Advertising -- Fiction; Bank employees -- Fiction; Labor unions -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Satire
"Albany!" said Reggie, enthusiastically. "First stop on the way to
Washington! There was Cleveland--and Roosevelt; and now--"
"Oh, Hendrik!" gasped Grace. She would help him all she could--at the
receptions.
Then she looked at Ethel to see whether she, also, understood national
politics. Ethel did. She said, with conviction:
"And we'll all vote for him, too!"
The waiter laid a plate of sandwiches before Grace.
H. R. stared at them--a long time, as though he were crystal-gazing. He
saw the labor-unions, the churches, the aristocracy, the bankers, the
newspapers, the thoughtless, and the hungry; and all were with him and
for him. He was the only man the Socialists really feared. If he was
H. R. to New York, why should he not become H. R. to the nation?
He saw himself on the steps of the Capitol on a 4th of March. It was
typical Rutgers weather. The mighty sun was trying its best to please
him and incidentally tranquilizing Big Business by shining goldenly. The
clouds, however, were pure silver--with an eye to the retail trade.
In the distance he saw the monument erected with infinite pains to the
one American who could not tell a lie. It was a great white finger
pointing straight at heaven. It was as though George Washington's
stupendous gesture meant, "That is where I got it from!"
That is the place from which everything good comes. It should not be
difficult, H. R. thought, to convince his fellow-Americans of it. They
had been accustomed to reading, every day, "In God we trust." It was on
all the dollars.
"Hendrik!" said Grace.
H. R. started from his dream and passed his hand over his eyes.
"Grace," he said to her resolutely, "my work is just beginning!"
THE END
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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