n men who had begun life
on the lower levels and in time achieved great voting-power. It was
also common to hear youths planning a future of ever so many votes for
themselves. I heard shrewd mammas speak of certain young men as good
"catches" because they possessed such-and-such a number of votes. I knew
of more than one case where an heiress was married to a youngster
who had but one vote; the argument being that he was gifted with such
excellent parts that in time he would acquire a good voting strength,
and perhaps in the long run be able to outvote his wife, if he had luck.

Competitive examinations were the rule and in all official grades. I
remarked that the questions asked the candidates were wild, intricate,
and often required a sort of knowledge not needed in the office sought.

"Can a fool or an ignoramus answer them?" asked the person I was talking
with.

"Certainly not."

"Well, you will not find any fools or ignoramuses among our officials."

I felt rather cornered, but made shift to say:

"But these questions cover a good deal more ground than is necessary."

"No matter; if candidates can answer these it is tolerably fair evidence
that they can answer nearly any other question you choose to ask them."

There were some things in Gondour which one could not shut his eyes to.
One was, that ignorance and incompetence had no place in the government.
Brains and property managed the state. A candidate for office must have
marked ability, education, and high character, or he stood no sort of
chance of election. If a hod-carrier possessed these, he could succeed;
but the mere fact that he was a hod-carrier could not elect him, as in
previous times.

It was now a very great honour to be in the parliament or in office;
under the old system such distinction had only brought suspicion upon a
man and made him a helpless mark for newspaper contempt and scurrility.
Officials did not need to steal now, their salaries being vast in
comparison with the pittances paid in the days when parliaments
were created by hod-carriers, who viewed official salaries from a
hod-carrying point of view and compelled that view to be respected by
their obsequious servants. Justice was wisely and rigidly administered;
for a judge, after once reaching his place through the specified line of
promotions, was a permanency during good behaviour. He was not obliged
to modify his judgments according to the effect they might have upon the
te