The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-08-09

But I'm not SO sure, after all. MY
srperience with the Bailey bill shook
nv faith in that proposition"
The two other men in the salon
boxed up with startled eyes.
BALDWIN had been driven over from
Nh Michigan Avenue home and caught
~ Alton Limited when It made the
cation stop at Twenty-third Street.
vhere be boarded the last of its cur
mined Pullmans. This coach was the
oliticsl institution known to Illinois
craftsmanship as the Springfield
sleeper, and Baldwin and his two COM
unions, Jennings, the secretary Of
date, and Denny Healy, a canal COM
missioner, had the capsulated coziness
d its smoking compartment all to
themselves. Down by Dwight they
had fallen into a desultory discussion
d the old question as to whether or
not every man has his price. The
question could hardly interest these
men long, for. after many years con-
slant contemplation, under the gray
dome of the state house, of the weak
sesses Of men, they had come to an
acceptance of the doctrine now grown
ffank enough to have no lingering
hint Of cynicism. Jennings, indeed.
I'D just dismissed the subject by de-
elaring:
"All men air fer sale, an most of
I'm damn cheap"
And so the subject might have
hpsed had 1t not been for Baldwin's
hstsrodoxy. That George r. Baldwin
q al men should doubt the first max
im Of their profession was beyond
apprehension. Though he played
his part in life with a suite Of law
sllces in a skyscraper as a back
round. his serious business was lob
lying bills through the legislature.
His friends, who were many, boosted
hat he always stood by them. right
q wrong. Which he did. indeed. and
= they were generally wrong, the
yalue of such friendship. or his opin-
Ions on practical politics. could hardly
h overestimated. The day had been
hot one In Chicago. but now cold
ofaft Of smoky air was sucking
through the narrow window-screen, on
witch the cinders hailed as the Linn
~ plunged southwark.
Smoke and dirt had long since be-
lined the dark and sweaty face Of
nings, who. With waistcoat opened
0the comfort deIT to the Egyptian.
~ sprawling his shanks on the
c1shion opposite him, while Healy,
6ooned by corpulence to an attitude
nere erect. sitting with his chubby
1nees far apart, as the fat will. his
lunch resting on the edge OF the
at he filed, now and then brushed
INT palm over his red scalp and
9ghed. as he pulled his domestic
eSar. But Baldwin sat and smiled.
4owing his excellent teeth beneath
- reddish mustache. and visibly ex-
ponded. They could hear, as an I'M
coftone to their talking, the dull roll
Z the Pullman's paper wheels. and
oow and then they were interrupted
y the whistles long and lonesome
note at country road-crossing. Out
Trough the double windows. against
Which Healy sometimes pressed his
Iofehead because the glass cooled 1t.
Ne dark fields wheeled past in an
1ndless belt of darkness, save where
70 occasional bunch OF sparks from
ne engine burrowed under the right
'fvay fence. and then. in the mo-
nentary glow Of light, they could
'afch sight Of a tossing plume OF corn.
Which told them they were out on the
Drairies Of central Illinois.
When the train paused for the Big
Four crossing at Gardner, they heard
\ the sudden food of silence the snor-
Nc OF sensible fare-paying passen-
Ier who had gone to bed. The stri.
lent noise Of the crickets and the
rogs outside was noted only as an
Meet Of the silence. The three men
'ad no thought of retiring until they
eached Pontiac at two o'clock, for
ne lives they led were such that they
'ouid not sleep until that hour. and
men not very well.
Baldwin had lighted his imported
sigar. the superior aroma of which,
'erceptible even in an atmosphere
'hoked with coal gases and the fumes
= the domestic cigars Jennings and
aealy We're smoking. indicated family
ne height Of cultivation to which he
no brought his appetites, when Jen-
nnss, hecking his ashes on the floor
y the salon Just as he would have
'one on his own parlor carpet, said:
Well, go on with the story"
one session there was an old man
AIMED Henderson in the house. who
lao come up from Greene County;
ienoerson OF Greene, everybody call
= MIN, to distinguish him from Tom
henderson, Of Effingham. He was a
eeer figure was Henderson of Greene.
~ ana gaunt, with a stoop in his
noulders. He always wore a hickory
art' opened at red and wrinkled
sroat' and his hair was Just a stubble
''eached by harvest suns. The old
nan was a riddle to everybody in
'pfingneld that winter. He was al
avs In his seat, even on Monday
seninss. when no one else was there.
= voted always with his party, and
y voted consistently as WELL like a
zoo country member. against all the
, I, legislation. But he was a
sent man, who stood apart from his
s'ows, looking with eyes that peered
aom under his shaggy, sun burned
"owS with an EXPRESSION No ono