Elder Conklin by Frank Harris (rom com books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Frank Harris
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A few days later Mr. Hutchings had another confidential talk with Professor Roberts, and, as before, the subject was suggested by an article in âThe Republican Herald.â This paper, indeed, devoted a column or so every day to personal criticism of the Professor, and each attack surpassed its forerunner in virulence of invective. All the young manâs qualities of character came out under this storm of unmerited abuse. He read everything that his opponents put forth, replied to nothing, in spite of the continual solicitation of the editor of âThe Democrat,â and seemed very soon to regard âThe Heraldâsâ calumnies merely from the humorous side. Meanwhile his own speeches grew in knowledge and vigour. With a scholarâs precision he put before his hearers the inner history and significance of job after job. His powers of study helped him to âget up his casesâ with crushing completeness. He quickly realized the value of catch-words, but his epigrams not being hardened in the fire of life refused to stick. He did better when he published the balance-sheet of the âringâ in pamphlet form, and showed that each householder paid about one hundred and fifty dollars a year, or twice as much as all his legal taxes, in order to support a party organization the sole object of which was to enrich a few at the expense of the many. One job, in especial, the contract for paving the streets, he stigmatized as a swindle, and asserted that the District Attorney, had he done his duty, would long ago have brought the Mayor and Town Council before a criminal court as parties to a notorious fraud. His ability, steadfastness, and self-restraint had had a very real effect; his meetings were always crowded, and his hearers were not all Democrats. His courage and fighting power were beginning to win him general admiration. The public took a lively though impartial interest in the contest. To critical outsiders it seemed not unlikely that the Professor (a word of good-humoured contempt) might âwhipâ even âold man Gulmore.â Bets were made on the result and short odds accepted. Even Mr. Hutchings allowed himself to hope for a favourable issue.
âYouâve done wonderfully well,â was the burden of his conversations with Roberts; âI should feel certain of success against any one but Gulmore. And he seems to be losing his headâhis perpetual abuse excites sympathy with you. If we win I shall owe it mainly to you.â
But on this particular morning Lawyer Hutchings had something to say to his friend and helper which he did not like to put into plain words. He began abruptly:
âYouâve seen the âHeraldâ?â
âYes; thereâs nothing in it of interest, is there?â
âNo; but âtwas foolish of your father to write that letter saying you had paid his Kentucky debts.â
âI was sorry when I saw it. I know theyâll say I got him to write the letter. But itâs only another incident.â
âItâs true, then? You did pay the money?â
âYes; I was glad to.â
âBut it was folly. What had you to do with your fatherâs debts? Every house to-day should stand on its own foundation.â
âI donât agree with you; but in this case there was no question of that sort. My father very generously impoverished himself to send me to Europe and keep me there for six years. I owed him the five thousand dollars, and was only too glad to be able to repay him. Youâd have done the same.â
âWould I, indeed! Five thousand dollars! Iâm not so sure of that.â The fatherâs irritation conquered certain grateful memories of his younger days, and the admiration which, in his heart, he felt for the Professorâs action, only increased his annoyance. âIt must have nearly cleaned you out?â
âVery nearly.â
âWell, of course itâs your affair, not mine; but I think you foolish. You paid them in full, I suppose? Whew!
âDo you see that the âHeraldâ calls upon the University authorities to take action upon your lecture? âThe teaching of Christian youth by an Atheist must be stopped,â and so forth.â
âYes; but they can do nothing. Iâm not responsible to them for my religious opinions.â
âYouâre mistaken. A vote of the Faculty can discharge you.â
âImpossible! On what grounds?â
âOn the ground of immorality. Theyâve got the power in that case. Itâs a loose word, but effective.â
âIâd have a cause of action against them.â
âWhich youâd be sure to lose. Eleven out of every twelve jurymen in this state would mulct an Agnostic rather than give him damages.â
âAh! thatâs the meaning, then, I suppose, of this notice Iâve just got from the secretary to attend a special Faculty meeting on Monday fortnight.â
âLet me see it. Why, here it is! The object of the meeting is âTo consider the anti-Christian utterances of Professor Roberts, and to take action thereon.â Thatâs the challenge. Didnât you read it?â
âNo; as soon as I opened it and saw the printed form, I took it for the usual notification, and put it aside to think of this election work. But it would seem as if the Faculty intended to out-herald the âHerald.ââ
âThey are simply allowed to act first in order that the âHerald,â a day later, may applaud them. Itâs all worked by Gulmore, and I tell you again, heâs dangerous.â
âHe may be; but I wonât change for abuse, nor yet to keep my post. Let him do his worst. Iâve not attacked him hitherto for certain reasons of my own, nor do I mean to now. But he canât frighten me; heâll find that out.â
âWell, weâll see. But, at any rate, it was my duty to warn you. It would be different if I were rich, but, as it is, I can only give May a little, andââ
âMy dear Hutchings, donât let us talk of that. In giving me May, you give me all I want.â The young manâs tone was so conclusive that it closed the conversation.
*
Mr. Gulmore had not been trained for a political career. He had begun life as a clerk in a hardware store in his native town. But in his early manhood the Abolition agitation had moved him deeplyâthe colour of his skin, he felt, would never have made him accept slaveryâand he became known as a man of extreme views. Before he was thirty he had managed to save some thousands of dollars. He married and emigrated to Columbus, Ohio, where he set up a business. It was there, in the stirring years before the war, that he first threw himself into politics; he laboured indefatigably as an Abolitionist without hope or desire of personal gain. But the work came to have a fascination for him, and he saw possibilities in it of pecuniary emolument such as the hardware business did not afford. When the war was over, and he found himself scarcely richer than he had been before it began, he sold his store and emigrated againâthis time to Tecumseh, Nebraska, intending to make political organization the business of his life. He wanted âto grow upâ with a town and become its master from the beginning. As the negroes constituted the most ignorant and most despised class, a little solicitation made him their leader. In the first election it was found that âGulmoreâs negroesâ voted to a man, and that he thereby controlled the Republican party. In the second year of his residence in Tecumseh he got the contract for lighting the town with gas. The contract was to run for twenty years, and was excessively liberal, for Mr. Gulmore had practically no competitor, no one who understood gas manufacture, and who had the money and pluck to embark in the enterprise. He quickly formed a syndicate, and fulfilled the conditions of the contract. The capital was fixed at two hundred thousand dollars, and the syndicate earned a profit of nearly forty per cent, in the first year. Ten years later a one hundred dollar share was worth a thousand. This first success was the foundation of Mr. Gulmoreâs fortune. The income derived from the gas-works enabled him to spend money on the organization of his party. The first manager of the works was rewarded with the position of Town Clerkâan appointment which ran for five years, but which under Mr. Gulmoreâs rule was practically permanent. His foremen became the most energetic of ward-chairmen. He was known to pay well, and to be a kind if strenuous master. What he had gained in ten years by the various contracts allotted to him or his nominees no one could guess; he was certainly very rich. From year to year, too, his control
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