of wry smile:

"And any quantity of Caldwells!"

That took me! I liked him for it. It was so explanatory. The armour of
political artifice, the symbols of political power, had now all dropped
away from him, and we sat there together, two plain and friendly human
beings, arriving through stress and struggle at a common understanding.
He was not a great leader, not a statesman at all, but plainly a man of
determination, with a fair measure of intelligence and sincerity. He had
a human desire to stay in Congress, for the life evidently pleased him,
and while he would never be crucified as a prophet, I felt--what I had
not felt before in regard to him--that he was sincerely anxious to serve
the best interests of his constituents. Added to these qualities he was
a man who was loyal to his friends; and not ungenerous to his enemies.

Up to this time he had done most of the talking; but now, having reached
a common basis, I leaned forward with some eagerness.

"You won't mind," I said, "if I give you my view--my common country view
of the political situation. I am sure I don't understand, and I don't
think my neighbours here understand, much about the tariff or the
trusts or the railroad question--in detail. We get general
impressions--and stick to them like grim death--for we know somehow that
we are right. Generally speaking, we here in the country work for what
we get----"

"And sometimes put the big apples at the top of the barrel," nodded Mr.
Caldwell.

"And sometimes put too much salt on top of the butter," I added--"all
that, but on the whole we get only what we earn by the hard daily work
of ploughing and planting and reaping: You admit that."

"I admit it," said Mr. Caldwell.

"And we've got the impression that a good many of the men down in New
York and Boston, and elsewhere, through the advantages which the tariff
laws, and other laws, are giving them, are getting more than they
earn--a lot more. And we feel that laws must be passed which will
prevent all that."

"Now, I believe that, too," said Mr. Caldwell very earnestly.

"Then we belong to the same party," I said. "I don't know what the name
of it is yet, but we both belong to it."

Mr. Caldwell laughed.

"And I'll appoint you," I said, "my agent in Washington to work out the
changes in the laws."

"Well, I'll accept the appointment," said Mr. Caldwell--continuing very
earnestly, "if you'll trust to my honesty and not expect too much of me
all