THE WORK

The Honorable Erastus Hopkins was thoroughly enjoying his campaign.

He was not an especially popular man in his district, and he knew it.
Physically he was big and stout, with a florid face and small eyes that
blinked continually. His head was bald, his hands fat and red and his
feet enormous.

To offset this Mr. Hopkins wore a silk hat and a "Prince Albert" coat
morning, noon and night. His gold watch-chain was huge and imposing; he
had a big diamond shirt-stud, and upon his puffy fingers several rings.
He conveyed, nevertheless, the impression that he was more prosperous
than refined, and the farmers and townsmen were as quick to recognize
this as was Mr. Watson himself.

Moreover, the Honorable Erastus was dubbed "close-fisted" by his
neighbors. He never spent a penny on anyone but himself, and being
unscrupulous in politics he was naturally unscrupulous in smaller things
of a business nature. But since he had risen from a stable-boy to his
present affluent position he had never been unwise or careless enough to
be caught in any crooked action; and while his acquaintances had an
indefinite fear of dealing with him they could not accuse him openly.

It seems strange that such a man should have been chosen to represent a
wealthy and important district in the State Legislature, but politics
can show many a similar case. In the first place, Mr. Hopkins was
aggressive, and knew political methods thoroughly. He had usurped the
position of Democratic leader in his community and the others were
afraid to antagonize him openly. When he was nominated for
Representative he managed to dictate, by shrewd methods, the nomination
of Thompson, the store-keeper, on the Republican ticket. Thompson owed
Hopkins a large sum of money and Hopkins held a mortgage on the stock.
Therefore Thompson dared not make a fight, and although the Republican
vote was normally the largest in the district, Hopkins had managed to
win enough of them to his side to win.

He had been a little anxious about his renomination, because he knew
that he had not represented his district very satisfactorily; but when
Kenneth Forbes received the nomination on the Republican ticket he felt
that "all was over but the shouting" and that he would "win in a walk."
Had it been an issue between the personality of the two men, Hopkins
would have had little chance of success; but young Forbes had already
raised another issue by his anti-sign speech at the