,--and then," broke in Gertrude, "some day by accident, if I take
the trouble to read at all I shall notice in a statute a little clause
concealed in fifty pages of meaningless verbiage, which grants an unjust
and special privilege to certain interests closely connected with the
dominant party in state politics. I shall be unable to reconcile this
law with my ideas of fair play and justice, and it will occur to me
that possibly it is a mistake, which can easily be remedied by appealing
to the 'party leaders.'"

"And so you protest," Bailey chimed in, "and in your sweet and charming
innocence you suggest that this law be amended and the special privilege
abolished. The bland smile that greets your remark will get on your
nerves, and you will sit down to think it over; and when you have
cleared your brain of cobwebs, you will realize for the first time that
machine politics, to which you have been an unconscious party, has
nothing whatever to do with ideas, principles or policies, but is purely
a game of money in its last analysis; that it is a scheme to enrich a
few at the expense of the many--"

"And all accomplished under the folds of the flag in the name of the
'grand old party' of Abraham Lincoln, that freed the slaves, or the
great party of Thomas Jefferson, that 'preserves the fundamental rights
of man'," finished Gertrude. "When the white light begins to play upon
all my surroundings in political life, I shall become disgusted and come
back to sweet home-life,--or else turn around and have the fight of my
life."

"I reckon," said Bailey, smiling, "that you didn't live several years in
Washington--or are a great senator's daughter for nothing. But all this,
you know, is the old way. You won't follow politics after this fashion.
You will take up the 'new idea in politics,' which simply means that
reforms should be brought about by the injection of ideas and principles
at the outset rather than by campaigns against individuals for
wrong-doing. It further means that everything should be done in the open
and by the people themselves rather than by a few bosses who have
allied themselves with the corporations in nearly all the states of the
Union."

"To be of service politically, then, according to the rules of the 'new
idea,' the candidate must first ally himself with one of the organized
political parties in the country?" asked Gertrude. "But what if they
will not have you?"

"No," replied Bailey, "I do not mean