Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-10-23

4aSgT TIVE ed by windows 50 long
M u va .unwashed thaW they
IN looked like g.ound glass.
>u.z,SS6 From the chandeliers,
eek and sticky with
dead flies, shreds of It's
paper ,fluttered, relics of some
boisterous fete an Italian society
h had given there Vlong ago. The
floor was damp in a,S6Ssque wrought
by "a sprinkling-c the janitor
lad sprayed W ) to lay the
ousr he was ht TO remove
einaps were set in
i, and before
kble, on which
pitcher, fianked by
SeKed by various sedi-
deposits within.
saloon below, at o'clock,
Of delegates were already shut
in the sawdust that covered the
Holding huge schooners of beer
Atneir hairy fists, gorglng 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 a. dexterous
sleight-of-hand, to smoke cheap do
nestle cigars, and a 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 dirty towel, was rid, so
long as the keg 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 abau-
doned to the flies, and the delegates
scuftled up the dingy stairs to the
hall. Half an hour later the chairman
of the senatorial district committee
pounded the kitchen table with q 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
will, Il to a1.,I, 4
Damn 1t all, boys, come to order!'
And then, eager to resign such diff
hicult command, he fastened to an
nounce:
"The committee has named Honor
able John p. Muldoon to act as
temp'ry chairman"
p-ffe 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 stool
against the wall, looking on. The
question that had been agitating hin
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 abo''
to take his baptism Of political fire
and he trembled like a white noviti
ate.
Underwood belonged to one of thu
Oldest families of Chicago--the name
had been known there before the fire
His father, who had lately taken hin
into his law firm, continued to cliui
in his conservatism to an old stone
house in Michigan avenue long aftei
his neighbors had abandoned thei
mansions to uncertain boarders, anC
either retreated farther south or ad
vanced TO the North Side. John I'm
derwood had come out of Harvard
with young lawyers ambition il
politics, an ambition that had tn,
United States senate merely as a be
ginning of its home stretch, and whei
the year rolled around in which stat,
senators were to be elected in III,
odd numbered districts he decidet
that II was time to begin.
The newspapers had scented tn
sensation that mrked in the candida
ture of a young man like Underwoot
in the district like the First, and be
cause he went into what Is called SO
ciety, promptly dubbed him q reform
or, and thus weighted he had set on
upon his race for the nomination. II,
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
ia become-a well-dressed. gentleman
ly boss, of course, who, while at hom
In those saloons where he permitte
the convivial 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 II he. instead O
Malachi Nolan and "Cinch" Conway
owned II, and when certain ward pol
ticians In the first days OF the can
paign called upon him, Underwoo
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 Firs
Ward Campaign club, and sent con
mittee to inform him that they wer
assembled in the club rooms ready
transact business, and beer only fou
dollars q key. He winkod conf
dentially at himself in the mirror tina
night as he gave a final touch to hi
white cravat and surveyed his fin
young form arrayed in evenin
clothes for the reform banquet at tn
Palmer house His speech was TIL
Tendencies Of Modern Politics. TIL
Inewspapers said it was a very brilllan
- speech, breathing lofty political sent
ments that were bound to make job