miseries and failures and
triumphs--these are the school of the soul which you call life. It is a
preparation for the hereafter."

And David waking knew nothing of the thing that possessed him sleeping.
When they told him, he would smoke his cigarette, and make reply that he
must have had 'em pretty bad this time, or that he was glad he wasn't
that "buggy" when he was awake.

David's talent soon became known in the office. We used to call it his
spook, but only once did we harness it to practical business and that
was when old Charley Hedrick, the local boss, was picking a candidate
for the Legislature. The reporter and Larmy asked the "father" one night
if it could get us connected with Mr. Hedrick. It said it would try; it
needed help. And there appeared another personality with which they were
more or less familiar, called the Jew. The Jew claimed to be a literary
man, and said it would act as receiver while the father acted as
transmitter on Hedrick. Then they got this one-sided telephonic
conversation in a thick, wheezy voice that was astonishingly like
Hedrick's:

"Harmony--hell, yes; we're always getting the harmony and the
Worthington state bank gets the offices." Then a pause ensued. "Well,
let'em bolt. I'm getting tired of giving up the whole county ticket to
them fellows to keep 'em from bolting." After another pause, he seemed
to answer someone: "Oh, Bill?--you can't trust him! He's played both
sides in this town for ten years. What I want isn't a man to satisfy
them, but just this once I want a man who won't be even under the
suspicion of satisfying them. I want a fellow to satisfy me." The other
side of the telephone must have spoken, for this came: "Well, then,
we'll bust their damn bank! Did you see their last statement: cash down
to fifteen per cent. and no dividends on half a million assets for a
year and a half? Something's rotten there. They're a lot of 'toads in a
poisoned tank,' as old Browning says. If they want a fight, they can
have it." After the silence he replied: "I tell you fellows they can't
afford a fight. And, anyway, there'll never be peace in this town till
we get things on the basis of one bank, one newspaper, one wife and one
country, and the way to do that is to get out in the open and fight. If
I've got as much sense as a rabbit I say that Ab Handy is the man, and
whether I'm right or wrong I'm going to run him." He seemed to retort to
some objector: "Yes, and the first thing yo