American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, American
There were many laughable episodes during the heat of the campaign; but
Carrington knew how and when to laugh. He answered questions from the
platform, and the ill-mannered were invariably put to rout by his
good-natured wit. Once they hoisted him on top of a bar in an obscure
saloon. His shoulders touched the gloomy ceiling, and he was forced to
address the habitués, with his head bent like a turtle's, his nose and
eyes offended by the heat and reek of kerosene and cheap tobacco. They
had brought him there to bait him; they carried him out on their
shoulders. To those who wanted facts he gave facts; to some he told
humorous stories; and to others he spoke his sincere convictions.
Meantime Williard took hold of affairs, but in a bored fashion. He did
the best he knew how, but it wasn't the best that wins high places in
the affections of the people.
The betting was even.
Election day came round finally--one of those rare days when the pallid
ghost of summer returns to view her past victories, when the broad wings
of the West go a-winnowing the skies, and the sun shines warm and
grateful. On that morning a change took place in Carrington's heart. He
became filled with dread. After leaving the voting-polls early in the
morning, he returned to his home and refused to see any one. He even had
the telephone wires cut. Only his mother saw him, and hovered about him
with a thousand kindly attentions. At the door she became a veritable
dragon; not even telegraph messengers could pass her or escape her
vigilance.
At six in the evening Carrington ordered around his horse. He mounted
and rode away into the hill country south of the city, into the cold
crisp autumn air. There was fever in his veins that needed cooling;
there were doubts and fears in his mind that needed clearing. He wanted
that sense of physical exhaustion which makes a man indifferent to
mental blows.
The day passed and the night came. Election night! The noisy,
good-natured crowds in the streets, the jostling, snail-moving crowds!
The illuminated canvas-sheets in front of the newspaper offices! The
blare of horns, the cries, the yells, the hoots and hurrahs! The petty
street fights! The stalled surface-cars, the swearing cabbies, the
venders of horns and whistles, the newsboys hawking their extras! It is
the greatest of all spectacular nights; humanity comes out into the
open.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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