ful. I
dropped in at Wedderburn to-day to see if I could be of any help, and
the poor man was buttonholed by two reporters who had come all the way
from New York to see him. I hope he won't overdo it."
It was true. Mr. Crewe was to appear in the Sunday supplements. "Are
our Millionaires entering Politics?" Mr. Crewe, with his usual gracious
hospitality, showed the reporters over the place, and gave them
suggestions as to the best vantage-points in which to plant their
cameras. He himself was at length prevailed upon to be taken in a rough
homespun suit, and with a walking-stick in his hand, appraising with a
knowing eye a flock of his own sheep. Pressed a little, he consented to
relate something of the systematic manner in which he had gone about to
secure this nomination: how he had visited in person the homes of his
fellow-townsmen. "I knew them all, anyway," he is quoted as saying; "we
have had the pleasantest of relationships during the many years I have
been a resident of Leith."
"Beloved of his townspeople," this part of the article was headed. No,
these were not Mr. Crewe's words--he was too modest for that. When urged
to give the name of one of his townsmen who might deal with this and
other embarrassing topics, Mr. Ball was mentioned. "Beloved of his
townspeople" was Mr. Ball's phrase. "Although a multi-millionaire,
no man is more considerate of the feelings and the rights of his more
humble neighbours. Send him to the Legislature! We'd send him to the
United States Senate if we could. He'll land there, anyway." Such was
a random estimate (Mr. Ball's) the reporters gathered on their way to
Ripton. Mr. Crewe did not hesitate to say that the prosperity of the
farmers had risen as a result of his labours at Wedderburn where the
most improved machinery and methods were adopted. His efforts to raise
the agricultural, as well as the moral and intellectual, tone of the
community had been unceasing.
Then followed an intelligent abstract of the bills he was to
introduce--the results of a progressive and statesmanlike brain. There
was an account of him as a methodical and painstaking business man whose
suggestions to the boards of directors of which he was a member had
been invaluable. The article ended with a list of the clubs to which he
belonged, of the societies which he had organized and of those of which
he was a member,--and it might have been remarked by a discerning reader
that most of these societies were
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