Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/276



256 GEORGE STOWELL

and legislative branches of the Government thickened, the silence of the average office-holder deepened. Not so with Applegate. He believed Johnson was wrong and perversely so, and he had the courage of his convictions. He believed the pol- icy of Johnson was pernicious, and he was unsparing of his criticisms of it. He was instant in season and out of season in his denunciations. A street corner, a store or public square served for a forum, and one or two persons were considered a sufficient nucleus for an audience. In that he was not mis- taken, for in those days, whenever he began to talk on political subjects, quite a number would gather around him. On one occasion when he had been more than ordinarily severe in his criticisms of the President, some one asked him if he were not afraid of losing his official head in consequence of such intem- perate arraignment of the administration. With a look and tone of intense scorn he replied, "Afraid of losing my official head; afraid of losing my official head! Does any one have such a mean opinion of me as that ? Does any one believe that I have sunk so low that I would barter my intellectual freedom and my prerogative as an American citizen for a little official pap ? Perish the thought ! When I reach that stage of degen- eration may a thunderbolt from heaven, red with uncommon wrath, smite me, and leave no trace or memory of me on the earth." "That is all well enough, General," remarked a by- stander, "but what would you do for a living if you should lose your position?" "What would I do to make a living?" he ex- claimed, his eyes again ablaze with supreme scorn, and then answered, "I would dig potatoes for Smith, cut cordwood for Jones, haul manure for Davidson ; and if the worst descended to a profounder worst, I might consent to accept a clerkship in Mr. - 's dry goods store." The tenure of office act

which came into effect shortly after this incident probably pre- vented his political cranium from rolling into the headman's basket.

It was during his term of office that I entered the service. Although spasmodic in the conduct of business and at times unduly exacting, taking it altogether he was not a hard task-