om, and the buggy was sent back to the
livery-stable. Mr. Tooting had been to see Mr. Pardriff before the
world-quaking announcement of June 7th, and had found Mr. Pardriff a
reformer who did not believe that the railroad should run the State. But
the editor of the Ripton Record was a man after Emerson's own heart: "a
foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--and Mr. Pardriff
did not go to Wedderburn. He went off on an excursion up the State
instead, for he had been working too hard; and he returned, as many
men do from their travels, a conservative. He listened coldly to Mr.
Tooting's impassioned pleas for cleaner politics, until Mr. Tooting
revealed the fact that his pockets were full of copy. It seems that a
biography was to be printed--a biography which would, undoubtedly, be
in great demand; the biography of a public benefactor, illustrated
with original photographs and views in the country. Mr. Tooting and Mr.
Pardriff both being men of the world, some exceeding plain talk ensued
between them, and when two such minds unite, a way out is sure to be
found. One can be both a conservative and a radical--if one is clever.
There were other columns in Mr. Pardriff's paper besides editorial
columns; editorial columns, Mr. Pardriff said, were sacred to his
convictions. Certain thumb-worn schedules were referred to. Paul
Pardriff, Ripton, agreed to be the publisher of the biography.

The next edition of the Record was an example of what Mr. Emerson
meant. Three columns contained extracts of absorbing interest from the
forthcoming biography and, on another page, an editorial. "The Honourable
Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, is an estimable gentleman and a good citizen,
whose public endeavours have been of great benefit to the community. A
citizen of Avalon County, the Record regrets that it cannot support his
candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. We are not among
those who seek to impugn motives, and while giving Mr. Crewe every
credit that his charges against the Northeastern Railroads are made
in good faith, we beg to differ from him. That corporation is an
institution which has stood the test of time, and enriches every year
the State treasury by a large sum in taxes. Its management is in safe,
conservative hands. No one will deny Mr. Crewe's zeal for the State's
welfare, but it must be borne in mind that he is a newcomer in politics,
and that conditions, seen from the surface, are sometimes deceptiv