Page:The strength of Gideon, and other stories (IA strengthgideon00dunbrich).pdf/261

A MESS OF POTTAGE 243

A Ves, I

“Why, you'd be the laughing-stock of the State.”

“All right; put me down for that office if I never reach the gubernatorial chair.”

“Say, Lane, what was the name of that Spit ish fellow who went out to fight windmills, and all that sort of thing P”

“Never mind, Widner; you may be a good political hustler, but you're dead bad on your classics,” said Lane laughingly.

So they put him down for a speech in Little Africa, because he himself desired it.

Widner had not lied to him about Deacon Swift, as he found when he tried to get the old man to preside at the meeting. The Deacon re- fused with indignation at the very idea, But others were more acquiescent, and Mount Moriah church was hired at a rental that made the Rev. Ebenezer Clay and all his Trustees rub their hands with glee and think well of the candidate. Also they looked at their shiny coats and thought of new suits.

There was much indignation expressed that Mount Moriah should have lent herself to such a cause, and there were murmurs even among