The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1919-05-02

eof II American history.
4E much In my term of service
y important to this little task
ane. ] did my work well. II i may
..eve the senator. and grew familiar
IT, xne gentle and ungentle arts Of
- politician.
yne great fact grew In magnitude
eullen portent as the months
eeo the gigantic slave-holding In
.. ~ OF the South viewed with grow
alarm the spread of abolition SEN
ent' Subtly. quietly and naturally
ey were feeling for the means to de-
1no and increase their power. Straws
eFe coming to the surface In that
& non which betrayed this deep un-
sFeurrent Of purpose. We felt 1t and
xne senator was worried, / knew, but
sio his peace. He knew how to keep
opinions until the hour had struck
LAT summoned them to service. The
nator never played with his lance.
~ and by Spencer openly sounded the
note Of conflict.
The most welcome year of my life
oawned on the first Of January. 1874.
= remember that I arose before day
ngnt that morning and dressed and
vent out on the street to welcome 1t.
had less than six months to wait
xor that day appointed by Sally. had
no doubt that she would be true to me.
had had my days Of fear and depres-
non, but always my sublime faith in
her came back in good time.
Oh. yes, indeed. Washington was
MIR Of beauty and gallantry those
Gays. saw It all. have spent many
years In the capital, and tell you the
girls OF that time had manners and
Knew how to wear their clothes, but
ag&in the magic Of old memories kept
my lady on her throne. There was
one Of them-just one of those others
Who, sometimes thought, was almost
- graceful and charming and noble
hearted as Sally, and she liked me,
NOW, but the ideal Of my youth
81owed In the light Of the early morn.
ing, so to speak, and was brighter than
an others. Above all, had given my
word to Sally, and-well, you know.
the old-time Yankee Of good stock was
&airly steadfast, whatever else may
Be said of him-often a little too
steadfast, as were Ben Grimshaw and
Squire Fullerton.
The senator and went calling that
New Years day. We saw all the
great people and some Of them were
oh fsvI than hnA vfutS
+, 10 be. It was weakness Of the time.
/ shall not 60 into details for fear Of
y wandering too far from my main road.
Let me step aside q moment to say,
however, that there were two clouds
In the sky Of the Washington society
Of those days. One was strong drink
and the other was the crude, rough
; coated, aggressive democrat from the
frontiers Of the West. These latter
were often seen in the holiday regalia
Of farm or village at fashionable func-
tons. Some of them changed slowly,
and by and by reached the stage of
white linen and diamond breastpins
and waistcoats of figured silk. It
must be said. however, that their mo-
QVCb WCAC obO'S thSAA eoSsSs
The winter wore away slowly In
hard work. Mr.. Van Buren, came down
70 see the senator one day from his
country seat on the Hudson. The ex-
president had been solicited to accept
the nomination again. / know that
Senator Wright strongly favored the
plan but feared that the South would
defeat him In convention, 1t being well
known that Van Buren, was opposed to
the annexation Of Texas. However,
he advised his friend to make fight
Tor the nomination and this the latter
resolved to do. Thenceforward until
middle May gave my time largely to
the inditing of letters for the senator
in Van Buren's behalf.
The time appointed for the conven-
don In Baltimore drew near. One day