"Unto them that hath is gave," says Old Man Wright, looking peaceful.
"Like enough, most all the bands in this part of town'll be here before
long. Pore old Dave Wisner, he don't seem to have no band; so I'll fix
him up--he don't seem cheerful, with his blinds down thataway. Round up
our bands, Curly," says he, "and line some of 'em up in front of his
house on the other side of the street. Get some of 'em and stand 'em up
on our side of his fence. Make a line of 'em back to the boathouse. Tell
'em to play--I ain't particular what they play. They don't even need to
play the same piece unless they want to; but keep 'em busy--play
everything they have and then repeat softly, and if they get tired feed
'em and give 'em something to drink. And tell Johnson, the precinct
captain, when he comes about eight o'clock, to come on in with his
friends, the whole gang--the door is open and there's no strings on it,
and no strings on the new alderman."
Old Man Wisner must have been enjoying his life that evening while we
was celebrating our being alderman. Bonnie Bell she didn't approve of
this none, but she knowed that when her pa was in one sort of mood she'd
better leave him alone and let him have his way--there wasn't no
stopping him.
After a while Johnson, the precinct captain that had had this election
in charge, he come in to have a talk with the new alderman, him and a
lot more. There was a good many Swedes up in his ward, and plenty of
these folks was blue-eyed and had yellow hair, and some of 'em had long
whiskers. On the whole they carried their liquor pretty well, and they
had plenty. Old Man Wright was in his shirt sleeves--rolled up so that
his freckles would show--and he had two or three cases of red liquor,
and not a cork in the room!
"So far as Sunday closing is concerned," says he, "it ain't Sunday yet."
They taken something with the new alderman and hollered for a speech.
"Men," says he, "we licked 'em like I said we would--only more. I don't
ast any of you to show me how to make any more money, for I've got
enough. We made this fight on the Lake Electric Ordinance. The intention
of the other gang was to hold up all you people that has homes of your
own. Every one of you has to use electric light. It's only right you
ought to pay a fair price, but nothing more. Let me tell you that's all
you're going to pay. I've bought into that company, and me and my bank
crowd can run it. Let me tell you the prices will be right: don't you
worry about that none at all. For once you'll get a square deal here;
or if you don't, then elect some other man the next time."
"Hooray for our new alderman!" says Johnson, jumping up then.
They all jumps up too. They had their glasses in their hands--plenty of
men standing there in our ranch room, rather big men with yellow
whiskers, a good many.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account