Didactic fiction; Political fiction; Social problems -- Fiction
And now we are come to the infinitely difficult task of relating in a
whirlwind manner the story of a whirlwind campaign--a campaign that was
to make the oldest resident sit up and take notice. In the space of four
short weeks a miracle had begun to show itself. First, there was the
Kingston meeting, with the candidate, his thumb in his watch-pocket,
seated in an open carriage beside Mr. Hamilton Tooting,--a carriage
draped with a sheet on which was painted “Down with Railroad Ring Rule.”
The carriage was preceded by the Kingston Brass Band, producing
throbbing martial melodies, and followed (we are not going to believe
the State Tribune any longer) by a jostling' and cheering crowd. The
band halts before the G.A.R. Hall; the candidate alights, with a bow of
acknowledgment, and goes to the private office until the musicians are
seated in front of the platform, when he enters to renewed cheering and
the tune of “See, the Conquering Hero Comes!”
An honest historian must admit that there were two accounts of this
meeting. Both agree that Mr. Crewe introduced himself, and poured a
withering sarcasm on the heads of Kingston's prominent citizens. One
account, which the ill-natured declared to be in Mr. Tooting's style,
and which appeared (in slightly larger type than that of the other
columns) in the Kingston and local papers, stated that the hall was
crowded to suffocation, and that the candidate was “accorded an ovation
which lasted for fully five minutes.”
Mr. Crewe's speech was printed--in this slightly larger type. Woe to
the Honourable Adam B. Hunt, who had gone to New York to see whether he
could be governor! Why didn't he come out on the platform? Because he
couldn't. “Safe” candidates couldn't talk. His subservient and fawning
reports on accidents while chairman of the Railroad Commission were
ruthlessly quoted (amid cheers and laughter). What kind of railroad
service was Kingston getting compared to what it should have? Compared,
indeed, to what it had twenty years ago? An informal reception was held
afterwards.
More meetings followed, at the rate of four a week, in county after
county. At the end of fifteen days a selectman (whose name will go
down in history) voluntarily mounted the platform and introduced the
Honourable Humphrey Crewe to the audience; not, to be sure, as the
saviour of the State; and from that day onward Mr. Crewe did not lack
for a sponsor. On the other hand, the sponsors became more pronounced,
and at Harwich (a free-thinking district) a whole board of selectmen
and five prominent citizens sat gravely beside the candidate in the town
hall.
(1) Paul Pardriff, Ripton. Sent post free, on application, to voters and
others.
BOOK 3.
CHAPTER XXI. ST. GILES OF THE BLAMELESS LIFE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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