White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1933-03-09
TheMaster ofChaos

Der OF OK teams available Tor winter
service. You will then proceed to this
camp. Here is. letter to the COM
mander of the fort"
The General had said little of Bolts
but enough. He was lawyer in the
flourishing town Of Springfield, where
he was Familiarity known as "Sim"
Bolts.
He was ruddy, overfed man more
than six feet tall, of serious coun-
tenance. He had also serious no
ton of the Importance of his accom-
plishments and intentions. He was
wont to say: ut is claimed that my
reputation reposes on the arts of the
orator but l insist that my only gift
is a passion for the discovery and dis
seminatlon of simple facts and eternal
verities."
His reputation was by no means
alone in finding repose on the soft bed
of his oratory. He was one Of the
voices of the new inspiration and his
long side-whiskers resembled pas
sionate and permanent gesture. Col
onel Bolts had an abnormal appetite
for richness in food and rhetoric. He
ate pie three times day. In his look
and talk there was ample evidence Of
both physical and mental indigestion.
He had studied the dictionary and the
poets. His mind was like cold dark
cellar cluttered with storage and so
ill-lighted that his thoughts seemed to
have trouble in finding their way out
of it. Naturally utterance was fol-
lowed by evaporation. 1t created Il
fog in which his ideas were hidden.
In court and on the platform he was
fluent often intense, but no one COM
pretended his argument. 1t impart-
ed only one conviction, namely that
he was willing to die on the altar of
his faith. But that was enough.
His audience concluded that while
his words were ''too deep for them,''
no man could be wrong whose soul and
body had been so prodigiously engaged
in the argument SO his inscrutability
had become an asset and source of
revenue.
In this singular manner Sim Belts
gave his convictions to the people of
the western province. They believed
in him and when he wanted an office
they voted for him. He had the repu-
tation of being "a profound thinker"
Out of full heart Colin wrote to his
mother:
"Sim Bolts profundity may be re
lief to those accustomed to- sterner
hardships. It's easier than lifting
rocks. It's like bad weather; work
stops and weary men go to sleep. They
wake up grateful and refreshed. They
are minded to give him the credit he
demands. He is symbolic figure. 1
understand him perfectly. I spent last
| night with member of the congress
called home by the illness of his wife.
He is a graduate of Harvard and an
able citizen. Being a fellow alumnus
! and member of my club, he gave me
frank opinions.
II asked: why is it that our army
cannot get the help it needs from con-
gress?
"'Sim Bolts! he answered.
'What has he to do with congress?'
"'Well, there are so many Sim
| Bottses in it that they clog it's business
and even defeat some of it's best pur-
| poses. They come from all parts. Be-
fore an important measure can get
through every one Of them, seeking
the fame of Patrick Henry, must have
chance to smite the British. These
men indulge in weeks of superfluous
and passionate remarks They think
that all we have to do to get money
is turn a printing press. This may
make US more trouble than we have
yet known The Sim Bolts man has
| just enough learning to be dangerous.
He can impose upon the ignorant
crowd and get himself elected to i'm
portant positions. Look at our Sim.
He knows nothing about the arts Of
war yet he was able to defeat a good
man who should have been the colonel
of our regiment
"'Do you think that we can win the
war?
eyes. There are two men of genius
who will win the war. They are
Washington and Franklin. We must
first suppress the Bottses. That will
take year or more. If Washington
can hold his army, Franklin will get
help in Europe. The British officers
have no great enthusiasm for their
cause. This is the only explanation
of their inactivity. Gage, with his
trained army and the help of the river,
should have captured Cambridge long
ago and driven us back" l
The letter ends with these signif-
icant sentences:
IT think that there must be chaos in
Philadelphia as well as in Cambridge.
They are both suffering from the same
trouble and that is Sim Bolts"
The successful joint campaign ended
in small village at the edge of the
wilderness in the far northwest. There
in the early morning Colin left Colonel
Bolts and set out on horse path in a
forest, vast as the ocean in the east,