n Williams behind his rickety horse, came
through fear; others through ambition; others were actuated by both; and
still others were stung by the pain of the sleet to a still greater
jealousy and envy, and the remembrance of those who had been in power. I
must not omit the conscientious Jacksonians who were misguided enough to
believe in such a ticket.

The sheds were not large enough to hold the teams that day. Jethro's barn
and tannery were full, and many other barns in the village. And now the
peace of mind of the orthodox is a thing of the past. Deacon Lysander
Richardson, the moderator, sits aghast in his high place as they come
trooping in, men who have not been to town meeting for ten years. Deacon
Lysander, with his white band of whiskers that goes around his neck like
a sixteenth-century ruff under his chin, will soon be a memory. Now
enters one, if Deacon Lysander had known it symbolic of the new Era. One
who, though his large head is bent, towers over most of the men who make
way for him in the aisle, nodding but not speaking, and takes his place
in the chair under the platform on the right of the meeting-pause under
one of the high, three-part windows. That chair was always his in future
years, and there he sat afterward, silent, apparently taking no part. But
not a man dropped a ballot into the box whom Jethro Bass did not see and
mark.

And now, when the meeting-house is crowded as it has never been before,
when Jonah Winch has arranged his dinner booth in the corner, Deacon
Lysander raps for order and the minister prays. They proceed, first, to
elect a representative to the General Court. The Jacksonians do not
contest that seat,--this year,--and Isaiah Prescott, fourteenth child of
Timothy, the Stark hero, father of a young Ephraim whom we shall hear
from later, is elected. And now! Now for a sensation, now for disorder
and misrule!

"Gentlemen," says Deacon Lysander, "you will prepare your ballots for the
choice of the first Selectman."

The Whigs have theirs written out, Deacon Moses Hatch. But who has
written out these others that are being so assiduously passed around? Sam
Price, perhaps, for he is passing them most assiduously. And what name is
written on them? Fletcher Bartlett, of course; that was on the ticket.
Somebody is tricked again. That is not the name on the ticket. Look over
Sara Price's shoulder and you will see the name--Jethro Bass.

It bursts from the lips of Fletcher Bartlett hi