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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, August 27, 1915, LAST EDITION, Image 18

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1915-08-27/ed-1/seq-18/

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LEARNING HIS LESSON
By George Elmer Cobb
(Copyright by -W G. Chapman.)
"Don't do it, Dennis!" pleaded Mrs.
Foley.
"I've made up my mind," responded
her husband in his usual set and de
termined way. "It's the call of am
bition, woman ' I've been humble and
lowly too long. It's the chance of
my life and I'm going to take it"
"Aren't we well enough off, Dennis,
dear?" objected Mrs. Foley. "You've
got a steady job. It's a line you un
derstand. Better to be a foreman of
the ward sewer and paving gang than
some hifalutin position you may not
be able to hold a year."
"I know my powers, woman; I
know my powers. The new reform
candidate is going to win, and if I
stump for him he's promised me a
better position."
Mrs. Foley sighed. They were
humble folk. Dennis was uneducat
ed, their little home was located in a
poor section. But it was all their
own and Dennis was a good husband
and a kind father.
Their daughter Nora was earning
a fair salary as a stenographer. She
was engaged to an estimable young
man, a budding architect and engi
neer. They were all looked up to in
their own social sphere, humble as
it was, because they were respectable.
Once, in the far past, Dennis had been
a drinking man, but that was long
gone by.
And now came the break that wor
ried and grieved the good housewife.
Dennis was bent on breaking into
politics. In vain Mrs. Foley pictured
the downfall of Mr. Herndon, whose
son, Sidney, was engaged to Nora.
Politics had ruined the elder Herndon
and he had died of broken fortunes
and a broken heart.
Dennis went his own way. For two
months he was away from home
often until midnight More than once i
he had come under the influence of
liquor. He had mortgaged the little
home to the full limit to secure cam
paign funds, i
"It will all come back, Mary," he
declared ten times over. "My candi
date is sure to win."
And the day after the election,
when his candidate had, indeed, won
the cherished goal, he came into the
house in a great state of drink and
glee.
"What did I tell you!" he crowed.
"I am appointed superintendent of
"What Did I Tell You?" He Crowed
the ward water department district
at just double what I was earning be
fore." Then to the silent, gnawing sorrow
of Mrs. Foley he -was gone for two
days. He did not come home at all
during that period. Mrs. Foley found
out he was celebrating his accession
to supposed power by wining and din
ing his faithful adherents. Her cup
of misery seemed full to the brim
when they brought him home on a
stretcher one night In a fight -with
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