stood a kitchen table, on which |
white water pitcher, fianked by
flsss, thickened by various sedi-
..utary deposits within.
IN the saloon below, at 9 o'clock
..ores Of delegates were already shut
nur in the sawdust that covered the
A., holding huge schooners of beer
/, their hairy fists, gorging grossly at
a. free lunch table, with bologna,
ami onions and rye bread. The foam
I !, the beer chung to their mustaches,
,hich after each sip. they sucked be-
/ ,,.en their lips. Most of them man
nd. at the same time they were eat
ns and drinking, by a dexterous
jalsht-of-hand, to smoke cheap do
.sstic cigars, and a cloud OF white
mike rolled along the low ceiling.
l p.fh new arrival was greeted with
.ue obscene but endearing epithet.
md the room rang with laughter and
mofanity. A keg of beer had been
moyided by one of Conway's man.
aeers, and the bartender, wiping his
/ lands on a dirty towel. was rid, so
lang as the keg lasted. Of the RESPONSE
l nifty of keeping account OF drinks,
l md of ringing up the change on the
ash register. At IL o'clock the keg
vas empty, the free lunch table aban-
| doued to the flies. and the delegates
| scufled up the dingy stairs to the
| hall. Half an hour later the chairman
1 II the senatorial district committee
l pounded the kitchen table with a leg
D Of broken chair, and shouted:
The convention will be In order.
This declaration made no impress
/ don upon the babel of voices, the
hughter, the profanity. the noise OF
shuffling feet and scraping chairs
Finally the chairman of the commit
lee, growing impatient, split the table
with his club and yelled:
Damn 1t all, boys, come to order!
And then, eager to resign such diff
hcult command, he fastened to an
nounce:
The committee has named Honor
able John P. Muldoon to act al
temp'ry chairman"
He handed the chair leg to John P
Muldoon, who, stroking back his curl!
hair from his brow, began to beat tn
table impartially.
All this while Underwood stoo'
against the wall, looking on TIL
question that had been agitating hin
for weeks was about to be decided
but now that the ordeal was actuall
upon him, the consciousness bea
aumbly against his brain, so that tn
whole scene lacked reality, almost II
terest. He was dazed. He was abou
to take his baptism of political fire
and he trembled like a white novit
ate.
Underwood belonged to one of tn
Oldest families of Chicago-the nam
had been known there before the fir
His father, who had lately taken hil
into his law firm, continued to clin
IN his conservatism to an old ston
house In Michigan avenue long afte
his neighbors had abandoned the
mansions to uncertain boarders, an
either retreated farther south or a
yanced to the North Side. John U,
derwood had come out of Harval
With a young lawyers ambition
politics, an ambition that had Il
United States senate merely as a b
ginning of its home stretch. and whe
the year rolled around in which sta
senator's were to be elected in Il
odd numbered districts he decid,
that II was time to begin.
The newspapers had scented Il
sensation that lurked in the candid
tuTe Of young man like Underwot
IN the district like the First, and /
cause he went into what is called S
ciety, promptly dubbed him a reforl
Or, and taus weighted he had set o
upon his race for the nomination.
liked to see his name in the newsI
& psfs. liked 10 think of himself as
reformsr. though he was embarrass
IN this attitude by the fascinating f
ure OF the political boss he had hop
10 become-a well-dressed. gentlema
boss, Of course, who, while at hor
10 those saloons where he permit
the convivial familiarity of the DO.
nevertheless took his luncheons at |
cub. He fell into a way of speak,
OF the First as my district" spo
Of II. IN fact, as If he, instead
Malachi Nolan and "Cinch" Conw;
owned II, and when certain ward pC
ucians in the first days of the ca
paign called upon him, Underwo
was pleased to leni them money. j.
as he was pleased to comply with I
requests of certain others who org
izeo the John w. Underwood Fl
ward Campaign club, and sent a &C
mittee to inform him that they W,
assembled in the club rooms ready
transact business. and beer only fl
uoiiars keg. He winked CO
oentially at himself in the mirror Il
night as he gave a final touch to