The Richmond Virginian., September 17, 1910, CITY EDITION, Image 8

About The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920

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•I Richmond. Va. under *cl ft! Mwch 3. 1879. ____
A PRIMARY EXAMPLE.
A striking example of the effectiveness of the
legalize*! primary has just been afforded by the
nomination at a special primary of H. L. Ciod-i
win. Congressman from the 7th. North < #ni
lina District. The primary was held a* the re-j
suit of a factional split in an attempted con
vention wherein a coalition of several candidates
made the nomination of Godwin impossible and
resulted in the withdrawal of the Congressman s
forces into another convention. With two can
didates and a divided District, the State Com
mittee investigated the situation, declared that
«o one had been nominated and ordi red the
primarv which has just been held to determine
the nominee by p«>polar vote. Congressman God
win’s victorv eame to pass, as stated, by an over
whelming majority.
The lesson of this incident lic*.-> in the fact that,
without a primary. Godwin’s nomination would 1
have been absolutely impossible. I he conven
tion to which his cause was put would have rotted
a wav before it would have named him. ^ et the '
result shows ihat he was the clear choice of the ■
Democrats of the District. Whatever importance
should be given the claim that many anti-Godwin
men stayed away from the polls in order to avoid
a pledge to support his candidacy, it remains true
that they would never have stayed away had it
not been apparent that Godwin would lie nomi
nated by tbe people. And it is equally clear that
under a convention system the choice of the peo
ple would in this instance have been defeated.
The North Carolina primary referred to was,
of course, in no sense a ‘‘legalized ’ primary, as
the primaries in Virginia are not legalized. It
was open to the abuses nearly always incident to
more or less informal pollg of the popular vote.
It was a clear makeshift, but even as a make
shift it was far better than the convention tor
which it was substituted. Had the primary been
held in the beginning, much bitterness and many
enmities would have been avoided, there would
have been a reasonably speedy determination of
the relative strength of candidates, and there
would have resulted a united party front, in
stead of an emliarrassed Democracy.
The analogy between this primary and that, in
Norfolk is, it is true, not exact, but clear enough
for all that. In either instance the objection is
the suspicion that political advantage took the
place of the popular will. In the North Caro
lina instance this result was obtained by the part
isan strength of several candidates, neither one
of whom could have come anywhere near carry
ing the majority of the people; in the Norfolk
case, there is great doubt whether the wishes of
the people were taken even in thi.-> superficial
manner.
Were the political millenium impending, the
ideal method of nomination of candidates would
no doubt lie through a convention selected of rep
resentative men chosen as unbiased jurors. They
would meet with a high sense of their responsi
bility, take counsel of their heart*, and choose
such a man as would command the respect and
confidence of their every constituent. But the
nuilenium is just a trifle farther away from jk>1 i
tics than any other line of endeavor, and not
withstanding the fact that the question of the
cost of popular nominations is about as grave n
one in the case of a primary as in the case of a
convention, it would seem that fraud would lit
most nearly eliminated and the popular wish
most nearly met by a system which would, while
giving tbe people the nominal choice, give them
protection, also, in tho manner in which thal
. choice would be expressed.
i BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK.
The trailing by the police of a West End smell,
reported to be a combination of the two hun
dred and eighty-four Constantinople .-tiuks, lo
cated the trouble in an abattoir situate a short
distance beyond the city line. Whereupon the
police retire discreetly, holding their noses, and
the trouble is left “up t>>" Henrico County.
Meanwhile, the smell continues to stand alone,
/ and if past experiences count f<>r anything it will
continue to stand, and to spread, and to dissipate
its odors through a large residential district.
The smell itself is stated to come from
daughter-shop refuse which is burned in order
to produce fertilizer. Such an operation, when
lilt* unpleasant feature* are permitted to involvt
a whole section of the city, would seem to Ire a
clear nuisance, within the power of the author
ities to abate.
, Just there enters, however, the question of
jurisdiction. Often before it has arisen, and it
1 will continue to arise. Often before the game
of battledore and shuttlecock has been played be
; tween county and city. Often before, the pub
lie has suffered while the players contended as
who should bear the onus of a duty. Doubt*
it will happen frequently in the future,
every time it happens there happens to the
die affected a slow accumulation of thought
for impatience. The game is natural.
It is scarcely kind: and in the long
it is scarcely wise.
We make no point against the question of
* liction. The city in this instance i» not
blamed for not attempting to do that which
is beyond its legitimate power. We do make the j
point against the general practice of authorities
here and elsewhere of apparent concern as to J
jurisdiction chiefly for the purpose of avoiding
it. City and county, where their jurisdictions
merge, have reciprocal duties, which each should
be quick to assume. Abatement of nuisances is
otic of the clearest of these duties. It is com
jjetent for both to investigate complaints, and if
the cause lie with the other for the one to press
the complaint and for the other to act.
Hall tossing of responsibilities of this character ;
has been in the past an unfortunately popular of- ;
ficial amusement. But it is one that fast los
ing the popular patience at its practice.
PRACTICE AM) ART.
The Newport News Tiuics-Herahh noting the
death of John K. Scanlon by suicide, attributes
to him the authorship of the rhymed prose run
by many papers under the caption, “l nolo \\ alt,
the Poet Philosopher", and then upon preaches
a serious homily emphasizing the old doetnne, i
“Physician Cure Thyself*’. According to the
Times-H« raid, Scanlon, or “Walt Mason", was
a good preacher- for other people. He, it says,
was the apostle of cheer, of happiness, of human
helpfulness. Hi* readers, it. declares, who were
comforted liv hi* homely philosophy of love and
kindness, are shocked at the manner of his death
and all but persuaded to believe that, all his uj>
timism was a hollow mockery. 1 he sweet singer}
ha«l a tragedy hidden beneath his assurance s of j
the joy in living and doing. I he rose that
bloomed so fair possessed a worm i the bud. |
About Walt Mason was a touch of bitter and
pessimistic vanity. What, becomes, exclaims the'
Times-Herald, of ail the goodness that ho preach
ed 1 What profit in all bis brave and bubbling
words, stopped now with the dust of despair!
incidentally, we do not believe that Walt
Mason ha* passed over. His “stuff . at any
rate, is still running in its accustomed places.
Even as we write wo have before our eyes the
iato.*t from his pen, wherein he confesses, "I
like the good old spend-thrift way. to blow ones!
troubles day by day; I like to waste wealth as j
it comes, in small and unobstrtisive sums; thats1
l>etter than to skimp and shave, and pinch, econ
omise and save for months together, like a dunce,
and then blow in your wad at ouco." Incident
ally, also, we do not greatly admire the public
that will “fall for" the sort, of stuff of which
this is a good example, and enrich the man who
“spins ir off by the yard". The want of prin
ciple in a man who caters to a depraved taste in
sentimentality or humor is as deplorable, if not i
as vicious, as a similar want of principle in the •
| demagogue who depraves a talent to incite the
} passion of the mob. Yellow poetry is quite as
j unlovely, if not. as hurtful, as the yellow journal
1 ism. ’ Wo should be far from holding up “Walt
Mason"7 as a public benefactor, either in the way
of sentiment or ta*!o. And the best evidence,
apart from the fact that we understand lie is
a fat man living in Emporia, instead of a lean
man dead in Philadelphia, that lie has not com
mitted suicide, is that he is *o manifestly after
just those “scads" which in his hybrid prose he
so constantly professes to despise,
i But suppose that Walt Mason had a message
of cheer to the v<»rld. Suppose he sang, and
! sang, with a true note and a clean inspiration, to
■ the end of lifting up the hearts of men. Sup
pose, after all that, he could not find it in nature
longer to take his own advice. Is, for this rea
son, his work a mockery ? Is the gift the lees
valuable because the giver cannot prolit by it
himself? I* the sentiment strained because the
man who sets it in motion cannot extract from
life the sweetness he sees in it ? 1* a man a
bypocrit because he refuses stoutly to the end to
confess his own misery ? We hold the conven
tional view that suicide is cowardice, hut even in
the case of one who finally confesses defeat, is it
not the part, of a brave man to put on a bold
front i Is it not heroic to laugh when the soul is
sick ? Is it not a high sort of genius to keep
eyes open to beauty in others when there is no
beautv in one’self?
Granting that Walt Mason is dead—which wo
do"not believe—and that he is worth while—
which we do not admit- is not the art which can
j find expression apart from and beside the in
dividual of whom it is born, the purest, and most
I illumined form of truth i There is no self-de
I eeption, no easy egotism, no unconscious song
i from a heart that sings. So sings a bird in the
! Springtime; how much nobler the art of the hu
| man bard who can pipe hi- Summer's lay among
the Winter's snows!
It was a North Carolina genius who some
time since wrote and had set to music a song
j entitled, * A Smiling Heart. Beneath a Broken
! Face”; how nobler even than this difficult ac
complishment the ta-k of the man who can set
I even his heartbreak to the measure, of hope!
THE GENTLEMAN" FROM MISSISSIPPI.
Elsewhere we print a communication giving
j the news that the report upon which we based
a recent editorial concerning Colonel dames
Gordon, of Mississippi, was unfounded. The re
port referred to wa- that the venerable Mississip
I pian was to become a candidate for the United
! States Senate in 1911. Our correspondent
j states that, on the contrary, he has no ambition
'except to enjoy the life of a private citizen, and
i that the report tliai he was thinking of rc-enter
• ing polities was utterly untrue.
I This is good hearing, to which we are pleased
! to give publicity on account of a very sincere
admiration for Colonel Cordon’s course while
a memlter of the Senate for a short while. Jlis
modest demeanor while in Washington, the
wholesome spirit which lie evinced in private and
public life, above all the homely sincerity and
beauty of the farewell address which won him
national fame, seemed to us to be incidents which
night not to lie marred by the entry of the man
responsible for them into the turmoil of po
litical contention. Assuming that the report of
liis candidacy was true, we pointed out that it
’onId mean in any event nothing except dis
ippointment for Colonel Gordon. Jt could only
serve to lower him in public confidence and af
fection. Whether he won or lost in his alleged
imbition we saw for him nothing except regrets.
iVith no reason to doubt the published rejmrts
ve said as much in a sadness now relieved.
To the Gentleman from Mississippi we and
he rest of the country will extend good wishes
for a long life, together with a peculiar admira
ion and respect for one at least whom Washing
on and adulation were powerless to spoil.
HOTEL REFORM.
The Virginia hotel lan’. just effective, by
tvhieli. among other things, all hostelries are j
•f injtelled by law to provide each guest with j
•lean towels, clean eight-foot sheets, and disinfect
ed bedding is not at all humorous. It were easy ;
to jest about the towels in the wash-rooms, to '
descant upon the length of the bedding necessary j
to comfortably wrap the longitudinal degree of ;
the weary drummer, and to speculate upon the I
devices of the country combination of hotelist,
liveryman, aud dry goods merchant in his efforts
io sail four-square with the law. These things
aside, the regulations, coupled with provision
for regular inspection, will go far toward ren
dering life more bearable to those who must de
pend upon the public comforts of waste places;
and the provisions concerning tire escapes,
sanitation, and eare for the health of guests,
will undoubtedly do much in the prevention of
disease and possibly in the preservation of life.
Xo longer will it bo possible in Virginia for
the rustic fans' to apply the hard rule of “take i
it or leave it". Xo longer may he avoid com
petition and obligation at the same time. Xo
longer will the “kick" of the indignant drummer
be of that ineffective quality of the wail of a i
lost soul. Reform lias struck the hotel business.
Xowhere was it more needed, nowhere will it
prove more grateful.
BALLIXGER TO “STICK”.
Ballinger determines to stick it out. Realizing
that he is in a hole, he determines to pull deeper
into the hole with him the kindly President who
came to his assistance out of a mistaken con
fidence. and is too much of a gentleman to save
himself even at the cost of a man of Ballinger’s
temperament. The Secretary of the Interior is
to brazen it out at the Cabinet meeting and again
put the President in the embarrassing position
of either eating his own words or further dis
crediting his administration lie fore the people.
It would bo a cheering issue should the Pres
ident determine that, there are exceptions to the
code of polite conventions. Should he conclude
that the eireustances are such as to relieve him
of a “gentleman’s agreement” into which he
was induced to enter by ungentlemauly tactics,
the country would applaud with fervor. We
doubt that the President, will do this. ITis sense
of honor is a worthy, but a mistaken one. Bal
linger, who profits bv it, will at any rate do no
more than further injure one who has tried to
be his friend. Xot remotely will ho help him
self or his cause before the country.
Air. Taft has evidently tried to get rid of
Ballinger gently. The mere fact that he will
not take a hint ought to deny him further gentle
treatment. What the President needs at his next
Cabinet meeting is an application of the theory
upon which big hotels put on their pay rolls the
gentlemen with the ring records, the strong arms,
and the hasty tempers.
That the war is over indeed is well illustrated
in the fact that Union veterans find something
to celebrate at Sharpesburg, sceno of u drawn bat
tle between two armies, ,me of which was twice
as big as the other, and the smaller of which was
for a considerable jx>rtinn of the time out of
ammunition.
The Wilmington (X. ( '.) Htar devotes itself tn
a two column editorial <■■11 the tariff and the high
cost of living. And it the season of the .sound
oyster, the shrimp, the pig iish and the coot!
('hauler says when the Cavalieri eaine aeross
with that kiss he would have “signed awav his
soul'’. In that event, there would at least have
been something left for the creditors.
England is t.hr ma>ter assimilator. South
African elections have resulted in the defeat of
General Botha and the unopposed election of Dr.
Jameson.
Colonel Roosevelt says that he just dotes on
work. This after spending a long editorial day
in working his jaw.
Collector Loch is now after the innocent folk
who take littlp trips down the hay on the Rev
enue Cutters. This man is devoid of the milk of
human kindness.
I >r. Wilson’s aunounet nient of his resignation
from the Presidency of Princeton gives added
assurance that he is no politician.
President Dia* has unveiled a statue of Lib
erty. Now for a muck rakers’ volley.
Ballinger is “not worrying”. According to the
philosophy of the man in debt, that is some
thing that he leaves to “the other fellow”.
I >id ever man before Ballinger beg so hard for a
kick, not to get it if
THE PEOPLES FORUM
Colonel Gordon Xot a Candidate.
Editor of The Virginia.
Sir.—I was iliunn a clipping from your paper in j
which you indulge in a criticism of Colonel Gordon
for being a candidate for United States Senator for
1S11. Being a personal friend and neighbor, I
the liberty to say he has no such intention, and the
public should not he deluded Into accepting as
fact what some Irresponsible reporter desiring
write something sensational, may have " i
without considering how It might affect Colonel Gor
don. He has on all ocaaions, public and Prlv®^:
asserted that he desires nothing but to enjoy the
rights of a private citizen. Now, In view of the
fact that you were laboring under a misstatement o
conditions as they now exist, and of the ^ne re0"r"
he made during his short career in the Senate
won't you withdraw tha part of your editorial that
seemed unkind and hurt him very muen.
J. M. llAiitci.
KoosevoR and I/ortnicr.
There will doubtless be discussion of Mr. Roosevelt's
refusal to sit at the table with Senator LorUner, ot
Illinois, and the consequent withdrawal of the latter s
Invitation to the Hamilton Club's banquet lajit night.
One's first feeling is an Impulsive sympathy for Lorl
mer. Not having been proved guilty as yet, there
would seem to ho a certain propriety In hi® being
considered innocent. Also there is much that appeals
In the philosophy of the poet of the Sierras.
In men whom men pronounce as ill
1 find so much of goodness still;
In men whom inon regaru divine
I find so much of sin and blot
I hesitate to draw the line
Between the two when God has not.
And some h*>stlle critics will doubtless say that the
lines have a. certain pertinency to the Lorlmer Inci
dent.
But there is another side of the question. Prob
ably the one thing that more than any other con
serves the power of the boss is the fact that he
is considered respectable. He moves in good society.
Prominent business and social men are glad and proud
to have his friendship. If a man is convicted of steal
ing from you and me personally he becomes an out
cast; If he steals from the State he retains his posi
tion. The Immorality of maintaining relations with
corrupt politicians doesn't seem to occur to the ave
rage man—or woman Even the suffragettes, who
want to enter politics in order to purify it. are oc
casionally found making overtures to the bosses.
Ostracism would be the most deadly weapon that
could be aimed at a boss, if he found decent men
shunning him. he would doubtless look about for a
change of occupation. There has been some talk
of this mothod of handling the boss problem, but few
men have had the courage to resort to It. Roose
velt's friends will now say that he has done it.
It's a complex question—with two sides to It,-—
Baltimore Evening Sun.
A Derelict Classic.
Winn the Richmond Virginian attributed th„ fa
mous political epigram, "Mr. Speaker, here am I
at?" to some sockless congsgesional Socrates from
Kansas, the Charlotte Observer protested that the
Virginian was unintentionally robbing the Hon. Tom
Watson. <»f Georgia, of the credit for a masterpiece.
The iJindmark, aware that both of these contem
poraries had the credit wrong, said so, but fell into
quick-sands itself by undertaking to say that the
author of the classic was former Congressman Howard
of Alabumu. No sooner had we said that than our
afternoon neighbor, the Ledger-Dispatch, exhibited
unseemly pleasure and stuck us with Its sniokersee,
thus:
"It was Congressman James E.- Cobb, of Alabama,
who made the famous inquiry of the Speaker. Mr.
Howard was the bmg-halred Populist who wrote the
disgusting hook. 'If Christ Came to Congress.' nnd
his constituents were good enough to ace that Howard
stopped coming.”
That caused us to feel pale until we came across
the following addition to the collection by the Alex
andria Gaxette of the same date us the Ledger-IMs
patoh. which made the claim for Cobb:
“Former Governor Oates, of Alabama, died at his
home in Montgomery yesterday. While in Congress
Mr. Oates was making a speech one day, when he
was interrupted, and losing the thread of his discourse,
said: Mr. Speaker, where am I at?’ "
Oates now being in the field as well as Cobb, we
have at least five entries for the distinguished honor.
The Ledger-Dispatch will admit that the landmark
clinched the State correctly, as three (3) Alabamians
arc specified as the first utterers.—Norfolk landmark.
Drainage by the I'nited States.
The Conservation Congress is one of the most im
portant conferences that has been held In this coun
try in many yearn. At one time it was supposed that
a third party would be launched at St. Paul under
the leadership of Plnchot. Garfield and Roosevelt, but
conditions have so shaped themselves that these en
thusiasts have evidently decided otherwise.
In announcing definitely that he favors the under
taking of extensive drainage work as a necessary ad
tunct to the policy of Irrigation, Mr. Roosevelt puts
himself squarely in accord with the best Southern
views, probably for political reasons. Ever since his
return from Africa, he has evinced a desire to win
this section. In his address before an assemblage of
negroes in New York, he said nothing tnat could be
construed as hostile to this section. He has gone out
of his way to court popularity in the South, doubtless
because he feels that he has lost the East, where ho
is best known, and hopes to render himself indepen
dent of that section, or even to segregate it politi
cally.
Re that as it may, we are glad to be assured of
Mr. Roosevelt's assistance In providing for a general
policy of Federal drainage. That Is conservation of
the most effective type. Drainage In the South w-lll
do as much to promote the prosperity of the section
as irrigation did to render the West prosperous.—
Charleston News and Courier.
■ The Colonel in 1901 and Now.
It is no doubt ' bully” for those who like it to
' shoot up” th<%West, spout blatherskite about abol
ishing forty-five Governors and leave a trail of cheers
and headaches 6,400 miles long. But the morning
lifter Is to be reckoned with. What do your friends
at home think about you?
Well, here Is a straw. The Produce Exchange,
which is a representative non-political body, was
polled by the Herald in September. 1904. when the
Colonel wns a candidate for President. The result
was a strong indication of his election:—Roose
velt. 806; Parker, 344.
A reporter for the Herald yesterday interviewed
members of the same exchange regarding the Colo
nel now. The pendulum has swung, the clock has
struck twelve, 1904 Is reversed.
"He has helped the conservative men who have
steadily opposed his policies," said Mr. E. W. Burr,
"by drivlre sw»v « eery noticeable array of sup
norters who had been ardent believers in almost
everything lie 1<j. 'The reaction against Mr.
Roosevelt" said Mr. Thomas Lenane, "Is so evident
that It cannot be overlooked. Out of every five
men you meet here at least three, and more fre
quently our. are decidedly against Mr. Roose
velt’s policies.”
These men are engaged in business, not politics,
and their views may be taken as representative of
the feeling generally toivard the man who desires
to indorse only President Taffs "good intentions."—
New Yorw Herald.
When Mother Took to Slang.
Once mother broke out Into slang:
We'd often heard her say
Naught else was talked around her
From dawn till close of day.
And mother she was joyful,
"They’ve put me wise,” cried she,
"It knooks me how I used to talk!
But, sure, that's on* on me!"
When mother took to talking slang
it was a mournful day,
And flail and all of us children
Just listened in dismay;
But mother she was merry;
“Oh, drop It now," quoth she,
"Cut out the grouch; come, be a sport.
Or else the Joke’s on me!"
When mother took to talking slang.
The household speechless grew.
And father groaned and sister moaned.
Still mother dear was happy;
“You h>ve It so," said she;
"I’ve learned it good and plenty
And i hope, you're pleased wltlj me!"
—Century Maguxina
BY EMMA J. BOWEN,
(Copyright. 1*10, by Associated Pres*.)
Aunt Pene'ope—Aunt Penny, for short—waved *
lean, ringed hand at row of ancestral portraits on
the wall. "These," she said, sternly, "are the peo
ple on whom you are determined to bring a publlu
scandal. Agatha."
It was not the lirat time in my experience that
Aunt Penny had brought me before this court of
the past, that hung In the upper hall. 1 had broken
my engagement, one aunt Penny had planned and
executed for me, and with the wedding day but
a week off.
For forty-odd yearn Aunt Penny had worshipped
at the shrine of family an it was pictured here. For
Instruction, correction or reproof, she had always
brought me to face these shadows In their atrocious
frames. To her they reflected the glorious an<t
honorable past pf the family or Penryn. To m®
they seemed a quaint, half-giddy array of men and
women who. in their day and time, had believed
themselves unworldly ajul correct. Snnte of the
women wore monstrous hoopskirta, some of them
held up attenuated arms to display leg-o’-mutton
sleeves; others faced the world from the depths of
huge poke bonnets. They were all object lessons,
teaching the absurdity of some fashions that havo
passed away. \
Some of the men, with their great shoe buckles,
resembled the pictures of George Washington; some
of them—th?se must have been the poet-artists
of the Penryn*—wore wildly long hair, that had the
appearance of being uncombed. None of the gen
tlemen. tn tne niu.ii.-r of apparel, would have pass
ed muster in any society of which 1 knew, unless,
perhaps, they had chosen to foregather with the
butler and the coachman, or associate with the
members of a waiters' union.
For the most part the face* of my forbears wer<s
fat, placid, smirking and satisfied In expression.
In their eyes there was a look of reproach for me,
with one exception, 1 thought I detected In the
face of my great uncle, Peter Penryn, a look of
sober sympathy. Ills portrait hung lower than
the rest, at the roar of the hall—for a reason. Tra
dition said that after a long engagement, arranged
for I'ncle Peter ny his friend*, he had been sued
for breach of promise: that he had eagerly paid
what the court thought was sufficient balm for hi*
act of treachery, and had lived and died a bachelor,
thus losing caste among the ancient and honorable
people who looked down from the wall as l followed
Aunt Penny to their high tribunal, to explain why
the engagement was broken—why I would not b®
married as she and the ancestors had expected.
It was a trying ordeal for me. 1 loved Aunt
Penny devotedly, and had spent twenty years nnder
her roof and in her care—X was five and twenty
The wedding trousseau was upstairs, some of It In
the partially packed trunks, the bridesmaids were
In readiness and on tiptoe, the wedding breakfast
was ordered. 1 knew that the breaking of my
promise would give Aunt Penny the most Intense
' pain, as it had done.
To save her feelings, ami to keep my place In
, her affections. 1 descended to subterfuge.
"Aunt Penelope,*' 1 declared, "it isn't my fault
that Leon—Mr. Masters—desires to break the en
gagement.’’
"Desires? What are you saying. Agatha? De
j dines to marry a I’enryn, with the Invitations all out
the bishop invited to preside and with a beautiful
bride, such as you will be?"
"He does," 1 faltered, with a sudden determina
tion to see Leon Masters at once and make him tell
Aunt Penny it was his wish to be free. Why I had
come to the decision not to marry I>-on—why 1 had
sent him a letter breaking off the marriage at th®
last moment, I could hardly explain. 1 felt that
his being younger than 1—Leon waa twenty-two—
all at once separated us. We had played together
in childhood, we hud been sweethearts in early
■ youth, but with the wedding day a week off I felt
that I was taking a mean advantage of a child to
Marry Leon. I (ltd not love him.
But I might have known better than to tell this
story to Aunt Penny, born lighter that she was.
Since I could remember, Aunt I’enny had never
been so happy as when she was doing battle with
some one. X loved her warlike spirit, but when
she changed in a minute to the soldier she was, and
declared, “Agatha, this shall be looked after Imme
diately!" I saw far consequences of my rash con
duct. She left me with her tine eyes glowing with
battle light, and I tied in the limousine that had
waited for me for an hour to the office of Iscon
Masters.
Xfe had received the letter that morning, I knew,
1f the malls had done their usual work. He took
me to his inner sanctum and 1 hurried my ex
planation:
"Leon—Mr. Masters— I've told Aunt Penny that
you—that you are the one who didn't wish—she
Is hurt, very much hurt, La»on, and angry—and X
thought that perhaps you would tell her that It la
you who decided that It Isn't l*>st“'
lu»on looked unutterably relieved "Is that all.
Agatha,’’ he said. I was afraid—very much
afraid—that you did *iot mean—that you might
have reconsidered your letter—that you were not—
i that you wanted to go on. you know!"
His blunt words, his evident satisfaction with what
I had done brought the hot blushes to my face.
And 1 had expected to find him overwhelmed with
grief—has! even jjictured Ills efforts to win nue
back!
"So.” 1 stammered, “you really didn't!"
"No. Agatha. I really didn't, but I would not hav*
caused you any—er—embrarassment—not for a
king's ransom. And dad had set hts heart on It—
he thinks you are perfection, Agatha—and you aro.
1 didn't want you ever to suspect how I had really
begun to feel about It! Pear old Aunt Penny! Of
course. I'll see and tell her that It Is what I wished
to do!"
Worse and worse! Home I went, hot and tremb
ling. 1 shut myself In my room and would see no
callers. Toward evening, when I had reasoned It
all out, and had begun to l>e glad we had both been
saved from our friends arid from the great mistake.
Aunt Penny came to me with a triumphant light
in her eyes.
"Agatha, my poor lamb," she said, “Icon’s father
has come to set things right. Tou must come down
and see him."
When I reached the drawing room, where he
; waited, I could not help thinking how young and
handsome Icon's father looked. He might have
been forty-five—he had been a widower for many
years. He took my hand In hts.
"Agatha’ Miss Penryn!" he said, "what can I say
to you—what can I do?”
Sitting there with my hand his, 1 told him
the whole bald, disagreeable truth. lie bent over
me when I had finished.
"Agatha!” ho whispered. “Dear!"
Lev® that had fled from a long courtship cam®
to me that Instant without any courtship. I loved
I-eou's father, and t knew it. I found myself swept,
unresisting. Into his arms. Aunt Penny came in
soon, and we told her of the change, and restored
her to normal afterward. There was to be a wedding
on the day set. I would marry Icon's father. Ther®
would be a little gossip, of course, there Is always
a buzz of excitement over the marriage of an elderly
man who writes checks sometimes In seven figures;
but there would he no scandal. I would be a
mother to I^eon, after all: but never would X dictate
to him when It came to his marriage.
When I went upstairs on that night of my second
betrothal I glanced along the wall at the faces of
my ancestors. They seemed to smile approval at
me. all but one. My great uncle, Peter Penryn,
1 lay face down on the floor, a perfect ruin. When
he fell, or why, I never knew. Was he ashamed
: of me, I wonder, or was he overborne with Joy?
Hie Sane and Safe Democracy,
j Time was. and not »o very long ago. when lndl
j cations of Democratic control of the Federal gov
I ernment were accepted by the financiers and busl
! iness men of the country as danger signals. Even
i four years ago such an event as that which haa
just occurred In Maine would have chilled the mar
row of Wall Street and Bent stocks tumbling down.
Rut Roosevelt's propaganda of a “new nationalism.”
of socialism; and of enmity to wealth as such, haa
changed all that. A programme so radical as to
excite the apprehensions of Bryan and Hearst has
brought the conservative elements of society to look
on Democracy as a refuge from lconoclasm; and on
Tuesday the news from Maine Was the signal for
an advance In price of all standard securities. Again
! the hope of the Republic is Invested in the party
I which venerates the Constitution, and believes tha*
| in scrupulous obedience to* Its mandates will he
1 found the best security for the rights and interests
i t all classes of th* cttlxenship—Virginiaa-FUf*