FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1517   1518   1519   1520   1521   1522   1523   1524   1525   1526   1527   1528   1529   1530   1531   1532   1533   1534   1535   1536   1537   1538   1539   1540   1541  
1542   1543   1544   1545   1546   1547   1548   1549   1550   1551   1552   1553   1554   1555   1556   1557   1558   1559   1560   1561   1562   1563   1564   1565   1566   >>   >|  
principle, we were ready at any time to besmirch our profession by legalizing steals; we fouled our nests with dirty fees. Not all that he said was vituperation, for he knew something of the modern theory of the law that legal radicals had begun to proclaim, and even to teach in some tolerant universities. The next night, in the middle of a prepared speech I was delivering to a large crowd in Kingdom Hall there had been jeers from a group in a corner at some assertion I made. Guptill's accusations had been festering in my mind. The faces of the people grew blurred as I felt anger boiling, rising within me; suddenly my control gave way, and I launched forth into a denunciation of Greenhalge, Krebs, Guptill and even of Perry Blackwood that must have been without license or bounds. I can recall only fragments of my remarks: Greenhalge wanted to be mayor, and was willing to put the stigma of slander on his native city in order to gain his ambition; Krebs had made a failure of his profession, of everything save in bringing shame on the place of his adoption; and on the single occasion heretofore when he had been before the public, in the School Board fiasco, the officials indicted on his supposed evidence had triumphantly been vindicated--, Guptill was gaining money and notoriety out of his spleen; Perry Blackwood was acting out of spite.... I returned to Krebs, declaring that he would be the boss of the city if that ticket were elected, demanding whether they wished for a boss an agitator itching for power and recognition.... I was conscious at the moment only of a wild relief and joy in letting myself go, feelings heightened by the clapping and cheers with which my characterizations were received. The fact that the cheers were mingled with hisses merely served to drive me on. At length, when I had returned to Krebs, the hisses were redoubled, angering me the more because of the evidence they gave of friends of his in my audiences. Perhaps I had made some of these friends for him! A voice shouted out above the uproar:--"I know about Krebs. He's a d--d sight better man than you." And this started a struggle in a corner of the hall.... I managed, somehow, when the commotion had subsided, to regain my poise, and ended by uttering the conviction that the common sense of the community would repudiate the Citizens Union and all it stood for.... But that night, as I lay awake listening to the street noises and staring at the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1517   1518   1519   1520   1521   1522   1523   1524   1525   1526   1527   1528   1529   1530   1531   1532   1533   1534   1535   1536   1537   1538   1539   1540   1541  
1542   1543   1544   1545   1546   1547   1548   1549   1550   1551   1552   1553   1554   1555   1556   1557   1558   1559   1560   1561   1562   1563   1564   1565   1566   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Guptill

 

returned

 
cheers
 

profession

 

Blackwood

 

hisses

 

corner

 

evidence

 

friends

 
Greenhalge

feelings
 

mingled

 

received

 
characterizations
 
clapping
 

heightened

 

relief

 
declaring
 

agitator

 
itching

wished

 
ticket
 
elected
 

demanding

 

served

 

recognition

 
letting
 

spleen

 

gaining

 
moment

notoriety
 

acting

 

conscious

 

shouted

 

uttering

 

conviction

 

common

 

regain

 

managed

 
commotion

subsided
 
community
 

repudiate

 

listening

 

street

 
noises
 

staring

 

Citizens

 

struggle

 

started